US3240239A

US3240239A - Lamp filmament transfer device

Info

Publication number: US3240239A
Application number: US290728A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr George E Ott; Edwin J Lohrey
Original assignee: General Electric Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1963-06-26
Filing date: 1963-06-26
Publication date: 1966-03-15
Anticipated expiration: 1983-03-15

Description

March 1966 s. E. o'r'r. JR, ETAL 3,240,239

LAMP FILAMENT TRANSFER DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 26, 1965 Im/en OT'S'. George E. D m-t JT'. Edwin J. Lohre E3 fl x/ Thei A t rneg March 15, 1966 s. E. OTT, JR, ETAL 3,240,239

LAMP FILAMENT TRANSFER DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 26, 1963 M LZ vgmww nvw m H b March 15, 1966 e. E. OTT, JR., ETAL 3,240,239

LAMP FILAMENT TRANSFER DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 26, 1963 Immznfiovs. Geov cge E. C L- t J1".

Edwin J. L hT'e Their Afijvneg United States Patent 3,240,239 LAMP FILAMENT TRANSFER DEVICE George E. Ott, In, East Lake, and Edwin J. Lohrey,

Macedonia, Dhio, assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed June 26, 1963, Ser. No. 290,728 6 (Ilaims. (Cl. 14071.6)

This invention relates generally to filament mounting machines for electrical devices such as incandescent lamps, and more particularly to filament feeding or transfer mechanism for such machines.

General service incandescent lamps are conventionally made with coiled coil filaments comprising a coiled coil body or barrel portion having single coiled legs extending longitudinally from the ends thereof. Such filaments have been mounted heretofore by means of mechanisms similar to those shown in Patents 2,781,796, Dilts and 2,984,266, Lohrey et al., wherein the filament was received in horizontal position in the suction head of a transfer arm which was moved forwardly to carry the filament toward a lamp stem and which was rotated to a vertical position to bring the filament coil legs into hooks on the ends of lead wires on said stem. While in that position the filament was gauged by mechanism engaging the ends of the filament legs and compressing the coil to a predetermined length, after which the lead wire hooks were clamped to secure the filament legs therein.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved mechanism capable of operation at higher rates of speed in keeping with the increase in operating speeds of associated equipment. To that end, in accordance with the invention, there is provided a plurality of filament coil holders mounted on a turret having a horizontal axis and movable horizontally along said turret so that at the same time that a filament holder at a loading station of the turret is receiving a filament, a filament holder at another station is delivering a filament and orienting it into the hooks of a lamp stern. In further accord with the invention, there is preferably included a filament gauging mechanism located at a gauging station intermediate the aforesaid loading and delivery stations which gauges a filament carried by a holder present at said gauging station so that all three operations of receiving, gauging and delivering respective filaments are carried out at the same time, thereby speeding up the overall operation.

Further features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following detailed description of a species thereof and from the drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a filament transfer mechanism comprising the invention, and associated clamping mechanism;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are top and side views, partly in section, of one of the filament transfer heads carried by the turret;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of filament holder jaws in open position;

FIG. 5 is a front end elevation of the mechanism;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a lamp stem and a filament coil in process of assembly;

FIG. 7 is an elevation of a filament gauging mechanism as viewed from the back end of the transfer mechanism;

FIG. 8 is a rear end elevation of the transfer mechanism; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a cam shaft assembly.

Generally speaking, the feed or transfer device comprises a turret 1 (FIGS. 1 and 4) mounted for rotation on a horizontal shaft 2 and carrying a

plurality

3,24@,239 Patented Mar. 15, 1966 (four) of heads 3 which are carried to four stations I to W by the turret. Each head 3 comprises a slide 4 which is horizontally slideable in ways 5 (FIG. 5) on the turret 1. Each slide carries cooperating stationary and moveable filament holding jaws 6 and 7 which are mounted on a hollow spindle 8 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 3) which is journaled for rotation in bearing bosses 9 and 10 on each slide 4.

