Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1127991
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an automatic
processing device. An automatic processing device requires a
carrier to carry an unprocessed article to a processor and the
article processed by the processor to the next step. If the
processing time in the processor is longer than the time for
the carrier to carry an unprocessed and processed article
to respectively predetermined positions, the number of
processors covered by one carrier must be increased, to raise
the operating ratio o~ efficiency of the carrier. Furthermore,
even if the number of processors is simply increased, the time
for the carrier to remove a processed article from a processor
and to fit a new unprocessed article must be shortened, since
otherwise if processing in the plural processors ends at very
short intervals, the operating ratio of the processors drops
greatly.
The present invention remarkably improves the
construction of plural processors and the construction of a
carrier commonly used for those processors, shortening the
time for the carrier to remove a processed article from
a processor and to fit a new unprocessed article to it, and
therefore minimizing the idle time of the processors and
the carrier, to provide a very efficient automatic processing
apparatus.
SVM~i~RY OF THE INVENTION
Broadly spea~ing the present invention provides
automatic processing apparatus comprising: a plurality of
processors each provided at its top with a support mem~er
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having an opening with an upwardly inclined surface symmetrical
about an axis, the processors being arranged such that the axes
of symmetr~ are colinear; a carrier having a base movable
in a direction parallel to and above the group of processors,
an arm support frame connected to the base and rotatable about
a vertical axis, a pair of arms connected to the arm support
frame and capable of ascending and descending thereon, and a
pair of carrying supports provided on the arms equidistant
from the vertical axis; an article carrier jig consisting of
a fitting portion for carrying an unprocessed or a processed
article suspended therefrom, a seat plate above the fitting
portion and having a downwardly inclined surface engageable
with the upwardly inclined surface, and a carried part above
the seat plate to be supported by one of the carrying supports,
whereby during operation of the carrier, one of the carrying
supports is moved into line with the colinear axes of
symmetry while the other of the carrying supports is moved
to an area spaced from the group of processors, and the
positional relation of the pair of carrying supports can be
reversed by turning the arm support frame.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
The drawings show examples of the present invention.
Fig. 1 is an illustrative plan view to show one embodiment
of the present apparatus. Fig. 2 is an illustrative plan view
of the apparatus but showing another example of carrier.
Fig. 3 is an illustrative front view of the apparatus. Fig.
~ is an illustrative sectional view to show the operation o~
the present invention with plating tanks used as processors.
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g. 5 is similar to Fig. 4 and shows a second embodiment
of the apparatus of the invention. Fig. 6 is an illustrative
plan view to show the operation of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF TI~E PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference to Figures 1 and 4 symbol A indicates
a group of processors 3 (3,3',3",...) each provided at its
top with a support member 2 with an opening 1 having an
upwardly inclined surface S which is symmetrical in rotation,
being arranged with the axis of symmetry of each upwardly
inclined surface positioned on a certain line. The upwardly
inclined surface S can be straight or curved. Symbol B -
indicates a`carrier which consists of a base 4 capable of
moving in the arranqed direction of the processors 3 above
said group of processors A, an arm support frame 5 fixed to
the base and capable of turning around the vertical axis line Q',
a pair of arms 6 and 6' fixed one on each side of the arm
support frame 5 and capable of ascending and descending, and
a pair of carrying supports 7 and 7' provided on the arms at
the same distance from the vertical axis line ~' of the carrier.
The arms 6 and 6' can be fitted to the arm support frame 5
so as to be capable of ascending and descending in a mutually
independent or an interlocked manner. The arms 6 and 6'
project respectively from opposite sides of the arm support
frame 5, so as to position the carrying supports 7 and 7'
symmetrically 180-degrees apart around the vertical axis line ~',
as shown in Fig. 1. However, it is not absolutely required that
the respective carrying supports 7 and 7' are positioned
symmetrically 180-degrees apart. They can be fitted to arms
6 and 6' which project from opposite sides of the arm support
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frame 5 SQ as to form an included angle ~, for example as
shown in Fig. 2. Furthermore, the carrying supports can
be formed to be suitable for the carried part of the
unprocessed article carrier jig to be described later.
Symbol C indicates an article carrier jig which con-
sists of a fitting portion to fit either an unprocessed or a
processed article D in suspension therebelow, a seat plate 8
having a downwardly inclined surface S', engageable with the
upwardly inclined surface S of a processor, the seat plate 8
being provided above the fitting portion, and a carried part
9 to be supported by one of the carrying supports 7 and 7',
provided above the seat plate 8. As mentioned above, the
carrying supports 7 and 7' and the carried part 9 can be
formed so that they co-operate together. For example, as
shown in Fig. 4, a collar 10 can be formed above the seat
plate 8 as the carried part 9, and the carrying supports 7
and 7' can be composed as claws capable of freely grasping
the collar 10. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 5, the carried
part 9 can be formed by a seat plate 12 connected by a
support rod 11 above said seat plate 8, and each of the
carrying supports 7 and 7' can be a support frame 14 with
C-formed section opened with a groove 13 provided at the
bottom, to securely support the seat plate 12 when the
downwardly inclined surface S'l provided on the seat plate 12
engages the upwardly inclined surface S''' provi~ed on the
support frame 14. ~n this embodiment, one of the carrying
supports 7 and 7' is aligned with the line L connecting the
symmetrical axes Q of the upwardly inclined surfaces S, while
the other of said carrying supports is moved to an area outside
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the group of processors A.
