US3145875A - Hopper for face orienting unsymmetrically faced articles - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 25, 1964 I. MEDOFF ETAL 3,145,875

HOPPER FOR FACE ORIENTING UNSYMMETRICALLY FACED ARTICLES Filed Sept. 20, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TORS hiV/NG NEOOI-F 09/04:; [DAG/6m:

WA TI'ORA/E) I Aug. 25, 1964 l. MEDOFF ET AL HOPPER FOR FACE ORIENTING UNSYMMETRICALLY FACED ARTICLES Filed Sept. 20 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 @a 5 /aa 5 4/4 /J v 42 v.67 II 46 7 52 43 T 45 4! y FIG/0 INVENTORS MV/A/6 NEOOFF 0mm :5 BflMS/G/VOAE BY 27 Z Mn rromm United States Patent 3,145,875 HOPPER FOR FACE ORIENTING UNSYMMETRI- CALLY FACED ARTICLES Irving Medotf, Flushing, and Charles Bonsignore, Queens Village, N.Y., assignors to Emsig Manufacturing Company, New York, N.Y., a partnership Filed Sept. 20, 1961, Ser. No. 139,434 3 Claims. (Cl. 221-167) This invention relates to a hopper construction for orienting disk-like objects, and more particularly, to a device for use for orienting buttons. Still more particularly, this invention relates to facewise orientation of buttons of unsymmetrical face contour, to be fed seriatim edgewise to a button feeder.

This invention is related to application Serial No. 789,826, filed January 29, 1959, now Patent No. 3,044,- 660, July 17, 1962, filed in the names of William A. Troll and Charles Bonsignore, which is owned by the common assignee.

In the aforesaid joint application, there is disclosed an orientating assembly for sewing hole buttons having front and back faces which are unsymmetrical or of dissimilar contour, particularly valuable for feeding sew through buttons to a feeder in accordance with the United States patent to Troll No. 2,661,709.

In the said application Serial No. 789,826, it has been found that there is a limitation in the range of button sizes which may be handled and in adapting the hopper orienting assembly to large volume capacity.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an orienting hopper for buttons having unsymmetrically contoured rear and front faces wherein the same hopper may be utilized wtih very rapid adjustment to facewise orientation of buttons, within a wide range of sizes and with a speed to maintain interruption of the work to a minimum.

Still more particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide a motorized hopper for orienting buttons of unsymmetrical contour which is simple in construction, readily adaptable to the handling of a wide range of sizes of buttons or similar disks, and is quickly adjustable to cope with diiferent sizes and contours of unsymmetrically faced buttons to assure a steady flow of oriented buttons at a maximum rate of speed.

To attain these objects, and such further objects as may appear herein, or be hereinafter pointed out, We make reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, in which FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a hopper in accordance with this invention;

FIGURE 1A is a perspective view exemplifying a button of unsymmetrical contour to be used therewith;

FIGURE 1B is a section on the line lB-lB of FIG URE 1A.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary exploded perspective view of detail parts of the gauging gate construction;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1, with a button shown incorrectly oriented;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a section through the gauging gate illustrating one position of a button properly oriented;

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 5 showing a button improperly oriented;

FIGURE 7 is a magnified section taken on the line 7-7 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 8 is a magnified section similar to FIGURE 7, with the distributor in the depressed position;

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 99 of FIGURE 8;

3,145,875 Patented Aug. 25, 1964 FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 1010 of FIGURE 8.

In general, this invention deals with the provision of a hopper 10 arranged to be mounted on a vertical standard (not shown) in close proximity to a sewing machine for sewing buttons, where a bulk supply of buttons in the hopper is in readiness to be oriented facewise to a button feeder, as exemplified in the Troll patent already mentioned. An example of the buttons to be oriented is shown in FIGURES 1A and 1B wherein the diskshaped button 5 is formed with a generally convexly shaped back face 6 and a generally concave front face 7, to form an upwardly directed rim 8. For convenience of reference, there is illustrated a sew-through button and we will refer to said button as an unsymmetrical button. It will be understood however, that the invention herein is in no wise limited to FIGURES 1A and 1B, but will function satisfactorily with a wide variety of button shapes.

Reference will now be made to the drawings, wherein the hopper 10 is arranged to be connected to a chute section C of the construction shown in the Troll patent aforesaid, wherein buttons may slide in seriatim arrangement edgewise in the downwardly, angularly directed chute leading to the presser foot assembly for further orienting the button perforations thereof with respect to the stitching operation of the sewing machine.

