JPH057162Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] This invention makes it possible to continuously supply screws, etc. by holding and transporting a large number of objects such as screws and other shaft members with heads. Concerning supply materials for goods and services.

[Prior Art] In recent years, with the automation of screw tightening machines and the like, automation of screw supply is also progressing. Therefore, the problem is how to efficiently and continuously supply screws to a screw tightening machine.

Conventionally, the technology for continuously supplying screws includes a plurality of tucks arranged one after another, and the shafts of the tucks are made of materials having different breaking resistances, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 18469/1983. , a technique is disclosed in which the web is held between a pair of webs articulated with each other. In addition, as shown in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 178359/1983, fragile and bendable materials such as cardboard are made into a belt shape.
A technique has been disclosed in which a screw nail or a male screw is embedded in the cross section.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in these conventional screw supply techniques, it is necessary to break the web or cardboard when removing the screws from the web or cardboard. For this reason, the position of taking out the screw changes depending on the variation in breaking strength, making it difficult to achieve a good taking out operation. Furthermore, by tearing and taking out the webs and cardboard, it is impossible to reuse them, which poses the problem of being uneconomical.

Furthermore, if the frictional resistance holding the shaft portion of the screw is small, there is a risk that the web or cardboard may fall if it is turned upside down.

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and the purpose of this invention is to be able to continuously supply a large number of articles, and to easily take out the articles that have been transported. The purpose of the present invention is to provide supply materials that can be reused and have improved economic efficiency.

[Means to solve the problem] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem and achieve the purpose,
The article supplying material according to this invention is for holding an article and conveying it to a supplied position, and the article has a head including a shaft body and a head integrally connected to the shaft body. The article supply material is a shaft-attached member, and includes a tape body formed by overlapping a pair of strips made of a flexible material, and a plurality of strips arranged at predetermined intervals along the conveyance direction of the supply material. a fixed portion that partially fixes the overlapping portions of the strips to each other; and a headed shaft member that is formed between adjacent fixed portions of both strips and held between the strips. It is characterized by having an opening into which the side part of the head of the head partially fits.

Further, the openings are set at the same height.

Furthermore, the shape of the lower half of each of the openings is
It is characterized by its gradual slope.

Further, each of the openings is characterized in that it is formed in a substantially elliptical shape.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the article supply material according to the present invention will be described in detail when applied to a screw supply tape with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of the screw supply tape 10. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, this screw supply tape 10
The tape main body 10a is constructed by overlapping a pair of strips 20 made of a flexible material, for example, synthetic resin such as vinyl chloride resin, or paper.

The tape 1 is attached to the side edge of the tape body 10a.
A large number of sprocket holes 12 along the extending direction of
are formed at equal intervals. These sprocket holes 12 engage with a sprocket 50 provided in a screw tightening machine 14, which will be described later.
It is provided to convey the tape 10 according to the rotation of the tape 10.

Further, these strips 20 have fixed portions 2 formed at equal intervals along the extending direction of the tape 10.
2, it is partially fixed (thermally bonded). Here, the interval between the adjoining fixing parts 22 is set to a value suitable for inserting a screw 18, which will be described later, between them.

Furthermore, an opening 24 is formed in each of these strips 20 so as to be located approximately in the center of the adhering portions 22 adjacent to each other. These openings 24 are set so that the pair of strips 20 are in close contact with each other and substantially overlap each other. Further, each opening 24 is set to a size such that a side portion of a head 18a of a screw 18, which will be described later, is fitted therein.

Here, each opening 24 is formed in a substantially elliptical shape. More specifically, the shape of the lower half of each opening 24 is formed such that it gradually slopes toward the center. That is, when the head 18a of the screw 18 is fitted into each opening 24, the head 18a
The lower edge of the opening 24 with which the lower surface engages is formed into a substantially tapered shape.

