JP2645904B2 - Cassette transfer device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cassette moving device for moving a desired cassette from a rack (storage shelf) for accommodating a large number of microfilm cassettes.

(Technical Background of the Invention) It is known that a large number of cassettes of microfilm are housed in a rack, a desired cassette is taken out from the rack, transferred to a microfilm search device and searched. Here, the cassette is withdrawn from a predetermined storage portion of the rack into a carrier, temporarily held in a buffer from this carrier, is oriented appropriately, and is then transported to the retrieval device.

When the cassette is transferred to the search device in this way, a transfer device that extracts the searched cassette from the search device and simultaneously supplies the next search cassette to the search device may be used. For example, it is conceivable that the transfer device is configured so that the searched cassette and the unsearched cassette to be searched next are gripped and moved, and the positions of both cassettes are interchanged. In this case, the microfilm cassette is heavier than the audio tape or video tape cassette. Therefore, when the cassette is gripped by the grip, the cassette becomes unstable and the positioning becomes inaccurate. Therefore, it is necessary that this heavy microfilm cassette can be securely held and positioned accurately.

In the transfer device having such a structure, it is necessary to provide an opening / closing mechanism such as an electromagnetic solenoid for opening / closing the grip, and in the conventional device, each electromagnetic grip is provided for each grip. For this reason, the electric cable of this opening / closing mechanism repeatedly bends and twists with the up and down movement and the rotation movement of the grip, and the metal fatigue of this cable quickly proceeds, leading to poor contact and disconnection, malfunction and malfunction. There was a problem that invited. Also, if the cable is disconnected or the power is cut off during the operation, the grip may release the cassette and drop the cassette, which may render the operation inoperable.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances,
It is suitable for correctly positioning a heavy microfilm cassette while securely holding it.It also reduces the metal fatigue of the electric cable used to open and close the grip, and may cause malfunction or malfunction due to poor contact or disconnection of the cable. It is another object of the present invention to provide a cassette transfer device in which there is no possibility that the grip will drop the cassette due to disconnection or power failure during the operation, which may cause an inoperable state.

(Constitution of the Invention) According to the present invention, it is an object of the present invention to provide a buffer for selecting and temporarily storing a desired cassette from a rack for storing a large number of cassettes each having a reel around which a microfilm is wound, and a cassette for a microfilm search device. In a cassette transfer device for exchanging cassettes with a loading port, a vertical guide rod provided between the buffer and the cassette loading port, and a movable plate that is guided by the guide rod and moves up and down without rotating. An arm that moves up and down integrally with the moving plate and is rotatable around the guide rod;
A pair of grips which are held at symmetric positions with respect to the guide rod of the arm, and which are urged to hold the upper corner portions of the cassette with the rotation axis of the reel being horizontal,
A cassette transfer device, comprising: an opening / closing drive mechanism that engages with the pair of grips provided at the predetermined position provided on the moving plate and simultaneously opens the cassettes with one drive source and simultaneously releases the cassette. Is achieved by

(Operation) The grip of the lift is located above the searched cassette stored in the cassette loading port of the search device and the unsearched cassette stored in the buffer. When the lift is lowered, the grip is moved to each cassette. Engage. At this time, the opening / closing drive mechanism is activated, and both grips are opened to grip the cassette. Here, since the grip grips the upper two corners of the cassette in which the disk portion of the reel is made vertical, the grip does not grip the reel, and the cassette can be securely lifted in a stable posture. The lift rises while holding the cassette, and further rotates around the guide rod. As a result, the position of the searched cassette is replaced with the position of the unsearched cassette. In this state, if the lift is lowered and the opening / closing drive mechanism is operated again to release both cassettes from the grip, an unsearched cassette can be supplied to the search device, and the searched cassette can be returned to the buffer. The returned cassette is further returned to a rack for storing the cassette via a carrier or the like.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a conceptual view showing a cassette transfer path according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view of the entire apparatus, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a rack and a carrier, and FIG. FIGS. 5A to 5C are explanatory views of a cassette attitude correcting operation using the cassette hand, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a buffer and a lift, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view showing a cassette grip portion of the lift.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 10 denotes a rack (storage shelf) for storing a large number of microfilm cassettes 12 two-dimensionally on a substantially vertical plane. That is, the rack 10 is provided with a number of vertically long cassette storage portions 14 opened on one surface thereof, and the cassettes 12 are stored in the storage portions 14 vertically. Here, the cassette 12 has a box-shaped outer shape. The cassette 12 has engaging projections 126 (see FIG. 8) to be described later at two upper corners with the rotation axis of the reel accommodated therein being horizontal. A vertically long window 16 is provided near the center of the rack 10, through which the cassette 12 is racked.
10 can be transported to both sides.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a cassette carrier, one side of the rack 10,
That is, the cassette housing 14 moves so as to face the opening-side surface. That is, a horizontal beam 24 can be moved up and down while maintaining a horizontal level on a vertical guide rail 22 (only one is shown in FIG. 3) fixed to the left and right side edges of the rack 10. It is guided by the horizontal beam 22 and the horizontal beam 24 and moves vertically and horizontally by a servomotor (not shown).

