JPS631620A - Coil spring separator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the separation and takeout of coil springs themselves so accurately, by installing a separating lever, being engaged with a lowermost stage of plural coil springs to be fed to the inside of a chute, and a holding lever being engaged with the next stage retractable inside the chute, respectively. CONSTITUTION:A lower end of a passage 4 for a chute 3 is closed by a shutter 21, and coil springs being fed are housed in this passage 4 one after another. With actuation of a reciprocating cylinder 12, a support block 10 is moved to the left by an actuating lever 13, while a claw part of a separating lever 8 goes into the passage 4 and it is engaged with a coil spring at the lowermost stage. And, the actuating lever is further pushed out whereby a support block 9 is pressed to the left, therefore the shutter 21 comes to an open position. Simultaneously a shaft 19 of a holding lever 7 is also moved, but since this holding lever 7 comes into contact with a spring plunger 20 at the lower part, the holding lever 7 is turned round in an arrow (4) direction, and the claw part advances into the passage 4 and is engaged with the coil spring at the next stage. And, the separating lever 8 is made to go down by a lifting cylinder 18 so that the coil spring at the lowermost stage is separated without entailing any deformation.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is an automatic assembly machine for automatically assembling various types of equipment. The amount of coil spring gI to separate and take out the coil spring from the feeder! It is related to the device.

[Prior Art] Coil springs are incorporated as biasing means in various equipment components, but in order to automatically assemble the coil springs, a parts feeder containing a large number of coil springs is used. A device in which the coil springs are sequentially taken out from the parts feeder through a chute has been used in the past. Some of the coil springs supplied from the parts feeder are entangled with each other, and therefore, it is necessary to separate the entangled coil springs one by one when taking them out from the chute.

Conventionally, mechanisms for separating and extracting coil springs include those in which the coil spring located at the top of the lowest stage is held at the chute outlet and vibrated to allow it to fall freely. Fill springs with sliding cuts in the radial direction are used.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Among the coil spring separation devices of the prior art described above, those in which the coil springs are disentangled by vibrating the chute are capable of separating the coil springs. Not only is it time-consuming, but it also has the disadvantage that it is not always possible to reliably separate objects that are intricately intertwined. On the other hand, in a method in which the separation is performed by a sliding means, there are disadvantages such as excessive force being applied to the coil spring in the radial direction during this sliding cutting, resulting in permanent deformation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to enable coil springs to be reliably separated and taken out one by one at high speed and without causing permanent deformation or the like to the coil springs. An object of the present invention is to provide a separating device for a coil spring.

[Means for solving the problem] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the coil spring separating device according to the present invention includes a separating lever that engages with the lowest coil spring among the coil springs sent into the chute. and a holding lever that engages the next-stage coil spring located adjacent to the lowest-stage coil spring is provided so as to be retractable into the chute, and the next-stage coil spring is held by the holding lever. The device is characterized in that the separation lever is engaged with the coil spring at the lowest stage and pulled down while the lever is in place, thereby separating and taking out the coil spring at the lowest stage. be.

[Operation] With the above-described configuration, when the coil springs stored in the parts feeder are fed toward the chute, the coil springs, including those in a mutually entangled state, descend within the chute. When the lowest coil spring reaches the position where it faces the separation lever, the holding lever is actuated and moves into the chute, and the holding lever moves to the next stage immediately above the lowest coil spring. Engages the coil spring. Thereafter, the isolation lever is actuated and it engages the lowermost coil spring. When the separation lever is pulled down, the coil spring engaged with the separation lever is forcibly displaced in a direction that also separates the next stage coil spring.

As a result, even if the coil spring at the lowest stage and the coil spring at the next stage are entangled, the entanglement is resolved and the coil springs are separated. After the lowest coil spring is separated from the others in this way, if the engagement between the coil spring and the separation lever is released, the coil spring can be taken out from the chute by free falling. By repeating this operation, the coil springs can be separated and taken out one by one.

Since the separation lever separates the coil spring by pulling it down in the axial direction of the coil spring, there is no permanent deformation of the coil spring during this separation operation. It can be quickly and reliably separated from the coil spring located at the next stage.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

First, in FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 indicates a parts feeder, a large number of coil springs 2 are housed inside the parts feeder 1, and a chute 3 is connected to the parts feeder 2. The chute 3 is made of a transparent cylindrical member, and has a passage 4 formed therein through which the coil spring 2 passes. Then, the coil spring 2 in the parts feeder 1 is sent to the chute 3, and the coil spring 2 in the parts feeder 1 is sent to the chute 3.
The springs are separated one by one and stored in the spring housing portion 5a of the rotating arm 5. The coil spring 2 stored in the spring storage part 5a of the rotating arm 5 in this manner causes the rotating arm 5 to rotate its rotational drive cylinder 6, thereby moving the rotating arm 5 to a transfer section that transfers the workpiece from the workpiece take-out section. It is designed so that it can be transported to

The above-mentioned coil springs 2 may be entangled with each other in the parts feeder 1, and therefore, it is necessary to separate and take out the entangled coil springs 2 one by one. In order to separate the coil spring 2, the chute 3 is equipped with a coil spring separation device.

