Transport apparatus for transporting part-carrying members to various work stations and for reading data encoded on said part-carrying member

A transport apparatus for transporting part-carrying members to various work stations and for reading encoded data from said part-carrying members, said apparatus comprising:

• a first plurality of movable part-carrying members, each said movable part-carrying member having a shaft mounted thereon, each said shaft having a disc mounted on said shaft, said disc being rotatable about said shaft, each said disc having a pair of main faces, at least one of said main faces having a first annular area concentric with said shaft having substantially radial grooves therein and a second plurality of annular coding and reading areas of different diameters disposed concentrically about said shaft and provided with detectable points;
• a general transporter, having a third plurality of work stations therealong, for movably supporting said first plurality of movable part-carrying members, each work station having
• a descending guide path for moving said movable part-carrying members from said general transporter to said work station,
• a stop length, connected to said descending guide path, for stopping said movable part-carrying member at said work station,
• a raising guide path for returning said movable part-carrying to said general transporter from said work station,
• a connection connecting said stop length to said raising guide path,
• a read station situated at said connection,
• a pneumatic actuator for moving a raising device to and fro along said raising guide path and having an air orifice for exhaust of air when said raising device is moved towards said read station;
• wherein said read station comprises
• a pressurized gas blast nozzle for sending a jet of gas in a direction transverse to said radial grooves of said first area of said disc for a movable part-carrying member stopped at said read station, said gas blast nozzle having an air inlet fitting connected by a pipe to said air orifice of said pneumatic actuator,
• at least one read branch disposed generally radially facing said disc of said movable part-carrying member stopped at said read station, said read branch carrying detectors in correspondence with said coding and reading areas of said disc for reading information encoded thereon.