Automatic lead frame feeding device for a TO-220 semiconductor manufacturing apparatus

An automatic lead frame feeding device for a TO-220 semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which the lead frame includes four sides, two of said sides being parallel and the remaining two of said sides forming a perimeter with the two parallel sides, the feeding device comprising:

• a loading section including a pair of guide members vertically disposed in horizontally spaced opposite relation to each other to stack up lead frames therebetween, each guide member having a lower end;
• a transferring section disposed at one side of said loading section for transverse movement to drop one by one the stacked lead frames in said loading section in sequence beginning with the lowermost lead frame;
• a feeding section positioned to feed the dropped lead frame in said loading section to a subsequent process;
• wherein said loading section further comprises
• a lug provided at each of the lower end of the guide members, each lug support supporting a respective one of said parallel sides of the lead frame;
• a support rail extending parallel to a first one of said remaining sides of the lead frame between and transverse to said guide members to support said first remaining side;
• two spaced transfer rails extending parallel to said support rail at a level lower than said support rail to receive the lead frame being dropped by said transferring section;
• and
• a retreating groove provided adjacent a second one of said remaining sides on the opposite side of said second remaining side from said first remaining side, said retreating groove being spaced horizontally from said support rail and positioned between said support rail and said transfer rail in a vertical direction;
• and
• wherein a lowermost one of a stack of lead frames is initially supported by the lugs on each of its parallel sides and by the support rail on the first of its remaining sides and subsequently translated in a horizontal direction toward the retreating groove by the feeding section such that the lead frame falls from the lugs and the support rail, the second remaining side of the lead frame is temporarily received by the retreating groove, and the lead frame subsequently falls onto the transfer rails.