On the other hand, in the tape main body 10a described above,
The space surrounded by the parts of both strips 20 located between the adjoining fixing parts 22 allows the screw 1 to be
A screw insertion hole 16 into which the screw 8 is inserted is defined. A screw 18 as a shaft member with a head defined as an article is inserted into the screw insertion hole 16 and supported by the tape 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, the screw 18 is composed of a head 18a and a screw body 18b integrally connected to the head 18a. The head 18a is formed to have a first diameter, which is the first diameter of the screw body 18b.
The diameter is set to be larger than the second diameter (outer diameter of the thread).

Since the screw supply tape 10 is formed as described above, in order to insert the screw 18 into the tape 10, as shown in FIG. 20
The diameter of the insertion hole 16, which is almost closed due to the rigidity of the strip 20, is expanded by expanding the diameter of the screw insertion hole 16 which has been expanded in this way. 18 will be pushed in.

Then, in a state where the screws 18 are inserted into each screw insertion hole 16, the head 18a of the screw 18 is
is supported with its both sides fitted into openings 24 formed in the corresponding portions of the strip 20. That is, when the side portion of the head 18a of the screw 18 is fitted into the opening 24, the strip 20 deforms in a direction that reduces the diameter of the screw insertion hole 16 based on its own rigidity. The lower surface of the head 18a of the screw 18 is supported by being locked onto the tapered lower edge of the opening 24.

As a result, in a natural state, in other words, in a state where no external force acts on the screw 18, the screw 18
from the tape 10, in other words, the screw insertion hole 16
Reliably prevents removal in the vertical direction from the
The screw 18 will continue to be well supported by the tape 10.

Here, the rigidity of such tape 10 is relatively small. Therefore, as described below,
In the screw tightening machine 14, the head 1 of the screw 18 inserted therein approaches from above so that the bit passes through the screw insertion hole 16 formed in the tape 10.
The bit fits into the cross hole 18c formed in the screw 8a, and the bit further descends to push down the screw 18.

Here, the lower edge of the opening 24, with which the rounded lower surface of the head 18a of the screw 18 engages, is formed in a tapered shape. As a result, as the screw 18 is pushed down, the central portion of the strip 20 is gradually pushed outward, and in this way,
The diameter of the screw insertion hole 16 is the same as the head 18a of the screw 18.
It is brought to a state in which the diameter is expanded from the diameter of . As a result, the screw 18 passes through the screw insertion hole 16 and is taken out from the tape 10.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, the configuration of the screw tightening machine 14 for taking out the screws 18 supported by the screw supply tape 10 configured as described above and screwing them onto a workpiece will be schematically illustrated. Explain.

This screw tightening machine 14 is used by being detachably attached to the tip of a robot arm 32 of an automatic assembly device (not shown), and includes a mounting body 34 that is detachably attached to the tip of the robot arm 32. There is. The mounting body 34 includes a first mounting stage 34a extending substantially horizontally and a second mounting stage 34 extending substantially diagonally downward.
b.

An air cylinder 36 for vertically driving the bit is fixed on the first mounting stage 34a in a state extending in the vertical direction. A piston 38 is provided in this air cylinder 36 so as to penetrate downward through the first mounting stage 34a and to be able to protrude further downward. This piston 38
An elevating platform 42 is attached to the lower end of the platform 42 with an elastic buffer in the vertical direction via a spring 40 for buffering during positioning.

A DC servo motor 44 for driving the rotation of the bit is fixed to the upper surface of the lifting table 42. A drive shaft 44a of this motor 44 passes through the lifting platform 44 and is taken out downward.
At the bottom end of the
Bits 46 are connected together. This bit 46 is configured to fit from above into a cross recess 18c formed in the head 18a of the screw 18 described above, and is made of magnetized metal.

Since the drive system for the bit 46 is configured as described above, the bit 46 is rotationally driven when the motor 44 starts, and the air cylinder 36
bit 46 by supplying compressed air to
is lowered to the screw-screwing position on the workpiece via a screw take-out position defined below.

