Western Electric Company, Inc.

At&t Technologies, Inc.

William C Kent

Charles H Payne

Parts (10) with terminals (17) wrapped with insulation coated wire (20) are loaded into quick clamp and release fixtures (24) and then advanced by a conveyor (26) through a flux applying station (42) and then through an insulation removing and solder depositing station (46). Solder is pumped through a well (47) and divided into two oppositely flowing sets of streams capped by open top housings (66, 67 and 68). The hot solder flowing counter to the direction of movement of the terminals acts to melt and wash away the insulation whereafter the solder flowing in the direction of movement of the terminals acts to deposit solder on the wire wrapped terminals.

Method and system for soldering insulation coated parts

A work piece 10 with projecting terminals 16, 17 and 18 on which are wrapped loose turns of wire 19, 20 and 21 is advanced into and held between arms of a yoke 30. Upper ends of the terminals are positioned between jaws 36, 37 and 38. A cam plate 49 is initially moved by fluid cylinders 53 and 54 to move V-shaped cam surfaces 48 against the jaws which partially close about the terminals. Next, fluid cylinders 65 and 66 are operated to move a slide 60 on which the jaws are mounted so that the now partially closed jaws engage and compact the loose wraps of wire against the work piece. Finally, the yoke 30 is withdrawn to permit stationary knockout pins 76 to dislodge the work piece into a discharge chute 79.

Apparatus for compacting loose wraps of wire on terminals

Pressurized molten solder 71 is flowed along a confined first channel 86 and forced through a series of spaced, aligned apertures 88 as solder jets which rise, fall and merge to form a solder stream which flows along a second channel defined by channel walls 93 and 94. Spring held printed circuit boards 10 are advanced by a conveyor 21 which is tilted to move a far section of each board into engagement with the top of channel wall 93 and then a near section of each board into engagement with the top of channel wall 94 whereafter the board is spring held to ride along the tops of channel walls while a thin stripe of solder is applied to the board.

Method and apparatus for applying stripes of solder to articles

A terminal strip 10 (see FIG. 7) is assembled by the method and apparatus so that two tiers of pins 11 are forced fitted into blind holes 13 formed in a plastic strip 12. Two tiers of terminal pins are advanced by two rows of pusher rods 41 and 42 from stacks 16 of pins through holes 31 and 32 in a slide bar 28 into passageways 26 and 27 of a loader block 21 so that the leading end of the pins project from the block while the trailing ends are fully seated within the passageway. The slide block 28 is shifted to block the rear end of the passageways 26 and 27. Next, a work holder nest 51 loaded with a plastic strip 12 is moved toward the now held pins 11 to force seat the pins into the blind holes 13. The nest is withdrawn, and cleats 63, 64 and 58 pull the plastic strip 12 to withdraw the pins 11 from the passageway to permit the subsequent removal of the assembled terminal strip 10.

Methods and apparatus for simultaneously inserting an array of flexible

A conveyor 21 rapidly advances a series of workholders to move printed circuit board connectors 10 mounted therein along a short insulating rail section 37 and a second long cooled rail 31. Presoldered leads 13 overlaying contacts pads 14 are heated to temperatures slightly above the melting point of solder during movement along the first rail 28 and are cooled to solidify the solder during movement along the second rail. A belt 44, moving at the same speed as the conveyor, presses the boards to ensure good contact of the leads with the pads during the melting and cooling of the solder.

Method and apparatus for reflowing solder stripes on articles

A conveyor system includes a number of closely spaced pallets (14) having nested pairs of ears (47,48 and 56,57) mounted on chain pins (33). First rollers (37) are mounted on pins (33) to ride between guide walls (38 and 39) and are engaged by a drive sprocket (12) to move the pallets through a number of work stations (16 to 19). Additional horizontal rollers (63, 71 and 72) are rotatably mounted on the pallets (14) to ride on one of the guide walls (30) and a third guide wall (74). A crowder pin device (81,82) is operated to engage a pallet at a work station to thrust the pallet rollers (37) against the wall (38) to fixedly position the pallet at the work station. Further precise positioning is attained by moving a tapered shot pin (84) into a hole (87) formed in the positioned pallet.

