Patent GB-826853-A (GB)
Title: Article handling device
Inventor: CLEAVELAND BURTON LOWELL
IPC: H01J19/46
Filed: 1956-02-14
Abstract: 826,853. Packaging. SYLVANIA ELECTRIC PRODUCTS Inc. Feb. 14, 1956, No. 4638/56. Class 94(1). [Also in Group XXX] In an article handling device for depositing articles such as the grids of electric discharge tubes into the pockets of a storage tray, the articles pass one at a time along a conveyer trough into contact with a stop where they are picked up in turn by a pick-up head which is reciprocated from a position above the conveyer trough to a position at the side of the trough and there caused to release such article into a pocket of the tray, the stop and pick-up head being movable together along the conveyer trough so that a predetermined number of articles can be deposited in each pocket of a row of pockets in the tray. As shown, each grid 10, as it is cut off from a continuous series of grids wound in a machine GM, is conveyed along the conveyer trough 30 by a blast of air from an air chamber 31 until it reaches the stop 35. Stop 35, together with the pick-up head 38, is mounted on a longitudinally slidable carriage 50, Fig. 7. The head 38 comprises a suction nozzle 46 and is carried by parallel links 47, 48 from the carriage so that the nozzle can be moved from a position over the conveyer trough to the position A above a pocket of the tray 19. For this purpose link 47 is secured to a splined shaft 52 which is slidable through and rotatable by a hydraulic oscillatory motor 55. Means is provided for applying suction to the nozzle 46 when it is above the conveyer trough to pick-up a grid 10 located against the stop, and to cut off the suction when the nozzle reaches the position A to deposit the grid in a pocket of the tray. For indexing the stop and pick-up head along a row of pockets in the tray 19 the carriage 50 carries a rack 72 engaged by a pinion 71 driven by a reversible hydraulic motor 70, Fig. 8, and also an escapement slide 66 having a longitudinal slot 80 and transverse slots 68. A pin 81 carried by a slidable bar 82 depends into the slot 80 so as to be engaged by the ends of the slot at the two limits of travel of the carriage to operate, through the downturned end portions 84 engaging levers 85 a reversing valve 86 for the motor 70. A pin 67 on a plate 66 pivoted on a horizontal pin to the supporting framework is adapted to engage each of the slots 68 in turn to stop the carriage in each of its intermediate positions for registering the nozzle 46 with each pocket in turn of a row of pockets in the tray 19. Indexing is effected during the return of nozzle 46 from its position over a pocket to its position over the conveyer by ratchet mechanism 57, 58 operated through a link 59 from a crank 56 within which the shaft 52 is slidable. Operation of the ratchet wheel 57 rotates through one quarter revolution a disc 62 carrying a number of pins, e.g. four if one grid is to be deposited in each pocket or one if four grids are to be deposited in each pocket. Each pin during one of the quarter revolutions of disc 62 passes through in inclined slot 65 in the plate 66 so as to lift the plate to raise the pin 67 from engagement with one slot 68 in the slide 69 and then drop it again to allow the pin 67 to engage the next slot 68, the motor 70 being constantly energised in one or other direction. Upon reaching the last pocket in a row the motor is reversed as described above and simultaneously the tray is indexed to bring the next row of pockets into position to receive the grids. Tray indexing mechanism. In addition to reversing the hydraulic motor 70, the operation of valve 86 causes the reversal of operation of a hydraulic cylinder 90, Fig. 12. At each such reversal a slide 93 is moved from left to right, or from right to left. By the arrangement of two pins 94, 104 on the slide co-operating with slotted links 95, 105 linked to diametrically opposite points on a pawl carrier 96 and acted on by a spring 100 the movement of slide 93 in either direction is caused to oscillate the pawl carrier through an angle sufficient to pick up one tooth of a ratchet wheel 98 and rotate this wheel through an apporpriate angle. A sprocket wheel 99, Fig. 1, is secured on the same shaft as wheel 98, and drives an endless conveyer chain 41 carrying pins 40 adapted to engage the rear ends of each of a succession of trays 19 which are fed from a magazine 20 and passed along rails 22, 23 below the trough 30. The ratchet wheel 98 has teeth corresponding to the number of rows of pockets in a tray so that at each actuation of wheel 98 the next row of pockets in a tray is brought into position to receive the grids. One of the teeth of wheel 98 is of greater pitch than the remainder and corresponds to the larger distance between the last row of one tray and the first row of the next. Feeding trays one-by-one from magazines. Fresh trays 19 are fed to the rails 22, 23 from the magazine 20, in which the trays are nested in each other by reducing their lower margins, by the alternate operation of front and rear escapement levers 124, 126, Figs. 1 and 5, in response to the up and down motions of a vertically reciprocating platform 120. The platform 120 has laterally spaced rails 122 adapted to be aligned with the rails 22, 23 when the platform is in its lowered position. An up-and-down movement is given to the platform at the desired intervals by a hydraulic cylinder 114 controlled by a cam-operated valve (not shown) driven from the sprocket wheel 99. On the upward movement of platform 120 the lever 124 is moved outwardly to release the forward end of the bottom tray onto the rails 122 through the toggle action of a link 125 pivotally connected between the lever and the platform. Upon downward movement of the platform a pivoted, spring-loaded catch 128 mounted on the platform engages in a notch 129 in an adjustable bracket 130 on the lever 130 causing it to release the rear end of the tray which is then lowered into the path of the chain pins 40 whilst the levers 124, 126 return to retain the following tray. The arrangement is such that during the upward movement of the platform the catch 128 engages the bracket 130 but does not move the lever 126 sufficiently to release the tray. Stacking trays. The filled trays are stacked by an up-and-down motion given to a further platform 222 by a hydraulic cylinder 116 which is actuated simultaneously with the cylinder 114 to raise a filled tray between guide plates 226 to form a stack, the tray being retained in the stack by spring-loaded catches 230. Specification 710,409 [Group XXII], is referred to.