US2848784A - Mount and bulb loading machine - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 26, 1958 A. E. PAKISH ETAL 2,848,784

MOUNT AND BULB LOADING MACHINE Filed April 23, 1952 e Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventors Anthony EPakish Arthur" W Lamp by W /f Their Attorney Aug. 26, 1958 A. E. PAKISH ET AL 48,

MOUNT AND BULB LOADING MACHINE Filed April 23, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 g%% Anthony E Pakish Arthur WLamp d byMC/z Their Attorney 1958 A. E. PAKlSH ETAL 2,848,784

MOUNT AND BULB LOADING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 23. 1952 dU\ 3Q Wm 80 a 8 3a we 0 8o N5 MNQ m5 Q5 2Q F. i f Q3 Ea 3Q W 3Q QNQ "KL".

as fmmwiL NuQ :FEHHL ...,,.,,......HEE=

lnventors= S OI V/ wm e aa m 0 E. t At UUGA on .m ht e an h nA T A b A. E. PAKISH ET AL 2,848,784

MOUNT AND BULB LOADING MACHINE Aug. 26, 1958 Filed April 23, 1952 6 Sheets-Sneec 6 ca/ Q. n k D43 lnventors D57 Anthgny E. Pakish 8f D56 Arthur WLamP Their Attorney MOUNT AND BULB LGADENG MACHINE Anthony E. Pakish, (Ileveland Heights, and Arthur W. Lamp, Lyndhurst, Ohio, assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application April 23, 1952, Serial No. 283,872

3 Claims. (Cl. 29-2519) This invention relates to the manufacture of buttseal incandescent lamps, and more particularly 'to a machine for placing the mounts into the open ends of the bulbs, and for loading the bulbs into a sealing machine in such manufacture.

In the butt-seal construction generally used for miniature incandescent lamps, the lamp comprises a bulb into which the lead wires supporting the filament are sealed directly and Without any stem tube such as is used in the larger sizes of incandescent lamps. The mount consists of a pair of lead wires having juxtaposed portions held together by an insulating bead, and supporting a short filament at their inner ends. Because of their small size and fragility, the manufacture of parts for such lamps has been particularly difiicult and has required much manual labor.

In manufacturing butt-seal lamps, the machines which have generally been used up to the present time, are the automatic mount making machine and the automatic sealing and exhausting machine. The former makes the mounts by cutting off and shaping a pair of lead wires, fusing a glass bead about them, and then affixing a short length of filament across their ends. The latter is supplied with bulbs, each containing a mount loaded into it by an operator, and carries out the sealing and exhausting functions well known in the art. Up to the present time however there has not as yet been devised a machine capable of performing in a commercially satisfactory fashion the intermediate operations of receiving the mounts from the mount making machine, loading them into bulbs, and then supplying the bulbs to a sealing machine.

Accordingly an object of our invention is to provide apparatus for automatically loading mounts into openended bulbs in the manufacture of lamps of the buttseal type.

Another object of our invention is to provide bulb loading mechanisms for loading bulbs into individual holders on a conveyor.

A further object of our invention is to provide a machine operable in conjunction with a mount making machine and a sealing machine for lamps of the butt-seal type, and adapted to receive mounts from the former machine, place them into bulbs, and finally load the bulbs into the latter machine through a completely automatic operation.

In accordance with the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the mounts are received from the mount making machine onto a slide comprising a pair of parallel tracks which engage the oppositely extending ends of the leadin wires of the mounts. From the slide, the mounts are released onto a reciprocating rack conveyor upon which they advance, one position at a time, in synchronism with the indexing movements of the sealing machine towards which they are progressing. From the rack conveyor, the mounts are released into a loading slide, at the end of which each drops in turn, of its own weight, into a bulb positioned therebeneath and held in a atent O 2,848,784 Patented Aug. 26, 1958 suitable holder or clip of an articulate bulb conveyor. Thereafter the bulb containing the mount is carried by the articulated conveyor to the sealing machine and transferred into it by a transfer mechanism. The invention also provides means for automatically loading the bulbs into the clips or holders on the articulated conveyor, and additionally, means for removing a mount from the rack conveyor if a bulb should be missing in the cooperating holder of the articulated conveyor, and also for removing a bulb from the articulated conveyor should a mount be missing in the cooperating position of the rack conveyor.

