Feed belt for strip-shaped elements

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a feed belt for strip-shaped elements. In case of a conventional feed belt configured so that its belt body and fingers are integrally formed, the feed belt has to be wholly replaced even if a part of the fingers is damaged or deformed in use, resulting in uneconomical problems. Further, the fingers must be simultaneously pressed toward each other into horizontal pressing directions for loading/unloading of the strip-shaped element, resulting in a complexity in the structure of associated peripheral devices. Even in case of another conventional feed belt configured so that its fingers are separably coupled to its belt body, the fingers have to be pressed upward in operation, resulting in a complexity of associated devices. This separable type conventional feed belt further causes various problems including the unintentional separation of the fingers, malfunction due to sliding or pushing of the strip-shaped element gripped by the fingers, an increase in manufacturing costs due to the complex structure of the fingers, and the like. The feed belt of the present invention results in a considerable improvement in the structure of fingers and a belt body, thereby eliminating the unintentional separation of the fingers during operation as well as sliding or pushing of the strip-shaped elements gripped by the fingers. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to considerably reduce manufacturing costs by forming each finger as a single integral member, and to enable the fingers to be pressed in a horizontal direction, thereby simplifying the structure of peripheral loading/unloading devices. As a result, the feed belt of the present invention can be widely applied to a transfer field where loading, feeding and unloading of strip-shaped elements are automatically performed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.