JPH1036129A - Upper mold inserting and removing device in optical part molding machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inserting and removing device capable of surely separating an upper mold from a drum mold after molding, resetting the upper mold in the drum mold even their shaft core are slightly displaced in resetting the upper mold to the drum mold, and further holding the upper mold in an extremely stabilized state in a state taking out the upper mold, then surely preventing a trouble such as falling of the upper mold by combining vacuum adsorbing with clamping. SOLUTION: This upper mold inserting and removing device 30 has an elevating and lowering base plate 31 provided with a clamping means 32 clamping a flange part of an upper mold 23 in a molding mold 22 and a vacuum adsorbing path 43 adsorbing an upper face of the upper mold 23. When the molding mold 22 is transferred to a position of the upper mold inserting and removing device 30 after lenses are molded, the clamping means 32 is driven to clamp a flange part of the upper mold 23 between a clamp plate 32b of the clamping means 32 and the elevating and lowering base plate 31, and the upper mold 23 can mechanically be held and also by vacuum adsorbing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for molding lenses and other precision optical components by press-molding a glass material having a predetermined shape under heating, and in the automation of the molding, BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an upper mold insertion / removal device for an optical component molding machine for inserting / removing an upper mold into / from a body mold so as to enable removal of an article and mounting of a glass material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, for example, in the production of lenses as optical components, a method of press-molding a glass material has been used in addition to a polishing method. As shown in FIG. 10, the molding apparatus for this purpose has a configuration including a molding die 1, and press means including an upper pressing member 2a and a lower pressing member 2b. The molding die 1 has molding surfaces 3a, 4a whose opposing surfaces have a predetermined curved surface shape or planar shape.
The upper mold 3 and the lower mold 4 having the above and a body mold 5 are roughly constituted. Normally, the lower die 4 is assembled to the trunk die 5, and the upper die 3 is guided by the trunk die 5 so as to be displaced in a direction of approaching / separating from the lower die 4.

In forming a lens, a glass material 6 is placed on a molding surface of a lower mold with the upper mold 3 being separated from the lower mold 4 and the glass material 6 is heated by a heating mechanism 7. The material is softened, the upper mold 3 and the lower mold 4 are guided by the body mold 5, and the glass material is clamped between the molding surfaces 3a, 4a. Press molding is performed by applying pressure from above and below with the member 2a and the lower pressing member 2b, and the glass material 6 is obtained as a lens molded product 8 having a shape along the molding surfaces 3a, 4a of the upper mold 3 and the lower mold 4. Can be

The lens molding machine is constructed as described above. To automate the entire system for performing the lens molding, for example, as shown schematically in FIG. The molding chamber 10 provided, and the molding die 1 is carried into the molding chamber 10, and the molding die 1 after the lens molding is performed.
Loading / unloading section 11 for carrying out and out, an upper mold insertion / removal section 12 for inserting / removing the upper mold 3 with respect to the body mold 5, a glass material 6 placed on the lower mold 4, and a lens molded product Load
And an unload unit 13. And upper mold 3,
The forming die 1 including the lower die 4 and the body die 5 is mounted on the transfer jig 14 and reciprocated in the horizontal direction to each of the above-described parts. First, in the loading / unloading section 13, the upper die 3 is removed to form a lower die assembly in which the lower die 4 and the body die 5 are combined, and the molding surface 4a of the lower die 4 is opened. Thereby, the glass material 6 is mounted on the molding surface 4a of the lower die 4. When the glass material 6 is mounted, the transfer jig 14 is moved to the upper mold insertion / removal section 12, and the upper mold 3 is inserted into the body mold 5. When the mold 1 is fed into the molding chamber 10 through the carry-in / carry-out section 11, the glass material 6 is heated and softened by the heating mechanism 7 and the pressing means is operated, so that the glass material 6 is formed. Will be

When the molding of the lens is completed in the molding chamber 10, the process moves to the loading / unloading section 11, and then the upper mold inserting / removing section 1 is moved.
2, the upper mold 3 is removed from the lower mold 4 and the body mold 5, and the lens mold 8 is held on the molding surface 4 a of the lower mold 4 and moved to the loading / unloading section 13. hand,
The lens molded product 8 is taken out by handling means such as a robot. Then, a new glass material 6 is supplied to the lower mold 4 from which the lens molded product 8 is taken out. Hereinafter, by sequentially repeating this, the lens forming process is performed automatically and continuously.