For further objects and advantages and for a better understanding of the features of our invention, attention is now directed to the following description and accompanying drawings. The features of the invention believed to be novel will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a mount and bulb loading machine embodying our invention and shown with portions of a mount making machine and of a sealing machine with which it operates.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a mount and globular bulb assembly as delivered by the present machine into a sealing machine.

Figs. 3 and 4 are side elevation and plan views respectively of the reciprocating rack conveyor which receives the mounts from the mount making machine and loads them into the bulbs.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view along the line 5-5 in Figs. 3 and 4, showing the details of an escapement mechanism for the mounts.

I Fig. 6 is an end elevation view of the reciprocating rack conveyor showing particularly a missing mount detecting mechanism.

Fig. 7 shows a mount ejecting mechanism on the rack conveyor.

Fig. 8 shows a bulb ejecting mechanism on the articulated bulb conveyor.

Fig. 9 is a vertical elevation of a bulb loading mechanism for globular bulbs, and Fig. 10 is a sectional view through the lower end of its escapement tube along the line 1tl10.

Fig. 11 shows a portion of another bulb loading mechanism modified to handle a tubular type of bulb.

The general scheme of operation of the machine will first be outlined by reference to Fig. 1. The series of operations begins with the mount making machine A which manufactures lamp mounts of the type shown in Fig. 2. The mount 1 comprises a pair of lead-in wires 2 having juxtaposed portions 3 held together by a bead 4 of vitreous material fused about them, and a filament 5 pressed into or otherwise fastened to the inner ends of the leads. The outer ends 6 of the leads extend transversely to the juxtaposed mid-portions and are bent back at an angle of approximately 70 and extended in opposite directions therefrom. The distribution of weight in the mount is such that when it is supported by the transverse portions in proximity to the bends, for instance as by the neck of the bulb 7, the mount naturally hangs with the filament down.

The mount making machine A may be of the type disclosed in U. S. Patent 1,733,881, Illingworth, which is a turret type machine having a plurality (16) of heads A1 mounted on the periphery of a turret A2. At the various stations of the machine, the proper lengths of lead wire are fed into the jaws A3, a glass ring is released over them and heated to the point where it fuses into a bead, and a short length of filament is wound, cut off, and pressed across the ends of the lead-in Wires. The turret turns in a counterclockwise direction as indicated by the mount slides.

' the firstjportion isa receiving slide or chute B1 comprising a pair iO'f smooth guide rails down which the an escapement mechanism B2 releases the mount into the first notch of the reciprocating rack B3, comprising two pairs of parallel guide railsboth' of which are transversely notched at equal intervals. One pair' of guide rails is stationary and the other is reciprocab'le with a rectangular'motion comprising a horizontal forward displacement equal to the interval between notches. The mounts are supported in the notches withthe transverse portions of the lead wires straddling the guide rails and the filament depending between the rails, and are transferred from notch to notch in the stationaryguide rails at each rectangular movement of the reciprocable rails.

The rack conveyor is'driven or operated in synchronism with the sealing machine, preferably through a direct mechanical drive, so that as soon as a mount has entered the first notch, it is, so to speak, segregated and its relation with respect to the one particular head of the sealing machineiinto which it willeventually be delivered, is determined once and for all. distinct and separate from the others, and the mounts are never allowed to become bunched together. Prior attempts at automatic loading of mountsinto bulbs have generally accumulated the mounts after manufacture by the mount making machine, for instance by bunching on a receiving slide. The accumulation or bunching entailed the necessity to provide means for separating or counting the mounts at the station where they are loaded into the bulbs. Such sorting or separating means have not been acceptable'because more waste occurred through their use than could be tolerated in commercial production. The diflicultiesof assuring successful operation of such sorting'or separating meanswill readily be appreciated when,

the lightness and fragile nature of the mount are consid ered. For instance; the bulb of a commercial flashlight lamp corresponding tothat illustratedin Fig. 2, is A inch in diameter and the mount is scaled accordingly. Our invention has eliminated these difiiculties by never allowing' bunching of" the mounts to occur, so that the need for sorting them never arises. With the present invention" in fact, as" soon as a mount is produced by the mount making machine, it is immediately received in a definite aspect in a notch of the rack conveyor and segregated, that' is, maintained at all times in a definite relationship with the one particular head of the sealing machine into which. it will eventually be delivered.

