Patent GB-715009-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for orienting lead-in wires of electric lamps and like electrical devices
IPC: H01J9/38
Filed: 1952-12-29
Abstract: 715,009. Making electric lamps and like devices. SYLVANIA ELECTRIC PRODUCTS, Inc. Dec. 29, 1952 [Dec. 31, 1951], No. 32912/52. Class 39 (2) Apparatus for separating and orienting automatically a pair of leading-in wires projecting from the surface of an electric lamp or like electrical device within a glass or like envelope, e.g. prior to a continuity or other test, comprises a rotatably mounted finger arranged to be moved into proximity to the surface from which the wires project, rotated into a position between the wires, and then retracted away from the said surface while still located between the wires in order to separate them along their whole length. In operating upon the leading-in wires of tubular fluorescent lamps 10, Fig. 2, mounted vertically within a series of pairs of jaws 42 carried by the intermittently indexed chains of a horizontal chain conveyer the orienting of the leading-in wires 12 at the lower ends of the tubes is effected in three stages by apparatus carried by a bracket 46 which is supported by a channel plate 44 extending longitudinally between the straight parallel runs of the conveyer chains 20. A longitudinal shaft 26 geared at one end to the driving sprocket of the conveyer carries a cam 56 which operates the orienting means through a rocking arm 52, Fig. 3, mounted on a shaft 50 carried by the bracket 46 in a position below a block 48 also mounted on the bracket. The rocking arm 52 is bifurcated at one end which is provided with two inwardly directed pins to engage between the flanges of a collar 60 on a vertical, spring-loaded shaft 62 that is slidable within the block 48. The part of the shaft 62 above the block 48 carries a horizontal bar 64, Fig. 2, and an inverted saddle or yoke 66 which forms a mounting for a shaft supporting a plate 72 shaped to form a knifelike finger 73, a lower frontal projection 75, and a rearward mounting for a wedge 77. A stop 78 is mounted at the front end of the top of the block 48, and near the other end is mounted a bifurcated bracket 80 comprising two vertical arms, on opposite sides of the plate 72, and each supporting a spring-loaded ball which is in frictional engagement with the surface of the plate 72. Fig. 2 shows the apparatus in its rest position on the arrival of a tubular lamp 10 at the work station A at which the apparatus is located, whereupon the cam 56 is operated to lift the shaft 62 until the finger 73 enters the re-entrant end 13 of the lamp and is adjacent to the leading- in wires. The shaft 62 next starts its downward stroke, whereupon the drag exerted by the spring-loaded balls tilts the plate 72 and throws the finger 73 between the leading- in wires 12, the extent of the tilting being limited by a stop 70 on the bar 64. The shaft 62 continues to move the tilted plate downwardly between the leading-in wires until the projection 75 on the plate strikes the stop 78, the further movement of the shaft effecting a return of the plate to its normal position. As soon as the return swing of the plate 72 is started the conveyer begins to move the lamp towards the next station B, so that the wires 12 are further parted by the wedge 77 and, upon arrival at station B, the wires engage the periphery of a spreading-plate 88, secured on the upper end of a rod 90 mounted on the block 48. The dwell at station B is of sufficient duration for the wires, spread apart by the plate 88, to overcome their springiness and remain set after the lamp moves from that station.