Patent GB-987781-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to inspection apparatus
Inventor: FIELD MICHAEL HUGHES BUTTER
IPC: B21B39/00
Filed: 1960-12-08
Abstract: 987,781. Separating solid materials. BRITISH IRON & STEEL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION. Feb. 23, 1962 [Dec. 8, 1960], No. 42258/60. Heading B2H. [Also in Division B8] A method of inspecting multi-faced articles comprises feeding the articles intermittently forward step-by-step, turning the articles by successive feeding steps to present different faces for inspection and discharging the articles along different routes according to the result of the inspection. In the arrangement shown, billets 12, which require inspection, are delivered in bundles to an inspection table A, where they are received between inclined guides 10, and then delivered by an intermittently run chain conveyer 13 to an inspection table B in front of two operators or inspectors 14. An "unscrambler" capable of delivering billets in turn to the position B from a tangled bundle at position A may be provided. Four-armed star wheels 15 are provided at point B and present different faces of the billets for inspection as the star wheels 15 are rotated through 90 degrees and move the billets in a step-by-step manner towards the operators 14. The billet nearest the operators 14 at point 16a is prevented from falling off the last star wheel 15 by withdrawal arms 16b. The billets on leaving the last star wheel 15 fall into the forks of arms 40, pivoted at 41, and if the billet concerned is free from fault the arms 40 are pivoted anticlockwise and the billet is pushed off the arms 40 by pusher arms 42, pivoted about the pivot 41, and the billet slides down guide rails 43 on to an intermittently run chain conveyer 18 which delivers such billets to a bin or truck running on a narrow gauge track 44. If, however, a billet at position 16a is faulty it falls on to the forked arms 40 and is pushed by the arms 42 on to a roller conveyer 28 where it remains until a maximum of, say, six such billets arrive, which billets are then permitted on the opening of a gate K to run under gravity down a conveyer 28 either singly or as a batch to a position D. At position D the defective billets are pushed by variable stroke hydraulic rams 30 on to joists 32 of a deseaming bench. Successive batches are spaced as at 33, and are moved from positions E1 to E2 by feed fingers 34 carried by chains. When the billets have been deseamed at El or E2 they are pushed off the joists 32 by the feed fingers 34 into a bin or added to the same truck on the track 44 containing the fault-free billets delivered thereto by the conveyer 18. Billets found defective at B and which are -to be scrapped are removed by a crane from the roller conveyer 28 or pushed by rams into a truck or bins. In a modification, Figs. 4 and 5 (not shown), billets found free from fault are delivered by the conveyer 18 on to one of two hinged conveyers operating in conjunction therewith to a truck running on any one of three tracks. An operator may be provided with a series of press buttons, one for each position on the inspection bench B, which actuate a memory store in order to ensure that a defective billet is delivered to the appropriate position on discharge from the leading star wheel 15, Fig. 6 (not shown).