The container 10 is preferably cylindrical and has a bottom 11 arranged to be angularly mounted upon a standard (not shown). The bottom thus will gravitationally direct the charge of buttons to the low point adjacent which the chute section C is attached. The chute section preferably is located in trailing position with repect to the low point to minimize jamming which might occur if the bulk of buttons were stacked at the chute entrance portion.

To the bottom 11 is afiixed a bracket 12, from which is extended an electric motor assembly M to drive, through a pulley 13 and a slip belt 14, by suitable reduction gearing, a countershaft 15 extending through the bottom 11.

Keyed to the shaft 15 by a threaded collar 15a is a rotary circular distributor plate 16, which plate is in wiping contact with the bottom as it rotates and is desirably formed of a thickness from its periphery 17 inwardly to approximate the thickness of the button 5, which may thus fit within the radially formed pocketing means 18 by reason of the pocket being open where the periphery is in close contact with the interior face of the container wall, so that, with the underlying bottom, only a single button Will be held flatwise.

The side walls 19 of the pocketing means 18, are nonradial, to provide a positive rake in the direction of rotation. The size of the pocketing means is such as to hold a wide range of button sizes and the rake of the side walls is chosen to aid in an outward edgewise roll of the button against the trailing wall 19 in combination with the container wall.

The distributor 16 rotates beneath a substantially radially directed wiper 20, supported rigidly from the interior wall of the container and provided at its lower edge with a brushing element 21 of soft rubber or bristles, Which is supported to contact the distributor 16 to unstack to a single layer of buttons, Whatever bulked buttons are carried between the distributor 16 and the wiper 20.

A Plexiglas lid 21a, hinged at 22 and provided with a knob 23 and a detent latch 24, serves to provide an enclosure through which the contents may be observed, as well as to permit the use of a large bulk supply, as will be readily understood.

The bottom 11 of the hopper container 10, at the lowermost edge, adjacent the point for connection to the chute section C, when held in inclined position, is pro- 3 vided with a slot or cutout 24 (see FIGURE 4), extending to the periphery of the bottom, into which is slidably and removably fitted a port trap block 25 attached and held at one end by screws 26 to the support plate 27 forming part of the fixed assembly to which the entire hopperis mounted The port trap block 25 has its surface portion 28 arranged to be flush with the bottom 11 and is forwardly provided with a port trap 29 of a depth to receive the thickness of the button to be oriented and of a width as determined by the trap wall 30, so that the button may be permitted tiltably to enter the port trap 29 at a point outwardly beyond the trap wall 30. For this purpose, as will appear herein, there is provided a gauging gate block 31, overlying the port trap block 25 slidably and removably held beneath the angle brace block 32 in the container wall discharge aperture 33 over the cutout 24 between the flange 34 and the port trap block 25, by means of screws 35a.

The gauging gate block 31, at its outward end, is arranged to overlie the throat opening 35 extending from the port trap 29 to form a gate in which a button may slide fiatwise. At the inner end 36 of the gauging gate block 31, a stepped portion 37 is aligned with the plane of the upper face of distributor 16 and carries a gauging pin 38, screw-threaded for adjustment with its head in the countersunk portion 39 of the block 31. The gauging pin 38 has its end 46 extending into the port trap 29.

The end of the gauging pin is adjustable with relation to the port trap 29 to permit passage of a button in a tilted position into the throat opening 35 only if the button is oriented with the face '7 upward (see FIGURE 5) and dimensionally to obstruct the button for passage if the button is tilted or presented with its rear face 6 upward (see FIGURES 3 and 6).

The upper end 41 of the chute section C may thereupon be aligned and connected to the gate block 31 to complete the assembly of hopper to the feeder chute C by the removable screws 42 which span the entrance slot of the uppermost chute section.

The operation of the orienting hopper thus far described involves, upon filling the hopper with a large quantity of buttons or like disks, rotating the distributor plate 16 by means of the motorized drive M during feeder operation to the sewing machine.

