Automated work transfer system
US4466454A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 23, 1982 |
| Grant date | Aug 21, 1984 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 23, 2002 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S700/90
- WIPO fieldHandling
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
An automatic work transfer system for conveying a basket carrying work through a row of processing stages at a work station in any desired sequence. The basket is lowered into a tank at each stage and oriented therein for processing for a predetermined dwell period, at the conclusion of which the basket is hoisted out of the tank and transferred to the next stage where the procedure is repeated. The system includes a supporting rail laterally displaced from the row of stages and parallel thereto. Riding on the rail is a robot provided with a pair of vertical shafts supported on an elevator. Cantilevered from the shafts are a pair of arms which extend over the stages, the ends of the arms being pivotally connected to a cross piece. Depending from the center of the cross piece is a rod terminating in a hand adapted to engage the handle of the basket. Thus when the robot advances on the rail the hand is then shifted along a horizontal X-axis to a position in general alignment with a selected stage, when the elevator is operated the hand is raised or lowered with respect to the selected stage along a vertical Y-axis normal to the X-axis; and when the shafts are simultaneously rotated, …
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.