The carrier 20 moves between the desired cassette storage portion 14 and the window 16 to carry the cassette 12 to the window 16, and conversely, returns the cassette 12 from the window 16 to the predetermined cassette storage portion 14, The structure is as shown in FIG.

In this figure, 26 is a board, 28 is a guide rail fixed on the board 26 so as to be perpendicular to the rack 10, and 30 is a cassette hand that moves on the guide rail 28. Reference numeral 32 denotes an endless belt that runs parallel to the rails 28. The endless belt 32 is moved forward and backward by a driving mechanism 34 using a motor. The hand 30 is fixed to the belt 32 and moves forward and backward on the rail 28. As a result, the hand 30 moves so as to approach or separate from the cassette storage section 14 of the rack 10.

Here, the hand 30 includes a pair of left and right sandwiching plates 36 extending toward the rack 10. These sandwiching plates 36 are driven by an electromagnetic solenoid (not shown) so that the distal ends thereof approach and separate from each other. The traveling of the hand 30 and the opening / closing operation of the sandwiching plate 36 are controlled by a hand control device 37 (FIG. 4).

The operation is performed as follows. When the carrier 20 moves in front of the desired cassette 12, the hand 30 advances toward the cassette 12, and holds the cassette 12 as shown in FIG. 5A.
Sandwich between 36. Then, the desired cassette 12 is taken out of the storage section 12 by the hand 30 retreating. Note that there is some variation in the stop position of the carrier 20, so that when the cassette 12 is pulled out onto the guide rail 28 as shown in FIG. Occurs. In particular, since the microfilm cassette 12 is heavy, the position of the cassette 12 is unstable. In this state, the sandwiching plate 36 is once opened in the pulled-out state, and the bottom surface of the cassette 12 is brought into contact with the guide rail 28 so that the position is correctly aligned as shown in FIG. 5C.

The rack 10 and the carrier 20 are stored in a storage case 38. An openable / closable glass plate 40 is fitted on the surface of the storage case 38 on the carrier 20 side, so that the cassette 12 can be viewed from the outside (FIG. 3).

50 is a microfilm search device. This search device
50 is provided on the other surface side of the rack 10, that is, on the side surface opposite to the carrier 20.
38 are substantially T-shaped in plan view (see FIG. 2).

As shown in FIG. 1, the search device 50 has a cassette loading port 52 that opens upward at the right end, and vertically loads the cassette 12 from above. From the cassette 12 loaded here, the microfilm is automatically taken up by the take-up reel 54.
And a search for a target image is performed. For example, when the identification code of the target image is input from the keyboard 55, the film is automatically fed, and the target image is automatically searched and projected on the screen 56. If necessary, the image is printed by the printer 58 (FIG. 2). The search may be performed by manually inserting a predetermined cassette into the loading port 52.

A buffer 70 and a lifter 72 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 are interposed between the search device 50 and the rack 10. The buffer 70 receives the set 12 from the carrier 20 through the window 16 of the rack 10 and directs the cassette in its two engagement projections 126 (eighth
(See the figure) so that it is on the top, and transfer it to the lifter 72. The lifter 72 inserts this cassette into the cassette loading port 52 of the search device 50.
The cassette 12 is returned to the carrier 20 from the cassette loading port 52.

The buffer 70 has a bucket 74 rotatably mounted on a substrate 76 by a shaft 78 (FIG. 7).
74 is rotated by a motor 80 (FIG. 6) in a range between a horizontal position (solid line position in FIG. 7) and a vertical position (same virtual line position). The bucket 74 has an opening at the rotation end side, into which the cassette 12 can be inserted. At the horizontal position of the bucket 74, the bucket 74 enters the window 16 of the rack 10 and faces the carrier 20 side. The carrier 20 and the cassette 12 are transferred at this horizontal position, and are transferred to the lift 72 at the vertical position.

