GB191001038A - Improvements in and relating to Apparatus for Automatically Transferring Articles to and from a Machine in which they receive Treatment. - Google Patents

Abstract

1038. British Thomson-Houston Co., [General Electric Co.]. Jan. 14. Lamp glasses, washing. -Relates to apparatus for handling electric incandescent lamp bulbs and other articles, in which the bulbs are taken from a tray in a predetermined order, transferred to a washing-machine, and afterwards replaced in the tray or holder. The lamps are disposed in parallel rows on a rectangular tray supported on a movable holder, and a transfer or gripping mechanism mounted adjacent to the holder picks up the. lamps and places them where desired. The tray-holder is moved step by step longitudinally, and the . transfer mechanism picks up the bulbs in a row one after another, after which the holder is moved at right-angles to the rows of lamps to bring the transfer mechanism opposite the end lamp of the next row, whereupon the holder is moved back step by step. The tray-holder 55, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, travels on transverse guides 54 on a framework 53 mounted to run on rails 52 on the supporting-frame 51. The transfer mechanism consists of a tube 57 with an horizontal portion 58 terminating in a vacuum cup 59 or other gripping-device. The tube is mounted in guides 60 on the frame 51, and is rotated about its axis by a rack 62, which gears with a pinion 61 on the tube and is reciprocated by a face-cam 63 on the driving- shaft 56. The cup is raised or lowered by a lever 65 having a fork at one end engaging a collar 64 on the tube 57 and a roller at the other end engaging a face-cam 66 on the shaft 56. The control valve to which the supply-pipe 67 is connected consists of a stationary seat 68 with two adjacent ports, and a flat rotary valve 69, which is mounted on the shaft 56 and has bridging-ports to connect the two ports in the seat in certain positions of the valve. The cams 63, 66 and the valve 69 are so arranged that, when the cup 59 is brought into engagement with a lamp, the valve 69 connects the cup to the pump and maintains this connexion while the cam 66 raises the member, and the cam 63 rotates it and brings the lamp to the place where it is to be deposited, whereupon the valve 69 closes the passage from the pump. The shifting-mechanism for moving the framework 53 longitudinally, and the traversing- mechanism for moving the tray-holder 55 transversely are controlled by cams A, B, C, D on a shaft 70, which carries a ratchet-wheel 71, the teeth of which correspond in number to the number (50) of lamps, and is advanced by means of a spring-pressed pawl 72 on a swinging arm operated by a cam on the driving- shaft 56. Each of the cams A, B has three groups of projections, and each projection advances the framework one step The cam C has five projections, each of which advances the holder 55 a distance equal to the distance between two rows of lamps, and the cam D has a single tooth which returns the holder to its initial position. The framework 53 and the holder 55 are provided with lugs or bars 75, 76, which are engaged by spring - pressed pawls mounted on sliding members connected to the pistons of fluid-pressure cylinders 84<a>, 84b, 84<c>, 84<d>, having inlets controlled by piston valves actuated from the cams on the shaft 70. The piston valve 86, Fig. 10, works in a casing 87 provided with an inlet 88 and two outlets 89, between which are the inlet pipes 85 leading to the ends of the cylinders, and is actuated by a pivoted spring-pressed follower 90 having a roller engaging the cam on the shaft 70. The order in which the lamps are picked up may be changed by varying the relative positions of the projections on the cams A, B, C, D. A handle 91 enables the shaft 70 to be turned to any position independent of the driving-shaft 56, and the machine caused to pick up any lamp desired.