Flange-fitted nut array apparatus

Abstract

To provide a flange-fitted nut array apparatus which can also be used for flange-fitted nuts.SOLUTION: In a flange-fitted nut array apparatus, flange-fitted nuts are pumped up from a nut storage mechanism so as to be fallen onto a rail of the nut array apparatus, the flange-fitted nuts are arrayed on the rail of the nut array apparatus, an intermediate passing plate provided with a passing hole fitting the shape of the flange of each nut facing downwards is arranged on the rail of the nut array apparatus, further, passing plates are arranged at the downstream thereof, two rows of first brushes fluctuating with the intermediate passing plate held are arranged, second brushes fluctuating left and right are provided on the rail between the intermediate passing plate and the passing plates along a passing line, a row of third brushes fluctuating left and right orthogonal to the rail are provided directly before the passing plates, and the flange-fitted nuts coming off the rail are returned to the nut storage mechanism by these bushes.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an alignment device for flanged nuts used in the pre-processing of a screw tightening mechanism. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, when tightening a flanged nut 1 automatically, the flange surface is always facing downwards, as shown in Figure 1, and the nut is usually tightened using a box bit 13 (see Figure 1) attached to the tip of an electric screwdriver. Therefore, when the flanged nuts are supplied to the screw tightening mechanism, they must be aligned in a straight line with the flange portion 11 of the flanged nut 1 below, as shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2. Conventional alignment devices for flanged nuts 1 have had the problem of being unable to align the flanged nuts 1 quickly because they get stuck midway. Note that an alignment device for normal headed bolts has been proposed by the present applicant as in Patent Document 3. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-55103 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-196607 [Patent Document 3] Patent No. 5813183 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and aims to provide a flanged nut alignment device that aligns flanged nuts 1 on a rail and can be easily used for flanged nuts by simply making some modifications to the nut alignment mechanism in the front process of a conventional screw tightening device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an apparatus for aligning flanged nuts, which includes an extrusion mechanism that extrudes nuts one by one, a nut alignment device connected upstream of the extrusion mechanism, and a nut alignment device located above a nut storage mechanism for flanged nuts. Nuts are pumped up from the nut storage mechanism and dropped onto the rail of the nut alignment device, and the flanged nuts are aligned on the rail by the nut alignment device. An intermediate passing plate with a passing hole that fits the shape of the nut with its flange facing downward is located on the rail of the nut alignment device, and a passing plate with a passing hole that fits the shape of the nut with its flange facing downward is also located downstream of that. Two rows of first brushes that oscillate on either side of the intermediate passing plate are located, a second brush that oscillates left and right is located on the rail between the intermediate passing plate and the passing plate along the passing line, and a third brush that oscillates left and right in a row perpendicular to the rail is located immediately before the passing plate. This is an apparatus for aligning flanged nuts, which uses these brushes to return flanged nuts that have come off the rail to the nut storage mechanism. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to the flanged nut 1 alignment device 4 of the present invention, the oblique flanged nuts 1 present on the rails 41 of the alignment device 4 can be actively returned to the original nut storage mechanism 3, thereby speeding up the alignment operation of the flanged nuts 1. Moreover, simply by changing the conventional headed bolt alignment device, it can be changed to the flanged nut alignment device 4, and conversely, it can be easily returned to the conventional headed bolt alignment device. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] Figure 1(a) is a side view of a flanged nut 1, Figure 1(b) is a side view of a box bit used to tighten the flanged nut, [Figure 2] 1 is a perspective view of the nut supply device of the present invention, from above and in front of the nut storage mechanism, the alignment device, and the nut extrusion mechanism, with the side cover and the lid removed; [Figure 3] 3 is a perspective view from above and behind FIG. 2; [Figure 4] Enlarged view of the alignment device in Figure 2 [Figure 5] FIG. 3 is an explanatory perspective view of the rail of the alignment device of FIG. 2; [Figure 6] FIG. 6(a) is a side view of the brush part of the alignment device, FIG. 6(b) is a perspective view thereof, and FIG. 6(c) is a plan view of the brush part. [Figure 7] Figure 7(a) shows the state where the flange passes through the passing plate of the alignment device with its flange facing downwards, and Figure 7(b) shows the state where the flange is caught on the passing plate with its flange facing upwards. [Figure 8] 1 is a plan view showing a state in which the flange portion of the flanged nut is caught on the passage plate and the intermediate passage plate; [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a flanged nut cutting mechanism.

