Assembling apparatus for continuously assembling male and female fasteners on carrier sheet

Abstract

An assembling apparatus is provided for continuously assembling male fasteners and female fasteners on a carrier sheet. The assembling apparatus includes two rollers each having a plurality of retaining holes, a suction device coupled to apply vacuum to the retaining holes, and two feeding devices for feeding male and female fasteners respectively to the two rollers. In the process of continuously advancing the carrier sheet to pass through the narrowest gap between the rollers, each male fastener retained on one of the rollers, once passing the narrowest gap, is permitted to extend through the carrier sheet to be brought into fastening engagement with the corresponding female fastener retained on the other one of the rollers.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An assembling apparatus for continuously assembling male fasteners and female fasteners on a carrier sheet which is advanced continuously from rear to front, said assembling apparatus comprising:
 a roller device including
 two rollers each of which extends along a roller axis in a left-and-right direction, and each of which has an outer peripheral surface surrounding the roller axis, said rollers being spaced apart from each other in an upright direction to define therebetween a narrowest gap for passage of the carrier sheet, said outer peripheral surface of one of said rollers being formed with at least one circumferential row of first retaining holes in which said first retaining holes are angularly displaced from each other and are each configured for retaining therein each one of the male fasteners, said outer peripheral surface of the other one of said rollers being formed with at least one circumferential row of second retaining holes in which said second retaining holes are angularly displaced from each other and are each configured for retaining therein each one of the female fasteners, and 
 a roller drive module coupled to drive rotation of said two rollers such that each of the male fasteners retained on said one of said rollers, once moving into said narrowest gap, is permitted to extend through the carrier sheet and be brought into fastening engagement with a corresponding one of the female fasteners retained on said the other one of said rollers in said narrowest gap, to thereby continuously assemble the male and female fasteners on the carrier sheet; 
   a suction device coupled to said rollers to be disposed downstream of said first and second retaining holes so as to apply vacuum to said first and second retaining holes, thereby retaining the male fasteners and the female fasteners respectively on said rollers; and   two feeding devices which are coupled respectively to said two rollers and which are configured for feeding the male fasteners and the female fasteners respectively to said two rollers so as to permit the male fasteners to be sequentially fed and retained in said at least one circumferential row of said first retaining holes, and to permit the female fasteners to be sequentially fed and retained in said at least one circumferential row of said second retaining holes.   
     
     
         2 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein each of said feeding devices includes
 a fastener dispenser mounted above said respective roller and defining therein at least one discharge channel, said fastener dispenser being operable to successively discharge the male or female fasteners one by one from said discharge channel, and   at least one fastener guide which defines a guiding channel extending inclinedly and downwardly to terminate at an outlet port, and which is coupled between said fastener dispenser and said respective roller for guiding movement of the male or female fasteners from said discharge channel to said outlet port in an one-by-one manner such that when said rollers are driven to rotate, the male or female fasteners, discharged from said outlet port, are permitted to be sequentially fed and retained in said circumferential row of said first or second retaining holes.   
     
     
         3 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein said fastener dispenser includes
 a support wall disposed to incline downwardly from front to rear, and defining therein said at least one discharge channel, said support wall having an upward surface which is formed with a circular recess for receiving the male or female fasteners, said circular recess having an inner peripheral surface which has a bottommost point, a topmost point, a ramp-up zone extending from said bottommost point to said topmost point, and a ramp-down zone extending from said topmost point to said bottommost point, said ramp-up zone having a slot which is configured to permit said circular recess to be in spatial communication with said discharge channel, and which extends circumferentially to terminate at an uppermost edge and a lowermost edge that are respectively distal from and proximate to said bottommost point,   a drive wheel mounted rotatably in said circular recess, and having
 a wheel hub, 
 a plurality of spokes extending radially from said wheel hub and displaced angularly from each other about said wheel hub so as to permit the male or female fasteners to be received in said circular recess among said spokes, and 
 a wheel rim which extends to interconnect outer ends of said spokes, and which is disposed to confront said inner peripheral surface of said circular recess, said wheel rim being formed with a plurality of retaining passages which are angularly displaced from each other and each of said retaining passages being configured to retain and permit passage of, one at a time, the male or female fasteners such that one of the male or female fasteners, when being in a corresponding one of said retaining passages and elevated along said ramp-up zone by said drive wheel, is to be thrown out of said circular recess through said slot to thereby move into said discharge channel, and 
   a drive module coupled to said wheel hub so as to drive rotation of said drive wheel.   
     