The upper die insertion / removal section 12 is provided with an upper die insertion / removal mechanism, and the upper die insertion / removal mechanism is used to remove or insert the upper die 3 from the trunk die 5. Conventionally, as the upper mold insertion / removal mechanism, a structure in which a vacuum suction means is attached to an elevating member is used. The vacuum suction means is brought into contact with the upper surface of the upper mold 3 to be sucked, and the vacuum suction means is raised by the elevating means, whereby the upper mold 3 is separated and separated from the body mold 5. Further, in the loading / unloading section 13, after the lens molded product is taken out and a new glass material is mounted, the transport jig 14 is again carried into the position of the upper mold inserting / removing section 12, and the vacuum suction means is provided. The upper die 3 held in the lower position is lowered and inserted into the body die 5.

[0007]

However, since the glass material is subjected to press forming under heating, the glass material melted by heat enters the gap between the upper mold and the body mold, and the upper mold and the body mold are pressed. May be stuck via glass. When such a situation occurs, a considerable force is required to pull up the upper mold, and there are cases where the upper mold cannot be reliably separated from the body mold only by the vacuum suction force. In addition, if an external force is applied to the upper mold while the upper mold is being lifted or held by the vacuum suction means, the upper mold is detached from the vacuum suction means. If the mold is retained, there is a problem that the stability of the upper mold cannot be achieved.

It is conceivable to provide a mechanism for mechanically holding the upper die on the elevating member. However, if the upper die is extremely strongly fixed to the body die after molding, the upper die may be provided. The upper die and the die may be damaged by being forcibly pulled up.If the upper die is inserted into the die and there is a slight misalignment of the axis between them, the upper die may not be inserted. There is a problem that it cannot be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and allows the upper die to be smoothly and securely inserted into and removed from the trunk die.
Another object of the present invention is to keep the upper mold in an extremely stable state when the upper mold is taken out.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a method of mounting a molding tool comprising an upper mold, a lower mold, and a body mold on a transfer jig and heating the glass material under a heated atmosphere. In pressing and molding optical parts, the upper die is inserted into and removed from the body die, the molded product is taken out, and a new glass material is attached, and the elevating base plate that holds the upper die and moves up and down And the lifting base plate is provided with vacuum suction means for suctioning the upper surface of the upper mold and clamping means for clamping the upper mold.

Here, for example, the clamping means may be provided with a clamp plate which is engaged with and disengaged from the upper die, and the upper die is provided with a portion such as a flange portion which can be disengaged from the clamp plate. In addition, in order to efficiently mold the optical components, a plurality of rows of molds may be provided on the transfer jig to simultaneously mold a plurality of optical components,
In this case, it is preferable that all the clamp plates are simultaneously moved up and down by the driving means.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the molding die is shown to be configured to simultaneously mold four lenses, but the molding apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the one that forms four lenses. Instead, the number of lenses formed at one time is arbitrary, and the present invention can be applied to the case where precision optical parts other than lenses are formed.

1 to 3, reference numeral 20 denotes a molding die unit. The molding die unit 20 has a holder plate 21 as a transfer jig.
1 is equipped with four molding dies 22. Mold 22
Is composed of an upper mold 23, a lower mold 24 and a body mold 25,
The lower mold 24 and the body mold 25 are always held in the holder plate 21 in an assembled state, and these constitute a lower mold assembly. In contrast, the upper mold 23
Can be inserted into and removed from the body mold 25. As described above, the molding die 22 composed of three members includes the holder plate 21.
Are arranged in a state where they are positioned by a positioning ring 26 which is inserted and fixed in four rows of mounting openings 21a in two rows provided at the center.

The positioning ring 26 has a cylindrical inner surface 26a on the upper side, and the outer peripheral surface of the body mold 25 is fitted in a substantially tight fit, thereby forming the body mold 25 and the lower mold 24 provided in the body mold 25. The holder plate 21 is positioned at a predetermined position. The lower side of the positioning ring 26 is a tapered surface 26b that expands. An annular ridge 25a is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the lower end portion of the body die 25. The annular ridge 25a functions as a stopper that regulates a stroke with which the body die 25 can be pulled up in the holder plate 21. Therefore, the torso 25 is formed with the annular ridge 25a.
Can be raised to a height position where it comes into contact with the tapered surface 26b of the positioning ring 26.
1. The function of inviting the mold 22 into the mold 1 is exhibited.

