Patent GB-454031-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to machines for making electric incandescent lamps
IPC: H01J9/34
Filed: 1935-04-09
Abstract: 454,031. Making electric incandescent lamps. HOFMANN & CO., A., 635, 15th Street, West New York, U.S.A.-(Assignees of Palucki, C. B.) April 9, 1935, No. 11023. Convention date, April 27, 1934. [Class 39 (ii)] A machine for making electric incandescent lamps is provided with one or more travelling heads each provided with means for holding a bulb and a cap loosely assembled thereon, the interior of the lower part of the cap being provided with cement which is heated by a heating-ring. loosely surrounding the cap, whereby the cap and bulb are secured together with the leading-in wires projecting, means also being provided to engage each leading-in wire to bend it close to the lamp base and sever its excess length in one operation. The machine comprises a circular table 31, Fig. 2, with a raised centre part provided with a fixed shaft 33 at the top of which is a hub 34 with fixed radial arms 35 constituting a spider, the outer ends of these arms forming supports for fixed upper and lower circumferential cam tracks 36, 37. The travelling bulbcarrying heads are mounted around the periphery of a turret 40 which has a central web 41 engaging the raised centre of the table and held in position by a plate 32. The turret is advanced intermittently by means of a flanged cam 43 engaging in turn each of a series of studs 42, the number of studs corresponding to the number of bulb-carrying heads. The cam 43 is driven by a gear wheel 45 fixed on its shaft 44 and engaging a worm 46 on a driving shaft 47. The bulb-carrying heads 50, Fig. 4, each comprise a cup or socket 56 at the upper end of a rod 55 which is adjustably mounted within a vertical sleeve 54 supported within bearings 53 in a bracket 52, a helical spring 61 being provided between the lower bearing 53 and a collar 58 on the sleeve 54 to press upwardly the rod 55 and cup 56. The bulb A is thus pressed upwardly and the cap C disposed loosely thereon is held against a top socket or ring 70. The ring 70 is adjustable vertically relatively to the upper part 63 of bracket 52 and the heating ring 66, and is carried by a block 72 which is provided with a roller 74 engaging between the fixed cam rails 36, 37. A compression spring 78 surrounding a rod 75 depending from the block 72 tends to hold the latter downwardly. Side lugs 73, Fig. 5, on the block 72 prevent lateral movement of the members. Fig. 5 shows the lamp cap in position for heating by the ring 66, the members 70, 72 having being elevated by the roller 74 and cam rails 36, 37, so that the spring- pressed bulb pushes the lower rim of the cap within the heating-ring. As shown in Fig. 3, the heating-ring 66 is formed with a circumferential flame channel 67 between a short upper flange and a longer lower flange, and at the rear side has a through hole 68, Fig. 4, which admits flame to the rear of the channel. A curved duct distributes a gas-air mixture to an extended series of burners operating upon the rings 66, the duct being connected by nipples 96 to small chambers from which burners 98, 99 respectively extend downwardly to the left and upwardly to the right. The flames substantially meet around the circumference of the heating-ring. After passing the last flame the lamp is lowered by the cam 37 into the position shown in Fig. 4, and is carried around to the mechanism for bending and severing the leading-in wires, and at the same time may be cooled progressively to harden the cement, by directing upon it air from a series of ducts. The wire bending and severing mechanism is mounted on a bracket 122, Fig. 7, adjacent to the path of the bulb turret, and comprises a top or end instrument 130 which operates upon the central leading-in wire E, while the side wire instrument 130<x> operates upon the other wire F. Fig. 14 shows the operating end of the instrument 130 which is mounted as shown in Fig. 12, and consists of a non-rotary mandrel 131 and a complementary member 139 co-operating therewith both for bending the wire and severing it. The mandrel 131 is at the lower end of an upright shank 133 which, at its upper end, is attached to a block carrying an extending lug which engages, in a vertical slot in a guide plate 127, Fig. 7, a spring 136 being connected to the lug to exert a constant downward pull so that the lower end of the mandrel is moved into a recess in the end disc D of the lamp cap. The lower end of the mandrel is formed with a cutting-edge 132 and a groove 132<a> or shoulder to hold the wire while being bent around the mandrel. The complementary member 139, which is rotatable upon the mandrel 130, is provided with a hook 140, which may be of stiff wire, to engage the leading-in wire and wrap it round the mandrel, after which the wire is severed by a cutting-edge on the member 139 co-operating with the cutting-edge on the stationary mandrel. The rotary member is screw-threaded for attachment to a shank 145, Fig. 12, which is slidable vertically in a guide 125, Fig. 7, and is rotated relatively to the mandrel by forming it with elongated gear teeth 146, Figs. 10 and 12, which are engaged by a toothed rack-bar 155 mounted in a horizontal guide 126, the elongated teeth allowing the member to be moved axially while being rotated. Axial movement is produced by forming the top end of the sleeve 145 with a circumferential groove 147 which is engaged by oppositely directed studs 148 mounted on the forked end of a lever arm 150, Fig. 7. A spring 153 pulls the lever downwardly. The rear end 152 of the lever is connected to an operating-link 173, the actuation being such that, with the swing of lever 150-152 the mandrel 131 and bender 139 move downwardly together until the former is stopped by contact with the lamp base, following which the bender continues its downward movement, bringing the hook 140 and cutting-edge into operative position relatively to the mandrel. The rotary curling-action effects a twisting of the wire, and this action, with the scraping and severing, cleans the wire adequately for soldering. The operation of the side-wire bending and severing instrument 130<x> is similar to that of the top wire instrument 130, the rotary movement of the former being produced by a rack 208, Fig. 7, moving within a slideway 185, and the axial movement by a two-armed lever 174, 211. Simultaneous rotary movement of the two instruments is produced by interconnecting the rack-bars by a two-armed lever 161, 162 operated by a vertically reciprocating rod 165, a similar connection being provided to produce the axial movements by a rod 176. The lamps are subsequently carried past a wheel on a spring-pressed lever which presses the curled and severed leading-in wire F against the side of the cap to facilitate soldering. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 comprises also a modification in the mounting of the bending and severing instrument to permit transverse play or yield and render it self adapting or adjusting when encountering a base which is not mounted accurately upon its lamp bulb. This subjectmatter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.