Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US5186311?dq=6,049,612
Timestamp: 2014-11-21 18:14:20
Document Index: 552687237

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 43', 'art 43', 'arts 43', 'arts 43', 'arts 43', 'arts 43']

Patent US5186311 - Hold-down device for articles on a conveyor - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsAn apparatus for holding honeycomb core parts down on a conveyor while dust is being cleaned from the cells of the honeycomb by an upper air knife blowing a narrow jet of air down through the honeycomb cells as the part is being carried on a conveyor belt through an exhaust hood, and a pair of upwardly...http://www.google.com/patents/US5186311?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US5186311 - Hold-down device for articles on a conveyorAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS5186311 APublication typeGrantApplication numberUS 07/811,514Publication dateFeb 16, 1993Filing dateDec 20, 1991Priority dateJul 30, 1990Fee statusLapsedPublication number07811514, 811514, US 5186311 A, US 5186311A, US-A-5186311, US5186311 A, US5186311AInventorsOldrich Fryc, Ronald M. OliveOriginal AssigneeThe Boeing CompanyExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (10), Referenced by (2), Classifications (9), Legal Events (6) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetHold-down device for articles on a conveyorUS 5186311 AAbstract An apparatus for holding honeycomb core parts down on a conveyor while dust is being cleaned from the cells of the honeycomb by an upper air knife blowing a narrow jet of air down through the honeycomb cells as the part is being carried on a conveyor belt through an exhaust hood, and a pair of upwardly aimed air knives below the conveyor belt blowing two narrow jets of air on both sides of the first air knife through the honeycomb cells. The part is held down on the conveyor belt against the lifting force of the two air jets from the two lower air knives by a floating hold-down mechanism, which is adjustably counterbalanced to control the amount of hold-down force it exerts on the honeycomb part. The upper air knife is mounted on a counterbalance system that enables it to ride above and blow down through the hold-down mechanism without exerting significant force on the honeycomb part. The dust removed from the part is entrained in an air stream drawn through the exhaust hood and is removed from the air stream in a cyclone separator.
Accordingly, it is expressly to be understood that these modifications and variations, and the equivalents thereof, may be practiced while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims, wherein we claim: 1. A hold-down mechanism for holding a part down on a moving conveyor belt, comprising:two triangular frames, each having an inside end facing the inside end of the other frame, and an outside end at an apex of each triangular frame; each of said frames being pivotally supported at said end apex thereof on a support structure; each of said frame includes a top and bottom corner on said inside end; an idler roller rotatably mounted on said top and bottom corners of both of said frames; an end roller mounted on said apex of both of said frames; a foraminous web trained around said two end rollers and said four idler rollers; drive means for driving one of said end rollers to drive said web around said six rollers; means for synchronizing the speed of said web around said six rollers with the speed of said conveyor belt; and suspension means for controlling the hold-down force exerted by said web on said part on said conveyor belt. 2. The hold-down mechanism defined in claim 1, wherein:said suspension means includes at least two air cylinders, one each air cylinder attached at one end to said support structure, and the other end of each air cylinder attached respectively to said inner end of a respective one of said frames. 3. The hold-down mechanism defined in claim 1, further comprising:means for connecting a source of air Pressure to each of said air cylinders; and means for regulating the air pressure delivered to said air cylinders from said source of air pressure. Description
This is a Division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/559,470 filed on Jul. 30, 1990 and Entitled "Honeycomb Core Dust Removal System," now U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,542.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing dust form the cell cores of pieces of honeycomb core material in preparation for bonding the core between of material to form a honeycomb sandwich structure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate identical or corresponding parts, and more particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, an apparatus according to the invention for removing dust from the cell columns of honeycomb core parts is shown having a support structure 30 including a frame 32 supported at the ends of the frame by legs 34 and supported at the central portion of the frame by stub legs 36. The frame 32 supports a roller 38 at the input end 39 of the apparatus and a drive roller 40 at the output end 41. A foraminous or mesh conveyor belt 42 is trained around the rollers 38 and 40 to carry honeycomb core articles or parts 43 from the input end 39, through the central portion of the apparatus, then out the output end 41 where they may be removed. The foraminous conveyor belt 42 has an upper course 44 which runs straight across the top of the rollers 38 and 40 supported in the frame 32, and a bottom course 46 which runs from the rear or exit end roller 40 back toward the front or input end roller 38 A drive motor 48 operating through a conventional chain and sprocket drive behind a chain guard 49, drives the drive roller 40 to drive the belt 42.
