US2816579A - Presealing flush machine for incandescent lamp bulbs - Google Patents

Description

Dec 17, 1957 v l.. l.. ARMSTRONG ETAL 2,816,579

PRESEALING FLUSH MACHINE FOR INCANDESCENT LAMP BULBS I Filed Feb. 27, 1953 2 sheets-sheet 1 .5m/Wma? .Enf/Na Mam/Ms N 19 a INVENTORS 5 43 50 I Z4 C ATTORNEY L. l.. ARMSTRONG ETAL 2,816,579 PRESEALING FLUSH MACHINEYFOR INCANDESCENT LAMP'BULBS l Dec. 17, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 27. 1953 55u Efrnm/NE United States Patent O PRESEALING FLUSH MACHINE FOR INCANDES- CENT LAMP BULBS Law L. Armstrong, Little Rock, Ark., and George Meister, Newark, and Stanley A. Lopeuski, Pompton Plains, N. J., assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application February 27, 1953, Serial No. 339,402

5 Claims. (Cl. 141-92) The present invention relates to the manufacture of incandescent electric lamps and, more particularly, to a presealing flush machine for incandescent lamp bulbs.

In the manufacture of incandescent lamps a present trend in the industry is for higher production rates and improved lamp quality. ln a conventional lamp manufacturing group, the bulb and a mount are fed to the sealing portion of the Sealex machine where the bulb neck and mount stein flare are joined together. The sealed lamp is then automatically transferred to the exhaust portion of the Sealex machine, where a plurality of alternate flushing and evacuation operations are performed to remove air therefrom, a nal argon-nitrogen fill is introduced into the lamp, and the lamp is tipped-olf. The bulb is then transferred to a vertical cooling conveyor which anneals the exhausted lamp and transports it to a standard basing machine.

it has been found advantageous, according to our invention, to provide a presealing flush machine for incandescent lamp bulbs prior to the sealing operation on the Sealex machine. During this presealing flush or treatment, the water vapor and other deleterious gases are removed from the incandescent lamp bulb and the bulb is lled with an inert gas before a hot transfer to the sealing portion of the Sealex machine, thus preventing any undersirable oxidation of the getter and metal mount parts during sealing.

Our presealing flush machine is provided with a plurality of heads which index from station to station. The bulbs are loaded on the heads, etched, heated to approximately 450 C., and continuously flushed with either nitrogen or air-heated to a temperature above 250 C., and nally nitrogen-filled prior to their hot transfer to the sealing portion of a `conventional Sealex machine.

Further, we modify the sealing portion of the Sealex machine so that nitrogen flows thru the unsealed lamp in a plurality of preliminary tire-heating positions (to prevent oxidation of internal parts) and into the sealed lamp at a seal-molding position (to form the seal and further protect the cleaned parts). The conventional exhaust portion of the Sealex machine is then capable of a higher production rate and produces an improved quality of product due to the prior removal of Water vapor and deleterious gases from the bulbs during presealing flush thereof and maintenance of clean mount parts during sealing.

ln its general aspect, the present invention has the object of providing a presealing Hush machine for incandescent lamp bulbs which removes water vapor and other vdeleterious gases from said bulbs prior to sealing and which fills the heated bulbs with an inert gas prior to a hot transfer to the sealing portion of an adjacentl modified standard Sealex machine.

A general object of the present invention is a preseal- Aing ilush machine which increases the production rate of Sealex machines and improves the quality of incandescent lamps manufactured thereby.

Other objects of the present invention will become 2,816,579 Patented Dec. 17, 1957 A1ce apparent to those skilled in the art to which it appertains as the description thereof proceeds.

With reference to the drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan of an incandescent lamp manufacturing group employing the presealing flush machine and modified Sealex machine of our invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View of the heating and hot-air flushing means employed in our presealing flush machine.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the sealing portion of a conventional Sealex machine, modiiied to include our invention, and showing the nitrogen flushing means in the preliminary sealing stations.

Referring to the drawing, and particularly to Figure l, a presealing flush machine of our invention, is designated by the reference numeral 10. Adjacent said machine 10 is a modied standard Sealex machine 12, aud a. standard basing machine 14.

