JPS6262489A - Method and device for assembling magnetic disk cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically and continuously assemble a magnetic disk cassette by providing a constituting member carrying means, a lower case mounting means, a disk inserting means, a write protector inserting means, an upper case mounting means, a welding means, a shutter inserting means, a shutter spring inserting means and a product taking out means. CONSTITUTION:There are included a lower case mounting process for mounting the lower case of a magnetic disk cassette on a constituting member carrying means, a disk inserting process for inserting the magnetic disk into a prescribed position of the lower case mounted in the lower case mounting process, a write protector inserting process for inserting the write protector into a prescribed position of the magnetic disk inserted lower case, and an upper case mounting process for mounting the upper case on the write protector inserted lower case. Further, there are constituted by a welding process for welding the upper case, a shutter inserting process for inserting the shutter into the welded upper and the lower cases, a shutter spring inserting process for inserting the shutter spring into a prescribed position of the shutter inserted upper and lower cases and a product taking out process for taking out the produce from the constituting member carrying means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a magnetic disk cassette assembly method and apparatus for assembling a magnetic disk cassette.

[Prior art and its problems] In recent years, flexible magnetic disk drives have become widespread and their reliability has improved. Along with this trend, magnetic disks have been made smaller, and 3.5-inch disks have come into use.

This 3.5-inch magnetic disk media is stored in a hard plastic case (enclosure) and is commercially available as a magnetic disk cassette, but until now there is no device that can continuously assemble this magnetic disk cassette. Each time one assembly process was completed, the assembled items were collected and sent to the next assembly process, where they were taken out one by one and reassembled. In addition, there was no automatic assembly of shutter springs, etc., and the assembly had to be done by hand. For this reason, the device also became large, and continuous assembly was not possible.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention aims to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and provides a method and apparatus for assembling magnetic disk cassettes that can automatically and continuously assemble magnetic disk cassettes.

[Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides: (1) a component conveying means on which, for example, magnetic disk cassette components are mounted and sent to the next assembly process; and a component conveying means for transporting the lower case of the magnetic disk cassette. a lower case mounting means for placing a magnetic disk in a predetermined position of the lower case placed on the lower case mounting means; a light protector insertion means for inserting the light protector into a predetermined position of the case; an upper case mounting means for placing the upper case on the lower case into which the light protector is inserted; The assembly of the welding means for welding the upper and lower cases, the shutter insertion means for inserting the shutter into the welded upper and lower cases, and the shutter spring insertion means for inserting a shutter spring into a predetermined position of the upper and lower cases into which the shutter has been inserted is completed. and a finished product take-out means for taking out the finished product from the component transport means.

[Embodiments of the invention] An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

The following description describes an example in which the present invention is applied to a 3.5-inch floppy disk cassette assembly apparatus.

Figure 1 is a top view of one embodiment of the present invention.
is a base machine, and the base machine l uses a rotary index type machine divided into 24 parts, and each assembly unit is arranged radially around it. Reference numeral 2 designates a jig table on which jigs 3 for mounting a total of 24 assembly parts arranged at equal intervals around the table, and 3 a jig for mounting the assembly parts. The jig table 2 places the assembled parts on the jig 3 and rotates intermittently one after another, and the jig 3 goes around each cassette assembly unit arranged radially in accordance with one rotation to complete the cassette. It is.

The order of the cassette assembly process by rotating the jig table 2 is indicated by a lowercase letter a in the circle in the figure. Hereinafter, this assembly process will be explained in order.

First, in the assembly process ■, the lower case supply unit l
The lower case 4 that has already been assembled at the top (or the bottom) placed on the lower case magazine lifter 13 in the center of the lower case magazine storage stand 11 is rotated one by one using the pusher 12. The suction head of the lower case transfer arm 14, which rotates intermittently in synchronization with the intermittent rotation of the jig table 2 of the formula, delivers it to the lower part of the suction head, and the suction head of the lower case transfer arm 14 sucks it up. Place it in the specified position above. Approximately 200 lower cases can be set in the magazine lifter 13, and it is raised and lowered intermittently.
The top (or bottom) bottom case in the center is dispensed each time.