[0008] The present invention is a flanged nut alignment device that quickly aligns flanged nuts on a rail and allows flanged nuts 1 to be easily used by simply making some modifications to the nut alignment mechanism and cutting mechanism in the pre-process of the screw tightening device. Preferred embodiments of the flanged nut alignment device and cutting mechanism of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. [Example]

[0009] An embodiment of the present invention will be described first with reference to FIGS. Figure 2 is an overall perspective view of the nut supply device 2 with the side cover and lid removed. Flanged nuts 1 are dropped into the nut storage mechanism 3 from above with the lid opened, and the flanged nuts 1 are lifted from the storage tank 32 of the nut storage mechanism 3 by the rotating magnetic scraper 321, and some of the flanged nuts 1 are dropped and transferred onto the V-shaped vibration plate 33 upstream of the vibrating alignment device 4 and onto the rail 41 of the alignment device 4 (Figure 4), and the vibration moves the flanged nuts 1 forward of the rail 41. As shown in Figure 5(a), the upstream side of this rail 41 is open on one side and has a bank 411 on the other side up to the middle, so that it can receive a flanged nut 1, and from the middle onwards there are banks 411 on both sides down to the downstream side to prevent it from falling.

[0010] The flanged nuts 1 aligned by the alignment device 4 are pushed from the rail 41 to the nut receiving groove 72 that stops at a predetermined position from the rotating rotary disk 71 of the cutting mechanism 7. At this time, a cover 44 is provided to prevent the flanged nuts 1 from flying out of the rail 41. As shown in Figures 5 and 9, the cutting device 7 has a nut receiving groove 72 on the rotating disk 71 that receives one flanged nut 1. When one flanged nut 1 is received in the receiving groove 72, it rotates and moves to the nut removal position 73, where the flanged nut 1 is mated with and handed over to the mating portion 131 to which the box bit 13 is attached. In this invention, the flanged nuts 1 are sent to the cutting mechanism 7 at the front, which cuts out each nut one by one, but it is important how the flanged nuts 1 are lined up in the alignment device 3 with the flange part facing downwards, so the alignment device will be described in detail next.

[0011] [Alignment device] The flanged nuts 1 are aligned on a rail 41 by a nut alignment device 4, and as shown in Figure 8, an intermediate passing plate 42 and a passing plate 43 are arranged on the rail 41 of the nut alignment device 4, and the intermediate passing plate 42 and the passing plate 43 are provided with passing holes 421 (the passing holes of the passing plate 43 (not shown) have the same configuration) that fit the shape of the flange portion 11 of the flanged nut 1 with its flange facing downward, and a brush set 5 is provided between the intermediate passing plate 42 and the passing plate 43.

[0012] First, two rows of first brushes 51 are provided which swing and rotate left and right perpendicular to the rails 41 across an intermediate passing plate 42, and flanged nuts 1 that have come off the rails 41 are shaken off onto the rails 41 by these brushes into a nut storage mechanism 3. The oscillating second brush 52 is arranged along the flow of the flanged nuts 1 between the intermediate passing plate 42 and the passing plate 43, and removes any misaligned flanged nuts 1 that have entered between the intermediate passing plate 42 and the passing plate 43. Furthermore, just before the passing plate 43, a third brush 53 is provided that swings and rotates left and right in a row perpendicular to the rail 41, and this third brush 53 is used to shake off any flanged nuts 1 that have not yet been aligned on the rail 41 into the nut storage mechanism 3, forming a flanged nut alignment device.

