US2597354A - Filament transfer and mounting apparatus for lamp stems - Google Patents

Description

FILAMENT TRANSFER'AND MOUNTING APPARATUS FOR LAMP STEMS Filed Jan. 31, 1947 May 20, 1952 H. B. MALONEY 4 Sheets-Sheet l mmvrozz. r9 5. Ma lo neg Hen BY iam-kwq/ ATTO PNEV y 1952 H. B. MALONEY 2,597,354

FILAMENT TRANSFER AND MOUNTING APPARATUS FOR LAMP STEMS Filed Jan. 31, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 g INVENTOR.

BY Henry B. Na/oney ATTOPNE Y y 1952 H. B. MALONEY 2,597,354

FILAMENT TRANSFER AND MOUNTING APPARATUS FOR LAMP STEMS Filed Jan. 31, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 U 8 v/ 2 O A I 6 M/ RMM o 5 ma R 5 0 U. H W .w i 5 A w mm W 3 n M NJ A H 2 W 9 V. 5 L B 0 i A F May 20, 1952 H. B. MALONEY 2,597,354

FILAMENT TRANSFER AND MOUNTING APPARATUS FOR LAMP STEMS Filed Jan. 51. 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. fienry B. Na/oneg ATTORNEY Patented May 20, 1952 FILAMENT TRANSFER AND MOUNTING APPARATUS FOR LAMP STEMS Henry B. Maloney, Lynn, Mass assignor to Sylyania Electric Products Inc Salem. Mass., a

corporation of Ma ssachusetts Application January 31, 1947, Serial No. 725,417

. ,7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to .a mechanism; for transferring a lamp filament from a stack of filaments to working position on alamp stem assembly and particularly to such a mechanism for use with a looped or U-shaped filament.

The mechanism of the invention provides automatic means for feeding filaments one by one rapidly to working position uponthe stem. assembly with its ends connected tolead wires; In addition to feeding the filaments the mechanism forms them into a loop or U-shape from a straight filament. V

The object of the invention is to feed. lamp filaments automatically and at a rapid rate to filament mounting devices which operatev on lamp.

stems fed successively into; filament mounting position. I

A further object of the invention isto provide means for feeding filaments to lamp stems with consistent precision and withoutdamage to the.

filaments.

Other objects and features of ,theinvention will more fully appear from .the following description and will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

The mechanism consists in general of a chute or guideway over which the filamenttravels by gravity after having been lifted from a stackof filaments and dropped thereon.

At the base of the chute the filamententers.

fingers are provided with means to grip the filament at its ends such as by suction means.

The fingers are mounted on swinging. arms which are so pivotedand moved .thatthe filament is carried away from the'supporting groove, formed into a loop and presented to a stem with the ends of the filament. in position to be secured to the lead wires thereof.

Means are provided at this time to secure .the filament to the lead wires as by pinching the bent tips of the lead wires onto the filament.

The stem is then moved tosubsequentstations where the filament is further processed. to its finished form.

To present a better understanding of the invention a particular embodimentthereof will be described and is illustratedinthe-accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a sideelevation of the apparatus partially in section;

Figure 2 is a front elevation ofthe apparatus;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the filament forming and transfer device;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevationofthe device shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail of afilament suction holding finger;

.member 5 by means of an angle block 1.

. Figure 6 is a diagrammatic perspective view illustratingv the presentation of the filament to .the leadwires;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary front view of the means for endwise positioning of the filament;

lamp stems or the like to filament mounting position. Such a machine may be that presented in the copending application relating to Automatic Lamp Stem Fabricating Apparatus filed in the names of Roland M. Gardner, Stanley J. Gartner, and Edwin W. Barrett and bearing the Serial Number 637,440.

The means for picking an individual filament [from a plurality of filaments may be of any construction and constitutes no part of the present-invention. As herein shown an arm having pincer-like fingers I and 2 is manipulated to pick a single filament from a container 3 having a plurality of filamentsd therein.

The mechanism for transferring a filament from a container to the stem to which it is applied, may be mounted directly upon the stem fabricating machine or it can be mounted on .aseparate support orstand. As shown herein the mechanism is supported upon a portion 5 of the mainframe of the fabricating machine.

Any suitable supporting means may be used. As

shown a supporting bracket 6 is secured to the The bracket 6 has mounted thereon a device for actuating a battery of filament containers which is not part of the present invention. The bracket also has secured thereto a main frame 8.

