JP3089222B2 - Ball supply and recovery device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a ball supply and recovery device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when a golf ball is manufactured, it is necessary to paint the formed ball with a paint. For this reason, the ball is supplied to a paint coater, and the ball is painted with the paint coater. The ball after painting was collected from the paint painting machine.

[0003] Conventionally, for example, a tray on which balls are placed is taken out of a tray cart, balls are supplied to the hopper from this tray, and the balls entering the hopper are supplied to a lifter which can move up and down. Then, the ball was supplied from the lifter using a chute. Also, the tray that became empty after supplying the ball to the hopper,
For example, an operator places it on the conveyor of a paint painting machine,
After the paint was applied, the painted ball was placed on the tray, and after the tray was fully loaded, the tray was stored in a tray cart.

[0004]

That is, conventionally, supply of a ball to a paint painting machine and collection of a ball from the paint painting machine are performed by an operator, which is a heavy labor for the operator and also reduces workability. It was inferior.

[0005] Accordingly, the operation of supplying a ball such as a golf ball to another device (for example, a paint coating machine) and the operation of collecting the ball from the other device can be automatically performed, thereby reducing human fatigue. It is an object of the present invention to provide a ball supply / recovery device capable of reducing the number of balls.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a ball supply / recovery apparatus according to the present invention supplies a ball to another apparatus and recovers the ball from the other apparatus. A tray truck for storing and holding a tray for receiving a plurality of balls, an elevating body for receiving and moving the tray up and down, and transporting the tray of the tray carriage provided to the elevating body to another device side And a transport mechanism for receiving the tray from the other apparatus and transporting the tray to the tray carriage, and transporting the tray transported by the transport mechanism to a ball supply unit near another apparatus to remove the balls of the tray. A supply / return mechanism for supplying the balls to the other device and returning the balls of the other device to the tray and returning the tray to the transport mechanism.

[0007] In this case, it is preferable that the tray cart can mount a plurality of trays vertically on a plurality of stages, and the transport mechanism has a first latch on the tray cart that is detachably engaged with the tray. A claw portion, a first reciprocating mechanism for reciprocating the first locking claw portion in a direction toward and away from the tray carriage, and a second locking claw on another device side which is detachably engaged with the tray. And a second reciprocating mechanism for reciprocating the second locking claw portion in the approaching / separating direction with respect to another device, and a moving mechanism for moving the tray in the elevating body. A supply / return mechanism for feeding the tray to the ball supply unit; a suction pad for sucking the ball and supplying the ball to the other device from the ball supply unit; A second conveyor unit for returning the received tray to the transport mechanism,
It is also preferable to provide

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a ball supply / recovery apparatus according to the present invention, which is a golf ball after molding (not shown).
Is supplied to another device, specifically, a paint coater (not shown) and the like, and the ball painted from the paint coater is collected.

This apparatus comprises a tray carriage 2 for accommodating a plurality of trays 1,..., An elevating body 3 capable of receiving and moving up and down the tray 1, and a tray 1 of the tray carriage 2 provided on the elevating body 3. , In this case, a transport mechanism 4 that transports the tray 1 from the other apparatus (that is, the paint coating machine) to the paint truck (not shown) and transports the tray 1 to the tray carriage 2. Prepare.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the tray 1 is composed of a rectangular substrate 5 having a plurality of ball holding holes 5a, and a rising wall 6 erected on the edge of the substrate 5. The balls are held in the ball holding holes 5a. In addition,
It is also preferable to dispose, at the inner peripheral edge of the ball holding hole 5a, protrusions projecting toward the inner diameter side at a predetermined pitch along the circumferential direction,
In this case, the ball is received by this projection.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tray carriage 2 has a frame 8 composed of vertical frames 7 arranged vertically and horizontally.
And an upper frame 9 fixed to the upper end of the frame 8, and a lower frame 10 fixed to the lower end of the frame 8, and a plurality of tray receiving pieces ( (Not shown) are arranged at a predetermined pitch. That is, the tray 1 is received by the tray receiving piece of each stage, and a plurality of trays 1... In addition, this tray cart 2
Are provided with casters 11 and are movable.

