JPH0232402Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention relates to a feeding mechanism in a staple feeding device that sequentially feeds out vertically stacked staples horizontally in a hopper.

Note that in this specification, a staple refers to a plurality of U-shaped staple needles that are adhesively connected.

(Prior art and its problems) When supplying staples to a staple driving machine, the staples stacked vertically in the hopper are pushed out horizontally by a pusher, starting from the lowest one. Furthermore, there is a method of supplying staples to a staple driving machine, but when changing the direction of staple transport from vertical to horizontal in this way, as shown in FIG. Upper staple S
Because of the pressing force exerted by the weight of There was a problem in which the staples in the lower stage were not fed properly.

(Technical issues of the invention) This invention solves the above problems, and allows the staple to be fed smoothly from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction.
The technical problem is to provide a feeding mechanism in a staple feeding device that can reliably perform the feeding.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the feeding mechanism according to this invention includes a hopper that stores a large number of staples stacked vertically in multiple stages, and a hopper provided at the bottom of the hopper. It is provided with a horizontal supply path in the horizontal direction, and moves forward and backward at the rear end of the horizontal supply path, and when retracting, it retreats from the bottom of the hopper to lower the lowest staple in the hopper onto the horizontal supply path, and when moving forward, it retreats from the bottom of the hopper. In a staple supply device including a pusher device having a pusher that engages with the staple at the lowest stage and presses and supplies it to the forward side of the horizontal supply path, the staple at the second position from the lowest stage in the hopper is held. A staple holding device is provided, and when the pusher device moves the pusher at a lower position of the hopper, at least after the pusher engages with the staple at the lowest stage, the staple holding device is moved to the second position from the lowest stage. The feature is that the holding is released.

(Operations and effects of the invention) As described above, according to this invention, the holding device that holds the staple at the second position from the bottom in the hopper responds to the operation of the pusher device so that at least the pusher After engaging with the lowest staple and being pushed out onto the horizontal supply path, the above-mentioned holding is released, so the second staple, which is now at the lowest level, loses support and descends, but the pusher moves back again. When this happens, the new second staple is held thereon by the holding device so that it does not fall. By repeating the above operation, the staples are sequentially fed out in the horizontal direction along the horizontal supply path.

As described above, according to the above-mentioned feeding mechanism, when the hold by the holding device is released, the lowest staple in the hopper descends, but the second staple is held at the same position, so Therefore, when the pusher moves forward next time, it will be able to press the lowest staple and send it out to the horizontal supply path with a gap left. Therefore, the second staple does not pose any obstacle to the feeding of the bottom staple. Therefore, staples can always be fed smoothly and reliably from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of this invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, reference numeral A denotes a frame automatic assembly machine, which staples a horizontal frame material 10 and a vertical frame material 11 in a rectangular shape, and staples the horizontal frame material 10 from the staple driving machines a1 and a2 installed downward and upward. and vertical frame material 11
Drive staples into the joints of both frame materials 10, 1.
1, and a staple supply device 1 is connected to the upward staple driving machine a1.

This staple supply device 1 includes a hopper 2 that stores a large number of staples S stacked vertically in multiple stages.
and a horizontal supply path 3 in the horizontal direction that is provided at the lower part of the hopper 2 and connected to the nose portion 12 of the staple driving machine a1, and moves forward and backward at the rear end of the horizontal supply path 3. , a pusher device 5 having a pusher 4 which retracts from the lower part of the hopper 2 when retracting and presses and supplies the lowest staple S, which has descended from the inside of the hopper 2 onto the horizontal supply path 3 when moving forward, to the tip of the horizontal supply path 3; It was established. At the tip of the horizontal supply path 3, there is an air cylinder device 13 that cooperates to feed the supplied staples S to the nose portion 12 of the staple driving machine a1.
a, 13b are provided. That is, the air cylinder device 13a operates when supplying the staple S, which has been extruded and supplied to the frontmost portion of the horizontal supply path 3, to the nose portion 12. During this supply operation, the air cylinder device 13b moves backward and then moves forward to press the staple S toward the nose portion 12 instead of the air cylinder device 13a. In the meantime, the air cylinder device 13a moves backward, and when the remaining staples S become small and the next staple is supplied to the frontmost section, it moves forward again to connect the staple to the rear end of the staple S that is being consumed. It operates to supply to the nose side. By repeating the above operations, staples are sequentially supplied to the nose portion 12.

