CA1086258A - Machines for peeling electrodeposited metal plate off cathode base plate - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT

In an electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine of the type equipped with a hammering apparatus, a peeling ap-paratus and a means for transferring cathode plate through said hammering and peeling apparatus, said transfer means being adapted to intermittently and sequentially transfer a cathode plate composed of electrodeposited metal plates and a base plate holding said electrodeposited metal plates thereon from outside the machine to the hammering apparatus, and from the hammering apparatus to the peeling apparatus, as well as transferring the base plate after peeling to the outside of the machine, the improvement comprising:
apparatus for supplying cathode plates to the transfer means from outside the machine and positioned in front of the hammering apparatus, said supplying apparatus comprising:
a first conveyer which conveys a plurality of cathode plates arranged in groups at regular intervals upon receiving said plurality at the rear end thereof; a second conveyer which is so disposed as to make its rear end confront the fore end of the first conveyer and is for the purpose of con-veying said groups of cathode plates upon receipt thereof one at a time from the fore end thereof; a transfer apparatus which is adapted to reciprocate between a first position above the cathode plate discharging position in the fore end portion of the first conveyer and a second position above the cathode plate supplying position in the rear end portion of the second conveyer and is equipped with a hanger provided on the lower part thereof to hang a group of cathode plates for transport from said supplying position on the first conveyer to said supplying position on the second conveyer;
a first sensor which senses the receipt of a group of cathode plates by the first conveyer and actuates the first conveyer to advance said group of cathode plates to the discharging position; a second sensor which senses the arrival of a group of cathode plates suspended by the hanger at the dis-charging position; a third sensor, which senses the passage of the rearmost cathode plate of a group of cathode plates-through the discharging position, and during a time equivalent to the time required for the advance of said group of cathode plates by a prescribed distance from the supplying position, shifts the transfer apparatus to a position above the supply-ing position whereby the suspended group of cathode plates is put on the supplying position on the second conveyer with the foremost cathode plate disposed a prescribed distance behind the rearmost cathode plate of the preceeding group, and said third sensor also actuating the hanger; a fourth sensor which senses the removal of a cathode plate from the fore end of the second conveyer, and intermittently actuates the second conveyer at regular intervals.

Description

.. ~o~jz~s BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to improvements in a machine for the purpose of automatically peeling a metal - plate off the base plate of a cathode plate composed of the cathode base plate (~hereinafter simply called "base plate") and an electrodeposited metal plate (hereinafter simply cal-led "metal plate") attached to the surface of said base plate - during a metal recovering process in the electrolytic re-fining of metal.
lQ . In known machines for peeling the metal plates off a base plate, a fine gap is formed between the base plate and the metal plate by first subjecting the surface of the upper edge of the metal plate to mechanical impact and thereafter driving a wedge into the fine gap thereby to peel off the metal plate. A jet of low pressure fluid may be directed to-ward the fine ~ap from the vicinity of the edge of said wedge prior to driving it in, thereby to float the metal plate off the base plate and form a gap sufficient for driving in a ; wedge. Such apparatus is disclosed and claimed in applicant's 2Q prior Canadian Patent No. 1,G01,113 of December 7, 1976.
However, the quantity of cathode plates from an electrolytic cell to be supplied to the metal-plate peeling '! machine rnay vary widely depending on the nature of the -electrolytic operation, while the quantity of cathode plates to be discharged from the peeling machine will vary with type of peeling machine. Accordingly, a machine for supply-: - 2 -~. ~

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~0~i2S8 ing cathode~plate is required to be capable of filling quite ~` different functions. Cathode plates are received according to the conditions of the electrolytic cell, and are delivered according to the conditions of the peeling machine. Also the machine should be capable of sufficiently absorbing - fluctuations of the quantity of in-coming cathode plates and the quantity of out-going cathode plates. No such cathode-plate supply apparatus exists to meet these requirements - satisfactorily.
lQ Further, known peeling machines have various drawbacks as follows. To begin with, the hammering apparatus for - hammering on the surface of the upper edge of metal plate ` is usually left exposed and generates considerable noise while hammering, also directing a jet of air of low pressure in the range of about 1 - 3 Kg/cm2 into the fine gap formed between the base plate and the metal plate, due to the use of a compressor in generating such a pressure air and a nozzle in jetting said compressed air onto the metal plate, generates a noise from the operation of the compressor and a further noise from the impact of the air on the metal plate.
These noises combined with the noise from hammering may reach a level of 103 phons, which is beyond the tolerance of the personnel working in the workshop.
Further, the metal plates peeled off the base plate are normally piled up randomly, resulting in difficulty in their subsequent handling and transportation, or storing.
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1()86ZS8 Therefore, it is frequently necessary to pile the plates again, which requires much labor, increasing costs and the risk of accident or injury to workers.
Moreover, the peeled metal plates are intended to be conveyed to a melting/casting shop, but as there may be a difference of elevation between the place where the peeled metal plates are piled and the level of the melting/casting shop, a fork-lift, shifting conveyer, or elevator may be needed. As a result, the overall equipment required is ex-tensive, a broad area is require~ for installing the equip-ment, and the handling of metal plates requires much labor, coupled with danger involved in the work.
Further, the metal plates are not uniformly cohered to the base plate. The composition of electrolyte, the temper-ature of electrolyte, the current density, the condition of the surface of base plate, etc. can all affect cohesion. As a result, base plate with unpeeled metal plate or base plate with tightly stuck metal plate can occur. Therefore, the working personnel usually keep an eye on the peeling apparatus, and whenever a cathode plate that failed to have its metal plate peeled off the base plate by means of the peeling apparatus (hereinafter called "~ase plate with unpeeled metal plate") is turned out, the working personnel would stop the peeling apparatus and remove the base plate with unpeeled metal plate. Such disruptions have been very troublesome.

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10~6Z58 As regards the apparatus for returning the base plate to the electrolytic cell after peeling the metal plate, in the case of a peeling machine sucH as above, it should be capable of concurrently filling quite different kinds of functions, namely, the function of receiving the base plates being conveyed transversely while moving in concert with said base plates and the function of sending out the base plates according to the conditions of the electrolytic cell.
However, there as not yet been proposed any apparatus cap-able of concurrently filling these two functions satisfactor-ily.

. , In view of the foregoing defects in the prior art, the present invention provides an electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine which will overcome the defects discussed above.
` The present invention also provides an electrodeposited ~ metal plate peeling machine r which includes apparatus for i supplying cathode plates in addition to the conventional peel-ing machine. The cathode plate supplying apparatus includes:
20 a first conveyer which receives a group of cathode plates ar-ranged at regular intervals on the rear end portion of the apparatus, a first sensor senses this and actuates the first conveyer. When the group of cathode plates which are sus-pended by a hanger reaches the cathode plate discharging position, a second sensor senses this and actuates the hanger suspending the group of cathode plates. A third sensor senses '' ' -~08~ZS8 the passage of the rearmost cathode plate of the group of cathode plates put on a second conveyer through the cathode plate supplying position, advances a shifting means for time equivalent to the time required for advancing said rearmost cathode plate by a prescribed distance after passing the cathode plate supplying position and actuates the hanger, whereby the suspended cathode plates are mounted on the second conveyer at the supplying position thereof with the foremost cathode plate positioned at a prescribed distance behind said rearmost cathode plate. The cathode plates on the first conveyer can be put on the second conveyer by means of a transfer apparatus so as to be always positioned at a prescribed distance behind the rearmost cathode plate thereon regardless of the timing of actuation of the second conveyer.
A plurality of cathode plates can be always arranged at reg-ular intervals on the second conveyer. The discharge of cathode plates from the second conveyer is very stabilized, and on the occasion of supplying cathode plates from the electrolytic cell to the peeling machine, the fluctuations , . .
'O of the supply of cathode plates arising from the conditions on the part of the electrolytic cell and the conditions of the peeling machine can be simply absorbed without making them interfere with each other, thereby rendering it pos-sible to perform the cathode plate supplying operation stably and accurately.

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1C~8fjZS8 Further the present invention provides an electro-, deposited metal plate peeling machine, which is devised ', such that: the hammering process making the biggest noise in the peeling operation is entirely carried out within a sound insulating box of enclosed type construction employing sound insulating materials except for the groove constituting the indispensable minimum opening provided for the purpose of passing cathode plates. The diffusion of noise to other surrounding workships is minimized. Unlike the conventional ,, lQ peeling process, there is employed a blower instead of a compressor whereby noise arising from the air supply source , is controlled and, moreover since the air is supplied by the blower, it is of far lower pressure than that supplied by a compressor. An elongated nozzle is used accordingly, the jet impact sound thereof is remarkably reduced and, as a whole, noise in the workshop arising from the conventional peeling machine -- which used to be as high as 103 phons --can be reduced to 87 phons thereby improving the working environment markedly.
Still further the present invention provides an electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine, which is de, vised such that: the peeled metal plates laid on an inclined rotary conveyer are let slip down along the slope of said conveyer to be arranged in parallel directions by means of a crossfeed conveyer; next, the inclined rotary conveyer is rotated simultaneously with said crossfeed conveyer thereby ~08~ZS8 to let the metal plates arranged in one direction fall on a chain conveyer installed beneath the inclined rotary conveyer;
and as the metal plates are piled on the chain conveyer, in the direction parallel to the direction of progress of the conveyer, one end of the metal plate can be adjusted by means of a chute, and in the direction perpendicular to the direc-tion of progress of,the conveyer, approximate adjustment is first conducted in the course of dropping the metal plate by means of outwardly inclinded adjusting plates disposed paral-lel to the fore and the rear ends of metal plate, and then.
upon finishing dropping the metal plates on the piling-up position, said fore and rear adjusting plates are erected so as to arrange the edges of metal plates perpendicular to the direction of progress of the conveyer correctly; whereby it renders it possible to pile up a prescribed number of metal plates -- which are otherwise apt to be piled up randomly --to,be in trim order in respect of all directions, and brings on a remarkable effect on the work efficiency and the safet'y of operations.
Still further the present invention provides an electro-deposited metal plate peeling machine, which is devised such that: there is further provided means for discharging base plate with unpeeled metal plate, together with means for de-tecting success or failure of the peeling work at the time of finishing the operation. Whenever a failure of peeling is detected, this detecting means remembers the base plate , .

