GB1387546A - Fluid pressure operated fastener feeding and driving apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1387546 Workpiece feeding; riveting MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO Ltd 19 Sept 1973 [20 Sept 1972 (3)] 43976/73 Headings B3N and B3U [Also in Division B8] A fluid operated tool and feed apparatus, e.g. for feeding screws or rivets to a workpiece and fastening them thereon, comprises a hopper 2 containing the fasteners, a rotary drum 4 fluidically driven to supply fasteners to the top of a downardly extending track 5, an escapement 67 at the bottom of the track for feeding fasteners one at a time to the fastening tool 80, e.g. a power screw driver, via a flexible feed tube 79, a first fluid signal generating means coupled to fluid operable means for controlling the drive of the rotary drum 4 in response to whether or not a row of fasteners are present in the track 5, a second fluid signal generating means 81 carried by the tool 80 to generate a signal in response to operation of the fastening tool to operate the escapement 67, and a fluid control circuit including a fluid source S, e.g. of air, supplying the tool 80, the rotary drum 4 drive, and its controlling means, the escapement 67, and the first and second signal generating means. The rotary drum 4 includes internal scoopers that lift the fasteners to the top of the track 5. The drum is rotated by a cylinder operating through arms 14, 17 and pawls 16 to convert reciprocation of the piston-rod 10 into rotation of the drum, when required. A number of drives are disclosed (Figs. 3a, 3b, 3c, 4a, 4b, 5). A trigger block 11 on the piston-rod 10 actuates a fluid controller 13 to control the reversal of movement of the piston-rod 10 at each end of its stroke. Detectors 53, 54 spaced along the track 5 fluidically detect the presence of a row of fasteners and, if none are present, start up rotation of the drum 4 to replenish the track. The detectors (Figs. 7 and 8, not shown) comprise an air jet emitted from one orifice and directed into another orifice, but interrupted by the presence of a fastener in the track. The jet is angled downwards to assist passage of the fastener down the track. The escapement 67 (Figs. 9a, 9b, 9c) includes an air operated spring returned plunger which moves an escapement plate to release a single fastener into the flexible tube 79. Part of the air supply is directed into the tube 79 to assist passage of the fastener to the tool 80. The tool 80 includes a telescopic portion 83c biased by a spring 106 which, during a fastening operation, is compressed so that a striker 84 can actuate the signal generator 81 to operate the escapement to release the next fastener. The signal generator (Figs. 11, 12 and 13, not shown) operates by supplying air to an internal passage which exhausts to atmosphere until a hole is blocked to generate a back pressure signal.