This presealing flush machine 10 for incandescent lamp bulbs 16, shown in detail in Fig. 2, has a rotatable turret 18 which is provided with ra plurality, twelve in the showing of Fig. l, of presealing flush or bulb holding heads 19. The turret 18 carries an axial bushing 20 and is rotatable on a vertical shaft 21. It is indexed from station to station by a conventional mechanism (not shown).

At either one of the Stations l and 2 (Fig. l), the bulbs are manually or automatically loaded onto a head 19. The bulbs 16 are suitably etched with a desired insignia at Station 3. From Station 4 to Station 11, the bulbs 16 on the heads 19 are indexed through an arcuate tunnel oven 22, shown also in Fig. 2, wherein the bulbs 16 are heated to a temperature of about 450 C. and continuously ushed with either nitrogen or air preheated to about 250J C. by a flushing mechanism 24, shown in Fig. 2.

Head

Each of the heads 19, one of which is shown in Fig. 2, is mounted on a hollow headed shaft 26 which rotates in a bushing 28 carried by the turret 18. A washer 30 is provided between the head of the shaft 26 and the turret 18. A drive pulley 34 and a Washer 36 carried on the bottom of the shaft 26 prevent undesired upward displacement of said shaft with respect to the turret 18. Suitable driving means (not shown) engages the pulley 34 for rotating the head 19.

An air delivery pipe 38 (Fig. 2) fixed to the head of the shaft 26, extends from above said head to below the pulley 34. The upper end of the pipe 38 carries a tapered bulb holder 40 provided with an axial hole 42. Said hole receives the pipe 38 for delivering heated air therefrom to a bulb 16 on the holder 40. A groove 44 in the outerface of the holder 40, is provided for exhausting the mixture of heated air and released vapor.

Oven

Flushing system The lower end of each air delivery pipe 38 (Fig. 2) terminates at a connector 48 in which said pipe is free vto rotate. From each connector 48, an air pipe 50 of the flushing mechanism 24 extends upwardly through the turret 18. It then extends horizontally inward through a turret cover 52 to a lower groove 54 of a lower element 58 of an air valve 5,9. Both the cover 52 `and the lower element 58 are affixed to the turret as by bolts, shown in Fig. 2.

An upper air valve element 60, atlixed to the shaft 21, is provided with an upper groove 62 which is complementary to the groove 54 and extends from Station "4 to Station 11. A pipe 64 extends from the upper groove 62 to a suitable supply (not shown) of either nitrogen or air preheated to about 250 C. A nut 66 on the upper threaded end of the shaft 21 compresses a spring 68 against an annular spring plate 70, thus maintaining an air tight seal between the valve elements 58 and 60.

The Sealex machine 12, a portion of which is shown in detail in Fig. 3, comprises an upper or `sealing turret 72, a lower or exhaust turret 74, and an upper rotary valve portion 76, all rotatably mounted on a shaft 77, similar to the shaft 21, shown in Fig. 2, of the presealing flush machine 10. A stationary lower valve portion 78 is xed to said shaft in air-tight engagement with said upper valve portion 76.

Sealing exhaust The sealing turret 72 (Fig. 3) carries a plurality, sixteen in the present embodiment, of sealing heads 80, (Figs. l and 3). Each of the heads 80 has a hollow mount pin sealing shaft 82 which is vertically reciprocable in and rotatable within a headed journal 84. This journal 84 rotates in a bushing 86 carried by the turret 72 and has a drive pulley 88 at its lower portion. The head of the journal 84 and the pulley 88 prevent undesired vertical displacement of the journal 84 with respect to the turret 72.

The lower end of the mount pin shaft 82 (Fig. 3) carries a cam follower 90 for engagement with a cam track 92 on the exhaust turret 74, thus causing appropriate vertical reciprocating motion of the shaft 82. A nitrogen-flush line 94 extend-s from the upper rotary valve portion 76 through the exhaust turret 74 to the interior of the mount pin shaft 82. The upper end of the shaft 82 is decreased in cross-section to form a mount pin portion 96 for receiving a mount 98. A mount is thus held in place with respect to a treated lamp bulb 16, secured in a plurality of bulb-holding jaws 100, (only one of which is shown in Fig. 3) for sealing by a plurality of stationary burners 102.

