Patent ID: 6926797

Claim:
A combination of an electronic component feeding apparatus and taping components of different widths, each of said taping components including (i) a carrier tape having upper-side recesses for incorporating therein electronic components, and (ii) a cover tape attached to said carrier tape for covering said upper-side recesses, and said electronic component feeding apparatus comprising: (i) a tape sending mechanism for pulling any one of said taping components from a component housing reel on which said any one of said taping components is wound, and sending said any one of said taping components along a transportation route toward a component pickup position; (ii) a cover stripping-off mechanism for stripping the cover tape from the carrier tape of said any one of said taping components while traveling along the transportation route; and (iii) a cover collecting mechanism for sending said cover tape, after being stripped from said carrier tape, to a collection position so as to collect said cover tape, said cover collecting mechanism including (a) a twist transportation mechanism for twisting said cover tape, after being stripped from said carrier tape, such that a face of said cover tape is approximately parallel to a plane that is orthogonal to an axial direction of said component housing reel, (b) a rotary member for sending said cover tape to the collection position by being rotated along said cover tape, with a length of said rotary member in its axial direction being greater than the width of one of said taping components that has a maximum width relative to the width of each other of said taping components, and with the axial direction of said rotary member being approximately parallel to a sending direction of said any one of said taping components toward the component pickup position, and (c) a drive motor for rotating said rotary member, such that electronic components in said upper-side recesses exposed by the stripping of said cover tape from said carrier tape are sequentially fed to the component pickup position.