JP2003300743A - Inversion conveyance method and apparatus for long- sized glass preform - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inversion conveyance method and an apparatus for a long-sized glass preform capable of safely conveying the glass preform in inversion without the interference of the front end of the long-sized glass preform with the ceiling or floor of a building. <P>SOLUTION: The inversion conveyance method for the long-sized glass preform comprises downwardly moving a horizontally placed long-sized workpiece 5 to prevent the interference thereof with the ceiling 9 during the course of the operation to perpendicularly raise up the workpiece 5 in clamping the long- sized workpiece 5, and upwardly moving the perpendicularly clamped long-sized workpiece 5 to prevent the interference thereof with the floor 10 during the course of the operation to horizontally lay down the workpiece in horizontally having down the workpiece. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a horizontal or vertical operation in which a long work supported vertically is horizontally transferred onto a carrier, or a long work supported horizontally is grasped and vertically inverted. The present invention relates to vertical reversal conveyance, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for reversing conveyance of a long glass preform which is preferably used for optical fibers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The above-mentioned long work, in particular, a glass preform for an optical fiber has recently become large in size, and has, for example, a diameter of 370.
mm, total length 3000 mm, and weight 200 kg are also available. Work to take out such a large heavy object from its molding equipment or processing equipment and place it horizontally on a carriage for transportation, or set the work on the transportation carriage to a predetermined facility after transportation. However, it is carried out manually by a human, but sometimes it is transferred in a high temperature state, and the transfer work by man was also a very heavy and dangerous work. Also, the working environment is not good. Further, the glass base material becomes expensive as its size increases, and therefore safe and reliable transportation is desired.

In the above-mentioned manual transfer work, in particular,
There is no danger in the work of gripping a work supported horizontally on the carrier and vertically supporting it, or inverting the work supported vertically and supporting it horizontally on the carrier.
In order to make this a safe work, a device as shown in FIG. 4 is used. FIGS. 4A to 4C show a reversing / conveying device used for reversing and conveying a work, for example, a glass preform to a vertical type glass preform processing device by a conventional reversal conveyance method, and horizontally supported. It is a schematic explanatory drawing explaining a mode that the upper end of a work touches a ceiling, when the conveyed work is reversed and conveyed in the perpendicular direction.

In FIG. 4, a column 1 is erected vertically on the floor, and a slide base 2 is attached to the column 1 along the column 1 so as to be able to move up and down. Alternatively, the reversing unit 3 is attached so as to be rotatable in the horizontal direction. A pair of chuck parts 4, 4 are attached to the reversing part 3 to hold the glass base material 5. Further, in order to invert the reversing unit 3 from the horizontal state to the vertical state or vice versa, a connecting rod 6 is provided between the slide base unit 2 and the reversing unit 3.
And the connecting rod 6 is connected to a movable member 7 which is attached to the slide base 2 so as to be able to move up and down.

In FIG. 4A, the chain block 8
The chain 11 is extended to lower the slide base 2 to a predetermined position, the movable member 7 is then lowered, and the reversing part 3 is horizontally tilted by the connecting rod 6, and the pair of chuck parts 4, 4 attached to the reversing part 3 Is opened and the glass base material 5 is grasped and picked up from a carrier (not shown). afterwards,
As shown in FIGS. 4B and 4C, the glass base material 5 is vertically supported by raising the movable member 7 and causing the reversing portion 3 by the connecting rod 6. However, as described above, in the glass base material 5 having a total length of 3000 mm, when the inverted portion 3 is caused to some extent,
As shown in FIG. 4C, the upper end of the glass base material 5 is the ceiling 9
Interfere with. On the other hand, when reversing the vertically supported glass base material 5 and pulling it down in the horizontal direction, the lower end of the glass base material 5 is rotated by the reversing portion 3 as shown in FIG.
Interfere with floor 10.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to invert a long glass base material which can be safely inverted and conveyed without the tip of the elongated glass base material interfering with the ceiling or floor in the building. It is to provide a transportation method and device.

[0007]

As a result of earnest research, the present inventor has solved the above problems. The method for reversing and conveying a long glass preform according to the present invention is a method of horizontally mounting a long glass base material. In the method of gripping a work, vertically raising it, and moving it up, the work is moved downward to prevent interference with the ceiling during the vertical movement. When a long work is pulled horizontally, the work is moved upward during the horizontal pulling operation to prevent interference with the floor.

