JPH0536069B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for attaching felt to a tennis ball, and more specifically, to a method and an apparatus for attaching felt to a tennis ball. It concerns the method of attachment and the mechanical devices used for this purpose.

(Prior art) Tennis balls have a structure in which a core made of natural rubber or synthetic rubber (hereinafter referred to as "rubber core") is coated with a felt layer. This is done by pasting two sheets of felt cut into dumbbell shapes (dumbbell shapes) from a large sheet and coated with adhesive on the back side at a 90° angle so that they interlock with each other.

By the way, this felt is a flat piece that is cut into a predetermined shape from a large flat sheet, and since such a flat piece is pasted onto the surface of a spherical rubber core, the pasting process is difficult. Compatibility between the two is not necessarily easy. For example, in order to make a flat felt follow the spherical shape of a rubber core, "wrinkles" tend to occur at the peripheral edge of the felt.

To deal with this problem, the conventional approach is to add elasticity to felt.
For this purpose, the sheet of felt material is made of a woven fabric with brushed fabric on one side and an adhesive coated on the opposite side, and is cut biased against the weaving direction of the woven fabric to give it the above-mentioned elasticity. That's what I do.

However, even when using a felt member that is given elasticity in the plane direction by bias cutting, the two pieces interlock with each other and intersect at 90 degrees, and the boundary between these two pieces (called a "seam") It is not always easy to paste felt in a smooth curved state with no gaps using mechanical equipment, and in the past, this work of pasting felt had to be done manually. It is normal to have

By the way, the precision of this felt pasting is of course important in terms of minimizing variations in manufactured products and not damaging the aesthetics, but it is also important from the functionality standpoint. If the boundary line between the two pieces of felt (hereinafter referred to as the "seam line") determined by the pasting state does not have a smooth curve, stress will be concentrated at the irregular seam line during use, especially when serving, etc. The large force applied during play may lead to the problem of the ball bursting, and the work of attaching the felt is very important in this respect as well.

However, in recent years, the cost burden of pasting felt, which is a manual process, has become extremely large, and since manual work requires considerable skill, Since it is not easy to secure workers, the burden of the process of attaching felt in the manufacture of tennis balls is becoming increasingly large.

For this reason, it is not easy to mechanize this work, but in view of the increased burden of manually applying felt as described above, various attempts have been made in the past.

For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-51872, a dumbbell-shaped felt is placed on a stretched belt, and with a rubber core placed on top of the felt, the belt is bent into a U-shape to remove the felt rubber core. There is a proposal that allows preliminary pasting to be performed.

Although this technology is not used for attaching felt, it uses a number of optical sensors to detect seam lines for important positioning when printing stamp marks on manufactured tennis balls. There has also been a proposal to determine the attitude of the ball based on
Publication No. 215375).

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned proposal for pasting felt using a conventional belt, when pasting one felt and then pasting a second felt, a spare belt is already available. It is extremely difficult to obtain high positional accuracy with respect to the first felt that is attached to the
In addition, even if the belt is in contact with the elastic felt, it will bend into a U-shape and follow the curved surface of the rubber core, making the felt unstable in terms of the direction and amount of elongation. In addition to the problem of the first piece of felt being cut on a bias as described above, twisting is likely to occur, and the belt method does not have a function to control this twisting. As a result, there was a drawback in that it was not actually possible to accurately position and adhere the two felts to the rubber core. For this reason, the felt pasting device according to this proposal was practically used at most as a device for pasting the first sheet of felt.

It is also possible to apply the seam line detection technology described above to felt pasting technology.
In the first place, there is no seam line before the felt is attached, so this technology can only be used as an inspection device to check whether the seam line of the attached felt is appropriate. The purpose of this proposal is to solve the problem that when flat felt is applied to a spherical surface, the edges are wrinkled and it is difficult to form a smooth seam line. No suggestion is made.

Thus, to date, no suitable mechanized device for attaching felt to tennis balls has yet been proposed.

In view of the current situation, the present invention has been made with the object of providing a method and apparatus that can easily and suitably attach felt to a rubber core using mechanical means.

(Means and effects for solving the problem) As mentioned above, the reason why it is difficult to mechanize the work of attaching felt to tennis balls is because the material is made of elastic felt, so the mutual positional relationship between the two pieces of felt is difficult to mechanize. There is a problem in that the elasticity of this felt has an adverse effect when setting the spherical surface of the rubber core, and when a flat felt is made to follow the spherical surface of the rubber core, it is difficult to partially The reason for this is that it is not easy to prevent the occurrence of wrinkles.

