Apparatus for feeding fragile rods, tubes, and similar articles

June 18, 1935.

J. F. DONOVAN ET AL

2,005,496

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FRAGILE RODS

TUBES AND SIMILAR ARTICLES

Filed Dec. 20, 1933

Sheets-Sheet 1

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June 18, 1935. j _F donovan et al 2,005,496

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FRAGILE RODS, TUBES AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Filed Dec. 20, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2

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Patented June 18, 1935

2,005,496 .5 >C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,005,496

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FRAGILE RODS, TUBES, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES

John F. Donovan and George Illingworth, East Cleveland, Ohio, assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York

Application December 20,1933, Serial No. 703,278

Claims. (CL 49—14) its slope causes the tubes to move to the lower right-hand comer of the hopper from which they move down the inclined bottom 17 of the hopper to the feeding position. In order that the comer will not be choked up or clogged δ with an excess of tubes, a channel is formed by partition 18 over the bottom which allows only a few tubes at a time to pass thereto. The open side of that portion of the hopper from which the tubes are fed is covered by a plate 1® 19 to prevent the tubes from shifting longitudinally.

The method of removing the tubes from the hopper consists in pushing end first through a hole in the tilted side of said hopper that tube 5 which is located in the extreme lower left hand comer. This is done by ram 20 which like all the remaining undescribed mechanism is not shown in this position but at the position it occupies during the presentation of the tube to ^!the sealing machine. The ram 20 is located along line 21 and is caused to move into engagement with the tubes by spring 22 (Fig. 3) which extends between a post 23 in one end thereof and a post 24 in the ram bearing or guide 25. The extent of the movement is governed by the end of lever 26 which engages pin 27 in the ram and is itself operated from cam 28 through universal joint 29, rod 30 and lever 31. Lever 26 operates about pin 32 in bracket 33 extending from the bed plate 15, and lever 31 operates about pin 34. Shaft 35 on which cam 28 is mounted represents a drive shaft of the sealing machine and roller 36 represents the means by which lever 3i engages said cam. After pushing the tubing length from the hopper into the transferring means the ram is drawn back until the end no longer protrudes through the side of said hopper whereupon it is moved upward into the position shown. The purpose of this movement is to break the bridge of tubing which often forms about the feeding position. A narrow slot 37 (Fig. 2) corresponding to the width of the ram is provided in plate 19 to permit this movement which occurs as ram guide 25 slides upward within its ways in bracket 13 in which it is retained by plate 38 (Fig. 3). The lower end of ram guide 25 is engaged by screw 39 (Fig. 1) in lever 40 which operates about pin 41 between collars 42 and 43 in bracket 13 and is operated by lever 44 through link 45. Lever 44 is in turn operated by cam 46 through roller 47 on lever 48 which is connected to a link rod 49. The downward movement of the ram is produced by spring 50 after the ram has been withdrawn from

Our invention relates to feeding devices and more particularly to devices for feeding single lengths of rod or tubing from a pile thereof. Our invention is particularly adapted to devices for feeding lengths of glass tubing such as are used in lamp manufacture for stems, exhaust tubes, arbors and co-called top tubes. For instance, such a device may be used to advantage as the top tube feeder in the miniature lamp sealing machine disclosed in Stiles ,et al. Patent 1,742,153 which requires the tubes to be placed one at a time in- a vertical position in the machine heads as they are indexed in and out of position in front of the feeding device. The principal object of our invention is to provide means for feeding substantially cylindrical objects at a high rate of speed. Another object of our invention is to provide feeding means suitable for use with articles of glass or other easily damaged or broken materials. Other objects of our invention will be apparent from the drawings and description which follows of one species thereof.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a device of our invention for feeding so-called top tubes; Fig. 2 is an end view of a portion thereof; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the feeding ram and a portion of its operating mechanism; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the tube carriage of the transfer means; and Fig. 5 Is a perspective view of the feed control mechanism. .