The lower case magazine mounting table 11 is a two-way switching type, and when the lower case on which it is placed runs out, the other lower case magazine lifter 13 changes and moves to the center, while the other lower case magazine lifter 13 moves to the center. By placing the lower case, when the lower case of the lower case magazine lifter 13 at the center is removed, the other magazine lifter 13 will automatically move to the center, and from now on, the lower case at the center will be moved to the center. The lower case 4 is supplied from the magazine lifter 13 to the lower case transfer arm 14.

In this way, the jig 3 on which the lower case 4 is placed is then rotated to the position (■) in the figure. Here, the photosensor of the lower case detection section 15 inspects whether the lower case 4 is placed on the jig 3 at a predetermined position. If the jig is not placed correctly here, the following assembly process for the jig position will not be performed.

Similarly, when a defect is detected in another inspection after the completion of a certain assembly process, the following assembly process on the jig 3 is skipped. Since this is common to each test, the explanation below will be omitted.

Next, jig 3 comes to position ■, but this is a dummy place and no processing is performed, and when it comes to the next position ■,
A disk (with hub,
(certified) is inserted. This insertion is performed by the disk supply unit 20. The disk supply unit 20 includes a disk magazine table 21 .A disk magazine table 21 .A disk magazine table 21 . It is composed of a disk magazine 22 and a disk transfer arm 23. The uppermost disk of the disk magazine 22a at the position of the disk transfer arm 23 is attracted by the suction head of the disk transfer arm 23, and is inserted into a predetermined position of the lower case 4 on the jig 3.

Note that the disk transfer arm 23 sequentially and intermittently rotates in synchronization with the rotation of the jig table 2, and sequentially transfers the disks onto the jig 3 and inserts them into the lower case 4 at a predetermined position.

When the disk magazine 22a on the disk magazine table 2.1 runs out of disks, the disk magazine table 21 rotates, and the next disk magazine 22b becomes the lower position of the disk transfer arm 23, and the topmost disk of the disk magazine 22b is moved. is supplied to the lower case 4. Approximately 200 discs can be stored in each disc magazine.

Next, when the jig 3 comes to position ■, the disk insertion detection section 25
It is checked whether the disk is inserted in the predetermined position. This can be done by checking the reflectance of light using a photosensor.

The following position ■ is a dummy position similar to position ■, and no processing is performed here.

■At the position, by the light protector supply unit 30,
Ride brooch to the specified position of the lower case 4.

The lid is inserted. The light protectors are aligned by the parts feeder 31, taken out one by one by the protector suction head of the swinging protector transfer arm 33, and mounted on the lower case 4 on the jig 3 at a predetermined position. At position ■, write protector detection unit 3
5, the insertion of the write protector into a predetermined position is inspected. Note that the next position ■ is a dummy position.

At position (2), the upper case supply unit 40 superposes the upper case on the lower case 4 on the jig 3. The upper case supply unit 40 has the same configuration as the lower case supply unit 10, and has a lower case magazine mounting table 11.
The center part of the upper case magazine mounting table 41 having the same configuration as
The uppermost case 5, which is already assembled and placed on the upper case magazine lifter 43 similar to the lower case magazine lifter 13, is moved one by one to the jig table 2 using the pusher 42.
It is delivered to the lower part of the suction head of the upper case transfer arm 44 which rotates intermittently in synchronization with the intermittent rotation, and is sucked up by the suction head of the upper case transfer arm 44, and the jig 3 in the position ■
(Lower case) Place it in the specified position on top. And jig 3
will then rotate to the ■ position in the figure. Here, for example, a photo sensor of the upper case detection section 45 is used to check whether the upper case 5 is correctly placed on the lower case 4 on the jig 3. The following ■ position is a dummy position.

At the [stock] position following the position (2), predetermined portions of the upper and lower cases 4.5 that were overlapped at the previous position (2) are welded by an ultrasonic welding head that is moved up and down by the cam of the upper and lower case welding unit 50. Note that the following [phase] and ■ positions are both dummy positions.

