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US 4,624,050 AGranted
Head for handling electrical components
AssigneeUSM Corporation
InventorVictor T. Hawkswell
Life of this patent
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AssigneeUSM Corporation
InventorVictor T. Hawkswell
Estimating the term…
A pick-up head especially for use in a machine for placing electrical components on a substrate comprises a tool holder mounted for movement, conveniently by a lead screw driven by a motor, between a plurality of datum positions and further positions remote therefrom, having means for interchangeably mounting a pick-up tool with a datum face of the tool located at a predetermined position relative to the tool holder. The head further comprises a plurality of orienting jaws mounted for movement towards and away from a component carried on the datum face of a tool on the tool holder when the holder is in one of the datum positions whereby the jaws can engage the component to orient the component. The jaws have a plurality of spaced sets of cooperating datum faces disposed generally transversely to the plane of the datum face of the tool in the holder, each set of datum faces being disposed so as to be capable of orienting a component carried by a tool mounted on the tool holder when the holder is at a corresponding one of said datum positions. A machine including the pick-up head comprises a tool support for supporting a plurality of tools and the machine is arranged so that tools carried by the pick-up head may be interchanged with tools in the tool support dependent upon the components which are to be handled. A wide range of component sizes can be handled using the single pick-up head.
A head for handling electrical components comprising a tool holder, means for moving the holder between a plurality of datum positions and further positions remote therefrom, the holder having means for interchangeably mounting a tool with a datum face thereof positioned at a predetermined position relative to the tool holder, the head further comprising a plurality of orienting jaws mounted for movement towards and away from a component carried by and abutting the datum face of a tool mounted on the tool holder when the holder is in one of the datum positions whereby to engage and orient a component carried by the tool, the jaws having a plurality of spaced sets of cooperating datum faces generally transverse to the plane of the datum face of a tool in the holder, each set of datum faces of the jaws being so disposed as to be capable of orienting a component carried by a tool mounted on the tool holder when the holder is at a corresponding one of said datum positions.
A head according to any one of the preceding claims in which the tool holder has a socket in which a shank portion of a tool can be received to mount a tool on the holder.
A machine for handling electrical components comprising a head according to claim, 1, a tool support for supporting a plurality of tools and means for relatively moving the head and tool support whereby to mount a preselected tool carried by the tool support on the tool holder.
A head for handling electrical components comprising two pairs of opposed jaws, each jaw having a plurality of orienting faces, the orienting faces of each jaw being disposed to cooperate with corresponding orienting faces of the other jaws of the head providing a plurality of sets of orienting faces as the pairs of jaws are moved towards one another in the operation of the head, a component between the jaws being engaged by the orienting faces of one of the sets as the jaws of each pair are moved towards one another whereby to orient the components in a preselected orientation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.