Patent GB-623032-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to gauging machine
IPC: B07C5/12
Filed: 1946-07-25
Abstract: 623,032. Gauging-apparatus. HARTFORD EMPIRE CO. July 25, 1946, No. 22179. Convention date, April 27. [Class 106 (ii)] In an article gauging machine articles having an externally approximately circular portion to be gauged are accommodated individually in vertical pockets in the periphery of a rotary turret and the pockets are presented in turn successively at loading, gauging, rejecting and delivery stations located at angularly spaced places round the periphery of the turret. The turret T, Figs. 1 and 3, comprises three spiders 18, 19, 20 fastened together by cap bolts 21. The hub of spider 18 rests on the hub 22 of a rotary carrier 23 mounted on a vertical shaft 1 journalled in two plates 3 and 7 and'rotated in step-by-step manner by a Geneva mechanism from a continuously rotating shaft 13 driven from a motor 10. The three spiders 18, 19, 20 and the carrier are keyed to the shaft 1 by a key 26 and are retained thereon by a retaining disc 27. The spiders 18, 19, 20 have radial arms 18a, 19a and 20a, the latter two of which form side walls of article receiving pockets P, the bottoms of which are constituted by an annular flat strip 29 carried by the radial arms 18a. The arms 20a have at their outer ends rollers 30 and the arms 19a carry rollers 32 by means of which the articles are positioned in the pockets P. The articles are fed to the pockets P from mechanism which comprises a bottom member 34 and a pair of laterally adjustable guide rails 35, 36 forming a guide-way between a moving conveyer 37 and the pockets P. The articles are moved along the guide-way by pusher rollers 43 on links 44 of an endless chain 45 on sprocket-wheels 46 and 47 on vertical shafts 48 and 49 respectively, the shaft 49 being driven from the rotating shaft 13. At the beginning of the guide-way there is provided opposite the chain 45 a series of spring-pressed fingers 50 which serve, by yielding to pressure, to prevent jamming of the articles 33. The articles 33 in the pockets P are retained against accidental outward displacement by a guard member 53 which at the guide-way has an adjustable yieldable part 54. Each article 33 is in turn brought to a gauging device G comprising an inner gauging roller 59 suspended from a supporting bracket 60 and a diametrically opposite roller 61, which rollers engage the rim of the article 33 in the adjacent pocket. The bracket 60 is carried by a housing 62 having an opening 63 through which projects the roller 61 pivotally suspended from one end 64 of a bell-crank 65, the other arm 67 of which carries a pair of oppositely extending adjustable contacts 70, 71 which co-operate with studs 72, 73 of switches 74, 75 respectively. The arm 67 is normally held against a stop 68 by a spring 76 in which position the contact 70 abuts the stud 72, but the operating circuit of the switch 74 is not closed. A shaft 79 driven from the shaft 13 carries a roller 78 which engages and spins the article 33 which is being gauged. If the article 33 is within prescribed limits as regards rim diameter and surface contour, neither of the contacts 70, 71 of the arm 67 will abut their corresponding studs 72, 73. If, however, the article is not within the prescribed limits, one of the switches 74, 75 will be closed at the same time as a cam 95 on the shaft 13 co-operates with a roller 99 on an arm 98, Fig. 7, to close a switch 96 and so energize a solenoid 105. The solenoid then causes a pusher arm, not shown, to push inwardly the corresponding pin 157, Fig. 3, of a group of pins equal in number and vertically in line with the pockets and carried by the carrier 23. After being gauged, the article reaches a reject station R where, if the corresponding pin 157 is in the inner position, it is ejected by an arm 126, as described later. The good articles pass the station R to a delivery station D where a swingable arm 108 will eject them through a shoot 106 to the conveyer 37. The arm 108, Fig. 6, is connected to a shaft 109 having a lower arm 112 connected by a link 113 to a crank 114 on a sleeve 115 on a shaft 116. The sleeve 115 carries a sprocket 120 which is driven from the shaft 49. The arm 108 will thus be moved from its dotted line position to its full line position each time there is a pocket P at the station D. The arm 126 is integral with a sleeve 132 loosely mounted on the shaft 109 and carries a swingable latch block 134 which may be moved from its dotted line position to its full line position, Fig. 6, so that the arm 108 as it swings will take with it the arm 126. The movement of the latch 134 is determined by the position of the pin 157 of the pocket at the station R. If the pin 157 is retracted, i.e. if the article at R is defective, it will abut a cam 147, Fig. 6, and by riding up the high portion 148 thereof will cause the arm 142 to raise a rod 139 to raise the latch 134. The upward motion of the rod 139 causes a gate 127 at the station R to move downwardly, so allowing the article to be ejected by the arm 126. As the carrier 23 continues to rotate, the retracted pins 157 are reset outwardly by a cam 163.