The tendency of the buttons or like disks to lie fiat along the plate 16 as it rotates will cause them, or a large number thereof, to drop into a pocketing means 18 and be carried eventually along the container wall to the chute entrance. Other buttons or disks not fully entering the pocketing means 18 will be brushed or wiped into the pocketing means by the wiper 20, the wiper also serving to unstack piled-up buttons flatwise, to accelerate filling of a button within the pocketing means 18 and wipe away any button engaged with an underlying button. The distributor will thereupon move the buttons by combined rotation and rolling into a first position over the port trap 29 and the buttons will enter the trap in a tilted condition.

If the button is tilted and positioned with the concave face 7 directed toward the gauging pin end 40 (see FIG- URE 5) which is axially positioned in the trap, there will be enough clearance for the button to drop and pass into the trap to the throat opening 35. If the button is presented with the convex side toward the gauging pin end 40, the clearance between the gauging pin end 40 and the port trap 29 is inadequate for the button to pass to the throat opening 35 (see FIGURE 6). The button will thereupon be carried past the trap by the counter clockwisely moving distributor disk.

While the element of chance is in favor of the buttons being fed to the port trap aligned face side up in sufliciently large numbers for a very rapid, seriatim edge-toedge feed into the chute C for complete discharge of all the contents of the hopper in a steady and uninter- 4 rupted flow without skips, it is a feature of this invention promptly to return downturned or improperly oriented buttons into circulation within the hopper after they are moved to a second position from said port trap.

Moreover those buttons which are carried beyond the trap are cleared from the pockets of the disk in a manher which tumbles the buttons.

By tumbling or flipping over those buttons which were not in a condition to pass through the trap, i.e. were positioned concave side down, a considerable proportion of such buttons will be returned to the bulk supply with the concave side up.

To effect the clearing and tumbling action above referred to, the bottom 11 is provided with a cutout portion 41a in a trailing position in relation to the port trap 29, through which a spring biased ejector 42 is positioned (see FIGURES 7, 8 and 9). A fork-shaped block 43, having spaced branches 44 spanning the cutout 41a, is supported and held against the bottom 11 by screw fastening means 45. Upon the branches 44, there is pivoted the ejector lever 46 by pivotally mounting the lever on a cross pin 47 along the length of the lever in an offcenter position. Between the outer end 48 and the screws the lever is biased by the spring 49 to project the longer portion having the tripping end 50 through the cutout 4111 into operative relation with the distributor 16, to be aligned with the pocketing means 18 near the periphery of the bottom 11 and engage the lands 18a as the distributor rotates. Spaced from the tripping end 50, it is preferred to mount a friction reducing roller 51 supported on a cross pin 52. The roller 51 is positioned in relation to the tripping end 50 so that as the distributor 16 rotates, the lands 13a will depress the end 50 from the pocketing means 18 but when the leading wall 19 of the pocketing means uncovers the end 50, the spring 49 will project the end 50 with a snap action through the pocketing means 18 (see FIGURE 7). The effect is to hurl and tend to sommersault a button from the pocketing means back into circulation with the bulk supply. During the operation of a feeder when buttons, properly oriented, are discharged through the port trap, it is more probable that only improperly positioned buttons will reach the position beyond the port trap. Thus, a large number of buttons, positioned seriatim in a continuous stream may be expected to be properly presented at the trap port. The distributor effectively may also serve to discharge every button, as rapidly as required, without the manual assistance which may previously have been required when the supply approaches the last of the contents and by this construction, a full and complete clearing is effected without requiring any special attention.

As an additional feature, it is possible to utilize the motorized means of clearing the unused contents of the hopper, notwithstanding a low inclination of the bottom of the hopper, to the very last button. This is effected by the provision of a smooth fitting side wall discharge or closure segment 55 in the wall in the hopper (see FIGURES 1 and 4). This closure segment 55 is preferably hingedly mounted to provide continuity of the wall of the container in a position trailing the port trap 29 and leading the cutout 41a in the bottom.

When color or size changes of the bulk supply of buttons is to be effected, to clear the hopper, the closure segment 55 is moved to the open position hingedly, to provide a side wall opening 56 in line with the bottom 11, and the motor N is switched to continue operation which, by reason of the slip belt connection, effectively rolls out every unused button from the hopper in a very short time, with assurance that no remnant of the undesired, previously used supply is retained, to be fed to the feeder and sewing machine accidentally.

By the assembly, a wide range of sizes of buttons or the like disks may be fed in oriented position, with little attention after filling and discharge operations, each rapidly performed to achieve an uninterrupted seriatim flow of correctly facewise oriented unsymmetrically faced buttons or disks for use by a feeder or the like component of an attaching machine or a machine performing stitching operations.