The function of the device is to deliver a filament, particularly a coiled coil filament having a coiled coil body portion or barrel 11 (FIG. 6) and single coiled longitudinally extending legs 12, into hooks 13 in the ends of

lead wires

14 and 15 of a stem 16 such as shown in FIG. 6. The horizontally disposed filament is released from the end of a chute 17 (FIG. 1) at the loading station I and is guided by a moveable guide member 18 (FIGS. 1 and 4) into a V-shaped groove 19 (FIG. 3) which extends across the width of the upper horizontal face of jaw 6, the moveable jaw 7 being at that time held in open position as shown in FIG. 4. The jaw 7 is then released to be closed by a leaf spring 20 to clamp the body or barrel of the filament in said groove 19 with the filament legs 12 extending beyond the sides of the jaws 6 and 7. The turret 1 is then indexed to bring the head 3 to station II at one side of the turret where the filament is held in a vertical position by the jaws 6 and 7. At this time, jaw 7 is moved slightly toward open position to relax its grip on the filament, and the filament is gauged by movement of a pair of gauging cups 21 (FIGS. 5 and 7) which move into alignment with the filament to engage the legs 12 and compress the filament to a common minimum length, after which the gripping jaw 7 is again closed tightly against the barrel of the filament to hold it securely in its compressed length. Station III of the turret is an idle position. The filament arrives at delivery station IV again in a vertical position. The filament holder jaws 6 and 7 move forwardly by movement of the slide 3 in the turret 1, to carry the filament toward the stem 16 (FIG. 1) which is held on a head (not shown) on the mount making machine. During this forward movement of jaws 6 and 7, they are rotated slightly by rotation of the spindle 8 on which they are mounted, to tilt the filament 11 off the verical, as shown at station IV in FIG. 5, whereby to permit the filament legs 12 to clear the lead wire hooks 13 as shown in FIG. 6. When the filament has arrived at the plane of the

lead wires

14, 15, the jaws 6 and 7 are rotated to bring the filament back to a vertical position with its legs 12 inserted in the hooks 13. The said hooks 13 are then clamped securely upon the filament legs 12 by pairs of

clamping jaws

22, 23 and 22', 23 (FIG. 1), the moveable filament holder jaw 7 is opened nad remains open as the jaws 6, 7 are retracted and the turret 1 is indexed to carry said jaws 6, 7 back to station I to receive another filament.

Referring now in greater detail to the construction of the mechanism, the turret 1 is aflixed to the shaft 2 which is journaled in a bearing block 24 (FIG. 1) on a bracket 25 mounted on a table 26. For indexing the turret, there is also afiixed to shaft 2 a drum 27 (FIGS. 1 and 8) on which are mounted four equally spaced rollers 28. The turret is indexed 90 when one of the rollers 28 (in the lower left quadrant in FIG. 8) is engaged by a ratchet 29 which is moved upwardly and retracted by a rod 30 under the influence of a cam 31 (FIG. 9) on cam shaft 32. The ratchet 29 is mounted for pivotal movement counter clockwise about a pin 33 against the action of a leaf spring 34 in order to clear the next roller 28 during its downstroke. The turret is locked in position by engagement of the roller 28 in the lower right quadrant in FIG. 8 in a notch 35 in an arm or shoe 36 which is pivoted on a pin 37 in an extension of bracket and which is spring loaded by spring 38 on bolt 39 attached to supplementary bracket 40 on bracket 25. Overriding of the turret is prevented by a brake band 41 encircling the drum 27 and having fixed and spring biased ends supported from a supplementary bracket 42 mounted on bracket 25.

Referring to the filament holder jaws 6 and 7, the stationary jaw 6 has -a base portion 43 (FIGS. 2 and 3) by which it is attached to the spindle 8 and from which extend a pair of spaced side wall portions 44 joined to a widened head portion 45 having in its face the groove 19. The angular setting of jaw 6 by which the V groove 19 is maintained horizontal at station I and vertical at stations '11 and IV, is fixed by a ball detent arrangement including a collar 49 (FIG. 2) which is fixed on the spindle 8 and which has a notch 50 therein engaged by a spring loaded ball 51 in the journal boss 9.

The moveable jaw 7 is pivoted on a pin 46 supported in the side walls 44 and is normally biased to closed position by the leaf spring 20 which is anchored by a screw 47 in a top wall portion 48 of jaw 6. For receiving a filament at station I the moveable jaw 7 is held in its fully open position, as shown in FIG. 4. At that time the screw 52 at the rear of jaw 7 is engaged by the high step 53 of the cam surface of a cam rod 54 which extends through the interior of the spindle 8, the said cam rod 54 having been moved to its retracted position While at the delivery station IV.

