JP2009154221A - Small screw aligning instrument and small screw aligning method using the same instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a small screw aligning instrument capable of quickly and surely aligning small screws with a simple constitution and by a simple work, and a small screw aligning method using the instrument. <P>SOLUTION: This instrument is constituted of a small screw aligning container 10A constituted of an aligning plate 14 provided with many insertion holes 12a or insertion grooves 12b to fit screw shaft parts so that the plurality of small screws may be aligned and arranged by turning each head part up and an outer peripheral wall part 16 surrounding an outer periphery of the aligning plate 14 and arranged to be stood on at least the upper side, and a small screw aligning operation receiving base 20A which is provided with an opening end part 22 fitted and connected to a lower edge part of the outer peripheral wall part 16 of the small screw aligning container 10A, seals each of an outside surface part 23 and a bottom surface part 24, is provided with an exhaust port 26 communicated and connected with an exhaust means or an intake means 30 in a part of the sealed surface part and attachably/detachably connects and supports the small screw aligning container 10A. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a screw aligning device used for supplying screws to an electric screwdriver provided in an automatic assembly apparatus, and particularly to a small screw aligning device suitable for aligning machine screws and a small screw using this device. The present invention relates to a screw alignment method.

  Conventionally, when screw tightening work is performed with an electric screwdriver provided in an automatic assembly device, etc., the screws to be supplied to the tip of the bit of the electric screwdriver are aligned with their heads facing up, A screw aligning device that allows smooth pick-up by the bit tip is used.

  In this type of screw alignment tool, for example, if the screw is of a size that can be easily picked with a fingertip, a screw alignment tool having a groove or hole for screw alignment that has been created in advance in a required arrangement pattern, It is possible to arrange the screws easily by manual operation or the like.

  Therefore, since the conventional manual screw alignment operation is extremely inefficient, an alignment jig having a simple structure capable of efficiently and reliably arranging screws and a screw using the jig Has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

  In Patent Document 1, a box-shaped main body portion opened upward, a pallet for holding a plurality of screws arranged in an arbitrary pattern, which is held as an insole of the main body portion, and a rod-shaped protrusion are provided. In a screw alignment jig comprising a lid body that can be opened and closed with respect to the main body portion planted on the inner surface, the pallet is drilled along the pattern for inserting and guiding a shaft portion of the screws And a plurality of countersink holes formed in alignment in the long groove hole for positioning the screws inserted into the long groove hole on the pattern, and the lid Thread alignment, wherein the rod-like protrusion is disposed opposite to the countersink hole in order to cover the body on the main body and press the head of the screw into the countersink hole from above. A jig is described.

  In Patent Document 1, in the screw aligning method using the screw aligning jig, (1) a large number of screws are put into the main body portion, and (2) vibration or impact is applied to the pallet from the outside. Rotate a large number of screws thrown into the main body part on the pallet and insert the screw shaft into the slot and at the same time insert the screw head into the countersink hole for positioning (3) In order to press the heads of the screws fitted in the countersink holes with the rod-shaped protrusions from above, the body is covered with a lid, and (4) is sealed by the lid. The screw aligning method is characterized by comprising each step of reversing the top and bottom of the main body portion and removing the screws not fitted in the countersink holes from the long groove holes.

JP 2000-318829 A

  The screw aligning jig and the screw aligning method using the same described in Patent Document 1 described above have a complicated structure such as providing a lid, an insole, a rod-like protrusion, etc. Also in its use, it is possible to avoid manual work such as requiring complicated work such as reversing the top and bottom of the main body part sealed by the lid after positioning in the countersink hole provided in the long groove hole However, it is not satisfactory as an alignment jig having a simple structure that can be arranged easily and reliably efficiently.

  Nowadays, many electronic parts and electronic products assembled by automatic assembling devices tend to be miniaturized or miniaturized, and as a result, screws used for assembling these parts and products. The same is true, and for example, miniaturized or miniaturized machine screws of 1 mm or less have been manufactured.