Opposite surfaces of the upper mold 23 and the lower mold 24 are formed surfaces 23a and 24a. FIG. 4 shows that the formed surface 24a of these two formed surfaces 23a and 24a is a curved surface such as a convex surface. The molding surface 23a of the upper die 23 has a flat surface or a shape close to a flat surface. However, both molding surfaces 23a, 24
a can both be curved surfaces. In addition, the upper mold 23
A flange portion 23b which protrudes in the circumferential direction and functions as an engagement portion with which a clamping means 32 to be described later is disengaged
Are formed. Note that the flange portion does not necessarily need to be provided on the entire circumference. Then, the glass material is placed between the upper mold 23 and the lower mold 24, and lens molding is performed by applying pressure from above and below under heating. Even when the molding is completed, the flange portion 23b of the upper mold 23 is formed. Is maintained at a predetermined distance a from the upper surface of the body mold 25.
Further, the upper mold 23 is insertable into and removable from the body mold 25,
In order to facilitate the operation of inserting and removing the upper mold 23 into and from the body mold 25, the outer peripheral edge at the lower end of the upper mold 23 and the inner peripheral edge at the upper end of the body mold 25 are each provided with a taper. Parts 23c and 25b are formed.

Four lenses are simultaneously molded by the four molding dies 22 constituting the molding die unit 20. In order to automate the entire lens molding process, a working unit similar to that shown in FIG. The working unit is provided to horizontally reciprocate the mold unit 20. That is, the description will be made with reference to the reference numerals in FIG.
The upper die 23 is removed, and the holder plate 21 on which only the lower die unit is mounted is loaded and unloaded by the loader / unloader 13 into each lower die 2.
The glass material 27 is attached to the upper mold 4, the upper mold 23 is moved to the upper mold insertion / removal section 12, the upper mold 23 is inserted into the body mold 25, and is fed into the molding chamber 10 via the loading / unloading section 11. The glass material 27 is heated in the upper mold 23 and the lower mold 2.
By pressing with 4, a lens molded product 28 is formed as shown by a virtual line in FIG. When the lens molding is completed, the process moves from the loading / unloading section 11 to the upper mold insertion / removal section 12, where the upper mold 23 is detached, and the loading / unloading section 13 is mounted.
Then, the lens molded product 28 is taken out and a new glass material 27 is supplied. The above-described transition to each part of the molding die unit 20 is performed by the holder plate 21 that moves along the horizontal transport path.

As described above, in the upper die insertion / removal section 12, the upper die 2
An upper mold insertion / removal device 30 is provided for lifting the upper mold 3 to separate it from the body mold 25 and for lowering and inserting the upper mold 23 into the body mold 25. The upper die insertion / removal device 30 includes a lifting base plate 31 and clamp means 32L, 32C, 32R that can be displaced in a direction approaching / separating from the lifting base plate 31.
(The reference numeral 32 is used to generically refer to these clamping means).

The clamping means 32 is formed by extending a thin clamping plate 32b at the lower end of a rectangular rod 32a having a predetermined thickness. Clamping means 3
Reference numeral 2 denotes a lower part of the lifting base plate 31,
Are provided in parallel with each other in the transport direction, the left clamp means 32L has a clamp plate 32b projecting rightward, and the right clamp means 32R has a clamp plate 32b projecting leftward. Central clamping means 32C
The clamp plate 32b extends in both left and right directions.
The thickness of these clamp plates 32b is
It is smaller than the distance a between b and the upper surface of the trunk mold 25.
Further, the square rod 32a of the adjacent clamping means 32
Is larger than the diameter of the flange portion 23b of the upper die 23, and the interval between the tip surfaces of the adjacent clamp plates 32b is a dimension between the diameter of the upper die 23 and the diameter of the flange portion 23b. Further, the height from the upper surface of the clamp plate 32b to the upper surface of the rectangular rod 32a is smaller than at least the thickness of the flange portion 23b.

The elevating base plate 31 is provided with slide guides 33 at six positions.
, A drive rod 34 is inserted. The drive rods 34 constitute drive means for clamping and unclamping the upper die 23. The lower ends of the drive rods 34 are located near both ends of each of the three clamp means 32 provided. Fixed. Also,
The upper end of the drive rod 34 is connected and fixed to a drive plate 35, and the lift base plate 31 is provided with an air cylinder 36 for vertically moving the drive plate 35. Accordingly, the six drive rods 34 are simultaneously driven up and down by the air cylinder 36, and the three clamping means 32 connected to these drive rods 34 are simultaneously operated.