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, 108~i2~8 with unpeeled metal plate; and when this base plate with un-peeled metal plate is conveyed by the transfer means and reaches the discharging apparatus for base plate with unpeel-ed metal plate, said discharging apparatus works to discharge the base plate with unpeeled metal plate to the outside of the transfer means under the direction of the detecting means.
`~ Thus the discharge of the base plates with unpeeled metal plate -- which has hitherto been manually performed -- can be automatically performed without any helping hand, resulting in improvement of work efficiency and saving of personnel expenses.
An additional feature of the present invention is to provide such an electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine, with an apparatus for supplying base plate installed in parallel thereto; and when a base plate with unpeeled metal plate is discharged by said discharging apparatus, a gap of the transfer means corresponding to the space formerly filled by said base plate with unpeeled metal plate is filled with a spare base plate; whereby it renders it possible to perform the succeeding process, or the work of returning the ~ase plate to the electrolytic cell, smoothly and accurately.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is to pro-vide an electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine, which - is characterized by the provision of an apparatus for dis-charging base plates in addition to the conventional peeling machine. The base plate discharging apparatus is so ar-_ g _ C ,.

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lO~Z58 ranged that; the base plates which have been received ~ single by a third conveyer are spaced at regular intervals - and conveyed to a discharging position with the actuation of the third conveyer by a fifth sensor. When the fifth sensor senses thearrival of the base plate at the discharging position, a hanger is actuated to suspend a group of base ; plates consisting of a plurality of base plates arranged at regular intervals, and transfer them onto a fourth conveyer.
When the sensor senses this transfer, it actuates the fourth lQ conveyer so as to dispose the rearmost one of the base plates put on the fourth conveyer to be at a prescribed distance in front of the supplying position. Accordingly, the foremost one of the bunch of base plates to be next transferred onto the fourth conveyeris positioned at a prescribed distance be-hind said rearmost one of the preceding group of base plates on the fourthconveyer, so that the base plates of the pre-ceding group and the base plates of the succeeding group can be arranged at regular intervals on the whole. Consequently, not only are the base plates always automatically arranged on the fourth conveyer at regular intervals suitable for setting in the electrolytic cell, but also it is possible in a simple way to adsorb the fluctuations of the quantity of base plate arising from the conditions of the metal plate peeling machine and the fluctuations of the quantity of base plate arising from the conditions on the part of the electrolytic cell through the adjustment of the load of the third and the fourth conveyers, thereby to perform the discharge of base plate stably at all times.
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~. lO~Z~8 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the appended drawings:
Fig. 1 schemetically illustrates the arrangement of the respective portions of an electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine according to the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the interior of the hammering ; apparatus and the peeling apparatus.
Fig. 3 is a view taken along the line III-III in Fig.

2;
Fig. 4 is a section on the line IV-IV in Fig. 2;
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of the sound insul-ating box of the same machine as above and is an enlarged figure as viewed along the line V-V in Fig. 6;
Flg. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in Fig. 5;
Fig. 7 is an enlargement of the section ~ of Fig. 6;
Fig. 8 is an enlargement of the section ~ of Fig. 5;
!- Fig. 9 is an enlargement of the section ~ of Fig. 6;
Fig. 10 is a view taken along the line X-X in Fig. 2;
Fig. 11 is an enlarged view of the section ~ in Fig.
10;
- Fig. 12 is a plan view of the bottom of the same sec-tion as in Fig. 11.

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108~258 Fig. 13 is a drawing illustrative of the working con-?` dition of the same section as in Fig. 11;
` Fig. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XIV-XIV in Fig. 11;
Fig. 15 is a schematic representati~n of the position of each switcll of the peeling apparatus of Fig. 10;
Fig. 16 is a front view of the discharging apparatus for base plate with unpeeled metal plate of the present invention;
Fig. 17 is a front view of the base plate supplying apparatus of the present invention;
Figs. 18(A~ a, a', (~), and (C) when assembled together ~form the diagram for control of the peeling apparatus, the dis-charging apparatus for base plate with unpeeled metal plate and the base plate supplying apparatus according to the present invention;
~; Fig. l9 is a diagram illustrative of the working of the- inclined rotary conveyer of the peeling apparatus according - to the present invention;
Fig. 20 is an enlarged sectional view of the roller of the inclined rotary conveyer in Fig. 19;
Fig. 21 is a plan view of the electrodeposited cathode plate conveying means of the peeling apparatus according to the present invention;
Fig. 22 is a view taken along the line XXII-XXII in Fig. 21;
Fig. 23 is a view taken along the line XXIII-XXIII in Fig. 21;
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~o~zss Fig. 24 is a schematic representation of the arrangement : of the respective sections of the apparatus in Fig. 21;
Fig. 25 is a front view of the cathode plate supplying apparatus according to the present invention;
Fig. 26 is a plan v~ew of the same apparatus as in Fig. 25;
Fig. 27 is a view taken along the line XXVII-XXVIIin Fig. 25;
Fig. 28 is a drawing illustrative of the arrangement of contacts of the cathode plate supplying apparatus in Fig. 25;
Fig. 29 is a front view of the base plate discharging apparatus according to the present invention;
Fig. 30 is a plan view of the same apparatus as in Fig. 29;
Fig. 31 is a view taken along the line XXXI-XXXI in Fig. 29; and , Fig. 32 is a drawing illustrative of the arrangement of contacts of the same apparatus as in Fig. 29. -~

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the apparatus of the present invention, showing the crossfeed conveyer 1 for cathode plate, the cathode plate discharging apparatus 2, the hammering apparatus 3, the peeling apparatus 4, the discharging apparatus 5 for base plate with unpeeled metal plate, the base plate supplying apparatus 6 and the base plate discharging appa-ratus 7, in order. The cathode plate is intermittently shifted from the right to the left as indicated by arrow in the diagram during processing.

