GB1599984A - Apparatus for use in trasporting stacking and bunding laminations stamped by a blanking press - Google Patents

Description

PATENT SPECIFICATION

Application No 4676/78 ( 11) ( 22) Filed 6 Feb 1978 or r 1 -/1 (l Convention Application No's 2706274 ( 32) Filed 15 Feb 1977 ' 2719127 29 Apr 1977 in /,, ( 33) Fed Rep of Germany (DE) ( 44) Complete Specification Published 14 Oct 1981 ( 51) INT C 1 3 B 65 D 73/02 B 65 B 27/08 ( 52) Index at Acceptance B 8 C 21 U 49 ( 72) Inventors Ewald Bergmann and Alfred Kottmann ( 54) "APPARATUS FOR USE IN TRANSPORTING, STACKING AND BUNDLING LAMINATIONS STAMPED BY A BLANKING PRESS" ( 71) We, L SCHULER GMBH, a body corporate organised under the Laws of West Germany, of 7320 Goppingen, West Germany, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:-

The present invention relates to an apparatus for use in transporting, stacking and bundling laminations stamped by a blanking press in alignment with each other as stamped by said blanking press The laminations can be stamped from a band of material fed stepwise into the press, to be removed from the press by guide elements commencing vertically, but continuing arcuately; the guide elements can be constituted by at least one stacking shaft arranged downstream of the die of a blanking tool and guide bars adjacent thereto.

An apparatus for transporting, stacking and bundling laminations for electric machines correctly aligned as stamped is described in "Sheet Metal Industries" October 1974 especially page 655, Figure 12 In this case the laminations are stamped on a blanking press, from a band of material transported by steps, by the dies of a bottom tool The bottom tools are directly adjoined by guide rails which are of arcuate construction and permit the laminations to be removed from the region of the blanking press In this case the guide rails may be arranged either transversely or longitudinally with respect to the transport direction of the band material, depending upon physical circumstances The stamped laminations are transported away in the guide rails correctly aligned as stamped and in direct mutual contact as a continuously produced string, and at the end of the guide rails they are bundled together manually into packets correctly aligned as stamped, e g, with wire pins or fixing bolts.

The delivery of the arrangement of the laminations correctly aligned as stamped is an essential condition for further processing.

Because in the normal case the guide rails correspond exactly to the external contour of the stamped laminations, in the case of a change of tools the guide rails must also be exchanged The guide rails are either dismantled 50 in the filled state or emptied before dismantling In the latter case the guide rails, when used again, must be carefully filled up with stamped laminations, which means a considerable outlay of thie because the blanking press can only be 55 operated very slowly during this charging phase.

With the increasing stroke repetition rates of high-speed blanking presses, problems also arise in the bundling of the stamped laminations produced by the conventional method, because the 60 capacity of an operator is exceeded It would be necessary to allocate another operator, but this is frequently not justified on grounds of economy.

It is therefore an object of the invention to 65 avoid the disadvantages of the apparatus initially described and to provide an apparatus with which stamped laminations which are produced continuously in a strand, and mutually superposed in correct alignment as stamped, 70 can be progressively bound and bundled.

The present invention provides apparatus for use in transporting, stacking and bundling laminations stamped by a blanking press in alignment with each other as stamped by said blank 75 ing press, said apparatus comprising first guide means disposable substantially vertically, in use of said apparatus, downstream of the die of a blanking tool of said blanking press for stacking of the stamped laminations therein, second 80 guide means for conducting the stacked laminations from said first guide means in alignment with each other in at least one continuous strand, and a binding device arranged at at least one of said first and second guide means for 85 binding said laminations, in use of the apparatus, in bundles, with the laminations in said bundles in alignment with each other, wherein said binding device comprises contact means arranged adjacent the pathway for said 90 laminations through said guide means, said contact means being continuously supplied, in use ( 21) ( 31) 1599984 1 599 984 of the apparatus, with binding material, so that in use of the apparatus said binding material is applied to the stacked and aligned laminations by said contact means; when used with binding material comprising band material which is self-retainingly introduced into grooves of the stamped laminations.

In further aspects the present invention provides:

a blanking press having an apparatus according to the invention; a method of transporting, stacking and bundling laminations stamped by a blanking press comprising feeding said laminations through an apparatus according to the invention; and a bundle of laminations held together by binding material, when produced by the method of this invention.

With an apparatus according to the invention, packets of bundled laminations of indefinite and/or predetermined length can be produced in a simple manner, wherein the stamped laminations, e g, rotor and stator laminations for an electrical machine, are maintained, stored and fed to further processing steps in correct alignment as stamped including correct alignment of the grooves of the stamped laminations.

