Patent Publication Number: US-6991145-B1

Title: Synchronous fine tunable material feeding mechanism

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a material feeding mechanism and, more particularly, to a synchronous fine tunable material feeding mechanism. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   Taiwan Patent Publication No. 284190 entitled “Roller type metal plate feeder adjusting assembly” comprises a platform  10 , an adjusting member  20 , a link axle  30 , an eccentric cam  40  and a rotary axle  50 . An adjusting member  20  is disposed separately on both sides of the platform  10 . The adjusting member  20  has a long hole  21  for allowing a screw  212  to adjust the height of the platform  10 . The link axle  30  has two adjusting members  20  disposed separately on both sides of the link axle  30 . The eccentric cam  40  is coupled at one end of the link axle  30  and has a handle  41  for pivotally rotating the link axle  30  and the adjusting member  20  when the handle  41  is pulled. Such arrangement changes the height of the adjusting member  20  and the rotary axle  50 . The screw  212  is used to pass through the long hole  21  of the adjusting member  20  to secure the adjusting member  20  in position. Then a spring (not numbered in the publication) disposed at the internal side of the handle  41  is used to achieve the purpose of synchronously adjusting a gap. 
   However, the prior art structure still has many drawbacks. Specifically it is necessary to adjust the spring (not numbered in the publication) at the inner side of the handle  41  when the force for clamping the two rollers is adjusted, such that the downward force can be exerted evenly on the metal panel. Since it is difficult for the spring to control the adjustment due to a wrong number of turns or due to the operation by an inexperienced operator, the force exerted on both ends of the rollers will be uneven and the metal panel may be tilted or twisted, and thus resulting in an unsmooth operation of the material feeding process and causing troubles to the application. The aforementioned problems demand immediate attention and improvements. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In view of the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention is intended to overcome the technical issues of requiring an adjustment of a spring at the inner side of the handle when the force for clamping the two rollers is adjusted, so that a downward force can be exerted evenly on the metal panel. Since it is difficult for the spring to control the adjustment due to a wrong number of turns or due to the operation by an inexperienced operator, the force exerted on both ends of the rollers will be uneven and the metal panel may be tilted or twisted, and thus resulting in an unsmooth operation of the material feeding process and causing troubles to the application. 
   Therefore, it is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a synchronous fine tunable material feeding mechanism, which comprises a platform, a control member and a link device. A side panel is installed separately on both sides of the platform, and a top panel is installed on the side panels A fixed roller and a movable roller are disposed between the two side panels. Two control members are disposed at the top panel and elastically push against the movable roller. The link device is disposed between the two control members and is capable of simultaneously driving another control member according to the movement of a control member and elastically pushing the movable roller synchronously to produce a downward force with a constant pressure. As a result, an even force is exerted on the work piece clamped between the movable roller and the fixed roller, which is a novel improved design. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings. However, these drawings are provided for reference and illustration and not intended to act as a limitation to the present invention. 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded view of the synchronous fine tunable material feeding mechanism according to the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  is an illustrative view of the link device using a gear to simultaneously synchronize with the movement of a synchronous belt according to a first preferred embodiment the present invention. 
       FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of section  3 — 3  as depicted in  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 4  is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a part of  FIG. 3 . 
       FIG. 5  is an illustrative view of the movement of the fine tuning the control member as depicted in  FIG. 3  according to the present invention. 
       FIG. 6  is an illustrative view of the link device using a gear wheel and a chain to generate the synchronization according to a second preferred embodiment the present invention. 
       FIG. 7  is an illustrative view of the link device using a plurality of gears to generate the synchronization according to a third preferred embodiment the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , synchronous fine tunable material feeding mechanism according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a platform  10 , a link device  30  and a strain device  40 . The platform  10  comprises two control members  20 , and each control member  20  can elastically push against a movable roller  15 . The link device  30  is disposed between the two control members  20  and is capable of driving one of the two control members  20  to move according to the movement of another one of the two control members  20  so the two control members  20  act synchronously at the movable roller  15 . The strain device  40  is installed onto the link device  30  to assure the synchronous movement of the link device  30 . 
   The platform  10  comprises a side panel  11  disposed separately on both sides of the platform  10 . A fixed roller  12  and a pivotal axle  13  are disposed between the two side panels  11 . A movable stand  14  is installed onto the pivotal axle  13 , and the movable stand  14  uses the pivotal axle  13  as the center of rotation and produces a swinging relation with respect to the side panels  11 . The movable stand  14  comprises the movable roller  15  being pivotally disposed therein and parallel to the fixed roller  12 , such that the movable roller  15  can generate a change to a gap between the swing of the movable roller  15  and the fixed roller  12 . The movable stand  14  has a spring  141  installed separately on both ends of the top of the movable stand  14 . The two side panels  11  also install a top panel  16 , and an accommodating space  161  is disposed on one side of the top panel  16 . A through hole  162  is disposed on each of both sides of the accommodating space  161 , and the through hole  162  has a thread therein. 