Therefore, the inventor of the present invention focused on the point that it is effective to separate the work process of determining the mutual positional relationship between the two felts and the work process of making the flat felt spherical surface. In order to suppress the occurrence of "wrinkles" as much as possible, we focused on the idea that it is appropriate to give the flat felt a spherical shape gradually from the center of the felt toward the periphery. This has led to the present invention in which the steps are performed in an orderly manner.

The method of attaching felt to a tennis ball according to the present invention, which has been developed based on the above viewpoints and to achieve the above object, is characterized in that the bulges on both sides are attached to the surface of a spherical rubber core provided with a surface adhesive layer. By applying a felt made of a stretchable material and having a dumbbell shape with a constricted part in the middle to a rubber core, gripping both ends and moving the gripping part to a predetermined position. The felt is deformed into a U-shape, and the widthwise center of the felt is linearly adhered to the surface of the rubber core along the U-shape.
The initial gluing process of the felts is carried out sequentially so that they intersect and interlock, and the line between the assumed seam line that is assumed to be the edge seam of these two pieces and the linear adhesive line glued in the above initial gluing process. An intermediate adhesion step of pressing and adhering the felt to the surface of the rubber core at approximately the middle position of The first edge bonding process involves pressing the edges of two felts against each other and pressing them against the surface of the rubber core, and the second edge bonding step involves pressing the side edges of the bulges of the two felts against each other at one point and bonding them against the surface of the rubber core.
A ball with the edges of two felts pre-glued at multiple locations along the assumed seam line by the edge gluing process, the first edge gluing process, and the second edge gluing process described above is attached to this assumed seam line. A linear bonding process in which a linear seam line is formed by intermittently repeating an operation of butting the ends of the felt on both sides and pressing it against the rubber core surface while gently rotating it along the line to form a linear seam line. be.

According to the felt adhesion method having the above configuration, it is possible to mechanically adhere two pieces of felt to the surface of a rubber core.

In the above configuration, the first edge bonding step and the second
The edge gluing step can be performed sequentially or simultaneously.

In the above, since the vicinity of the side edge at the intermediate position from the bulge to the constriction is likely to rise from the rubber core and cause "wrinkles", it is not recommended to provide an intermediate bonding process that presses this part onto the surface of the rubber core. This is recommended as a particularly preferred configuration.

Further, as a specific pasting device for carrying out the above-described felt pasting method, one having various parts and devices having the following configurations is exemplified.

For example, in the initial bonding process used in the initial bonding process of felt, the supporting means supports the rubber core by positioning the felt at a predetermined functional position directly above the geometric center of the felt, which is placed in a predetermined position in a flat state. Then, grasp both ends of the flat felt in the longitudinal direction, and hold both ends of the felt so that it forms a U-shape along a semicircle defined by a line of intersection between a vertical plane passing through the center of the rubber core and the surface of the rubber core. An example of the structure includes a felt bonding means for lifting the felt section and bonding the felt in a linear manner so that the substantially central position in the width direction of the felt coincides with the semicircle of the rubber core.

The edge gluing device for the felt seam used in the first edge gluing step includes a support means for supporting the ball to which two pieces of felt are initially bonded at a predetermined spatially positioned position, and A pair of openable and closable claw members that are provided so as to be able to approach and retreat from the radially outer side of the rubber core at a position where the edge of the bulge of the felt and the side edge of the constriction of the other felt closely oppose each other, and the pair of claws. Driving means for performing the approaching operation in order to bring the tips of the members into contact with the one and the other felt surfaces, and simultaneously performing the closing operation of the tips of the pair of claw members in order to abut the edges of both the felts. An example of a configuration that includes the following can be exemplified.

The edge gluing device used for the second edge gluing step between the felt and the seam includes a support means for supporting the ball to which two felts are initially bonded at a predetermined spatially positioned position, and Four rod members with rounded tips that can come into contact with the felt are symmetrically provided so that they can approach and retreat from the outside in the radial direction of the rubber core at positions where the side edges of the bulges are close to each other and opposite each other. A diaphragm mechanism is provided so as to be able to move toward the center of symmetry from an open position to close the diaphragm mechanism, and the above-mentioned approaching movement is performed in order to bring the tips of each rod member of the diaphragm mechanism into contact with the surfaces of the two felts. , and driving means for simultaneously performing the closing operation of the tips of the four rod members in order to abut the edges of both felts.

