DE9305336U1 - Magazine belt - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a magazine belt for bolt-shaped fastening elements, in particular screws, made of a plastic belt with lateral recesses for magazine transport and with openings evenly distributed in the middle of the plastic belt over its length for accommodating the fastening elements, in which the openings are designed as tubes open at the bottom and punched-out areas are formed in the magazine belt around the openings.

Such magazine belts for bolt-shaped fastening elements, especially for screws, are used to feed these

72157

Bremen:

Hollerallee 32, PO Box 10 71 27
D-2800 Bremen 1

Telephone (0421) 34 90 71

Fax (04 21) 3 49 17 68
Telex 244 958 bopat d

Berlin:

Uhlandstrasse 173/174
D-IOOO Berlin 15

Telephone (0 30) 8 81 10 36

Fax (0 30) 8 81 39 27
Telex". *reS256J«ffc.nc{*·'

Munich:

Franz-Joseph-Strasse 38 D-8000 Munich 40

Telephone (0 89)34 70 80

Fax (0 89) 34 70 10 , .Tilex, , 524 282 forbo d Leipzig:

Petersstrasse 26 D (OJ-7010 Leipzig

Telephone (03 41)2945 Fax (03 41) 28 40

·

Fastening elements from a magazine unit to an automatic screwing tool are used. Various designs of such magazine belts are known on the market, which have four to eight notches or cutouts distributed symmetrically and in a star shape around the openings. This often leads to problems when processing the magazined screws.

Such faults include, in particular, the tubes tearing open when loading screws onto magazine belts due to insufficient elasticity and/or strength of the tubes, or axial displacement of the screws in the magazine belt after loading. Furthermore, the magazine belt can deform if the screws are not inserted without tension, so that its storage and further processing are impaired. When processing the screws using an automatic screwing tool, the magazine belt can tear when the screw head is pushed through if the openings do not have sufficient elasticity, the screwdriver blade can jam in the magazine belt during the return stroke, and the magazine belt itself can deform during processing if it is not elastic enough due to the pushing-through forces.

The invention is therefore based on the object of improving a magazine belt in such a way that the above-mentioned problems are avoided. In particular, a magazine belt is to be created that can securely hold screws of different diameters, even on their smooth, thread-free shaft, whereby the holder is to be elastic, but prevents axial displacement of the screws, and whereby the screw head can easily be pushed through an opening without damaging the magazine belt.

This task is achieved according to the invention by a magazine belt

solved with the features of claim 1.

Due to the arrangement and design of the punched-outs according to the invention and the tube intended to accommodate a screw shaft, screws of different diameters can be easily pressed into the magazine belt. The shape of the tube according to the invention, which is closed at its lower end by the elastic bead with a reduced inner diameter, causes the tube and in particular the elastic bead to expand when the screw is pressed in and, after the pressing process, to spring back on a thread-free shaft section of the screw, so that the screw is held in its position in a flexible and at the same time secure manner, similar to a rubber sleeve.

This elasticity is achieved, among other things, by the fact that the radially inner, tapered end of the cloverleaf-like cutouts extends over the tube wall to the annular bead, thus preventing the tube wall from tearing when the screws are pressed into the magazine band.

Due to the uniform arrangement of the three cutouts around the tube, the screw head can easily penetrate the magazine band during processing, whereby the annular bead at the end of the tube tears open if it is overstretched. The groove provided in the annular bead in a preferred embodiment of the invention improves the uniformity of the material flow when the tube is deformed as well as its elasticity.

The arrangement of the three cutouts according to the invention at an angle of 120° to each other, in contrast to the known embodiments with more than three cutouts, advantageously facilitates the penetration of the screw head through the magazine band in such a way that the tube surrounding

Material can easily be folded down in the direction of the push-through and offers hardly any resistance to the screw head. Just as easily as the screw head can penetrate the magazine belt, the spring-back screwdriver blade can also be pulled back through the magazine belt after the screwing process has been completed. A particularly advantageous arrangement of the punched-outs is one in which one of the three punched-outs is arranged symmetrically to the longitudinal axis running in the middle of the magazine belt and the other two punched-outs each have an angle of 120° to this central punched-out.

The inventive arrangement of the three cutouts around the tube for receiving the screws, whereby the cutouts extend in a slot-like manner over the tube wall up to the annular bead, results in a particularly elastic behavior of the magazine belt when loading and processing the magazined screws, without the magazine belt losing its high stability. This can significantly reduce possible disruptions, as described above, when storing and processing the screws.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in the subclaims.

