Patent GB-386467-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in means for transferring articles from one conveyer to another
IPC: B65G47/00
Filed: 1932-02-29
Abstract: 386,467. Glass manufacture. SIMPLEX ENGINEERING CO. and SYLVESTER, J., Washington Trust Building, Washington, U.S.A. Feb. 29, 1932, No. 6050. [Class 56.] A device for transferring glass articles singly from one conveyer to another moving at rightangles thereto comprises a carriage movable in the direction of travel of one conveyer and provided with an arm extensible in the direction of travel of the other conveyer, and means for varying the extent of the movement of the arm according to the position of the carriage relatively to the conveyer to which the articles are being transferred in order that they may be deposited thereon in approximately a straight line. Bottles B, Fig. 2, are brought to the leer mouth by a conveyer 3, and are transferred to the leer conveyer 1 by a gripping device 46 mounted on a block 23, which is movable in the direction of movement of the conveyer 1 and is mounted in a carriage 4 movable upon rails 5 parallel to the conveyer 3 by rack-and-pinion mechanism 6, 7. The jaws 46 are pivoted to a head 44, which is reciprocated by an arm 45 mounted on a rod 25, Fig. 4, and are linked to a pair of bell-crank levers 47 pivoted to the head. These levers are linked to a telescopic rod 26 mounted in the block 23 which normally is maintained at maximum length by a spring 39 and at the extreme leftward limit of its movement by a spring 42. The rod 25 also is mounted in the block 23 and is acted on by a spring 41. This rod is caused to rotate as it reciprocates by the engagement of a pin 37 with a curved slot 38 in the block. A rack 8 mounted on the block gears with a segmental pinion 9 and is connected by an adjustable link 10 to a member 11 loose on a shaft 12. A pawl 14 on the member 11 engages a ratchet disc 13 fast on the shaft 12, and causes the shaft to rotate counterclockwise as the rack 8 reciprocates. This reciprocation is caused by the oscillation of an arm 30 which is connected by a pin 36 to a rod 24 mounted in the block, and is limited in one direction by an obliquely arranged stop rail 49 in the path of a lug 48. The rod 24 is provided with adjustable abutments which engage the block alternately at opposite ends and reciprocate it. The arm 30 is mouuted on a shaft 29, and is pulled in a clockwise direction by a spring 31. The arm is moved in the opposite direction by the action of an electromagnet on a lever 33. The companion bevelled pinions 16, 17 of a clutch are mounted loosely on the axle 15 of the pinion 7, and a companion bevelled pinion 18 is fixed upon the shaft 12. As this shaft turns, the pinions 16, 17 are rotated in opposite directions upon the axle 15, and the carriage 4 is moved in one direction or the other depending on the position of a clutch block 19. The clutch block keyed to the axle 15 is moved into engagement with either of the pinions 16, 17 by the swinging of an arm 20 which is tree on a shaft 64. An arm 65 also mounted freely on the shaft 64 is connected to the arm 20 by a spring 21. The arm 65 is swung by engagement with stops 22 arranged obliquely at opposite ends of the range of travel of the carriage, and the rail 49 is turned about a central vertical pivot to reverse its obliquity by the action of a spring 58 on a lever 57, Fig. 4. In order that the apparatus may be set into operation by the progress of a bottle along the conveyer 3, the bottle is arranged to effect a diminution of the light entering the window of a casing on the carriage which contains a thyratron tube. This change in illumination through the medium of a photoelectric cell changes the intensity of the current in an electric circuit containing an electromagnet 53, and this magnet raises the latch 54 to release the contact member 51 whereupon the electromagnet controlling the arm 30 is de-energized. The spring 31 then moves the block 23 to the right, and the bottle is picked up and transferred to the conveyer 1. During this action, the carriage is moved parallel to the conveyer 3, and in the next series of operations, the block 23 will have a greater movement owing to the obliquity of the rail 49, and the bottle will be deposited by the side of the first bottle.