Method of and apparatus for transporting lead frame

A lead frame transport method for use with a lead frame transport apparatus including a magazine for storing lead frames in a stacked manner, a transport head for taking the lead frame out of the magazine, an inter leaf recovery head which is integrally joined to the transport head for recovering an inter leaf, an interleaf recovery section for receiving an inter leaf taken out by the recovery head, vertically actuation means for vertically actuating the transport and recovery heads in an integrated fashion, horizontally actuation means for horizontally actuating the transport and recovery heads in an integrated fashion, a transport path for transporting the lead frame received from the transport head, and two-sheet pick-up error detection means for detecting picking up of two lead frames, the method comprising the steps of:

• temporarily returning two lead frames back to the magazine if the two-sheet pick-up error detection means detects the transport head having picked up two lead frames;
• and
• taking the two lead frames out of the magazine and transporting the lead frames by means of the recovery head to the inter leaf recovery section, where the lead frames are recovered, thereby allowing the lead frame transport method to be applied to either directly-stacked lead frames or frames which are stacked with inter leaves sandwiched between them.