Therack' conveyor advances the mounts in the directionindicated by the arrow B4, and in their course they pass opposite a mount ejecting mechanism B5, and then amissing mount detecting mechanism B6. The functions of these mechanisms will be described in detail shortly. The mounts finally arrive at a pivotable unloading slide B7 where each is released in turn into the open neck of abulb indexed thereatby an articulated conveyor C.

The conveyor C comprises an endless chain C1 of the link and roller type stretched between a driving sprocket C2' and an idler sprocket C3. The driving sprocket is fast on a shaft C4 which is rotated intermittently in synchronism with the indexing of the sealing machine E. As

illustrated, the drive is from the power driven continuously rotating shaft E14 of the sealing machine by means and: reference; may be. mmetoPatent. 1,742,153, Stiles At the lower end of the receiving slide,

Thus each mount is kept et al., for a more complete description thereof. Fastened to the chain at spaced intervals are small brackets or plates C5 each provided with a holder or clip C6 for receiving a bulb and holding it neck uppermost. The chain advances in the direction indicated by the arrows C7, and for each index of the sealing machine it moves through a distance equal to the interval between successive bulb holders. r

The bulbs are loaded into the holders of the articulated conveyor at station Ca by a bulb loading mechanism D which will be described in detail shortly. At the succeeding station Cb, a detecting mechanism operating in conjunction with the bulb loader D determines whether the bulb loader has successfully delivered a bulb to the conveyor. In the event that it has not, a signal is provided to the mount ejector B5 causing it to eject the mount from the appropriate notch in the rack conveyor B. At station. C0,. there is located a bulb ejector C8 electrically controlled by the missing mount detector B6 on the rack conveyor. In the event that the notch of the rack conveyor opposite the mount detector should not contain a mount, a signal will be provided to the bulb ejector C8 causing it to eject from the articulated conveyor the bulb which had been intended for the mount in question.

At station Cd, a mount is released from the rack conveyor B through the loading slide B7 into the bulb, and the loaded bulb is then ready to be transferred into the sealing machine at station Ce. Here, the bulb is lifted out of its clip on the articulated conveyor and deposited into a head of the'sealing machine E at station Ea by a transfer mechanism E1. e

The sealing machine E may be of the type disclosed in Patent 1,742,153, Stiles et al., and comprising in genepa'l a turret whereof a'fragment is shown at E2. The turret is indexed periodically by a grooved cam and roller linkage with drive shaft E14. The turret supportsin unison through their intermeshing gear teeth portions at E9. The arm E5 swings with the shaft E6 to enable thejaws to pick up the bulb at position Ce of the articu-- lated conveyor and deposit it into the sealing head at 'position Ea of the sealing machine. The shaft is also vertically reciprocable: it is lowered either to pick up or to release a bulb, and is raised while swinging, in order to clear the bulb holder. The jaws are causedto pivot together or to open, for gripping or releasing the bulb as the case may be, by the lever E10 which is pivotally mounted on the arm E5 and which actuates' jaw E7 through a short link E11. The pivoting of lever B10 is obtained through the rotation of cam E12 to engage roller E13 on the end of lever E10. The transfer mechanism is in general similar to that described in Patent 2,098,030, Donovan et al., to which reference may be made for a morecornplete description. It is operated from the main drive shaft B14 in synchronism with the sealing machine, and of course in synehronism also with the articulated conveyor C.

Having thusdescribed the mode of operation of our mount and bulb loading machine and the general coordination of the mechanisms included in it, these mechanisms will now be considered in greater detail to provide acomplete description of our invention.

veyor B includes a receiving slide B1 comprising a pair of spaced parallel inclined guide rails B8. To the higher end of the rails is fastened a vertical plate B9 having a lip B on its rear upper edge and located just to the rear of the path of the mounts at station Aa of the mount making machine. The mount 1 is held in the mount making machine A in a filament up position between the jaws A3, and, as the jaws are indexed into position, the transverse portions of the lead wires enter forward of the lip B10. The jaws then open, and simultaneously a lever A6 on a shaft A7 is pivoted forward so that its lower end engages the bead, as shown at 1a (seen also in Fig. 5) and tips the mount over. The mount is thus caused to pivot, the top edge of plate B9 and its lip B10 serving as pivot points, as shown in dotted lines at 1b. The mount finally topples over into the position shown at 1c, wherein it is suspended on the guide rails by the transverse portions of the lead-in wires, the bead and filament hanging down in the gap B13 between the rails. This particular aspect or manner of supporting the mount is thenceforth maintained throughout the rack conveyor and until the mount is finally loaded into a bulb.

