JPS61243719A - Flat body aligning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To align flat bodies in a state to be accumulated, according to a method wherein rotation in the same direction as that of a rotary cylinder is applied on the flat bodies fed through the upper opening of the rotary cylinder rotated centering around a vertical rotary shaft. CONSTITUTION:A taper part 3b is formed on the inner peripheral surface in the vicinity of an opening part 3a at the upper part of a rotary cylinder 3 rotatable centering around a vertical rotary shaft, and this facilitates entrance of a flat body 4 from a hopper 9. When the flat body 4 enters the rotary shaft 3, the flat body 4 is brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the rotary cylinder 3, rotation in the same direction as that of the rotary cylinder 3 is applied on the flat body 4, and the flat body 4 is aligned in a horizontal direction. The flat body 4 is dropped in a horizontal state onto a convey table 10, the subsequent flat body 4 is dropped on the preceding flat body 4, and the flat bodies are accumulated in a piled-up state on the conveying table 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat body aligning device for aligning other flat bodies such as washers in a stacked manner.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, parts feeders that convey objects using vibrations have often been used to feed various parts to desired locations.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the parts feeder, the time from when one part is fed to the outlet until the next part is fed to the outlet is undefined, and the parts feeder Even if they are flat, they cannot be arranged in a stacked state, so there is a problem that it is impossible to supply any number of flat bodies to a desired location at any desired timing.

Purpose of the Invention The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a method of supplying an arbitrary number of flat bodies to a desired location at an arbitrary timing by arranging the flat bodies in a stacked state. An object of the present invention is to provide a flat body alignment device that makes it possible to do this. - Means for Solving the Problems The flat body aligning device according to the present invention includes a rotary cylinder rotatable around a rotation shaft extending in the vertical direction, and a drive device for rotating the rotary cylinder, The rotary cylinder is supplied with flat bodies to be aligned in a stacked manner from an upper opening of the rotary cylinder.

Function Generally, when a flat body enters the rotating cylinder from the upper opening, the direction (posture) of the flat body is indefinite;
facing different directions. However, when the flat body enters the rotating cylinder and comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the rotating cylinder, the flat body is given rotation in the same direction as the rotating cylinder, so the flat body is rotated due to the spinning top principle. The axis is oriented in a direction that coincides with the axis of the rotating cylinder. Then, the flat bodies fall downward while maintaining this arranged direction, are piled up on top of each other, and are aligned.

Example Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

1 to 3 show one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a bearing 1 fixed to a main body (not shown)
, 2, a rotating cylinder 3 is rotatably supported around a rotating shaft extending in the vertical direction. As shown in FIG. 2, a tapered portion 3b is provided on the inner circumferential surface near the upper end side opening 3a of the rotary cylinder 3, and the diameter becomes larger toward the upper side. The inner diameter of the rotary cylinder 3 other than the tapered portion 3b is a flat body 4 to be aligned (in the case of this embodiment, specifically, an annular and plate-shaped washer element).

・The diameter is slightly larger than the inner diameter of the material (the top view of which is shown in Figure 3). Note that the taper portion 3
a is provided to facilitate the entry of the flat body 4 from the hopper 9 to the rotating cylinder 3, which will be described later.
It does not necessarily have to be provided.

A pulley 5 is fixed to the outer peripheral side of the rotary cylinder 3. Further, a motor 6 is attached to the main body at a position a suitable distance away from the rotary cylinder 3, and a belt 8 is installed between the pulley 7 fixed to the rotating shaft of the motor 6 and the pulley 5. is wrapped around it. Therefore, in this embodiment, the rotary cylinder 3 can be driven and rotated by the motor 6 via the pulley 7, the belt 8, and the pulley 5. However, in the present invention, the rotary cylinder 3 may be driven by a drive means other than such a belt drive method.

A hopper 9 is provided above the upper end side opening 3a of the rotary cylinder 3. The flat body 4 is supplied to the hopper 9 by a parts feeder (not shown).

