Plural machine tool and part handling control system

Claim 2

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has a process indicia associated therewith, comprising: means for delivering parts to the machine tools; a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at all of the machine tools; control means responsive to a process indicia for coupling to each machine tool the program from said central source which controls the machining operation to be performed on a part delivered to that machine tool and which part is identified by said process indicia; part identification means for identifying the process indicia of a part, including a record medium carried along with said part and forming said process indicia, and a read unit associated with at least one machine tool and responsive to the record medium for identifying said process indicia represented thereby; said control means including at least one data link connectable between said central program source and each of said machine tools for coupling programs to the machine tools associated therewith, and means for connecting the program identified by the process indicia to the data link for the machine tool at which the part is located; and a write unit associated with each machine tool for assigning a new process indicia to the part after a machining operation has been performed on the part associated therewith.

Claim 3

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has a process indicia associated therewith, comprising: a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at all of the machine tools; control means responsive to a process indicia for coupling to each machine tool the program from said central source which controls the machining operation to be performed on a part delivered to that machine tool and which part is identified by said process indicia; part identification means for identifying the process indicia of a part; said control means including at least one data link connectable between said central program source and each of said machine tools for coupling programs to the machine tools associated therewith, and means for connecting the program identified by the process indicia to the data link for the machine tool at which the part is located; means for indicating that a machine tool is in condition for receiving a new part; and means for delivering parts to the machine tools including converting means responsive to said indicating means for randomly transporting a part from a part supply location to the machine tool at which said condition has occurred.

Claim 4

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has a process indicia associated therewith, comprising: a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at all of the machine tools; control means responsive to a process indicia for coupling to each machine tool the program from said central source which controls the machining operation to be performed on a part delivered to that machine tool and which part is identified by said process indicia; part identification means for identifying the process indicia of a part; said control means including at least one data link connectable between said central program source and each of said machine tools for coupling programs to the machine tools associated therewith, and means for connecting the program identified by the process indicia to the data link for the machine tool at which the part is located; means for indicating that a machine tool is in condition for receiving a new part; and means for delivering parts to the machine tools including converting means responsive to said indicating means for randomly transporting a part from a part supply location to the machine tool at which said condition has occurred.

Claim 5

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has A process indicia associated therewith, comprising: means for delivering parts to the machine tools; a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at all of the machine tools; control means responsive to a process indicia for coupling to each machine tool the program from said central source which controls the machining operation to be performed on a part delivered to that machine tool and which part is identified by said process indicia; and reidentification means for assigning to a part which has completed a machining operation a new process indicia which reidentifies the part.

Claim 6

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has A process indicia associated therewith, comprising: means for delivering parts to the machine tools; a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at all of the machine tools; control means responsive to a process indicia for coupling to each machine tool the program from said central source which controls the machining operation to be performed on a part delivered to that machine tool and which part is identified by said process indicia; and reidentification means for assigning to a part which has completed a machining operation a new process indicia which reidentifies the part.

Claim 7

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has a process indicia associated therewith, comprising: means for delivering parts to the machine tools; a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at all of the machine tools; control means responsive to a process indicia for coupling to each machine tool the program from said central source which controls the machining operation to be performed on a part delivered to that machine tool and which part is identified by said process indicia; means for sensing at one of said machine tools the occurrence of a condition which requires correction, and means responsive to the sensed occurrence of a condition which requires correction for stopping the running of a program coupled from said central source to the machine tool at which the condition occurred.

Claim 8

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has a process indicia associated therewith, comprising: means for delivering parts to the machine tools; a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at all of the machine tools; control means responsive to a process indicia for coupling to each machine tool the program from said central source which controls the machining operation to be performed on a part delivered to that machine tool and which part is identified by said process indicia; means for sensing at one of said machine tools the occurrence of a condition which requires correction, and means responsive to the sensed occurrence of a condition which requires correction for stopping the running of a program coupled from said central source to the machine tool at which the condition occurred.

Claim 9

The control system of claim 4 including means responsive to the sensed occurrence of a condition which requires correction for retaining at least the remaining portion of the stopped program, means for placing said system in condition for continuing machining operations on said part, and means for running said remaining portion of said stopped program on said part in order to complete the machining operations thereon.