The time-wasting slow stamping during the charging process of the guide rails is also eliminated, as the binder device achieves the function and effect of guide rails filled with stamped laminations, thereby enabling an orderly stacking of the stamped laminations.

Advantageously the blanking tool is controllable so that after blanking a predetermined number of laminations with grooves (for receiving the binding material) a lamination without said groove(s) is stamped so that the stamped lamininations themselves effect the parting of the binding material By this means there may be obtained an optimum production cycle, wherein finished packets of laminations of predetermined height are automatically produced without the need for additional manual operations.

A preferred embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention is described, by way of example, more fully hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic side view of this embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention in a blanking press, partly sectioned; and Figure 2 shows a section made along the line II II of Figure 1 on a larger scale.

Figure 1 shows a blanking press 10, on the ram 11 of which a top tool 12 is fixed On a press table 13 there is arranged a tool clamping plate 14 upon which the bottom tool 15 with a die 16 of a blanking tool 12, 15 is fixed In the region of the tool clamping plate 14 and of the bottom tool 15, automatically operating binding devices are provided which are composed of mutually opposite contact means which are here constructed as contact rollers 17, and dispenser magazines 18 From the dispenser magazines 18, binding material 19 is fed over return pulleys 20 fitted to the tool clamp 70 ing plate 14, through feed slots 21, which are provided between the bottom tool 15 and the tool clamping plate 14, to the contact rollers 17 The contact rollers 17 are arranged directly beneath a first guide means comprising a stack 75 ing shaft 23 by means of bearing blocks in which the rollers 17 are mounted for radial movement and are urged inwardly by resilient biasing means accommodated in the tool clamping plate 14 as indicated on the outward side of 80 each block in Figure 1 Downstream of the stacking shaft 23, adjoining the contact rollers 17, second guide means comprising guide rails 24 are provided which lead arcuately out from the blanking press 10 (in a generally vertical 85 plane) Thle stacking shaft 23 and the guide rails 24 constitute first and second guide means in which a continuous strand of stamped laminations 25 accumulating in correct alignment as stamped, can be continually transported 90 away in correct alignment as stamped and in mutual contact.

During the operation of the blanking press 10, e g, at each descent of the ram 12, one rotor lamination and one stator lamination are 95 stamped out of a band of material fed stepwise into the press For the sake of clarity in the drawing, only the apparatus for the rotor laminations 25 is shown The stamped laminations 25, e g, 1,000 off per minute, in the case 100 of high-speed blanking presses, pass from the die 16 through the stacking shaft 23 in correct alignment as stamped into the region of the contact rollers 17, which due to their above-mentioned resilient mounting define a passage aperture 105 slightly smaller than the diameter of the laminations 25 Binding material 19, which comprises band material which is introducible selfretainingly into grooves 30 of the stamped laminations, is continuously supplied to the 110 contact rollers 17, the contour of which is matched substantially to the external contour of the laminations 25 (see Figure 2) At the beginning of the stamping operation the laminations 25 rest upon the contact rollers 17 to 115 gether with the binding material 19 As the stamping operation continues, the laminations pass from the stacking shaft 23 through the contact rollers 17 in mutual contact correctly aligned as stamped, joined by the binding 120 material 19 introduced into their grooves 30 into a continuous strand, and then into the guide rails 24 At the end of the guide rails the laminations 25 bundled in correct alignment as stamped and accumulating in a strand, can be 125 removed and stored temporarily until further processing.

The guide rails 24 may be provided with a packet height marking device, by means of which marks can be made on the binding 130 1 599 984 material 19 at intervals which correspond to predetermined packet heights of said laminations 25 The packet height may e g, be ascertained by counter devices (not shown in detail) which count the number of laminations 25 transported and activate the packet height marking device when the desired number is attained The strand of laminations is then divided at the points marked and coherent packets of stamped laminations 25 of prescribed height arranged in correct alignment as stamped are obtained.

Instead of the contact rollers 17 being mounted resiliently they may themselves be constructed of elastic material Another simple and advantageously useful possibility is for the contact rollers 1 7 to be replaced by contact mouldings over which the binding material 19 is guided slidingly.

The contact rollers 17 in the example illustrated are arranged within the tool clamping plate 14 so that a simple tool change is possible.

Obviously, the contact means (rollers, mouldings etc) may also be arranged in the bottom tool 15 itself, so that at each tool change the associated contact means are automatically exchanged at the same time An arrangement of the contact means in the guide rails 24 may also be useful.

As indicated above the binding material 19 is fed (as shown in Figure 2) into grooves 30 in the stamped laminations 25 The grooves 30 may be existing grooves (i e grooves required in any case), or grooves stamped specially for receiving the binding material 19.