  However, when such a small screw is applied in an automatic assembling apparatus, the size of the alignment hole provided in the screw aligning device is extremely small, so that the manual screw aligning operation becomes extremely difficult. Further, the previously proposed screw alignment jig described in Patent Document 1 cannot be used because it is complicated and complicated in its configuration and usage.

  In view of this, the present inventor has intensively studied and devised, and as a result, provided a plurality of insertion holes or insertion grooves into which the screw shaft portions are fitted so that the plurality of machine screws can be aligned with their heads facing up. A machine screw alignment container comprising an alignment plate and an outer peripheral wall portion arranged so as to stand at least above and surround the outer periphery of the alignment plate is provided, and the outer peripheral wall portion of the machine screw alignment container thus configured is provided. An opening end portion that fits and is coupled to the lower edge portion is provided, the outer surface portion and the bottom surface portion are sealed, and the exhaust means or the intake means is connected to the sealed outer surface portion or a part of the bottom surface portion. A combination of a small screw alignment operation cradle provided with an exhaust port and detachably coupled to and supported by the small screw alignment container is operated to operate the exhaust means or the intake means, and to the small screw alignment operation cradle. Yo Each of the insertion holes or insertions is provided in accordance with the intake action in the insertion holes or insertion grooves provided in the alignment plate by applying vibration and swinging a number of small screws placed in the small screw alignment container on the alignment plate. It has been found that a small screw aligning device can be obtained in which the screw shaft portion of the small screw is simply and quickly fitted and held in the groove, and the small screw can be efficiently and easily aligned.

  According to the small screw aligning device configured as described above, the insertion hole provided in the alignment plate can be obtained by continuously operating the exhaust means or the intake means during the screw alignment operation in the small screw alignment container. Or, with the intake action in the insertion groove, the screw shaft portion of the small screw in each insertion hole or insertion groove is simply and quickly inserted and securely held, and is inserted into the insertion hole or insertion groove. It has been found that it is possible to easily remove unnecessary extra screws, and to easily eliminate troublesome work due to a complicated configuration such as a conventional alignment jig.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a machine screw aligning device capable of quickly and reliably aligning machine screws with a simple structure and simple operation, and a machine screw aligning method using the device. There is.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the machine screw aligning device according to claim 1 of the present invention includes a plurality of insertions for inserting a screw shaft portion so that a plurality of machine screws can be aligned with their heads facing up. A machine screw alignment container comprising an alignment plate provided with a hole or an insertion groove, and an outer peripheral wall portion arranged so as to stand at least above the outer periphery of the alignment plate;
An opening end portion that fits and couples with a lower edge portion of an outer peripheral wall portion of the machine screw alignment container is provided, and an outer surface portion and a bottom surface portion are sealed, respectively, and an exhaust means or an intake means is partially attached to the sealed surface portion. A machine screw alignment operation cradle provided with an exhaust port for communication connection and configured to detachably couple and support the machine screw alignment container is provided.

  According to claim 2 of the present invention, in the machine tool alignment container according to the present invention, in the machine tool alignment container, the shape of the alignment plate and the outer peripheral wall portion surrounding the outer periphery thereof is circular, elliptical, square, polygonal or rectangular. It is characterized by being.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a machine tool for aligning screws, wherein a plurality of insertion holes or insertion grooves into which screw shafts are inserted are formed by a quartz plate formed by a laser beam. It is characterized by being configured.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the machine tool aligner according to the present invention, wherein one end is fitted to the lower edge portion of the outer peripheral wall portion of the machine screw alignment container at the coupling part between the machine screw alignment container and the machine screw alignment operation receiving base. A hollow coupling member comprising a first opening end portion that is joined together and a second opening end portion that is fitted and joined to the opening end portion of the machine screw alignment operation receiving end at the other end. It is characterized by providing.