. The frame 8 has slidably mounted thereon a .carrier mechanism for transferring filaments one at a time to a lamp stem or the like moved into filament mounting position with its axis upon the working axis 9. The carrier In is received in a horizontal guideway II in the upper portion of theframe 8 and is provided with filament receiving and manipulating means.

For reasons which will appear hereinafter it is desirablethat, a slight-degree of friction be applied to the carrier [0 at the guideway to retardits movement therein. To do this a leaf spring 12 is inserted in ways bearing against the. member If). The-front or leading end of the carrier I!) is provided with an upstanding boss '13 to which are vertically pivoted a pair of swinging filament formers M which are laterally spaced and present upwardly extending suction filament 60. gripping fingersnormally situated at the ends of a filament which has been delivered to a receiving groove |6 in a plate I! secured to an upright l8 extending upward from the member ID. The details of the members M will be described subsequently.

A filament is fed to the groove l6 from a device which receives and aligns it as it is dropped by the fingers and 2. When dropped the filament falls by gravity upon an inclined plate l9 secured to the frame 8 from where it is received in a substantially V-shaped trough formed by the plate Hi and a plate or plates 20. During the non-feeding portion of its cycle the trough structure retains and aligns the filament. A sliding gate member 2| at this time closes the bottom of the trough. The gate 2| is slidably mounted on the bottom of a plate 22 which is secured along one of its sides to a rigid bracket 23 extending downward along one side of the member Band is rigid with the frame 8.

The plate 22 extends over the end close to the carrier. Desirably the trough is made adjustable in length to provide for proper handling of the filaments as they move down into the trough structure. A suitable structure is shown to lengthen or shorten the trough and consists of a pair of blocks 24 which are adjustable simultaneously toward and away from each other by means of a spindle 25 having right and left hand threads respectively engaging the two blocks. The spindle 25 is held against axial movement and is rotated to vary the length of the trough. The blocks are held in their guiding slot 26 by means of a leaf spring 21 which is backed up by a retaining member 28 secured to the plate 22.

The gate 2| projects outward and down from the back of the plate 22 to provide an extension 30. The plate 2| has a spring 29 connected to move the plate into position to close the trough.

The downward extension 30 of the gat is engaged by a screw 3| having threaded engagement in a post 32 secured to the carrier ID. The screw 3| is so adjusted that it engages the portion 36 of the gate and opens the trough to permit a fila- 'ment to pass through at the end of the retractive or inward movement of the carrier l0.

As above pointed out the pick up members M are pivoted on the front portion l3 of the carrier l0. Desirably these members are generally C- shaped and embrace oppositely disposed cars 33 on the portion |3 of the carriage l0. Pivot pins 34 pass vertically through the members 4 and the ears 33 and permit the members l4 to swing substantially 100 from their pick up position shown in Figure 1 into delivery position shown in Figure 4. Movement of the members I4 is limited in their delivery position by stop screws 35 which engage opposite sides of a central stop boss 36 integral with the carrier l6 while their pick up position is determined by stop screws 31. The filament is thus given a substantially horseshoe shape with its ends bent slightly inward toward each other which aids in placing the filament ends within the looped or hook shaped ends the lead wires 18 as shown in Figure 4.

Suitable means is provided for actuating the members l4. As illustrated in the drawings each of the members I4 is provided with a bifurcated rearward projection 38 within which is pivotally received a link 39 the opposite end of which is connected to a common pivot pin 40 projecting upward from the square outer end of a slide member 4|. The inner end of the member 4| is cylindrical and slidably received in the base of the post 32.

The means for driving the slide 4| also drives the carrier Ill. The driving means illustrated consists of a bell crank lever 42 f-ulcrumed upon the frame 8 at 43. The arm 44 of the lever is pivotally connected to a link 45 which in turn is pivoted to a lever 46 fulcrumed upon the shaft 41. The lever 46 is provided with a roll 48 which engages a cam 49 which in turn is contoured to produce the required movement of the members I0 and 4|. The arm 50 of the lever 42 extends upward and desirably is provided with one or more slots 5| in its upper end within which is received the rolls 52 pivoted upon opposite sides of the squared portion of the slide 4|. Desirably the end of the arm 50 is bifurcated to embrace both sides of the member 4|.

