Apparatus for percussively welding electrical components to circuit boards

Claim 1

IN A WELDING APPARATUS, A CARRIER MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT AN AXIS, A PLURALITY OF ELECTRODES ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED INDIVIDUALLY TO A SOURCE OF WELDING POTENTIAL FOR RELEASABLY SUPPORTING ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS, MEANS FOR MOUNTING SAID ELECTRODES ON SAID CARRIER FOR ROTARY MOVEMENT THEREWITH AND FOR MOVEMENT RELATIVE THERETO TO AND FROM RETRACTED AND ADVANCED POSITIONS, RESILIENT MEANS ON SAID CARRIER FOR MOVING SAID ELECTRODES TO SAID ADVANCED POSITIONS, MEANS FOR INDEXING SAID CARRIER TO SUCCESSIVELY ADVANCE THE ELECTRODES TO A PLURALITY OF STATIONS, MEANS AT A FIRST STATION FOR LOADING COMPONENTS ONTO SAID ELECTRODES, MEANS AT A SECOND STATION FOR MOVING SAID ELECTRODES TO THE RETRACTED POSITIONS, LATCH MEANS ON SAID CARRIER FOR RELEASABLY RETAINING SAID ELECTRODES IN THE RETRACTED POSITIONS, MEANS AT A WELDING STATION ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED TO THE SOURCE OF POTENTIAL FOR SUPPORTING AN ARTICLE IN THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF SAID COMPONENT, AND MEANS AT SAID WELDING STATION FOR RELEASING SAID LATCHING MEANS TO EFFECT THE MOVEMENT OF SAID ELECTRODES FROM THE RETRACTED POSITION TOWARD THE ADVANCED POSITION AND THE WELDING OF THE COMPONENT TO THE ARTICLE.