The linear gluing device for felt seams used in the linear gluing process as the final seam line gluing process is a supporting means that supports a ball to which two pieces of felt are initially bonded at a predetermined spatially positioned position. and the first edge bonding step and the second edge bonding step.
A first step in which a ball having two felts pre-glued at multiple positions by the edge gluing process is rotated 180° along the initial gluing line of one of the felts.
and a second rotation of 180° along the initial adhesive line of the other felt, and a pair of openable and closable rotating means that are provided so as to be accessible and retractable from the outside in the radial direction of the rubber core. The above-mentioned approaching operation is performed in order to bring the claw members and the tips of the pair of claw members into contact with the felt surfaces on both sides of the assumed seam line, and at the same time, the pair of claw members are and a driving means for intermittently and repeatedly performing a closing operation of the tip of the claw member, and the rotating means is configured to rotate the seam line, which is assumed to be a seam of two pieces of felt, by the first rotation and the second rotation. An example of a device may include a rotating shaft set so as to pass through a position opposite to the claw member.

In addition, the equipment used in the intermediate part bonding process includes an arch-shaped member having a semicircular inner edge with a diameter corresponding to a semicircle with a diameter slightly smaller than the maximum circle when the spherical rubber core is cut in cross section, and an inner edge of this arch-shaped member. An example of such a rubber core includes a driving means for bringing the rubber core into contact with the felt surface slightly inside the constricted portion and pressing the rubber core against the felt surface.

An example of a pasting device is one constructed by combining the above-mentioned devices.

(Example) The present invention will be described below based on an example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the general configuration of a tennis ball felt pasting device for explaining the present invention, divided into work stages. In order to facilitate understanding of the role of each work stage, In the lower part of FIG. 1, the relationship and state of the rubber core 8 and the felts 9, 10 are sequentially shown.

In this figure, 1 is a rubber core supply stage that holds a large number of rubber cores in an aligned state, and 2 is a rubber core centering stage, which centers the rubber cores 8 that are supplied one by one from the rubber core supply stage 1. The gripping and conveying device 11 shown in FIG.

3 is a first initial adhesion stage where the first sheet of felt is initially adhered, and 5 is a second initial adhesion stage where the second sheet of felt is initially adhered. 1 as shown
Rubber core 8 to which the first felt 9 is initially adhered
A posture rotation stage 4 is provided for vertically inverting the image by 180 degrees and rotating it by 90 degrees around the vertical axis.

6 is an edge bonding stage for sequentially or simultaneously performing first edge bonding and second edge bonding;
The ball with its edges glued at multiple locations at this stage is shown at the bottom of FIG.

7 is a linear adhesion stage that adheres two pieces of felt in a line along the seam.This completes the mechanical adhesion of the felt, and the felt is then heat-treated in a conventional manner. Pasting is completed.

The details of each part of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 having the above configuration will be explained below.

The rubber core supply stage 1 is constructed by inserting one rubber core 8 into each recess 102 of a plate 101 in which a large number of recesses are formed, for example, in the shape of a vertical and horizontal square, and inserting one rubber core 8 into each recess 102 of a device base 12 in the longitudinal direction (the left end in FIG. 1). ). These rubber cores 8 are then lifted one by one by a lifting arm mechanism 14 having an xy scanning function, which is movably supported by a ceiling mount 13 at the top of the device, in accordance with instructions from a control device (not shown). Transfer to centering stage 2.

FIG. 2 shows a specific configuration of the suspension arm mechanism 14, in which a pair of fingers 103 and 104 are provided so that the left and right distance can be expanded/contracted by an air cylinder 105, and this is arranged in a horizontal plane. The rubber cores 8 are transferred one by one to the stage by performing xy scanning and vertical movement.

