Part feeder

Abstract

A manually actuatable, part feeder presents at least one exposed part, with an appropriate orientation for picking and placing, to an operator in a pick station, in response to the operator providing a feed command. A cover take-up mechanism can be used to remove a cover tape from the carrier such that the operator receives the exposed part or parts to be picked. Tape advance is achieved by applying forces to the carrier tape to advance the pocketed component carrying portion. Variable widths of carriers can be accommodated in the feeder. A pair of movable hold-down rails, laterally adjustable with respect to one another, makes it possible to feed carriers having a wide range of widths simply by adjusting the spacing of the rails relative to one another.

What is claimed:  
     
         1 . A part feeder comprising: 
 a support for an elongated, pocketed, product carrier with a removable elongated cover;    a mechanism for moving the carrier a predetermined distance in response to a manually generated input by applying a separating force to the cover;    a work station upon which a portion of the carrier can be supported for manual removal of a part carried therein wherein the product carrier is supported with an orientation that tends to retain the part in a respective pocket until manually removed.    
     
     
         2 . A feeder as in  claim 1  wherein the support comprises a mount for rotatably supporting a reel of tape.  
     
     
         3 . A feeder as in  claim 1  wherein the mechanism comprises a cylindrical tape take-up member rotated by an electrically driven transducer.  
     
     
         4 . A feeder as in  claim 3  wherein transducer is an electric motor.  
     
     
         5 . A feeder as in  claim 1  which includes a cover tape take-up mechanism positioned adjacent to the work station.  
     
     
         6 . A feeder as in  claim 1  which includes at least one, elongated carrier guide element.  
     
     
         7 . A feeder as in  claim 6  which includes a second guide element, and, wherein at least one of the guide elements is movable laterally relative to the other.  
     
     
         8 . A feeder as in  claim 1  which includes a manually operated control switch, coupled to the mechanism, for generating the control signal.  
     
     
         9 . A feeder as in  claim 7  wherein the guide elements are movable, relative to one another for use with carriers having a width parameter in a range of at least 5 mm to 250 mm.  
     
     
         10 . A feeder as in  claim 1  wherein the carrier is at least in part covered at the work station.  
     
     
         11 . A feeder as in  claim 1  wherein the mechanism winds up the cover.  
     
     
         12 . A feeder as in  claim 11  wherein the mechanism includes a roller for substantially reversing a direction of travel of the cover tape.  
     
     
         13 . A feeder as in  claim 1  which includes a carrier retaining member which extends, at least in part, to a product removing location.  
     
     
         14 . A feeder as in  claim 13  which includes a tape guide member, displaced from the carrier retaining member wherein the pocketed product carrier advances therebetween.  
     
     
         15 . A carrier tape feed mechanism comprising: 
 support for a tape to be fed;    a mechanism for separating a tape being fed into a free cover tape and a pocketed component carrying tape;    a tape advance apparatus which engages at least apart of the free cover tape and which applies a feeding force thereto thereby advancing the pocketed tape a predetermined amount with the pocketed tape oriented to retain the components in respective pockets.    
     
     
         16 . A mechanism as in  claim 15  wherein the support rotatably supports a reel of carrier tape.  
     
     
         17 . A mechanism as in  claim 15  which includes a picking station for the pocketed tape.  
     
     
         18 . A mechanism as in  claim 15  wherein the tape advance apparatus includes a cover tape take-up device.  
     
     
         19 . A mechanism as in  claim 18  wherein the cover tape take-up device comprises a take-up reel.  
     
     
         20 . A mechanism as in  claim 15  which includes at least one guide for use with variable widths of carrier tape.  
     
     
         21 . A mechanism as in  claim 20  wherein the guide includes a width adjusting, laterally movable guide section.  
     
     
         22 . A mechanism as in  claim 20  wherein the guide comprises a fixed section and second section movable with respect to the fixed section.  
     
     
         23 . A mechanism as in  claim 15  wherein the tape advance apparatus includes an electrically energized actuator for generating the feeding force.  
     
     
         24 . A mechanism as in  claim 23  wherein the actuator comprises at least one of an electric motor and a solenoid.  
     
     
         25 . A mechanism as in  claim 23  which includes a manually activatable control member for intermittently applying the feeding force.  
     
     
         26 . A part presenting unit comprising: 
 a support structure;    a reel element, carried by the support structure for rotatably carrying a reel of a pre-loaded carrier tape;    a picking station, carried by the support structure;    a tape advance mechanism, carried by the support structure, wherein the mechanism separates a carrier tape from the reel into a cover portion; and a component carrying tape and wherein the tape advance mechanism includes a transducer for applying an advancing force to the cover portion whereby the component carrying tape is advanced to the picking station, wherein the station has a region for providing manual access to a selected section of the component carrying portion.    
     
     
         27 . A unit as in  claim 26  wherein: 
 the transducer comprises an electric motor to sequentially present successive regions of the component carrying tape at the picking station.  
 
     
     
         28 . A unit as in  claim 26  wherein the picking station includes a cover with an access port having an operator surface and a component carrying tape surface with a tape guide located adjacent to the component carrying tape surface wherein the component carrying tape is interposed between the cover and the guide as it is being advanced to the picking station.  
     