Also at this time, the filament guide member 18 is in operative position adjacent the front edge of jaws 6, 7, as shown in FIG. 4. The said member 18 comprises a back stop lever 55 having an inclined face 56 which guides a filament dropped from chute 17 into the groove 19 in the upper face of jaw 6. At the same time, the filament is preliminarily gauged or centered longitudinally in said groove by inclined plates or side wall portions 57 (FIGS. 2 and 5) on the upper end of said lever 55. Also at this time, the filament is prevented from rolling on out of the groove 19 by a back up wall portion 58 on the underside of moveable jaw 7 behind and parallel to the groove 19. The said wall portion 58 is recessed in a cavity or groove 59 in fixed jaw 6. The lever 55 of guide member 18 is pivoted :on a pin 60 by a connecting rod 61 which is attached to an arm 62 (FIG. 5) extending laterally from a push rod 63 which is actuated by a track in the face of cam 64 on shaft 32. The said pivot pin 60 for guide lever 55 is carried by a block 65 (FIG. 5) on the upper end of a rod 66 which is supported from a bracket 67 on table 26. The said guide 18 is thereby adjustable for height on rod 66 to line up the angle of the inclined face 56 with the V groove 19 in jaw 6. Connecting rod 61 brings the guide 18 into contact with the end of jaw 6 to eliminate any opening for the filament to be caught in when sliding into the groove 19.

After the filament has been dropped into groove 19 in jaw 6, the moveable jaw 7 is permitted to be closed by spring 28 upon forward movement of cam rod 54 to the position shown in FIG. 3 wherein the end of screw 52 is opposite and slightly spaced from the low point 68 on rod 54. The forward movement of cam rod 54 is effected by a bent rod extension 69 (FIGS. 1, 5 and 9) on the end of a lever 70 which is actuated by a cam 71 on shaft 32. The said rod 69 moves cam rod 54 forward by engagement with a pin 72 (FIGS. 1 and 3) on a collar 73 fastened to said rod 54. The said collar is square in outline (FIG. 8) with one of its sides in sliding engagement with the upper surface of a rearward extension 74 of the slide 4 to thereby prevent rotation of said cam rod 54.

The slide 4 is normally held in a fixed position lon gitudinally of the turret by a retainer ring member 75 (FIG. 1) which engages a slot 76 in the underside of the extension 74 of said slide and which is fixed on the journal block 24. The filament guide member 18 is pivoted back out of the way of the jaws 6 and 7 by the rod 61 and the turret is indexed 90 by ratchet 29.

At station 11 the filament received its final gauging when the gauging cups 21 (FIGS. 5 and 7) are moved into alignment with the axis of the now vertically disposed filament. The grip of jaw 7 on the filament is temporarily relaxed when the cam rod 54 (FIGS. 3 and 4) is retracted sufficiently to bring an intermediate step 77 of the cam surface into engagement with the screw 52 on jaw 7. This retraction of cam rod 54 is effected by lever 78 (FIG. 9) which has a slotted face on a block 79 at the upper end of the lever and which is engaged by pin 72 upon arrival of the head at station II. During the gauging period the lever 78 holds the cam rod in its intermediate position under the influence of drum cam 80 (FIG. 9) on shaft 32.

The gauging cups 21 are in the form of screws having conical recesses 81 in the ends thereof and which are mounted in the ends of respective levers .82 and 83 which are pivoted on

pins

84 and 85 which are supported from a bracket 86 on table 26. Lever 82 is actuated by a push rod 87 which is connected to a lever 88 which is actuated by an edge cam surface 89 on cam 64. The lever 82 drives lever 83 through interengagement of gears 90 on the

respectivepins

84 and 85, and said

levers

82 and 83 are biased to closing position by a spring 91.

The legs 12 of the filament coil 11 are engaged in the conical cavities 81 of cups 21 to compress the filament to a common minimum length. After the cups have completed their full travel, the moveable gripping jaw 7 is closed by forward movement of cam lever 54 to the position shown in FIG. 3 to hold the filament in its compressed length. As shown in FIG. 7, the face of said jaw 7 is preferably relieved over most of its width to grip the last few turns at each end of the filament body 11. The gauging cups 21 are then withdrawn by an opening movement of the

levers

82 and 83 to allow indexing of the head 3 to station III which is an idle position.