Claim 10

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has a process indicia associated therewith, comprising: means for delivering parts to the machine tools; a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at all of the machine tools; control means responsive to a process indicia for coupling to each machine tool the program from said central source which controls the machining operation to be performed on a part delivered to that machine tool and which part is identified by said process indicia; a central supply of tools for use by more than one of said plurality of machine tools; means for identifying the tools which will be necessary for performing the machining operations controlled by a given program at a selected one of said plurality of machine tools; and means responsive to said identifying means for causing the identified tools to be conveyed from said central supply of tools to said selected one machine tool.

Claim 11

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has a process indicia associated therewith, comprising: means for delivering parts to the machine tools; a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at all of the machine tools; control means responsive to a process indicia for coupling to each machine tool the program from said central source which controls the machining operation to be performed on a part delivered to that machine tool and which part is identified by said process indicia; a central supply of tools for use by more than one of said plurality of machine tools; means for identifying the tools which will be necessary for performing the machining operations controlled by a given program at a selected one of said plurality of machine tools; and means responsive to said identifying means for causing the identified tools to be conveyed from said central supply of tools to said selected one machine tool.

Claim 12

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools some of which are capable of performing similar machining operations on a part, comprising: a computer having a program memory for storing a plurality of different programs, each program being capable of controlling more than one of said plurality of machine tools to produce the same series of machining operations on a part, wherein each part is assigned a process indicia which identifies the part, and said computer has a parts location memory for storing the process indicia which identifies each part in the system; a plurality of data links for coupling said computer to each of said plurality of machine tools in order to transmit a program stored in said program meMory to any one of said plurality of machine tools; a central supply of parts on which similar and different series of machining operations are to be performed by any one of said plurality of machine tools; means for conveying a part from said central supply to one of said plurality of machine tools; means for generating a signal which identifies the series of machining operations which are to be performed on said conveyed part; means for selecting the program stored in said program memory which controls the same series of machining operations as identified by the signal from said generating means and for transmitting said last named program over the data link connected to the machine tool to which said part has been conveyed; sensing means for recording the passage of parts past predetermined locations along said conveying means; and said computer is responsive to said sensing means for continuously updating the location of process indicia in said parts location memory in order that the location of process indicia in said parts location memory corresponds with the instantaneous location of the parts along said conveying means.

Claim 13

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools some of which are capable of performing similar machining operations on a part, comprising: a computer having a program memory for storing a plurality of different programs, each program being capable of controlling more than one of said plurality of machine tools to produce the same series of machining operations on a part, wherein each part is assigned a process indicia which identifies the part, and said computer has a parts location memory for storing the process indicia which identifies each part in the system; a plurality of data links for coupling said computer to each of said plurality of machine tools in order to transmit a program stored in said program meMory to any one of said plurality of machine tools; a central supply of parts on which similar and different series of machining operations are to be performed by any one of said plurality of machine tools; means for conveying a part from said central supply to one of said plurality of machine tools; means for generating a signal which identifies the series of machining operations which are to be performed on said conveyed part; means for selecting the program stored in said program memory which controls the same series of machining operations as identified by the signal from said generating means and for transmitting said last named program over the data link connected to the machine tool to which said part has been conveyed; sensing means for recording the passage of parts past predetermined locations along said conveying means; and said computer is responsive to said sensing means for continuously updating the location of process indicia in said parts location memory in order that the location of process indicia in said parts location memory corresponds with the instantaneous location of the parts along said conveying means.

Claim 14

The control system of claim 7 wherein said sensing means are located at branch positions along said conveying means at which a part can take one of a plurality of paths.

Claim 15

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools some of which are capable of performing similar machining operations on a part, comprising: a computer having a program memory for storing a plurality of different programs, each program being capable of controlling more than one of said plurality of machine tools to produce the same series of machining operations on a part, wherein each part is assigned a process indicia which identifies the part, and said computer has a parts location memory for storing the process indicia which identifies each part in the system; a plurality of data links for coupling said computer to each of said plurality of machine tools in order to transmit a program stored in said program memory to any one of said plurality of machine tools; a central supply of parts on which similar and different series of machining operations are to be performed by any one of said plurality of machine tools; means for conveying a part from said central supply to one of said plurality of machine tools; means for generating a signal which identifies the series of machining operations which are to be performed on said conveyed part; means for selecting the program stored in said memory which controls the same series of machining operations as identified by the signal from said generating means and for transmitting said last named program over the data link connected to the machine tool to which said part has been conveyed; reidentification means responsive to the completion of a machining operation for assigning to a machined part a new process indicia representative thereof; and means for substituting said new process indicia for the previous process indicia stored in the parts location memory.

