Soft touch lifter

Abstract

A "soft touch" lifter for an automotive "Body in White" geometry station like a framing system is disclosed having a unique lifting assembly for elevating both the automotive body and the underbody tooling to a geometry position. The system includes a lift assembly which is vertically slidably mounted to a stationary base and movable between a first position in which the lift frame is positioned beneath a skid positioned at the geometry station and upon which the automotive body is supported, and a second position elevated from the first position. An underbody tooling assembly is mounted to the lift frame, and this tooling assembly includes a plurality of locators which register with position receptors on the automotive underbody when the skid is positioned at the geometry station. A pair of T-shaped lift arms are slidably mounted to the stationary base at opposite ends of the skid, and these lift arms are movable between a lower and an upper position. In their lower position, the lift arms register with the skids so that movement of the lift arms from their lower and to their upper position simultaneously elevates the skid with its supported automotive body to an upper position. A closed loop belt mechanically connects the lift arms to both the stationary base and the lift frame so that the lift arms move from their lower and to their upper position at a speed substantially one-half of the speed of movement of the lift frame from its first and to its second position. Furthermore, as the lift frame approaches its second position and the lift arms simultaneously approach their upper position, the tooling locators fully engage the receptors in the automotive body and slightly elevate the automotive body from the skid to the geometry position to avoid any geometrical impact from the handling system to the part located by the geometry tooling.

Description

[0001] I. Field of the Invention[0002] The present invention relates generally to a "soft touch" lifter for automotive Body in White geometry stations like framing stations.[0003] II. Description of Related Art[0004] In automotive Body in White geometry stations, automotive bodies in which the automotive body components have not been initially fixedly secured together, typically by welding, are supported on a skid. The skid, in turn, is moved by a conveyor system such as a roller table or belt conveyor along the conveyor line.[0005] In order to form the final geometry and secure the automotive body components together, the skid together with the automotive body components supported by the skid is moved to a geometry station. Automotive tooling is provided at the geometry station, and a part of the tooling is initially positioned beneath the skid as the skid is moved into this geometry station. This underbody tooling typically includes a plurality of locators which register with rece...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

0017] Since the lift arms simultaneously move the skid in an upward direction prior to impact of the underbody tooling upon the automotive body components at the end of the stroke, the speed of impact of the tooling against the automotive body components is effectively re

Problems solved by technology

One disadvantage of these previously known lifter for automotive Body in White geometry systems is that the cycle time for elevating the automotive body components above the skid and to the final geometry position by the machine tools is rather prolonged thus increasing th

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