The elevating base plate 31 has two connecting rods 37.
Is erected. These connecting rods 37 are used for the bearing member 3.
The bearing member 38 is connected to a lifting block 40 that moves up and down along a slide guide 39 provided in the vertical direction. A ball screw feed means 41 composed of a motor 41a and a screw shaft 41b is connected to the lifting block 40.
1 is driven up and down. A stopper 42 having a diameter larger than the outer diameter of the connecting rod 37 is fixedly provided at the distal end of the connecting rod 37. In normal times, the weight of the elevating base plate 31 and the members mounted thereon is reduced. By the action, the bearing member 38 comes into contact with the stopper 42 and is held in a predetermined positional relationship with the lifting block 40. However, when a force in the direction of pushing up is applied to the lift base plate 31, the connecting rod 37 slides with respect to the bearing member 38, and the lift base plate 31 rises with the lift block 40 held at a predetermined position. It has become.

The lift base plate 31 is further provided with four vacuum suction passages 43. These vacuum suction passages 43
Is opened at the lower surface of the elevating base plate 31. When the vacuum suction passage 43 is brought into a negative pressure state with the upper die 23 in contact with the elevating base plate 31, the upper die 23 It is designed to be adsorbed. Therefore, the vacuum suction passage 43 is connected to the negative pressure source by the pipe 44. In order to adjust the vacuum suction force, a well-known pressure adjusting valve is provided at a connection portion to the negative pressure source and the like. It is preferable that the pressure adjusting valve can be adjusted so as to apply a desired vacuum suction force.

The upper die insertion / removal device 30 is configured as described above. The upper die retraction device 30 is configured such that the three clamping means 32 face in a direction parallel to the direction in which the holder plate 21 is conveyed. Be placed. In the holder plate 21, four molding dies 22 are conveyed in a state of being arranged two by two on the left and right.
Reference numeral 2 denotes a portion between the clamp means 32L and 32C, and two right molds 22 pass through a portion between the clamp means 32C and 32R. Thereby, the holder plate 21 constituting the molding die unit 20 is formed.
During the transfer along the predetermined transfer path, each mold 22
Can be simultaneously inserted into and removed from the body mold 25.

Here, the upper mold 23 is removed from the body mold 25 after the lens molding is completed. The upper mold 23 is inserted into the body mold 25 after a new glass material is placed on the lower mold 24. When the lens molding is completed, the lower surface of the flange portion 23b of the upper die 23 is separated from the upper surface of the body die 25 by a distance a. In FIGS. 5 to 9, the pair of clamp means 32 have the clamp plates 32b protruding only in the directions opposite to each other, but this is for the sake of simplicity of illustration. In practice, one clamp means has a clamp plate protruding on both sides.

The elevating block 40 constituting the upper die inserting / removing device 30 is lowered, and the driving plate 35 is lowered. Thus, the clamp plate 32b of the clamp means 32 connected to the lower end of the drive rod 34 is
The upper die 23 is held at a lower position where the upper die 23 can be clamped at a height position corresponding to a gap between the upper die 23 and the flange portion 23b. In this state, the molding die unit 20 is transported along the transportation path, and two of the four molding dies 22 mounted on the molding die unit 20 are respectively positioned at the positions between the clamping means 32, 32. Without getting into it,
Stop at a predetermined position. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, each clamp plate 32b is in a state of being inserted between the trunk die 25 and the upper die 23.

Then, first, the air cylinder 20 is actuated to push up the drive plate 35, thereby raising the clamp means 32 as shown by the arrow in FIG. As a result, the flange portion 23b of the upper die 23 is clamped between the clamp plate 32b of the clamp means 32 and the lift base plate 31. At this time, the upper die 23 is slightly displaced upward. Further, by operating the ball screw feeding means 41 to raise the elevating block 40 and displacing the elevating base plate 31 upward, as shown in FIG. 6, the forming surface 23a of the upper die 23 is lowered. Separate from 24a. Thus, even if the upper mold 23 is fixed to the body mold 25, the fixed state is released, and the inner surface of the body mold 25 can be slid and displaced. Here, the lifting block 4
0, the rising stroke of the lifting base plate 31 is
When the entire body is pushed up, the annular ridge 25a of the body mold 25 comes into contact with the inner surface of the positioning ring 26 so as not to go beyond a position where it cannot be further raised. At this time, it is not always necessary to set the vacuum suction passage 43 to a negative pressure.