Claim 16

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools some of which are capable of performing similar machining operations on a part, comprising: a computer having a program memory for storing a plurality of different programs, each program being capable of controlling more than one of said plurality of machine tools to produce the same series of machining operations on a part, wherein each part is assigned a process indicia which identifies the part, and said computer has a parts location memory for storing the process indicia which identifies each part in the system; a plurality of data links for coupling said computer to each of said plurality of machine tools in order to transmit a program stored in said program memory to any one of said plurality of machine tools; a central supply of parts on which similar and different series of machining operations are to be performed by any one of said plurality of machine tools; means for conveying a part from said central supply to one of said plurality of machine tools; means for generating a signal which identifies the series of machining operations which are to be performed on said conveyed part; means for selecting the program stored in said memory which controls the same series of machining operations as identified by the signal from said generating means and for transmitting said last named program over the data link connected to the machine tool to which said part has been conveyed; reidentification means responsive to the completion of a machining operation for assigning to a machined part a new process indicia representative thereof; and means for substituting said new process indicia for the previous process indicia stored in the parts location memory.

Claim 17

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools some of which are capable of performing similar machining operations on a part, comprising: a computer having a memory for storing a plurality of different programs, each program being capable of controlling more than one of said plurality of machine tools to produce the same series of machining operations on a part; a plurality of data links for coupling said computer to each of said plurality of machine tools in order to transmit a program stored in said memory to any one of said plurality of machine tools; a central supply of parts on which similar and different series of machining operations are to be performed by any one of said plurality of machine tools; means for conveying a part from said central supply to one of said plurality of machine tools; means for generating a signal which identiFies the series of machining operations which are to be performed on said conveyed part; means for selecting the program stored in said memory which controls the same series of machining operations as identified by the signal from said generating means and for transmitting said last named program over the data link connected to the machine tool to which said part has been conveyed; means for sensing at one of said machine tools the occurrence of a condition which requires correction; and means responsive to the sensed occurrence of a condition which requires correction for stopping the running of a program coupled from said computer to the machine tool at which the condition occurred.

Claim 18

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools some of which are capable of performing similar machining operations on a part, comprising: a computer having a memory for storing a plurality of different programs, each program being capable of controlling more than one of said plurality of machine tools to produce the same series of machining operations on a part; a plurality of data links for coupling said computer to each of said plurality of machine tools in order to transmit a program stored in said memory to any one of said plurality of machine tools; a central supply of parts on which similar and different series of machining operations are to be performed by any one of said plurality of machine tools; means for conveying a part from said central supply to one of said plurality of machine tools; means for generating a signal which identiFies the series of machining operations which are to be performed on said conveyed part; means for selecting the program stored in said memory which controls the same series of machining operations as identified by the signal from said generating means and for transmitting said last named program over the data link connected to the machine tool to which said part has been conveyed; means for sensing at one of said machine tools the occurrence of a condition which requires correction; and means responsive to the sensed occurrence of a condition which requires correction for stopping the running of a program coupled from said computer to the machine tool at which the condition occurred.

Claim 19

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools some of which are capable of performing similar machining operations on a part, comprising: a computer having a memory for storing a plurality of different programs, each program being capable of controlling more than one of said plurality of machine tools to produce the same series of machining operations on a part; a plurality of data links for coupling said computer to each of said plurality of machine tools in order to transmit a program stored in said memory to any one of said plurality of machine tools; a central supply of parts on which similar and different series of machining operations are to be performed by any one of said plurality of machine tools; means for conveying a part from said central supply to one of said plurality of machine tools; means for generating a signal which identifies the series of machining operations which are to be performed on said conveyed part; means for selecting the program stored in said memory which controls the same series of machining operations as identified by the signal from said generating means and for transmitting said last named program over the data link connected to the machine tool to which said part has been conveyed; a central supply of tools for use by more than one of said plurality of machine tools; means for identifying the tools which will be necessary for performing the machining operations controlled by a given program at a selected one of said plurality of machine tools; and means responsive to said identifying means for causing the identified tools to be conveyed from said central supply of tools to said selected one machine tool.