The machine screw alignment method according to claim 5 of the present invention is the machine screw alignment method using the machine screw alignment instrument according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
(1) The machine screw alignment container is coupled and supported to the open end of the machine screw alignment operation cradle,
(2) Operate the exhaust means or intake means connected to the exhaust port of the small screw alignment operation cradle, and put a large number of small screws into the small screw alignment container either before or after that,
(3) Applying external vibration to the machine screw alignment operation cradle and swinging a number of machine screws placed in the machine screw alignment container on the machine plate, in the insertion hole or groove provided on the machine plate Insert and hold the screw shaft of the small screw in each insertion hole or insertion groove with the intake action,
(4) Tilt the small screw alignment container together with the small screw alignment operation cradle by 90 degrees or more from the vertical support state, and remove the small screws not inserted into the insertion hole or the insertion groove from the small screw alignment container.
(5) After returning the small screw alignment container together with the small screw alignment operation stand to the horizontal state, the operation of the exhaust means or the suction means is stopped to separate the small screw alignment container from the small screw alignment operation stand. It consists of a process.

  According to the machine tool aligner of claim 1 of the present invention, by using a combination of a machine screw alignment container having a simple configuration and a machine screw alignment operation cradle, an appropriate exhaust means or intake means can be used, The operations from the small screw alignment operation in the small screw alignment container to the removal of the excessive small screws can be performed easily and easily, and can be performed quickly and reliably.

  According to the machine tool aligner according to claim 2 of the present invention, the machine screw alignment container can be designed by selecting an arbitrary shape.

  According to the machine tool for aligning machine screws according to claim 3 of the present invention, in the processing of a large number of insertion holes or insertion grooves into which the screw shaft portions in the alignment plate of the machine tool alignment container are inserted, particularly, Precision machining of the insertion groove can be achieved easily and smoothly.

  According to the machine tool for aligning machine screws according to claim 4 of the present invention, when the machine screw alignment container is selected to have an arbitrary shape, the combination with the screw alignment operation cradle can be easily achieved by employing a coupling member. Can be implemented.

  According to the machine screw aligning method of claim 5 of the present invention, the combination of the machine screw aligning container and the machine screw aligning operation cradle having a simple configuration can be used to arrange the machine screws in the machine screw aligning container. The operations from the aligning operation to removing the extra small screws can be achieved easily and easily by using the exhaust means or the intake means, and can be achieved quickly and reliably.

  Next, embodiments of a machine screw aligning device and a machine screw aligning method using the device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A. Configuration of small screw aligner (1)
1 and 2 are schematic configuration diagrams showing a configuration example of a machine screw alignment device according to the present invention. FIGS. 1A and 1B show an embodiment of a machine screw alignment container 10A constituting a machine screw alignment device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows one embodiment of a machine screw alignment operation cradle 20A constituting a machine screw alignment device according to the present invention, which is configured to be compatible with the machine screw alignment container 10A. . That is, the machine screw alignment container 10A of the present embodiment is configured to be circular in a plane.

  1 (a) and 1 (b), the machine screw alignment container 10A of the present embodiment has screw shafts fitted therein so that a plurality of machine screws S can be aligned and arranged with their heads facing up. An alignment plate 14 provided with a large number of insertion holes 12a, and an outer peripheral wall portion 16 that is constructed and arranged so as to surround the outer periphery of the alignment plate 14 and to stand above (16a) and below (16b), respectively. Composed.

  In FIG. 2, the machine screw alignment operation cradle 20A of this embodiment includes an open end 22 that fits and joins with the lower edge 16b of the outer peripheral wall 16 of the machine screw alignment container 10A, and an outer surface 23. And an exhaust port 26 that is connected to a blower 30 as an exhaust means or an intake means through a vent pipe 25 as appropriate. The small screw alignment container 10A is detachably coupled and supported.