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: ~hown in Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the hamm.ering apparatus 3 partly in section, coupled with the ~eeling ap-paratus.
In Figs. 2 - 9, as for the hammering apparatus 3; the reference numèral 31 denotes a pair of sound insulating boxes, ~ in which the air hammer mechanism 32 is provided. This air ; hammer mechanism 32 is supported on the support plates 23 which ; are horizontally installed facing each other with a cathode plate . . P between on the frame 22. On the support 23 is installed the cylinder 8, and onto the tip of the actuating rod 9 of the cylinder 8 is connected the slide plate 10 which slides on the support plate 23. And, on the slide plate 10 are installed several air hammers 30.
: Particulars of the sound insulating box 31 are shown in : Fig. 3 - 9: the frame is formed of angle materials, and by fixing varieties of sound insulating materials to this frame, the box is constructed. Both boxes 31 are of enclosed type excepting that the portion.facing the passage for the cathode~.
plate P is left open, and they are installed leaving a prescribed space between their openings.
- The top wall of each sound insulating box 31 is con-.. structed by filling up angle steel materials with glass wool 34, and its center is provided with an opening for the purpose of taking in and out the air hammer mechanism 32, said opening being provided with a cover 38. One side of this cover 38 is pivotally supported on the box 31 by means of hinges 39, while the opposite side is provided with handles 40. By the operation of.said handles 40, the cover is supposed to be engaged with or ~ disengaged from the engaging members 41 of the box 31. On the top of the space between the two boxes 31 is provided a cover 42 , .
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10~6258 C ~ thereby to prevent the leakage of ~ noise from this space to the outside.
The covers 35 and 38 are, as shown in Fig. 5, composed I of a hollow body consisting of steel plates, and this hollow - ~; body contains a couple of latticed wooden frames 43 as stratified, the voids of the lattice of each wooden frame 43 being packed ;I with glass wool 44. And, the cover 42 is composed of a hollow : body consisting of steel plates and packed with glass wool 45.
` The both side walls 46 are of such construction as partially shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 7, wherein 47 denotes a steel plate, on whose back is attached a lead plate 48. Between said lead plate 48 and steel plate 47 is partially provided a rubber plate 49, and the both sides of said rubber plates 49 are stuck to the confronting material. On the back of the lead plate 48 is fixed a latticed wooden frame 50, and a void partially provided in between said wooden frame 50 and lead plate 48 is filled with a rubber plate 51. The voids of lattice of the wooden frame 50 are packed with glass wool 52, and a lead plate 53 covers the thus packed wooden frame 50. On the lead ~1 20 ', plate 53 are further stratified a glass wool mat 54, a poly-.' , 1i .
,1 ethylene film 55 and a polyethylene net 56 in order, and said ! net 56 is settled by means of set nails 57, whose leg is stuck ¦ to a piece of wood, with the help of the washer 58.
¦ The angle steel material 59 erected in the fore part of ~I the side wall 47 and covered with the external steel plate 47 ~ has its external surface excepting the portion coming in contact with the external steel plate 47 covered with the lead plate 48, and the set nails 57' whose leg is stuck to a portion of the ~ lead plate 48 are provided to fill the same function as that of 1 the foregoing set nails 57.
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' - 1 ~0~62S8 In Fig. 8 is shown a part of the bottom wall 60 on an enlarged scale. In this Fig. 8, 61 denotes an external steel plate, and on the top base thereof is stuck a lead plate 62.
Between said lead plate 6Z and external steel plate 61 are partially provided voids, and a rubber plate 63 is provided in each void and the both sides of said rubber plate 63 are re-spectively stuck to the confronting material. On the top face li of the lead plate 62 is laid a latticed wooden frame 64 which Il is stuck to a part of the lead plate 62. Voids of the lattice of the wooden frame 64 are packed with glass wool 65, and another lead plate 66 covers the thus packed latticed wooden ¦ frame 64. Between the lead plate 66 and the wooden frame 64 are partially provided voids, and a rubber plate 67 is provided in each void and the both sides of said rubber plate 67 are re-I spectively stuck to the confronting material. On the top face il of the lead plate 66 is laid a wooden floor, and a part of saidwooden floor 68 is stuck to the top face of the lead plate 66.
On one side of the thus constructed bottom wall 60 are installed a pair of legs 69 for the sake of installing a stopper for the 1 purpose of stopping the crossfeed of cathode plate P, and be-j tween these legs 69 is provided the base plate 70 to be put on I¦ them.
- ll The fore-parts of confronting side walls 46 of both boxes 31 are interconnected by means of the gate-type tunnel walls 71 and 72: shown in Fig. 9 is a part of said tunnel wall on an ~ enlarged scale. In Fig. 9, 73 denotes an external steel plate, ¦l and a lead plate 74 is stuck on the back thereof. Between said ¦ lead plate 74 and external steel plate 73 are partially provided ~ 1 voids where the leg of set nail 75 is stuck to. This set nail 30 1l 75 penetrates a glass wool mat 76, a polyethylene film 77 and a .
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iZ58 polyethylene net 78 stratified in this order on the lead plate 74 and is settled with the help of the washer 79.
In from Fig. 10 onward is illustrated the peeling apparatus 4.
In Fig. 10, a scaffold-like support frame is installed ; on a beam member stretched on a transverse member 12 of the frame 11, and on the back of the top plate 13 are pivotally supported the bases of a pair of inverted cylinders 18. Thé
lower end of the rod of each cylinder 18 is equipped with a wedge 14 to be disposed on either side of the cathode plate P.
Referring to Figs. 11 - 13, a support plate 15 is fixed to each transverse member 12. On the lower side of this support plate 15 is fixed a cylinder 16, and on the tip of the actuating rod of this cylinder 16 is fixed a clamp body 17. Further, on the tip of each clamp body 17 is fixed a clamp plate 19 which constitutes a pair of clamp plates facing each other.
On the top of each clamp body 17 is installed a downward nozzle pipe 20 equipped with a slit-like nozzle 28 (See Fig. 12) for jetting a gas toward around the upper edge of the joint of base plate P' and metal plate P" whenever the clamp bodies 17 ~. .
clamp the upper part of base plate P' as shown in Fig. 13. The angle ~of this nozzle 28 relative to the horizontal level shown in Fig. 13 is in the range of 0 - 60 depending on such conditions as the size of nozzle pipe 20, the pressure of gas to be jetted/ etc.: the optimum angle is 30. The distance , L between the nozzle 28 and the base plate P' is set at 30 mm -100 mm according to the foregoing conditions. The height of the nozzle 28 is preferably 50 mm, the length of the nozzle 28 is preferably about 2/3 of the width of the cathode plate P (or 30 about 600 mm) as seen from Fig. 14, and the width thereof is ~ .

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10~62S8 preferably 3 mm or 5 mm. To both sides of the nozzle pipe 20 is ., , ~
connected a flexible pipe 27 for supplying air, said flexible ` pipe 27 being further connected to a blower not shown in the drawing. In this connection, as the result of experiment, it has been found that the optimum capacity of the blower is 3 m3/
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I min x 700 mm Aq x 3.7 KW.

I On the top of each clamp body 17 is further installed - an arm 24, in which a rod 26 which is fixed on the lower part - of the cylinder 18 is slidingly fit with the aid of resilience , 10 ; of a spring 21.
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~J As shown in Fig. 10, below the frame 11 and on both side~

: ; of the conveyer 1, there is installed a roller conveyer 121 ; which is inclined downward in the direction of parting from the -. ~ conveyer 1 at an angle of about 15 relative to the horizontal ', level. This roller conveyer 121 is, as illustrated in Figs. 2, ~` 10 and 22, installed in a cantilever-fashion on a shaft 123 . 1` pivotally supported on the frame 11 and consists of a multi-plicity of rollers 125 pivotally supported on a bracket 124.

On the lowest part of the frame 11 is provided a gear box 126 ,, Ij .
, respectively, said gear box accommodating pinions and gears to engage therewith, and these gear trains are actuated by the reciprocating motion of a cylinder 127, whereby the shaft 123 is to be shifted by 90 between the position expressed by the solid ll line and the position expressed by the dotted line in Fig.~l9.
,. , The roller 125 is, as illustrated by Fig. 20, composed of a . Il central shaft 128 and a steel pipe 130 covering it with the aid - -of bearings 129.
: ~l I On the inside of said steel pipe 130 is stuck a soft-- 1 rubber lining 131. Stopper plates 132 consisting of urethane ~ plate as disposed outside the lower end of the roller conveyer .~..... ~.. . ,1 : - -- , : :
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~0~6258 121 are fixed to the frame through a bracket 133 respectively, and on the back of this stopper plate 132 are provided limit switches LB5L and LB5R.
As shown in Figs. 21 - 23, below each roller conveyer 121 is installed a chain conveyer 141 parallel to the crossfeed conveyer 1 to be driven a motor 150, so that the metal plates P"
fallen from the conveyer 121 can be piled up on said chain con-veyer 141. On both sides of the chain conveyer 141 are installed ~ the chutes 142, 143 in parallel with said chain conveyer, said chutes functioning to induce the piling-up of metal plates along the direction parallel to the chain conveyer. While, as to the adjustment of the piling-up of metal plates along the direction f perpendicular to the chain conveyer, there are provided the fore adjusting plate 144 (along the normal direction of progress of the chain conveyer) and the rear adjusting plate 145 (along the opposite direction of progress of the chain conveyer), the -; I base of said adjusting plates being fixed to the shaft 146 and 147, respectively. The shafts 146 and 147 are connected to the ll oil pressure motors 148 and 149 disposed in the middle of the 1 20 l, respective shafts. The shafts 146 and 147 are actuated by the respective oil pressure motor and accordingly the fore and the rear adjusting plates turn by a prescribed angle, come in an lll upright position and again return to their normal position.
; I Inasmuch as the normal position of the respective adjusting plates is a position somewhat inclined (e.g., by about 15) i , outward relative to a perpendicular position, at the time when a metal plate falls, initial adjustment can be performed.
Below the frame 11 is provided a scaffold-type frame 82, and another frame 81 is provided in parallel therewith. Parallel to both sides of the frame 81 are provided a pair of lift con-~, il . . .
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1(J~6ZS8 veyers 83, said lift conveyer 83 being devised to confront the chain conveyer 141 when it ascends. This lift conveyer 83 con-sists of a chain conveyer and is supposed to be driven by a motor 84. On the upper and the lower parts of the frame 81 are axially ~ supported shafts 85, 86, 87, 88 and shafts 85', 86', 87', 88' ;~ which front on the vicinity of the region of movement of 1~ the respective lift conveyer 83 to be parallel to each other by vertically arranging to see that shaft 85 faces shaft 85', .: I' shaft 86 faces shaft 86', shaft 87 faces shaft 87' and shaft 88 faces shaft 88'. Between the shafts 85 and 88 and between the .~ !!
,~j shafts 86 and 87 are stretched a chain 89 and a chain 90, respectively, through a sprocket. Also between the shafts 85 and 85', shafts 86 and 86', shafts 87 and 87' and shafts 88 and 88' are stretched the main chains 91, 92 through a sprocket. To these main chains 91, 92 are connected the conveyer frame of the , ! respective lift conveyers 83 by means of an appropriate attach-:'` .1 .
I ment thereby to make the conveyer 83 ascend and descend while ; 1I keeping a horizontal position.
i~ The shafts 85, 86 installed on the upper part of the ; 20 1I frame 81 are provided with gears 93, 94 engaging with each other, . and to the shaft 85 is connected a motor 96 through a chain 95, whereby the shafts 85, 86 are supposed to be driven simultaneous-ly by means of the motor 96 and both lift conveyers 83 are l,l supposed to ascend and descend synchronously. 97 denotes a ; ll guide frame for the main chains 91, 92.
The unpeeled base plate discharging apparatus 5 is, as - ) shown in Fig. 16, constructed such that, a conveyer 101 to j suspend the base plate with unpeeled metal plate with the aid Il of a head bar H is installed in the upper part of the frame and a shifting conveyer 102 is installed on one end which.
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~0l~6ZS8 confronts the region of movement of said base plate with unpeeled metal plate of said discharging conveyer.
In Fig. 16, 103 and 10~ respectively denote a link, said l link 103 having its one end fixed on a shaft 105 which is pivot-i~ ally supported on the same shaft as that of a chain wheel while said link 104 having its one end fixed on a shaft 106 which is pivotally supported on the frame below it. A link 17 is pivot-ally connected to both other ends of these links 103, 104 by means of a shaft 108 respectively. And, on the upper end of this link 17 is provided a groove 109 for the purpose of trans-ferring the base plate with unpeeled metal plate put on the '~
crossfeed conveyer 1 onto the conveyer 101 with the aid of a head bar H.
110 denotes a guide frame for the purpose of guiding the I upper edge of the base plate with unpeeled metal plate at a i! portion confronting the discharging apparatus 5 as a substitute for a guide plate: this guide frame is devised to be capable of ascending and descending by means of a cylinder 111. 112 denotes ¦ a ratchet mechanism, and 113 denotes a cylinder which is j . j, . , supposed to drive the conveyer 101 intermittently at regular intervals. MSC represents a motor. The apparatus 6 for supplying the base plate p' in place of the base plate with unpeeled metal plate discharged is illustrated by Fig. 17: this supplying apparatus 6 is substantially the same in construction as the foregoing discharging apparatus for base plate with un-peeled metal plate 5, excepting that the shifting means 102' has its upper part inclined backward in contrast with the shifting means 102 of said discharging apparatus 5, the direction~
of movement of the shifting means 102' is inverse and it engages with the base plate P' put on the conveyer 101' thereby to , . I ,,.

