| 摘要 |
A crimping apparatus or machine is disclosed in which electrical contacts of any one of a variety of conformations are fed from a receptacle or reservoir which holds a supply of contacts of selected conformation. The contacts are fed seriatim from the receptacle and are oriented and advanced to a crimping mechanism where each contact is selectively crimped to the end of an electrical cable. The receptacle includes a vibratory container which can be supplied with a plurality of contacts in a random array and the container is vibrated whereas the contacts are fed outwardly from the container along a helical path leading from the bottom of the container to an orienting mechanism. The orienting mechanism includes a downwardly inclined ramp connected to the container to be oscillated therewith so that the contacts move down the ramp one at a time due to vibration and gravity toward an advancing mechanism. The advancing mechanism is selectively actuatable and feeds the contacts seriatim to a crimping mechanism. The orienting and advancing mechanisms comprise a unitary modular unit which is bodily removable from the machine for interchangement to accommodate the variety of contact conformations. The contacts which are advanced seriatim by the advancing mechanism pass by gravity therefrom into a generally vertically oriented funnel at the crimping mechanism. The crimping mechanism is selectively changeable, including the funnel, a crimping head and a faceplate through which different sized electrical cables are inserted, for further accommodating the variety of contact conformations. |