Next, the lifting body 3 includes an upper frame 12, a lower frame 13,
A vertical frame 14 that connects the upper and lower frames 12, 13 at each corner.
And held by the up-down movement mechanism 15 so as to be able to move up and down. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the vertical movement mechanism 15
And a pulley 18 connected to an output shaft of the motor 16 via an interlocking connection member 17 such as a coupling.
And a belt 20 wrapped around the pulley 18, and the like, and the elevating body 3 is moved up and down by driving the motor 16.

When the lifting body 3 moves up and down, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, a linear guide mechanism 21 moves the lifting body 3 up and down.
Have been guided. That is, the linear guide mechanism 21 includes a rod 22 attached to the column S, and a fitting body 24 attached to the elevating body 3 via a bracket 23.
The rod 22 fits into the concave groove of 24. Accordingly, the fitting body 24 on the lifting body 3 side is fitted to the rod 22, and the lifting body 3 moves up and down along the column S. It should be noted that a pair of front and rear linear guide mechanisms 21 are provided.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the transport mechanism 4 attached to the elevating body 3 has a first locking claw 26 on the side of the tray carriage 2 which is removably locked to the tray 1. (in this case,
The number is two, but the number can be freely increased or decreased. ), A first reciprocating mechanism 27 for reciprocating the first locking claw portion 26 in a direction of approaching and separating from the tray carriage 2, and a second reciprocating mechanism for locking and disengaging the tray 1. Two locking claws 28 (in this case, two, but the number can be increased or decreased freely)
A second reciprocating mechanism 29 for reciprocating the second locking claw portion 28 in a direction approaching and separating from other devices, and a moving mechanism 25 for moving the tray 1 in the elevating body 3. .

That is, a pair of holding plates are attached to the upper frame 12 of the elevating body 3.
A cylinder 31 constituting the first reciprocating mechanism 27 is attached to one of the holding plates 30, and a reciprocating body 33 is attached to a piston rod 31a of the cylinder 31 via a mounting piece 32. With the reciprocating motion of the piston rod 31a of the cylinder 31, the reciprocating body 33 reciprocates as shown by arrows A and B. Also,
A connecting plate 34 is connected to the reciprocating body 33 via a rod 42, and a first locking claw portion 26 is attached to the connecting plate 34 via a claw swinging mechanism 35.

As shown in FIG. 5, the pawl swing mechanism 35 includes a first
A rod 36 inserted and connected to the locking claw portion 26, bearings 37 and 37 for supporting the rod 36 on a connecting plate 34 so as to be rotatable around its axis, and a gear 38 externally fitted to the rod 36 , A rack 39 meshing with the gear 38, and a cylinder 40 attached to the connecting plate 34 for reciprocating the rack 39 in a direction perpendicular to the arrows A and B. As shown in FIG. 3, the first engaging claw portion 26 has an inverted U-shaped cross section.
The rising wall 6 of the tray 1 is locked in the groove 26a.

That is, from the locked state shown in FIG.
When the rack 39 is slid by driving the 40, the gear 38 meshing with the rack 39 rotates, and the rod 36 rotates accordingly. When the rod 36 rotates, the first locking claw portion
26 rotates with the rod 36 around the axis of the rod 36,
The lock is released by turning to the side. If the rack 39 is slid in the opposite direction to the above by driving the cylinder 40 from the released state, the first locking claw portion 26 is rotated downward and locked.

Therefore, the piston rod 31a of the cylinder 31
To extend the first locking claw portion 26 toward the tray cart 2 (in this case, the first locking claw portion 26 is turned to the side). One locking claw portion 26 is made to correspond. Thereafter, the first locking claw portion 26 is rotated to lock the first locking claw portion 26 on the rising wall 6, and the piston rod 31a is retracted into the state shown in FIG. Department
The tray 1 locked to 26, 26 is drawn into the lifting body 3.

