Abstract:
A screw feeder adapted for rapid changeover of screw types. The feeder has a collator section having a floor with slots to collate random screws into rows and an enclosure about the floor for retaining random screws on the floor. The screws are collated by tilting the floor in the slotted direction to raise and lower the upstream end relative to the downstream end and are fed downstream along the slots into slots in a dispensing section. The collator section enclosure has a gate closure at the upstream end of the floor and the slots on the floor extend completely to the upstream end so that, with the gate open and the collator section oscillated to tilt the slots downward toward the upstream end, the screws in the slots will slide to the upstream end and out of the enclosure.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to devices for collating and feeding screws, nails and other work articles of the same or similar configuration. Such feeders are utilized for supplying such articles to work stations where the articles may be further collated, transported or packaged or they may be used to carry out various operations such as fastening workpieces together, e.g. fastening hinges to door jambs. 
   Conventional feeders of screws, nails and other uniform articles include devices such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,943,764, 3,071,291 and 4,222,495 which collate articles lying randomly in a receptacle by intercepting the articles with a collating device having one or more channels or slots into which the articles drop and which thus capture the articles in queued fashion. The articles are slidable within the slots so that when the slots are tilted above the horizontal about a pivot point at one end thereof, the queued articles will slide in the downhill direction. In his manner the articles are carried in each slot to the end of the slot at the pivot point. At the pivot point are entrances to a second set of slots which communicate with the respective first slots. The articles moving downward along the first slots will thus be transferred one-by-one in a queue, into the second slots. The second slots are fixed and extend downwardly from their entrances so that the queue of articles will slide down the second slots to an escapement mechanism which will stop the queue and then separate each article from the queue, consecutively depositing each article into a receiver which transports each article individually to an appropriate work station. 
   A problem with foregoing type of feeder is the tendency of the random articles in the receptacle to cause jams that impede the movement of the queued articles in the first set of slots over to the second slots since the random articles sliding in the box reach the entrances to the second set of slots about the same time as those sliding down in a queue in the first set of slots. An attempt to deal with this problem was made in the nail feeder described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,291 by employing a gate midway down the length of the oscillating box to meter a smaller number of nails fed into the forward section of the box for collation. However this increases the complexity of the feeder and the random nails in the forward box section still reach the entrances to the second set of slots a about the same time as do the queued nails. Moreover, this approach further complicates removal of articles from the machine for changeover to feeding another style or type of article. 
   Screw feeders, such as that described in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,473, can operate similarly, but instead of having collating slots communicating with separate queuing slots at a pivot point, the queuing slots are simply continuations of the collating slots, without a pivot, to the escapement. In this design the entire receptacle reciprocates about a pivot transverse to the slots, the pivot being located adjacent the escapement and screw receivers to facilitate transfer of the screws from the slots at the escapement to the receivers. 
   The described feeders may be used to feed a variety of screws, nails, etc. of different configurations, finishes or sizes and it may be necessary to change from one to another frequently. Each substitution requires laborious and time-consuming clearing from these feeders, by hand, of the screws to be replaced, including those captured in the collating slots. In conventional screw feeders it has been necessary to employ a wire to remove by hand each of the screws in the slots. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to a device for dispensing screws or the like from a collection thereof lying in random and feed individual articles to desired locations. Such devices include a collator section having a floor provided with one or more slots for receiving articles from a collection of screw lying at random on the receptacle floor and moving them in a downstream direction of the slots and a queuing section where articles received from the downstream end of the collator section are queued in slots (aligned/in feeding relationship/extend in the same path/in feeding relationship) with respective slots in the collator section and then picked off one by one in each slot by an escapement and deposited one by one into a receiver for delivery to an appropriate work station. 
   The collator section is mounted for reciprocation about an axis so that the floor and slots therein may be oscillated between a position where the floor is sloping downward from the downstream end to the upstream end to a position where the floor is sloping upward to the upstream end. 
   The slots of the collator section extend in the upstream direction of the slots fully to the upstream end of the collator section floor. Thus, when the collator section is oscillated to a position where the floor is sloping downward toward the upstream end, the articles residing in the slots, unless otherwise restrained, will slide to the upstream end of the floor and drop from the device. 
