Patent GB-720423-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to the manufacture of electric lamps
IPC: H01J9/46
Filed: 1952-06-27
Abstract: 720,423. Making electric lamps. BRITISH THOMSON-HOUSTON CO., Ltd. June 27, 1952 [June 30, 1951], No. 16246/52. Class 39 (2) In order to orient the laterally projecting end of a side leading-in wire of an electric incandescent lamp or similar device located in a holding chuck preparatory to a further operation, e.g. testing prior to capping, the bulb is engaged by means which rotate it until the laterally projecting wire is located in a predetermined angular direction, whereupon a contact device completes an electric circuit which effects the disengagement of the rotating means. In the example, the bulbs are fed into chuck assemblies, each consisting of a rectangular base 8 supporting a pair of pivoted spring-pressed jaws 9, 10 which hold the bulb upright on a crowsfoot-shaped cup 15. The undersides of the bases 8 are fastened to the links of a chair 16 and supported horizontally upon a pair of guide rails 17, 18 along which they are indexed, the bases being provided with guard plates 19, 20 which overlap those of bases to the front and rear to prevent broken glass from falling on to and fouling the chain drive. The bulbrotating mechanism, shown operating on the bulb in chuck assembly 7b comprises four rollers 23 ... 26 made of flexible material such as rubber, the front pair 23, 24 being secured to the lower ends of vertical shafts 27, 28 located within sleeves 27<SP>1</SP>, 28<SP>1</SP> depending from a frame member 29 provided with end lugs whereby it is pivotally supported on a horizontal shaft 32 carried by a bracket 31. The rollers 25. 26 are similarly mounted on vertical shafts depending from a frame member 30 pivotally supported on a horizontal shaft 33 in bracket 31. The front pair of rollers 23, 24 are rotated continuously by gearing the upper ends of their shafts 27, 28 to a horizontal shaft 32 by bevel gears 35, 36, the shaft 32 being, in turn, geared by bevels 38 to a shaft 37 driven by an electric motor 39. Normally, the frame members 29, 30 pivot inwardly due to their own weight. assisted by a tensioned spring 42, so that the rollers 23-26 engage the bulb surface and cause it to rotate. With the bulb positioned for rotation, the vertical leading-in wire 3 is lightly gripped between a blade contact 47 on the frame member 29 and a spring wire contact 48 on the frame member 30 and, when rotation of the bulb brings the laterally projecting leading-in wire 4 against a vertical spring blade 49, the circuit of a solenoid 43 is completed. The armature 44 of the solenoid is linked to a pair of toggles 45, 46 connected to the frame members 29, 30 respectively, so that when the solenoid is energized the frame members are swung to carry the rollers 23-26 away from the bulb surface. To ensure that the vertical spring blade 49 does hot bar the path of a bulb or leading-in wires during the indexing of the conveyer, it is carried by a horizontal bar 50 which is pivoted at 51 to the bracket 31 and connected by a short link 53 to the solenoid armature 44, an auxiliary circuit associated with the solenoid being closed by a cam during movement of the conveyer, with the result that the spring blade 49 is lifted clear of the path of the bulbs. In a modification, Fig. 4, the holding chuck for the bulb comprises a short open-ended cylinder 71 upon which the bulb is held by jaws 9 and 10, and the rotation of the bulb is effected by a rubber suction cup 73 mounted on a hollow rotary-spindle 74 which is lifted upwardly within the cylinder 71 to engage the bulb.