Upper and lower cases 4.5 on the jig 3 welded in this way
, the shutter insertion unit 6 is inserted at the following [F] position.
Insertion of the shutter by 0 is performed.

A total of 12 shutter insertion units 60 are arranged at equal intervals around the periphery.
A shutter magazine table 61 on which shutter magazines 62 each holding about 200 shutters are arranged. Shutter magazine 62 and shutter pusher 6
3 and a pusher drive arm 64. The lowest shutter of the shutter magazine 62 at the position of the shutter pusher 63 is pushed out by the shutter pusher 63 and inserted into predetermined positions of the upper and lower cases 4 and 5 on the jig 3. Note that the shutter pusher 63 moves back and forth in synchronization with the rotation of the jig table 2, sequentially transferring the shutter onto the jig 3, and moving the shutter onto the upper and lower cases 4.
．． Insert it into the specified position of 5.

When the shutter in the shutter magazine 62 at the shutter pusher 63 position on the shutter magazine table 61 runs out, the shutter magazine table 61 rotates, and the shutter magazine in which the primary shutter is set becomes the lower position of the shutter pusher 63, and the shutter When the shutter at the bottom of the magazine is inserted into the predetermined position of the upper and lower cases 4, 5 by the shutter pusher 63 and the jig 3 reaches the O position, the shutter is inserted into the upper and lower cases 4, 5 by the shutter insertion detection 1JI65.
It is checked whether it is inserted in the predetermined position of No.5. This can be done by checking the reflectance of light using a photosensor. Note that the primary position ■ is a dummy position.

In position 2, the shutter spring supply unit 7 is placed in a predetermined position of the upper and lower cases 4.5 on the jig 3 into which the shutter is inserted.
The shutter spring is inserted from 0. The springs (FIG. 2 74) aligned in a predetermined direction are taken out by the shutter spring feeder 71 of the shutter spring supply unit 70 and sent to the shutter insertion unit 73.
The upper and lower cases 4.5 are inserted and locked at predetermined positions.

The details of this shutter spring supply unit 70 are shown in the ninth circle. In the figure, 6 indicates the upper and lower cases into which the shutter 7 is inserted.

71a is a shutter spring supply part of the shutter feeder 71;
72& is a shutter release lever, 72b is a brush for opening the shutter, 72c is a rubber member for opening the shutter, 7
2d is a cam fixed to the main body of the shutter spring supply unit 70, 72e is a cam follower, 72f is a cylinder support frame, 72g is a delivery cylinder, 72h is a horizontal movement frame,
721 is a cylinder support frame pressing lever, 72 is a horizontal movement frame drive lever, 72i is a spring regulating plate integrated with the cylinder support frame 72f, 72m is a spring, 73 is a shutter spring pushing unit, 73a is a chuck support base, and 73b is a chuck Opening/closing lever, 73C is a movable chuck, 73d is a fixed chuck, 73e is a guide shaft of the chuck support stand IO, 73f
is a lever for driving an extruder, and 73g is an extruder.

The shutter spring supply unit 70 having the above configuration,
The process of inserting the shutter spring 74 into the upper and lower cases 6 is performed in the third step.
The following description will be made with reference to FIGS. (A) to (H).

The shutter springs 74 at the tip end aligned from the shutter feeder 71 and sent to the shutter spring supply section 71a are
As shown in FIG. 3(A), as the head 72g-1 of the delivery cylinder 72g rises, the tip of the head 72g-1 is inserted into the hole in the center of the spring, and is disposed in the spring regulating plate 72. Fit into the hole. As a result, the shutter spring 74
is removed from the shutter spring supply section 71a and is locked in a predetermined orientation between the head 72g-1 of the delivery cylinder and the spring regulating plate 72. (See Figure 3 CB). ) Next, the horizontal moving frame drive lever 72k is driven, and the horizontal moving frame 72h moves in the direction of arrow A accordingly. Therefore, the cylinder support frame 72f, which is swingably supported by the horizontal movement frame 72h, also moves, and the cam follower 72e, which is in contact with the cam 72d, moves to the inclined part of the cam 72d.
The cylinder support frame 72f swings in the direction of raising the delivery cylinder 72g by the force of the spring 72m, and finally rises by θ in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
4 is the horizontal position), when the horizontal movement frame 72h moves to the position indicated by the dashed line in FIG.