   An enclosure is desirably provided about the collator section floor for normally retaining the desired collection of random articles from falling out of the collator section floor as it oscillates, preferably including a wall along the upstream end of the floor. The enclosure desirably contains a gate closure at the upstream end of the floor that may be opened in order to allow the articles to drop from the device during changeover when the operator is preparing to feed a different screw or other workpiece with the device. 
   Other features of the invention apply particularly to feeders having a collator that transfers collated articles to a separate dispensing section which is normally inclined downwardly from point of transfer from the collator section so that the transferred articles can slide down to an escapement for dispensing. In one such feature, selectively removable detents are provided for the collator section slots at a location intermediate the upstream and downstream ends of the floor. When in place in the slots, the detents will stop articles that are queued in the slots downstream of their location from moving to the upstream end of the container when the container oscillates downwardly, as do the uncollated mass of articles in the container. Then when the container oscillates back upwardly to the position the articles queued in advance of the detents have a shorter distance to slide to reach the point of transfer of the articles to the slots of the dispensing section as compared to the mass of uncollated articles sliding from the upstream end of the container. Thus most if not all of the queued articles will have transferred over to the dispensing section slots before the mass of uncollated articles arrives at the transfer point to possibly cause jams or otherwise impede the transfer. The detents desirably take the form of pins or the like that project upward in the container when engaged. These projections in the the path of the articles sliding on the container floor will cause the articles to tumble and this action enhances the proclivity for the articles to fall into the collator slots. The detents may be then removed from the slots during changeover so they do not impede the articles to be replaced from sliding to the upstream end and dropping from the device. 
   In another such feature of the invention means are provided to pivot the dispensing section from its normally downwardly inclined position for dispensing to an upwardly inclined position so that articles queued in the dispensing section slots for dispensing may slide back to the dispensing section and thereby be removed from the feeder for a changeover to dispense a different style or type of article. A related feature concerns feeders of this type that have a gate for regulating the flow of articles between the slots in the oscillating collator section and the slots of the separate dispensing section fed articles from the collator section slots. In this feature means are additionally provided for lifting the regulating gate when the dispensing section is pivoted to the upwardly inclined position so that articles sliding down the dispensing section slots to transfer back to the collator section are not impeded by the regulating gate. 
   In another feature of the invention, a screw collecting device is provided at the upstream end of the device to intercept the old articles falling from the device during changeover and concentrate them and deliver them to a collection site, such as to a receptacle for storage or the like. Preferably the collection device comprises a funnel having a mouth located below the upstream end of the device and a tube extending downward therefrom to the collection site. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an isometric view of an embodiment of the article feeder of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a is cross-sectional plan view taken along lines  2 - 2  of  FIG. 1 , but showing the collator box tilted downwardly; 
       FIG. 2A  is a is fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along lines  2 A- 2 A of  FIG. 2 , 
       FIG. 3  is a blown-up fragmentary portion taken of circular portion designated A of the sectional view of  FIG. 2  of the apparatus of  FIGS. 1 and 2 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional plan view taken along lines  4 - 4  of the apparatus of  FIG. 1  and showing in balloons A, B and C a blown-up fragmentary portion thereof in three different stages of movement, as will be described; 
       FIG. 5  is end view of the apparatus of  FIG. 1  from the dispensing section end additionally showing in balloons A, B and C blown-up fragmentary cutaway portions of the dispensing tubes showing screws being dispensed down the tubes; 
       FIG. 6  is a side view of the apparatus of  FIG. 1 , showing in phantom the collator box tilted to its most upward position and to its most downward position; 
       FIG. 7  is a is cross-sectional plan view taken along lines  7 - 7  of  FIG. 1 , showing the collator box and dispensing section from underneath; 
       FIG. 8  is a the same side view as  FIG. 6  but showing the collator box in its downward tilted position, the dispensing section in its upward tilted position and the upstream end gate of the box open for discharging the screws in both the dispensing section and the collator section back down to the collection chute during changeover to dispensing another style of article and showing in balloon A, in a blown-up fragmentary cutaway view, the collator box floor with the detent pins in retracted position to allow screws in the floor slots to travel back down and out of box and in a balloon B, in a blown-up fragmentary cutaway view, the chute showing screws travelling down for collection; and 
       FIG. 9  is an isometric fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along lines  2 - 2  of  FIG. 1 , but with the collator box tilted downwardly, showing in balloon A, in a blown-up view, details of the, regulator gate at the end of the collator box. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   The following description illustrates the manner in which the principles of the invention are applied but is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. 
