JPH0158818B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for supplying and attaching a cap to a tube end of a straight tube type fluorescent lamp by positioning and supplying the cap and directly attaching the cap to the tube end.

In the manufacturing process of fluorescent lamps, there is a step of attaching a cap to the end of the tube. To attach this cap, it is essential to insert a pair of leads extending approximately axially from the end of the tube into the cap pin provided in the cap, and when automating the cap mounting process, this The key to the success or failure of automation is how reliably, quickly and automatically the lead wires are inserted into the cap pins.

Before the fluorescent tube is sent to the base mounting position, the lead wire goes through a forming process such as a lead line alignment process and a stretching process, but since the lead wire is soft, even though it has gone through the forming process, it will not fit in pairs. The lead wires are not always kept in a uniform shape or at uniform intervals. Therefore, in order to attach the cap, the opening of the cap body must match the tube end, and the pair of cap pins must precisely match with respect to the pair of lead wires.

A conventional method or device for automatically attaching a cap is, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 56-104049, in which the cap is received at a cap receiving position by a cap holding means, and the cap is inserted into the opening of the main body. After the part is transferred to the tube mounting position facing the tube end,
The cap is transferred to a separate cap pushing means, and the cap pin is positioned and attached by the pushing means.

However, in this method, the cap must be changed once at the cap attachment position, which not only hinders speeding up the cap attachment but also complicates the device.

The first object of the present invention is to provide a method for supplying and attaching a cap to the end of a tube for a straight fluorescent lamp, to enable the supply and attachment to be performed easily and quickly, and to provide a cap attachment process. The aim is to speed up the process.

The second object of the invention of the present application is to supply a cap,
To obtain a device with a simple structure that can be quickly installed.

One invention of the present application holds a pair of cap pins of a cap for a straight tube fluorescent lamp at a receiving position by a chuck, positions the cap pins with respect to the chuck, moves the chuck to a cap mounting position, and directly moves the cap pins to the cap mounting position. In a method for supplying and attaching a cap for a straight tube fluorescent lamp, in which the cap is attached to the end of a tube for a tube fluorescent lamp, the cap pin is held at the receiving position while pressing the pair of claws of the chuck into a closed state. The cap is held by the chuck by being pushed between the pair of claws, the pair of lead wires protruding from the end of the tube are positioned substantially parallel to the axis of the tube by a positioning member at the cap mounting position, and the cap is held by the chuck. At the mounting position, the chuck and the positioning member are moved along the axis of the tube toward the tube end, the lead wire is positioned, and the cap is moved toward the tube end while holding the cap pin with the chuck. It is configured to be installed on the

Another invention of the present application is to hold a pair of cap pins of a straight tube fluorescent lamp cap at a receiving position by a chuck, position the cap pins with respect to the chuck, move the chuck to a cap mounting position, and then move the cap pins to a receiving position. In a device for supplying and mounting a cap for a straight tube type fluorescent lamp, which attaches the cap to the tube end of a tube for a tube type fluorescent lamp, the support is arranged to be able to rotate intermittently between the receiving position and the cap mounting position. A plurality of sliders are provided on the body so as to be movable in a substantially radial direction, and a pair of claws of the chuck holding the base pin are provided on the slider so as to be openable and closable, and the pair of claws are pressed into a closed state. At the base mounting position, there is provided a bracket movable substantially parallel to the axis of the tube, a pair of arms rotatably attached to the bracket, and a pair of arms attached to the pair of arms, respectively, which are attached to the tube. A lead wire positioning mechanism is provided which has a positioning member for positioning a pair of lead wires protruding from the end, and the chuck and the positioning member are arranged substantially parallel to the axis of the tube and at the end of the tube at the base mounting position. It is configured to be movable towards the front.

In the above structure, when the chuck is in the receiving position, the cap pin is pushed between the pair of claws of the chuck, and the cap is held by the chuck. The chuck is then moved to the cap mounting position by intermittent rotation of the support. At the cap attachment position, the lead wire protruding from the tube end of the bulb is positioned by a pair of positioning members of the lead wire positioning mechanism, and the lead wire is positioned by moving the positioning members and the chuck toward the tube end. Attach the cap to the tube end while holding the cap with the chuck. Therefore, the lead wire can be reliably positioned with respect to the cap, and the cap can be quickly attached without changing hands.

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

1 to 5, a feeding and mounting device (hereinafter simply referred to as the device) 1 of this embodiment is shown. This device 1 is broadly divided into a turret 2, a cap holder 4 disposed on the turret at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, and a lead wire positioning mechanism 6.