, I

. . , . - .: ~ .
:: . - : - , - ~ , . . -,,. , ..... ~ . . : .-, ' ~',:
:, ' , '.. ~ -, , .'- ~: ' tiZ58 transfer it onto the crossfeed conveyer 1, and the direction.of driving of the conveyer 101' is inverse. Therefore, for the " sake of simplification, the members of the apparatus 6 which correspond to that of the apparatus 5 are represented by the same reference numeral save for attachment of the mark ('), and description thereof is dispensed with. In this connection, MSD
represents a motor.
Figs. 25 - 28 are illustrative of the apparatus 2 for supplying the cathode plate P one at a time to the crossfeed conveyer 1.
~- In these drawings, 161 denotes the first conveyer, 162 denotes the second conveyer so disposed as to make its rear end . .confront the fore end of said first conveyer 161, and 163 de-notes a transfer apparatus which travels between a position above the cathode plate discharging position in the fore end portion of said first conveyer 161 and a position above the cathode plate supplying positi.on in the rear end portion of said second : conveyer 162. Both the first and the second conveyer 161, 162 . .
: are equipped with a pair of roller chains 164, 165 for the pur-pose of suspending and shifting the cathode plate P with the aid of a head bar H. The first conveyer 1 is appropriately driven by a motor 166, while the second conveyer 162 is supposed to be driven intermittently at regular intervals by means of a cylinder 168 connected to a ratchet mechanism. Above the rear end portion of the first conveyer 161 is disposed a hoist 169 for the purpose of pulling up a ~roup of cathode plates arranged at regular intervals from an electrolytic cell not shown in.the drawings and putting them on.the first conveyer 161, while in . ~he vicinity of the fore end portion of the second conveyer 162 is provided .. ~ ,, .

. .....

- ' ~ -` lO~:iZS8 a shifter 171 to be driven by a motor not shown in the drawings for the purpose of taking out the cathode plates one by one from the second conveyer 162 and transferring them onto a crossfeed conveyer l.

. .
The transfer apparatus 163 is equipped with a truck 173 ' which travels on the rails 172 installed between above the . ~, cathode plate discharging position in the fore end portion of the first conveyer 161 and above the cathode plate supplying position in the rear end portion of the second conveyer 162.
.~, 10 , The lower part of this truck 173 is equipped with a hanger 175 which is connected to a cylinder 174 and is supposed to move along the route Ll L2 ML3 L4 L1 shown in Fig. 28 in concert with the travel of the truck 173. The hanger 175 is provided with a ; ,¦ pair of grooves 176 formed along both sides of its lower part, said grooves being devised to engage with the hook F of the cathode plate p as illustrated in Fig. 27. The reference numeral 177 denotes a motor for driving the truck 173.
. As to the number of cathode plates to be put on the I
first and the second conveyer 161, 162 and the number of cathode ,~ plates to be suspended by the transfer apparatus 163, in the case of the present embodiment, as the number of cathode plates to be suspended by the hoist 169 at a time is half the number I of cathode plates to be placed in the electrolytic cell, by ; ~¦ appropriately determining the length of the respective conveyers - ll 161, 162 and the length of the hanger 175 of the transfer appa-¦I ratus 163, it is set at the number of cathode plates to be suspended by the hoist 169 at a time plus the number of cathode ,¦ plates to be suspended by the transfer apparatus 163 at a time Il as regards the first conveyer 161, while as regards the second ,, 30 conveyer, it is set at several times as many as cathode plates ' 11 , ' . -: ,~ - 22 -i- - .

~ lO~ZS8 to be suspended by the transfer apparatus 163 at a time, and as regards the transfer apparatus, it is set at half the number of cathode plates to be suspended by the hoist 169, that is, one fourth of the number of cathode plates to be placed in the electrolytic cell. As to the number of cathode plates to be put on the first and the second conveyer 161, 162 and the number of cathode plates to be suspended by the transfer apparatus 163, it is not particularly limited: in the case of the first con-veyer 161, it suffices to set the number so as to render it possible to absorb the fluctuations of the quantity of cathode plates to be supplied arising from the conditions of the opera-tion of electrolysis sufficiently, and in the case of the second `conveyer 162, it suffices to set it so as to absorb the fluc-tuations of the quantity of cathode plates to be discharged arising from the conditions of peeling process as well as the fluctuations of the quantity of cathode plates to be trans-ferred from the first conveyer 161 sufficiently.
Figs. 29 - 32 are illustrative of the apparatus for -~discharging the base plate P' one by one from the crossfeed conveyer 1.
- In these drawings, 181 denotes a third conveyer, 182 ; denotes a fourth conveyer so disposed as to make its rear end confront the fore end of said conveyer, and 183 denotes a trans-fer apparatus which suspends a group of base plates to carrv from the base plate discharging position in the fore end of the conveyer 181 and transfers said group of base plates to the base plate supplying position in the rear end of the conveyer 182. Both the conveyers 181, 182 are equipped with a pair of roller chains 184, 185 for the purpose of loading a head bar - 30 H for base plates P', ~? ' !

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~o~izss and the conveyer 181 is supposed to be intermittently driven by ` a cylinder 187 connected thereto through a ratchet 186, while I ' the conveyer 182 is supposed to be appropriately driven by a motor 188.
At the rear end of the conveyer 181 is disposed a cross-feed conveyer 1 to meet at right angles therewith, and the base plates p' are supposed to be transferred from said crossfeed - conveyer 1 onto the conveyer 181 one at a time. A hoist 191 is disposed above the conveyer 182, and by means-of this hoist 191, a bunch of base plates arranged on the conveyer 182 are suspended and carried to be returned to the electrolytic cell.
The transfer apparatus 183 is equipped with a truck 193 ' to travel on the rails 192 provided between above the fore end portion of the conveyer 181 and above the rear end portion of , the conveyer 182. The lower part of said truck 193 is equipped 11 .
l, with a hanger 195 which is connected to a cylind~r 194 and is ,1 .
supposed to travel along the route Ll L2 ML3 L4 Ll shown in Fig.

29. The hanger 195 is provided with a pair of grooves 196 ¦I formed along both sides of its lower part, said grooves being I devised to engage with the hook F of the base plate P'. The ~ Il reference numeral 197 denotes a motor for driving the truck 193.

,` ll As to the number of base plates to be put on the con-~I veyers 181, 182 and the number of base plates to be suspended 1ll by the transfer apparatus 183, in the case of the present em-; ll bodiment, as regards the number of base plates to be put on the . I . .
conveyer 181, it is set at the number of base plates to be ll suspended by the transfer apparatus 183 at a time at the least, - I while as regards the number of base plates to be put on the , ll conveyer 182, it is set at the number of base plates to be ~I suspended by the hoist 191 at a time plus more than the number ll - 24 -: . .' ',- ~ : ' - :
.
- . -, - : :
., . ~ ' :' ' ~ ~ ' ' .
-: ~

"`` ` 10l~6Z58 ~ of base plates to be suspended by the transfer apparatus 183 at !
a time, and the number of base plates to be suspended by said hoist 191 at a time is set at half the number of base plates ` ! ` `
. to be placed in the electrolytic cell while the number of base ` plates to be suspended by said transfer apparatus 183 at a time . is set at one quarter of the number of base plates to be placed . I in the electrolytic cell. As to the number of base plates to be put on the conveyers 181 and 182 and the number of base plates to be suspended by the transfer apparatus 183, it is not par- -ticularly limited: in the case of the conveyer 181, it suffices . to set the number so as to render it possible to absorb the fluctuations of the quantity of cathode plates to be conveyed arising from the conditions on the part of the peeling off . ~, machine sufficiently, and in the case of the conveyer 182, it '~ ll suffices to set the number so as to render it possible to absorb ., , the fluctuations of the quantity of base plates to be conveyed ~ I! arising from the conditions on the part of electrolytic cell ~, , .
~ jj as well as the fluctuations of the quantity of base plates to :9 j be transferred from the conveyer 181 sufficiently.
.,1. I . .