The guide rails B3 are smooth faced and the mount slides down, assisted by an air jet supplied through the passages B11 in plate B9 and tube B12 fitted thereto. The mount next arrives at escapement mechanism B2 which comprises a pivotable slide portion B14 supported in a cradle B15 pivoting on pins B16. Portion B14 is normally restrained in the position shown in solid lines by spring B17, in which case it is in effect a continuation of the guide rails B8. When it is desired to reject a defective mount, portion B14 is pivoted to the position shown in dotted lines: this operation is brought about by the energization of solenoid B18 whose armature B19 is connected by link B2B to a crank B21 fast on pin B16. A gap is thus opened at B22 between the lower end of the guide rails B8 and the upper end of the pivotable slide B14 and the defective mount falls through the gap into discard.

The operation of the discarding slide portion B14 is preferably controlled by means of suitable electrical signals originating from the mount making machine. Defects making it desirable to discard a mount may include, for instance, a missing head, a broken filament, a missing lead wire, or twisted and bent leads. Such defects may readily be determined by means of feelers, either mechanical or electrical, on the mount making machine and arranged to operate an electrical switch included in circuit with the solenoid B18. As a practical matter r however it is generally not feasible to locate the testing mechanism or feelers at the unloading station, that is the station Aa of the mount making machine, and it will normally be located at a station preceding the unloading station by one or more index intervals. In such case it is necessary to record the signal over the intervening index intervals so as to permit its utilization at a later time.

The required recording may be eifected by means of a selector mechanism B23 comprising a disc B24 supported on a shaft B25 which is driven in synchronism with the turret of the mount making machine. The disc B24 carries a number (16) of pins B26 fitting slidably in axial apertures around its periphery, the number of pins corresponding to the number of heads on the mount making machine. The pins normally project on the left side of the disc as seen in the drawing, and if displaced to the right, are returned to that position by an inclined cam bracket B27. A pair of solenoids B28, B29 have been shown in this example of a selector mechanism, making it capable of handling signals from two different stations of the mount making machine. The armature B30 or" solenoid B28 is biased to the left by a spring B31, and its normal position is that shown in connection with solenoid B29. When the solenoid is energized, the armature moves forward, that is to the right, and anvil portion B32 strikes the pin directly in front of it, driving it through to the right side, as illustrated at B26. A switch B33 has a bent spring actuator B34 disposed in the path of pins projecting on the right side of the disc so as to be operated thereby. The switch is connected in circuit with the solenoid B13 across input terminals B35 through conductors B36.

By making the interval or spacing between the actuating solenoid B28 and the switch B33 correspond to the interval between the testing mechanism and the unloading station on the mount making machine, the signal is preserved over the required interval of time, and the defective mount is discarded when it eventually arrives at slide portion B14. The second solenoid B29 may be used in similar fashion to record another defective condition determined at some other station of the mount making machine.

Assuming that the mount is good, it continues sliding down guide rail portion B14 to a pair of pivotable escapement stops or fingers B37 and B137. Referring to Fig. 5, it will be seen that the upper stop B37 is fast on a hollow shaft B38 to the opposite end of which is fastened a crank B39 actuated by lower solenoid Bdtl whose armature B41 is connected thereto by a link B42. The lower escapement stop B137 is fast on a shaft B138 passing through the bore of hollow shaft 38, and having fastened to its opposite end a crank B139 actuated by upper solenoid B146 whose armature B141 is connected thereto by a link B142.

The upper escapement stop is controlled from the mount making machine A by an electrical signal supplied to the lower solenoid B40. Its function is to hold the mount until a predetermined instant of the cycle, thereby to equalize the variations in time of the different mounts in sliding down the rails B3. it will be appreciated that the time required to slide down the rails is somewhat variable by reason of the lightness of the mounts; in fact mere dust upon the rails may produce a considerable variation. The lower escapement stop is controlled from the sealing machine by an electrical signal supplied to the upper solenoid B140; its operation is timed to release the mount at the instant when the rack conveyor is positioned to receive it. The sealing machine is operated at synchronism or just slightly above synchronous speed with respect to the mountmaking machine, or just slightly above a harmonic of synchronous speed. The harmonic may be used where two or more mount making machines feed into a sin e articulated conveyor to supply mount-containing bulbs to a single high speed sealing machine. However in any event the mount making machine is preferably not operated at a higher rate than the sealing machine. By so doing, the possibility that on occasion two mounts might be loaded into a single bulb is avoided, and the worst that can happen is that occasionally a mount is not produced for a particular bulb, and that bulb is then rejected and no further wastage occurs.

