The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 09, 1997
Filed:
Dec. 19, 1995
Minoru Kouda, Hirakata, JP;
Hideki Itou, Machida, JP;
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A star index wheel with a plurality of semi-circular notches furnishes round or cylindrical articles to a supply index wheel of the automatic machine at an rate coinciding with the spacing of the semi-circular notches in the supply index wheel. The star index wheel is disposed on the side of a carrying conveyor on which the round or cylindrical articles are transported without any gaps between them. The star index wheel rotates at a speed whereby the semi-circular notches move at a speed slightly less than that of the linear speed of the carrying conveyor, so that the movement of the articles on the carrying conveyor is constrained by the protrusions provided between the semi-circular notches in the star index wheel. The rotational speed of the star index wheel also separates the articles to synchronize the rate at which they are supplied to the supply index wheel with the rotational speed of the supply index wheel.