  In the machine screw alignment container 10A of this embodiment, the alignment plate 14 and the outer peripheral wall portion 16 can be formed by integral molding with the same metal material or the like, but the alignment plate for drilling a number of insertion holes 12a. 14 can be assembled as a different material in consideration of its workability (see FIG. 3). Further, when the insertion hole 12a is drilled, as shown in FIG. 4, a slight opening is formed at the upper opening edge of the insertion hole 12a into which the screw shaft portion of the machine screw S drilled in the alignment plate 14 is inserted. If the chamfer 13 is applied, the screw shaft portion can be smoothly inserted.

  In particular, when the alignment plate 14 of the small screw alignment container 10A requires a drilling process of minute or fine insertion holes 12a, a quartz plate is used as the alignment plate 14, and a laser is applied to the quartz plate. The beam can be easily drilled. Moreover, the opening edge portion of the insertion hole 12a to be drilled by such laser beam processing on the quartz plate is melted by the heating of the laser beam to form a natural roundness, and chamfering 13 is performed. Therefore, it is possible to smoothly insert the small screw shaft portion.

B. Configuration of small screw aligner (2)
5 and 6 are schematic configuration diagrams showing another configuration example of the machine screw aligning device according to the present invention. FIGS. 5A and 5B show another embodiment of the machine screw alignment container 10B constituting the machine screw alignment device according to the present invention. FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the machine screw alignment operation cradle 20B constituting the machine screw alignment device according to the present invention, which is configured to be compatible with the machine screw alignment container 10B. is there. That is, the machine screw alignment container 10B of the present embodiment is configured in a rectangular shape on a plane.

  In FIGS. 5A and 5B, the machine screw alignment container 10B of this embodiment is basically the same as the configuration of the machine screw alignment container 10A of the above embodiment, and each of the plurality of machine screws S is a head. An alignment plate 14 provided with a plurality of insertion holes 12a into which the screw shaft portions are respectively inserted so that the portions can be aligned with each other upward, and the outer periphery of the alignment plate 14 is surrounded by an upper (16a) and a lower (16b) and the outer peripheral wall portion 16 arranged and arranged so as to stand up.

  In FIG. 6, the machine screw alignment operation cradle 20B of this embodiment is basically the same as the machine screw alignment operation cradle 20A of the above embodiment, and the outer peripheral wall portion 16 of the machine screw alignment container 10B. An opening end portion 27a that fits and couples with the lower edge portion 16b is provided, and the outer surface portion 23 and the bottom surface portion 24 are sealed, respectively, and exhaust means or intake air is provided in a part of the sealed outer surface portion 23 or the bottom surface portion 24. The blower 30 as means is provided with an exhaust port 26 which is connected to be communicated appropriately through the ventilation pipe 25, and is configured to detachably couple and support the machine screw alignment container 10B.

  In this embodiment, the structure of the machine screw alignment operation cradle 20B of the above embodiment is used as the main body structure of the machine screw alignment operation cradle 20B, and the machine screw alignment container 10B and the machine screw alignment operation cradle are supported. When connecting with 20B, the first opening end 27a is provided with one end fitted and connected to the lower edge 16b of the outer peripheral wall 16 of the machine screw alignment container 10B, and the other end is provided with the machine screw alignment operation receiving end 20B. A hollow coupling member 28 provided with a second opening end portion 27b that fits and couples with the opening end portion 22 is provided.

  In this way, by providing the hollow coupling member 28 between the machine screw alignment container 10B and the machine screw alignment operation cradle 20B, the configuration of the machine screw alignment operation cradle can be made constant, thereby reducing the machine screw alignment container. The shape is not limited to a circle, but can be set to an arbitrary shape such as an ellipse, a square, a polygon, or a rectangle, and can be configured to be easily coupled to a machine screw alignment operation cradle. .