In order to produce bundles of laminations of predetermined height, according to an advantageous further development of the invention, a blanking tool 12, 15 is arranged to be controllable so that, e g, after forty-nine laminations 25 have been stamped with grooves 30, the fiftieth lamination 25 is stamped without the grooves 30 This lamination 25, when it reaches the contact mouldings 17, severs the binding material 19, which can nevertheless still hold the lamination 25 without grooves 30, if binding material 19 which is self-adhesive on one side is used It is clear that, with such a mode of control of the blanking tool 12, 15, bundles having any desired number of laminations can be produced automatically and can thus be further processed in the course of the production of electric motors using bundled laminations from the blanking press; the need for bundling in a separate intermediate operation is thus avoided.

Claims (1)

1. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

   1 Apparatus for use in transporting, stacking and bundling laminations stamped by a blanking press in alignment with each other as stamped by said blanking press, said apparatus comprising first guide means disposable substantially vertically, in use of said apparatus, downstream of the die of a blanking tool of said blanking press for stacking of the stamped laminations therein, second guide means for conducting the stacked laminations from said first guide means in alignment with each other in at least one continuous strand, and a binding device arranged at at least one of said first and 70 second guide means for binding said laminations, in use of the apparatus, in bundles with the laminations in said bundles in alignment with each other, wherein said binding device comprises contact means arranged adjacent the path 75 way for said laminations through said guide means, said contact means being continuously supplied, in use of the apparatus, with binding material, so that in use of the apparatus said binding material is applied to the stacked and 80 aligned laminations by said contact means; when used with binding material comprising band material which is self-retainingly introduced into grooves of the stamped laminations.

   2 Apparatus according to Claim 1 in which 85 said first guide means comprises a stacking shaft and said second guide means comprises guide rails adjacent the downstream end of said guide shaft and defining an arcuate pathway therefrom 90 3 Apparatus according to Claim 2 in which said arcuate pathway is disposed in a substantially vertical plane.

   4 Apparatus according to Claim 1, 2 or 3, in which at least two contact means arranged 95 mutually opposite each other are provided.

   Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, in which the contact means are formed of elastic material and are mounted in said first and/or second guide means 100 6 Apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 4, in which the contact means are mounted with resilient biasing means for urging said contact means.

   7 Apparatus according to Claim 6, in which 105 the contact means are arranged for radial movement with respect to the pathway through said guide means for said laminations, into which pathway they are urged by said resilient biasing means 110 8 Apparatus according to Claim 6 or 7, in which the contact means comprise rotatable members.

   9 Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, in which the contact means are formed 115 with contact surfaces complementary to the external contour of the laminations.

   Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, in which the first guide means is disposed, in use of the apparatus, within the bot 120 tom tool of the blanking press.

   11 Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, in which the binding device is mounted at the downstream end of the first guide means.

   12 Apparatus according to any one of 125 Claims 1 to 9, in which the binding device is arranged, in use of the apparatus, beneath the bottom tool in the region of the press table of the blanking press.

   13 Apparatus according to any one of 130 1 599 984 Claims 1 to 9, in which the binding device is arranged in the course of the second guide means.

   14 Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, in which the contact means are constructed as contact rollers.

   Apparatus according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, or 9 to 13 when dependent on any of Claims 1 to 7, in which the contact means are constructed as contact mouldings.

   16 Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, in which a bundle height marking device is arranged in the course of the second guide means.

   17 Apparatus according to Claim 16, in which the bundle height marking device is actuable, in use of the apparatus, by a counter detecting the stamped laminations and leaves behind a mark indicating the bundle height on the band material by means of a marking device.

   18 Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, which includes press control means for controlling the press, in use of the apparatus, so that after blanking of a predetermined number of laminations with grooves for receiving the binding material, a lamination without said groove(s) can be stamped.

   19 Apparatus according to Claim 1 substantially as described hereinbefore with particular reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

   A blanking press provided with apparatus used for transporting, stacking and bundling laminations according to any one of Claims 1 to 19.

   21 A method of transporting, stacking and bundling laminations stamped by a blanking press comprising feeding said laminations through an apparatus according to any one of Claims 1 to 19.

   22 A bundle of laminations held together in alignment with each other by binding material, when produced by the method of Claim 21.

   CARPMAELS & RANSFORD Chartered Patent Agents 43 Bloomsbury Square London WC 1 A 2 RA For the Applicants Printed for -err %laj Ves' s Stationlry Office h N MULTIPLEX meduway ltd Maidstone Kent, M E 14 IJS 1981 Published at the Patent Office 25 Southampton Buildings London WC 2 I AY, from which copies ma Y he obtained.

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