The lift 72 has a movable plate 82 that can move up and down without rotating. The moving plate 82 is fixed to a linear bearing 86 held by a vertical guide rod 84 fixed to the substrate 76, and moves up and down integrally with the linear bearing 86. Guide rod
The upper end of 84 is an upper plate fixed to the board 76 by columns 88 and 90
It is held at 92.

The moving plate 82 is pushed up by a bush rod 94 penetrating the substrate 76 and moves up and down. That is, the push rod 94 is vertically movably held by a linear bearing 96 fixed to the substrate 76, and has its upper end fixed to the moving plate 82 and its lower end pushed up by the plate cam 100 via the link 98. It has become. Here, one end of the link 98 is connected to the lower surface of the substrate 76 by a link 102, and a cam follower 104 (FIG.
Transfer on top of

Therefore, if the plate cam 100 is rotated by the motor 106, the link
Push rod 94 moves up and down via 98. Plate cam
The rotation position of the plate 100 is such that the plates 108 and 1 rotate integrally with the plate cam 100.
It is determined by detecting the position 10 (FIG. 6) with the optical sensor 112.

A pulley 114 is rotatably mounted on the outer periphery of the linear bearing 86 holding the moving plate 82 as shown in FIG.
The pulley 114 is provided with a pair of arms 116, 116 projecting radially at symmetrical positions. Grips 118, 118 are attached to these arms 116, 116. Each grip 11
8 is a pair of swingable claws 120, 12 as shown in FIG.
The lower end of the push rod 122 which vertically penetrates the arm 116 is engaged with these claws 120, and the push rod 122 is depressed to open the pawl 120, and the push rod 122 is returned upward by the return spring 124. If so, the claws 120 are closed. The tips of these claws 120, 120 are
6, disengaged at 126, open the cassette 12 when opened,
Grasp cassette 12 when closed.

The opening and closing of the grip 118 is performed by an opening and closing drive mechanism 128 mounted on the upper surface of the moving plate 82. The mechanism 128 includes upper push rods 130 and 130 held on the movable plate 82 so as to move up and down in opposition to the push rod 122 at a position where the cassette 12 is attached to and detached from the grip 118, and the push rods 130 and 130 Upper end and connecting rod 132
And two stoppers that regulate the vertical movement of the crank plates 134 and 134 with respect to the moving plate 82 at the other vertices.
136, 136. The connecting rod 132 is moved right and left by a cam 140 rotated by a motor 138. For example, the eighth
In the figure, if the cam 14 rotates counterclockwise to move the connecting rod 132 to the left, the crank plate 134 pushes down the upper end of the pushing rod 130.
Accordingly, if the push bar 122 of the cassette grip is located below the cassette grip, the push bar 122 is pushed down and the claw 120 is opened. As a result, the opening / closing drive mechanism 128 can simultaneously open and close the two grips 118 by the motor 138 as one drive source.

Here, the grip 118 and the arm 116 can rotate around the linear bearing 86 together with the pulley 114. That is, it rotates around the guide rod 84 which is a vertical axis. This rotation is controlled by a motor 142 (FIG. 6) mounted on the lower surface of the moving plate 82. That is, the rotation of the motor 142 is transmitted to the pulley 114 by the belt 144. The light shielding plates 146, 146 fixed to the upper surface of the arm 116 are detected by optical sensors 148, 148 fixed to the moving plate 82, and the push bar 122 of the grip 118 comes under the push bar 130 of the mechanism 128. Arm 1
Stop 16. In this position, one grip 118 is located above the bucket 72 in the upright position, and the other blip 118 is located above the cassette loading slot 52 of the search device 50.

Therefore, the lift 72 descends and then activates the opening / closing drive mechanism 128 to open the grips 118, 118, thereby causing the bucket 74 to move.
Insert the cassette 12 inside or at the cassette
Can be grabbed. In this state, raising the lift 72 and then rotating the arms 116,
The cassette can be transferred or exchanged from one of the and the loading ports 52 to the other.

