Workpiece conveyor between machining stations - has halting and transfer mechanisms for each station served

摘要

The conveyor with local buffer effect connects stations machining workpieces, there being several successive stations performing the same operation, and which are followed by others performing different ones. The workpieces are transported on carriers returned empty to the initial station from the last one. A single conveyor (1) with forward and return runs extends past all the stations, and has for each station a halting (26) and a transfer (3a,3b) mechanism. With stations performing the same operation and during machining of a workpiece (8-10) all the halting mechanisms except that of the last one allow the carriers (13-15) to pass through. When a workpiece is transferred, the transfer mechanism makes a mark on its respective carrier, which prevents it being transferred for machining into any of the other stations. Thus it travels past them and to a station performing the next operation.