[0013] [Brush operation] Unlike a flanged nut 1 that is properly aligned, if the flanged nut 1 does not pass through the passage hole 421 of the intermediate passage plate 42 and becomes clogged, the first brush 51 can quickly remove the nut and return it to the nut storage mechanism 3. In addition, the long bristles of the first brush 51 can also enter the nut screw hole 12, so the flanged nut 1 can be reliably shaken off to the left and right. As shown in Figure 8, when an inverted flanged nut 1 is shielded by the intermediate passage plate 42, it is attempted to remove the flanged nut 1 from the rail 41, but the flange portion 11 is deeply embedded in the hole of the intermediate passage plate 43, so it cannot be easily removed using only the upstream brush. Therefore, a brush is installed downstream, and the first brush 51 of the two rows is provided to remove the nut. Basically, the first brush 51 located upstream of the passage plate 43 has the function of accessing the jammed flanged nut 1 from the upstream side of the intermediate passage plate 42, and the third brush 53 located downstream of the intermediate passage plate 42 has the function of pushing the part protruding forward from the passage plate 43 from the front to the rear and shaking it off to the rear.

[0014] Unlike flanged nuts that are normally aligned on the rail 41, if flanged nuts are accumulated on the passage plate 43, the second brush 52 quickly removes them, but removes them with the brush 52 in the same way as in the case of conventional screws.

[0015] The lower end of the third brush 53 is of such a length that it is at the same height as the upper end of the flanged nuts aligned on the rail 41 with the normal flange portion 11 facing downwards, and even if the third brush 53 rotates and swings left and right by the swinging mechanism 6, it will not drop the flanged nuts 1 aligned normally on the rail 41. Although there are almost no flanged nuts 1 fed irregularly onto the passing plate 43, if there is a flanged nut 1 fed at an angle, the third brush 53 will shake it off to the left and right.

[0016] Since the embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the flanged nut alignment device 4 can actively return flanged nuts 1 that are diagonally positioned on the rail 41 or flanged nuts 1 with their flange portions 11 facing upward from the rail 41 to the original nut storage mechanism 3, thereby speeding up the alignment operation. Furthermore, by simply slightly changing the conventional headed bolt alignment device 4 and cutting mechanism 7, it can be easily changed into an alignment device 4 for flanged nuts, and conversely, it can also be easily returned to the conventional headed bolt alignment device 4. [Explanation of symbols]

[0017] 1··Flanged nut, 11··Flange part, 12··Nut screw hole 13··Box bit, 131··Nut fitting part 2. Nut supply device, 3. Nut storage mechanism, 32··Reservoir, 321··Magnetic scraper, 33...V-shaped diaphragm, 4. Alignment device, 41. Rail, 411··Embankment, 42... Intermediate passage plate, 421... Passing hole, 43... Passing plate, 431... Passing hole. 44··Cover, 5··Brush set, 51··First brush, 52··Second brush, 53··Third brush, 6··Oscillating mechanism, 61··Oscillating shaft, 7. Extraction mechanism, 71. Rotating disk, 72. Nut receiving groove, 73. Nut extraction position

Claims

[Claim 1] An extrusion mechanism is provided to extrude flanged nuts one by one, and a nut alignment device is connected upstream of the extrusion mechanism. The nut alignment device is provided above a nut storage mechanism for the flanged nuts, and pumps up nuts from the nut storage mechanism and drops them onto the rail of the nut alignment device. The flanged nuts are aligned on the rail by the nut alignment device. An intermediate passage plate having a passage hole that matches the shape of the nut with the flange facing downward is disposed on the rail of the nut alignment device, and a passage plate having a passage hole that matches the shape of the nut with the flange facing downward is disposed downstream of the intermediate passage plate. This flanged nut alignment device is characterized in that two rows of first brushes that oscillate on either side of the intermediate passing plate are arranged, second brushes that oscillate left and right are provided along the passing line on the rail between the intermediate passing plate and the passing plate, and one row of third brushes that oscillate left and right and are perpendicular to the rail are provided just before the passing plate, and flanged nuts that have come off the rail are returned to the nut storage mechanism by these brushes.

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