   The control member  20  passes into the through hole  162  of the top panel  16  and also couples to the spring  141  of the movable stand  14 . The control members  20  are pressed by the spring  141  to move the movable stand  14  downward, so that the movable roller  15  pivotally coupled in the movable stand  14  presses on the fixed roller  12 . The control members  20  pass through the two through holes  162  of the top panel  16  according to this embodiment. The control member  20  comprises an adjusting end  21  and a threaded end  22 . The adjusting end  21  according to this embodiment is a hexagonal adjusting end  21  having a penetrating hole  211  disposed on one side for allowing users to pull the adjusting end  21  by a tool. When the threaded end  22  passes through the through hole  162  of the top panel  16 , a spiral movement is produced according to the thread inside the through hole  162 . A groove  221  is disposed at the external periphery of the threaded end  22  and is parallel to the axis. The threaded end  22  forms a hollow sink hole  222  therein. The sink hole  222  can accommodate the spring  141  in contact with the movable stand  14 . When the control member  20  is rotated, the threaded end  22  of the control member  20  performs a spiral movement to produce a slight axial gain and presses the spring  141  to push the movable stand  14  in order to achieve the purpose of fine tuning the movable roller  15  to press the fixed roller  12  downward. 
   The link device  30  is installed in the accommodating space  161  of the top panel  16  and coupled between the two control members  20 . The link device  30  comprises two active components  31 , a passive component  32  and two bases  33 . The two active components  31  are coupled to the threaded ends  22  of the two control members  20 , respectively. The active component  31  has a through hole  311 , and a key slot  312  is disposed above the through hole  311 . A key  313  is installed between the key slot  312  and a groove  221  of the threaded end  22  for driving each other. The active component  31  according to this embodiment is a gear, and the passive component  32  according to this embodiment is a synchronous belt installed between the two gears. The passive component  32  can effectively drive the active components  31  to rotate. The two bases  33  are secured, respectively, to both ends of the accommodating space  161  of the top panel  16  for fixing both active components  31  at appropriate positions. The base  33  comprises a through hole  331  having a thread therein for passage of the threaded end  22  of the control member  20 . When the link device  30  is driven to rotate one control member  20 , the other control member  20  is linked to achieve the synchronization effect. 
   The strain device  40  is installed in the accommodating space  161  of the top panel  16  and is in contact with the passive component  32  of the link device  30 . The strain device  40  comprises a first roller  41  and a second roller  42 . The first roller  41  is installed onto the internal side of the foregoing synchronous belt and the second roller  42  is installed onto the external side of the synchronous belt. When the strain device  40  is in use, the synchronous belt is pressed against the gear effectively without any error produced by the gap between the gears to assure the synchronous rotation of the two control members  20 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 3 , the control member  20  is connected with the movable stand  14  by the spring  141 , such that the spring  141  of the movable stand  14  can push the movable roller  15  to be in contact with the fixed roller  12  for the material feeding operation. During the process of feeding materials, it is necessary to make adjustments according to the actual conditions since the thickness of materials may vary. Therefore, the gap between the movable roller  15  and the fixed roller  12  can be adjusted to cope with the change to the thickness of materials. If the movable roller  15  can maintain an even force exerted on the fixed roller  12 , it only needs to rotate one control member  20 , with the other control member  20  driven by the link device  30  to produce a synchronous rotation. 
   The link device  30  according to the present invention is installed onto the internal side of the top panel  16 . The link device  30  can produce a synchronous movement for both ends of the movable roller  15 . When one control member  20  is adjusted, the other control member  20  is linked as well. The control members  20  utilize the spiral movement of the threaded end  22  for fine tuning a slight axial gain in order to achieve the function of synchronously fine tuning the movable roller  15  to press down. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4  and if it is necessary to synchronously fine tune the movable roller  15 , one control member  20  drives its adjusting end  21  to rotate, so that the control member  20  drives the gear on the same end to rotate. By the link of the synchronous belt to another end of the gear, the other control member  20  is driven to produce a synchronous rotation as to produce an effect of synchronously elastically pushing the movable roller  15 . 
   Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 5  and after the control member  20  is rotated, the spring  141  is compressed to push the movable stand  14 . The movable stand  14  is pushed synchronously by the springs  141  on both sides, so that both ends of the movable roller  15  produce the same forces and the movable roller  15  will not incline to one side. A simple operation can keep an even force at the contact surface between the movable roller  15  and the fixed roller  12 , so that the clamped material can be fed smoothly. Thus, the present invention is a novel useful design. 
   Please refer to  FIG. 6  for the synchronous fine tunable material feeding mechanism according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. The link device  30  collocating with a gear wheel and a chain also gives an excellent effect on the synchronization. This embodiment can install a strain device  40  at the chain, so that the chain can press on the two gear wheels to prevent any asynchronous movement caused by the error of the gap and assure the fine-tuned synchronous movement. 
   Please refer to  FIG. 7  for the synchronous fine tunable material feeding mechanism according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention. The active component  31  of the link device  30  is a gear, and the passive component  32  comprises a plurality of gears coupled between the active components  31 . When the present invention is adopted in a production process, different sizes and quantities of gears are engaged with each other according to the distance between the two active components  31  to produce a good synchronization effect. The present invention can utilize a different link device  30  to produce the fine-tune synchronization effect and, thus, is a novel useful design. 
   In summation of the above description, the present invention herein enhances the performance over that of the conventional structure. 
   While the invention has been described by way of examples and in terms of preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.