The turret 2 is fixed to the end of the rotating shaft 21, which is arranged to be able to rotate intermittently by a known intermittent drive mechanism (not shown) between the cap receiving position A and the cap mounting position B. a polygonal (quadrangular in this example) shaped support body 22 and a rotary plate 23 fixed to a rotating shaft at the rear of the support body.
It has

A plurality (four in this embodiment) of guide shafts 24 are attached to the outer periphery of the support body 22 and extend substantially perpendicularly (therefore, substantially radially) to the flat outer circumferential surface 22a. The guide shaft 24 is not a perfect circle but has a convex portion 24a extending in the axial direction in order to prevent rotation of a slider to be described later. A notch 23a is formed in the rotary plate 23 at approximately the center of the outer circumferential surface 22a of the support body 22.

A fixed cover 25 is disposed around the outer periphery of the rotating plate 23 so as to cover the rotating plate, and the cover 25 is fixed to a bearing member 26 that supports the rotating shaft. The cover 25 has two locations: a cap receiving position and a cap mounting position.
A notch 25a that can be aligned with the notch 23a of the rotating plate 23 is formed at the location.

The cap holder 4 is movably supported by the guide shaft 24, and the slider 4 is always pressed toward the support 22 by a spring 42 stretched between the slider 4 and the support.
1 and a chuck 44 attached to the slider 41 via an attachment plate 43.

The chuck 44 has one pawl 46 rotatably attached to the mounting plate 43 by a shaft 45, and a shaft 45.
5', and the other claw 46' is rotatably attached to the mounting plate 43. Axis 45, 4
5' are gears 47, 4 that mesh with each other, respectively.
7' is attached so that by rotating one pawl, the other pawl can be rotated.

An arm 48 is attached to the shaft 45, and a spring 49 is stretched between the tip of the arm and the slider 41, and presses the arm 48 in a counterclockwise direction (in FIG. 1). Claw 46,
46' is pressed into a closed state (a state in which the gripping surfaces contact each other). There is also a roller 5 at the tip of the arm 48.
0 is attached. Grooves 46a for inserting pairs of cap pins are formed on the gripping surfaces of the claws (FIG. 4).

A roller 51 is attached to the slider 41,
The roller is adapted to fit within the notch 23a of the rotary plate 23 when the slider 41 is on the support body 22 side.

Each notch 2 at position A and B of cover 25
Fork members 52 and 53, each having a U-shaped fork at the tip, are waiting inside 5a. A roller 51 attached to the slider is inserted into the U-shaped tip of the fork member when the slider 41 reaches position A or B due to intermittent rotation of the support.

The fork member 52 is moved in the direction of the arrow X and the fork member 53 is moved in the direction of the arrow Y (in each case in FIG. It is now possible to move in any direction.

In FIGS. 5 to 7, the lead wire positioning mechanism 6 includes a bracket 62 fixed to the tip of a shaft 61 that is movable along the axis of the tube at the base mounting position, and a bracket 62 that is rotatable around the shaft 70 of the bracket. Upper and lower arms 63 and 64 attached,
It has an upper positioning plate 65 fixed to the upper arm and a lower positioning plate 66 fixed to the lower arm. A pair of upwardly opening V-shaped grooves 66a and a half funnel-shaped portion 66b are formed in the lower positioning plate 66 at the same intervals as the base pins. Further, the upper positioning plate 65 has a holding part 65a that suppresses floating of the lead wire inserted into the V-shaped groove 66a, and a pair of half-funnel-shaped parts 65b that engage with the half-funnel-shaped part 66b of the lower positioning plate.
is formed.

A slider 67 is movably provided on the shaft 61, and the slider 67 is connected to the upper arm 63 via a link 68 and to the lower arm 64 via a link 69, and can be moved up and down by movement of the slider 67 with respect to the bracket 62. The arm is designed to rotate.

Next, the method of supplying and mounting a cap according to the present invention will be explained in relation to the operation of the above-mentioned apparatus.

A cap F for a straight tube fluorescent lamp is delivered to the cap receiving position A in an attitude as shown in FIG. Then, as the fork member 52 moves in the direction of arrow X, the slider 41 moves in the same direction as the chuck 44. At this time, the pair of pawls 46, 46' are pressed into the closed state by the spring 49, but as the chuck advances in the X direction, the cap pin resists the elastic force of the spring 49 and pushes the pair of pawls apart. The chuck enters into the groove 46a formed in the gripping surface of the chuck, and the holding of the cap pin F _p (therefore, the cap) by the chuck is completed, and the positioning of the cap pin with respect to the chuck is completed. When the holding of the cap pin by the chuck is completed, the slider returns to the position where it abuts against the support body 22.