Having thus described the invention and illustrated its use, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a hopper for a feeder chute arranged for orienting buttons or like shaped disks from a bulk supply, each having unsymmetrically contoured faces, a bottom member for said hopper having a port trap into which said buttons may be discharged from said hopper flatwise, a section of said feeder chute having a throat opening, connected with said bottom to receive buttons discharged through said port trap in a flatwise position, slidably to guide said buttons edgewise along said chute, a button gauging gate means in said port trap in the path leading to said throat opening, the combination therewith of a distributor in said hopper having button pocketing means for carrying buttons flatwise in said hopper along said bottom to direct individual buttons to a first position over said port trap through which they are discharged past said button gate means if properly oriented, said pocketing means carrying improperly oriented buttons along said bottom to a second position trailing said first position, and means to discharge said buttons from the button pocketing means in the second position into the bulk supply in said hopper.

2. In a hopper for a feeder chute arranged for orienting buttons or like shaped disks from a bulk supply, each having unsymmetrically contoured faces, a bottom member for said hopper having a port trap into which said buttons may be discharged from said hopper flatwise, a section of said feeder chute having a throat opening connected with said bottom to receive buttons discharged through said port trap in a flatwise position, slidably to guide said buttons edgewise along said chute, a button gauging gate means in said port trap in the path leading to said throat opening, the combination therewith of a distributor in said hopper having button pocketing means for carrying buttons flatwise in said hopper along said bottom to direct individual buttons to a first position over said port trap through which they are discharged past said button gate means if properly oriented, said pocketing means carrying improperly oriented buttons along said bottom to a second position trailing said first position, and means to discharge said buttons from the button pocketing means in the second position into the bulk supply in said hopper, said pocketing means comprising spaced radially extended lands revolubly carried along said bottom member and defining partition members and pockets for said buttons, said means to discharge the buttons from the pocketing means comprising a spring projected ejector actuated to the retracted condition by said lands and eifective when released to impel a button, carried by said pocketing means into the second position, into the bulk supply to sommersault and tumble the same into a new facewise position.

3. A device in accordance with claim 2 wherein said spring ejector includes a nose portion projected into said pockets at a position offset from the center thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 453,873 Upjohn June 9, 1891 534,361 Courtney Feb. 19, 1895 814,182 Anderson et a1 Mar. 6, 1906 1,600,715 Cameron Sept. 21, 1926 1,905,715 Ingram et al. Apr. 25, 1933 2,356,945 Pesznecker Aug. 29, 1944 2,388,405 Glaude Nov. 6, 1945 2,440,080 Eck et a1. Apr. 20, 1948 2,612,796 Bastian et a1. Oct. 7, 1952 2,631,714 McCain Mar. 17, 1953 2,959,324 Hendrickson et a1 Nov. 8, 1960

Claims (1)

1. IN A HOPPER FOR A FEEDER CHUTE ARRANGED FOR ORIENTING BUTTONS OR LIKE SHAPED DISKS FROM A BULK SUPPLY, EACH HAVING UNSYMMETRICALLY CONTOURED FACES, A BOTTOM MEMBER FOR SAID HOPPER HAVING A PORT TRAP INTO WHICH SAID BUTTONS MAY BE DISCHARGED FROM SAID HOPPER FLATWISE, A SECTION OF SAID FEEDER CHUTE HAVING A THROAT OPENING, CONNECTED WITH SAID BOTTOM TO RECEIVE BUTTONS DISCHARGED THROUGH SAID PORT TRAP IN A FLATWISE POSITION, SLIDABLY TO GUIDE SAID BUTTONS EDGEWISE ALONG SAID CHUTE, A BUTTON GAUGING GATE MEANS IN SAID PORT TRAP IN THE PATH LEADING TO SAID THROAT OPENING, THE COMBINATION THEREWITH OF A DISTRIBUTOR IN SAID HOPPER HAVING BUTTON POCKETING MEANS FOR CARRYING BUTTONS FLATWISE IN SAID HOPPER ALONG SAID BOTTOM TO DIRECT INDIVIDUAL BUTTONS TO A FIRST POSITION OVER SAID PORT TRAP THROUGH WHICH THEY ARE DISCHARGED PAST SAID BUTTON GATE MEANS IF PROPERLY ORIENTED, SAID POCKETING

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