Claim 20

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools some of which are capable of performing similar machining operations on a part, comprising: a computer having a memory for storing a plurality of different programs, each program being capable of controlling more than one of said plurality of machine tools to produce the same series of machining operations on a part; a plurality of data links for coupling said computer to each of said plurality of machine tools in order to transmit a program stored in said memory to any one of said plurality of machine tools; a central supply of parts on which similar and different series of machining operations are to be performed by any one of said plurality of machine tools; means for conveying a part from said central supply to one of said plurality of machine tools; means for generating a signal which identifies the series of machining operations which are to be performed on said conveyed part; means for selecting the program stored in said memory which controls the same series of machining operations as identified by the signal from said generating means and for transmitting said last named program over the data link connected to the machine tool to which said part has been conveyed; a central supply of tools for use by more than one of said plurality of machine tools; means for identifying the tools which will be necessary for performing the machining operations controlled by a given program at a selected one of said plurality of machine tools; and means responsive to said identifying means for causing the identified tools to be conveyed from said central supply of tools to said selected one machine tool.

Claim 21

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools each using a plurality of tools for performing different machining operations on a part, comprising: a central supply of tools for use by more than one of said plurality of machine tools; conveying means for transporting tools from said central supply to any of said machine tools; means for identifying at least some of the tools which will be necessary for performing a series of machining operations at one of said plurality of machine tools; and control means responsive to the identifying means for causing said conveying means to transport the identified tools from said central supply to said one machine tool.

Claim 22

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools each using a plurality of tools for performing different machining operations on a part, comprising: a central supply of tools for use by more than one of said plurality of machine tools; conveying means for transporting tools from said central supply to any of said machine tools; means for identifying at least some of the tools which will be necessary for performing a series of machining operations at one of said plurality of machine tools; and control means responsive to the identifying means for causing said conveying means to transport the identified tools from said central supply to said one machine tool.

Claim 23

The control system of claim 12 including a plurality of tool carriers each carrying a single tool therein, means located adjacent each machine tool for temporarily storing tools which are to be used in machining a part, a loop conveyor for circulating said tool carriers adjacent the temporary storing means at each of said machine tools, said control means causing the individual tool carriers which carry identified tools to be shunted from said loop conveyor to the temporary storing means associated with the machine tool at which the series of machining operations is to be performed.

Claim 24

The control system of claim 13 wherein each of said machine tools includes an automatic tool changer positioned to remove a single tool from its tool carrier and place the same in position in said machine tool and thereafter replace said tool back into the same tOol carrier before removing the next tool from its tool carrier.

Claim 25

The control system of claim 12 wherein each of said tools is assigned a tool indicia which identifies the tool, and a central computer with a tools location memory for storing the tool indicia which identify each tool in the system.

Claim 26

The control system of claim 15 including sensing means for recording the passage of parts and tools past predetermined locations, and said computer has a parts location memory for storing process indicia which identifies each part, said computer being responsive to said sensing means for continuously updating the location of process indicia and tool indicia in said parts location memory and said tools location memory respectively in order that the location of process indicia and tool indicia in said parts location memory and said tools location memory respectively corresponds with the instantaneous location of the parts and tools in the system.

Claim 27

The control system of claim 12 including a fixed location supply of tools for use by a particular one machine tool to supplement tools from said central supply, said identifying means identifying tools located in both said central supply and said fixed location supply which are necessary for performing a series of machining operations at said particular one machine tool, and tool changer means associated with said particular one machine tool and responsive to said identifying means for individually selecting and transporting tools from both said conveying means and said fixed location supply to said particular one machine tool.

Claim 28

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has a process indicia associated therewith, comprising: conveying means for transporting a part from a part supply location to individual supply locations for each of said plurality of machine tools, including eject means located at one of said individual supply locations and actuable to deliver a part adjacent thereto to a particular machine tool; a programmable computer forming a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at the machine tools, including a recirculating memory for continuously recording the location and identity of parts being transported by said conveying means, and means for selecting a part as identified by a particular process indicia for delivery to said particular machine tool; and control means for actuating said eject means when said particular process indicia is located in said recirculating memory at the individual supply location adjacent said eject means.

Claim 29

A control system for controlling a plurality of machine tools capable of selectively performing similar or different machining operations on parts delivered to said machine tools, which parts may be the same or different and each of which has a process indicia associated therewith, comprising: conveying means for transporting a part from a part supply location to individual supply locations for each of said plurality of machine tools, including eject means located at one of said individual supply locations and actuable to deliver a part adjacent thereto to a particular machine tool; a programmable computer forming a central source of programs for controlling machining operations at the machine tools, including a recirculating memory for continuously recording the location and identity of parts being transported by said conveying means, and means for selecting a part as identified by a particular process indicia for delivery to said particular machine tool; and control means for actuating said eject means when said particular process indicia is located in said recirculating memory at the individual supply location adjacent said eject means.