.~ . 20 OPERATION:
Hereunder will be explained the mode of operation in ¦ supplying the cathode plates p to be crossfeed conveyer 1 by means of the cathode plate supplying apparatus 2 illustrated in Figs. 25 - 27 with reference to the arrangement of contacts shown in Fig. 28.
~ Let it be supposed that a ~4~ of cathode plates P
i~ j, consisting of half the number of cathode plates arranged at . ,I regular intervals in.an electrolytic cell are pulled out of said electrolytic cell, carried to the rear end portion of the ` il - 25 -!l ~:

- - .: ~ ' ' -' ~o~zss first conveyer 161 and put on the roller chain 164 as they are with the aid of the head bar H. Then, the limit switch LSl senses this, and the motor 166 is actuated to drive the conveyer C 161, whereby the ~nc~ of cathode plates advance. By this time, the hanger 175 descends to the cathode plate discharging position in the rear end portion of the conveyer 161 from the transfer apparatus 163 which is in abeyance at the terminum of its retreat above said discharging position, and assumes the posture of standing by. The cathode plates P advanced along the con- :
veyer 161 move on upon having their hooks F engaged with the groove 176 of the hanger 175, and when they arrive at the terminum of advance, the limit switch LS2 senses this, the motor 166 stops to bring the conveyer 161 to a halt thereby to confirm the hanger 175 is in the state of being capable of holding a ; ~I prescribed number of cathode plates P within its groove 176, the cylinder 174 is actuated, the hanger 175 is elevated and the cathode plates P are suspended. When the hanger 175 reaches to the terminum of ascent L2, the limit swtich LS4 senses this, I the cylinder 174 is stopped and the hanger 175 is brought to a ~I halt: besides, if the cathode plates p have been sensed by the - ~ limit switches LS8, LSg of the second conveyer 162 on this occasion, the hanger 175 stands by at said terminum of ascent L2 until the limit switch LS8 no longer senses the cathode plates p, and the limit switch LS9 senses the cathode plate p.
When the limit switch LS8 no longer senses the cathode plates P, the motor 177 is actuated to advance the truck 173. When the truck 173 reaches to the miadle point M and the limit switch LS5 senses this, the motor 177 is stopped to bring the truck 173 to . ' a halt, and the truck 173 stands by at said middle point M until . the limit switch LSg no longer senses the cathode plates p.
I I - ~

'~

.. : ' ~::

, ~ ~0l~6258 When the rearmost cathode plate P of the bunch of cathode plates on the conveyer 162 passes the limit switch LSg and said limit switch LSg no longer senses the cathode plates p, the motor 177 ' for the truck 173 is actuated to advance the truck 173. During a time equivalent to the time.required for the advance of the rearmost cathode plate by a prescribed distance after said cathode plate has passed the limit switch LSg, the truck 173 is : moved up to the terminum of advance L3, and the limit switch LS6 I senses this, stops the motor 177 to bring the truck 173 to a : 10 halt and also actuates the cylinder 174 thereby to descend the hanger 175. And, the suspended bunch of cathode plates are put on the cathode plate supplying position of the conveyer 162 to see that the foremost cathode plate P be disposed at a prescribed distance behind the rearmost cathode plate p on the foregoing conveyer. The hanger 175 further descends, and at the time when the hook F is disengaged from the groove 176 of the hanger 175, the hanger reaches tc the terminum of descent L4. When the I limit switch LS7 senses this, it stops the cylinder 174 to bring ¦ the hanger 175 to a halt.
~ After a prescribed space of time, the motor 177 is 1~
actuated reversely, and the truck 173 is made to retreat while disengaging the hook F from the hanger 175 which is left at the terminum of descent. As for the conveyer 161, at the time when the truck 173 is sensed to have reached to such a position as will not impede the progress of the conveyer 161 by the limit switch LS5 at the middle point M on the route of its advance, the conveyer 161 is again operated to advance the remaining half of cathode plates P and stand by at the terminum of advance I in the state of having been sensed by the limit switch LS2.
Besides, on the rear end of the first conveyer 161, there`is a ~ r o ~ p ~()8t:iZ58 succeeding *~nc~ of cathode plates pulled out of the electrolytic cell and put thereon by the hoist 169.
Accordingly, with the retreat of the transfer apparatus 163 along the conveyer 161, the hanger 175 is applied intact to the cathode plates P placed at the discharging position, and when the truck 173 reaches to the terminum of retreat, the limit switch LS3 senses this, stops the motor 177 to bring the truck 173 to a halt: besides, if the cathode plates P have been sensed by the limit switch LS2, the cylinder 174 is again actuated to suspend the cathode plates p and the same operation as described in the foregoing is repeated. ' ~ I
Meanwhile, the foremost cathode plate P of a bunch of cathode plates transferred onto the conveyer 162 from the hanger 175 is sensed by the limit switch LSg, while the second cathode plate and/or several cathode plates following thereto are sensed by the limit switch LS8.
A series of plural number of cathode plates p arranged at regular intervals on the conveyer 162 are sensed by the limit 'I switch LSlo when they are shifted one at a time onto the cross-feed conveyer from the shifter 171 driven by a motor not shown I in the drawings, and with the reciprocating motion of the cylinder between the limit switches LSll, LS12 and intermittent driving of the conveyer 162 at regular intervals, the cathode plates p are advanced at regular intervals.
Next, the mode of operation of the hammering apparatus l~ 3 will be explained in the following.
¦ A cathode plate P made to advance as above is sent inthe sound insulating box 31 of the hammering apparatus 3. And, I' upon arrival at the air hammer mechanism 32 therein, it comes to ~ a halt under the direction of a sensing mechanism not shown in , .

- - ~ --Ot?~;Z58 the drawings, while the cylinder 8 is actuated to move the air ham~er 30 to the vicinity of two sides of the upper part of the cathode plate p. At this, the air hammer is actuated to apply intermittent impacts on the surface of the upper part of the -metal plate p" attached to two sides of the cathode plate P, thereby to form a fine gap between the base plate and the metal plate. After performing this impact process for a fixed time, :
the air hammer 30 stop working and retreat, and then the con-veyer 1 is actuated again to shift the cathode plate P trans-versely to the outside of the sound insulatïng box 31.
Next, the mode of operation of the peeling off apparatus 4 will be explained by reference to the sequences in Fig. 18.
In this context, in the sequence (A), inasmuch as the symmetrical wedges 14 disposed on two sides of the cathode plate P and so on are of the same behavior, a portion of the sequence is herein omitted and accordingly explanation relevant thereto is also omitted in part.
When a cathode plate p subjected to the impact process I is transversely shifted by one pitch and arrives at the peel;ng off apparatus 4, a sensor not shown in the drawings senses this - and stops the crossfeed conveyer 1.
When the stop of the crossfeed conveyer 1 confirmed, the contacts A2, AX3 close accordingly, the electromagnetic valve SOL-B1 is opened by means of the relay B2, the cylinder 16 is actuated to advance the clamp 17 toward the cathode plate P, 1, the air nozzle pipes 20 and the wedges 14 also advance therewith, I l and at the time when the clamp plates 19 of the clamp 17 have held the cathode plate P between, the -clamps 17 reach to the terminum of advance (See Fig. 13). At this, the limit switches i , .
LBlR, LBlL sense this, the contact BXl closes and the electro-.

~1 .

., ~ iZ58 magnetic valve SOL-A opens, whereby air is jetted from the nozzle pipe 20 toward the gap between the base plate P' and the metal plate p" to widen said gap.
Further, by the closure of the contact BXl, the timer ; BTl is set, and when the contact BTl closes after a prescribed space of time and the contact B3 closes, inasmuch as the contact B2 is being closed, the contact B4R is closed by the relay B4R, whereby the electromagnetic valve SOL-B2R opens and the cylinder 18 is actuated to make the wedge 14 descend. And, at the same time, the contact B5R is closed by the relay B5R and also the timer BT2R is set.
When the wedge 14 is sensed by the limit switches LB2R, LB2L upon descending by a prescribed distance, the electromagnet-ic valve SOL-A is closed by the relay BX2 to discontinue the jetting of air from the nozzle pipe 20, but the wedge 14 is let il cut in between the base plate p' and the metal plate P" to descend and peel off the metal plate P". When the wedge 14 reaches to the terminum of descent, the limit switch LB4R
I (LB4L) senses this. At this, the normally closed contact BX4R ~ -is opened by the relay BX4R, the relay B4R is cut to close the electromagnetic valve SOL-B2R, whereby the cylinder 18 is actuated reversely to make tke wedge 14 ascend. And, at the same time, the contact BX4R is closed, the contact B6R is closed by the relay B6R and also the timer BT3R is set. The wedge 14 stops upon arrival at the terminum of ascent. When the limit switch LB3R (LB3L) senses this, each contact BX3R is closed by the relay BX3R. Even during this operation, the timers BT2R, BT3R remember the fall of the metal plate P" and the relay B2 ,' is cut, and this state of being set is held intact until the ' clamp 17 retreats and the contact B2 opens.