From the state described above, the ball screw feed means 4
1 is operated once in the opposite direction to lower the lifting block 40. Here, the elevating base plate 31 is connected to the elevating block 40 by inserting the connecting rod 37 into the bearing member 38.
When the upper die 23 is lowered to a predetermined position in a state where the elevating base plate 31 is in contact with the upper surface of the upper die 23, it is not further lowered. However, even if the elevating block 40 is lowered to a lower position, the connecting rod 37 slides with respect to the bearing member 38, and the bearing member 38 is separated from the stopper 42, so that the lens molded article 28 No excessive force acts on.

Therefore, the upper die 23 is sucked and held on the lower surface of the elevating base plate 31 by setting the vacuum suction passage 43 to a negative pressure. At the same time, the upper die 2 by the clamping means 32
Release the clamp of 3. Next, by raising the lifting block 40 and raising the lifting base plate 31,
The upper die 23 is pulled up by the vacuum suction force.

When the upper die 23 rises to a predetermined position, the air cylinder 38 is operated to raise the drive rod 34, and the clamp means 32 is pushed up. As a result, the flange portion 23b of the upper die 23 is clamped between the clamp means 32 and the elevating base plate 31, and the upper die 23 is mechanically and firmly fixed to the elevating base plate 31. Then, when the lifting block 40 is raised by operating the ball screw feed means 41, the upper die 23 clamped between the lifting base plate 31 and the clamp means 32 is completely separated from the body die 25. become. As a result, the upper portion of the lower mold 24 is opened, so that the holder plate 21 can be transported to the loading / unloading section, and the lens molded product 28 can be taken out by handling means such as a robot. Further, after taking out the lens molded product 28, a new glass material 28 is placed on the lower mold 24, the holder plate 21 is moved to the upper mold insertion / removal portion, and the upper mold 24 is clamped and held. The upper die insertion / removal device 30 is activated, and the holder plate 21
The upper die 23 is inserted into the body die 25 positioned in the positioning ring 26 in the above.

The lens molding is performed by pressing the glass material 27 in a heated state. When the upper mold 23 is pulled up after molding, the lens molded article 28 is
4 or the molding surface 23a of the upper die 23. If the upper mold 23 is fixed to the molding surface 23a of the upper mold 23, the lens molded article 28 is taken out together with the upper mold 23 when the upper mold 23 is completely lifted up to a state separated from the body mold 25. Then, the mold unit 20 with the upper mold 23 removed moves to the loading / unloading section, a new glass material 27 is mounted on the lower mold 24, and moves to the upper mold inserting / removing section. The upper mold 23 in a state where the lens molded product 28 is fixed is incorporated, so that lens molding cannot be performed. In addition, if the lens molded product 28 comes off the upper mold 23 and is damaged after the lens molded product 28 is fixed and fixed to the upper mold 23, the conveyance of the mold unit 20 may be hindered. Therefore, when removing the upper mold 23,
From the mold must be surely separated from the mold.

As described above, it is necessary to release the lens molded product 28 from the upper die 23. The mold separation can be performed by, for example, providing a means for pressing the lens molded product 28 downward from the upper mold 23. However, since the lens to be molded has a flat surface or a shape close to a flat surface on one side, the molding surface 23a side of the upper mold 23 is formed into a flat or substantially flat shape, and the mold is separated by abrasion. To do.

After the lifting block 40 is raised by the ball screw feeding means 41, the clamping means 32 is operated to clamp the upper die 23 between the clamping plate 32b of the clamping means 32 and the lifting base plate 31. As shown in FIG. 7, the upper die 23 is not pulled up to a position where the upper die 23 is completely separated from the body die 25.
Once the molding surface 23a of the upper die 23 is pulled up to a position slightly higher than the upper surface of the trunk die 25, the upper die 23 is stopped. This position is the scraping position. In the first place, the molded lens has a certain thickness, so that the upper mold 2
The gap between the third molding surface 23a and the upper surface of the barrel mold 25 is at least equal to or less than the thickness of the lens molded product 28.

