GB825962A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for separating and delivering singly a plurality of rod-like articles - Google Patents

Abstract

825,962. Endless conveyers; shoots. SPOONER DRYER & ENGINEERING CO. Ltd. Oct. 2, 1957 [Jan. 31, 1957], No. 3364/57. Class 78 (1). [Also in Group II] Welding rods 35, Fig. 3, supplied in bulk, e.g. by a pair of endless flexible belts 15, are separated and fed singly by an endless conveyer comprising a pair of endless chains 23 carrying between them a succession of L-shaped members 34, this conveyer including a steeply-inclined upwardly moving section intersecting the path of the supply belts 15. To ensure that each L-shaped member carries only one welding-rod two pairs of fixed cams 36, 38 are provided, the cams of each pair being disposed to engage opposite ends of the welding-rods as they are lifted by the L-shaped members. The arrangement is such that each L-shaped member may initially carry up to four rods as indicated at 40. The action of the first pair of cams 36 is to push off the outer two rods 41, 42 and re-arrange the inner two rods 43, 44 alongside one another so that the second pair of cams pushes off the rod 44, leaving only the rod 43. These remaining rods are then transferred, Fig. 1 (Provisional), to a pair of delivery chains 19 by causing the chains 23 to move on a slight downward incline relative to the chains 19 so that the rods are received in the hollows of the links of chains 19. The chains 19 and 23 pass around sprockets carried by a common shaft 27 so that they move in synchronism, adjusting members 58, 59 being provided for adjusting the relationship between the sprockets to ensure synchronism. The belts 15, chains 19 and chains 23 are mounted on a common frame 31 which is detachably mounted on a base 46 by wing nuts and bolts 56 so as to form a detachable unit between a feeding conveyer 32 and a receiving conveyer 33. The unit may then be exchanged for a similar unit designed to handle welding rods of a different diameter. The belts and chains 15, 19, 23 of the unit may be driven together independently of the feeding and receiving conveyers from a driving-shaft 47 or may be driven from the receiving conveyer via a detachable driving connection between sprockets 22 supporting the chains 19 and a similar pair of sprockets supporting the receiving conveyer chains 61. This detachable connection consists of a hexagonal shaft 66 which is passed through corresponding apertures in the two pairs of sprockets, thus ensuring synchronism of the chains 19 and 61. In the modification described in the Complete Specification, the supply belts 15 are replaced by a shoot 70 having a pivoted lower section 71 which is spring-urged upwardly into alignment with the remainder of the shoot. If an excessive accumulation of rods occurs on the section 71 the weight of these rods pivots the section 71 downwards to deliver the excess to a container 75 from which they may be recirculated. In either embodiment, a magnet 60 may be provided behind the chains 23 at the point where the rods enter the L-shaped members to ensure that the rods do not bounce out of the L-shaped members as they enter them.