The particular species of our invention shown is contracted so as to operate with the miniature lamp sealing machine described in the patent hereinbefore referred to. The operation consists in pushing one tube from a pile thereof in which all of the tubes are arranged and then transferring the same to the machine head which is to receive it. The device is attached to and is driven from the sealing machine. Referring now to. Figs. 1 and 2, the tubing lengths 10 are carried within hopper I i which is mounted through brackets 12—13 and rods 14 some distance above bed plate 15. The orientation of the tubes is such that the downwardly tilted side of the hopper which is mounted at a slight angle butts against the ends of the tubes and the two remaining sides of the hopper engage the sides of the tubes. No fourth side is needed on account of the tilt of the hopper. The tubes are fed as shown in Fig. 2 from’ the lower lefthand corner of the hopper into which they are caused to roll or shift from other parts thereof. As the lower tubes are taken away those ’ above drop onto the false bottom 16 which by

2,0€ the hopper. Simultaneously with the lowering of the ram the tube located to the right of the feeding position is engaged by separator 51 which operates through slots in the bottom of the hop5 per. The movement of the separator consists in a repeated raising and lowering and corresponds to the movement of bumper 52 which strikes the bottom of the hopper. These actions agitate the tubes within the hopper to prevent sticking and 10 blocking. The separator is attached to bracket 53 extending from the bumper holding slide 54 which is supported through pin 55 and shaft 56 extending from bracket 57. During the period the separator is within the hopper both pin 75 55 and shaft 56 are at the bottom of the slots in slide 54 which they occupy due to the pull of spring 58 which extends between post 59 in the end of the slide and the end of pin 55. At other times when the separator has been with20 drawn from the hopper the raised portions of ratchet 60 (Fig. 1) are below pawl 61 on pin 62 in the end of slide 54. This occurs as shaft 56 is turned clockwise by lever 44 with the lowering of the ram which results in the thicker por25 tion of pawl 61 engaging ratchet 60 since the said pawl is prevented from turning about pin 62 by the flange 63 engaging the slide 54. With the counter-clockwise turning of the ratchet, pawl 61 turns away from the raised portions 30 against the pressure of a torsion spring 64 which is attached to pin 62 and said pawl.

The transferring mechanism into which the tubes are fed comprises a carriage 65 (Figs. 1, 2 ^and which receives and holds a tube in grooves 35 of blocks 66 and 67 attached thereto, and a slide 68 on which a carriage carrying bracket 60 is pivotally mounted. Each of the blocks 60—67 engages the tube on the bottom and on one side while the remaining side is covered by arm 70 40 attached to the hopper holding bracket 12 and the top is covered by jaw 71. Block 67 prevents the tube from moving out endward. After receiving the tube the carriage is swung counter-clockwise 90° and advanced into the sealing 45 machine to the position shown in Fig. 1 by the leftward movement of slide 60 which is operated by lever 44 through links 72. The movement occurs as lever 44 swings to lift the ram. As the slide begins to move rollers 74 on arms 50 75 move upward in the ways of cams 76 attached to bracket 57 turning shaft 77 to which both arms 75 and bracket 69 are attached. As the carriage turns rod 70 lifts from the face of cam 79 on said slide allowing spring 80 which ex55 tends between a post in the carriage and one in the jaw 7 i to pull said jaw against the tube. Rod 70 rides free in carriage 65 and is only used to push 71 open. No means are provided for opening the jaw at the full advanced position in 60 this instance since the sealing machine jaws 81 grip the tube and pull it out of the transferring mechanism as they are indexed. Screw 02 supports the end of bracket 69 when the bracket is in a horizontal position.

In order to render the device fully automatic, it may be provided with means such as shown in Figs. 1 and 5 for preventing the feeding of a tube if the sealing head in front of the de_ vice does not carry a lamp bulb. This means 0 comprises a feeler mechanism consisting of arm

83, link 84 and finger 85 which are caused to swing about pin 86 in bracket 87 to engage the bulb 88 in the stem head 89. Should the bulb not be there, stop 90 on arm 91 extending from 75 pin 86 will be pulled up in front of the ram '5,496 preventing its feeding motion. This mechanism is actuated by rod 92 of the sealing machine which moves downward at the proper time and which engages the feeler mechanism through arm 93, spring 94 and bumper 95. The bumper 5 95 rides freely in arm 93 allowing spring 94 to take up the excess motion thereof. A collar 96 is attached to the upper end of the bumper to keep it in place when lifted from the feeler and spring 97 is provided between arm 91 and brack- 10 et 57 to lift the feeler back to rest position.