   The article feeders of this invention are intended for feeding screws and other workpieces individually to receivers usually for application of the screws in a fastening operation by automatic screw driving equipment. For this purpose they may be mounted for operation at a stationary site or on a carriage or the like for movement together with screw driving equipment to screw driving locations. In the embodiment described here, the screw feeder is mounted on a carriage for use with associated machinery for applying hinges to doors and door jambs, such as described in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,004. The carriage moves on rails to appropriate locations along with automatic screwdrivers, to which it supplies screws for automatically applying hinges at those locations. 
   Referring to the drawings, particularly to  FIGS. 1 ,  2 ,  6  and  7 , a screw feeder  1  is shown mounted on upstanding brackets  2 A which are fixed to stanchions  2 B of carriage  3  for movement along with screw driving equipment (not shown), which is also to be attached to stanchion  2 B to receive screws from feeder  1 . Carriage  3  bears a pair of axles  4 , each of which has a guide wheel  5  at one end thereof and a bearing wheel  6  at the other. As best seen in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , wheels  5  and  6  will roll along guide beam  7  and bearing beam  8  of associated assembly equipment (not shown) to move carriage  3  between locations for screw operations. 
   Screw feeder  1  has a collator section  9  and a dispensing section  10 . Axle  11  is mounted on bracket arms  12  and collator section  9  is mounted on axle  11  by journal bearings  12  for rotation thereabout. Air piston  14  is secured at one end to collator section  9  by pivot  15  and at the other end by a pivot to a base (not shown). Piston  14  is for urging against collator section  9  to pivot it about axle  11  and thus to reciprocate it between two different positions as will be described. Dispensing section  10  is similarly mounted on axle  11  adjacent collator section  9  by journal bearings  16  also for rotation thereabout. Air piston  17  is secured at one end to dispensing section  10  by pivot  18  and at the other end by a pivot to a base (not shown) for urging against dispensing section  10  to pivot it about axle  11  to different positions as will be described. 
   Collator section  9  comprises a collator box or container  19  which has end walls  20  and  21  that extend parallel to axle  11  and define the end  22  thereof adjacent to axle  11  and the opposed end  23  distant from axle  11 , respectively. Side walls  24  of collator box  19  extend transversely to axle  11 . Together the side and end walls will serve to retain a collection of screws in the collator during reciprocation thereof about axle  11 . A series of narrow rectangular plates  25  form the floor  26  of collator box  19 . Each plate  25  extends with its narrow width parallel to axle  11  and its longitudinal sides transverse thereto. Plates  25  in the longitudinal direction toward axis extend to and terminate adjacent  21  to axle  11 . In the longitudinal direction away from axle  11 , plates  25  extend to end  23  distant from axle  11 . Adjacent plates  25  are spaced apart at their longitudinal margins to form slots  27  therebetween which are also transverse to axle  11 . Slots  27  are narrower than the diameter of the heads of the screws to be collated and dispensed but are wide enough to receive the shanks of the screws loosely enough that that the screws may fall into the slots and be slid therealong. As best seen in  FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  4  the screws  28  will be suspended in the slots by the screw heads resting against the tops of plates  25  at the margins of the slots  27 . In the direction of end  23  slots  27  extend a short distance under and beyond end wall  21  and their ends  13  are open so that screws moving to ends  13  can slide out of their respective slots. 
   End wall  20  terminates at a lower margin  29  at a distance above floor  26  leaving a rectangular gap therebetween for a flow regulator gate  30  as will be described below. 
   Extending over floor  26  and supported by the tops of walls  20 ,  21  and  24  is a box cover  31  having a central opening covered by flexible flange which screws may be lifted for inserting screws into the box for feeding by the screw feeder. 