With the upper die insertion / removal device 30 held at the scraping position, the holder plate 21 is transported as shown by the arrow in FIG. Thereby, the molding surface 2 of the upper die 23
Even when the lens molded product 28 is fixed to the molding die 3a, the barrel mold 25 moves in the horizontal direction, and the lens molded product 28 fixed to the molding surface 23a of the upper die 23 is subjected to a horizontal shearing force. By working, it is reliably separated from the molding surface 23a of the upper die 23. As a result, the lens molded product 28 separates from the upper mold 23 and falls on the molding surface 24a of the lower mold 24. Here, when peeling the lens molded product 28 from the upper mold 23, the upper mold 23
A lateral load acts on the upper die 23 before the scraping is performed by operating the clamp means 32 to clamp the upper die 23 between the clamp means 32 and the elevating base plate 31. Is securely held so as not to be separated from the lifting base plate 31.

After the mold is separated by scraping, the lifting block 4 is held while the upper mold 23 is clamped.
By further increasing 0, the upper die 23 moves the holder plate 21 smoothly, and prevents the upper die 23 from interfering with the trunk die 25 provided on the holder plate 21 and the like. For example, it moves to the loading / unloading section, takes out the lens molded product, and places a new glass material,
At this time, even if the body mold 25 moves in the vertical direction and the height position of the body mold 25 protruding from the holder plate 21 changes, there is no possibility that the upper mold 23 collides with the body mold 25. Of course, even if the body mold 25 and other objects abut on the upper mold 23, there is no risk that the upper mold 23 clamped by the clamp means 32 will shift or fall off.

Here, when molding the lens, the glass material 2
7 is pressed between the upper die 23 and the lower die 24 while being softened by heat. Glass material 2 by heat
If the degree of softening is uniform, there is no particular problem in performing the pressing. However, if there is a slight uneven distribution of heat and a difference in the degree of softening occurs, an equal force is applied to the glass material 27. The upper die 23 is fixed to the lower die unit including the trunk die 25 by pressing the glass material between the outer peripheral edge of the upper die 23 and the inner peripheral surface of the trunk die 25 during pressing. Sometimes. Therefore, even if the upper die 23 is lifted only by the force of vacuum suction on the elevating base plate 21, the upper die 2
In some cases, it is not possible to pull up due to the fixing force between the lower mold unit 3 and the lower mold unit.

Therefore, in order to remove the upper die 23, it is necessary to first release the fixing of the upper die 23 to the lower die unit. However, the upper mold 23 may be firmly fixed, and in such a case, if the upper mold 23 is forcibly separated from the body mold 25, the outer surface of the upper mold 23 or the inner surface of the body mold 25 may be damaged. Also, since the clamp plate 32b may be deformed, it is necessary to prevent a very strong pulling force from being applied to the upper die 23. here,
The torso 25 can be displaced in the positioning ring 26 up to a position where an annular ridge 25 a provided on the outer periphery of the torso 25 contacts the tapered surface 26 b of the locating ring 26.

From the above points, when the upper die 23 is attached or detached, the clamp means 32 is first operated, and the clamp
In a state of being clamped so as to be substantially fixed between the lifting die 2 and the lifting base plate 21, the trunk die 25 is lifted by a stroke equal to or less than the lifting stroke. If the fixing force of the upper die 23 with respect to the lower die unit is not so strong, the upper die 23 may be moved to a predetermined height position when the upper die 23 starts to be pulled up and even if a certain fixing force is applied. Is performed. In addition, as shown in FIG.
At the same time, when the body mold 25 is pulled up, the annular ridge 25a comes into contact with the tapered surface 26b of the positioning ring 26, and stops at a position immediately before the state where it cannot be further displaced upward. As a result, if the upper die 23 and the trunk die 25 can be separated without causing any particular damage,
The sticking can be reliably eliminated by the sliding resistance between the body die 25 and the positioning ring 26 generated when the body die 25 is pulled up together with the upper die 23. At this time, in order to prevent the lower mold 24 from being pulled up together with the body mold 25, the lower mold 24 is held so as not to float by vacuum suction or the like.