108~2S8 Meanwhile, the metal plate p" peeled off the base plate p' falls down on the roller conveyer 121 to slip down along the ` slope thereof. When the limit switch LB5R (LB5L) senses this, the contact B9R is closed by the relay B9R and remembers the peeling-off. As to the roller conveyer 121, when the wedge 14 ; reaches to the terminum of ascent and each of contacts BX3R, BXiL closes, by virtue of the memory of the contact B9R, the electromagnetic valves SOL-B3R, SOR-B3L open and the roller conveyer 121 turns downward centering around the shafts 123 by means of the cylinder 127, whereby the metal plate P" is let fall on the chain conveyer 141 thereunder. As to the roller conveyer 121, when the limit switches LB6R (LB6L) sense it at the terminum of descent thereof, the relays B9R, B9L are cut, , the contacts B9R, B9L open, the electromagnetic valves SOL-B3R, SOL-B3L close and the cylinder 127 is actuated reversely, whereby the roller conveyer 121 is restored to its inltial position.
When the metal plate p" is sensed by the limit switch LB5R (LB5L) on the roller conveyer 121 and the peeling-off of j the electrodeposited metal plate p" is confirmed, the normally 20 1l closed contacts BlOR, BlOL open, and the relay B2 is cut to open the contact B2, whereby the setting of the times BT2R, BT3R is cancelled.
Further, when the electromagnetic valve SOL-Bl closes, the cylinder 16 is actuated reversely, the clamp 17, nozzle pipe 20 and wedge 14 retreat and reaches to the terminum of retreat, Il and the limit switches LB7R, LB7L senses this, the crossfeed ' conveyer 1 is driven to send out the base plate P' deprived of C I the metal plate p" from the peeling ~ apparatus 4 while sending a new cathode plate P in said apparatus.

.

` lO~iZS8 ; In the case where the cathode plate p set in the peeling HP apparatus 4 is the so-called tightly electrodeposited cathode plate and any base plate with unpeeled metal plate P" is turned out, this is sensed in the following way:
To begin with, there are two instances where a cathode ` plate p results in a base plate with unpeeled metal plate: one is the case where no gap is formed between the electrodeposited metal plate p" and the base plate P' even through the impact ; process, or even if any gap can be formed, said gap cannot be widened by jetting air from the air nozzle pipe and accordingly I . the wedge 14 fails to cut in between the metal plate P" and the ; base plate p' but it slides down along the surface of the metal plate p"; the other is the case where the wedge 14 manages to cut in between the electrodeposited metal plate P" and the base plate p', but because of the cohesion of both plates being too strong, the wedge 14 is deadlocked in the course of descent.
(1) In the case where the wedge 14 slides down along the sur-,I face of the metal plate P":
~ When the wedge 14 reaches to the terminum of descent, 1l it is sensed by the limit switch LB4R as described in the fore-going, the contact BX4R closes, the contact B6R is closed by the relay B6R, and the timer BT3R is set. Upon arrival at the terminum of descent,i the wedge 14 ascends directly to return to its initial position, but, as the metal plate P" is left un-, peeled, even after the lapse of a prescribed time, the limit . . ¦ switches LB5R, LB5L cannot sense the metal plate P", and accord-ll ingly, the timer BT3R is not released but is left working continuously for a prescribed time and closes the contact sT3R, and the contact B7R is closed by the relay B7R. And, as the contact BX3R is being closed at the time when the wedge 14 has : I - 32 -~ ., , - .

. , ;
- ' ' ' "' ... .

-` lO~tiZS8 ; reached to the terminum of ascent, the clamp 17 iS made to retreat by the relay B8R at the same time, the occurrence of the base plate with unpeeled metal plate is remembered by the relay Bll which gives a signal to the apparatus for discharging base plate with unpeeled metal plate.
(2) In the case where the wedge 14 becomes incapable of peeling off in the course of descent: I
After the lapse of a prescribed time subsequent to finishing the clamping motion of the clamp 17 on the cathode plate P, the contact B3 iS closed by the relay B3, the wedge 14 - starts descending, and at the same time, the contact B4R is closed by the relay B4R, whereby the timer BT2R is set.
i However, as the wedge 14 is in the state of being dead-locked in the course of descent, the metal plate p" will never be peeled off. Therefore, a prescribed time passes while the time limit switch LB5R on the roller conveyer 121 is still unable to sense the metal plate P", the contact BT2R is closed by the actuation of the timer BT2R, the failure in peeling-of-~f , is sensed by the relay B7R, the contact B7R is closed, the occurrence of a cathode plate p with unpeeled metal plate is sensed by the relay Bll, a signal is given to the discharging 1 apparatus 5 and, at the same time, the normally closed contact !l I
B7R iS opened to cut the relay B4R, the contact B4R iS opened to close the electromagnetic valves SOL-B2R and the cylinder 18 , is actuated reversely, whereby the wedge 14 iS pulled up. When the limit switches LB3R (LB3L) sense the return of the wedge 14 to the terminum of ascent, the contact BX3R iS closed by the relay BX3R, the normally closed contact B8R iS opened by the 1I relay B8R, and the relay B2 is cut to make the clamp 17 retreat.
When the limit switches LB7R, LB7L sense the clamp 17 reaches 'I ' .
ll - 33 -: : :, , , .
:; ' ' ' ,, ' i2S8 to the terminum of its retreat, the crossfeed conveyer 1 is actuated to shift the base plate with unpeeled metal plate transversely again by a distance equivalent to one pitch thereby to make it confront the discharging apparatus 5.
Next, the mode of operation of the discharging apparatus 5 for the base plate with unpeeled metal plate will be explained in the following.
It is to be ascertained first that the cathode plate has ; been conveyed along the crossfeed conveyer 1 and arrived at the discharging apparatus 5 with the closure of the contacts A4, ~: AX5. In the case where a plate arrived`at the discharging - ~ apparatus is a base plate p' after peeling the metal plate P"
off a cathode plate, the contact Bll does not close and accord-, ingly the discharging apparatus is not actuated, but in the case where said plate is a base plate with unpeeled metal plate, the contact Bll is closed by the relay Bll, and accordingly the contact Cl is closed by the relay Cl, the contact C2 is closed by the relay C2, and the electromagnetic valve SOL-Cl opens to.
Il actuate the cylinder 111, whereby the guide frame 110 ascends.
While the guide frame is in the course of ascending to the terminum of ascent, the limit switch LCl sense this, the con-ll t~cts C3, C4 are closed by the relays C3, C4, the motor MSC is I ! ~
driven to actuate the shifting means 102, and the head bar H of the base plate P' with unpeeled metal plate is engaged with the groove 109 of said shifting means 102, whereby said base plate ~, with unpeeled metal plate is lifted from the crossfeed conveyer 1 and trans erred onto the conveyer 101. In the course of this transfer, said base plate with unpeeled metal plate is sensed Il by the limit switch LC3, the normally closed contact C5 is opened ~ by the relay C5, the relay C2 is cut to close the electromagnetic ~ I .
'I - 34 -- :
' , - . ' . . - . . ,. -.' ' ' ~ ~ . ' :
. . - ~ ,.
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izs8 valve SOL-Cl, the cylinder 111 is actuated reversely, the guide fra~e 110 is made to descend thereby to return to its initial position, the shifting means 102 is further turned thereby to suspend the base plate with unpeeled metal plate from a chain above the conveyer 101, and when the shifting means 102 turning downward finishes one round of rotation, the limit switch LC2 senses this and cuts the relay C4 to stop the motor MSC, whereby one cycle is finished. Meanwhile, when a base plate with un-peeled metal plate has been transferred onto the conveyer 101 ~ and a sensor not shown in the drawings, senses this, said con-l veyer 101 is driven to advance by the actuation of the ratchet - ~ mechanism 112 thereby to advance said base with unpeeled metal plate by a prescribed distance, and stops thereupon.
Next, the mode of operation of the supplying apparatus , 6 for the purpose of filling a gap arising from the discharge ~ 1 of a base plate with unpeeled metal plate on the crossfeed con-: I veyer 1 with a spare base plate p' will be explained in the Il following.
¦l In the case of a normal cathode plate p from which the , metal plate p" has been peeled, the relay Bll for sensing the occurrence of a base plate with unpeeled metal plate and the Il relay C2 for guiding a base plate with unpeeled metal plate to ; ll the discharging position do not work thereon, and accordingly the contacts Bll, C2 are left open, the keep relay DK is not actuated~ and the base plate supplying apparatus 7 is not actuated either. But, in the case of occurrence of any base plate with unpeeled metal plate, the contacts Bll, C2 close, the keep relay DK is set to remember it, the crossfeed conveyer 1 advances by a distance equivalent one pitch to actuate the relay Dl, the conveyer stopping relay A9 is actuated to bring ,1 .. .. .
,, ', - '. ,:" ~ ' :
: ~ ' : ~ ' :

'': : ': ~
.: ' ' : ' ~0~6zs8 the crossfeed conveyer 1 to a halt, and the relay D2 is actuated to close the contact D2. When the contact D2 closes, the con-tact D3 closes, the electromagnetic valve SOL-Dl opens, the guide frame 110' is elevated by the cylinder 111', said frame is sensed by the limit switch LDl while being thus elevated, the contact D4 is closed by the relay D4, and next the arrival of the base plate p' to be supplied onto the conveyer 101' is sensed by the limit switch LD. Also, the contact D5 is closed by the relay D5, the motor MSD is driven to actuate the shifting means 102', the head bar H of the base plate p' on the conveyer 101' is engaged with the groove 109' whereby said plate p' is hung up, and said shifting means thus hanging the base plate P' turns and put it on the crossfeed conveyer 1. At this point in time, the limit switch LD3 senses the base plate P', the normal-ly closed contact D6 is opened by the relay D6, the relay D3 is cut to open the contact D3, the electromagnetic valve SOL-Dl is closed, the guide frame 110' is made to descend by the cylin-der and its guide groove is fitted on the upper part of the base plate p' thereby to hold it. The shifting means 102' is further turned, and at the point in time when the shifting means 102' finishes one round of rotation, the limit switch LD2 senses this, the relay D5 is cut, the contact D5 opens, the motor MSD
is stopped, and the rotation of the shifting means 102' is discontinued, whereby one cycle is finished. Meanwhile, when one base~plate p' has been taken away from the conveyer 101' and the limit switch LD4 senses this, the cylinder 113' and the ratchet mechanism 112' are actuated to drive the conveyer .101' to progress by a prescribed distance, the remaining spare base plates p' are advanced accordingly to be ready for~the next supply of base plate P'.

