Cna Manufacturing Systems, Inc.

Jeffrey R Gueble

Mark S Soderberg

Philip A Rink

Joseph P Giamona

An apparatus for holding a workpiece to a known position without regard to the angularity of the surface of the workpiece at the point of contact with the apparatus includes a disk shaped, substantially flat contact pad for engaging the workpiece. The surface of the contact pad opposite the workpiece is substantially spherical and fits in a conical seat so that the center point of the upper surface of the contact pad is always at an known position when the contact pad is seated, without regard to the angularity of the contact pad. A proximity detector determines when the contact pad is seated providing an indication to an operator that the workpiece is properly engaged by the apparatus. The contact pad is contained within the interior of a suction cup that engages the workpiece whereupon externally supplied vacuum pulls the suction cup and the workpiece together. A second embodiment employs the contact pad with an aperture therethrough so as to provide fluid communication to an air supply passing through the contact seat. The air supply provides an air bearing to enable a workpiece to be slid on a cushion of air.

End effector

A component pocket tape feeder system employs a registration mechanism to precisely position a component within a pocket tape just prior to retrieval of the component by a robotic assembly device. The registration mechanism precisely aligns the part thus enabling the robot to locate the part. The registration mechanism includes hold down and tamp apparatus for preventing tumbling of the part during alignment and an alignment mechanism which extends through apertures in the component tape to engage portions of the component and move the component, which was theretofore loosely held within the tape. The alignment mechanism is removable to allow other alignment mechanisms to be attached to the system to enable use with various components.

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Jeffrey R Gueble