  Further, in this embodiment, instead of the large number of insertion holes 12a drilled in the alignment plate 16 of the small screw alignment container 10B, a plurality of small screws are fitted and held in one groove as shown in FIG. It is also possible to provide an insertion groove 12b composed of a large number of possible straight grooves. The same insertion groove 12b can be provided also in the machine screw alignment container 10A of the embodiment described above.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the alignment plate 14 can be assembled as a material different from that of the outer peripheral wall portion 16 in consideration of the workability in the same manner as the above-described embodiment (see FIG. 3). In this case, a quartz plate is used as the alignment plate 14, and the insertion hole 12a or the insertion groove 12b can be easily drilled into the quartz plate by a laser beam.

C. Method for Aligning Machine Screws Using Machine Screw Aligning Device Next, a method for aligning machine screws using the machine screw aligning device having the above-described configuration will be described.

  FIG. 8 shows a state in which the small screw alignment container 10A shown in FIG. 1 and the small screw alignment operation receiving base 20A shown in FIG. is there. For convenience of explanation, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same components as those of the machine tool aligner shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Hereinafter, the process of aligning the machine screws using the machine screw aligning instrument having the configuration shown in FIG. 8 will be described in sequence with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, the small screw alignment container 10A is coupled and supported to the open end 22 of the small screw alignment operation receiving base 20A (STEP-1). Next, the blower 30 as the exhaust means or the intake means connected to the exhaust port 26 of the small screw alignment operation receiving base 20A is operated, and a large number of small screws S are placed in the small screw alignment container 10A either before or after that. (STEP-2).

  In this state, the blower 30 operates to generate a negative pressure in the hollow interior of the machine screw alignment operation cradle 20A. In the alignment plate 14 of the machine screw alignment container 10A, a large number of insertion holes 12a or insertion grooves 12b are formed. The required suction action is generated from the upper surface side where the machine screw S is inserted through to the lower surface side.

  Therefore, the insertion provided on the alignment plate 14 is made by applying vibration to the small screw alignment operation receiving base 20A from the outside and swinging a large number of small screws S placed in the small screw alignment container 10A on the alignment plate 14. With the intake action in the hole 12a or the insertion groove 12b, the screw shaft portion of the machine screw S can be fitted and held in each insertion hole 12a or the insertion groove 12b (STEP-3).

  Thereafter, the small screw alignment container 10A together with the small screw alignment operation cradle 20A is tilted by 90 degrees or more from the vertical support state, and the extra small screws not inserted into the insertion hole 12a or the insertion groove 12b are replaced with the small screw alignment container 10A. (STEP-4). At this time, since the blower 30 as the exhaust means or the intake means connected to the small screw alignment operation receiving base 20A continues its operation, the blower 30 is inserted into the insertion hole 12a or the insertion groove 12b into which the small screw S is inserted. Since the suction action still works, these machine screws S are securely held and their fall is prevented.