Turning next to the centering stage, the mechanism therefor is shown in Figures 3a and 3b. This centering stage is a work stage for accurately transporting, positioning, and supporting the rubber core 8 to a predetermined spatial position that is predetermined as a work position in each stage in subsequent steps. The center position of the rubber core 8 can be held from the left and right sides by a support mechanism that also serves as a conveyor and has a pair of left and right core holders 15 shown in FIG. That is, the suspension arm mechanism 14 explained in FIG.
The rubber core 8 transported by the rubber core 8 is placed thereon, and the wall pillars 202 are moved toward the center from the outside in the same three-legged arrangement, and the rubber core 8 is pushed toward the center to perform centering. In this example, since an adhesive layer has already been formed on the surface of the rubber core 8, it may stick to the fixed support pillar 201 or the wall pillar 202, and centering may not be possible. Third
As shown in FIG. b, a finger mechanism 203 is provided which has a pair of fingers 204 that can be opened and closed in the vertical direction. This finger mechanism 203 grips the rubber core 8 placed on the three fixed support columns 201 from above and below with fingers 204, once lifts it from the fixed support column 201, and then lifts it up again from the fixed support column 201.
It is designed to perform the action of lowering it onto the surface. In order to perform this operation, the finger mechanism 203 expands and closes the fingers 204 up and down, and the fixed support column 20
Moving forward and backward in the horizontal direction with respect to the rubber core 8 above 1, and once fixing the rubber core 8 to the support column 201
A drive means (for example, an air cylinder, etc.) (not shown) is used to enable vertical movement for lifting from the
It is linked by.

By the operation of this finger mechanism 203, the rubber core 8 is accurately placed on the fixed support column 201,
This is accurately centered with respect to the core holder 15 for transferring it to the next stage.

The rubber core 8 that has been accurately centered on the fixed support column 201 of the finger mechanism 203 is then held at its center position accurately by the core holder 15, and transferred to the next first felt initial bonding stage 3. be transported. The core holder 15 is moved by a slider (not shown) mounted on the ceiling mount 13 in the left-right direction in FIG. 1 and in appropriate vertical movements to avoid peripheral mechanisms.

The structure of the core holder 15 is shown in FIG. 4, and includes a pair of left and right arms 151 (in a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1) hanging from a slider (not shown);
A pair of holder rings 153 and 154 are attached to the lower end of the holder ring 152 so as to be rotatable about the same axis in the left-right direction. The surfaces of the holder rings 153, 154 facing the balls are formed into annular serrations, which bite into the surface of the rubber core 8 to provide support without shifting. Note that this core holder is used in the same way in subsequent work stages, and if necessary, a rotation drive type mechanism (not shown) is linked to one of the pair of holder rings so that it can be rotated around the left and right axes. .

The construction and operation of the work stage for the initial adhesion of felt to the rubber core 8 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5-8.

That is, in the initial adhesion stage 3 of the first sheet of felt, the dumbbell-shaped felt 9, which has been cut into a predetermined shape in advance, is placed with the raised side facing down and the side coated with adhesive facing up. The felt cassettes 301 are fitted into the recesses 302 of the felt cassettes 301, and are sequentially fed to predetermined positions by the cassette magazine device 303 at the same timing. That is, the cassette magazine device 303 loads and stores a large number of cassettes in a vertically elongated cassette storage space 304, and pushes them one by one onto a rising platform 306 using a horizontal slider 305 at the lower end of the cassette magazine device. The cassette is inserted into a predetermined position for gluing. After the felt is initially bonded to the rubber core, the cassette is ejected from the setting position to the outside of the apparatus by an ejecting device (not shown), so that the next cassette can be inserted.

The felt cassette 301 is formed with the recess 302, which has a dumbbell-shaped cavity that matches the external shape of the felt to be inserted, and the felt 9 is inserted into the recess 302. Further, at both ends of the felt cassette 301 in the longitudinal direction, cutouts 307 and 308 are provided in a U-shape at the bottom so that the felt cassette 301 can be pinched from above and below with felt end grasping scissors 309, which will be described below.

A pair of felt end grasping scissors 309 are provided facing both ends of the felt, and are used to hold the felt 9 in the felt cassette inserted at a predetermined position.
On the other hand, it is designed so that it can be gripped by pinching the felt ends from above and below. In this example, the lower pawl 310 is attached to the two needles 3 in order to accurately position the felt and avoid any misalignment during initial gluing.
11, 312, and the upper claw 313 has one needle 314 located between the two needles, and these needles 311, 312, 314 bite into the felt alternately to enable grip without slippage. (See Figure 6c).