Next, the second reciprocating mechanism 29 is connected to the other holding plate.
A reciprocating body 45 is attached to the piston rod 43a of the cylinder 43 via a mounting piece 44, and the reciprocating body 45 is moved by an arrow A by the reciprocating movement of the piston rod 43a of the cylinder 43. , B '(see FIG. 4). A connecting plate 47 is connected to the reciprocating body 45 via a rod (not shown).
A second locking claw portion 28 is additionally provided via a claw swing mechanism 48.
(Similar to the first locking claw portion 26, the cross-sectional shape is an inverted U-shape.) The claw swinging mechanism 48 includes a rod 49, bearings 50 and 50, like the claw swinging mechanism 35. The gear 51 includes a gear 51, a rack (not shown), and a cylinder 52.

Therefore, if the rack is slid by driving the cylinder 52 from the locked state, the gear 51 meshing with the rack rotates, and the rod 49 rotates accordingly. When the rod 49 rotates, the second locking claw 28 is
At the same time, the rod 49 is rotated around the axis of the rod 49 to turn to the side and the locking is released. Also, from this released state,
If the cylinder 40 is driven to slide the rack in the direction opposite to the above, the second locking claw 28 is rotated downward and locked.

That is, the piston rod 43a of the cylinder 43 is extended so that the second locking claw 28 protrudes toward another device (in this case, the second locking claw 28 is turned to the side. ), The second locking claw 28 is made to correspond to the rising wall 6 of the tray 1. Thereafter, the second locking claw 28 is rotated to lock the second locking claw 28 (that is, the concave groove 28a) on the rising wall 6, and the piston rod 43a is retracted as shown in FIG. For example, the tray 1 locked on the first locking claw portions 28, 28
Is drawn into the elevating body 3. Each holding plate 30, 30
Guide rods 46, 46 are provided on the lower surface of the
The first and second locking claws 26 and 28 are guided by the reciprocating mechanisms 27 and 29 in the directions of arrows A, B, A ', and B'.

As shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, the moving mechanism 25 for moving the tray 1 in the lift 3
A locking piece 53 for locking the rising wall 6, a cylinder 54 for holding the locking piece 53, and a cylinder 56 attached to the elevating body 3 via a substrate 55.
And a fitting member 58 attached via a bracket 57. In this case, the cylinder 56 uses a rodless cylinder. Also, in the lower frame 13 of the lifting body 3,
A guide plate portion 60 is provided, and a plurality of rollers 59 are provided.
... are provided.

That is, by driving the cylinder 56, the fitting member
58 reciprocates along the axial direction of the cylinder 56, whereby the cylinder 54 or the locking piece 53 reciprocates along the axial direction of the cylinder 56 as shown by arrows E and F (see FIG. 6). I do. The locking piece 53 is driven by the cylinder 54 so that
Reciprocate as indicated by arrows C and D, and are removably engaged with the rising wall 6 of the tray 1 in the elevating body 3. Therefore, the tray 1 conveyed from the tray carriage 2 is the locking piece of the moving mechanism 25.
The locking piece 53 is locked to the rising wall 6 and moves to the other device side by moving the locking piece 53 to the other device side. Further, the tray 1 conveyed from the other apparatus side has the locking piece 53 of the moving mechanism 25 locked to the rising wall 6 thereof, and the locking piece 53 is moved to the tray carriage 2 side, so that the tray carriage is moved. Move to side 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, a supply / return mechanism 63 is provided on the other device side of the elevating body 3. This supply
The return mechanism 63 includes first and second conveyor sections 61 and 62, and the tray 1 is supplied to the first conveyor section 61 from the elevating body 3, and the first conveyor section 61 is in the vicinity of another device, that is,
The tray 1 is supplied to the ball supply unit K, where the balls on the tray 1 are supplied to another device (in this case, a paint coating machine) via a plurality of suction pads 66.

The first conveyor section 61 has a drive mechanism 68 provided with a servomotor and the like, and the drive of the drive mechanism 68 causes the tray 1 to be transported to the supply section K near another apparatus.

