US2687233A - Rivet transfer slide mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 24, 1954 A. WENCKUS RIVE'I TRANSFER SLIDE MECHANISM Filed Jan. 15, 1949 war- I:

swam bo ADULFHE WEAK/ M5 33% M'F7R/Q Patented Aug. 24, 1954 RIVET TRANSFER SLIDE MECHANISM Adolphe Wenckus, Jackson, Mich, assignor to Tomkins-Johnson Company, Jackson, Mich, a

corporation of Michigan Application January 15, 1949, Serial No. 71,160

2 Claims. (Cl. 221- 293) This invention relates to riveting machines and more particularly to riveting machines of the kind which employ a laterally movable structure onto which a rivet or other upsettable member is fed at a loading station from a suitable supply source and transferred thereby to a work position where a workpiece, to which it is desired to apply the upsettable member, can be placed over the same in position for upsetting by a rivet set while supported upon an anvil.

An object of the invention is to provide a riveting machine having improved means for transferring the upsettable members from the loading station to the work position.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a riveting machine with a selector slide and guide structure by which the upsettable members are automatically transferred from a hopper chute, or like supply means, to a reciprocable .slide at the beginning and end of the reciprocatory motion thereof, the slide being mounted to transfer the upsettablemembers seriatim from the loading position to the work position.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a riveting machine with a reciprocable slide structure for feeding the upsettable members seri'atim from the loading position to the work position and which slide structure incorporates a movable gate member adapted alternately .to close and open an upsettable member retaining socket, whereby the member is capable of being securely supported upon the slide structure for positioning with respect to the anvil and the rivet set prior to opening of said gate member.

The above and further objects and advantages of the invention will be rendered clear from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. I is a fragmentary vertical section of one form of riveting machine in accordance with the invention, with the rivet selector and transfer slide structure shown in full lines in the position which it occupies at the commencement of a feeding and transfer stroke and in dotted lines in the position which it occupies at the end or" a transfer stroke, prior to opening of the gate associated with the rivet retaining socket opening on said slide structure, and

Fig. II is a plan view on the line A--A of Fig. I, showing the slide structure in dotted lines with its gatemeinber opened, this corresponding to the position occupied thereby during the return movement of the slide structure and after leaving the rivet held deposited in the anvil as. a result of the previous feeding movement of this slide structure.

Referring to the drawings, it indicates a frame upon which there is mounted a slide housing i2 incorporating an upper horizontally extending plate Hi and a lower plate l6 vertically spaced apart to accommodate a slide l8 between them and formed in its lower portion to accommodate a two-part slide, indicated generally at 2 0.

The top plate M has a vertical opening 22 in which the .lower end of a tube 24 is anchored and provides an inlet opening 25 for the transfer of the rivets 2t seriatim from the tube to the supporting surface .28 of the front nose portion 30 of a slide 32., the latter constituting one part of the two-part slide 20-, and the individual rivets being deposited onto its said surface 28 from the tube 28 via the inlet opening 25, an intermediate rivet transfer opening 34 in the slide l8, an opening 39 in the fixed selector plate i6, and a discharge opening or socket 36 in the other slide 38 of the said two-part slide 20, and this under the control of the slide it, which latter constitutes a selector slide.

The selector slide i8 has a depending ledge Ml arranged to be maintained incontact with an upstanding ledge 52 .on the slide part 38 under the action of the coil spring 44.

The slide 32 is resiliently connected, by the coil spring 46 and screw spindle 49, with a ram it so as to be slidable relatively to the other slide it, as and for the purpose later to be described.

The slide 32 has a rear extension it which is slidably guided beneath a block 33 secured, as by the screw-studs 35, to move in unison with the slide 38 and to provide an abutment for the ram it, the latter beingoperated from any convenient power source, which may include a piston and cylinder (indicated at 31) and included in an operating cycle, which positions an overhead drum, for example and not shown, to deliver a supply of rivets to the upperend of the tube 24. The block it also forms an abutment for the upstanding ledge M of the said nose portion 30 when the latter is held'retracted by engagement with the anvil, as later described.

It should be noted that in the position of the parts as shown in Figure I, and which corresponds to the commencement of a rivet feeding movementfrom the chute 24 to the anvil 50 and overhead reciprocable rivet set 52, the composite slide 2i! is held arrested in a position where the ledge 42 is spaced from the corresponding end of the fixed selector plate. it and, accordingly,v the slide i8 is held positioned, as shown, with its rivet transfer opening 124 laterally offset from the rivet inlet opening 25 and with the depending ledge All correspondingly spaced from the selector plate, as indicated by the clearance 51.

It should also be noted that the rivet transfer opening Si is U-shaped in cross-section (Figure II) and presents its open side to the anvil 50, although provision is made whereby this side may be closed or opened by a gate member 53, pivoted at 54 upon the front end of the transfer slide 38.