A state in which both ends of the felt 9 are gripped with scissors 309 is shown in FIG. 7, and from this state, the rubber core 8 supported by the core holder at a predetermined spatial position is
On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 8, scissors 309
is lifted upward in an arc shape to bring the felt into contact with the rubber core 8 in a U-shape. The arcuate locus of movement of the scissors 309 is shown in FIG.

As described above, the felt 9 is initially bonded to the rubber core 8 in a U-shape, but in this example, in order to ensure this bonding, the center portions of the bulges 91, 91 on both sides of the felt 9 are Rotating ring 315 is adapted to be lightly pressed against the rubber core by rotation of rod 316. The ball with the first piece of felt adhered in this manner is shown at the bottom left end of FIG. 1.

Note that the movement locus of the scissors 309 is given by, for example, a cam mechanism shown on the stage 3 in FIG. 1 in this example. That is,
Arc-shaped cam holes 318, 31 on the side of stage 3
The cam followers 320 and 321 supporting the scissors are fitted into the cam plate 317 having a diameter of 9, and the cam followers 320 and 321 are assembled to a vertical movement plate (not shown) so as to be able to move vertically and horizontally. By moving the plate up and down, the cam follower 32
It is designed to give an arcuate motion of 0.321.

The ball to which the first felt 9 is initially glued in a U-shape as described above is then transferred to the attitude rotation stage 4, where it is flipped upside down and rotated 90 degrees around the vertical axis, as shown in Figure 1. It is placed in the second state from the left on the bottom row. In other words, the posture rotation stage 4 is
A pair of holder rings 402 and 403 are provided on a horizontal rotary table 401 that rotates by 90 degrees so that the distance between them can be expanded and contracted.
While grasping this, the rotary table is rotated by 90 degrees and the holder rings 402 and 403 are rotated by 180 degrees to turn it upside down. FIG. 9a shows the state after being transferred from the stage 3, and FIG. 9b shows the state after rotation.

The ball that has undergone this rotation is then transferred to stage 5 for initial bonding of the second sheet of felt, where the second sheet is attached using the same mechanism as the initial bonding of the first felt. The initial felt bonding is performed. The ball with the initial adhesion of the second felt completed is shown third from the left in the bottom row of FIG.

The ball with the two felts initially glued is then transferred to stage 6 for edge gluing.

One of the work operations in this stage 6 in this example is the tip edge 91a (or 1
01a) and the side edge 102b (or 92b) of the constricted portion 102 (or 92) of the other felt 10 (or 9) are pressed against the surface of the rubber core 8.

Another work operation in the stage 6 is the side edge 91 of the bulge 91 of one felt 9.
b and the side edge 101b of the bulge 101 of the other felt 10 are pressed against the surface of the rubber core 8 while abutting against each other.

These edge butting operations and pressing operations against the rubber core surface are performed at 8 locations (4 locations each) for each ball, and in this example, in order to perform these tasks at the same time, the operations are performed at each location from the radial direction. The working mechanisms are arranged to face each other and approach each other, but to avoid complicating the diagram, in Fig. 10, the working mechanisms are illustrated for each of the above-mentioned mechanisms, and only the working positions of other parts are indicated by arrows. The illustration is omitted.

The first stage performs one of the tasks in stage 6.
The working mechanism for gluing the edges is designated by the reference numeral 6 in Figure 10.
The working mechanism for carrying out another second edge bonding is designated by 10 and is designated by 620 in the figure.

To explain the working mechanism for performing the first edge bonding described above, it consists of a pair of claw members 6 that can be opened and closed.
An air cylinder 613 having a diameter of 11,612 is connected to the tip edge 91a of the bulge 91 of one felt 9 and the side edge 102 of the constriction 102 of the other felt 10.
The air cylinder 613 is provided to be able to approach and retreat from the radial direction by a drive mechanism (not shown) with respect to the position where the balls and b are close to each other, and which is spatially positioned and supported at a predetermined position. The tips of the claw members 611, 612 are brought into contact with the felt surface. Simultaneously with this contact, the claw members 611 and 612 perform a closing operation to abut the felt edges and press against the surface of the rubber core. The relationship between the operations of the claw members 611, 612 and the felt due to the above operations is as follows.
This is shown in Figure 1.

