Sequencer

A sequencer for transferring from a plurality of transferor magazines and assembling in a transferee magazine an assemblage of fixtures, each of the fixtures being of substantially the same size and shape, and each adapted to hold one integrated circuit chip, each of said transferor magazines adapted to hold a plurality of said fixtures, the assemblage of fixtures in the transferee magazine holding IC chips of the types and in the numbers specified;

• comprising:
• a support plate,
• a plurality of transferor bases mounted on said support plate, each of said transferor bases adapted to hold a transferor magazine,
• a plurality of transferor magazines, each transferor magazine adapted to hold a plurality of fixtures, each fixture held by a transferor magazine adapted to hold an integrated circuit chip of a given type, and one transferor magazine being mounted on each transferor base,
• positioning means mounted on said support member;
• a transferee base mounted on said positioning means, said transferee base adapted to removably hold a transferee magazine;
• a transferee magazine, said transferee magazine being mounted on said transferee base;
• means for transferring a fixture from a transferor magazine mounted on a transferor base to the transferee magazine mounted on the transferee base when the transferee magazine is positioned in fixture transfer relation with said transferor magazine;
• and
• control means for causing the positioning means to sequentially place the transferee magazine in fixture transfer relation with predetermined ones of said transferor magazines and to cause the means for transferring a fixture, to transfer a predetermined number of fixtures from each of said predetermined transferor magazines into the transferee magazine.

In combination:

• a support member having a top planar surface, said surface having a center,
• a rotary table, said table having a disk rotating about an axis of rotation, said rotary table mounted on the support member so that the axis of rotation of the disk is substantially perpendicular to the top surface of the support member and so that the center of the support member lies on the axis of rotation of the disk;
• a stepping motor operatively connected to the rotary table for rotatively positioning the disk of the rotary table,
• an arm fixedly attached to the disk of the rotary table for rotation by the disk about the center of the support member, said arm having an outer end portion;
• a plurality of transferor magazines having a front wall and means forming a transfer opening at the bottom of the front wall, said transferor magazines adapted to hold a plurality of substantially identically shaped objects, said transfer opening permitting such objects to be removed through said transfer opening;
• a plurality of transferor bases, each of said bases having mounting means adapted to removably mount a transferor magazine on each of the transferor bases, a transferor magazine mounted on each of the transferor bases said transferor bases being mounted on said support member so that when a transferor magazine is mounted on said transferor base, the front walls of the transferor magazine are substantially equidistant from the center of the support member, are tangent to a transferor circle having a radius equal to said distance, the center of said circle being at the center of the support member, and the heights of the transfer openings of said magazines above the support member are substantially equal;
• a transferee magazine having a front wall and means forming a transfer opening at the bottom of said front wall, said transferee magazine adapted to hold a plurality of objects transferred into the transferee magazine from transferor magazines;
• a transferee base having mounting means adapted to removably mount a transferee magazine on the transferee base, a transferee magazine mounted on the transferee base, said transferee base being mounted on the outer end portion of the arm so that the front wall of the transferee magazine is substantially perpendicular to a radius through the center of the support member and the transfer opening of the transferee base substantially lies in the plane of the transferor openings;
• an actuator mounted on the arm;
• an extractor;
• means connecting the extractor to the actuator;
• and
• control means for energizing the actuator and for positioning the arm so that the extractor when actuated by the actuator transfers an object from a transferor magazine to the transferee magazine.

A sequencer comprising:

• a support member having a top planar surface, said surface having a center,
• a rotary table, said table having an axis of rotation, and being mounted on the support member so that the axis of rotation of the rotary table is substantially perpendicular to the top surface of the support member and so that the center of the support member lies on the axis of rotation of the rotary table;
• a stepping motor operatively connected to the rotary table responsive to control signals for rotatively positioning the rotary table, an arm having a longitudinal axis, said arm being fixedly attached to the rotary table for rotation by the rotary table and so that the longitudinal axis of the arm substantially intersects the axis of rotation of the rotary table, said arm having an outer end portion;
• a plurality of transferor magazines having a planar front wall and means forming a transfer opening at the bottom of the front wall, said transferor magazines adapted to hold a plurality of substantially identically shaped fixtures, each of said transfer openings permitting such objects to be removed therethrough;
• a plurality of transferor bases, each of said bases having means for removably mounting a transferor magazine on a transferor base, a transferor magazine mounted on each transferor base, said transferor bases being mounted on said support member so that the front walls of the transferor magazine are substantially equidistant from the center of the support member and are substantially tangent to a transferor circle having a radius substantially equal to said distance, the center of the circle being at the center of the support member, and the height of the transfer opening of said magazines above the support member being substantially equal;
• a transferee magazine having a planar front wall and means forming a transfer opening at the bottom of said front wall, said transferee magazine adapted to have a plurality of fixtures transferred into it,
• a transferee base having mounting means for removable mounting a transferee magazine on the transferee base, a transferee magazine mounted on said transferee base, said transferee base being mounted on the outer end portion of the arm so that the front wall of the transferee magazine mounted on it is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the arm, so that the height of transfer opening above the support member substantially equals the height of the transfer openings of the transferor magazine, and so that the distance between the transfer opening of the transferee magazine and the transfer opening of a given transferor magazine with respect to which the transferee magazine is in fixture transfer position, is substantially one half the dimension of the fixture to be transferred in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the arm;
• an actuator mounted on the arm,
• an extractor mounted on the arm;
• means connecting the actuator to the extractor;
• said actuator when energized in response to control signals causing the extractor to transfer to the transferee magazine a fixture from a transferor magazine in fixture transfer relationship to the transferee magazine;
• means for producing control signals for the stepping motor and the actuator;
• and
• circuit means for applying control signals to the stepping motor and the actuator to position the arm so that the transferee magazine mounted on the transferee base is in fixture transfer relationship with transferor magazines on predetermined transferor bases and to cause the extractor to transfer to the transferee magazine predetermined numbers of fixtures from predetermined transferor magazines.