Patent GB-829754-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for positioning lead-in wires of electric lamps
IPC: H01J9/28
Filed: 1957-02-04
Abstract: 829,754. Making electric lamps. SYLVANIA ELECTRIC PRODUCTS Inc. Feb. 4, 1957 [March 26, 1956], No. 3817/57. Class 39(2) A lamp making machine, comprising a carrier for indexing to a succession of work stations a lamp having an exhaust tube with a pair of leading-in wires extending in juxtaposition to it, is provided with means at one of the work stations for displacing the leading-in wires away from the exhaust tube and, at a subsequent station, with means for engaging each of the displaced wires and positioning it in a predetermined orientation relative to the direction of the indexing movement. In the example the lamps are held by means of their exhaust tube in the heads of an exhausting machine of the rotary turret type and extend bulb downward, the leading-in wires being disposed adjacent to opposite sides of the exhaust tube when the lamp is inserted in the machine. Fig. 1 shows in plan the turret 24 which is mounted on a base 22 and has a double index motion about its axis 26, whereby exhaust heads 28 at the periphery of the turret are moved each time through an arc equal to the angular separation of alternate heads, so that while one head is moved successively to work stations A, C, E, G, &c., an adjacent head is moved to stations B, D, F, H, &c. The lamps are inserted into the heads 28 with their leading- ing wires 40, 42 lying generally in a plane tangential to the path of motion of the lamp. The wires are operated in two steps, the first operative step being performed simultaneously on the leading-in wires of the two lamps at stations E and F, where mechanisms 38 engage the wires 40, 42 and displace them away from the exhaust tubes 36, as shown at 30a, Fig. 1. The lamps are next indexed to stations G and H where a mechanism 44 operates and positions the wire 40 which is ahead of the exhaust tube 36 as it moves round the axis 26 so as to be normal to the tube whilst the wire 42 is wiped along the neck 34 of the bulb and radially outward from the turret, as at 30b. The wire-positioning mechanism 38, Figs. 1 and 2, is actuated by a cam 48 on a shaft 50 which makes one revolution for each indexing movement of the turret and rocks a lever 52 secured to a shaft 54 journalled in a pedestal 46 secured on the base 22. A lever 58 also secured on shaft 54 is connected by a link 60 to one arm of a bellcrank 62 loosely mounted on a shaft 64 carried by the upper portion of pedestal 46, so that a reciprocating motion is imparted to a rod 90 pivotally connected to the other arm of the bell-crank. A spring 66 biases the lever 58 in the clockwise direction, and a yoke 68, which is secured on the shaft 64 is biased clockwise by a tensioned spring (not shown) connected between a fixed stud 72 and an extension at the lower end of the yoke. Adjustment of the yoke 68 is provided by a screw 78 engaging its lower end. When the upper end of the yoke is moved clockwise a pair of flexible fingers 80 mounted on its upper end are inserted between the exhaust tube 36 the respective leading in wires 40, 42 of the lamp, there being a pair of fingers 80 at each of the stations E, F. Each finger 80 is mounted for rotary movement about an axis at the upper end of the yoke 68, as shown to an enlarged scale in Fig. 6. The pairs of fingers 80 are mounted on the inner ends of pairs of parallel shafts 82 journalled in the yoke, the outer ends of the shafts having secured thereon interengaging pinions 84, 86, of which the driver pinions 84 are coupled by links 92, 98 to the vertically reciprocating rod 90 actuated by the bell-crank 62. At the end of an indexing movement of the turret the yoke 68 is operated to bring the fingers 80 into engagement with the wires 40, 42. Prior to this action the cam 48 has held levers 52, 58 to their extreme counter-clockwise position, wherein a member 106 on bellcrank 62 bears against a screw 102 secured in a collar fixed on shaft 64, thereby holding the yoke 68 in its extreme counterclockwise position against the bias of its control spring. The cam next allows the levers 52, 58 to pivot clockwise, and during the first part of the action there is no relative movement between yoke 68 and rod 90 until the extension 76 of yoke 68 meets the stop-screw 78, at which stage the fingers 80 are between the wires 40, 42 and the exhaust tube. With yoke 68 halted the bellcrank 62 and rod 90 continue to move, thereby operating the gears 84, 86, Fig. 6, to move each of the fingers 80 through an arc of about 90 degrees and bending the wires 40, 42 into the positions shown in Fig. 6, the resiliency of the wires causing them to return to a slight extent towards their former position. From the stations E, F the adjacent pair of lamps are moved to the wire-positioning mechanism 44 at stations G and H. This mechanism is operated by a cam 110, Fig. 8, fixed on the shaft 50 adjacent to cam 48, and comprises a yoke 114 pinned on a shaft 122 journalled in a bracket 112 on the base 22, and a double armed lever 116 pivoted on the shaft 122. At the upper end of the yoke 114 are mounted positioning fingers 146, Figs. 8 and 9, which extend forwardly from collars 152 secured to shafts 154 journalled in the yoke, the other ends of the shafts 154 having secured thereon pinions 156 which are engaged by a slidably mounted horizontal rock bar 158. The rock bar is reciprocated at timed intervals by a link coupling 160 to a crank 128 pivoted on the yoke 114. The upper end of the yoke 114 also has secured thereon a guide plate 148 with a notched outer end which engages the other leading-in wire 42, and holds it during the operation of a positioning block 150 at the opposite side of the bulb. The positioning blocks at the adjacent stations G, H are each carried by a rod 172 extending forwardly from a lever block 170 pivoted on a shaft 168 in a bracket 166 fixed at the upper end of a vertical post 132, there being a slotted link connection 176 between a pin 174 on the lever block 170 and a link rod 130 connected to the end of lever 116 at which a tensioned spring 136 is also connected. The opposite end of lever 116 is linked by a rod 124 to a pivoted follower arm 118 carrying a roller 121 engaging the cam 110. At the instant at which lamps arrive at stations G and H the lever 116 is at the clockwise limit of its motion, and the lever block 170 with the rods 172 carrying the positioning blocks 150 is in the retracted position shown in broken lines in Fig. 8. The cam 110 then operates to permit lever 116 to swing counter-clockwise. and the yoke 114 follows, with a screw 144 thereon in abutment with a stop plate 142 on lever 116, the yoke being moved by a tensioned spring 138 at its lower end. The guide plate 148 at the top end of the yoke is thus moved inwardly at one side of the exhaust tube 36 of the lamp, and the finger 146 engages the opposite side. The crank arm 128 moves with the yoke 114 with no relative motion until the latter is arrested by a stop. Meanwhile lever 116 has moved counter-clockwise, taken up the lost motion in slotted link 176 of rod 130 and brought the positioning blocks 150 down upon the wires 42, which are disposed above a transverse bar 186, while at the opposite end of lever 116 a rod 126 coupled thereto is moved upwardly to turn the crank arm 128 which causes the rack slide 158 to move horizontally until halted by a stop screw 162, Fig. 9. The movement of rack slide produces movement of the fingers 146 from a position adjacent to the exhaust tube and bends the leading-in wires 40 associated with the two lamps through an angle of about 90 degrees.