Further, the reversing and conveying apparatus for a long glass preform of the present invention includes a reversing operation mechanism for rotating a long work from a horizontal state to a vertical state or from a vertical state to a horizontal state, and a work revolving mechanism. It is characterized by having an elevating operation mechanism that prevents interference with the building ceiling or floor at the time. The elevating operation mechanism includes at least a vertically-arranged support column and a slide base portion that is vertically movable along the support column, and the reversing operation mechanism is rotatable at least at a lower portion of the slide base portion. The reversing unit is attached, and a pair of chucks are attached to the reversing unit at a predetermined interval.

The reversing part is rotatably supported on the lower part of the slide base part near the lower end thereof, and a movable member for vertically or horizontally rotating the reversing part can be moved up and down along the slide base part. The movable member and the reversing portion are connected to each other by a connecting rod. In this way, the reversing operation of the reversing part is possible, but instead of the structure using the movable member and the connecting rod, a chain block is attached to the upper end part of the slide base part and the upper end of the reversing part is pulled up by this chain. Alternatively, it may be configured to be pulled down.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The reversing conveyance method of the present invention, when reversing conveyance of a long glass preform horizontally supported on a conveyance carriage in a vertical direction, in a building with a limited ceiling height, Since the tip of the long glass preform interferes with the indoor ceiling as it is reversed, the long glass preform is temporarily stopped during the reverse conveyance of the long glass preform from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction. After descending while keeping it in an oblique direction, or after descending while reversing it, further rotating the glass base material in the vertical direction makes it possible to achieve long indoors with a limited ceiling height. The glass base material is inverted from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction without interfering with the ceiling.

On the other hand, when the vertically held long glass base material is inverted and conveyed to be supported horizontally on the carrier, the lower end of the long glass base material in a building with a limited ceiling height. When the long glass base material is being inverted and conveyed from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction, the reversing operation is temporarily stopped and the long glass base material is moved upward while the long glass base material is being inclined. After the glass base material has been raised, or moved up while being inverted, the glass base material is further rotated horizontally, so that the long glass base material interferes with the floor even indoors with a limited ceiling height. Instead, the vertical direction is reversed to the horizontal direction.

The elevating / lowering mechanism includes at least a vertically-arranged support column and a slide base portion mounted so as to be vertically movable along the support column. The slide base portion can be moved up and down along the linear guide by, for example, installing a linear guide along the surface of the column and further providing an elevating means such as a motor and a ball screw mechanism or an electric chain block. The reversing mechanism has a structure in which the lower end of the reversing part is rotatably supported by the lower part of the slide base, and the reversing part has a connecting rod attached to a movable member that is vertically movable along the slide base. Are connected through. The reversing operation mechanism enables the reversing operation of the reversing unit. The movable member lifting means includes
It is possible to employ an elevating means similar to the elevating means of the slide base. It is also possible to perform the reversing operation of the reversing unit by attaching a chain block to the upper end of the slide base unit and pulling up or down the upper end of the reversing unit by this chain.

Further, a pair of chuck portions are attached to the reversing portion at a predetermined interval in order to hold the long glass preform. The pair of chuck parts may be fixed in advance at a fixed interval, but one or both of the pair of chuck parts can be moved along the length direction of the reversing part, and the interval between the chuck parts can be narrowed or narrowed. Being adjustable allows it to accommodate various lengths of glass matrix.
The left and right chucks that make up the chuck can be opened and closed,
It is advisable to limit the closing operation of the chuck by the torque limiter.

[0014]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. (Embodiment 1) First, a long glass base material 5 supported horizontally on a carrier (not shown) is opened, and the arms of the chuck portions 4 and 4 provided in the reversing portion 3 are opened. Grasp the cone of No. 5 and fix it to the reversing mechanism (Fig. 1
(See (a)). Then, the reversing motion of the glass base material 5 is started, and when the glass base material 5 is tilted to some extent, the temporary rotation is stopped (see FIG. 1B). The inclination angle at this time depends on the relationship between the length of the glass base material 5 and the height of the ceiling 9, but is 4
5 ° is preferred. While the rotation is stopped, the slide base portion 2 of the elevating operation mechanism is operated to lower the glass base material 5 (see FIG. 1 (c)). After that, by restarting the reversing motion in the vertical direction, the glass base material 5 could be safely reversed and conveyed in the vertical direction without interfering with the ceiling 9 (see FIG. 1D).