The coil spring separating device has a pair of levers consisting of a holding lever 7 and a separating lever 8.
．． 8 are mounted so as to be retractable into the passage 4 from slit grooves 3a and 3b, which are long grooves in the direction in which the coil spring 2 is fed by the chute 3. Here, the holding lever 7 is designed to hold the next stage side of the entangled coil springs 2, and the separation lever 8 is designed to hold the lower stage side of the coil springs 2 held by the holding lever 7, that is, the lowest stage coil spring. The entangled state is released by forcibly pulling it down. In order to ensure that the aforementioned holding lever 7 and separation lever 8 engage with the coil spring 2, each lever 7.8 has a triangular shape along the axial direction of the coil spring 2 at its tip. Claw portions 7a and 8a are formed with projections and depressions.

Next, in order to actuate each /
a, Ilb so that it can be moved in the horizontal direction. In order to move each of these support blocks 9, 10 in the horizontal direction, a reciprocating cylinder 12 is provided, and an actuating rod 13 is attached to the reciprocating cylinder 12, and the actuating rod 13 is horizontally moved by the reciprocating cylinder 12. It is designed to be able to move back and forth in the direction. The support block 10 is provided with insertion holes 1 and Oa, and an operating rod 13 is loosely fitted into the insertion holes 10a. A spring receiver 14 is attached to the base end side of the operating rod 13, and a push spring 15 for pushing the support block 10 is provided between the spring receiver 14 and the side surface of the support block 10. equipped. Also,
A stopper ring 1 is fixed to the tip side of the operating rod 13, and the other side surface of the support block 10 is brought into contact with the stopper ring 16, and the tip of the operating rod 13 is close to the support block 10. It is extended to the position. Further, a lift block 17 is attached to the support block 10 so as to be able to rise and fall, and the lift block 17 is moved vertically by a lift cylinder 18, and the separation lever 8 is fixed to the lift block 17. There is.

- On the other hand, the holding lever 7 is pivotally attached to the support block 9 on a pivot shaft 18, so that it can rotate about the pivot shaft 19. A spring plunger 20 is brought into contact with the lower part of the holding lever 7.
When the support block 9 is pushed by the operating rod 13, the claw portion 7 of the holding lever 7 is pressed by the spring plunger 20.
a is allowed to enter the inside through a slit groove 3a formed in the chute 3. Further, a shutter 21 is attached to the lower end of the support block 9, and when the support blow 2 9 is in the position shown in FIG. When the support block 9 is pushed by the operating rod 13, it can move away from the chute 3 and open the passage 4. Further, reference numeral 22 in the figure represents a return spring for returning the support block 9.

This embodiment is constructed as described above, and its operation will be explained next.

A large number of coil springs 2 cut to a predetermined length are stored in the parts feeder 1, and by generating an air flow inside the parts feeder 1 and stirring the inside, the coil springs 2 are We aim to separate each other from each other. When the coil spring 2 is conveyed by this air flow and fed into the chute 3 from the parts feeder 1, it falls along the chute 30 path 4. Here, since the lower part of the passage 4 is closed by the shutter 21, the coil spring 2 stops at a position above the shutter 21.

Therefore, by operating the reciprocating cylinder 12, one operating rod 13
protrude in the direction of arrow ■ in Figure 2. Due to this movement, the spring force of the pushing spring 15 acts on the support block 10,
The support block 10 moves in the direction of the arrow ①, and as shown in FIG. 3, the claw portion 8a of the one-separation lever 8 enters the passage 4 of the chute 3 through the slit groove 3b and is located at the lowest stage. Engages with the coil spring.

When the operating rod 13 is further pushed out in the direction indicated by the arrow 2 in FIG. 2, the operating rod 13 comes into contact with the support block 9 and pushes the support block 9 in the direction indicated by the arrow Displaced in the same direction to open the lower end of the passage 4 in the chute 3. Furthermore, at this time, the pivot shaft 19 of the holding lever 7 also moves together with the support block 9, but since the spring plunger 20 is in contact with the holding lever 7 below, the holding lever 7 is moved as indicated by the arrow. ■It will be forced to rotate in the direction. Therefore, the claw portion 7a of the holding lever 7 enters the passage 4 of the chute 3 via the slit groove 3a. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, the holding lever 7 engages with the coil spring immediately above the coil spring that was engaged with the separation/heave 8, that is, the next coil spring.

Therefore, when the lifting cylinder 1 is operated to displace the lifting block 17 in the direction of the arrow ■, the lifting block 17
The separation lever 8 attached to the separation lever 8 is lowered, and as shown in FIG. It will be guided into the storage section 5a of the rotating arm 5.

