JP2001133365A - Device for screw fastening and part inspection - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiency and precisely perform screw fastening and an inspection for a part. SOLUTION: This device for screw fastening and part inspection for a magnetic tape cassette containing a magnetic tape wound on a reel and having upper and lower cassette halves screwed together by use of a small screw comprises a work presser for fixing a work with the magnetic tape cassette having a part integrated thereto and carried on a carrying device in a prescribed position, a screwdriver unit for thread fastening the small screw to a prescribed position of the magnetic tape cassette, an air nozzle for assisting the member energized by a spring of the magnetic tape cassette by air, and a sensor for detecting the state of each member, so that the screw fastening and the part inspection can be performed in the same station.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a screw tightening and parts inspection apparatus for screwing and fixing upper and lower halves in a magnetic tape cassette assembling line and for inspecting parts incorporated in the cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A magnetic tape cassette for video and audio is assembled by fastening upper and lower cassette halves with a plurality of screws. For example, in the magnetic tape cassette 100 shown in FIG. 12, the upper half 110 and the lower half 112 accommodate the magnetic tape 116 wound between the reels 114 and 114 therebetween and are fitted together in a lid-like manner. Book screws 118a, 118b, 118
c, 118d, and 118e. Normally, since screws are screwed in from the lower half side, in the production line, parts such as springs and brakes and magnetic tape wound on a reel are assembled on the lower half and fitted with the upper half. It is conveyed repeatedly to the screw tightening process with the lower half side up.

[0003] As shown in FIG. 12, screws 118 a to 118 e are inserted from above into screw holes 120 of the lower half 112.
a through 120e, and screwed into corresponding bosses 122a through 122e of the upper half 110. Boss 122a-12
2e has no thread groove, and screws 118a to 118e
Is screwed while cutting the screw groove by himself. At this time, small parts such as springs may fall during the transfer of the magnetic tape cassette. If such a loss of parts occurs, the magnetic tape cassette will be a serious malfunction that will not operate at all if it is malfunctioning or severe, so in the process after the screw tightening, the quality of the screw tightening and the quality of the spring etc. Inspections are conducted to check for missing parts.

Conventionally, this inspection has been performed automatically or manually at a station different from the screw fastening device. In the case of automatically inspecting for missing parts, for example, to check for the presence or absence of a spring, confirm that the spring exists by actually pressing the spring mechanically (by applying a load) and observing the reaction force. I was Also, regarding the presence or absence of a part, the presence or absence of the part is confirmed by actually applying a member, or the reflected light is detected by a sensor. In the case of manual operation, the operator picks it up and checks it visually or by actually operating it.

[0005]

However, in the above-described conventional inspection method, the inspection is performed at a station different from the screw tightening device after the screw tightening, so that there is a problem that the efficiency is low. Further, even if a product defect is found, in order to reassemble, it is necessary to remove the screw once, disassemble the upper and lower halves, and return to the previous station, which is impossible. Although it is possible for an operator to reassemble by hand, it is inefficient, and as a result, the defective product must be repelled from the line and cannot be reused. In addition, a contact-type inspection in which a component is actually mechanically loaded or checked is not preferable because there is a problem that the component is damaged. Further, in the manual inspection, although the inspection itself is reliable, there is a problem that the efficiency is extremely low.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a screw tightening and component inspection apparatus capable of efficiently and accurately inspecting the presence and absence of a screw. Make it an issue.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a magnetic tape cassette in which a magnetic tape wound around a reel is accommodated in a cassette, and upper and lower cassette halves are screwed with screws. A screw tightening and parts inspection apparatus, in which parts are incorporated, a work holder for fixing a work on which a magnetic tape cassette loaded on a transfer device is mounted, and a screw to a predetermined position of the magnetic tape cassette. A screwdriver unit, an air nozzle for assisting the member of the magnetic tape cassette, which is biased by a spring, with air, and a sensor for detecting a state of each member; Provided is a screw tightening and parts inspection apparatus characterized in that the inspection is performed at the same station.

