Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Yoshimasa Ota

Masayasu Arakawa

Yoshinobu Kawasaki

Mitsugu Takahashi

Noriyuki Unose

Makoto Urano

Yasuo Watanabe

Koichi Kida

Teruhisa Katsumata

Shigehiro Nakajima

In an assembly line in which at least two kinds of workpieces are transported by mixture and in which each of the workpieces is transported by a self-propelling transporting member, a transporting pitch for each kind of workpiece is set in advance based on a difference in the number of assembling man-hours required for each of them. The timing for starting the transporting member off a starting end of the assembly line is controlled according to the transporting pitch such that a pitch between a preceding transporting member and a succeeding transporting member becomes equal to that which is set for a workpiece to be transported by the preceding transporting member.

Method of transporting workpieces in assembly line

A conveying carrier is arranged to be self-propelled and move along a conveying passage having a pit formed therebelow. A track covers the top side of the pit flush with the road surface of the conveying passage. A plurality of wheels are attached to the conveying carrier with at least the front wheels being casters. A steering frame is pivotally supported on the conveying carrier and is turnable about a vertical steering axis line. A driving wheel and motor are attached to the steering frame, with the driving wheel being positioned to contact the track at a location substantially directly below the vertical steering axis line. A guide member is guided by a guide rail laid in the pit and connected to the steering frame through a slit in the widthwise center of the track. The pit is a substantially U-shaped track frame buried in the widthwise central portion. The track is formed of a pair of cover plates which are detachably mounted on the upper ends of side plates on both sides of the track frame as to leave the slit therebetween.

Automotive carrier type conveying apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Sayama, Japan

Yoshimasa Ota