The rack conveyor proper, indicated generally at B3, comprises a pair of stationary outer guide rails B ti. wedge-shaped in section and spaced one from the other (best seen in Fig. 6), and a pair of reciprocable inner guide rails B45 fitting within the outer rails and consisting of a generally U-shaped metal strip. The outer rails are supported on a bracket B46 fixed to a frame member B47 forming the bed plate of this portion of the machine. Both the inner and outer rails have notches B48, cut in their upper edges at equal intervals, and in which the transverse portions of the mount lead Wires are received. The inner rails B45 are maintained in horizontal alignment and located vertically within the outer rails by front and rear support links B49, B59. The lower ends of these links engage the horizontal arms of bell cranks B51, B52, pivotally mounted on frame member B47 at B53, B54 respectively. The dependent arms" of the bell cranks are linked together by a confleeting. rod B55 which assures that they both pivot through the same angle. are restrained in a horizontal direction by means of a rocker arm B56 which is pivotally supported on the frame member at B57 and which engages the rails at B58 through a pin and slot engagement.

The progression. of the mounts from notch to notch in the outer rails occurs through a succession of jumps wherein the mounts are lifted clear of their notches in the outer rails by the upward movement of theinner rails, then advanced to the right one notch interval, and then lowered back into notches in the outer rails one interval ahead of the starting point. A section of the inner rails at an intermediate point of their horizontal displacement in their raised position is shown at B45, and the components of motion of their rectangular reciprocation are indicated by the arrows B59. The vertical movement is effected by rocking bell cranks B51 and B52 through connecting rod C11, rocker arm C12, and cam C13 (Fig. l). The horizontal movement is effected by rocking arm B56 through connecting rod C14, rocker arm C15 and cam C16. Both cams C13 and C16 are fast on a shaft C17 which is rotated continuously by the main drive shaft E14 of the sealing machine. The linkage (Fig. 1) is effected through sprocket E16 fast on shaft E14, chain C18, sprocket C39 and universal joint C40 fast on shaft C17.

From the last notch in the outer guide rails, the mount is picked up by the inner guide rails, and deposited on a rocking slide B61. The slide comprises a pair of spaced vertical plates supported on a cradle B62 pivoting at B63. The slide tilts with the displacement of the inner guide rails, the mechanical linkage being eifected through links B64 and B65. The locking bolt B66 and spring B67 provide a resilient coupling which prevents damage to the rocking slide if its end should become jammed in the vertical guide member B68. When the inner guide rails are at their top position and move forward, the rocking slide B61 tilts back to the position shown in dotted lines, and'the mount is deposited on it. Thereafter the slide is rocked forward to the position shown in solid lines, and the mount slides down against the vertical guide member B68 near the bottom of which it is temporarily restrained and guided by a pair of hinged gates B69. These gates in closing also assist in centering the bulb 7 in its clip on the articulated conveyor by engaging its neck between shaped notches. The gates are opened by the upward movement of wedge-shaped cam B71 which is carried on a vertically reciprocable rod B72 and which engages pins B73 on the gates. is achieved through the mechanical linkage comprising lever B74, link B75 and bell crank B76. The dependent arm of bell crank B76 in turn is operated by connecting rod C29, rocker arm C21 and cam C22. Cam C22 is fast on shaft C17 which, as was mentioned earlier, is geared to the sealing machine drive. The operation of the rocking slide is timed to release the mount into a bulb during the interval of dwell of a holder of the articulated conveyor below it at station Ca.

Should bulb loading mechanism D fail to load a bulb into a particular holder, it is desirable to remove the mount from the corresponding notch in the rack conveyor in order to salvage it. The mount ejecting mechanism B provided for this purpose (Fig. 7), comprises a solenoid B81 which is placed on the side of the rack conveyor at a position removed from the rocking slide a number of notches equal to the number of index intervals which the missing bulb detector is removed from station Cd.