Further, it is preferable that the air nozzle and the sensor are incorporated in and integrated with the work holder.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, a screw fastening and component inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail based on a preferred embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing an embodiment of a screw fastening device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view thereof. As will be described later, a component inspection device is incorporated in the screw fastening device 10 shown in FIG. 1 so that a component inspection of a product can be performed at the same stage. The screw tightening device 10 has a slide shaft 16 attached vertically along a column 14 extending upward from the pedestal 12. The slide shaft 16 is provided with a driver mounting portion 18 and a work holding portion 20. A driver unit 22 (see FIG. 2, omitted in FIG. 1) for actually screwing the cassette case is attached to the driver attaching portion 18, and a work holding attaching portion 20 holds a work on which the cassette case is placed, A work holder 24 for fixing the work at a predetermined position is attached. The driver unit 22 is driven by a motor 26 (DC servo motor) and tightens screws at a predetermined position of a cassette case accommodated in a work 30 on a belt conveyor 28.

Although not shown in the drawing, the screw fastening device 10 in this embodiment has five driver units so that five screws of the magnetic tape cassette 100 as shown in FIG. 22. As shown in FIG. 2, the driver unit 22 is configured such that the bit 34 at the tip of the driver unit 22 tightens the screw supplied from the screw feed unit 32 at a predetermined position of the cassette case.

The screw fastening device 10 in the present embodiment is
In order to be able to inspect for missing small components such as springs at the same time as screw tightening (at the same station), a component inspection device including an air nozzle and a sensor is incorporated in the work holder 24. Hereinafter, this component inspection apparatus will be described.

First, components of a magnetic tape cassette to be subjected to component inspection will be described. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a magnetic tape cassette in which components are assembled between the upper and lower halves to perform screw fastening and component inspection in the present embodiment. However, in the magnetic tape cassette 40 of FIG. 3, the upper half 42 shows a state seen from below, and the lower half 44 shows a state seen from above. In the magnetic tape cassette 40, the reel 4
The magnetic tape 48 wound around 6 is accommodated. A lid (front cover) 50 is provided in front of the upper half 42 to protect a portion of the magnetic tape 48 exposed in front of the cassette. The lid 50 rotates between an open position and a closed position as shown by an arrow A around a support shaft 50b provided on the left and right side walls 50a. When the cassette is used, the lid 50 is in the open position and the magnetic tape 48 is exposed. When the cassette is not used, the lid 50 is in the closed position.
Cover and protect the magnetic tape 48. A lid spring 52 is provided so as to fix the lid 50 at the closed position when the cassette is not used.

To prevent the lid 50 in the closed position from moving to the open position when the cassette is not used, a lid lock 54 is provided on the left and right front sides of the lower half 44. The lid lock 54 shown in the lower half of the lower half 44 of FIG. 3 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG.
The lid lock 54 has a claw 54a and rotates around a shaft 54b. At this time, even if the lid lock 54 rotates, it is urged by the lid lock spring 56 to always return to the original position. In this embodiment, in the lower half 44 of FIG. 3, the lid lock 54 on the upper side of the figure is a part 52 a obtained by extending a part of the lid spring 52 provided inside the lid 50 shown on the upper side of FIG. 3. As a lid lock spring.

The operation of the lid lock 54 is shown in FIG. When the cassette is not used, the lid 50 is at a position (closed position) as shown in FIG.
Is engaged with the projection 50c provided on the side wall 50a of the lid 50 to prevent the lid 50 from rotating around the support shaft 50b as shown by the arrow C. In order to bring the lid 50 to the open position when using the cassette, the lid lock 54 is turned around the shaft 54b as shown by the arrow B,
The engagement between the claw 54a and the protrusion 50c is released, and the lid 50
Can be rotated in the direction of arrow C around the support shaft 50b.