Exhaust portion As shown in Fig. 3, the exhaust turret 74 is provided wi-th a plurality of conventional exhaust heads or compression rubber assemblies 104 for the exhaust of lamps previously sealed on the sealing portion of the machine 12, (Fig. 3). An inert gas supply line 108 extends from the valve portion 76 through a cam actuated air valve 110 to each f the heads 104. Each head 104 is provided with a rotatable collar 105 lhaving an arm 112 for manual operation or for engagement by an actuating member (not shown) and an arm 114 for the engaging of the operating member of the valve 110, as shown, for example, in U. S. Patent No. 2,254,905, entitled, Exhaust Machine and Method of Protecting Exhaust Systems dated September 2, 1941 to D. Mullan and assigned to the same assignee as the present application. A vacuum supply line 116 connects the head 104 to the upper rotary valve portion 76. A pipe 118 in the lower stationary valve portion 78 connects the vacuum line 116 to the pumping system (not shown) of the Sealex machine 12.

Operation A lamp bulb 16, to be exhausted before sealing, is positioned on a bulbl holder 40 of a bulb holding head 19 (Fig. 2) at either Station 1" or Station "2 of the presealing ush machine 10. At Station 3 the bulb 16 is suitably etched. The bulb 16 then is rotated .as it enters the 4 oven l2,2 at Station 4, and is uniformly heated by the plurality of burners 46 (Fig. 2) disposed therein. The temperature of the bulb 16 is gradually raised until it reaches 450 C. before, for example, entering Station 6. This temperature is maintained on the bulb from station to station thereon thru Station l1."

Simultaneously, with the arrival of the bulb 16 at Station 4 (Fig. l), hot nitrogen or air preheated to 250 C. ows thru the supply line 64, the air valve 59, the line 50, the delivery pipe 38, the bulb 16 on the bulb holder 40, and out through the exhaust groove 44 on the side face of the bulb holder 40. It will be understood that the heated air owing through the rotating bulb 16 from Station 4 thru Station 10, removes water vapor and deleterious gases now released from the bulb by the heating oven 22.

At Stations 1l and l2 a nitrogen flush is given the bulb 16 to provide an inert atmosphere therein during the hot transfer (Fig. 1) by conventional automatic means (not shown) from Station 12 of the presealing exhaust machine 10 to Station S3 of the sealing portion of the Sealex machine 12.

A mount 98 is positioned on the mount pin portion 96 of a sealing head (Fig. 3), at either Station S1 or Station S2 of the sealing portion of the sealex machine 12. At Station 53, as hereinbefore mentioned, a flushed bulb 16 having a nitrogen fill is transferred in the hot condition over the position mount 98 and onto the bulb holding jaws of the head 80.

At Stations S4, 85, and 86, as shown in Figure 1, and the remaining sealing Stations S7 thru 512, the head 80 is rotated. Nitrogen flows from a suitable source (not shown) through the upper rotatable valve portion 76 of the sealex machine 12, line 94, the hollow mount pin sealing shaft 82, the tubulation and exhaust hole of the mount 98, the bulb 16 and out through the open neck thereof. It will be understood that this flush is employed to avoid contaminating the clean bulb 16 and to prevent oxidation of the metal parts of the lamp mount 98 during the preliminary heating of the neck portions of the bulb and flare of the mount 98 by the burners 102.

From Station S7 thru Station S12 the rotating bulbs 16 and lamp mounts 98 are sealed together by the burners 102. At Station $13, the seal molding station, nitrogen is again admitted in the manner described before but at a higher pressure, to the now sealed bulb and mo'unt, 'hereinafter referred to as the lamp 106, to form the seal in a seal molding device (not shown). At Stations S14 and S15 the sealed lamp 106 is annealed. The lamp 106 is transferred at Station S16 by conventional automatic transfer means (not shown) to a head 104 on the exhaust turret 74 at Station E1."

At Stations E2," E3 (Fig. l), etc., through 15.13, the inert gas supply valve is Closed and lamp 106 is evacuated through the vacuum supply line 116, the upper rotatable valve portion 76 and the pipe 118 in the stationary lower valve portion 78. Between Stations E2" and 153, etc. (and while the exhaust turret 74 is indexing) the arm 112 on the collar 105 is turned manually or by an actuating member (not shown) thus opening the valve 110 by means of the operating arm 114 and admitting nitrogen or an inert gas on the ily through the upper rotatable valve portion 76, the inert gas supply line 108, valve 110, the compression rubber assembly 104, and into the lamp 106.