On the other hand, to explain the working mechanism for performing the second edge bonding, this is an air cylinder 622.
has four rod members 621 with hemispherical tips, and normally the hemispherical tips of these rod members 621 are in a symmetrically open state, and the air cylinder 62
2 are approached, and the tips of the four rod members 621 are brought into contact with the felt surface. Simultaneously with this contact, the four rod members 621 perform a closing operation to abut the felt edges and press against the surface of the rubber core. The rod member 6 due to this movement
The relationship between the motion of the felt and the felt is shown in FIG.

The feature of the working mechanism for performing the second edge bonding in this example is that the four rod members perform a closing operation so as to gather the felt edge radially from a relatively inner portion toward the edge (13th (see figure), and this operation suppresses the occurrence of "wrinkles" at the edges of the felt as much as possible.

The state of the ball after the edge bonding described above is shown in the fourth position from the left in the bottom row of FIG.

In this example, the middle portion of the ball is bonded as shown in FIG. 14 for the ball whose edge portion has been bonded as described above. This intermediate portion adhesion stage may be performed at stage 6 in FIG. 1, or may be performed after being transferred to stage 7.

As shown in FIG. 14, this process of gluing the intermediate part is performed by attaching the inner edge of the plate 16 having a semicircular inner edge 161 to the constricted part 92 (or 102) of the felt.
This is done by applying the rubber core to the felt surface at a position roughly midway between the center and side edges of the rubber core. Note that this plate 16 is a pair of parallel plates arranged so as to intersect at 90 degrees and hit the ball in order to be applied to the left and right sides of the waist of the two felts, respectively, and is moved from the retracted position by a drive means (not shown). It is designed to be moved to a contact position.
FIG. 14a shows the state of the plates before contact, and FIG. 14b shows the same state of contact.

The balls subjected to the above preliminary bonding are finally transferred to a linear bonding stage 7 where seam lines formed as boundaries between felts are linearly bonded.

Due to the preliminary gluing process described above, the boundary (joint) between the two pieces of felt is in a state that is approximately similar to the final expected seam line.
Therefore, line bonding work is performed along this assumed seal line 17 as follows.

First, in this linear bonding step, the ball is supported by a core holder at a spatially predetermined relative position, and one of the pair of holder rings 153 is rotationally driven to cause the ball to rotate around the axis A as shown in FIG. 15a. is rotated. At this time, the posture of the ball is such that the first felt 9 is bonded to the rubber core 8 in an inverted U shape, and the second felt 10 is bonded to the rubber core 8 in a U shape. Also at this time, the 15th
The view from arrow E in Figure a is shown in Figure 15c.

If the ball is rotated 180 degrees in this state, the assumed seam line 17 will be such that the arc-shaped side edge portion of the bulge 91 of one felt will make a circular motion roughly along the arc.

Therefore, by performing this circular movement, the claw mechanism for linear adhesion is approached from the outside in the radial direction to a certain position through which the assumed seam line 17 will pass, and the line in the range of an arc of 180° is It is made to perform adhesive bonding.

The claw mechanism 701 of this example includes a pair of openable and closable claw members 703 and 7 assembled to a movable gauge 702.
04 has its tip etched into the surface of the felt, and is pressed against the rubber core 8 while abutting the felts on both sides. The specific mechanism for this is as follows. In other words, the central rod 7 can move forward and backward at the center.
05 has cam pieces 706, 707 that extend over the outside of the claw members 703, 704 on both sides, and these cam pieces 706, 707 are connected to the claw members 703, 704.
A pair of claw members 703, 7 which are biased by a spring force in the opening direction when engaged with a cam surface formed on the outer wall of 704 and set in the shape of this cam surface.
The opening/closing state of 04 is determined.

Then, while the moving case 701 is moved by a driving means (not shown) until the tips of the claw members 703 and 704 come into contact with the felt surface, the central rod 70 is moved.
5, the ends of the pair of claw members abut the felt together, and the center rod 705 repeatedly presses the abutted portion against the rubber core. By rotating the ball 180°, the felt is moved along the seam line. Linear bonding is performed within a 180° arc of the felt bulge. Note that this work can be performed symmetrically on both sides of the bulges of one felt, so one of the working positions is shown as a specific mechanism in Fig. 15a, and only the position is indicated by the symbol B in the other. Indicated. Further, FIG. 15b shows a plan view of the state in which the ball has rotated through 90 degrees. Furthermore, the relationship between the movement of the claw member and the felt in this linear bonding work is
It is shown in Figure 6.