I! .
. I - 36 -.. ~ ' - : . : : -: , ' ' : ~ :

~0~2S8 At the time when the metal plate P" falls from the roller conveyer 121 as above and is piled up on the chain conveyer 141, as to the direction of the metal plate parallel to the cross- ¦
feed conveyer 1, it is regulated by the chutes 142 and 143.
While, as to the direction thereof perpendicular to the cross-Peed conveyer 1, inasmuch as the fore adjusting plate 144 and I' the rear adjusting plate 145 are so devised as to incline out-; ward by about 15 relative to the vertical direction, the base plate is first approximately arranged by means of these inclined adjusting plates with respect to the direction perpendicular to ; the crossfeed conveyer 1. Next, by sensing the return of theroller conveyer 121 to its initial position by means of a sensor, and actuating the oil pressure motors 148 and 149, the shafts 146 and 147 are rotated. Consequently, both adjusting plates fixed to these shafts 146 and 147 are made to stand up in a vertical position respectively, whereby the direction of going in and out of the metal plate p" perpendicular to the crossfeed conveyer 1 can be accurately adjusted. Thus, the rear adjusting plate 145 returns to its initial normal position automatically I immediately after standing up in a vertical position; and as for ¦ the fore adjusting plate 144, at the time when it has come in a vertical position, it is sensed by a sensing means not in the `drawings and is turned so as to be restored to its initial position, and then, under the direction of a sensing means not shown in the drawings which indicates where to return, it -returns to its initial position inclined outward by about 15 and stops.
~¦ When a prescribed number of metal plates have thus been - ll piled up on the chain conveyer 141, a sensor assigned therefor not shown in the drawings senses this and gives a signal ~o lày ¦ I .

!l ~ - 37 -. : l ,,,, ~ ,.1, .. . . ... .

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: ~ ~ : ' ~ . ' - ' ~O~f;ZS8 down the fore adjusting plate 144. When said adjusting plate 144.is laid down, the limit switch LSl senses this, makes a signal thereby to actuate the motors 84, 150, the conveyer 83 and the chain conveyer 141 are driven, the piled-up metal plates p" are transferred onto the conveyer 83, and when said metal plate p" reach to the terminum of advance, the limit switch LS2 senses this, said motors 84, 150 are stopped, whereby the chain conveyer 141 and the conveyer 83 are brought to a halt and, at the same time, the motor 96 is actuated.
When the motor 96 is thus actuated, the shafts 85, 86 are turned in directions opposite to eac~h other through the gears 93, 94 by means of the chain 95, the shaft 88 connected to said . shaft 85 through the chain 89 turns reversely relative to said ! shaft 86, the shaft 87 connected to said shaft 86 through the chain 90 turns reversely relative to the shaft 85, and accord-jlingly, the chains 91 stretched between the shafts 85 and 85' and the shafts 87 and 87' are driven in directions opposite to each other, and one conveyer 83 connected to said chain 91 ,descends; likewise, the chains 92 stretched between the shafts l86 and 86' and the shafts 88 and 88' are driven in directions ¦opposite to each other, and the other conveyer 83 descends synchronously with said conveyer 83.
` When both-conveyers 83 reach to the terminum of descent, ,the limit switch LS23 senses this, the motor 96 is stopped, the conveyers 83 discontinue to descend, the motor 84 is actuated to drive the conveyers 83 again and, at the same time, the taking-out conveyer 151 confronting each conveyer 83 is driven by the driving member not shown in the drawings, whereby the piled-up metal plate p" are transferred onto the taking-out conveyer 151.
When the metal plates p" have been thus transferred onto the . Il - 38 -. ' ........ ,: : ~ . ' ~' J ~ O~fi2S8 taking-out conveyer 151 and the limit switch LS4 senses this, the.motor 84 is stopped to bring the conveyer 83 to a halt and, at the same time, the motor 96 is actuated reversely, the re-spective shafts 85, 86, 87, 88, 85', 86', 87' and 88' are turned reversely thereby elevate the conveyer 83. When said conveyer 83 reaches to the terminum of ascent, the limit switch LS25 senses this and the motor 96 is stopped to discontinue the elevation of the conveyer 83, whereby one cycle is finished.
Lastly, the mode of operation of the base plate dis-charging apparatus 7 illustrated in Figs. 29 - 31 in discharging the base plate p' from the crossfeed conveyer 1 will be explained in the following by reference to the arrangement of contacts shown in Fig. 32.
When a base plate p' is transversely conveyed one by one along the crossfeed conveyer 1 and reach the position confronting the rear end portion of the third conveyer 181, it is sensed by the shifter ]90 driven by a motor not shown in the drawings and is shifted thereby onto the conve<ver 181. When the base plate p' is thus shifted onto the conveye-r 181, the limit switch LS31 senses this, the cylinder 187 reciprocates between the limit switch LS43 and LS44 thereby to drive the conveyer 181 intermittently by means of the ratchet `mechanism 186 and-advance the base plate p' by a prescribed distance (a distance equivalent to 1 pitch). When the base -plate p' in the course of advance as above is sensed by the limit switch LS32, an electromagnetic valve not shown in the drawings is actuated, washing water or hot water is dashed over both sides of the base plate P' for a prescribed time whereby washing is carried out. When the next base plate P' is shifted to the conveyer 181 by said shifter 190 likewise, the conveyer C

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iZS8 . 181 is again driven, advances said base plate p' by a distance equivalent to one pitch, and through repetition of this operation, plural number of base plate p' are continuously arranged on the conveyer 181 at regular pitch. Meanwhile, above the base plate discharging position in the fore end portion of the conveyer ; 181, there stops the truck 193, and the hanger 195 stands by at . the terminum of its descent and in the state of being in contact with the limit switch LS34 at the terminum of its retreat, while I the groove 196 thereof fronts on the region of movement of the hook F of the base plate P'. And, when said hook F of the base plate P' advancing along the conveyer 181 nears the fore end portion of the conveyer 181, it passes along the inside of the groove 196 of the hanger 195. When the foremost base plate P' reaches to the terminum of advance of the conveyer 181, the ; I limit switch LS33 senses this, the state of the hanger 195 permitting suspension of a prescribed number of base plates is I confirmed, the cylinder 187 is brought to a halt, the conveyer 1 181 is stopped, and if the limit switch LS40 on the fourth . conveyer 182 has sensed any base plate P', the hanger 195 stands : 20 by thereat; if the limit switch has not sensed any base plate P', the cylinder 194 of the transfer apparatus 183 is actuated, the hanger 195 is elevated and suspends a bunch of base plates con-~sisting of a plurality of base plates arranged at regular inter-vals, and when the hanger reaches to the terminum L32 of ascent, the limit switch LS35 senses this, stops the cyli.nder 194 to bring the hanger 195 to a halt and drives the motor 197 imme-ll diately thereby to advance the truck 193. When the truck 193 I in the course of its advance is sensed by the limit switch LS36, I the arrival of the truck 193 at such a position as will not i!
~ impede the driving of the conveyer 181 for advance thereof is . 1 .. ; ~; , ; , -, -Il - 40 -~ . .
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lO~ S8 confirmed, and the conveyer 181 is driven intermittently each . ~ time a base plate is received from the shifter 190.
When the truck 193 further advances to arrive at the terminum of its advance L33, the limit switch LS37 senses this, the motor 197 is stopped, the truck 193 is brought to a halt, and also the conveyer 182 being in abeyance is confirmed, the cylinder 194 is then actuated to make the hanger 195 descend, the hanger 195 further descends after suspending the head bar H
for base plate p' above the conveyer 182 and reaches to the -terminum of its descent L34, the cylinder 194 is brought a halt and the hanger 195 is stopped. As this stage, the base plate P' is in the condition of being put on the conveyer 182 and the . . hanger 195 in the condition of being relieved of the burden of .! .
base plate p'. After a prescribed space of time, the motor 197 for the truck 193 is actuated, the truck 193 retreats while . leaving the hanger 195 at the terminum of descent thereof, the hanger 195 is disengaged from the hook F, the truck 193 is sensed by the limit switch LS34 upon arrival of the hanger 195 ll at thé terminum of retreat thereof and the motor 197 is stopped, 1 whereby one cyle is finished.
In the case where a base plate has already been conveyed ,' to the discharging posi-tion on the third conveyer 181 when the ;I~truck 193 retreating toward the conveyer 181 nears said conveyer, j the head bar H of the base plate is directly fitted in the groove 196 of the hanger 195. Meanwhile, when at least a couple : of base plates p' including the foremost base plate and the rearmost base plate among the bunch of base plates shifted onto the fourth conveyer 182 from the hanger 195 are respectively-~ sensed by the limit switch LS39 and limit switch LS40 simultane- .
1 ously whereby a complete arrangement of a prescribed number of , . ^ -1 ' .
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"` lO~iZ58 base plates is confirmed, the motor 188 is actuated through the sensing by LS39, the conveyer 182 is driven to advance the base plates p', and when the foremost base plate P' is sensed by the limit switch LS41, the motor 188 is stopped thereby bringing the ; conveyer 182 to a halt. On this occasion, the rearmost base plate p' is positioned at a prescribed distance beyond the limit switch LS40. When another bunch of base plate p' is newly put on the conveyer 182 in the next cycle of the transfer apparatus 183, the foremost base plate comes to be positioned at a prescribed distance behind the rearmost base plate of the preceding bunch of base plates and the whole base plates P' of the preceding and succeeding bunches come to be put on the conveyer 182 at a fixed pitch.
A bunch of base plates shifted onto the conveyer 182 are sensed by the limit switches LS39, LS40 in the same way as described above and undergo an inspection of the number of base plates thereby, the motor 188 is actuated through the sensing ll by the limit switch LS39, whereby the conveyer 182 is driven, ! ~I the base plates are advanced, and when the limit switch LS42 senses the foremost base plate P', the motor 188 lS stopped, i the conveyer 182 is brought a halt and, at the same time, the hoist 191 is actuated, whereby a plurality of base plates (which I is usually equivalent to half the number of base plates set in ; I the electrolytic cell) as put on the conveyer 182 by the trans-fer apparatus 183 in two rounds of transfer are discharged, suspended and conveyed, and are returned to the electrolytic cell.
The length of the conveyer 182 is designed to be , sufficient for receiving a plurality of base plates equivalent to 3 rounds of transfer by the transfer apparatus 183: even in . .