Next, by intermittent rotation of the support in the direction of arrow Z, the cap F is held by the chuck 44 and sent to the cap mounting position B, and the roller 51 attached to the slider 41 is waiting in the notch 25a of the cover 25. It enters into the fork part of the fork member 53 and stops. During this movement, the cap engages with a pressure member, ie, a pressure lever 80, which is biased in a direction to press the cap F by a spring 81, so that the cap is pushed toward the chuck 44 by the pressing force of the pressure lever 80. Therefore, the cap pin is surely pushed in all the way to the base. When the cap reaches the cap attachment position, the upper and lower arms 63 and 64 of the lead wire positioning mechanism 6 move as shown in _FIGS . After closing, a pair of upper and lower positioning plates 65 and 66 press and position the tip of the lead wire L of the tube V for a straight tube fluorescent lamp waiting at the base mounting position. At this time, the lead wire L and the base pin F _p are aligned on a straight line.

Thereafter, as the fork member 53 moves in the direction of arrow Y, the slider and chuck also move in the same direction, and the lead wire L is inserted into the cap pin F _p and the open end of the cap body F _b is connected to the tube end of the tube. Installing. In this installation process, the upper and lower arms 6
3, 64 and positioning plates 65, 66 initially move slightly in the same direction as the chuck moves.
(Fig. 8D), but then the arms 63 and 64 are
The cap is opened as shown in Figure E, and only the chuck 44 moves while holding the cap pin to attach the cap.

When the fitting of the cap is completed, the claw 4 of the chuck 44
6 and 46' are devices in which the arm 48 is external (not shown)
The slider is opened and returned to the position where it comes into contact with the support.

Thereafter, the caps are sequentially supplied and attached in the same manner.

As described above, in the cap supply mounting method according to the present invention, the cap is positioned by gripping the cap pin, so the cap pin can be positioned reliably with respect to the lead wire, and the lead wire can be inserted into the cap pin as reliably as possible. Instead, the chuck that supplies the cap to the mounting position is directly transferred toward the end of the tube, so that the cap can be quickly mounted.

Furthermore, it is also possible to simplify the structure of the supply and mounting device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of one embodiment of the feeding and mounting device for a cap for a straight tube fluorescent lamp according to the present invention, with the lead wire positioning mechanism removed, and FIG. 2 is a side view taken along the line - in FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line - in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the tip of the claw, and FIG. 5 is a lead wire positioning mechanism. 6 is a plan view of the lead wire positioning mechanism and shows the positional relationship with the turret, FIG. 7A is a front view of the upper and lower positioning plates, and FIG. 7B is a sectional view thereof. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of this device. 1: Mouth feeding and mounting device, 2: Turret, 2
2: Support body, 24: Guide shaft, 23: Rotating plate, 2
5: Cover, 4: Base holder, 41: Slider,
44: Chuck, 46, 46': Claw.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Holding a pair of cap pins of a straight tube fluorescent lamp cap at a receiving position with a chuck, positioning the cap pins with respect to the chuck, moving the chuck to a cap mounting position, and directly In a method for supplying and attaching a cap for a straight tube fluorescent lamp, in which the cap is attached to the end of a tube for a tube fluorescent lamp, the cap pin is held at the receiving position while pressing the pair of claws of the chuck into a closed state. The cap is held by the chuck by being pushed between the pair of claws, the pair of lead wires protruding from the end of the tube are positioned substantially parallel to the axis of the tube by a positioning member at the cap mounting position, and the cap is held by the chuck. At the mounting position, the chuck and the positioning member are moved along the axis of the tube toward the tube end, the lead wire is positioned, and the cap is moved toward the tube end while holding the cap pin with the chuck. A method for supplying and attaching a cap for a straight tube fluorescent lamp, characterized in that the cap is attached to a tube. 2 Hold a pair of cap pins of the cap for a straight tube type fluorescent lamp at a receiving position with a chuck, position the cap pins with respect to the chuck, move the chuck to the cap attachment position, and remove the tube for the straight tube type fluorescent lamp. In a device for supplying and mounting a cap for a straight tube fluorescent lamp, which attaches the cap to the tube end of a bulb, a support body disposed for intermittent rotation between the receiving position and the cap mounting position includes a plurality of sliders. The slider is provided with a pair of claws of the chuck that holds the cap pin so as to be able to be opened and closed, and the pair of claws are pressed into a closed state, and the slider is moved to the mounting position of the cap. includes a bracket movable substantially parallel to the axis of the tube, a pair of arms rotatably attached to the bracket, and a pair of arms that are attached to each of the pair of arms and protrude from the end of the tube. A lead wire positioning mechanism having a positioning member for positioning the lead wire is provided, and the chuck and the positioning member can be moved approximately parallel to the axis of the tube and toward the end of the tube at the base mounting position. A supply and mounting device for a cap for a straight tube fluorescent lamp, characterized by the following.