Cassette feed system and method
AssigneeTapematic U.S.A., Inc.
InventorLuciano Perego
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A feed unit having a storage station in which a plurality of trays each carrying a plurality of cassette rows disposed consecutively in side-by-side relation is manually stacked. A first pusher mechanism moves the lowermost tray in the stack along a slide track, towards a linear feeder. An abutment wall stops the movement of trays along the slide track when a cassette row reaches a predetermined loading position, so that it is picked up by a transport arm that will deposit it on the linear feeder. A third pusher mechanism picks up the individual cassettes from the linear feeder and sends them to an output conveyor.
Claims17
A tape cassette feed unit comprising:
- a linear feeder guiding a row of cassettes disposed consecutively in side-by-side relation;
- advance means associated with said linear feeder for moving the cassette row towards an output end of said feeder;
- transfer means for picking up one of the cassettes from said row and putting it onto an output conveyor;
- a storage station having a base, engaging a plurality of trays stacked one on top of the other, each said tray carrying a plurality of cassette rows disposed parallelly in side-by-side relation;
- a slide track extending horizontally from said storage station base towards said linear feeder;
- pusher means for moving the individual trays along said slide track, from said storage station to said linear feeder;
- stop means for stopping the progress of the individual trays on the slide track when one of said cassette rows reaches a predetermined pick-up position;
- and
- at least one transport arm operatively mounted above said slide track and said linear feeder, said arm moving between a grasp position in which it picks up a cassette row arranged in a pick-up position, to a deposit position in which said arm deposits the picked-up cassette row onto said linear feeder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.