Next, the overall operation of this embodiment will be described. Now, a large number of cassettes 12 are loaded in the rack 10, and the identification code and the loading position (address) of each cassette 12 are input from the keyboard 55 and stored in the control device (not shown). If the identification codes of the target images are sequentially input to the keyboard 55, the carrier control device 37 moves the carrier 20 to the cassette 12 including the first target image. Then, the carrier 20 takes out the cassette 12 and carries it to the window 16. On the other hand, the bucket 74 of the buffer 70 waits horizontally in advance in the window 16, and the carrier 20 transfers the cassette 12 to the bucket 74. Bucket 74
When the cassette 12 receives the cassette 12, it stands vertically and escapes from the window 16, and faces below the grip 118. When the lift 72 is lowered, the opening / closing drive mechanism 128 is activated to open the grip 118, and the cassette 12 in the bucket 74 is gripped by the grip 118. And rise again. The arm 116 rotates 180 ° and this grip
The cassette 12 gripped by 118 is moved above the loading port 52. Next, the lifter 72 descends, inserts the cassette 12 into the loading port 52, activates the opening / closing drive mechanism 128 again, and activates the claw of the grip 118.
120 is opened, the cassette 12 is opened, and then the upper side is withdrawn.

Prior to the lowering of the lifter 72 and the retrieval of the cassette 12 to the loading port 52, the unread cassette to be used next is moved from the rack 10 to the bucket 74, and thus the retrieved cassette is retrieved from the loading port 52. The next cassette 12 waiting in the bucket 74 at the same time as descending to take out the cassette 12 can also grip another grip 116. Therefore, if the lifter 72 is raised and rotated 180 °, a new cassette is
It is possible to return the searched cassettes to the rack 10 at the same time as loading the cassettes into the rack 2, and the cassette replacement time can be further reduced.

In this embodiment, the lifter 72 is provided with two grips 118, but the present invention may be provided with three or more grips. In this case, an opening / closing drive mechanism may be provided so as to open the grip at a position where the cassette needs to be released from the grip at the lower position of the lift.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention provides a lift having a grip capable of grasping a cassette and vertically moving and rotatable around a vertical guide rod, with a movable plate capable of only vertical movement without rotating. Since the opening and closing drive mechanism for opening the grip is provided on the movable plate, the electric cable for operating the opening and closing drive mechanism only moves up and down together with the movable plate, and the electric cable does not receive the torsion accompanying rotation. . For this reason, the metal fatigue of the cable is remarkably reduced, the durability is improved, and there is no possibility that operation instability or malfunction due to disconnection or the like is caused. In addition, the grip is opened by the operation of the opening and closing drive mechanism and is always closed so as to hold the cassette, so that there is no malfunction such as the grip opening and dropping the cassette during the rotation operation or vertical movement of the grip. There is no risk of inoperability.

In particular, since the microfilm cassette is heavy, the position of the cassette is likely to change if the two side surfaces of the cassette are sandwiched. Therefore, the grip is configured so that the rotation axis of the reel is horizontal and the two upper corners of the cassette are gripped and the cassette is lifted, so that the heavy cassette can be correctly positioned while being stably held. Also, since only one drive source is required to open and close the grip, the weight of the moving plate can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a conceptual diagram showing a cassette transfer path according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view of the entire apparatus, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a rack and a carrier, and FIG. 4 is a cassette hand mechanism of the carrier. FIGS. 5A to 5C are explanatory views of a cassette attitude correcting operation by this cassette hand, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a buffer and a lift, FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an operation of a buffer and a lift, FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view showing a cassette grip portion of the lift. 10 …… Rack, 12 …… Cassette, 20 …… Carrier, 50 …… Microfilm search device, 52 …… Cassette loading port, 70 …… Buffer, 72 …… Lift, 74 …… Bucket, 84 …… Guide rod , 116 ... arm, 118 ... grip, 128 ... open / close drive mechanism, 132 ... moving plate, 138 ... motor as drive source.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A cassette is exchanged between a buffer for selecting and temporarily storing a desired cassette from a rack for storing a large number of cassettes having reels around which a microfilm is wound, and a cassette loading port of a microfilm search device. In the cassette transfer device, a vertical guide rod provided between the buffer and the cassette loading port, a moving plate that is guided by the guide rod and moves up and down without rotating, and moves up and down integrally with the moving plate. An arm rotatable around the guide rod, and an arm held at a position symmetrical with respect to the guide rod, biasing the reel so that the rotation axis of the reel is horizontal and both upper corners of the cassette are gripped. And a pair of grips provided on the movable plate and engaged with the pair of grips at a predetermined position to drive them by one drive. An opening / closing drive mechanism for simultaneously opening the cassette at the source and simultaneously releasing the cassette.