As shown in FIG. 3, a brake 58 is provided on the lower half 44 to prevent the reel 46 from rotating and the magnetic tape 48 from being loosened when the cassette is not used. The brake 58 is urged forward by a brake spring 60, and protrusions 5 provided on the left and right sides of the brake 58 are provided.
The rotation of the reel 46 is prevented by engaging the gear 8a with a gear 46a provided on the outer periphery of the lower flange of the reel 46. FIG. 6 shows the brake 58 in an enlarged manner. As shown in FIG. 6, the lower surface 58b of the brake 58 is tapered. The function of the tapered lower surface 58b is shown in FIG.
FIG. 7 is a side view of the brake 58, in which a tapered lower surface 58b is represented by a broken line, and left and right protrusions 58a are omitted. When this tapered lower surface 58b is pressed from below,
As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the brake 58 moves (rearward) as shown by an arrow D. As a result, the brake 5
The engagement between the projections 58a of No. 8 and the gear 46a of the reel 46 is released, and the reel 46 becomes rotatable.

While several components incorporated in the magnetic cassette tape 40 have been described above, the present embodiment is directed to these springs and the components biased by the springs.
That is, the presence or absence of the lid spring, the lid lock, the lid lock spring, the brake, and the brake spring is inspected.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a component inspection apparatus integrated with the work holder 24. The work holder 24 in which the component inspection device is incorporated is a holding plate 7 for holding the magnetic tape cassette mounted on the work 30 from above.
0 and a width stopper 72 for holding the magnetic tape cassette from the side. The positions indicated by reference numerals 74a to 74e are positions where screws are to be tightened. 9, the magnetic tape cassette 40 is positioned with the lower half 44 facing upward and the lid 50 facing upward. The screw fastening position of the lower half 44
a to 44e.

FIG. 10 shows the width stopper 72 in an enlarged manner. As shown in the drawing, the width adjusting stopper 72 has air nozzles 76 on the left and right sides thereof. This air nozzle 76
Is for blowing air toward a lid lock 54 located on the left and right front of the lower half 44 in FIG. When the air is blown, the lid lock 54 falls down without the lid lock spring 56. To detect this, a lid lock sensor 78 is provided on the holding plate 70. This is a reflective sensor that detects the presence or absence of an object by irradiating light and detecting the reflected light. If the lid lock 54 does not exist or falls down, the reflected light is not detected because the reflected light is not detected. The presence or absence of the lid lock spring 56 can be detected.

Further, an air nozzle 80 is provided on the holding plate 70 in order to check whether or not the brake spring 60 is present. FIG. 11 shows the air nozzle 80 in an enlarged manner. As shown in FIG. 11, the air nozzle 80 of the air nozzle 80 is oriented at 45 ° to the vertical direction. This is because air is blown vertically from a hole opened in the bottom surface of the lower half 44 of FIG. 9 toward the tapered lower surface 58 b of the brake 58. A brake sensor 84 is provided to detect the presence or absence of the brake 58 and the brake spring 60. This is also a lid lock sensor 7
8 is a reflection type sensor. When air is blown on the tapered lower surface 58b of the brake 58, if the brake spring 60 is not provided, the brake 58 is completely moved and the reflected light is not returned. Since the reflected light does not return even when the brake 58 is not provided, the brake sensor 84 detects the brake 58 and the brake spring 60.
Can be detected.

Hereinafter, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 9, a magnetic tape cassette 40 in which necessary components such as a magnetic tape 48 wound around a reel 46 are assembled between an upper half 42 and a lower half 44, the lower half 44 is moved upward as shown in FIG. Then, the sheet is conveyed on the belt conveyor 28 to the screw fastening device 10. Then, the work holder 24 fixes this, the driver unit 22 descends from above, and supplies screws from the screw feeder 32 to predetermined screw tightening positions (44a to 44e) of the magnetic tape cassette 40. The screw is tightened by the bit 34 at the tip of. Five screws are screwed simultaneously.

