GB723685A - Improvements in or relating to mechanical transfer arrangements - Google Patents

Abstract

723,685. Shoots. GENERAL, ELECTRIC CO., Ltd., DAVIDSON, T. R. N., and SCRUTON, A. H. June 4, 1953 [June 5, 1952], No. 14254/52. Class 78 (1). [Also in Group XI] A mechanical transfer device which forms a link between two machines and operates to transfer articles such as tubes for fluorescent lamps from a tube-severing machine to a processing machine, comprises a delivery channel along which the articles pass automatically, and stopping means arranged to stop the passage of the articles at a predetermined point in the channel and to be withdrawn from the stopping position in synchronism with the first machine, and means for locking the stopping means intermittently in synchronism with the second machine to prevent an article from arriving at the second machine at the wrong instant. In the example, lengths of glass tube are fed along a conveyer 46, Fig. 3, comprising two parallel endless chains 48 provided with outwardly projecting fingers 50 between which individual tubes are arranged for delivery on to two parallel ramps_1 spaced apart by a distance less than the length of a tube and inclined slightly to the horizontal. Beneath the ramps and transversely thereto, a square sectioned rod 2 is journalled at its ends within bearing housings mounted on side plates, and carries four arms 6 made of strip metal each welded to a cylindrical mounting block 8, Fig. 1 (not shown) which can be slid upon the rod 2 and clamped by a screw. Two of the arms 6 are thus positioned below and between the ramps 1 whilst each of the others is positioned between a ramp and a side plate. A tube stop 10 in the form of an upwardly extending triangle of impregnated linen sheet is attached by screws at the end of each arm 6, and the four stops are oscillated about the axis 2 to bring the triangular portions of the stops alternately above and below the level of the surface of the ramp, first to form a barrier to stop a tube rolling down the ramp and then to allow passage. The arms 6 are raised and lowered intermittently by an actuating member consisting of a pair of parallel arms 13, Fig. 4, extending radially from a cylindrical block 14 secured on the end of the shaft 2 and connected by a pivot 30 to one end of a link 16 formed by a pair of parallel side plates 27 which are pivotally connected at their other end to one end of a piston rod 31 controlled by air admitted to a fixed cylinder 18 by way of pipes 53 and a valve 52 operated by a cam 51 on a shaft 57 in synchronism with the conveyer 46. The pivot 30 carrying the link 16 also supports the looking mechanism comprising a plate 37 with a lug at its upper end to receive the pivot 30, and a latch 32 at its lower end facing towards the shaft 2. The opposite side of the plate 37 is welded at its lower end to a plate 40 with an offset end lug 42, connected by a tensioned spring 24 to a pin 36 extending between the side plates 27. The latch 32 is arranged to co-operate with the projecting end 33 of a bell-crank lever 21 carried by a pivot 26 fixed on the machine frame and operated by a piston in a fixed cylinder 23 to which air is admitted through pipes 56 by a valve 55 controlled by a cam 54 rotating in synchronism with the conveyer 47. The cams 51 and 54 are adjusted on their respective shafts to control the stopping and locking means so that a tube starting from rest at the stops 10 would roll directly on to the fingers 50 of the conveyer 47 and be carried by them in their anti-clockwise movement into the horizontal run of that conveyer.