., . ~i ~O~iZS8 the case where the hoist 191 is in abeyance according to the conditions on the part of the electrolytic cell and the fore-most base plate on the conveyer 182 is being sensed by the limit switch LS42, the next cycle of the transfer apparatus 183 is carried out through the same operation as in the foregoing.
When a plurality of base plates equivalent to 3 rounds of trans-fer by the transfer apparatus 183 are put on the conveyer 182 at regular intervals and they are being sensed by all the limit switches LS39 - LS42, the cylinder 194 of the transfer apparatus 183 is not actuated even when the base plates are sensed by the limit switch LS33 on the conveyer 181, and the hanger 195 is - kept standing by at the position Nl where it has received a l prescribed number of base plates.
- i As soon as a plurality of base plates equivalent to 2 rounds of transfer by the transfer apparatus 183 on the conveyer 182 are discharged by the hoist 191 and go outside the range of I sensing by the limit switches LS41, LS42, the conveyer 182 ,¦ advances, the remaining bunch of base plates put on the rear part of the conveyer 182 are advanced, and when the limit ,I switch LS41 senses this, the conveyer 182 stops. Also, when the remaining bunch of base plates advance along the conveyer 182 ¦1 and go outside the range of sensing by the limit switch LS40, `the cylinder 194 is actuated to elevate the hanger 195, the ~¦ truck 193 advances up to the terminum of advance thereof and i stop there. Then, upon confirming that the conveyer 182 being ¦ in abeyance, the hanger 195 is made to descend and put the base plate p' on the conveyer 182.

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Claims (7)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. In an electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine of the type equipped with a hammering apparatus, a peeling ap-paratus and a means for transferring cathode plate through said hammering and peeling apparatus, said transfer means being adapted to intermittently and sequentially transfer a cathode plate composed of electrodeposited metal plates and a base plate holding said electrodeposited metal plates thereon from outside the machine to the hammering apparatus, and from the hammering apparatus to the peeling apparatus, as well as transferring the base plate after peeling to the outside of the machine, the improvement comprising:
apparatus for supplying cathode plates to the transfer means from outside the machine and positioned in front of the hammering apparatus, said supplying apparatus comprising:
a first conveyer which conveys a plurality of cathode plates arranged in groups at regular intervals upon receiving said plurality at the rear end thereof; a second conveyer which is so disposed as to make its rear end confront the fore end of the first conveyer and is for the purpose of con-veying said groups of cathode plates upon receipt thereof one at a time from the fore end thereof; a transfer apparatus which is adapted to reciprocate between a first position above the cathode plate discharging position in the fore end portion of the first conveyer and a second position above the cathode plate supplying position in the rear end portion of the second conveyer and is equipped with a hanger provided on the lower part thereof to hang a group of cathode plates for transport from said supplying position on the first conveyer to said supplying position on the second conveyer;
a first sensor which senses the receipt of a group of cathode plates by the first conveyer and actuates the first conveyer to advance said group of cathode plates to the discharging position; a second sensor which senses the arrival of a group of cathode plates suspended by the hanger at the dis-charging position; a third sensor, which senses the passage of the rearmost cathode plate of a group of cathode plates through the discharging position, and during a time equivalent to the time required for the advance of said group of cathode plates by a prescribed distance from the supplying position, shifts the transfer apparatus to a position above the supply-ing position whereby the suspended group of cathode plates is put on the supplying position on the second conveyer with the foremost cathode plate disposed a prescribed distance behind the rearmost cathode plate of the preceeding group, and said third sensor also actuating the hanger; a fourth sensor which senses the removal of a cathode plate from the fore end of the second conveyer, and intermittently actuates the second conveyer at regular intervals.

2. An electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that said hammering ap-paratus consists of a hammering mechanism installed within an enclosed sound insulating box built of sound insulating materials except for the provision of a longitudinal groove formed on the confronting two side walls thereof perpendicular to the direction of progress of the transfer means for the purpose of passing base plates to be transferred, and said peeling apparatus is equipped with nozzle pipes having a slit-shaped nozzle fronting on the upper part of the electro-deposited metal plate at a prescribed distance and disposed substantially parallel thereto, coupled with a blower to supply a low-pressure gas to said nozzle pipe continuously.

3. An electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that: a chain conveyer is installed below an inclined rotary conveyer for receive-ing the peeled electrodeposited metal plates coming from the peeling apparatus: chutes are installed on two sides of said chain conveyer along the direction parallel to the direction of progress of said chain conveyer; and along the direction perpendicular to the direction of progress of said chain conveyer, there are installed rear adjusting plates and fore adjusting plates on the rear end and the fore end, respec-tively, of a plate-shaped member, said rear adjusting plate being devised to be capable of oscillatory reciprocation be-tween its normal position set at a position inclined outward from its vertical position relative to said plate-shaped member and the vertical position while said fore adjusting plate is capable of oscillatory reciprocation between its horizontal position and said vertical position.

4. An electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that: a chain conveyer is installed below an inclined rotary conveyer for receiving the peeled electrodeposited metal plates coming from the peeling apparatus; below said chain conveyer is installed another conveyer for the purpose of discharging the peeled electrodeposited metal plates to the outside of the machine transversely at regular intervals; and in the space between the thus disposed chain conveyer and discharging conveyer is installed a transfer conveyer which reciprocates vertically between an upper position confronting said chain conveyer and a lower position confronting said discharging conveyer.

5. An electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that: in the rear of the peeling apparatus is installed an apparatus for the purpose of discharging a cathode plate with unpeeled metal plate to be conveyed to the outside of the apparatus without having the electrodeposited metal plate peeled off; and further a means for sensing the success or failure of peeling upon finishing the operation of the peeling apparatus is provided for said peeling apparatus; whereby when a cathode plate with unpeeled metal plate arrives at said discharging apparatus, it is discharged to the outside of the machine by said dis-charging apparatus.

6. An electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine ac-cording to Claim 5, wherein a base plate supplying apparatus is installed in the rear of said discharging apparatus in parallel thereto, and whenever a cathode plate with unpeeled metal plate is discharged by the discharging apparatus, a spare base plate is supplied to fill the gap on the transfer means arising from said discharge.

7. An electrodeposited metal plate peeling machine as claimed in claim 1 characterized by the provision of an ap-paratus for the purpose of discharging base plates after peeling of the electrodeposited metal plate as annexed to the rear of the peeling apparatus, said base plate discharg-ing apparatus comprising: a third conveyer which receives the base plate one by one in regular succession on the rear end thereof to bear a plurality of base plates arranged at regular intervals and conveys them, a fourth conveyer for conveying a group of base plates consisting of plurality of base plates arranged at regular intervals upon receipt there-of; the rear end of said fourth conveyer confronting the fore end of the third conveyer; a transfer apparatus which is to be capable of reciprocating between a first position above the base plate discharging position in the fore end portion of the third conveyer and a second position above the base plate supplying position in the rear end portion of the fourth conveyer and is equipped with a hanger on the lower part thereof thereby to engage a group of base plates from said supplying position on the third conveyer and trans-fer them to said supplying position on the fourth conveyer;
a fifth sensor which senses the receipt of base plates by the third conveyer one by one and intermittently actuates the third conveyer to advance by a prescribed distance; a sixth sensor which senses the arrival of said group of base plates to be transferred by the transfer means at the dis-charging position and actuates the hanger of the transfer means so as to engage said group of base plates; a seventh sensor which senses the passage through the supplying position of the rearmost base plate of a group on the fourth conveyer, advances the transfer apparatus carrying said group of base plates to a position above the supplying position, and also actuates the hanger so as to deposit the base plates at the supplying position; and an eighth sensor which senses the transfer of said base plates to the supplying position, and actuates the fourth conveyer so as to position the rearmost base plate on the fourth conveyer at a prescribed distance beyond said supplying position.