During this period, the shutter release lever 72a swings, and as shown in FIG. Move it in direction B and slide the shutter 7.

When the cylinder support frame push-down lever 72i finishes swinging and the delivery cylinder 72g with the shutter spring 74 locked descends and comes between the chucks 73C973d in the open state, the shutter spring 74 is exactly at the position shown in FIG. 3(D). becomes.

Here, the chuck opening/closing lever 73b swings, and the movable chuck 73c rotates to engage the shutter/hook 74.

Thereafter, the head 72g-1 of the delivery cylinder 72g descends, and the head 72g-1 is detached from the shutter spring 74 that is locked to the tip. After this, the horizontal movement frame 72h moves to its original position. This state is shown in FIG. 3(E).

The chuck 7 that has engaged the shutter spring 74 in this way
The chuck support 73a arranged in 3c and 73d is
It is moved toward the upper and lower cases 6 on the jig 3 using the guide shaft 73e as a guide by a drive source (not shown). Here, the tip of the shutter spring 74 held by the chucks 73c and 73d is positioned to be inserted into the upper and lower cases 6 on the jig 3 from the position of the shutter spring insertion part 6a. This state is shown in FIG. 3 CF).

The tip of the shutter spring 74 inserted through the shutter spring insertion portion 6a and press-fitted further into the upper and lower cases 6 is inserted to a position determined by a projection 5a for regulating the position of the spring end formed inside the upper and lower cases 6. This state is shown in Figure 3 (G
).

Next, the chuck opening/closing lever 73b is swung to remove the movable chuck 73c from the fixed chuck 73d. At this time, one end of the shutter spring 74 is positioned on the jetty 5a and the inner surface of the upper and lower cases 6, and the other end is held in pressure contact with the fixed chuck 73d and the pusher 73g. In this state, the extruder driving lever 73f is swung, and the fixed chuck 7
The extruder 73g is extruded along the surface 3d. Extruder 73
g further press-fits the shutter spring 74 into the upper and lower cases 6,
One end of the shutter spring 74 is pushed out into the upper and lower cases 6 by the fixed chuck 73. The shutter spring 74 pushed out into the upper and lower cases 6 is engaged with the bent piece 7a of the notch on the side surface of the shutter 7, and is inserted into the upper and lower cases 6 at a predetermined position.

When the shutter spring 74 is inserted and locked in this way,
Proceeding to position (3), the shutter spring detection unit 80 inspects whether the shutter spring 74 is correctly inserted in a predetermined position. This is determined by sliding the shutter inserted into the upper and lower cases 6 in the shutter opening direction using a swing arm, then releasing the arm from the shutter, and checking whether the shutter returns to its original position i. At this time, by providing a torque sensor on the swinging arm and measuring the torque required when sliding the two shutters, the sliding pressure of the shutter can be measured.

The next position (i) is a dummy position, but in this embodiment, it also serves as the position for taking out defective products in each process described above. Defective products on tool 3 are taken out. It goes without saying that defective products may be taken out at each dummy position following each of the above-mentioned detection/inspection positions ■■■■■■.

When the insertion of the shutter spring 74 is completed in this way,
Since the assembly of the magnetic disk cassette has been completed, at the next position ■, the suction head of the cassette transfer arm 91, which rotates intermittently in synchronization with the intermittent rotation of the jig table 2, adsorbs the completed cassette on the jig 3. The finished product is sequentially transferred to a finished product discharge mini-conveyor (not shown) and placed in a finished product placement magazine.