At station IV the filament 11 is again in a vertical position. As the head 3 comes into station IV, a roller 92 (FIG. 1) on the end portion 74 of slide 4 engages a slot 93 in a block 94 on the end of an operating lever 95 (FIGS. 1 and 9). The said lever 95, under the control of cam 96 on shaft 32, moves the slide 4 forward to the position shown at station IV in FIG. 1 with a pin 96 on boss 10 engaging a stopscrew 97 supported from the turret 1. Forward movement of slide 4 is permitted by virtue of a gap 97 (FIG. 1) in the ring 75 which normally holds the slide by engagement with slot 76 therein. The slotted block 94 is in a slanted position on lever 95 so that in the retracted position of the lever 95 the slot 93 is in a vertical position to properly receive the roller 92.

During the forward movement of slide 4, the roller 98 (FIGS. 1, 3 and 5) on spindle 8 engages the inclined surface 99 of a cam plate 100 to rotate the spindle 8, and jaws 6 and 7, from the vertical, for example about 15 as shown in FIG. 5 (at station IV), so that the filament legs 12 will clear the hooks 13 (FIG. 6) in the stem 16. When the filament has been carried to its forward position, in the plane of the

lead wires

14 and 15 of stem 16, it is rotated into the hooks 13 and clamped. For the purpose of rotating the filament, the cam plate 100 is mounted on the push rod 63 whereby the plate 100 is lowered. At that time, the roller 98 is located within a hook member 101 (FIG. 5) carried by the cam plate 100. Rotation of jaws 6 and 7 and spindle 8 is not affected by nonrotation of cam rod 54 because the clearance between screw 52 and cam surface 68 is sufficient to permit the slight rotation of jaw 7 with respect to rod 54.

The clamping of the hooks 13 is effected by the pairs of

jaws

22, 23 and 22, 23 (FIG. 1) which may be similar to those shown in the aforementioned Patent 2,984,266, Lohrey et al. The

jaws

22 and 23 for clamping the upper hook 13 are mounted on respective lever arms 102 and 103 which are pivoted on a pin 104 in a bracket section 105 carried by the bracket 67. The said clamping arms 102 and 103 are biased toward open position by a spring 106 and are actuated through rollers 107 on the ends thereof by a vertically reciprocating cam 108. Said cam 108 is mounted on one side of a slide 112 which is reciprocated in a slotted bracket extension 113 by a push rod 16% which is actuated by a cam 110 (FIG. 9) on shaft 32. The jaws 22' and 23 are mounted on arms pivoted on pin 111 and which are similar to arms 1131 and 102, a fragment of arm 102' and its associated roller 107' being shown in FIG. I. Said arms for

jaws

22 and 23 are actuated by a cam like the cam S and mounted on the opposite side of the slide 112.

After the hooks 13 have been clamped, the moveable filament clamping jaw 7 is opened by retraction of cam rod 54 to the position in FIG. 4, and the slide 4 is carried back to its retracted position on turret 1. The opening of the jaw 7 is effected by movement of lever '76 engaging pin 72 on cam rod 54, the said lever 70 being also used to close the jaw 7 at station I through the extension 69 as described hereinbefore.

The filament clamping jaw 7 remains open as the turret 1, is indexed from station IV to station I which brings the jaws to a horizontal position ready to receive another filament.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: 1. A filament transfer mechanism comprising a turret having a horizontal axis, a plurality of slides mounted around .the periphery of said turret for reciprocation parallel to said turret axis, a pair of jaws on each said slide, means normally biasing said jaws to closed position to clamp a filament coil therebetween with the coil extending transversely of the turret axis and its legs extending beyond the sides of said jaws, jaw actuating means on said slide operable to hold said jaws in open position against the action of said jaw biasing means, means operable to index said turret to carry said slides to a plurality of stations including loading, gauging and delivery stations, said jaw actuating means holding said jaws in open position at said loading station for receiving a filament', means operable upon said jaw actuating means at said loading station to effect closing of said jaws to clamp the filament coil, means operable upon said jaw actuating means at said gauging station to effect temporary partial opening of said jaws to relax their grip on the filament coil, gauging means at said gauging station arranged to be engageable with the legs of a filament in said jaws, means for actuating said gauging means to engage said filament legs and compress the filament coil longitudinally to a predetermined length during the period of temporary partial opening of said jaws and to maintain the compressed condition of the coil until after said jaws have been returned to closed position whereafter said jaws continuously grip said coil in the said compressed condition, means operable upon said slide at said delivery station to move it forwardly along said turret and to retract it, means operable upon said jaws at said delivery station to rotate them about an axis parallel to said turret axis for introducing the filament legs into the hooks on a lamp stern preparatory to the clamping of the legs in said hooks, and means operable upon said jaw actuating means at said delivery station after the hooks have been clamped about the legs of the filament to effect opening of said jaws.

2. A filament transfer mechanism comprising a turret having a horizontal axis, a plurality of slides mounted around the periphery of said turret for reciprocation parallel to said turret axis, means operable to index said turret to carry said slides to a plurality of stations including a loading station at the top of said turret and a delivery station at one side of said turret, a fixed and a moveable jaw carried by each said slide, said fixed jaw being mounted on said slide to be lowermost when at the said loading station and having in its upper horizontal face a laterally extending groove to receive the body of a filament coil with the coil legs extending beyond the sides of said jaw, means normally biasing the moveable jaw to closed position to clamp a filament coil in said groove, jaw actuating means on said slide operable to hold the moveable jaw in open position at said loading station to permit reception of a filament coil, means operable upon said jaw actuating means at said loading station to effect closing of said moveable jaw to clamp the filament, said jaws holding said filament coil to be in upright vertical position upon arrival at said delivery station, means operable upon the slide at said delivery station to move it and the jaws carried thereby forwardly to a delivery position whereat the filament may be introduced between the hooksof a lamp stem and to then retract the slide, and means operable upon said jaws during the said forward movement thereof to rotate said jaws a small amount and thereby tilt the filament held thereby from the vertical so as to clear said lamp stem hooks, means operable upon said jaws while at the end of said forward movement to rotate them back to their initial position with the filament coil held vertically and its legs positioned in the lamp stem hooks preparatory to the clamping of the legs in said hooks, and means operable upon said jaw actuating means subsequent to operation of the last named means after the hooks have been clamped about the legs of the filament to move said moveable jaw to open position and thereby release the filament coil.

3. A fiiament transfer mechanism comprising a turret having a horizontal axis, a plurality of slides mounted around the periphery of said turret for reciprocation parallel to said turret axis, means operable to index said turret to carry said slides to a plurality of stations including a loading station at the top of said turret followed by a gauging station followed by a delivery station at one side of the said turret, a fixed and a moveable jaw carried by each said slide, said fixed jaw being mounted on said slide to be lowermost when at the said loading station and having in its upper horizontal face a laterally extending groove to receive the body of a filament coil with the coil legs extending beyond the sides of said jaw, means normally biasing the moveable jaw to closed position to clamp 21 filament coil in said groove, jaw actuating means on said slide operable to hold the moveable jaw in open position at said loading station to permit reception of a filament coil, means operable upon said jaw actuating means at said loading station to effect closing of said moveable jaw to clamp the filament, means operable upon the jaw actuating means at said gauging station to temporarily retract the moveable jaw slightly away from the associated fixed jaw to relax its grip on the filament coil held thereby, gauging means at said gauging station including cup members located to be at respective sides of the jaws at said station in alignment with the filament coil held thereby, and means operable to move said cups toward said jaws to a predetermined spacing to engage the filament coil legs and compress the filament coil to a predetermined length during the interval that the grip of said jaws on the coil is relaxed and to maintain the coil compressed until after the said temporary retraction of the moveable jaw has been terminated whereafter said jaws continuously grip said coil in the said compressed condition, said jaws holding said filament coil to be in upright vertical position upon arrival at said delivery station, means operable upon the slide at said delivery station to move it and the jaws carried thereby forwardly to a delivery position whereat the filament may be introduced between the hooks of a lamp stern and to then retract the slide, and means operable upon said jaws during the said forward movement thereof to rotate said jaws a small amount and thereby tilt the filament held thereby from the vertical so as to clear said lamp stern hooks, means operable upon said jaws while at the end of said forward movement to rotate them back to their initial position with the filament coil held vertically and its legs positioned in the lamp stem hooks preparatory to the clamping of the legs in said hooks, and means operable upon said jaw actuating means after the hooks have been clamped about the legs of the filament subsequent to operation of the last named means to move said moveable jaw to open position and thereby release the filament coil.

4. In a filament transfer mechanism of the class described, the combination of a turret having a horizontal axis, a plurality of slides mounted for reciprocation parallel to said turret axis, each said slide carrying a hollow spindle extending parallel to said turret axis, a fixed filament holding jaw mounted on an end of said spindle, a cooperating moveable clamping jaw carried by said fixed jaw, spring means normally biasing said moveable jaw to closed position, a shiftable cam rod extending through said spindle and having cam surface portions engageable with said moveable jaw to hold it in respective fully open and partially open positions, and means mounting said spindle on said slide for rotation about its axis to thereby rotate said jaws. I

5. A filament transfer mechanism comprising a turret having a horizontal axis, a plurality of slides mounted around the periphery of said turret for reciprocation parallel to said turret axis, means operable to index said turret to carrysaid slides to a plurality of stations including a loading station at the top of said turret and a delivery station at one side of said turret, each said slide carrying a hollow spindle extending parallel to said turret axis, a fixed filament holding jaw mounted at the forward end of said spindle and normally so oriented that, when at said loading station, an upper horizontal face of said jaw has therein a transversely extending groove to receive the body of a filament coil with its legs extending beyond the sides of said jaw, a cooperating moveable clamping jaw carried by said fixed jaw, spring means normally biasing said moveable jaw to closed position to clamp the filament in said groove, a shiftable cam rod extending through said spindle and having a cam surface portion engageable with said moveable jaw to hold it in open position, and means mounting said spindle on its slide for rotation about its axis to thereby rotate said jaws, means operable upon said cam rod at said loading station to effect closing of said moveable jaw to clamp the filament, said jaws holding said filament to be in a vertical position upon arrival at said delivery station, means operable upon said slide at the delivery station to move it forwardly to a delivery position whereat the filament may be introduced between the hooks of a lamp stern and to then retract the slide, means operable upon said spindle at said loading station during the forward movement of said slide to rotate the spindle and the jaws carried thereby so as to tilt the filament carried thereby from the vertical so as to clear said lamp stem hooks, means operable upon said spindle while at the end of said forward movement to rotate the spindle and jaws back to their initial position with the filament coil held vertically and its legs in the lamp stern hooks preparatoryto the clamping of the legs in said hooks, and means'operable upon said cam rod subsequent to operation of the last-mentioned means after the hooks have been clamped about the legs of the filament to move said moveable jaw to open position and thereby release the filament coil,

6. A filament transfer mechanism comprising a turret having a horizontal axis, a plurality of slides mounted around the periphery of said turret for reciprocation parallel to said turret axis, means operable to index said turret to carry said slides to a plurality of stations including a loading station at the top of said turret followed by a gauging station followed by a delivery station at one side of said turret, each said slide carrying a hollow spindle extending parallel to said turret axis, a fixed filament holding jaw mounted at the forward end of said spindle and normally so oriented that, when at said loading station, an upper horizontal face of said jaw has therein a transversely extending groove to receive the body of a filament coil with its legs extending beyond the sides of said jaw, a cooperating moveable clamping jaw carried by said fixed jaw, spring means normally biasing said moveable jaw to closed position to clamp the filament in said groove, a shiftable cam rod extending through said spindle and having cam surface portions engageable with said moveable jaw to hold it in respective fully open and partially open positions, and means mounting said spindle on its slide for rotation about its axis to thereby rotate said jaws, means operable upon said cam rod at said loading station to effect closing of said moveable jaw to clamp the filament, means operable upon said cam rod at said gauging station to temporarily retract the moveable jaw to partially open position and relax its grip on the filament held thereby, gauging means at said gauging station including cup members located to be at respective sides of the jaws at said station in alignment with the filament coil held thereby, and means operable to move said cups toward said jaws to a predetermined spacing to engage the filament coil legs and compress the coil to a predetermined length during the interval that the grip of said jaws on the coil is relaxed and to maintain the coil compressed until after the said temporary retraction of the moveable jaw has been terminated whereafter said jaws continuously grip said coil in the said compressed condition, said jaws holding said filament to be in a vertical position upon arrival at said delivery station, means operable upon said slide at the delivery station to move it forwardly to a delivery position whereat the filament may be introduced between the hooks of a lamp stern and to then retract the slide, means operable upon said spindle at said loading station during the forward movement of said slide to rotate the spindle and the jaws carried thereby so as to tilt the filament carried thereby from the vertical so as to clear said lamp stem hooks, means operable upon said spindle while at the end of said forward movement to rotate the spindle and jaws back to their initial position with the filament coil held vertically and its legs in the lamp stem hooks preparatory to the clamping of the legs in said hooks, and means operable upon said cam rod subsequent to operation of the last-mentioned means after the hooks have been clamped about the legs of the filament to move said moveable jaw to open position and thereby release the filament coil.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,781,796 2/1957 Dilts -7l.6 2,984,266 5/1961 Lohrey et al. 14071.6 3,000,407 9/1961 Anthony et al 1407l.6 3,039,497 6/1962 Hamilton et al. 140-7l.6

CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. A FILAMENT TRANSFER MECHANISM COMPRISING A TURRET HAVING A HORIZONTAL AXIS, A PLURALITY OF SLIDES MOUNTED AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF SAID TURRET FOR RECIPROCATION PARALLEL TO SAID TURRET AXIS, A PAIR OF JAWS ON EACH SAID SLIDE, MEANS NORMALLY BIASING SAID JAWS TO CLOSE POSITION TO CLAMP A FILAMENT COIL THEREBETWEEN WITH THE COIL EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE TURRET AXIS AND ITS LEGS EXTENDING BEYOND THE SIDES OF SAID JAWS, JAW ACTUATING MEANS ON SAID SLIDE OPERABLE TO HOLD SAID JAWS IN OPEN POSITION AGAINST THE ACTION OF SAID JAW BIASING MEANS, MEANS OPERABLE TO INDEX SAID TURRET TO CARRY SAID SLIDES TO A PLURALITY OF STATIONS INCLUDING LOADING, GAUGING SAID DELIVERY STATIONS, SAID JAW ACTUATING MEANS HOLDING SAID JAWS IN OPEN POSITIONS AT SAID LOADING STATION FOR RECEIVING A FILAMENT, MEANS OPERABLE UPON SAID JAW ACTUATING MEANS AT SAID LOADING STATION TO EFFECT CLOSING OF SAID JAWS TO CLAMP THE FILAMENT COIL, MEANS OPERABLE UPON SAID JAWS ACTUATING MEANS AT SAID GAUGING STATION TO EFFECT TEMPORARY PARTIAL OPENING OF SAID JAWS TO RELAX THEIR GRIP ON THE FILAMENT COIL, GAUGING MEANS AT SAID GAUGING STATION ARRANGED TO BE ENGAGEABLE WITH THE LEGS OF A FILAMENT IN SAID JAWS, MEANS FOR ACTUATING SAID GUAGING MEANS TO ENGAGE SAID FILAMENT LEGS AND COMPRESS THE FILAMENT COIL LONGITUDINALLY TO A PREDETERMINED LENGTH DURING THE PERIOD OF TEMPORARY PARTIAL OPENING OF SAID JAWS AND TO MAINTAIN THE COMPRESSED CONDITION OF THE COIL UNTIL AFTER SAID JAWS HAVE BEEN RETURNED TO CLOSED POSITION WHEREAFTER SAID JAWS CONTINUOUSLY GRIP SAID COIL IN THE SAID COMPRESSED CONDITION, MEANS OPERABLE UPON SAID SLIDE AT SAID DELIVERY STATION TO MOVE IT FORWARDLY ALONG SAID TURRET AND TO RETRACT IT, MEANS OPERABLE UPON SAID JAWS AT SAID DELIVERY STATION TO ROTATE THEM ABOUT AN AXIS PARALLEL TO SAID TURRET AXIS FOR INTRODUCING THE FILAMENT LEGS INTO THE HOOKS ON A LAMP STEM PREPARATORY TO THE CLAMPING OF THE LEGS IN SAID HOOKS, AND MEANS OPERABLE UPON SAID JAW ACTUATING MEANS AT SAID DELIVERY STATION AFTER THE HOOKS HAVE BEEN CLAMPED ABOUT THE LEGS OF THE FILAMENT TO EFFECT OPENING OF SAID JAWS.