Patent GB-919357-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to transfer mechanisms
IPC: B65G47/61
Filed: 1959-12-08
Abstract: 919,357. Transferring articles from one conveyer to another; rope railways. UDYLITE RESEARCH CORPORATION. Dec. 8, 1959 [Jan. 7, 1959], No. 41720/59. Classes 78 (1) and 104 (2). In electroplating or like apparatus comprising a machine conveyer 26 for conveying workcarrying racks around the apparatus and a shop conveyer 20 for supplying racks 22 carrying work to be plated and for removing racks 22<SP>1</SP> carrying plated work, the racks are transferred between the two conveyers by a reciprocating conveyer arrangement comprising either a pair of carriages 60, 60<SP>1</SP>, Fig. 1, or a single carriage 162, Fig. 8, movable on tracks extending between the machine conveyer and the shop conveyer, the or each carriage having a vertically movable rack engaging device adapted to raise and lower a rack during movement of the carriage, and to lift the rack from the shop conveyer and deposit it on the machine conveyer, or vice versa. In one embodiment, Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5, each of two carriages 60, 60<SP>1</SP> is reciprocated horizontally along rail tracks 52, Fig. 5, in respective support frameworks by a cylinder whose piston rod 84 acts on a depending part 78 on the carriage. Each track 52 comprises two angle irons 56, 58 in which rollers 66 on stub shafts 68 secured to the carriage run. Each carriage also includes tubular side members 72 in each of which is vertically slidable a post 88, on the upper end of which is a W-shaped member 90 adapted to receive a lateral projection 92 of inverted V-shape secured to a rack 22 or 22<SP>1</SP>. On the lower end of each post there is mounted a roller 94 engaging in a U-shaped track 98 which extends in the direction of the tracks 52 and is pivoted at the end adjacent the machine conveyer about a horizontal shaft. The ends of the tracks 98 for each carriage adjacent the shop conveyer are carried by a cross member 110, the two cross members carrying respective upstanding bracket assemblies 108, 108<SP>1</SP>. Piston rods 118 are connected to these bracket assemblies to raise and lower them upon operation of cylinders 120 mounted on the respective support frameworks. The shop conveyer is of overhead type comprising a rail track on which run interconnected or independent load carriers each having a support 126 for a rack. The machine conveyer is also of overhead type, having carriers 130 running on a track which is carried by an elevator structure 30 which is raised and lowered to remove the racks from or insert the racks into a series of electroplating tanks 32, 34. In operation, the supply of pressure fluid to the cylinders operating on piston rods 84 and to the cylinders 120 is so controlled by limit switches operated by the respective carriages and by the conveyers, which operate intermittently on a time cycle, that carriage 60 moves in turn from a standby position to a loading position 36 receives a rack 22 from the machine conveyer by lowering of the structure 30 and raising of the tracks 98, moves from the position 36 to unloading position 40, deposits the rack 22 on the shop conveyer by lowering of the tracks 98, and returns to the standby position. A corresponding series of movements of the carriage 60<SP>1</SP> with respect to loading position 42 and unloading position 38 simultaneously takes place. In a second embodiment, Figs. 8, 9, 11, 13, the single carriage 162 is reciprocated along tracks 160, Fig. 11, between the shop conveyer and the machine conveyer by a pair of endless chains 198 carried on pairs of sprocket wheels one of which is driven by a reversible hydraulic or electric motor. The carriage carries rollers 168 engaging the tracks 160 and includes at each side two depending side members 186 between which there is engaged a disc 174 secured to a bracket 212 which is mounted on the adjacent chain 198. The bracket 212 carries a roller 222 running back and forth along a rail 224 and also a roller 240 engaging a U-shaped bracket 182 on the lower end of a post 174 which is vertically slidable within a tubular side member 172. The upper end of the post carries a projection 176 for engagement with the rack. A pair of abutments 228 are secured to each chain 198 on either side of the bracket 212 to prevent the bracket from tilting while moving horizontally between the sprocket wheels whilst allowing it to rotate about the axis of roller 222 when traversing the end sprockets. By this arrangement the projection 176 during reciprocation of the carriage is caused to follow a selected circular or elliptical path, according to the distance of disc 236 from the axis of roller 222, the axis of disc 236 being either above that of roller 240, coincident therewith for a circular path, or below it. The brackets 212 start and finish on the lower run of chains 198 where their movement is reversed by limit switches 258, 260, Fig. 9, to pass around one pair of sprocket wheels, along the upper runs of chains 198 and around the other pair of sprocket wheels. In one direction of movement projections 176 lift a rack containing unplated articles from the shop conveyer and deposit it on the machine conveyer, and in the other direction of movement they lift a rack containing plated articles from the machine conveyer and deposit it on the shop conveyer, the movements being effected in timed relation with movements of the shop and machine conveyers by further limit switches and time switches, not shown.