The roll 48 is held against the cam 49 by means of a spring 53 connected at one end to the lever 46 and at its other end to a fixed arm 54 secured to the fulcrum shaft 41. The cam thus moves the carrier away from the working axis 9 while the spring moves it in its opposite direction during which time the filament is transferred. In operation the initial motion outward of the lever arm 50 acts through the link 39 to swing the members |4 into looping position and further motion of the lever moves the whole carrier toward the working axis as will be described in more detail hereinafter.

The members M are provided with suction pick up fingers 55 which are vertically movable therein and extend upward therefrom having V slots in their upper ends which are normally disposed in alignment with opposite ends of the V- slot |6 in the plate H. The upper ends of the fingers 55 are provided with vacuum ducts which open into the V-slot at their upper ends and into which are led flexible vacuum lines 56 which in turn are connected to a vacuum pump not shown.

The fingers 55 extend through vertical apertures in the members l4 and also have a portion extending below the members l4. These bottom extensions 51 closely approach the upper fiat surface 58 of an actuator 59, the operation of which will subsequently be described.

Means is provided to accurately position the filament longitudinally in its groove |6 before it is delivered to the stem. To do this a pair of relatively short positioning fingers 60 are pivoted upon lateral extensions of the post l8. The upper ends of the fingers 66 are provided with adjustable filament contact members which are situated to engage the ends of a filament in the groove I6. The fingers 60 are moved away from filament locating position by means of a :pair of links 6| connected at one end to the fingers and at their other end to a head 62 fixed upon a vertical rod 63. The rod 63 is vertically movable in an aperture in the portion l3 of the carrier Ill. The lower end of rod 63 extends below the carriage H and is provided with a head 64 which in turn i provided with a shoulder 65 which interlocks with a projection 66 on a block 61 secured to the actuator 59.

As shown in the drawings in Figure 1 the actuator 59 is in its raised position at which time the rod 63 is also raised which in turn moves the fingers outward away from their filament locating position. Motion is transmitted to the actuator 59 in any suitable manner such as by means of a cam 68 mounted on a cam shaft 69 which is one of the main cam shafts of the whole stem fabricating machine. The cam 68 acts through a suitable follower and lever I0 to actuate a link 1| connecting the lever to a rod 12 movable in a vertical aperture 13 in a projection of the frame 8. The actuator 59 is rigidly secured upon the end of the rod 12 and ismoved thereby. The rod 12 and actuator 59 are prevented-from rotation by a rod 14 parallel to-the rod 12 and secured at its upper end to the actuator 59 and arranged to move in an aperture in the frame 8.

When the elements of themechanism are in the position shown in Figure 1 the gate 2| has just released a filament into the slot It by reason of the engagement of the screw 3| engaging the portion 39 of the gate. At this time the highest portion 15 of the cam 66 has raised the actuator 59 to its maximum height. The cam 68 then lowers the actuator'which pulls down the rod 63, by reasonof the engagement of shoulder 65 with the projection 66, to move the positioning levers 69 into engagement with the ends or" the filament to accurately position it lengthwise in its slot It.

At this time a cam mounted on one of the cam shafts acts to open a vacuum valve leading to the vacuum lines 58 which grips the ends of the filament in the fingers 55. During the above operations the fingers are held in their downward positions by springs 16 surrounding'the fingers, bearing at one end against the upper wall of apertures in which they are received and at their other ends against shoulders A upon the fingers. The downward position of the fingers is limited by a block B secured to the members it which engage a shoulder C on the fingers.

The cam 49 now acts through the lever 42 to move the slide 4| to the right which swings the pick up members I i through substantially 100 of are which forms the filament into horseshoe form shown in Figure 3. When the stop screws 85 in the members l4 engage the projection 38 further movement of the lever 42 moves the carriage H toward the stem axis 9 upon which the stem 11 is held. The stem is provided with a pair of lead wires 18. During this motion of the carrier the filament is raised into position with its ends adjacent and above the ends of lead wires 18. Raising of the filament is accomplished by the action of the cam 68 which raises the actuator 59 against the bottom of the fingers 55 which slide upon the surface 58. The cam 68 then acts to lower the actuator 59 'which'acts to lower the fingers 55 and the filament. This downward movement of the filament causes the ends thereof to enter the looped ends 19 of the lead wires. The fingers 55 are then moved downfurther by the cam 68 at which time the vacuum cam cuts oil the vacuum at the fingers which clear the lead wires.