     
         29 . A unit as in  claim 28  wherein the tape advance mechanism reverses, at least in part, a direction of movement of the cover tape.  
     
     
         30 . A tape feed mechanism for a two part carrier tape wherein one part corresponds to a pocketed tape with a second part that corresponds to a cover tape, the mechanism comprising: 
 a pocket access station wherein the station has a tape input port and a tape output port; a cover tape separating station adjacent to the input port wherein a cover tape is separated from a pocketed tape;    an actuator for applying a force to the cover tape, separating same from the pocketed tape and advancing same toward the tape output port wherein the tape access station orients the tape to prevent components carried by the pocketed tape from falling from the respective pocket, as the carrier tape is removed.    
     
     
         31 . A mechanism as in  claim 30  which includes at least one elongated tape guide extending from the separating station.  
     
     
         32 . A mechanism as in  claim 31  which includes a second elongated tape guide wherein one guide is movable relative to the other.  
     
     
         33 . A mechanism as in clam  30  wherein the actuator is selected from a class which includes a manually activated actuator and an electrically activated actuator.  
     
     
         34 . A mechanism as in  claim 33  wherein the manually activated actuator includes a manually movable member for applying the force to the cover tape.  
     
     
         35 . A mechanism as in  claim 33  wherein the electrically activated actuator comprises one of a motor and a solenoid.  
     
     
         36 . A mechanism as in  claim 30  which includes an elongated, covered pocketed tape receiving region which extends between the ports.  
     
     
         37 . A mechanism as in  claim 36  wherein the covered region includes a part removal port.  
     
     
         38 . A mechanism as in  claim 37  wherein the actuator intermittently applies force to the cover tape to sequentially advance pockets in the pocketed tape to the part removal port.  
     
     
         39 . A mechanism as in  claim 38  which includes a cover tape take-up reel.  
     
     
         40 . A mechanism as in  claim 39  wherein the actuator intermittently rotates the take-up reel.  
     
     
         41 . A method of presenting parts pre-packaged in a reel of flexible carrier tape which has a cover tape which is attached to a pocketed tape, the method comprising: 
 unwinding a portion of the carrier tape with an orientation such that gravity retains the respective parts in the carrier tape;    applying a force to a cover tape thereby stripping the cover tape from a pocketed tape while at the same time moving a selected part to a predetermined location, in response to the force while restraining the part in a respective pocket of the pocketed tape.    
     
     
         42 . A method as in  claim 41  which includes: 
 manually removing the selected part and repeating the above steps.  
 
     
     
         43 . A method as in  claim 41  which includes moving the stripped cover tape in a direction, at least in part, opposite a direction of movement of the pocketed tape.  
     
     
         44 . A method as in  claim 41  which includes counting tape based indicia to determine how far to move the pocketed tape.  
     
     
         45 . A method as in  claim 41  which includes guiding the pocketed tape using at least one guide slot.  
     
     
         46 . A method as in clam  41  which includes orienting the pocketed tape so that gravity restrains the part in the respective pocket in the absence of the cover tape.  
     
     
         47 . A part feeder system comprising: 
 a base;    a plurality of separate part feeders couplable to the base wherein each member of the plurality includes an adjustable width, pocketed tape advance and pick structure settable for an expected tape width and adjustable pocket spacing along the tape wherein the structure carries a replaceable pick-region defining cover wherein at least one component carrying pocket in the tape is presented for manual picking at the pick-region wherein the respective pocket extends away from the cover; and    a tape advance mechanism, carried on the structure, with at least one cover tape take-up roller configured, relative to the settable width of the structure, to strip a cover tape from a section of pocketed tape and roll the cover tape onto the take-up roller while at the same time linearly advancing the coverless section of pocket tape toward the pick-region with the cover blocking access to components to be picked in pockets of the section of tape except as the respective pockets enter the pick region.    
     
     
         48 . A system as in  claim 47  wherein the pockets each include a closed end region against which the respective component carried therein is drawn by the force of gravity, at least in the pick region.  
     
     
         49 . A system as in  claim 47  wherein the cover tape take-up roller comprises a removable outer hub for removing a reel of cover tape wound on the roller.  
     
     
         50 . A system as in  claim 47  wherein the cover tape take-up roller comprises an alterable central section having a first, tape winding state and a second, wound tape removal state.  
     
     
         51 . A system as in  claim 50  wherein the central section comprises pivotably mounted elongated members which exhibit a cylindrical profile in the first state and a non-cylindrical profile in the second state.  
     
     
         52 . A system as in  claim 51  which includes an axially slidable member for converting the central section from one state to the other.  
     
     
         53 . A system as in  claim 3  wherein the take-up member comprises a removable outer hub for removing a reel of cover tape wound on the roller.  
     
     
         54 . A system as in  claim 3  wherein the take-up member comprises an alterable central section having a first, tape winding, state and a second, wound tape removal state.  
     
     
         55 . A system as in  claim 54  wherein the central section comprises pivotably mounted elongated members which exhibit a cylindrical profile in the first state and a non-cylindrical profile in the second state.  
     
     
         56 . A system as in  claim 55  which includes an axially slidable member for converting the central section from one state to the other.