GB1320882A - Apparatus for assembly of valves and insertion into inflatable articles - Google Patents

Abstract

1320882 Inserting valves in toy balloons, beach balls, &c G H KARLIN and B LANE 10 Jan 1972 [11 Jan 1971] 987/72 Headings A6D and A6S [Also in Division B8] A machine for assembling two-part valves 26, Fig. 2, and positioning them for manual insertion in the necks of toy balloons, beach balls, &c comprises a fixed support table 4, Fig. 1, having first and secondary rotary tables 6, 20 on which the valve parts 28, 36 are connected, and string is secured to the outer valve part 36, a transfer station 18 shifting the assembled valves from the rotary table 6 to the rotary table 20. The valves 26, Fig. 2, are made of plastics, each outer member 36 having a tab 41 to which a length of string is stapled, and an entry port 39 leading to a cylindrical bore 38 receiving an inner piston valve member 28. A flared mouth 30a of the piston valve member 28 is snapped into a converging mouth 37a of the outer valve member 36, a side port 34 in the piston valve member being covered when the piston is pushed up into the bore 38, but open to the interior of the balloon, &c. When the piston is pushed out to engage its flared mouth 30a against the converging mouth 37a. Filling is effected by inserting an air tube through the port 39 to push the piston 28 downwards. The assembling machine has a first vibratory hopper 50, Fig. 1, which feeds piston valve members 28 one at a time to a work station 10, where one piston valve member is pushed as a friction fit into a cup holder 8 fast on the rotary table 6 by a pneumatic server (70), Fig. 3 (not shown). The table 6 is then stepped round clockwise, carrying the piston valve member 28 past a sensing device 8, to a second station 12. A second vibratory hopper 78 feeds outer valve members 36 one at a time to the second station 12, where a pneumatic servo (88), Fig. 4 (not shown), forces one outer valve member onto the piston valve member 28 in the cup 8. The table 6 is again stepped round, to carry the assembled valve 26 to a station 14. A pneumatically operated stapling machine (116), Fig. 8 (not shown), then staples the end of a length of string, supplied via a feeder 124, &c., to the tab 41 of the assembled valve. Simultaneously, cutters (136, 138), Fig. 12 (not shown), sever the string stapled to the preceeding valve, now positioned at the next station 16. The table 6 is again stepped round, to carry the valve 26 to the station 16, drawing a length of string through the feeder 124 &c. An electric motor driven winder (140), Fig. 13 (not shown), is then vertically lowered by a pneumatic servo (152) to engage its motor shaft end (146, &c) frictionally in the upwardly facing hole 39 of the valve in its cup 8. The winder (140) operates, to rotate the valve 26 in its cup 8, and wind string around the valve adjacent a peripheral flange 40. On completion of the winding operation, the winder (140) is withdrawn upwardly, and as the string is being stapled to the following valve at the previous station 14, the end of the string wound onto the valve 26 is cut. The table 6 is again stepped round, carrying the valve 26 to the transfer station 18. The table 6 passes below the table 20, which rotates anti-clockwise and is stepped round in synchronism with the table 6. Spaced around the table 20 are a number of vertically reciprocable spring biassed holders (166), Fig. 15 (not shown), each having at its bottom a friction holder (168, 170), which can be pushfitted into the hole 39 in the valve 26, still in its cup 8. A pneumatic servo (154) is energized to push the holder (166) at the transfer station 18 downwards, engage it frictionally with the valve 26, and then allow it to rise up again, pulling the valve out of its cup 8 and holding it beneath the table 20. After a series of fastener indexing steps, the valve 26, below the table 20, has been advanced to a further station 22, extending beyond the edge of the fixed table 4. A balloon, &c is checked by an operator and then secured by hand onto the valve 26. The table 20 is stepped round further to a final station 24, where a head (172) Fig. 19 (not shown), on the holder (166) is engaged between the arms (204) of a pneumatically actuated lifting device, which raises the holder and strips the valve 26 together with its balloon, &c. off the holder and allows it to fall through a hole in the support table 4 for packaging, &c. The various pneumatic servos are actuated by an air manifold 220 under the control of a switch panel 222 provided with warning lights indicating any malfunction of the machine. Accurate location of the rotary tables 6, 20 at the transfer station 18 is provided by an indexing device (180), Fig. 17 (not shown).