After completing the above 180° rotation, the ball is then rotated a second 180° around the axis of rotation D, which intersects 90° in the horizontal plane. Linear bonding along the arc of the section is carried out in exactly the same way.

In this case, since the axes of rotatable support by the core holder differ by 90 degrees, it goes without saying that it is necessary to switch the support by the core holder. Also, since the rotational position of the seam line is different, the claw mechanism for linear gluing is shown in Figure 15a.
The ball may be placed at the positions indicated by symbols C and C, or a rotary table may be used to rotate the ball in a horizontal plane.

With the above steps, the adhesion of the two sheets of felt to the rubber core is completed, and heat treatment may then be performed in accordance with a conventional method.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be practiced with appropriate modifications within the scope of the gist of the present invention. For example, the devices at each stage in FIG. 1 may be provided so as to be movable up and down as indicated by the arrows in the figure, and may be provided so that they can be moved up and down the ball conveyance path to perform work only when necessary. This is a preferable configuration in terms of simplifying the configuration of the conveying means.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the method and device for attaching felt to a tennis ball of the present invention, whereas conventionally it was not possible to produce a tennis ball with a smooth seam line by mechanical work, By combining a series of continuous working machines, it is possible to apply felt with high precision and productivity.

Furthermore, according to the method and apparatus of the present invention, the cost of felt gluing, which accounts for a considerable proportion in tennis ball manufacturing, can be reduced compared to the conventional manual felt gluing work. , which requires a large number of skilled workers,
According to the device of the present invention, only a small number of device managers are needed, which has the effect of significantly reducing the burden on human resources.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of the tennis ball felt pasting device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 16 are diagrams for explaining the configuration and operation of each part of the device in the same example. It is a diagram. That is, FIG. 2 shows a suspension device that suspends rubber cores one by one from a rubber core placement section and conveys them to a centering device, and FIG. 3a is a plan view of the centering device. b is the same side view, FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the support device for supporting the rubber core in each device such as the conveyance of the rubber core and the felt initial bonding device, and FIG. A diagram showing an example of a cassette magazine device,
Figures 6a, b, and c are diagrams showing the relationship between the felt cassette and the felt end gripping claws; Figure 6a is a plan view, Figure 6b is a side view of the same, and Figure 6c is the same part. This is an enlarged view. FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrams for explaining an example of an apparatus for initially bonding felt to a rubber core, with FIG. 7 showing a preparation state for initial bonding, and FIG. 8 showing a state during initial bonding. It is. 9th
Figures a and b are diagrams for explaining a device for rotating a ball from a posture in which a first sheet of felt is initially bonded to a posture in which a second sheet of felt is bonded. Fig. 10 is a diagram explaining the state in which the first and second edge gluing is performed, Fig. 11 a, b, and c are diagrams explaining the movement of the first edge gluing, Fig. 12 a, b,
c is a diagram explaining the movement of the second edge adhesion, 13th
The figure is a diagram illustrating the movement of the second edge adhesion when viewed from the outside in the radial direction of the ball. FIGS. 14a and 14b are diagrams for explaining the device for bonding the intermediate portion, and FIGS. 15a, b, and c are diagrams for explaining the configuration and operation of the device for linear bonding of the seam line. FIG. 15a is a diagram explaining the positional relationship between the claw member and the ball at the start of linear bonding, and FIG. 15b is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the claw member and the ball at the time when linear bonding is performed at 90 degrees The explanatory diagram, Figure 15c, is E in Figure 15a.
It is an arrow view. FIGS. 16a, b, and c are diagrams for explaining the movement of the claw members during linear bonding. 1: Rubber core supply stage, 2: Centering stage, 3: First initial adhesion stage, 4: Rubber core posture rotation stage, 5: Second initial adhesion stage, 6: Edge adhesion stage, 7: Linear adhesion Stage, 8: Rubber core, 9: 1st felt, 1