As shown in FIG. 5, the lower course 46 of the conveyor belt 42 is trained around a series of six rollers 58 in a lower sound muffling enclosure 60 beneath the exhaust hood 50 to provide space between the upper course 44 and the bottom course 46 of the conveyor belt 42 for the nozzles to blow streams of air upward through the upper course 44 of the conveyor belt 42 and through the cell columns of the honeycomb core Part 43 on the conveyor belt 42. The exhaust hood 50 has an upper portion 62 including a frame 64 to which an upper panel 66 is attached. The upper panel 66 extends from a converging or funnel shaped adaptor 68 at the top of the upper portion 62 of the exhaust hood 50 and extends in a sloping direction toward the front and rear ends of the upper portion 62 of the exhaust hood. The front of the exhaust hood has a front panel 70 which extends downwardly to a position approximately four inches above the conveyor belt 42, defining an entrance opening into the exhaust hood upper portion 62. The rear end of the exhaust hood has a rear panel 72 which extends downwardly from the upper panel 66 to a position approximately four inches above the conveyor belt 42 defining therebetween a exit opening for clean parts to be carried out of the exhaust hood 50. The exhaust hood upper portion 62 has a plexiglass side panel 74 which enables the operator to see the internal operation of the apparatus and facilitate the diagnosis and corrective action in case a malfunction occurs.
A hold down mechanism 80 is provided to hold the honeycomb core Parts 43 down on the conveyor belt 42 as they are being carried through the exhaust hood 50, to insure that the cleaning air streams do not move the light weight honeycomb core parts 43 around on the conveyor belt 42 which could cause them to become jammed in the equipment. The hold down mechanism 80 includes a formation web 82 trained around a front roller 84, a rear roller 86 and four middle rollers 88, 89, 90 and 91. The middle rollers 88-91 are mounted on the inside ends 92 and 94 of a pair of front and rear triangular frames 96 and 98. The roller 84 is mounted at a front apex of the front triangular frame 96, and the rear roller 86 is mounted at the rear apex 102 of the rear triangular frame 98, and is driven by a motor 103. The front and rear triangular frames are pivotally supported in the frame 64 at the apex 100 and 102 respectively so that the frames 96 and 98 can pivot about the pivotal attachment at the front and rear apexes 100 and 102.
The inside end 92 of the front triangular frame 96 is supported by a pair of air cylinders 104 (only the near side one of which is shown in FIG. 5) which are attached at their top ends to the frame 64 and attached at their bottom ends to a link 106 which in turn is attached to a shoulder 108 formed by a cut away in the rear inside end of the frame 96. Likewise, the rear triangular frame 98 is supported at its inside end 94 by a pair of air cylinders 110 (only the near side one of which is shown in FIG. 5.) The air cylinder 110 is attached at its upper end to the frame 64, and at its lower end to a link 112, in turn attached to a shoulder 114 formed by a cutaway in the inside end 94 of the rear triangular frame 98.
The air cylinders 104 and 110 are pressurized through air hoses 116 and 118 respectively from an air pressure supply line 120 provided for that purpose. The pressure supplied to the air cylinders 104 and 110 is controlled by an air pressure supply regulator 122 which can be manually adjusted to control the lifting force exerted by the air cylinders 104 and 110. In this way, it is possible to control the hold down force exerted by the web 82 so that just enough hold down force is exerted to hold the parts 43 on the conveyor belt 42, but the force exerted by the hold down mechanism 80 is light enough to avoid damaging the Parts 43 going through the exhaust hood 50.
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the preferred embodiment disclosed herein are possible and would occur to one skilled in the art in view of this disclosure.
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS3132737 *Oct 19, 1960May 12, 1964Nat Rejectors GmbhCoacting belt-type conveyorUS3179234 *Jan 18, 1962Apr 20, 1965Vancouver Plywood CoSorting apparatusUS3258110 *Nov 2, 1964Jun 28, 1966Bowen Tools IncEndless chain apparatusUS3391658 *Aug 10, 1967Jul 9, 1968Robert W. WilliamsSelf-adjusting holddown deviceUS3516539 *May 13, 1968Jun 23, 1970Potlatch Forests IncApparatus for separating and handling a cant and sideboardsUS3915291 *Jul 16, 1973Oct 28, 1975Kabel Metallwerke GhhApparatus for moving elongated objectsUS3951257 *Oct 30, 1974Apr 20, 1976Pitney-Bowes, Inc.Mail transporting mechanismUS5042372 *Jun 8, 1990Aug 27, 1991Maschinenfabrik J. Dieffenbacher Gmbh & Co.Continuously working pressFR1189440A * Title not availableFR1594680A * Title not available* Cited by examinerReferenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS6427827 *Jun 8, 2000Aug 6, 2002Altantic Zeiser GmbhTransport apparatus for an information-bearing article, especially a cardUS6704435 *Apr 28, 1997Mar 9, 2004International Business Machines CorporationSurface inspection tool* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification198/626.6, 198/604, 198/626.1, 198/836.2International ClassificationB08B5/02Cooperative ClassificationB08B5/023, B08B5/02European ClassificationB08B5/02B, B08B5/02Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionApr 12, 2005FPExpired due to failure to pay maintenance feeEffective date: 20050216Feb 16, 2005LAPSLapse for failure to pay maintenance feesSep 1, 2004REMIMaintenance fee reminder mailedAug 15, 2000FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 8Jul 2, 1996FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Oct 18, 1994CCCertificate of correctionRotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google