On the other hand, a transfer table 10 is provided below the rotary cylinder 3, and this transfer table 10 is connected to the lower end side opening 3C of the rotary cylinder 3.
are opposed to each other with a gap 11 in between. Here, the size h of the gap 11 satisfies t≦h<2t, where t is the thickness of the flat body 4.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a push rod, which is driven by a push rod drive device (not shown) to reciprocate along a linear path passing through the gap 11.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

The flat bodies 4 are successively fed from the parts feeder to the hopper 9 while the rotary tube 3 is driven and rotated by the motor 6 via the pulley 7, belt 8, and pulley 5. Then, these supplied flat bodies 4 fall one after another from the bottom opening 9a of the hopper 9 and enter the rotary cylinder 3 from the upper end opening 3a. Here, when the flat body 4 enters the rotary cylinder 3 in this way, the direction (posture) of the flat body 4 is indefinite and faces various directions.

However, when the flat body 4 enters the rotating cylinder 3 as described above, the flat body 4 comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the rotating cylinder 3, and the flat body 4 is given rotation in the same direction as the rotating cylinder 3. According to the spinning top principle, the flat body 4 is oriented in the horizontal direction (that is, the direction in which the axis of the flat body 4 coincides with the axis of the rotating cylinder 3). Then, the flat body 4 falls onto the transfer table 10 in this horizontal state.

Similarly, subsequent flat bodies 4 that enter the rotating cylinder 4 from the hopper 9 are also oriented in the horizontal direction one after another, and then fall onto the preceding flat body 4 and are placed on the transfer table 10. They accumulate on top of each other.

On the other hand, since the push rod drive device reciprocates the push rod 12 at a constant period, the flat objects 4 deposited on the transfer table 10 as described above are rotated one after another by the push rod 12 starting from the lowest one. It is pushed out from the bottom of the cylinder 3 and reaches the desired supply location P.
(See Figure 2).

In the above embodiment, the dimension of the gap 13 is set to t≦h<2 t with respect to the thickness t of the flat body 4, so that the flat body 4 is pushed out one by one by the push rod 12. However, by adjusting the size of h, the number of flat bodies 4 pushed out by the push rod 12 can be changed.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the flat body 12 is taken out from below the rotary cylinder 3 at regular intervals by reciprocating the push rod 12 at regular intervals, but the push rod 12 may be moved at any time. Needless to say, the flat body 12 can be taken out from below the rotary cylinder 3 at any time.

Further, in the present invention, the method for taking out the aligned flat bodies from the rotary cylinder is not limited to the method of pushing out with a push rod as in the above embodiment.

Further, in the above embodiment, a case was shown in which annular and plate-shaped flat bodies (washer materials) were aligned using the flat body alignment apparatus according to the present invention, but the present invention can also be applied to the alignment of other types of flat bodies. It is applicable to not only disk-shaped objects but also to alignment of non-circular flat objects as long as they can provide appropriate rotation.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the flat bodies are supplied from the parts feeder to the rotary cylinder via the hopper, but the flat bodies may be supplied to the rotary cylinder by other methods.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the flat body aligning device according to the present invention makes it possible to supply any number of flat bodies to a desired location at any timing by arranging the flat bodies in a stacked state. This provides an excellent effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of the flat object alignment device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1, and FIG. It is a top view showing a body. 3...Rotating tube, 5...Pulley, 6...Motor,
7...Pulley, 8...Belt, 9...Hopper, 4...Flat body. Patent applicant Terufumi Noji (and one other person) Agent
Patent Attorney Oishoku Izumi No. 1-1

Claims (1)

[Claims] It has a rotary cylinder that is rotatable around a rotation axis extending in the vertical direction, and a drive device that rotates the rotary cylinder,
The flat body alignment device is characterized in that the rotary cylinder is supplied with flat bodies to be aligned in a stacked state from an upper opening of the rotary cylinder.