On the other hand, in the screw supply tape 10 described above, the screws 18 are inserted into the respective screw insertion holes 16, and the screws 18 are inserted into the openings 24.
The cartridge is wound around a horizontal axis and stored in the cartridge 48 while being supported by the cartridge. and,
One end of the screw supply tape 10 is twisted approximately 90 degrees in the middle to make it horizontal, and then the cartridge 4 is
The tape is taken out to the outside through a tape take-out port 48a formed at 8. This cartridge 48
connects the tape outlet 48a to the mounting body 3.
It is detachably attached to the lower part of the second attachment stage 34b of No. 4.

With the cartridge 48 attached to the second attachment stage 34b of the attachment main body 34 in this manner, the tip of the screw supply tape 10 is taken out forward (to the left in the figure).

On the other hand, at the tip of the second mounting stage 34b, that is, in front of the vertical movement position of the bit 46, a sprocket 50 for transporting the tape is rotatably disposed. The sprocket 50 is configured to be rotationally driven by a drive motor (not shown) built into the second mounting stage 34b. The leading end of the tape 10 taken out from the cartridge 48 is connected to the sprocket 50 by engaging the sprocket hole 12 formed therein with the teeth of the sprocket 50.

Since the conveyance drive system for the tape 10 is configured as described above, in response to the intermittent rotational drive of the sprocket 50, the tape 10 is moved so that the screw 18 supported by the sprocket 50 is moved between the screws 18 defined below the bits 46. It will be intermittently fed so that it is sequentially regulated to the take-out position.

The screw tightening operation of the screw tightening machine 14 configured as above will be explained below.

First, as described above, the cartridge 48 in which the screw supply tape 10 supporting the screws 18 is stored is attached to the second attachment stage 34b of the attachment body 34, and the tape is removed from the outlet 48a of the cartridge 48. The preparatory operation is completed by taking out the leading end of tape 10 and engaging the leading end of tape 10 with sprocket 50.

After this, the robot arm 32 of the automatic assembly device
When the screw moves to just above the part of the workpiece to be tightened, the screw tightening operation starts. That is, compressed air is supplied to the air cylinder 36, and the piston 4
8 is lowered, the DC servo motor 44
starts, and the bit 46 rotates and descends. Then, the lower end of the bit 46 is inserted into the screw insertion hole 16 from above, and when it descends to the screw removal position, it fits into the cross hole 18c formed in the head 18a of the screw 18, and while rotating the screw 18, , will be removed downwardly from the tape 10 based on the operations described above.

Here, as described above, since the bit 46 is magnetized, the screw 18 removed below the tape 10 is attracted to the bit 46 by magnetic force, and there is no risk of it falling downward.

Then, as the bit 46 rotates, the screw 18 also rotates, and as the bit 46 descends, it is further lowered and brought to the screw-screwing position of the workpiece. That is, at this screw screwing position, a screw hole (not shown) into which the screw 18 is screwed is formed in the workpiece, and by inserting the rotating screw 18 into this screw hole, the screw is screwed. 18 will be screwed onto the workpiece.

Thereafter, when it is detected from a change in the load on the motor 44 that the screw 18 is completely screwed into the screw hole, the supply of compressed air to the air cylinder 36 is stopped, and the return spring (see Fig. The repulsive force (not shown) causes the piston 38 to rise. That is, the bit 46 separates from the screw 18 screwed into the workpiece and rises to the upper standby position. In this way, a series of screw tightening operations for one screw 18 are completed.

As detailed above, in this embodiment, the screw supply tape 10 having the above-mentioned configuration is used, so that the screw 18 is well supported by this tape 10 as long as no external force is applied to the screw 18. Then, when removing the screw 18 from the tape 10 via the bit 46, the removal resistance is extremely small, so just by applying a certain force to the screw 18, the screw 18 can be easily and reliably removed.
will be removed from tape 10.

Further, in this embodiment, the head 18a of the screw 18 is supported in a locked state on the lower edge of the opening 24 of the tape 10, so its vertical position can be accurately defined. It turns out. As a result, the downward stroke amount of the bit 46 can be controlled extremely easily.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the tape 10 is not broken when the screw 18 is removed from the tape 10, so the tape 10 can be reused, which is very economical.