Conveyor driven fixtures which are precisely positionable at work

A coordinate array of terminal pins are straightened and aligned in precise rows and columns by flexing one-half of the pins in one direction while flexing the other half of the pins in an opposite direction. This coordinate alignment is attained by inserting first rows of pins (13) into apertures (31) formed in a first set of slide bars (36) and second rows of pins (13) into apertures (32) formed in a second set of slide bars (37) which are interleaved with the first bars. A pair of air cylinders (81 and 89) are programmed to operate to reciprocate the slide bars (36 and 37) in opposite directions to flex the terminal pins beyond elastic limits and back to their origin point. The flexing operation is effective to align the pins in a coordinate array without introduction of detrimental stresses in a terminal pin support, such as a connector housing (11) or a printed circuit board (102).

Method and apparatus for straightening an array of terminal pins

A conveyor system that may be driven in a forward or a reverse direction is provided with jam detectors that are effective to interrupt the operation of the conveyor chain (10) upon encountering a jam condition in either direction of drive. The chain (10) is driven about idler sprockets (19 and 53) mounted in housings (21 and 51) that are slidably mounted on a T-bar frame (22). When the chain is driven in a forward direction A, a jam condition causes housings (21) to slide and operate a switch (23) to interrupt power to a motor (18). When the direction of drive is reversed, housing (21) is held from movement by a lock (47), and a lock (54) associated with housing (51) is released to allow the housing (51) to shift in response to a jam condition to operate a switch (58) to again interrupt the power applied to the motor (18).

Overload detector and interrupt for conveyor chain

Connector housings (12) are pushed into a succession of nests (26) formed in workholders (17) mounted on an incrementally advanced turntable (15). Subsequent advance of a workhokder from the connector load station causes a cam follower (42) of a spring-biased lever arrangement (37) to react with a cam track (19) to pivot and move locating pins (31 and 32) into holes (13 and 14) formed in the connector housing. Further advance of the turntable (15) causes a cam follower (64) to ride onto a high portion of a cam track (21) to pivot a second lever arrangement (37) to move a spring-biased, pivotally mounted clamping arm (51) into engagement with the precisely positioned connector housing.

Workpiece positioning, clamping and conveying apparatus

An apparatus is provided for applying lubricant to articles such as connectors. The connectors 10 with projecting terminals 12 are loaded into a holder 19 enclosed within a housing 16 having an entry door 23. The door is shut and lubricant is pumped into a tank 28 to overflow into a catch receptacle 66 whereafter the holder is moved to dip the terminal ends into the lubricant. During the dipping operation a pair of locking members 98 and 133 are positioned to block opening of the door. Following the dipping operation the locking member 98 is withdrawn while the lubricant is drained from the receptacle. Upon completion of the draining of the receptacle, facilities 126-132 are operated to withdraw the locking member 133 thus permitting an attending operator to open the door without exposure to any noxious frames emanating from the lubricant.

Apparatus for applying fluid to articles

A connector housing (10) with projecting terminal pins (11) is moved through a set of blades (41-45) which act to align the columns of terminal pins. At an assembly area (38), a group of aligning pins (111) are advanced through openings in the blades to align the rows of terminal pins (11). A jaw device (62) advances an apertured block (13) into the position above the terminal pins, whereafter a pusher (103) advances an apertured retainer card (24) onto the block (13). A multi-fingered insertion tool (121) is moved to push the retainer card (24) and the block (13) onto the coordinately aligned terminal pins.

Apparatus for assembling apertured members onto an array of terminal pins

A connector (10) having a socket-like opening (11) to be gauged is advanced into position to receive two sets of upright sensing legs (26 and 27) of L-shaped levers (28 and 29). The levers are moved upwardly to position the sensing legs within the connector opening, whereafter the levers are pivoted under urging of springs (57 and 58) to move the legs in opposite directions toward the opposing walls of the connector opening. Movement of the levers are monitored by two banks of linear transformers (72 and 73) to generate signals to actuate a pair of displays (116 and 117) to provide visual representations of the profiles of the opposing walls of the connector opening.

Apparatus for ascertaining internal dimensions of a hollow article

A zero force connector is constructed of a plurality of tiers of jack-like units (16, 17, 23 and 24) which are simultaneously opened and closed by turning a pair of screws made of sets (31 and 32). Each screw set has left and right-hand threads to cooperate with threaded ends (26,27) of the jack units so that all the jack-like units are moved to engage a plurality of tiers of plugs 10 with minimum sliding forces, thus, preventing abrading of precious metal plating on the contacting elements (13, 14, 18 and 19).

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Garland, TX, United States of America

William C Kent