GB1016134A - Improvements in apparatus for stacking workpieces - Google Patents

Abstract

1,016,134. Stacking machines; suction holding appliances; orientating articles. BRAYWOOD ENGINEERING CO. Ltd. Oct. 18, 1962 [Oct. 18, 1961], No. 37281/61. Headings B8C, B8H and B8S. A machine for stacking workpieces, e.g. tiles, by picking them up one at a time and depositing them on a rotatable support, which is turned through a predetermined angle about its axis after each tile is deposited, has a base 10 supporting a column 15 carrying a plate 20 with pressure cylinders 25, each containing a piston with a rod supporting a plate 26a and a suction pad 26, spaced 90 degrees apart around the column. The machine is fed by a conveyer 30 operated by a chain drive 31 from a motor, and tiles coming along the conveyer first operate a roller 67 connected to a stop 68 which allows the machine to deal with only one tile at a time, and then trip a switch 40 which actuates a valve 37 inducing a vacuum in one of the pads 26 and thus lifting the tile, which is also raised slightly by a plunger 41. The switch 40 also actuates a pressure cylinder 45 connected to the column 15 by a plunger 46 and crank 47 to impart a rotary motion to the column and with it the plate 20 thus swinging the tile through 90 degrees to a position over one of the rotatable supports 51 which are driven from the column 15 in one direction only by chain drives through clutches. The clutch housings carry spring- loaded plungers engaging in grooves on the undersides of the supports to locate them precisely after 90 degrees rotation, and each support carries a setter on which the tiles can rest. When a suction pad comes to rest over a setter the pad is lowered under the control of adjustable air bleeds 25a, an action which is initiated by one of a pair of switches being tripped by an arm on the column 15. The downward travel of the arm is steaded by guides 65 and limited by a switch 70 on the piston rod which is telescopically attached to the pad 26 to permit the rod to descend idly and overtravel when necessary. Each time a suction pad rises it acts on one of a pair of switches 71 on a plate 72 to initiate the next cycle with the other pads. When a desired height of tiles has been deposited on the setter the tiles operate a switch 75 which actuates a pressure cylinder 76 with a pusher 77 which feeds a new setter from a cartridge 78 on to the rotatable support, at the same time pushing the full one on to a receiving belt.