  And after returning the small screw alignment container 10A to the horizontal state together with the small screw alignment operation receiving base 20A, the operation of the blower 30 as the exhausting means or the intake means is stopped, and the small screw aligning container 10A is received by the small screw alignment operation receiving. Separated from the table 20A (STEP-5). In this way, the machine screw alignment container 10A that has completed the machine screw alignment is transported to the machine screw supply section of the electric screwdriver provided in the automatic assembling apparatus and other assembly processes, etc., and smooth screw tightening by the electric screwdriver is performed. Work can be accomplished.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. For example, the manual operation process is automated in the machine screw alignment process. Many design changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The schematic structure of one embodiment of the small screw alignment container which comprises the small screw aligning instrument which concerns on this invention is shown, (a) is a top view, (b) is the 1b-1b sectional view taken on the line of (a). is there. It is a schematic structure sectional view showing one embodiment of a small screw alignment operation stand which constitutes a small screw alignment instrument according to the present invention. It is a schematic structure sectional view showing the modification of the machine screw alignment container which constitutes the machine screw alignment instrument concerning the present invention. It is a principal part expanded sectional view of the alignment board of the small screw alignment container which comprises the small screw alignment device which concerns on this invention. FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of another embodiment of a machine screw alignment container constituting a machine tool alignment instrument according to the present invention, wherein (a) is a plan view, and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5b-5b of (a). It is. It is a schematic structure sectional view showing another embodiment of the machine screw alignment operation cradle constituting the machine screw alignment instrument according to the present invention. It is a schematic structure top view which shows the modification of the machine screw alignment container which comprises the machine screw alignment instrument which concerns on this invention. It is principal part cross-section explanatory drawing which shows the use condition of the machine tool alignment tool which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows each process of the machine screw alignment method using the machine screw alignment instrument based on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10A, 10B Machine screw alignment container 12a Insert hole 12b Insert groove 13 Chamfer 14 Alignment plate 16 Outer peripheral wall portion 16a Upper edge portion 16b Lower edge portion 20A, 20B Machine screw alignment operation receiving base 22 Open end portion 23 Outer side surface portion 24 Bottom surface portion 25 Ventilation pipe 26 Exhaust port 27a First opening end 27b Second opening end 28 Connecting member 30 Blower (exhaust means or intake means)
40 Small screw container S Small screw

Claims (5)

An alignment plate having a plurality of insertion holes or insertion grooves into which screw shafts are inserted so that a plurality of machine screws can be aligned and arranged with their heads facing up, and surrounds the outer periphery of the alignment plate and at least above it A machine screw alignment container comprising an outer peripheral wall portion arranged so as to stand upright,
An opening end portion that fits and couples with a lower edge portion of an outer peripheral wall portion of the machine screw alignment container is provided, and an outer surface portion and a bottom surface portion are sealed, respectively, and an exhaust means or an intake means is partially attached to the sealed surface portion. An apparatus for aligning machine screws, comprising: a machine screw alignment operation cradle provided with an exhaust port for communicating and configured to detachably couple and support the machine tool alignment container.   The small screw aligning device according to claim 1, wherein the small screw aligning container is configured such that the shape of the alignment plate and the outer peripheral wall surrounding the outer periphery thereof is circular, elliptical, square, polygonal or rectangular.   3. The small screw aligning device according to claim 1, wherein the aligning plate of the small screw aligning container comprises a quartz plate in which a number of insertion holes or insertion grooves into which the screw shaft portions are inserted are drilled by a laser beam. .   A first opening end portion is provided at a coupling portion between the machine screw alignment container and the machine screw alignment operation cradle by fitting and coupling one end with a lower edge portion of an outer peripheral wall portion of the machine screw alignment container. 4. A hollow coupling member having a second opening end portion that is fitted and coupled with an opening end portion of a small screw alignment operation receiving end is provided. The machine screw alignment instrument as described. A machine screw aligning method using the machine screw aligning instrument according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
(1) The machine screw alignment container is coupled and supported to the open end of the machine screw alignment operation cradle,
(2) Operate the exhaust means or intake means connected to the exhaust port of the small screw alignment operation cradle, and put a large number of small screws into the small screw alignment container either before or after that,
(3) Applying external vibration to the machine screw alignment operation cradle and swinging a number of machine screws placed in the machine screw alignment container on the machine plate, in the insertion hole or groove provided on the machine plate Insert and hold the screw shaft of the small screw in each insertion hole or insertion groove with the intake action,
(4) Tilt the small screw alignment container together with the small screw alignment operation cradle by 90 degrees or more from the vertical support state, and remove the small screws not inserted into the insertion hole or the insertion groove from the small screw alignment container.
(5) After returning the small screw alignment container together with the small screw alignment operation stand to the horizontal state, the operation of the exhaust means or the suction means is stopped to separate the small screw alignment container from the small screw alignment operation stand. A machine screw alignment method comprising the steps of:

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