At this time a pair of clamping devices 89 are moved into clamping position. Each of the clamping devices are provided with means for pinching the lead wires upon the filament ends. Any suitable means may be employed to pinch the lead wires. As shown in Figure 8 each device is provided with fixed jaws 8| upon a supporting frame 82 and coacting movable jaws 89. The movable jaws are pivoted upon the frame 82. The jaws 83 are normally held out of operation by springs 84. To move the jaws into clamping position an actuator lever '85 is provided. The lever 85 is pivoted on the frame at 86 and is moved upward by means of a plunger 81 guided in the frame and actuated by a cam 88 on a cam shaft 89:0. As the lever 85 moves upward it engages the jaws 63 which are moved thereby to clamp the filament to the looped ends of the lead wires 18 thus securing the -filament mechanically and electrically in working} position.

- tending horizontally from the frame 8.

Since, upon the stem machine to which the invention is'applied the removing of a stem to which a filament has been added and replacement of another is accomplished by indexing them in a horizontal plane, means must be provided to move the clamping members out of the path of the stems during indexing. This may be done in any suitable manner. As shown the supporting frame 82'moves vertically upon a pair of fixed rods 89.

' The-top of the rods 89 are provided with a stop shoulder 90 which engages the stop shoulder 9| on the frame. 82 when the clamps 89 are in clamping position. The throw of the cam88 is sufiicient to raise and lower the frame 82. The plunger 81 has a spring 92 thereon backed by a collar at one end and engaging the bottom of the frame 82 at its other end. The'spring is kept under a slight tension by a stop pin 93 secured in the frame and engaging the top of a slot 94 in the plunger. Starting with the member 80 in down position it is'moved upward by the plunger by engagement of the spring 92 with the member 82. When the member 82 is stopped further travel of the plunger 81 compresses the spring 92 and the plunger acts to push the lever 85 upward to clamp the filament to the lead wires. Desirably the upward travel of the lever 85 is limited by an adjustable stop screw'96. Excess travel of the plunger if present, is compensated for by a relatively heavy spring 95 introduced ibetween sections of the plunger. Thus damage to the mechanism is prevented and extremely accurate adjustment of the cam throw is not required.

The stem is then carried to additional fabricating stations for completion and another stem moved into filament mounting position. During filament forming and mounting operations the block 65 has disengaged from the projection 66 on the actuator 59. The spring 91 is thus permitted to maintain the fingers 60 in their inactive position. At the end of the filament mounting operation the carrier I9 is returned by the cam 99 to pick up another filament. During the return of the carriage the cam 66 acts to raise the actuator 59 to its upper position andas the carrier reaches its pick up position the shoulder 65 on the block 64 assumes a position to reengage the projection 66. The above cycle of operations is then repeated to mount another filament.

Accurate determination of the travel of the carriage may be obtained in any desired manner. As illustrated herein the carriage is provided with a downwardly extending stop 98. This stop extends into the path of a pair of adjustable stop nuts 99 and H19 which have threaded engagement with a rod I8! rigidly secured in and ex- At the inner limit of the carrier .travel the stop 98 strikes the stop nut I98 and when at its outer or delivery position the stop 98 engages the nut 99. By properly adjusting the nuts 99 and 100 accurate travel of the carriage is. obtained. Desirably the nut I98 is first adjusted to provide thecorrect backward stop position of the carriage after which the throw of thecam 49 :is adjusted to produce this travel of'the carriage by adjusting the length of the link .45. Any suitable means may be employed for this purpose. The delivery position of the carriage is. then critically adjusted by the nut 99. Anyxexcess'motion occasioned by the throw of the low portion of the cam simply causes the lever follower 48 to leave the :cam because the inwardi travel of the carrier is 7 powered by thespring 53 anchored to the fixed arm 54 and to the link 45 at its other end.

What I claim is:

1. In a lamp stem fabricating apparatus havin means to hold a stem with its lead wires thereon upon a working axis, a mechanism for formin and mounting the filament upon the lead wires comprising a supporting frame, a trough-like receptacle in which a filament is received, a gate at the bottom of the trough, a carrier below said trough slidable on said frame into receiving and delivering positions, means to open said gate when the carrier is in receiving position thereby to drop a filament onto said carrier, means on the carrier to grip and form the filament into substantially U-shaped form, means to move the carrier into delivering position with the filament ends adjacent said lead wires and means to secure the filament to the lead wires.