An example and features of the operation of the
present invention apparatus thus constructed are described
below. In the present invention, when the processing of an
article D at any of the individual processors 3 (3,3',3",3''',---)
is finished, the carrier B is moved according to the following
sequence, based on an example in which the carrying supports
7 and 7' are positioned symmetrically 180-degrees apart
around the vertical axis line Q' and the arms 6 and 6' are
constructed so as to ascend and descend in interlocked.
operation. (I) The base 4 is fed from a standby position e
(Fig. 6) to an unprocessed article receiving position, and
the carried part 9 is supported by one carrying support 7,
to support the unprocessed article D. (II) The unprocessed
article D is moved within an area outside.the group of
processors A, from the unprocessed article receiving position
to the vicinity of a predetermined processor b, and at the
same time, the empty carrying support 7' moves along the line
L until it reaches a position where the support center coin-
cides with said symmetrical axis Q of the processor b. (III) Theempty carrying support 7' is operated to support the carried
part 9 of the article carrier jig C with a processed article
D' fitted, and the arms 6 and 6' are raised, to remove the
processed article D' from the processor b~ (IV) The arm
support frame 5 is rotated through 180 degrees, to shift the
unprocessed article D to above the processor 3 and the
processed article D' to the area outside the processor 3.
(V) The arms 6 and 6' are lowered, to insert the unprocessed
article D through the opening 1 formed in the support member 2
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into the processor 3, so that the downwardly inclined surface
S' of the seat plate 8 of the article carrier jig C engages
with the upwardly inclined surface S of the opening 1,
thereby fitting the unprocessed article D at a predetermined
position within the processor 3, to be processed therein.
(VI) The base 4 is fed to a processed article delivery
position c, to deliver the processed article to the predeter-
mined delivery position c. (VII) The base 4 is returned from
the processed article delivery position c to the standby
position e, to stand by until the next operation.
As shown in the above example of operation, according
to the present invention, since the pair of carrying supports
7 and 7' capable of ascending, descending and turning,
provided on the carrier B can be independently moved at a
predetermined processor 3, the start of processing after
fitting a new unprocessed article D in the processor 3
where processing has just finished can be made before the
article D' processed in that processor 3 is carried to the
processed article delivery position, thereby minimizing the
loss time of the processor 3 caused by such carrying, viz.
the time during which processing is not made. In addition,
according to the present invention, since the unprocessed
article D is fitted to the processor 3 when the downwardly
inclined surface S' provided in the seat plate 8 of the article
carrier jig C engages with the upwardly inclined surfaces S
provided in the vpening of the support member 2 above the
processor 3, the fitting can be easily attained automatically
by gravity. In such fitting, vibrations can be imparted to
the support member 2 by an appropriate vibrator (not illustrated),
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to further improve the precision of said fitting.
As mentioned above, the apparatus of the present
invention uses plural processors arranged very reasonably,
and provides a pair of carrying supports capable of ascending,
descending and turning on a common carrier which covers the
plural processors, whereby the support center of one of the
carrying supports is moved on a line connecting the support
centers of articles being processed in the processors, while
the other of the carrying supports is moved in an area outside
the group of processors, and such that a pair of carrying
supports can be reversed in their positions through rotation.
Therefore, the operation as mentioned above can be made and
the following improvement is achieved. According to the
present invention, since the carrying time of the carrier is
short, the operating ratio of the carrier can be raised by
increasing the number of processors per carrier, without
lowering the operating ratio of the processors, to thereby
raise the efficiency of the entire processing apparatus very
effectively. Thus, the present invention is very suitable,
for example, for an automatic hard chromium plating device
which requires a very long plating time, several hours on the
average. In the drawings, symbol 15 indicates a tray which
can be selectively positioned below the carrying support,
to prevent the drip of plating liquid from the processed
article removed of a plating device when the present invention
is applied to an automatic plating device.
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Description of symbols and reference numerals:
Symbol: A ... group of processors; B ... carrier;
C ... article carrier jig; D ... unprocessed article;
S, S" ... upwardly inclined surface; S', S''' ... downwardly
inclined surface; Q ... symmetrical axis; Q' ... vertical
axis line; L ... processing line; 1 ... opening; 2 ... support;
member; 3 (3,3', 3", 3"',...) ... processor(s); 4 ... base;
5 ... arm support frame; 6, 6' ... arm; 7, 7' ... carrying
support; 8 ... seat plate; 9 ... carried part; 10 ... collar;
11 .... support rod; 12 .... seat plate; 13 ... groove;
14 .... support frame; 15 .. ..drip tray.
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