The missing bulb detector, which will be described shortly in connection with the bulb loading mechanism, provides a signal to solenoid B81 whenever 'aholder is encountered which does not contain a bulb.' The solenoid has a vertically reciprocable armature B82 to which is fastened anotchedblade B83. When the solenoid-is-energized;

The inner guide rai1sB45 The upward movement of rod B72.

tlie'armatur'e movesu'p'sharply and the blade B83 catches the' inderside' of one of the transverse portions of the leads of mount 1, and flips it out of the guide rails into a receptacle B84 provided on the opposite side. The receptacle is surrounded by a curved shield B85 which deflects the ejected mounts intoit.

It is also desirable to remove the bulb from a particular clip in the articulated'conveyor whenever its intended mount is-absent from the corresponding notch in the rack conveyor. In view of the fragility of the mounts, it is necessary to provide an extremely sensitive feeling device to produce the required electrical signal.

B94. As plate B87 is lowered, feeler B86 is tilted a clockwise direction if it encounters a mount, but remains horizontal if it does not. The switch is provided with a spring blade B lying over the switch button or actuator B9 6 When plate B87 moves down, the switch simultaneously pivots: if a mount has been encountered, the feeler has likewise been tilted and the spring blade does not engage it; on the other hand, if no mount is encountered, the feeler remains horizontal, the spring blade engages it and the switch is actuated, thereby providingthe signal to the bulb ejector on the articulated conveyor.

The bulb ejector C8 is shown in Fig. 8 and comprises a solenoid C24 whose armature C25 actuates a striker C26 through a link C27. j The arrangement is normally restrained in the position shown in solid lines, by spring C28. When the solenoid is energized by the signal frommissing mount d'etector B6 on the rack conveyor, the striker is thrown sharply forward into the position shown in dotted lines at C26 and strikes the bulb between the fingers of the clip C6, knocking it out and off the conveyor.

The section of the articulated conveyor chain C1 shown in Figs. 8 and 9 is of heavier construction than that illustrated in Fig. l, and has'the advantage of greater rigidity. The bulb holders or clips C6 are fastened directly on the upper outside links C33 which join the rollers C34. These links have outwardly projecting portions which ride on lateral guides C35 to elfect a more accurate positioning of the bulbs at the various stations.

A bulb loading mechanism D suitable for loading globul-ar bulbs such as that of Fig. 2, is shown in Fig. 9. A

quantity of bulbs is loaded in bulk, that is without any particular organization or order, into a hopper D1 from which they feed bygravity through an opening D10 in its lower side into a vibrating trough D2. The flow is restricted by a flexible rake D3 disposed in the trough, and a partial lining up of the bulbs into single file is effected by gate D4. The. trough is supported on inclined cantilever springs D5, D6 fastened to a base member D7 and is vibrated by an electromagnetic vibrator D8 of commercial design having a frequency, for. example, of 3600 cycles per minute. The inclined cantilevers cause the 'I-hrig'lithand an of the troughis slotted at D9 and- The missing. mount detecting mechanism B6 is shown in side elevation its upper end a small switch B91 pivotally fastened at B92 a longitudinal guide bar D11 is disposed above the slot; by this arrangement, when the bulbs enter the slotted portion of the trough, they align themselves in single file with the neck of the bulb hanging down in the slot. The bulbs naturally tend to this position by reason of the mode of support relative to their center of gravity, and the guide D11 prevents any of them from getting out of line. At the right hand end of the trough, the bulbs are caused to pivot around a tipping plate D12 whereby they fall neck up into an escapement tube D13. A jet of air blown from a tube D14 assists in tipping the bulbs over at this point.

It is desirable to provide control means to arrest the flow of bulbs whenever the escapement tube is full. For this purpose, the magnetic vibrator D8 is connected across a voltage supply at terminals D15, in series with a switch D16 which carries a light vane D17 on a spring blade D18 disposed to actuate the switch armature D19. A jet of air is blown from a tube D21, transversely across the escapement tube through the slot D22 and strikes the vane. When the level of bulbs in the tube is such that the air jet is obstructed by a bulb, vane D17 swings forward and allows the switch contacts to open. When the level of bulbs in the tube has receded below this point, the vane is forced back by the air jet so that the switch is actuated to its closed condition, the magnetic vibrator is energized, and the flow of bulbs through the vibrating trough resumes.

The actual loading of the bulbs into the clips of the articulated conveyor is achieved through a counting mechanism comprising a vertically reciprocable plate D23 which carries an upper pair of plungers D24 and a lower pair D25. The upper plungers (best seen in Fig. are biased inwardly by springs D26 and are cam actuated through the vertical cam members D27 and cooperating rollers D28; they move together inwardly when plate D23 is carried down, the escapement tube D13 being appropriately slotted to permit their entry.