2. In a lamp stem assembling apparatus having means to hold a stem, including lead wires, on aworking axis and means to pick a single filament from a plurality thereof, a mechanism for forming and presenting filaments to the stem com prising a supporting frame, a fixed shute secured to said frame upon which filaments are dropped. a gate at the bottom of said shute, a carrier member slidable on said frame into filament receiving and delivering positions, a groove in the carrier in which said filament is received from the shute, means to open said gate to release a filament into said groove, a pair of filament forming members pivoted on said carrier and having a pair of pick up fingers situated at the ends of said groove when the carrier is in receiving position, means on the fingers to grip the filament, means to swing said filament formers to form the filament into U-shape, means to move the carriage into delivery position with the filament ends adjacent the lead wires, and means to secure the filaments to the lead wires.

3. In a lamp stem fabricating machine having means to hold a stem, with hooked ended lead wires, upon a working axis, a mechanism for forming and mounting a filament upon the stem comprising a supporting frame, a trough-like receiver secured to said frame having an opening at its bottom through which a filament may pass horizontally, a gate closing the aperture, a carrier below said trough slidable upon the frame from receiving to delivering position, a groove in said carrier, means to open said gate to release a filament into said groove, filament formers pivoted on said carrier having filament gripping fingers, means connected to said carrier moving means and operable to move the filament formers into filament forming position, means to lower said gripping fingers when the carrier is in delivery position to place the filament ends into the hooked ends of the said lead wires and means to clamp the lead wires upon the filament.

4. In a lamp stem fabricating machine having means to hold a lamp stem, with lead wires, upon a working axis, a mechanism for forming and mounting a filament upon said stem comprising a trough-like receiver having an opening in the bottom thereof through which a filament in horizontal position may pass, a gate closing the aperture, a carrier below said trough to receive and deliver a filament to its stem, a groove in said carrier below said gate when the carrier is in receiving position, means to open the gate to drop a filament into said groove, filament formers pivoted on said carrier and having filament gripping fingers operable to grip the ends of the filament, a common actuating means to cause said formers to bend the filament into a generally U- shaped form and move the carrier into position with the filament end above the hooked end of the lead wires, means to lower the filament into mounting position and means to secure the filament to the lead wires.

5. In a lamp stem fabricating apparatus having means to hold a stem having lead wires, upon a working axis, a filament transfer and mounting apparatus comprising: a frame; a container mounted on said frame and having a plurality of filaments therein; a carrier slidably mounted on said frame beneath said container; means for feeding filaments individually from said container to said carrier; a pair of filament-positioning fingers pivotally mounted on said carrier and movable into end-on engagement with the ends of a filament on said carrier; filament-gripping fingers mounted on said carrier and movable into gripping engagement with a filament on said carrier; means for moving said filament-gripping fingers with a filament held thereby to present the filament ends to the lead wires; and means for securing the filament to the lead wires.

6. In a lamp stem fabricating apparatus having means to hold a stem, having lead wires upon a working axis, a filament transfer and mount ing apparatus comprising: a fixed positioning receptacle to receive a single filament; a movable carrier below said receptacle; means for releasing the filament from said receptacle to said carrier; a pair of filament-positioning fingers pivotally mounted on said carrier and movable into end-on engagement with the ends of the filament on said carrier; filament-gripping fingers mounted on said carrier and movable into gripping engagement with the filament on said carrier; means for moving said filament-gripping fingers with a filament held thereby to present the filament ends to the lead wires of the stem; and means for securing the filament to the lead wires.

7. In a lamp stem fabricating apparatus having means to hold a stem, having lead wires, upon a working axis, a filament transfer and mounting apparatus comprising: a filament positioning receptacle; a movable carrier below said receptacle; means for releasing a filament from said receptacle to said carrier; a pair of filament-positioning fingers pivotally mounted on said carrier and movable into end-on engagement with the ends of the filament on said carrier; gripping fingers mounted on said carrier for holding the ends of the filament; means for swinging said fingers in an arcuate path to bend the filament into U shape form; means for moving the carrier to present the filament ends to the lead wires; and means for securing the filament to the lead wires.

HENRY B. MALONEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,733,802 Higgins Oct. 29, 1929 1,733,831 Illingworth Oct. 29, 1929 1,733,881 Illingworth Oct. 29, 1929 1,742,966 Miller Jan. 7, 1930 1,801,119 Soepnel Apr. 14, 1931 1,816,683 Ledig July 28, 1931 1,821,894 Otaka Sept. 1, 1931 1,907,532 Flaws May 9, 1933 2,370,828 Widmont Mar. 6, 1945

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