(Embodiment 2) In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, a long glass base material 5 vertically supported by the arms of the chuck portions 4 and 4 provided in the reversing portion 3. Is inverted and conveyed horizontally. First, the reversing operation mechanism is operated to start the reversing motion of the glass base material 5 supported vertically, and when the glass base material 5 is tilted to some extent, for example,
At the time of tilting at 45 °, the temporary rotation is stopped (Fig. 2
(See (b)). During this time, the slide base portion 2 of the lifting operation mechanism is operated to raise the glass base material 5 (see FIG.
(See (c)). After that, by restarting the reversing movement in the horizontal direction, the glass base material 5 was safely pulled down horizontally onto the transport carriage (not shown) without interfering with the floor 10 (see FIG. 2 (d)). ).

(Embodiment 3) In this embodiment, the reversing operation mechanism adopted in Embodiments 1 and 2, that is, the movable member 7 which is attached to the slide base 2 so as to be vertically movable.
In addition, instead of the reversing mechanism having the structure in which the reversing unit 3 is connected through the connecting rod 6, a chain block mechanism is adopted. As shown in FIG. 3, a chain block 8 is attached to the upper end of the slide base portion 2, and one end of this chain 11 is fixed to the upper end of the reversing portion 3. First, by winding up the chain, the glass base material 5 held by the arms of the chucks 4 and 4 is raised together with the reversing part 3,
When the glass base material 5 is tilted to some extent, the temporary rotation is stopped. While the rotation is stopped, the slide base portion 2 of the elevating / lowering mechanism is operated to lower the glass base material 5.
Then, by reversing the vertical movement,
The glass base material 5 can be safely inverted and conveyed without interfering with the ceiling 9 from a state of being horizontally placed (a position shown by a broken line in the drawing) to a state of being vertically held.

[0017]

According to the present invention, the long glass preform is prevented from interfering with the ceiling or floor of a building having a limited height.
It can be safely transported upside down from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction or from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A to FIG. 1D are schematic explanatory views for explaining a state in which a horizontally supported work is inverted and vertically held by a reverse conveyance method as an example of the present invention.

FIG. 2A to FIG. 2D are schematic explanatory views illustrating a state in which a vertically gripped work is inverted and horizontally pulled down by a reversing and conveying method according to another example of the present invention. .

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view showing an example of the reversal conveyance device of the present invention different from FIG.

FIGS. 4A to 4C are schematic explanatory views illustrating a state in which an upper end of a work comes into contact with a ceiling when a horizontally supported work is vertically reversed and conveyed by a conventional reverse conveyance method. Is.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view illustrating a state in which a lower end of a work comes into contact with a floor when a vertically supported work is horizontally reversed and conveyed by a conventional reverse conveyance method.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Prop 2. Slide base part 3. Inversion part 4,4 '. Chuck part 5. Glass base material 6. Connecting rod 7. Movable member 8, 8. Chain block 9. ceiling 10. floor 11, 11 '. chain

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method of gripping a long work placed horizontally and vertically raising it to move it upward, in the course of vertically raising operation, the work is moved downward to prevent interference with the ceiling. A method for reversing and conveying a long glass base material, which is characterized in that 2. A method of horizontally pulling a long work held vertically, characterized in that the work is moved upward during the horizontal pulling operation to prevent interference with the floor. Method of reversing and conveying the glass base material. 3. An elevating operation for preventing interference between a reversing operation mechanism for rotating a long work piece from a horizontal state to a vertical state or from a vertical state to a horizontal state and a building ceiling or floor when rotating the work piece. A long glass base material reversing / conveying device having a mechanism. 4. The elevating operation mechanism includes at least a vertically-arranged support column, and a slide base portion mounted so as to be vertically movable along the support column, and the inversion operation mechanism comprises:
The long glass preform according to claim 3, further comprising a reversing portion rotatably attached to at least a lower portion of the slide base portion, and a pair of chuck portions attached to the reversing portion at a predetermined interval. Inversion transport device. 5. The reversing part is rotatably supported by a lower part of the slide base part near the lower end, and a movable member for rotating the reversing part vertically or horizontally is provided along the slide base part. The elongate glass base material reversing / conveying device according to claim 4, wherein the reversing / conveying device is mounted so as to be able to move up and down, and the movable member and the reversing unit are connected by a connecting rod. 6. The reversing portion is rotatably supported by a lower portion of the slide base portion near the lower end thereof, and is connected to an upper end portion of the slide base portion by a chain of a chain block attached to an upper end portion of the slide base portion. The apparatus for reversing and transporting a long glass preform according to claim 4, wherein the upper end of the reversing unit is connected to the reversing unit.