Feeding and orienting device

An apparatus having loading and unloading areas and adapted for feeding and orienting parts having a body and at least one terminal projecting in a predetermined fixed relationship from said body, said apparatus comprising:

• a stepped, sloping shelf having first and second planes separated by an upwardly projecting feed rail, said feed rail having a first side connected to said first plane, a second side connected to said second plane, and a top, said guide rail adapted to guide said parts by sliding engagement with at least one terminal of each part as it is fed along said guide rail;
• an input step, coplanar with said top at said load area, for receiving said parts;
• first baffle means, parallel to and spaced from a portion of said guide rail at said load area and extending toward said unload area, for obstructing the downward sliding movement of said parts relative to said shelf and said input step during loading and feeding of said parts along said guide rail;
• a first cut-out means in said shelf, adjacent to said first side of said guide rail and spaced further along the path of travel of said parts along said guide rail than said first baffle means, for allowing misoriented parts to drop away from said shelf as they traverse the length of said cut-out means;
• fluid ejection means, spaced further along said path of travel than said first cut-out means, for fluid ejection of misoriented parts by fluid contact with at least one terminal of said parts;
• a second baffle means spaced from and parallel to said guide rail at said unload area for obstructing the downward sliding movement of said parts along said second plane;
• a second cut-out means, in said shelf and opposite said guide rail from said second baffle means, for allowing excess parts in said unload area to drop away from said first plane;
• stop means, adjacent to said guide rail in said unload area, for stopping properly oriented parts in said unload area, whereby a pickup means may remove properly oriented parts abutting said stop means;
• ejection means adjacent said first side and spaced further along said feed rail from said load area than said first cut-out portion for positive ejection of improperly oriented components as they are guided past said ejection means by said feed rail;
• a second baffle means spaced from and parallel to said feed rail at said unload area for obstructing the downward movement of said components along said second plane of said sloping shelf.