The jig table 2 further rotates, and at position (2), a remaining cassette detecting section 95 uses a photo sensor to check whether there are any cassettes on the jig 3 that have not been transferred by the cassette transfer arm 91. If any remaining cassettes are detected during this inspection, the device is stopped and waits for recovery by the operator. In addition, ■
The positions are dummy positions.

In this way, the jig table rotates once, and one cassette is assembled on the jig 3 during this period.

FIG. 4 shows the flow of the assembly process for this magnetic disk cassette.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a magnetic disk cassette can be assembled automatically in a small space.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a shutter spring insertion unit of this embodiment, and Fig. 3 (A) to (H) are diagrams showing the shutter spring insertion process. , FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the cassette assembly process of this embodiment. In the figure 2...Jig table, 3...Jig, 4...Lower case, 5...Upper case, 6...Upper and lower case, 7...
...Shutter, 10...Lower case supply unit, 14
... lower case transfer arm, 15 ... lower case detection section, 20 ... disk supply unit, 22 ... disk magazine, 23 ... disk transfer arm, 25 ...
- Disk insertion detection unit, 30... Write protector supply unit, 33... Protector transfer arm, 35.
...Light protector detection section, 40...Upper case supply unit, 43...Upper case transfer arm, 45...
Upper case detection unit, 50...upper and lower case welding unit,
60...Shutter insertion unit, 62...Shutter magazine, 63...Shutter Oshida arm, 65...
Shutter insertion detection section, 70... Shutter spring supply unit, 71... Shutter spring feeder, 72... Shutter spring removal and transfer unit), 72b... Shutter opening brush. 72d...Cam, 72e...Cam follower%72
f...Cylinder support frame, 72g...Delivery cylinder. 72h...Horizontal movement frame, 73...Shutter spring insertion unit, 73a...Chuck support base, 73c...
Movable chuck, 73d...Fixed chuck, 74...
Shutter spring, 80...Shutter spring detection unit,
91... Cassette transfer unit, 95... Cassette remaining detection unit. Figure 3 (H) n

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A method for assembling a magnetic disk cassette in a magnetic disk cassette assembly apparatus having a component conveying means on which magnetic disk cassette components are placed and sequentially conveyed to the steps, the lower case of the magnetic disk cassette being transferred to the component conveying means. a lower case mounting step in which the magnetic disk is inserted into a predetermined position of the lower case placed in the lower case mounting step; and a disk insertion step in which the magnetic disk is inserted into the lower case. a light protector insertion step of inserting a light protector into a predetermined position; an upper case mounting step of placing an upper case on the lower case into which the light protector is inserted; A welding process of welding the cases, a shutter insertion process of inserting the shutter into the welded upper and lower cases, a shutter spring insertion process of inserting the shutter spring into the predetermined position of the upper and lower cases with the shutter inserted, and the assembly is completed. A method for assembling a magnetic disk cassette, comprising a step of taking out the finished product from the component conveying means. (2) A method for assembling a magnetic disk cassette according to claim 1, characterized in that an inspection step is provided between each step to inspect the processing results of the step, and defective products are not subjected to the subsequent steps. . (3) a component conveying means for placing the magnetic disk cassette component members and sequentially sending them to the process; a lower case mounting means for placing the lower case of the magnetic disk cassette on the component conveying means; Disk insertion means for inserting a magnetic disk into a predetermined position of the lower case placed by the mounting means; and write protector insertion means for inserting a write protector into a predetermined position of the lower case into which the magnetic disk is inserted. an upper case mounting means for placing an upper case on the lower case into which the light protector is inserted; a welding means for welding the upper and lower cases on which the upper case is placed; A shutter insertion means for inserting a shutter, a shutter spring insertion means for inserting a shutter spring into a predetermined position of the upper and lower cases into which the shutter is inserted, and a finished product removal means for taking out the assembled finished product from the component transport means. A magnetic disk cassette assembly device comprising: (4) The magnetism according to claim 3, characterized in that an inspection means is provided between each assembly means for inspecting the processing results of the means, and defective products are not subjected to subsequent assembly processing. Disc cassette assembly equipment.