0: Second felt, 11: Gripping and conveying device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. On the surface of a spherical rubber core provided with a surface adhesive layer, a dumbbell-shaped felt having bulges on both sides and a constriction in the middle and made of a stretchable material is placed over its length. The felt is deformed into a U-shape by applying the middle part in the widthwise direction to the rubber core, gripping both ends, and moving the gripping parts to a predetermined position.Then, the center in the widthwise direction of the felt is drawn along the U-shape onto the surface of the rubber core. It is assumed that the initial gluing process of the felts is performed in sequence so that the two pieces of felt are glued together in a 90° interlocking position, and the edges of these two pieces of felt are joined together. An intermediate adhesion process in which the felt is pressed and adhered to the surface of the rubber core at an approximately intermediate position between the assumed seam line and the linear adhesive line adhered in the initial adhesion process, and one of the two pieces of felt initially adhered above. A first edge adhesion process in which the tip edge of the dumbbell-shaped bulge and the side edge of the constriction of the other felt are pressed against the rubber core surface at one point and bonded, and the sides of the bulge of the two felts are similarly bonded. A second edge gluing process in which the edges are pressed against the surface of the rubber core while abutting one point and bonded; and the first edge gluing process and the second edge gluing process are used to form a plurality of seams along the assumed seam line. While gently rotating the ball with the edges of the two felts pre-glued at several points along this assumed seam line, the operation of butting the felt edges on both sides and pressing them against the rubber core surface is repeated intermittently. A method for adhering felt to a tennis ball, comprising: a linear adhesion step of forming a linear seam line. 2. The method of attaching felt to a tennis ball according to claim 1, wherein the first edge bonding step and the second edge bonding step are performed simultaneously. 3. An apparatus for use in the method of attaching tennis balls according to claim 1, which supports the rubber core by positioning it at a predetermined relative position directly above the geometric center of the felt, which is placed in a predetermined position in a flat state. a support means for
Grasp both ends of the flat felt in the longitudinal direction, and hold both ends of the felt so that it forms a U-shape along the semicircle defined by the line of intersection between the vertical plane passing through the center of the rubber core and the surface of the rubber core. an initial felt bonding device comprising a felt bonding means for lifting the felt and linearly bonding the felt in such a manner that the approximate center position in the width direction coincides with the semicircle of the rubber core; An arch-shaped member having a semicircular inner edge with a diameter corresponding to a semicircle with a slightly smaller diameter was used, and an initial bonding process was performed by bringing the inner edge of this arch-shaped member into contact with the felt surface slightly inside the felt along the waist of the felt. an intermediate part adhesion device comprising a drive means for pressing the felt onto the rubber core; a support means for supporting the ball to which the two felts are initially adhered and the intermediate part adhered at a predetermined spatially positioned position; A pair of openable/closable claw members provided so as to be able to approach and retreat from the radially outer side of the rubber core at a position where the edge of the bulge of the felt and the side edge of the constriction of the other felt are close to each other, and the pair of claws. Driving means for performing the approaching operation in order to bring the tips of the members into contact with the one and the other felt surfaces, and simultaneously performing the closing operation of the tips of the pair of claw members in order to abut the edges of both the felts. a felt seam edge gluing device comprising a felt seam edge gluing device; rotation and along the initial bond line of the other felt above.
a rotation means for sequentially performing a second rotation of 180°; a pair of openable/closable claw members provided so as to be approachable and retractable from the outside in the radial direction of the rubber core;
The above-mentioned approaching operation is performed in order to bring the tips of the pair of claw members into contact with the felt surfaces on both sides of the assumed seam line, and at the same time, the tips of the pair of claw members are and a driving means for intermittently and repeatedly performing a closing operation, and the rotating means is configured to rotate a seam line, which is assumed to be a joint between two pieces of felt, by the first rotation and the second rotation so that the claw member faces the opposite side of the claw member. A felt bonding device for a tennis ball, comprising: a linear bonding device for a felt seam, the axis of rotation of which is set to pass through a position; 4. The felt initial bonding device of claim 3 rotates the posture of the rubber core up and down by 180 degrees and rotates it by 90 degrees around the vertical axis with respect to the posture of the rubber core when bonding the first sheet of felt. A felt pasting device for a tennis ball, characterized in that it is equipped with a means for changing the posture of a rubber core for giving a posture for gluing a second piece of felt. 5. The felt seam edge bonding device according to claim 3, wherein the set of the claw member and the driving means is placed in a total of four positions where the edge of the bulge of one of the felts and the side edge of the waist of the other felt are closely opposed to each other. 4 facing each other
What is claimed is: 1. A tennis ball felt pasting device comprising: