US962928A - Eyelet and rivet feeding device. - Google Patents

Description

M. A. STEWART. EYELET AND B IVET FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION nun JAB. 1.1910.

Patented June 28, 1910.

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.Z I 2 M M" I WI M G 1mm wamfiw Z M UNITED STAT- s PA ENT OFFICE- MATTHEW A. sTEwAn or NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, AssIeNo'E To THE MATT STEWART COMPANY, or mnmrnrs, TENNESSEE, A CORPORATION or MAINE.

EYELET AND RIVET FEEDING DEVICE.

Application filed January 7, 1910. Serial No. 536,869.

Rivet Feeding Devices, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to apparatus for antomatically arranging the eyelets of a mass so that their flanges or flanged ends may all be like-turned (usually downward) and supplying'the arranged eyelets to other devices as fast or as slowly as they may be used or conveyed away by such other devices.

7 Eyelets varying little intheir various dimensions and being usually so thin as to be easily distorted by pressure, it has been found diificult to arrange and feed-them automatically, even at a varying rate, without in any case distorting'an eyelet or failing to supply them at the desired rate. The ends sugsted are reached by providing a receptacle,

or a mass of eyelets, having in its wall apertures through which an eyelet can pass only when presented in a predetermined way, and throwing the eyelets against this perforated wall. An eyelet properly turned finding an aperture unobstructed passes through it and is thereafter carried onward in pro er position to be used.

t e accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a .plan view of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2, Fi 1. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3, ig. 1. Fig. 4.

is an enlarged transversesection of a chute -seen also in Figs. .1. and 3, an eyelet being shown therein. Fig. 5 is an enlarged .horizontal section on theline' 5-5, Fig. 2, eyelets being s'hown in transit, Fig. 6 is a view corresponding to Fig. 4, but showing a modified construction. 4

In these views, A represents an upwardly oplen receptacle having its lateral walls rigy supported in any-suitable way, as by brackets B, which in this instance bear also a bearing B for the lower portion of a verticglhshaft C in the of tjle receptaclg an aving an upper .tsupporte from the wall-itself. The shaft is rotated 1n anysuitable way, as by a pulley B and toit 1s fixed a late D forming the bottom of the -rece ta e and projecting. at D' beyond one si e of the latter. The upper surface of the plate is inclined upward about the shaft so that eye-lets in the receptacle will tend to'move outward from the shaft so far as to be readily afl'ected'by centrifugal force. The receptacle wall on the side where the plate projects has in the lower edge of the part toward which the eyelets on the plate move when the latter rotates in Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 28, 1910- I the direction of the arrow notches E which runs along the upper face of the plate and p then turns downward at such an angle that eyelets will descend therein by gravity. The opposite walls of the chute are grooved at G to receive the flanges of eyelets H therein, and the distance between the walls is made only slightly greater than the diameter of the eyelet bodies, and usually the chute has no bottom, the eyelets being supported after they leave the rotating plate by the lower walls of the grooves in which the flanges lie, these walls preferably extending inward and having upwardly projecting ribs K, as shown in Fig. 4, along which the eyelets slide with very llttle friction.

- If a mass of eyelets be placed in the receptacle and the plate be rotated continuously at a moderate rate, the eyelets are-constantly thrown against the notched portion of the wall, and as often as one turned flange down finds in its path an unobstructed notch it passes through the; wall into the chute where, since it still rests upon the rotating plate, it is gently urged toward the inclined portion of the chute by the frictional action between it and the plate. The eyelets which do not thus pass through the wall are deflected therebyiand carried around againand again,

those not ,having their flanged ends downwardly turned being often turned until they assume that position, which they then tend to retain owing to the greater diameter of .that end.

If the size of the apparatus and the number of notches'be suitable, a surplus of eyelets will be maintained in the chute, no matter how fast they ma be used or discharged at its lower end; an if at any time the en tire bottom of the chute be covered no harm results for no eyelet of the mass in the receptacle finds an unobstructed notch' and hence alljgo on until the removal of one or more from thechute leavw space for more to enter. The feed is thus self regulating,

'the eyelets being fed as fast as they may be needed and no faster, and no eyelet is ever subjected to material'pressure in any direction. For still further lessening the friction of the eyelets upon the chute, I sometimes support them on a single central rib J ,as shown-in Fig. 6, and in such case, it is obviousthat the eyelet cannot tilt.

For convenience the bodies to be fed have been termed eyelets, although they may be considered as tubular rivets, and it is plain that so far as the operation of this device is concerned the bodies to be arranged in proper position and fed may be non-tubular rivets or the like bodies the length of which is not greatly in excess of their diameters. The chute is preferably detachable and made of two parallel plates, which in this instance are shown as spaced apart by means .of short tubes L through which pass screws M binding the plates together. Slight variations in the width of the chute may be secured by using longer or shorter tubes, and if desired the whole chute may be replaced by one adapted for eyelets or rivets of materially different dimensions, the rest of the apparatus being unchanged.

For illustration I have shown the side walls of the receptacle as extending down alongside the margin of the greater part of the rotating plate, but this is not essential,

nor is the construction invariable in various v of its upper surface, and provided on one p side with apertures through which eyelets and'the like lying on the plate may pass only when properly positioned, and means for retaining upon the plate such eyelets as fail to pass through said apertures.

2. In apparatus of the class described, the combinatlon with a horizontal rotary plate adapted to engage eyelets-by friction only, of a bottomless chute crossing a portion of the lates upper surface, .inclined downwar beyond the plates margin, and having one wall provided with apertures, above the plate, adapted to allow eyelets to pass singly when properly positioned, and means for re taining the eyelets upon the plate until they pass through said apertures.

k 3. The combination with an eyelet chute having in one wall apertures through which eyelets may pass singly when turned into a predetermined position, and means for throwing eyelets by centrifugal force into positions whereby they may be carried against the side provided with said apertures.

4. The combination with a rotary horizontal plate adapted to enga e eyelets by friction only, of a bottomless c ute crossing a part of the plates upper surface and having in that portion toward which articles upon the rotating plate move apertures adapted to allow eyelets and the like to pass 7 ried and further having below 'a narrow longitudinal, article supporting flangerovided with an upstanding rib adapte to hold such articlesjust below the walls which guide their bodies. Y

6. The combination with a rotary plate adapted to en age eyelets by friction only, of a fixed wal for retaining articles upon the plate, and a deflectin wall crossing a portlon of the upper sur ace of the plate provided with apertures, ada tedto permit eyelets and the like supporte by the rotating plate to pass out when they are turned into a predetermined position, and a bottomless chute without the-wall in position to receive the eyelets and direct their course while they are frictionally urged onward by the portion of the late without said wall.

7. In eyelet ,fee ing apparatus, the combination with an approximately horizontal rotary plate, of a fixed wall dividing the sur:

face of the plate into unequal segments and provided Wlth, notches, in its lower edge,

adapted to allow eyelets to'pass singlybut only when turned to predeterminedposition, and means for-preventing eyelets from passing of? the margin ofthe larger segment.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses. c

-MATTHEW 'A. STEWART." [1 5.] vWitnesses: r JOHNS. BAKER, CHARLES J. KIERAN.

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