Workpiece escapement and divider

Abstract

A turret journalled on a vertical axis has a plurality of vertically spaced pockets open at their upper and lower ends and spaced circumferentially around its outer periphery. A workpiece hopper has a downwardly extending outlet lying on the circle defined by the upper ends of the pockets so when a pocket registers with the outlet, a workpiece gravitates into the pocket. A motor driven worm gear which rotates about a horizontal axis is disposed adjacent the outer periphery of the pocket such that a workpiece deposited into the pocket registering with the hopper outlet is engaged by and between a pair of adjacent convolutions of the worm gear thread. That workpiece thus forms a driving connection between the worm gear and the turret to index the turret in a work-advancing direction to a position where the next upstream pocket on the turret registers with the hopper outlet to receive another workpiece and again index the turret in the work-advancing direction. The lower ends of the pockets are normally blocked by a stop plate that has a lost motion rotary driving connection with the turret. A proximity switch spaced circumferentially from the outlet senses the presence of a workpiece in an adjacent pocket to reverse the rotation of the worm gear and index the turret through a small arc relative to the stop plate which aligns the lower ends of the pockets with openings in the stop plate to discharge the workpieces thereform.