At the same time, an inspection for the presence or absence of each component is performed. First, by the lid lock sensor 78,
The presence or absence of the lid lock 54 is inspected, and the brake sensor 8
In step 4, the presence or absence of the brake 58 is checked. The existence of these components is confirmed by illuminating the lid lock 54 and the brake 58, respectively, and detecting the reflected light as described above. Next, the presence or absence of the lid lock spring 56, the lid spring 52, and the brake spring 60 is inspected. The inspection of the lid lock spring 56 and the lid spring 52 is performed by using the air nozzle 7 provided on the width stopper 72.
6 is performed by blowing air to the lid lock 54 and detecting whether or not the lid lock 54 falls down by a lid lock sensor. If the lid lock spring 56 is not provided, the lid lock 54 falls down and the reflected light cannot be detected. Therefore, the absence of the lid lock spring 56 can be determined based on the presence or absence of the reflected light. As shown in FIG. 3, the lid spring 52 also serves as the lid lock spring for one of the lid locks 54. This corresponds to the upper left lid lock 54 in FIG. By the inspection for this, the presence or absence of the lid spring 52 is inspected.

Inspection of the presence or absence of the brake 58 and the brake spring 60 is performed by blowing air from the air nozzle 80 onto the tapered lower surface 58b of the brake 58 and observing it with a brake sensor 84. At this time, the air outlet 82 of the air nozzle 80 is set at 45 degrees with respect to the vertical direction.
Due to the angle of °, the air directly hits the tapered surface, so that the air pressure can be used without waste. At this time, if the brake spring 60 is not provided, the brake 58 moves, and therefore, the reflected light cannot be detected by the brake sensor 84.
Can be detected.

The above component inspection is performed simultaneously with screw tightening. Therefore, when it is found that a part is missing, the magnetic tape cassette may be simply flipped, or the screw may be stopped, disassembled, and the part may be reused. As described above, in the present embodiment, since the inspection is performed by assisting with air, the inspection at the same station is difficult due to the space due to the space when the inspection is performed by applying a mechanical load. Screw tightening and parts inspection can be performed simultaneously.
Therefore, the device configuration can be made compact and the production efficiency can be improved.

The screw tightening and parts inspection apparatus of the present invention has been described in detail above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various kinds of apparatuses can be used without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course, improvements and changes may be made.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently and accurately perform screw tightening and inspection for the presence / absence of components.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing an embodiment of a screw fastening device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the screw fastening device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a magnetic tape cassette to be screwed and inspected for components in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing a lid lock and a lid lock spring according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation of a lid lock.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view showing a brake and a brake spring according to the embodiment.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are side views showing the function of the tapered lower surface of the brake.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a work holder in which the component inspection device is incorporated in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a magnetic tape cassette held down by a work holder.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a width stopper according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing air noise that blows air to a brake in order to detect a brake spring and the like in the present embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view showing a state of screw fastening in the magnetic tape cassette.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Screw fastening device 12 Pedestal 14 Column 16 Slide shaft 18 Driver mounting shaft 20 Work holding attachment part 22 Driver unit 24 Work holding 26 Motor 28 Belt conveyor 30 Work 32 Screw feeding part 34 Bit 40 Magnetic tape cassette 42 Upper half 44 Lower half 46 Reel 48 Magnetic tape 50 Lid 52 Lid spring 54 Lid lock 54a Claw 56 Lid lock spring 58 Brake 60 Brake spring 70 Press plate 72 Width stopper 74a to 74e Screw tightening position 76, 80 Air nozzle 78 Lid lock sensor 82 Air outlet 84 Brake sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for inspecting a magnetic tape cassette in which a magnetic tape wound around a reel is accommodated in a cassette, and upper and lower cassette halves are screwed with screws, and a component inspecting device, wherein components are incorporated, A work holder for fixing a work, on which the magnetic tape cassette is conveyed on the conveying device, on a predetermined position, a driver unit for screwing a screw into a predetermined position of the magnetic tape cassette, and a spring of the magnetic tape cassette; An air nozzle for assisting the member to be urged by air, and a sensor for detecting a state of each member, wherein screw tightening and component inspection are performed at the same station. Screw fastening and parts inspection equipment.