| 摘要 |
The principles of operation of the various mechanisms are illustrated in a preferred form of an apparatus for transferring an article from an article pickup station to an article deposit station. A carrier housing is moved up and down along a vertical travel path and carries an indexing hub journally supported therein for rotation in the carrier housing. Article pickup means are provided and include one or more arms extending from the hub means and an article grasping device on each of the arms. A first one of the arms extends towards and positions the article grasping device carried thereon at a pickup station to enable article grasping when the carrier housing is at one end of the vertical travel path. In response to travel of the carrier housing in a first direction along the path the index hub is rotated to index the first arm out of the article pickup position while indexing another article grasping means on another of the plurality of arms into alignment with the pickup station. In response to travel of the carrier housing in a second direction along the path the plurality of arms are maintained in the position achieved during the indexing of the arms during travel of the carrier housing in the first direction. The position of the article on the pickup means may be reoriented during the travel of the pickup means from the pickup station to the deposit station. The article is inverted by the indexing of the pickup arm and is stripped from the pickup arm during travel of the carrier housing downwardly. An automatic mechanical clutch is disclosed to lock the pickup arms in and out of rotation modes. A novel vacuum operated pickup head and a novel vacuum valve for automatically controlling the connection of a vacuum to the pickup head is disclosed. A mechanical cable, chain and cable drum system is utilized to provide positive rotation of the pickup arms during the indexing thereof. A servo system is described which synchronizes the continuous motion of the transfer device with an article supplying means and includes means for programming any choice of motion of the interrelated components. A plurality of novel sub-systems are disclosed which, in addition to their interrelated use in the overall system described herein, have applications individually or with other systems. Hydraulic, electrical, and mechanical controls for the interrelation of the operation of the several subsystems is also described.
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