The invention is explained in more detail below using a preferred embodiment with reference to the drawing. The drawing shows:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a section of the magazine belt according to the invention and

Fig. 2 is a side view of the magazine conveyor of Fig. 1 with a partial section along the line H-II.

Fig. 1 shows a section of the magazine belt according to the invention, which consists of a plastic belt 10 with evenly distributed, rectangular recesses 12 on both long sides of the belt for the engagement of a transport system. In the middle of the belt, openings 14 are provided at regular intervals, which are formed into the plastic belt as tubes 16 that are open at the bottom. Around these tubes 16, three punched-out areas 18 are provided, which have approximately the shape of a drop compressed in the longitudinal direction or a wing screw and whose central axes each enclose an angle of 120° with one another, with a tapered end, or a neck, of the punched-out areas pointing radially inwards and forming a slot 20 extending over at least part of the tube wall (Fig. 2). Each of the three axially symmetrical recesses 18 is arranged symmetrically to a longitudinal axis A running in the middle of the magazine belt, whereby the central axes M of the three recesses 18 each enclose an angle of 120° with one another.

The design of the tube 16 according to the invention can be seen particularly well in the side sectional view of Fig. 2. At the lower end of the tube 16, on the right in the drawing, an annular bead 22 is formed, the inner diameter of which is smaller than that of the tube 16. The punched-out portions extend with their tapered end 20 over the tube wall to this annular bead 22, so that three evenly distributed slots 20 are formed in the wall of the tube 16. A recess or groove 24 in the bead 22 ensures in particular the stability and uniformity of the bead 22 and improves the uniformity of the material flow.

It is also particularly advantageous for stability if, as shown in Fig. 1, the distance between the openings 14 is equal to the distance between the recesses 12 on both sides in the plastic band

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wherein the openings 14 are each offset with respect to the opposite recesses 12, so that the width of the plastic band 10 at the openings 14 is greater than between any two openings.

When the magazine belt is loaded with screws, the tube 16 and the ring bead 22 adapt elastically to the outer shape of the screw thread and the threadless screw shaft and hold the screw flexibly and securely in place due to the tension force created by the expansion in the tube. When the magazined screws are processed, the screw is turned through the opening 14 and the bead 20 is overstretched and torn open by the screw head. The recess 24 in the bead adjacent to the tube wall promotes the flow of material. The material 26 of the plastic belt lying between the cutouts 18 can be bent slightly downwards in order to clear the way for the screw head to penetrate the magazine belt. The equally slight springback in the opposite direction means that the screwdriver blade of the automatic screwing tool is not hindered during the subsequent return stroke.

Thanks to the inventive design of the magazine belt, the outer structure of the belt is not impaired or even destroyed when it is loaded with screws or when the magazined screws are processed. This enables particularly trouble-free and easy work with magazined screws.

Claims (6)

HU 2302 Protection claims 1. Magazine belt for bolt-shaped fastening elements, in particular screws, made of a plastic belt (10) with lateral recesses (12) for magazine transport and with openings (14) evenly distributed in the middle of the plastic belt over its length for receiving the fastening elements, wherein the openings (14) are designed as tubes (16) open at the bottom, the lower edge of which is closed off by an expandable annular bead (22) whose inner diameter is smaller than the inner diameter of the tubes (16), and wherein around the openings (14) there are three punched-out areas (18) in the plastic belt in the manner of a cloverleaf, which extend with a tapered area over the wall of the tubes (16) to approximately the annular bead (22). 2. Magazine belt according to claim 1, characterized in that a first punched-out section (18) is arranged symmetrically to a longitudinal axis (A) running in the middle of the magazine belt (10), and that the center axes (M) of the other two punched-out sections (18) form an angle of 120° with the center axis (M) of the first punched-out section (18). 3. Magazine belt according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that an annular groove (24) is formed in the annular bead (22). 4. Magazine belt according to claim 3, characterized in that the annular groove (24) is formed with a cross section in the form of a U open towards the flat upper side of the plastic belt adjacent to the inner wall of the tube (16) in the annular bead (22). 5. Magazine belt according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the punched-out portions (18) in are designed approximately in the form of axially symmetrical, longitudinally compressed drops, whose extended central axes (M) intersect the center of the openings (14) and whose radially inward-pointing ends are tapered and form a slot (20) in the tube wall extending up to the annular bead. 6. Magazine belt according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plastic belt (10) consists of polyethylene.