     
         4 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein
 said outer peripheral surface of said one of said rollers is formed with two of said circumferential rows of said first retaining holes;   said outer peripheral surface of the other one of said rollers is formed with two of said circumferential rows of said second retaining holes;   said support wall defines therein two of said discharge channels which are spaced apart from each other in the left-and-right direction, and said upward surface of said support wall is formed with two of said circular recesses, which are respectively in spatial communication with said two discharge channels;   said fastener dispenser includes two of said drive wheels mounted rotatably in said circular recesses, respectively;   said drive module is coupled to drive rotation of said drive wheels;   each of said feeding devices includes two of said fastener guides which are displaced from each other in the left-and-right direction, and which are provided for guiding the movement of the male or female fasteners from said two discharge channels respectively to said two circumferential rows of said first or second retaining holes.   
     
     
         5 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein an arc of said ramp-up zone, interconnecting said bottommost point and said lowermost edge of said slot, defines a central angle which is not less than 60°. 
     
     
         6 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the central angle is not less than 80°. 
     
     
         7 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein each of said retaining passages extends inclinedly relative to a diameter line of said drive wheel by an inclined angle ranging from 0° to 30° such that one of the male or female fasteners retained in said corresponding retaining passage, once moving to confront said slot, is to be guided by said corresponding retaining passage to fall into said discharge channel. 
     
     
         8 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the inclined angle is 25°. 
     
     
         9 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a marker detection device disposed to detect markers on the carrier sheet, two adjacent ones of the markers being spaced apart from each other in a front-and-rear direction by a predetermined distance; and   a control device which is in signal communication with said marker detection device so as to calculate an advancing speed of the carrier sheet based on the predetermined distance and a time interval between the times when the two adjacent ones of the markers are detected, said control device being further in signal communication with said roller drive module such that, based on the calculated advancing speed, rotation speed of said rollers is adjusted by said roller drive module to ensure each of the male fasteners to be brought into fastening engagement with the corresponding one of the female fasteners at a predetermined position on the carrier sheet.   
     
     
         10 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein
 said outer peripheral surface of each of said rollers is formed with two endless grooves at two opposite sides of said two circumferential rows of said first or second retaining holes; and   each of said two fastener guides includes an elongated plate defining therein said guiding channel, and having a lower end segment and an upper end segment which is pivotally mounted to said support wall to permit said guiding channel to receive the male or female fasteners from said respective discharge channel, said lower end segment of said elongated plate including an inner region which has said outlet port, and an outer region which is coupled to be guided by said respective endless groove of said corresponding roller so as to position said lower end segment of said elongated plate relative to said corresponding roller, to thereby ensure the male or female fasteners from said outlet port to be accurately fed into said respective circumferential row of said first or second retaining holes.   
     
     
         11 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein each of said two fastener guides further includes
 a stem mounted to said outer region of said lower end segment of said elongated plate, and   a roller bearing mounted on a lower end of said stem to be rollable in said respective endless groove so as to permit said lower end segment of said elongated plate to be positioned relative to said corresponding roller.   
     
     
         12 . The assembling apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein each of said feeding devices further includes a biasing spring having two spring ends which are respectively coupled to said lower end segments of said elongated plates of said fastener guides so as to bias said lower end segments of said elongated plates to move toward each other.