   As seen in  FIGS. 1 ,  3  and  7 , axle  32  under floor  26  of collator box  19  at about the midpoint between end walls  20  and  21  extends thereacross parallel to axle  11 . Axle  32  is mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis by means of bearings  33  which are affixed to side walls  24  at either side. An arm  34  is mounted on one end of axle  32  extending axially downwardly below axle  32 . An air piston  36  is secured at one end by pivot  35  to the axially outward end of arm  34  and at the other end to side wall  24  by pivot  37 . Piston  36  may be urged against the outward end of arm  34  and move it to thereby rotate axle  32  about 100 degrees. Pins  38  are mounted in a row along axle  32  and each pin location is immediately below a slot  27  in floor  26 . With arm  34  in the downward position as shown in  FIG. 3 , the row of pins  38  extend directly upwardly through slots  27  and into box  19 . With arm  34  rotated by operation of piston  36 , pins  38  are retracted through slots  27  to a position completely below floor  26  and out of the path of screws moving along slots  27 , as seen in  FIG. 8 . 
   At end  23  of box  19  end wall  21  is hung in a manner so that it can swivel open and thus act as a gate for the purpose of removal of screws from the collator in a changeover to feed a different type of screw. This is accomplished by pivots at the top of end wall  21 , one at either side thereof and each pivoting about the same axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the end wall  21 . The pivots each comprise a journal bearing  40  attached to the end wall  21 , a journal bearing  41  attached to a respective side wall  24  and an axle  42  engaged by both journal bearings  40  and  41 . At the outer side of box  19  a piston  43  is secured at one end by pivot  44  to side wall  24  and at the other end to end wall  21  by pivot  45  for urging end wall  21  about pivots  39  between an open position as shown in  FIG. 8  and a closed position, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 3 . End wall  21  at end  23  is otherwise free from attachment to side walls  24  and floor  26  of the box. When the end wall  21  is in the closed position, the bottom margin  42  of end wall  21  abuts floor  26 . In that position the heads of any screws in slots  27  of box  19  will bear against the bottom of wall  21  and thus be retained from sliding out of the box. 
   As seen in  FIG. 6 , box  19  is positioned with its end  22  adjacent axle  11  so that, by operation of piston  14 , it can be rotate downwardly in the direction away from axle  11  to a tilted position where its floor  26  is inclined about 45 degrees from the horizontal and upwardly in the direction toward axle  11  to an upward tilted position where floor  26  is inclined about 45 degrees from the horizontal. 
   Referring particularly to  FIGS. 1 ,  2 A,  3  and  4 , dispensing section  10  comprises a floor  48  having slots  50  each of which is perpendicular to axle  11  and in end to end alignment with a respective slot  27  of box  19 . As seen in  FIG. 2A , cover plates  49  extend over floor  48  and a longitudinal margin of each extends partially over an adjacent slot  50  to help maintain the screws in the slot. Plates  49  are spaced a distance above floor  48  sufficient provide clearance for the heads of the screws in slots  50  that extend above floor  48 . 
   Slots  50  extend longitudinally from end  52  of dispensing section  10  adjacent axle  11  up to and under escapement  53  adjacent end  54  of dispensing section and lying transversely to the longitudinal direction of slots  50 . 
   Escapement  53  has a frame  55  in which escapement bar  56  is slideable over floor  48  transversely to slots  50 , actuated by cylinder  57  as best seen in  FIGS. 1 and 4 . Immediately below escapement bar  56  vertical screw receiving holes or channels  58  extend downwardly through floor  48 . Escapement bar  56  lies in the paths slots  50  and has conventional escapement notches  59  at the side confronting slots  50  which are spaced therealong so a notch  59  will register with each slot  50  when escapement bar is appropriately positioned in its slidable direction. When so registered, a screw may advance into each notch and be dropped down a channel  58 , as shown in progressive steps in balloons A, B and C of  FIG. 4 . When escapement bar  56  is slid out of register, it stops further movement of screws in the direction of end  54  in advance of channels  58 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 5 , tube  60  is attached to the lower end of each channel  58  in escapement  53  to receive screws that drop through the respective channel  58  and transport them by gravity to a site (not shown) where they may be used in automatic screw driving equipment. 