Next, to explain the staple supply device 1 in more detail, the staple driving machine a1
A horizontal substrate 7 is provided protruding outwardly from the nose portion 12 of. The horizontal supply path 3 includes the horizontal substrate 7, staple guide portions 8, 8 formed along both sides of the substrate 7 in the protruding direction, and a cover provided over the top surface of the staple guide portions 8, 8. It is formed of material 9. Note that the cover material 9 has both ends connected to the staples S among the plurality of insertion grooves 8a, 8a... formed horizontally in the upper inner walls of the guide parts 8, 8.
It is attached by inserting it into the insertion grooves 8a, 8a corresponding to the length of the legs.

The hopper 2 is constructed by attaching plate materials 2b, 2b to the front and rear sides of pillars 2a, 2a vertically erected at the tip of the horizontal board 7, respectively.
U-shaped storage grooves 2c, in which staples S, S, S, etc. can be stacked and stored in multiple stages, are formed facing each other between b and 2b. Note that the plate materials 2b, 2b are attached so that they can be adjusted vertically,
As a result, the distance between the lower end and the surface of the horizontal substrate 7 is adjusted to be larger than that according to the length of the leg of the staple S, and the staple S at the lowest stage in the hopper 2 is
1 into the horizontal supply path 3.

The pusher device 5 connects a pusher 4, which is provided at the rear end of the horizontal supply path 3 and at the bottom of the hopper 2 so as to be able to move forward and backward, to a piston rod 6a of an air cylinder device 6 provided at the center of the lower surface of the horizontal base plate 7. It is connected and fixed, and moves forward and backward in response to the back and forth reciprocation of the rod 6a that follows the operation of the air cylinder device 6. When the pusher 4 is retracted, the pusher device 5 is connected to the hopper 2.
The lowermost staple S1 in the hopper 2 is lowered onto the horizontal supply path 3 by retracting from the lower part of the hopper 2, and when moving forward, it engages with the lowermost staple S1 and presses the staple S1 toward the horizontal supply path 3. It is composed of

Further, the pusher 4 is formed by forming upright portions 4b, 4b on the upper part of a mounting board 4a for the rod 6a of the air cylinder device 6.
Two upper and lower cross sections 4p and 4q are formed on the upper surfaces of b and 4b.

Next, when the staple S1 at the lowest stage in the hopper 2 descends onto the horizontal supply path 3, the staple supply device 1 simultaneously feeds the staple S2 at the second position above the lowest staple S1. Staple holding device 9 for holding staples so as not to fall
is provided. That is, the staple holding device 9 holds the legs of the second staple S2 from the bottom in the hopper 2 on the back side of a leaf spring 9a provided on the back side of the front plate 14 installed between the front and lower parts of the hopper 2. A holding convex portion 9b is formed on the side surface to engage and press, and the lower end surface of the leaf spring 9a is arranged so as to be engageable with the front end portions of the upright portions 4b, 4b of the pusher 4. Therefore, normally, the leaf spring 9a presses and holds the second staple S2 against the inner wall surface of the plate material 2b on the pusher 4 side of the hopper 2, but when the pusher 4 reaches the vicinity of the front end position, the pusher 4 The front end presses the lower end of the leaf spring 9a to bend the leaf spring 9a. At this time, the staple holding convex portion 9b of the leaf spring 9a separates from the second staple S2, so the holding is released, and the second staple S2 loses its hold and is placed on the front upper surface 4p of the pusher 4. descend to At the same time, the upper staple S3 also descends by the same amount, and the side surface of its leg faces the holding protrusion 9b of the leaf spring 9a.After that, when the pusher 4 retreats, the holding protrusion of the leaf spring 9a similarly to the staple S2 9b and is pressed and held at the same position so as not to fall.

