Patent GB-787952-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to apparatus for feeding lengths of wire for use in themanufacture of electric lamps
IPC: H01J9/46
Filed: 1954-05-19
Abstract: 787,952. Making electric lamps and discharge tubes. BADER, A. F., and SOOS, F. March 23, 1955 [May 19, 1954], No. 14715/54. Class 39(2) Apparatus for feeding individual wires, such as leading-in wires for electric lamps, to an operating mechanism such as the stem-pinching mechanism of a lamp-making machine comprises hoppers 13, Figs. 3 and 4, each with a mouth shaped so that 4 when the wires 14 are loaded in the hopper a portion of each wire lies in a position to be seized by grippers on a movable member 16 which is moved by a feeding-device into and out of the position for gripping the wires, there being a hopper 13 for each set of grippers 18, 19 and 20-21 and a mechanism operable by the movable member 16 to move the hopper out of the path of movement of the grippers and allow it to return when the grippers are in the gripping position, means being provided for opening and closing the gripper jaws during a cycle of operations in which they are moved to beneath their respective hopper mouth pushed into the wires, and closed upon a wire which they withdraw and release for delivery to the operating mechanism. In the example the apparatus comprises a pair of parallel guide rods 17 upon which a gripper bar 16 is reciprocated by a chain 24 connected to it and driven by a sprocket wheel 50 actuated by a vertically reciprocating rack bar 26. The pairs of grippers 18-21 mounted on the gripper bar 16 each comprise a fixed jaw 27 and a relatively movable jaw 28 which is moved either rotationally or slidably by a sliding bar (not shown) located within a longitudinal boring in the bar 16: the boring terminates in end slots 29. The movable jaws of the set of grippers 18. 19 at one end of the bar 16, and those of the set 20 21 at the other end are each associated with an operating bar (not shown) within the longitudinal boring, and the inner end of each operating-bar has an upstanding lug 30 located in a slot 32a. in the top of bar 16. the two lugs being connected by a tensioned spring 31 which tends to maintain the jaws closed. A fixed cam bar 32 extending parallel with the guide rods 17 and with its longitudinal edges engaged between the lugs 30 is formed with widened cam portions at its ends 33 and 46 arranged to force the lugs apart'to open the gripper jaws. The mechanism for moving the hoppers comprises a pivoted cam plate 40 upon which a hopper is adjustably secured by a wing nut 42, the plate 40 being mounted on a fixed pivot 48 about which it is lifted when a roller 45 on the gripper bar 16 bears against the edge of the plate during downward movement of the bar towards the hopper. The jaws are thus brought beneath the wires in the hopper and at the same time the cam faces 46 on the bar 32 act to open the grippers. Further downward movement of the bar 16 brings the roller 45 below a recess 47 in the plate 40, thereby allowing the hopper to fall under gravity, so that the open jaws are pushed into the wires in the hopper. Upward return movement of the gripper bar 16 then commences, whereupon the spring 31 acts to close the grippers. The relative amount of opening of the movable jaws of the grippers is arranged so that those at 19 and 20 open wider than those at 18 and 21, so that in the event of either of the latter failing to seize a wire in its respective hopper, the wider opened pair of grippers adjacent to it can close and should seize a wire. At the end of the upward movement of the gripper bar 16 the cam edges 56 of the bar 32 effect opening of the jaws, and the released wires fall into a funnel 34 and down a tube 36 to the stem-pinching mechanism. Additional oscillation of the hoppers 13 about their pivots 48 to shake and loosen the wires periodically is effected by an arm 50 secured to the sprocket wheel 25 and arranged to engage an arm 51 secured rigidly to the hopper, thus also providing means for swinging the hopper upwardly for loading manually with wires. In the example the apparatus is adapted for feeding leading-in wires of the kind embodying a short central fuse wire which is enclosed within a glass sleeve, the hoppers being adapted for such wires by inclining the outside walls 22b, Fig. 4, thereof and curving the bottoms 22c so that the glazed portions of the wires are exposed at the mouths 22d. A central partition 22a divides the hopper into two halves which are associated respectively with adjacent sets of jaws 18, 19 or 20, 21, Fig. 2. In a modification the hoppers are held stationary and the bar 16 is arranged to be lifted so that the jaws engage the wires when the bar has been reciprocated to its lower position, e.g. the guide rods 17 may be curved in a vertical plane. Alternatively the rods 17 together with the bar 16 thereon may be mounted to swing about the pivot 57, Fig. 3.