   Dispensing section  10  is positioned with its end  52  adjacent axle. By operation of piston  17 , dispensing section  10  can be rotate downwardly in the direction away from axle  11  to a tilted position where its floor  26  is inclined about 40 degrees from the horizontal and rotated upwardly in the direction toward axles  11  to a tilted position where floor  26  is inclined about 45 degrees from the horizontal. 
   Dispensing section  10  is positioned along axle  11 , relative to the position of box  19 , so that in the direction normal to axle  11  each of slots  50  aligns with a respective slot  27  of box  19 . When dispensing section  10  is at its downwardly tilted position and box  19  is at its upward tilted position, end  52  of the dispensing section is in direct abutment with end  22  of box  19 . At that relative position floor  26  of box  19 , each of its slots  27  is aligned with a slot  50  of dispensing section  10  and together they form a continuous slot. Similarly, when dispensing section  10  is at its upwardly tilted position and box  19  is at its downward tilted position, end  52  of the dispensing section is in direct abutment with end  22  of box  19  and each of slots  27  is aligned with a respective slot  50  to form a continuous slot. 
   Referring now to  FIGS. 9 , regulator gate  30  is positioned in the gap between lower margin  29  of end wall  20  and floor  26  of box  19 . Gate  30  has portals  62  along its length, each positioned to be over a slot  27  of box  19 . Integral with gate  30 , at either end thereof, are operating rods  63 , each extending over and supported by a respective bearing  12  of collator section  9 . As seen in  FIGS. 1 and 4 , each rod  63  is held by a spring  64  that is fastened at the other end to a side wall  24  of box  19 . Springs  64  urge rods  63  and thus gate  61  to follow box  19  as it rotates downwardly. At either side a stop  65  projects upwardly from a respective journal bearing  16  of dispensing section  10  into the path of movement of the respective rod  63  for following box  19  as it rotates downwardly about axle  11 . Additionally, at one side a stop  66  extends above an arm of bracket  2 A of the feeder and stop  66  is also in the path of movement of the rod on that side for following box  19  downward. 
   With the dispensing section  10  downwardly inclined for feeding operation, gate  30  will be closed against floor  26  when box  19  moves to its upwardly inclined position so that screws in the box can move into the dispensing section only through portals  62  over slots  27 . Then when box  19  moves to its downwardly inclined position, rods  63  will be engaged by stops  65  thus preventing gate  30  from following box  19  downwardly. As seen in  FIGS. 2 and 9 , this brings gate  30  to a raised position over floor  26 , thus freeing any screws jammed in portals  62  or under gate  30  to move back to the lower end of box  19 . 
   When box  19  is moved to the downwardly inclined position and dispensing section to its upwardly inclined position for changeover to other screws, stop  66  will engage rod  63  on that side and prevent gate  30  from following box  19  downwardly. Thus, gate  30  will be raised from floor  26  so that screws sliding down from dispensing section  10  are not impeded in their movement back to box  19 . 
   For convenience, means is provided for collecting and accumulating screws falling from box  19  during changeover to a different type of screw. In this embodiment a chute  68  is positioned so that its mouth is below end  23  of box  19 . Thus, when box  19  is tipped to tilt downward toward end  23  with wall  21  in the open position, the screws will all spill into chute  68  and fall downward into pipe  69  connected at the bottom thereof. Pipe  69  can then carry the screws to a convenient collection container (not shown). As seen in  FIG. 2 , in this particular embodiment, chute  68  is attached by flange  70  to guide beam  7  of the associated assembly equipment. Thus, for use of chute  68  to collect screws in this embodiment, screw feeder  1  is first moved transversely along beams  7  and  8  to a position where chute  68  is directly below end  23  of box  19 . In other embodiments chute  68  may attached directly to the feeder so that it is always in position for collecting screws on changeover. 
