Patent GB-635756-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to continuous production processes
IPC: B07C5/00
Filed: 1946-04-15
Abstract: 635,756. Conveyers. SARGROVE ELECTRONICS, Ltd., and SARGROVE, J. A. April 15, 1946, No. 11487. [Class 78 (i)] [Also in Groups XXXVI, XXXVII and XL (b)] A machine for the automatic production of an article by a succession of processing or assembling operations performed automatically in sequence, is divided into a plurality of sections in each of which at least one operation is performed and some at least of which include means for testing the operation performed in that section whereby the operation in a section which includes testing means is controlled in response to said testing means. The machine shown is for the processing of insulating plates in the manufacture of electrical apparatus as described in Specification 570,877, [Group XL]. When a plate 11 is offered to the conveyer 10 it operates a presence detecting device 12 which may consist of a trolley switch or a photoelectric cell the response of which is applied over a control line 13 to a main control unit 14 which in turn over control line 15 energizes a motor 16 to drive the conveyer until the plate has reached the discharge end. A grit blasting apparatus 22, which operates upon the plate as it passes, has associated therewith a presence detecting device 20, the response of which is applied over the control line 21 and main control unit 14 to a control unit 24 through which compressed air is supplied to the grit blasting apparatus. Grit is admitted to the nozzle 22 through control unit 26 which over the control unit 14 interrupts the supply of compressed air and stops the conveyer in response to a failure in the grit supply or choking of the nozzle. Following the grit blasting station a plate is next applied to a stage 29 where it is examined photoelectrically, a signal related to its roughness being applied to the main control unit 14 over the control line 32 such that the conditions of operation of the grit blasting stage may be automatically readjusted or the speed of the conveyer varied if the roughness is not within permitted limits, or such that the conveyer 10 is stopped if the roughness departs excessively from such limits or if a succession of plates are not within permitted limits, when an alarm may also be given. Plates leaving the conveyer 10 operate a presence detector 33 which controls the motion of the conveyer 36 upon which the plates are carried to a metal spraying process at 40, in which the spraying apparatus 42 is adapted, should a fault occur in its operation, to return a signal to the control unit 35 which stops the apparatus of the spraying section. The plates are discharged from conveyer 36 on to conveyer 60 and are there subjected to a face milling operation at 63 and to an electrical test at 65, unsatisfactory plates being rejected by a deflector 67. A succession of rejections may result in the operation of an alarm signal. A sub-assembly line for sorting and testing eyelets and for rejecting those that are defective feeds a conveyer 92 from which eyelets in the required number and condition are deposited at 88 to be clinched in holes already formed in the panels, the delivery of the eyelets being controlled over main control unit 84 and control line 91 by an indicating device at 88. The main control units 14, 35, 57, and 84 are themselves interconnected by control lines 54, 69 and 98 so that the stopping of any one of the conveyer sections will also cause the preceding conveyer sections to stop whilst allowing all succeeding sections to continue in operation. According to the Provisional Specification, a time lag between a processing operation and the associated test may be provided by increasing the length of the conveyer between the processing and inspection devices. The speed of such a conveyer section may be controlled by the inspection device. It may also be desirable to start certain apparatus in advance of the movement of the article, for example, spraying apparatus, automatic welders and the like.