It will be understood that this nitrogen or inert gas flush dilutes any deleterious matter contained in the lamp 106. At Station E14 the now exhausted lamp 106 is given a final inert gas fill, suitably argon-nitrogen. At Station E15 the lamp is tipped-off and then transferred by conventional automatic means at Station E16 to a standard vertical cooling conveyor. From the conveyor the lamp 106 is transferred to a standard basing machine 14 and after basing the nished lamp is tested and packed.

Although a preferred embodiment of our invention has been disclosed, it will be understood that modications may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A presealing flush machine for incandescent lamp bulbs having a fixed pedestal, a rotatable turret on said pedestal indexable from station to station, a plurality of presealing treating heads on said turret for supporting bulbs thereon, each of said heads being provided with exhaust means for connecting the interior of a bulb supported on said head with the atmosphere, means for rotating said heads, an oven above said heads extending along substantially the periphery of said turret, and a llushing mechanism for delivering preheated air to said heads through said bulbs and hence to the atmosphere.

2. A presealing flush machine for incandescent lamp bulbs having a fixed pedestal, a rotatable turret on said pedestal indexable from station to station, a plurality of presealing treating heads on said turret for supporting bulbs thereon, each of said heads being provided with means to provide clearance between said supported bulbs and said head for connecting the interior of said positioned bulb with the atmosphere, means for rotating said heads, an oven above said heads extending along substantially the periphery of said turret, and a flushing mechanism for delivering preheated nitrogen to said heads through said bulbs and hence to the atmosphere.

3. In combination for a presealing flush machine for incandescent lamp bulbs having a fixed pedestal, a rotatable turret on said pedestal indexable from station to station, a plurality of presealing treating heads on said turret, each of said heads comprising a headed hollow shaft rotatable in said turret, a hot air delivery pipe in said shaft, and a hollow bulb holding head on said pipe provided with an exhaust groove on the outerface thereof, and a flushing mechanism for delivering preheated air to said heads through said bulbs and hence to the atmosphere.

4. In combination for a presealing flush machine for incandescent lamp bulbs having a fixed pedestal, a rotatable turret on said pedestal indexable from station to Station, a plurality of presealing treating heads on said turret, leach of said heads comprising a headed hollow shaft rotatable in said turret, a hot air delivery pipe in said shaft, and a hollow bulb holding head on said pipe provided with an exhaust groove on the outerface thereof, and a flushing mechanism for delivering preheated nitrogen to said heads through said bulbs and hence to the atmosphere.

5. In combination for a presealing lush machine for incandescent lamp bulbs having a fixed pedestal, a rotatable turret on said pedestal indexable from station to station, a plurality of presealing treating heads on said turret, each of said heads comprising a headed hollow shaft rotatable in said turret, a hot air delivery pipe in said shaft, and a hollow bulb holding head on said pipe provided with an exhaust groove on the outerface thereof, and a ushing mechanism for delivering heated air to said head through said bulbs and hence to the atmosphere, said flushing mechanism comprising a lower manifold block on said turret and provided with an annular groove in its upper surface, an upper stationary manifold block on said pedestal and provided with an annular groove in its under surface complimentary to said upper groove, means for maintaining an air tight seal between said upper and lower manifold blocks, inlet means extending through said upper manifold block to said upper groove and means connecting said lower groove with said delivery pipe of said bulb holding head.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,461,155 Madden et al. July 10, 1923 1,551,527 Pirani Aug. 25, 1925 1,710,428 Mey Apr. 23, 1929 1,735,027 Wetmore Nov. 12, 1929 1,951,142 Foulke Mar. 13, 1934 2,215,641 Freeman Sept. 24, 1940 2,237,186 Malloy Apr. 1, 1941 2,277,691 Curwen et al. Mar. 31, 1942 2,334,123 Perkins Nov. 9, 1943 2,334,718 Lowry et al Nov. 23, 1943 2,455,317 Schneider Nov. 30, 1948 2,504,925 Gardner Apr. 18, 1950 `2,512,277 Jacobsen June 20, 1950

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