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US 5,990,450 AGranted
Rotary conveyor
AssigneeOdawara Automation, Inc.
InventorsEric John Kirker, William R. Patterson, Jr., Donald Ray Hall, David L. Hall
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeOdawara Automation, Inc.
InventorsEric John Kirker, William R. Patterson, Jr., Donald Ray Hall, David L. Hall
Estimating the term…
A rotary conveyor comprising an annular array of a plurality of circumferentially spaced work piece support members for receiving a corresponding plurality of work pieces. They conveyor further include a first drive ring coaxially associated with the array for rotating the work pieces in the work piece support members. The drive ring is rotatable with respect to the array such that relative movement between the drive ring and the array causes the work pieces to rotate. The invention further includes a rotary oven for depositing and curing resin on work pieces having a shaft thereon. The oven comprises an annular array having a plurality of circumferentially spaced work piece support members. Each work piece support member has a sprocket mounted on its radially inward end and is shaped so as to receive a work piece in its radially outward end. The oven further comprises a drive ring coaxial with the array, the drive ring having a chain mounted about its outer periphery such that the work piece support member sprockets mesh with the chain. The oven also includes a plurality of heating elements to heat the work pieces retained in the work piece support members, and a motor coupled to the ring for rotating the ring about the ring axis. The oven further comprises indexing means coupled to the array for step-wise rotating the annular array, whereby as the array is indexed the work pieces are passed under the heating elements to thereby heat and cure the work pieces.
A rotary conveyer comprising:
A rotary oven comprising:
A transfer assembly for transferring rotating work pieces from a first array to a second array while maintaining the rotation of said work pieces, said transfer assembly including a transfer gripper for gripping and removing said work piece from a work piece support member on said first array and placing said work piece in a work piece support member on said second array, said transfer assembly further including a transfer motor coupled to said transfer gripper such that if the rotational motion of said transfer gripper drops below a predetermined level said transfer motor drives said transfer gripper to maintain rotation.
A rotary conveyer comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.