Work supply apparatus and machine tool provided with the work supply apparatus

• US 9,138,810 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2010
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Citizen Machinery Miyano Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Citizen Machinery Co., Ltd. (Citizen Electronics Company Limited)
• Inventors: Masuda, Masaaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson, Lee D
• Assistant Examiner(s): GRANT, ALVIN J
• Application Number:
  US13/138,702
• Publication Number:
  US 20120013062A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,037 Days
• Field of Search: 269/55
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B23B 13/022 being placed in the spindle
• CPC Class Codes: B23B 2270/16 Constructions comprising three or more similar components
• CPC Class Codes: B23Q 7/06 by means of pushers B23Q7/1457, B23Q7/1489, B23B13/02, B23B13/12 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 7/22 with tiltable platforms tilting vehicles for unloading B65G67/34

Abstract

A work supply apparatus that can cope with a variation (decrease or increase) in length of the work and can eliminate adverse effects caused by vibration or the like and a machine tool provided with this work supply apparatus are aimed at to be provided.

Provided is a work supply apparatus that is provided with a work accommodation part (110), a pressing member (130) which presses the works (W) accommodated in the work accommodation part out from the work accommodation part (110), and the work replenishing part (122) which replenishes works to the work accommodation part, and replenishes works to be introduced to the work supply part, and supplies the work in the work accommodation part to a predetermined operation position by means of the pressing member (130), wherein the work replenishing part has a work positioning member (125) which positions the work at a position where the work can be replenished to the work accommodation part, the work positioning member (125) is provided in a manner that the position thereof can be freely adjusted according to the work, and the pressing member (130) has a configuration that allows the amount of movement to be adjusted based on the distance between the reference position (122a) and the work positioning member (125).

Claims

1. A work supply apparatus comprising;

a work accommodation part in which a plurality of works is accommodated and aligned,

a pressing member for pressing the plurality of works accommodated within the work accommodation part to push a predetermined number of the plurality of works out from the work accommodation part to thereby form a space at a tail end of the plurality of works in the work accommodation part,

a work replenishing part for replenishing the works into the space of the work accommodation part,

having a work positioning member for positioning the work to a position to be introduced in the space of the work accommodation part,

a position adjusting device connected to the work positioning member to adjust a position of the work positioning member relative to a reference position of the work according to a length of the work and a quantity of the works, to be replenished, and

a movement amount adjusting device connected to the pressing member to adjust an amount of movement of the pressing member based on a distance between the reference position and the work positioning member.

2. The work supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the work positioning member is positioned at a position that is away from the reference position for a distance which is equal to total lengths of the works to be replenished at one time and the pressing member moves for a distance that is equal to a length of a single work such that the single work is pushed out from the work accommodation part.

3. The work supply apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a work moving device for moving the work which has been positioned by the work positioning member towards the space of the work accommodation part.

4. The work supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the work replenishing part is formed as a separate part which is distant from the work accommodation part.

5. The work supply part according to claim 1, wherein the work accommodation part is provided to move back and forth such that the plurality of works in the work accommodation part and the work pushed out from the work accommodation part to an operation position are distant from each other.

6. A machine tool comprising:

the work supply apparatus according to claim 1.

7. The machine tool according to claim 6, wherein an operation position is a position where the work is held by the machine tool.

8. The work supply part according to claim 1, further comprising a work moving device for replenishing the works positioned with the work positioning member in the space of the work accommodation part,

wherein the work replenishing part has a work introduction portion, and the work moving device extends in a work introduction direction from the work introduction portion and moves in a direction perpendicular to the work introduction direction, and

the work positioning member is arranged apart from the work introduction portion.

9. The work supply part according to claim 8, wherein the work replenishing part includes a work mounting plate for mounting the works,

the work positioning member includes a notch portion formed at a lower portion thereof, and

the work moving device extends through the notch portion on the work mounting plate, and slides on the work mounting plate along the notch to replenish the works positioned with the work positioning member in the space of the work accommodation part.

10. The work supply part according to claim 9, wherein the work replenishing part includes side walls protruding from the work mounting plate to form a work introduction path communicated with the work introduction portion.

11. The work supply part according to claim 1, wherein the work replenishing part includes a work mounting plate for mounting the works, and the work mounting plate is inclined such that the works positioned with the work positioning member rotatably move in the space of the work accommodation part.