At the top of the stroke, the upper plungers are spread out and the bulbs drop down in the tube, being prevented from falling through completely by the lower plungers. As plate D23 is carried down, the upper plungers move in and contact the bulb above its widest portion so that it is forced down until the upper plungers rest against its narrowest part, that is against its neck. Simultaneously the bulb is being pressed down into the clip or holder C6 of the articulated conveyor, and when the plate D23 is returned upward, the clip holds the bulb and pulls it out through the lower plungers D25 which are restrained by' a spring D29 of relatively light construction. The downward reciprocation of the plate D23 is effected through a rocker arm D31 linked to a connecting rod C31 which is actuated by a cam E17 on shaft E14 of the sealing machine.

In the event that the mechanism should fail to load a bulb into the clip of the articulated conveyor C, it is desirable to detect such fact and to provide a signal to the mount ejector B6 in order to remove the corresponding mount from the rack conveyor and salvage it. This is effected by means of a switch D32 fastened indirectly to the base member D7. The armature D33 of the switch is actuated by a bracket D34 fastened to a spring loaded plunger D35. Plunger D35 is carried on plate D23 and its conical lower end is disposed to engage the neck of the bulb in the holder at station Cb, that is, at the station immediately following the bulb loading station Ca. Assuming that a bulb has been properly loaded, the plunger is prevented from dropping down and the switch is not actuated. If a bulb has not been loaded, the plunger moves down without restraint and switch D32 is actuated so that the mount ejecting mechanism B6 is energized and removes the corresponding mount from the rack conveyor.

It sometimes happens that the bulbs stick in the escapement tube at a time when the tube is full up to the air vane and switch D16 is open. To obviate this difficulty, there is provided an additional switch D61 connected in parallel with switch D16. Switch D61 is normally open and is closed momentarily, once per loading cycle, by a bracket D62 which is carried on plate D23 and strikes the switch armature D63 at the top of the stroke. This assures a jogging or temporary energization of vibrator D8 once per loading cycle which serves to loosen up the bulbs if sticking should occur.

The bulb loading mechanism of Fig. 9 is suitable for handling bulbs which can be supported in a definite manner at a distance off their center of gravity so that the bulbs will naturally tend to assume one established position or aspect. Typical bulbs of this type are the globular bulbs of Fig. 2 which, when suspended in a slotted trough, naturally tend to a neck down position; and conical or Christmas tree bulbs which, under like support, naturally tend to a neck up position. It will be appreciated that the bulb loading mechanism of Fig. 9, is readily adapted to handling such conical bulbs, the only modification required being the elimination of the tipping plate D12.

Fig. 11 shows a modified form of bulb loader designed to handle tubular bulbs as shown at 8. Because of configuration of these bulbs, it is not feasible to suspend them neck down in a slotted trough; accordingly the bulbs are fed on their side in a closed trough D37, which corresponds to the forward end of vibrating trough D2 shown in Fig. 9. Some bulbs will advance to the right in the trough with their open end foremost, as bulbs 8a and 8c, whereas others will have their closed end foremost, as bulb 8b. Bulbs such as St: and must be tipped over before being released into the escapement tube D41. For this purpose, there is provided a hair spring D38 having a hooked end D39 which engages the open neck of the bulb. As the bulb moves forward due to the force applied to it by the bulbs from behind, the hair spring causes it to swing up into the position shown in dotted lines at 8d, whereupon it drops down into the escapement tube, closed end foremost. On the other hand, bulbs such as 8b which arrive closed end foremost, merely push the hair spring aside and fall directly down the escapement tube, closed end foremost.