The anvil 50 has a vertical opening or socket 55 open at the top and at one side 56 but closed at the bottom 51. The top of the anvil is disposed slightly below the plane of the bottom of the slide 38, whereby the latter is free to pass over the top of the anvil to occupy the position shown in dotted lines in Figure I, whereas the side opening 56 is of a width sufficient to permit of the passage of a rivet therethrough while supported in an upright position and pushed off the slide supporting surface 28 by the slide 38, as later described. 1

In operation, and with the parts positioned as shown in full lines in Figure I, the first part of the forward reciprocation of the ram 43 will cause the slide l8 to move to the left, with the slides 38 and 32, an extent sufficient to take up the clearance 5|, when further movement of the slide [8 will be arrested by its contact with the selector plate "5 but with its rivet transfer opening 34 axially aligned with the inlet opening 25 in the upper plate 14. Thus the rivet 26a, previously retained upon the ledge 58 presented by the retracted slide 18. is freed to fall onto a ledge 59 now presented by the fixed selector plate I to the lower end of the rivet transfer opening 34 and is thus held until the slide structure 20 makes its return movement.

While the slide 18 is thus held against further forward movement, the slide structure 25 is free to move further as a unit and carries with it the rivet 26b, previously dropped onto the supporting surface 28 as the result of a said return movement of the slide structure 20. This further forward movement of the slide structure 20 continues until the nose 30 of the slide 32 abuts against the open side of the anvil -0, when further forward movement of the slide 32 will be arrested by its contact with the anvil. The other slide 38, however, continues to move forward and this movement is attended with a compressing of the coil spring 46 and a carrying of the rivet 2619 forward through the anvil side opening 56, due to its retention within the socket opening 35 in the slide 33 and the further forward movement of the latter over the top of the anvil 50, it being understood that all this time the gate member 53 is maintained closed, as shown in full lines in Figure II. When the parts attain the position shown in dotted lines in Figure I, the rivet 26b is free to fall from the outlet opening 36 into the anvil opening or socket 53 and at'this time the slide structure 20 will have reached the end of its forward movement and is ready to commence its return movement. It should be noted, however, that the rivet deposited in the anvil has its upper portion 260 projecting above the top of the anvil and in the path of the return movement of the gate 53 with the guide structure 20. Consequently, during this return movement the gate is opened by contact of its one face 4| with the projecting rivet portion 266 and assumes the position shown in dottedlines in Figure II but is eventually restored to the closed position by contact of its other face 43 with a suitable part of the frame structure, as by contact with the wall 60, and this prior to the return arrival of the outlet opening or socket 3B opposite the opening 39 in the fixed selector plate 46. When this occurs, the slide 28 will have been carried back by contact of the ledge 62 on the slide 38 with the ledge 40 on the slide l8 and restored to its full line position as shown in Figure I where the clearance 5! again exists. In so doing, the rivet which previously rested on the ledge 59 presented by the fixed selector plate It will be pushed off the ledge due to the return movement of the slide i8 and allowed to fall through the openings 39 and 36 onto the supporting surface 28 of the slide 32. The machine is then ready for a fresh operating cycle Whereas the upstanding rivet portion 260 at the anvil 50 is free to be received in an opening of a workpiece (not shown) positioned over the rivet and held upon the anvil while the rivet set 52 is actuated to perform the required upsetting operation.

It will be appreciated that the specific details of the invention above described and shown in the drawings are given mainly by way of example and that the same may be variously modified depending upon particular requirements and practical considerations and further, that the actual form and shape of the upsettable members handled by the machine may be different to that shown in the drawings, it being understood that where herein the expression "rivet is employed this is intended to cover upsettable members generally and is not restricted to any particular form or shape of rivet.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as novel and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. In a feed mechanism for transferring rivets and the like from a loading station to an anvil laterally spaced from the loading station, fixed guide structure comprising vertically spaced horizontal plates each with a vertical rivet transfer opening therethrough, said openings being horizontally off-set with respect to one another, a rivet selector slide plate having a vertical rivet transfer opening therethrough, means mounting said selector slide plate'for limited movement in the space between said horizontal plates to register its said transfer opening alternately with the openings in said horizontal plates, a rivet transfer slide having a rivet receiving opening, means mounting said rivet transfer slide for movement with respect to said selector slide to receive in its said rivet receiving opening a rivet selected by said selector slide and to transfer said rivet from a said loading station to a said anvil, said transfer slide including a rivet supporting surface at the bottom of its said opening, and the latter being open to one side of the transfer slide for displacement of a rivet horizontally from its said opening onto a said anvil, and closure means for normally closing the transfer slide opening at its said one side only when in the rivet receiving position.

2. Rivet feed and transfer mechanism as claimed in claim 1, said closure means comprising agate member carried upon said rivet transfer slide, and means pivotally mounting said gate member upon said transfer slide for opening and closing movement with respect to said transfer slide opening.

References Cited in the file of thispatent v UNITED STATES PATENTS

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