In this state, the upper mold 23 is once lowered and lifted while the upper mold 23 is being sucked by the suction suction passage 43 provided in the elevating base plate 31.
When the upper mold 23 and the trunk mold 2 are strongly adhered to such a degree that they would be damaged if the forcible separation is performed,
5, in order to protect the clamp plate 32b and the like,
When the excessive resistance occurs in the above, the upper die 23 is separated from the elevating base plate 31. Of course, the upper die 23
Since the upper mold 23 is once released from being clamped by the clamp means 32 when it is lifted a second time, if this fixation is released, only the upper mold 23 can be pulled up to the scraping position. Therefore, for example, if the pressure in the vacuum suction passage 43 is detected, it is possible to detect whether the upper die 23 has been separated from the lower die unit or has become inseparable.

By the way, the upper mold 2 is
If it is attempted to reinsert into the body mold 25 while the clamp 3 remains clamped, if the axis of the upper mold 23 and the body mold 25 are slightly misaligned due to the positioning accuracy of the holder plate 21 or the like, The upper mold 23 cannot be inserted into the body mold 25. Therefore, when the upper die 23 is reinserted into the body die 25, the clamp of the upper die 23 by the clamp means 32 is released, and the upper die 23 is held only by the vacuum suction force. As a result, as shown by a virtual line in FIG.
If it is within the range of c and the calling part 25d of the trunk mold 25,
Even if the relative position between the upper mold 23 and the body mold 25 is shifted, the position is adjusted so that the upper mold 23 follows the body mold 25 while sliding along the inner surface of the elevating base plate 31. Therefore, the upper mold 2
3 can be smoothly and reliably inserted into the body mold 25.

Further, the reason that the upper mold 23 is held only by vacuum suction is that the upper mold 23 and the body mold 25 are released after being fixed.
When the upper mold 23 is raised to the scraping position and when the upper mold 2
Only during the reinsertion of the upper mold 3 into the body mold 25, during this time, there is substantially no possibility that a force other than the weight of the upper mold 23, an external force, or the like acts. Therefore, the vacuum suction force may be a weak negative pressure that can substantially hold the molding die 22, so that the configuration of the negative pressure source is simplified and energy saving can be achieved.

[0040]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the upper mold can be reliably separated from the body mold after molding, and when the upper mold is remounted on the body mold, Even if their axes are slightly misaligned, the upper mold can be re-attached to the barrel mold, and the upper mold can be held in an extremely stable state with the upper mold taken out. This has the effect of reliably preventing such inconveniences.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an upper die insertion / removal device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the upper mold insertion / removal device.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a molding die.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view showing a state in which the upper die is clamped by the upper die insertion / removal device.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory view showing a state in which the fixation between the upper mold and the body mold is released.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view showing a state in which the upper mold is arranged at a scraping position.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view showing a state in which an upper mold and a lower mold unit are fixed and the entire mold is lifted up by a lifting base plate.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view when the upper mold is reinserted into the lower mold unit.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a lens forming apparatus according to the related art.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an automatic lens forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 molding unit 21 holder plate 22 molding die 23 upper die 24 lower die 23a, 24a molding surface 25 trunk die 25a annular ridge 27 glass material 28 lens molded product 30 upper die insertion / removal device 31 elevating base plate 32, 32L, 32C , 32R Clamping means 34 Drive rod 35 Drive plate 36 Air cylinder 40 Elevating block 41 Ball screw feed means 43 Vacuum suction passage

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A molding tool comprising an upper mold, a lower mold and a body mold is mounted on a conveying jig, and the glass material is pressed in a heated atmosphere to form an optical component. In order to remove and insert a molded product and to mount a new glass material, a lift base plate that holds and holds the upper mold and moves up and down is provided. An upper mold insertion / removal device for an optical component molding machine, comprising: vacuum suction means for sucking an upper surface; and clamp means for clamping an upper mold. 2. The clamping device according to claim 1, wherein said clamping means is disposed on the left and right sides in a conveying direction of said conveying jig.
2. The optical component molding machine according to claim 1, wherein the clamp comprises a clamp plate which can be displaced in a direction in which the clamp plate is displaced in the direction in which the clamp plate is displaceable. Upper mold insertion / removal device. 3. A plurality of rows of forming dies are mounted on the transfer jig in a transfer direction, and clamp plates constituting the clamping means are provided side by side in the transfer direction of the transfer jig. The upper die insertion / removal device of an optical component molding machine according to claim 1, wherein the upper die is inserted and removed simultaneously. 4. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a driving means for simultaneously moving the clamp plates up and down is provided.
An upper mold insertion / removal device for the optical component molding machine described in the above.