It goes without saying that this invention is not limited to the configuration of the one embodiment described above, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of this invention.

For example, in this embodiment, a screw was used as the article, and the installation of the screw was explained, but the invention is not limited to this, and other materials such as bolts,
Any shaft member with a head, such as a rivet, may be used.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the opening 24
Although the shape has been described as being substantially elliptical, the shape is not limited to this, and, for example, the opening may be formed in the shape of a so-called home base, as shown as a modified example in FIG. In short, the shape of the lower half of this opening may be any shape as long as it is formed to gradually slope downward.

[Effects of the invention] As detailed above, the article supplying material according to this invention is for holding an article and conveying it to a supplied position, and the article is attached to a shaft body and integrated with the shaft body. and a head connected to the article supply material, wherein the article supply material includes a tape body formed by overlapping a pair of strips made of a flexible material, and a head connected to the supply material. A plurality of holes are formed at predetermined intervals along the material conveyance direction,
a fixing part that partially fixes the overlapping parts of the strips to each other; and a fixing part that is located between the adjoining fixing parts in both the strips, and a head of the head-equipped shaft member held between the strips. It is characterized by having an opening into which the side part partially fits. Therefore, according to this invention, it is possible to continuously supply a large number of articles, and
It is possible to easily remove the conveyed articles and to reuse them, thereby providing an article supply material with improved economical efficiency.

Further, the openings are set at the same height. Therefore, according to this invention, a large number of articles can be continuously supplied, and the conveyed articles can be easily and reliably removed, and they can be reused, which is economical. This means that supplies with improved properties will be provided.

Furthermore, the shape of the lower half of each of the openings is
It is characterized by its gradual slope. Therefore, according to this invention, it is possible to continuously supply a large number of articles, and
This provides an article supply material that allows transported articles to be easily and reliably removed and reused, thereby improving economic efficiency.

Further, each of the openings is characterized in that it is formed in a substantially elliptical shape. Therefore, according to this invention, a large number of articles can be continuously supplied, and the conveyed articles can be easily and reliably removed, and they can be reused, which is economical. This means that supplies with improved properties will be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of an embodiment of the article supply material related to this invention; Fig. 2 is a front view showing the shape of a screw applied as an article; Fig. 3 is a front view showing the state in which the screw is supported. A perspective view showing a screw supply tape;
FIG. 4 is a front view schematically showing the structure of a screw tightening machine using a screw supply tape; and FIG. 5 is a front view showing the structure of a modified example of the article supply material according to this invention. In the figure, 10...screw supply tape, 10a...tape body, 12...sprocket hole, 14...screw tightener, 16...screw insertion hole, 18...screw, 1
8a...head, 18b...screw body, 18c...
Cross recess, 20... strip, 22... fixed part,
24...Opening, 32...Robot arm, 34...
...Mounting body, 34a...First mounting stage, 34b...Second mounting stage, 36...
... Air cylinder, 38 ... Piston, 40 ... Spring, 42 ... Lifting platform, 44 ... DC servo motor, 44a ... Drive shaft, 46 ... Bit, 4
8... Cartridge, 48a... Tape ejection opening, 50... Sprocket.

Claims (1)

[Utility Model Claims] (1) An article supplying material for holding an article and transporting it to a supply position, the article being a headed shaft member having a shaft body and a head integrally connected to the shaft body, the article supplying material comprising: a tape body formed by overlapping a pair of strips made of a flexible material; fastening portions formed at predetermined intervals along the transport direction of the supplying material and partially fastening overlapping portions of the strips to each other; and openings formed in both strips between adjacent fastening portions and into which a side portion of the head of a headed shaft member sandwiched between the strips is partially fitted. (2) The article supplying material as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the openings are set at the same height. (3) The article supplying material as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the lower half of each opening is formed to be gradually inclined. (4) The article supplying material as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that each opening is formed to be approximately elliptical.