Further, the second conveyor section 62 includes an empty tray 1
Roller group 69 having a plurality of rollers 65 for running
And a lower roller group 70 having a plurality of rollers 65 for moving the tray 1 on which balls processed by other devices are placed.
And. Further, on the downstream side of the roller groups 69 and 70, that is, on the other device side, an elevating mechanism 71 for elevating and lowering the tray 1 is provided.
Is provided. And in the upper and lower roller groups 69 and 70,
The trays 1 are respectively conveyed by a motor (servo motor), not shown, or a drive mechanism having a locking claw that is removably locked to the tray 1.

The elevating mechanism 71 includes a receiving base 72 and the receiving base 72.
And a cylinder 73 for vertically moving the pedestal 72 by extending and retracting a piston rod 73a of the cylinder 73.
Is moved up and down, and the tray 1 on the receiving table 72 is moved up and down (elevated and lowered). The lifting mechanism 71 also has a locking claw that locks and unlocks the tray 1. Each of the above-described locking claws includes a cylinder for reciprocating the locking claw in a direction to approach and separate from the tray 1 to lock the tray 1 and a cylinder and the locking claw. And a cylinder for moving in the direction of arrow 1.

The plurality of suction pads 66 are moved up and down by a moving mechanism (not shown) and the first conveyor section is moved.
Can move between 61 and other devices. The moving mechanism may include, for example, a cylinder for vertical movement and a cylinder for horizontal movement.

Accordingly, the balls of the tray 1 supplied to the first conveyor section 61 are sucked by the suction pads 66 and are sequentially supplied to other devices. The suction pad 66 may have a number corresponding to the number of balls on the tray 1.
The number corresponding to one row of the holding holes 5a may be such that the balls are supplied a plurality of times.

Next, a method of supplying a ball to another device and recovering the ball from the other device using the device configured as described above will be described. A tray 1 full of balls (in this case, balls before painting) is loaded into a tray cart 2
The tray carriage 2 is set on the upstream side of the elevating body 3 as shown in FIG. Next, the first locking claw portion 26 is locked to the uppermost tray 1, the tray 1 is pulled into the elevating body 3, and the tray 1 is moved in the elevating body 3 by the moving mechanism 25. The tray 1 is supplied to the first conveyor 61 by being locked by the second locking claw 28. At this time, the elevating body 3 is lowered so that the height position of the elevating body 3 is adjusted to the height position of the first conveyor 61, and the tray 1
Is set so that the supply to the first conveyor section 61 is smoothly performed.

In the first conveyor section 61, the tray 1 is transported to the vicinity of another device, that is, to the ball supply section K, and the balls of the tray 1 transported to the ball supply section K are suction pads 66.
Is sucked and supplied to another device. In this case, the ball supplied to the other device is painted because the other device is a paint painting machine.

The tray 1 emptied by the supply of the balls to the paint coating machine is returned from the first conveyor 61 to the lift 3. After that, the lifting / lowering body 3 is lowered, and the tray 1 returned to the lifting / lowering body 3 (an empty ball-free space)
Is supplied to the upper roller group 69 of the second conveyor section 62. At this time, the elevating mechanism 71 is in the ascending state, and the empty tray 1 is supplied from the upper roller group 69 to the elevating mechanism 71. Then, the ball painted with the paint painting machine is returned to the empty tray 1. When the painted balls are fully loaded on the tray 1, the receiving base 72 of the elevating mechanism 71 is lowered to a position where the tray 1 corresponds to the lower roller group 70, and the tray 1 is returned to the lower roller group 70. The lift 3 is returned to the lift 3 again, and thereafter, the lift 3 rises and is returned from the lift 3 to the uppermost stage of the tray truck 2.

Thereafter, the next tray 1 of the tray carriage 2
Is supplied from the elevating body 3 to the first conveyor section 61, and the balls on the tray 1 are supplied to the paint coating machine, and the balls are painted on the paint coating machine. Then, in the second conveyor section 62, the tray 1 on which the painted balls are loaded is
Return to Hereinafter, if this process is sequentially repeated, the tray cart 2
Are supplied to the paint coating machine, and the balls after coating are supplied to each tray 1
And the trays 1 can be returned to the tray cart 2.