   Operation of the feeder proceeds as follows. For feeder operation, dispensing section  10  will be set at its downward tilted position to receive screws transferred over from the collator section. In collator section  9  pins  38  will be set in their upright position extending into box  19  by operation of piston  36 . A collection of the selected type of screw is deposited in the box by the operator and box  19  is set to continuously reciprocate between its upward and downward tilted positions by actuation of piston  14 . The oscillation of the box causes the screws  28  lying loosely therein to slide from one end to the other and randomly fall into slots  27  with the screws oriented in a generally heads up position. Pins  38  facilitate screw collation by disrupting the screws as they slide past during reciprocation, causing them to tumble and separate so that they are more likely to fall into slots  27 . Screws that have fallen into slots  27  downstream of pins  38  will queue up behind pins  38  during oscillation of box downward and the mass of uncollated screws will slide to the upstream end of box  19 . Upon oscillation of box  19  back to the upwardly tilted position, the queued screws downstream of pins  38  will slide down the downstream end  22  of box  19  ahead of the uncollated screws sliding down from the upstream end  23  and thus they will transfer over from slots  27  to slots  50  unimpeded by the uncollated screws. 
   The screws thus received in each slot  50  will move downward by gravity to escapement  53  to be picked off one by one by the escapement for deposit in their respective receiver. When box  19  reaches it upward tilted position screws captured in slots  27  downstream of pins  38  will slide down their respective slot toward end  22 , pass over to and become engaged by in adjacent slot  50  in dispensing section  10 . These screws will then slide down their respective slot  50  to form a queue in front of escapement bar  56  with the lead screw against the escapement bar. Escapement bar  56  is then actuated to pick off the lead screws at each slot, one at a time, and drop the screws down through their respective tubes  60  to a receiver for each tube (not shown). 
   The foregoing cycle will be repeated in the feeding operation until the operator wishes to feed a different type of screw to the receivers. The operator will then stop the reciprocation cycle with box  19  at its downward tilted position. If necessary, screw feeder  1  is then moved along guide beam  7  and bearing beam  8  to bring end  23  of box  19  directly under chute  68 . Piston  36  is actuated to move pins  38  to the position below box  19  and out of the path of screws  28  in slots  27 . Cylinder  17  is actuated to bring dispensing section  10  to its upward tilted position, thus bringing its end  52  into abutment with end  22  of box  19  and aligning slots  27  with slots  50 . This will cause all of the screws in slots  50  of dispensing section  10  queued at escapement bar  56  to slide down slots  50  and cross back over to the respective slots  27 . Piston  43  is actuated to raise wall  21  from floor  26  and out of the path of screws sliding on floor  26  and in slots  27 . Thus, all of the screws  28  on the collator floor will slide out end  23  thereof, as will all of the screws  28  in slots  27  of the box slots, including those that have slid back from slots  50  of dispensing section  10 . The screws will all fall into chute  68  for collection and deposit in an appropriate container for later use. 
   Piston  43  will then be actuated to close wall  21 , piston  36  will be activated to again raise pins  38  to their upright position above box floor  26  and piston  17  will be actuated to bring dispenser section  10  to its downward tilted position. The newly selected screws may then be deposited in box  19  and the screw feeding cycle resumed with the new screws. 
   Alternative embodiments of this invention may be based upon the screw feeders disclosed in Applicant&#39;s U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,473, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Rather than utilizing separately articulating collators and dispensing section as in the above embodiment, in the screw feeder design disclosed in the patent the dispensing section is contiguous with the collator and reciprocates with it within the same container. As in the above embodiment, the slots of the collator section may be extended completely to end the of the collator distant from the dispensing section and the end wall at that end provided with a gate that can open out of the screw pathways of the slots and of screws sliding along the collator floor. A screw collecting funnel may also be placed below the end of the collator as in the above embodiment. For the screw changeover in the case of an embodiment based upon  FIGS. 11-13  of Patent &#39;473, the fingers  39  are first moved out of the slots by operation of air cylinder  33  to permit screws adjacent the escapement to slide toward the collator. Similarly, for the embodiment of  FIGS. 14-15  of Patent &#39;473, detent rods  51  are first moved out of the slots by operation of air cylinder  33 . The collator can then be brought to the downward tilted position so that the all the screws queued in the slot up to the escapement will slide down and exit the collator into the funnel along with the loose screws lying in the collator. For screw changeover of an embodiment based on  FIGS. 1 to 10  of Pat &#39;473 the screws adjacent the escapement in the recessed portion of the groove will not slide toward the collator so they will still require removal by hand.