In addition, the pusher device 5 and the air cylinder device 13
The operations of a, 13b, etc. are performed by the staple driving supply machine a1.
It may be constructed by combining a staple detection sensor and a limit switch so as to be activated when the remaining number of staples to be directly supplied to the nose portion 12 of the printer is running low.

As described above, when the pusher 4 moves forward, it pushes out the lowest staple S1 onto the horizontal supply path 3, but at this time, a gap L is formed between it and the second staple S2. Therefore, the second staple S2 does not pose any obstacle to the press-feeding of the staple S at the bottom. Therefore, the staples S can always be fed smoothly and reliably from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction.

The upper surface of the above-mentioned pusher 4 has two upper and lower stages 4p and 4q.
By attaching the pusher 4 with the front and back reversed, the bottom staple S
1 can now be received on the lower surface 4b, so that it can be easily handled when supplying staples S of different sizes.

In addition, as an example of the staple holding device 9,
Although an example has been shown in which the second-ranked staple is pressed and held by the pressing force of the leaf spring 9a, the staple holding device 9 is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, instead of the plate spring 9a, a plate material may be pressed by a spring, or the plate spring 9a may be made of a non-magnetic material, a permanent magnet may be attached to the position corresponding to the holding convex portion 9b, and the magnetic force of the plate spring 9a may be used. It may be configured to hold the staple S, and the pusher 4 does not necessarily have to actuate the leaf spring 9a. The pusher 4 may be operated by another member that is linked to the air cylinder device 6 that operates the pusher 4.

Further, when feeding the staples, when the pusher is moved, at least after the pusher has engaged with the staple at the lowest stage, the staple holding device is released from holding the staple at the second position from the lowest stage. The second staple may be held when the pusher moves forward, and the holding may be released when the pusher moves backward. For example, as shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, the leaf spring 9a is attached to the plate 2b constituting the rear wall of the hopper 2, while curved spring pieces 14 are mounted on the upper surfaces of the upright parts 4b and 4b of the pusher 4, respectively. , 14 can be achieved.
In this case, when the pusher 4 moves forward to engage and push out the lowest staple S1, the lower end of the leaf spring 9a engages with the curved portion of the spring pieces 14, 14, so that it is pushed forward and the second Press and hold the staple S2 in position (see a in the same figure). On the other hand, when the pusher 4 retreats, the spring pieces 14, 14 are also dragged and retreat, so that the above-mentioned holding is released and the staple S2 descends onto the upright portions 4b, 4b. When the leaf spring 9a is no longer engaged with the curved portion of the spring pieces 14, 14, it returns to its original position and presses and holds the staple that has newly become the second position (see b in the same figure). Thereafter, holding and releasing the staples is repeated in the same manner.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of essential parts of an automatic frame assembly machine equipped with a feeding mechanism in a staple feeding device according to this invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of the feeding mechanism, and FIG. 3 is a main part of the feeding device. Partially exploded perspective views, FIGS. 4a and 4b, are explanatory diagrams of other examples of the staple dispensing mechanism, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional staple dispensing mechanism. Number A... Frame automatic assembly machine, a1, a2... Staple driving machine, S... Staple, 1... Staple supply device, 2... Hopper, 3... Horizontal supply path, 4... Pusher, 4b... Standing portion, 5... Pusher device, 6... Air cylinder device, 9... Staple holding device, 9a... Leaf spring, 9b... Holding convex portion, 14... Spring piece.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] It includes a hopper that stores a large number of staples stacked vertically in multiple stages, and a horizontal supply path provided at the bottom of the hopper, and which moves forward and backward at the rear end of the horizontal supply path. A pusher device having a pusher that retracts from a lower part of the hopper and lowers the lowest staple in the hopper onto a horizontal supply path, and engages with the lowest staple when moving forward to press and supply the staple to the front of the horizontal supply path. The staple supply device is provided with a staple holding device that holds the staple at the second position from the bottom in the hopper, and when the pusher is moved by the pusher device at a position below the hopper, at least the pusher is at the highest position. A staple feeding mechanism in a staple feeding device, characterized in that the staple holding device is configured to release the holding of the staple at the second position from the lowest level after engaging the staple in the lower level.