As described above, if the ball supply / recovery device according to the present invention is used, the balls of the trays 1 of the tray carriage 2 are supplied to another device (for example, a paint coating machine), and are also supplied from the other device. The operation of returning the ball processed (for example, painted) by the other device to the tray 1 and returning the tray 1 to the tray carriage 2 can be performed automatically and reliably.

The number of trays 1 that can be mounted on the tray carriage 2 can be freely changed, and the number of balls stored in each tray 1 can be freely changed. In addition, supply
The collected ball is not limited to a golf ball, but may be a tennis ball or a baseball ball.
Other devices to which the balls are supplied may be, for example, a stamping machine or the like other than the paint painting machine.

[0037]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the ball supply and recovery device of the first aspect, the balls of the trays 1... Of the tray carriage 2 are supplied to another device (for example, a paint coating machine), and are also supplied from another device to this other device. Returning the processed (for example, painted) ball to the tray 1 and automatically returning the tray 1 containing the ball processed by another device to the tray carriage 2 automatically and reliably. Therefore, the work can be reduced for the worker, and is extremely efficient and excellent in productivity.

According to the ball supply / recovery device of the second aspect, the same effects as those of the first aspect are obtained, and there is an advantage that the processing (supply and recovery) of a large number of balls can be performed sequentially.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the ball supply / recovery apparatus has the same effect as that of the first aspect, and can reliably pull the tray 1 from the tray carriage 2 to the lifting / lowering body 3 and the other apparatus side Lifting tray 3 from tray 1
, And automation can be stabilized.

According to the ball supply and recovery device of the fourth aspect, the same effect as that of the first aspect is obtained, and the supply of the ball to another device and the recovery of the ball from the other device become more reliable, and the ball rolls. And the ball does not fall off from the tray 1 and the ball is not easily stained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall simplified diagram of a ball supply and recovery device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified plan view of a lifting body.

FIG. 3 is a sectional front view of a main part.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view of a main part.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a claw swing mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the elevating body.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the elevating body.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a main part of the transport mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 tray 2 tray carriage 3 elevating body 4 transport mechanism 25 moving mechanism 26 first locking claw 27 first reciprocating mechanism 28 second locking claw 29 first reciprocating mechanism 61 first conveyor 62 second conveyor 63 Supply / return mechanism 66 Suction pad

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A63B 47/00 A63B 45/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A ball supply and collection device for supplying a ball to another device and collecting the ball from the other device, comprising: a tray truck 2 for storing and holding a tray 1 for receiving a plurality of balls; Elevating body 3 which can receive and move up and down, and which is provided on the elevating body 3 and conveys the tray 1 of the tray carriage 2 to another apparatus side and receives the tray 1 from the other apparatus side and receives the tray 1 A transport mechanism 4 for transporting the tray 2 to the carriage 2; a transport mechanism 4 for transporting the tray 1 transported by the transport mechanism 4 to a ball supply unit K near another device to supply the balls of the tray 1 to another device; A supply / return mechanism 63 for returning the balls of the apparatus to the tray 1 and returning the tray 1 to the transport mechanism 4. 2. The ball supply and collection device according to claim 1, wherein the tray carriage 2 is capable of placing a plurality of trays 1 vertically in a plurality of stages. 3. The transport mechanism 4 includes a first locking claw 26 on the side of the tray carriage 2 that removably engages with the tray 1 and moves the first locking claw 26 closer to the tray carriage 2. A first reciprocating mechanism 27 that reciprocates in the separating direction, a second locking claw 28 on another device side that is releasably locked to the tray 1, and a second device that connects the second locking claw 28 to another device. 2. The ball supply and recovery device according to claim 1, further comprising: a second reciprocating mechanism 29 configured to reciprocate in a direction in which the tray 1 reciprocates, and a moving mechanism 25 configured to move the tray 1 within the lifting body 3. 4. A supply / return mechanism 63 includes a first conveyor 61 for transporting the tray 1 to the ball supply unit K, and a suction pad 66 for sucking the balls and supplying the balls from the ball supply to other devices. 2. The ball supply and collection device according to claim 1, further comprising: a second conveyor unit that returns the tray 1 that has received a ball from another device to the transport mechanism 4. 3.