For releasing the bulbs one at a time in synchronism with the indexing of the holders or clips of the articulated conveyor below the escapement tube, there is provided a counting mechanism comprising an annular sleeve D42 fitting slidably over the lower end of the escapement tube D41 and having a constricted bore in its lower portion which forms in elfect a continuation of the bore of the escapement tube below its end at D43. Annular sleeve D42 has been illustrated in its uppermost position and it is reciprocated down by means of rocker arm D31, pivotally mounted on the frame member and connected to vertical connecting rod C31 as in the mechanism of Fig. 9. The annular sleeve D42 is vertically slotted on opposite sides at D47 and D43. Within slot D47 there is mounted an upper escapement lever D49 pivotally supported at D51 on the escapement tube D41, and biased by a spring D52 so that its lower end tends to swing inwardly into the escapement tube. Similarly there is provided in slot D48 a lower escapement lever D53 pivotally mounted with respect to the escapement tube at D54, and biased by a spring D55 so as to tend to swing its lower end inwardly into the bore of the escapement tube. The lower end of slot D47 is terminated in a cam surface D56 which slopes inwardly and upwardly with respect to the bore of the tube, whereas slot D48 has a portion D57 which slopes inwardly and down with respect to the bore. The result of this arrangement of cam surfaces is that when the annular sleeve is in its uppermost position as illustrated, upper escapement lever D49 is pivoted out and lower escapement lever D53 is pivoted in. As sleeve D42 moves down, the lower escapement lever D53 gradually pivots out into the position shown in dotted lines at D53 and clears the tube to allow the lowermost bulb .87 to fall through; However before the tube iscompletelycleared, the upper escapementlever D49 has swung into the position illustrated in dotted outline at D49 and has engaged bulb 8e next above the lowermost one. The lowermost bulb 8) is thus released and when the annular sleeve is returned to its uppermost position, the escapement levers reverse to the positions shown in solid outline and allow the next bulb se to fall through to the lowermost position.

While certain specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described they are to be considered as illustrative and not limitative of the invention. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the various mechanisms may beadapted to handle different sizes andshap'es of bulbs and likewise mounts of sizes and configuration varying from those which have been illustrated. The appended claims are accordingly intended to cover any such modifications coming within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: L

l. A machine for loading mounts including a pair of lead wires having transversely extending outer .ends and juxtaposed depending inner ends supporting a filament, into open necked bulbs, comprising means for continuously receiving and segregating said mounts, a reciprocable rack conveyor for transporting said mounts in spaced relationship through a succession of predetermined positions occupied by each mount in turn, an indexing type conveyor comprising spaced holders for supporting bulbs neck up and presenting them successively at a mount load ing station, means for loading bulbs into said holders, means driving both conveyors in synchronism whereby each position on the rack'conveyor corresponds to a station on the indexing conveyor, a missing mount detector at a position of said rack conveyor .and a bulb ejector controlled thereby and located at the corresponding station on said indexing conveyor, a missing bulb detector at a station of said indexing conveyorand a mount ejector controlled thereby and located at the corresponding position on said rack conveyor, and means for releasing'a mount from the last position on the rack conveyor into a bulb indexed into said loading station.

2. Apparatus operable with an indexing mount making machine for loading mounts, including a pair of lead wires having transversely extending outer ends and juxta posed depending inner ends supporting a filament, into open necked bulbs, comprising an indexing mount conveyor means disposed adjacent the unloading station of the mount making machine and having a plurality of individual mount holder means spaced therealong each adapted to receive and support an individual one of said said mount conveyor means, said mount receiving means comprising an inclined slide; for receiving said mounts at intervals and supporting them during their sliding travel downv the said slide,van escapementmechanism at the lower end of said slide comprising upper :and lower alternately operating escapement stops located at spaced points therealong in positionto intercept the mounts during their travel down said slide, means operating said upper, escapement stop in proper time relation withqsaid mount making machine to release eachindividual mount at a predetermined interval of time after it is received by said slide but before the succeeding mount is received thereby from said mount making machine, -means operating said lower escapement stop, in synchronism with said mount conveyor means and alternately with respect to the operation of said upper escapement'stop to release each mount in turn into one of the holder means on said mount conveyor means, said mount conveyor means advancing said mounts in spaced relationship through a succession of predetermined positions v occupied by each mount in turn, an indexing'bulb conveyor comprising spaced holders for receiving ,and holding bulbs in a neck-up position and presenting them successively at a mount loading station, means for releasing amount from the last of said succession 0f positions into a bulb at said loading station, and means for operating said mount con- 1 veyor means, bulb conveyor and mount releasing mechanism in proper timed relation. 1 p I p j 3. Apparatus as specifiedin claim 2 wherein the said mount conveyor means comprises a reciprocating rack including a first stationary :pair *of parallel guide rails having spaced notches eachadapted to receive transversely extending ends of an individual ,one ,of said amounts, and a second movable pair of'similarly notched parallel guide rails contiguous to the first pair and rectangularly reciprocable with respect to it for advancing the mounts from notch to notch. A

ReferencesCited in the'file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,536,677 Brunner et al. Jan. 2, 1951

Images