After that, when the reciprocating cylinder 12 is operated and the operating rod 13 attached to the reciprocating cylinder 12 is moved in the direction of the arrow (■), the separation lever 8 is also displaced in this direction, and the separation lever 8 is rotated. It will be separated from the coil spring stored in the storage portion 5a of the movable arm 5.

At the same time, the support block 9 is also displaced in the direction of the arrow 2 by the action of the return spring 22, the shutter 21 closes the passage of the chute 3, and the holding lever 7 is rotated in the direction of By separating from the spring, the coil spring of the next stage falls to the lowest position where it comes into contact with the shutter 21.

Furthermore, the lifting cylinder 18 is operated to raise the separation lever 8 attached to the lifting cylinder 18 in the direction of the arrow (■), and at the same time, the rotating arm 5 is moved by the rotary drive cylinder
By moving in the direction of arrow 1), it becomes possible to separate and take out one coil spring 2.

By repeating the above-described operations, the coil springs 2 sent from the parts feeder 1 to the chute 3 can be separated and taken out one by one.

As mentioned above, since the coil spring 2 is separated by being pulled apart vertically by a pair of levers consisting of the holding lever 7 and the separating lever 8, even if the upper and lower coil springs are Even if they are intricately intertwined, they can be separated smoothly and reliably. Furthermore, each of these levers 7.8 is formed with claw portions 7a and 8a having triangular irregularities.
The coil spring 2 can now rotate along the claws 7a and 8a, and its separation properties are extremely good. Furthermore, by forming the diameter of the passage 4 of the chute 3 through which the coil spring 2 is separated to be slightly larger than the diameter of the coil spring 2, the coil spring 2 is reliably moved in the vertical direction during separation. Therefore, it will not move laterally and apply unreasonable force. Here, when the coil spring 2 is pushed from the side, that is, from the radial direction, there is a risk that it will be permanently deformed relatively easily.
Since there is sufficient restoring force when pulled vertically in the axial direction, it is extremely advantageous to separate the entanglement of the coil springs by pulling the coil springs vertically as described above.

However, when the aforementioned holding lever 7 and separation lever 8 engage with the coil spring, a force is applied to the coil spring from the radial direction, but the holding lever 7 is pushed through the spring plunger 20. Also, since the separation lever 8 is pushed via a push spring 15, by setting the spring constants of the spring plunger 20 and the push spring 15 appropriately, the spring plunger 20 and the push spring 15 can be pressed. The pushing spring 15 serves as an overload prevention means, and excessive force is prevented from being applied to the coil spring 2 from the side, that is, in the radial direction η), so that the inconvenience of permanently deforming the coil spring 2 does not occur.

If the chute 3 is made of a transparent material, the condition of the coil spring 2 inside the chute 3 can be visually checked from the outside, so if the coil spring 2 becomes clogged inside the chute 3, This is very convenient for countermeasures, etc.

Further, as described above, the holding lever 7 and the separation lever 8
, furthermore, the shutter 21 is supported by support blocks 9 and 10, respectively.
By arranging these to be supported by and moved in the horizontal direction by an actuating rod 13 connected to a reciprocating cylinder 12, the actuation timing of each of the above-mentioned members can be performed smoothly and the number of driving members can be reduced. However, it goes without saying that each of these members may be driven by a separate drive mechanism.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, in the present invention, the coil springs supplied from the parts feeder to the chute are separated by being separated up and down in the axial direction by the holding lever and the separation lever. The coil springs can be quickly and reliably separated and taken out one by one, and the coil springs are not permanently deformed during this separation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 are operation explanatory views. l: Parts feeder, 2 coil springs, 3: Chute, 4: Passage, 7: Holding lever, 7a, 8a: Claw portion, 8:
Separation lever, 9, 10: Support block, 12: Reciprocating cylinder, 13: Operating rod, 17: Lifting block, 1st:
Lifting cylinder, 19: Pivoting shaft. Figure 1, Factor 2, Figure 4, Factor 4.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a coil spring separation device that separates and takes out coil springs supplied to a cylindrical chute one by one in the chute from a parts feeder that stores a large number of coil springs, the coil springs fed into the chute are A separation lever that engages with the lowest coil spring and a holding lever that engages with the next coil spring located adjacent to the lowest coil spring are respectively provided so as to be retractable into the chute, and While holding the next stage coil spring by the holding lever, the separation lever is engaged with the lowest stage coil spring, and by pulling it downward, the lowest stage coil spring is separated. A coil spring separating device characterized in that it is configured to be taken out. (2) A plurality of projections and depressions are formed in the axial direction of the coil spring at the engagement portion of the holding lever and the separation lever with the coil spring.
) Separation device for coil springs as described in section 2. (3) The coil spring separation device according to claim (1), wherein the chute is provided with a shutter that opens and closes an end of the chute in conjunction with the holding lever.