Method and apparatus for increasing a substrate processing area without increasing the length of a manufacturing line
AssigneeCencorp, Inc.
InventorGlen M. Grabow
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A manufacturing line along which PCB's are fed and operated on includes a processing fixture for receiving an individual board and displacing it clear of the line toward a router bit. The router bit is shiftable transverse of the line, and the processing fixture is shiftable parallel to the line and in an underlapping relation to adjacent stations so as to address the whole area of the board with the router bit without increasing the length of the manufacturing line.
Claims18
A method of minimizing the length of a manufacturing line having a processing station and at least one other station adjacent to said processing station and situated along a substrate feed path of said manufacturing line, and comprising the steps of:
- displacing at least one of said stations clear of said feed path in preparation for said processing;
- and
- displacing a substrate, which is situated at said processing station, in lapping relation with said other station and only along a processing path which is generally parallel to said feed path during said processing so as to provide a substrate processing area larger than an area of said processing station while not increasing said manufacturing line length or width.
An apparatus for minimizing the length of a manufacturing line having a processing station and at least one other adjacent station situated along a substrate feed path of said manufacturing line, and comprising:
- means for displacing at least one of said stations clear of said feed path in preparation for said processing;
- and
- means for displacing a substrate, which is situated at said processing station, in lapping relation with said other station and only along a processing path which is generally parallel to said feed path during said processing in order to provide a substrate processing area larger than an area of said processing station while not increasing said manufacturing line length or width.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.