Automated lane-divider button applying machine

Claim 2

An automated lane-divider button applying machine adapted to apply lane-divider buttons to selectively spaced areas of given surfaces, comprising: A. means adapted operatively to remove foreign matter from spaced areas of a given surface; B. adhesive applicator means for depositing a predetermined quantity of adhesive at each of the selected areas; C. button applicator means for delivering and seating lanedivider buttons within the deposited adhesive; and D. a mobile frame operatively supporting said means for displacement relatively to the spaced areas.

Claim 3

An automated lane-divider button applying machine, comprising: A. a mobile frame; B. a prime mover associated with the frame for driving said frame along a selected path of travel and over a surface; C. a steering mechanism for controlling directions of travel for said frame; D. a button depositing system mounted on said frame including,

Claim 4

An automated lane-divider button applying machine, comprising: A. a mobile frame; B. a prime mover associated with the frame for driving said frame along a selected path of travel and over a surface; C. a steering mechanism for controlling directions of travel for said frame; D. a button depositing system mounted on said frame including,

Claim 5

means defining an adhesive applicator for applying globs of adhesive to the cleaned areas; and

Claim 6

means defining an adhesive applicator for applying globs of adhesive to the cleaned areas; and

Claim 7

a rectilinearly reciprocating drive link adapted to be driven along a path having an axis intersecting the axis of the path of the plate;

Claim 8

a rectilinearly reciprocating drive link adapted to be driven along a path having an axis intersecting the axis of the path of the plate;

Claim 9

an elongated lever pivotally connected at one end to the drive link;

Claim 10

an elongated lever pivotally connected at one end to the drive link;

Claim 11

means defining a button applicator for applying buttons to the applied globs of adhesive; and E. machine control and sequencing means including pneumatic actuators adapted to activate the surface cleaner, the adhesive applicator and the button applicator in a preselected sequence, whereby the machine is activated sequentially to clean surface areas for receiving globs of adhesive, to apply globs of adhesive to the areas and to apply buttons to the applied globs of adhesive.

Claim 12

means defining a button applicator for applying buttons to the applied globs of adhesive; and E. machine control and sequencing means including pneumatic actuators adapted to activate the surface cleaner, the adhesive applicator and the button applicator in a preselected sequence, whereby the machine is activated sequentially to clean surface areas for receiving globs of adhesive, to apply globs of adhesive to the areas and to apply buttons to the applied globs of adhesive.

Claim 13

The machine of claim 2 wherein the machine control and sequencing means includes a plurality of electrically activated pneumatic actuator control valve drive units and an electrical control circuit connected with the units adapted to couple the units with a source of electrical energy for achieving a selected actuation of the actuators for thereby imparting to the machine sequenced operations.

Claim 14

The machine of claim 3 wherein the timer includes: A. a driven rotor arm having a plurality of interconnected electrical contact brushes depending therefrom; B. circuit means continuously connecting a source of electrical energy to said brushes; C. a plurality of electrical contacts disposed within the path of the brushes adapted sequentially to be engaged thereby; D. electrical leads electrically connecting said contacts with said motors, whereby the motors are caused to be energized as the contact brushes are caused to engage the contacts; and E. drive means adapted to rotate the rotor arm at selected rates or rotation, whereby the hydraulic motors are sequentially and selectively connected with a source of electrical energy as the rotor arm is caused to be rotated by the drive means.

Claim 15

means defining a pivot bearing fixed to the lever between the ends thereof and adapted to support the lever for achieving an oscillation thereof as the drive link is reciporcated; and

Claim 16

means defining a pivot bearing fixed to the lever between the ends thereof and adapted to support the lever for achieving an oscillation thereof as the drive link is reciporcated; and

Claim 17

abaxial pin means seated in the bearing means and including supported ends coupled with the elongated lever for effecting reciprocation of the plate as the drive link is reciprocated reciprocated; the elongated lever is oscillated in response thereto.

Claim 18

abaxial pin means seated in the bearing means and including supported ends coupled with the elongated lever for effecting reciprocation of the plate as the drive link is reciprocated reciprocated; the elongated lever is oscillated in response thereto.

Claim 19

The machine of claim 4 wherein the rotor drive means includes: A. a wheel disposed in operative engagement with the given surface and adapted to be driven in rotation thereby; B. a cam plate operatively coupled with said wheel and adapted to be driven in rotation thereby; and C. a cam-driven indexing drive linkage coupled between the rotor arm and the cam plate for indexing the rotor arm at predetermined intervals of wheel rotation.

Claim 20

An automated lane-divider button applying machine adapted to be driven and sequentially operated for applying lane-divider buttons of the type including a supporting planar surface and an upper light-reflecting surface at predetermined intervals along the surface of a highway for thereby delineating highway traffic lanes, comprising: A. mobilized vehicle, including a steering mechanism and a prime mover adapted to be controlled by an operator for directing the machine along a given path above a selected surface of a given highway; B. a surface cleaner mounted on the vehicle and adapted to remove foreign material from selected areas of the surface; C. an adhesive applicator mounted on the machine adapted to apply globs of adhesive at each of the selected areas from which foreign matter has been removed; D. means defining a button magazine mounted on the vehicle and including a button delivery means adapted to eject lane-divider buttons from the magazine; E. button orienting means mounted adjacent the magazine adapted to receive and to orient buttons ejected by the button delivery means to direct the buttons along a given path through the machine; F. a button applicator arranged adjacent said orienting means adapted to receive and to deposit the oriented buttons in the globs of applied adhesive; and G. a pressure applicator for applying pressure to each of the buttons as it is deposited in a glob of adhesive, whereby the buttons are thus caused to be affixed to the surface at the select areas.

Claim 21

An automated lane-divider button applying machine adapted to be driven and sequentially operated for applying lane-divider buttons of the type including a supporting planar surface and an upper light-reflecting surface at predetermined intervals along the surface of a highway for thereby delineating highway traffic lanes, comprising: A. mobilized vehicle, including a steering mechanism and a prime mover adapted to be controlled by an operator for directing the machine along a given path above a selected surface of a given highway; B. a surface cleaner mounted on the vehicle and adapted to remove foreign material from selected areas of the surface; C. an adhesive applicator mounted on the machine adapted to apply globs of adhesive at each of the selected areas from which foreign matter has been removed; D. means defining a button magazine mounted on the vehicle and including a button delivery means adapted to eject lane-divider buttons from the magazine; E. button orienting means mounted adjacent the magazine adapted to receive and to orient buttons ejected by the button delivery means to direct the buttons along a given path through the machine; F. a button applicator arranged adjacent said orienting means adapted to receive and to deposit the oriented buttons in the globs of applied adhesive; and G. a pressure applicator for applying pressure to each of the buttons as it is deposited in a glob of adhesive, whereby the buttons are thus caused to be affixed to the surface at the select areas.

Claim 22

The machine of claim 6 further comprising gate means associated with the button orienting means adapted to intercept the buttons as they are directed along the path and to dictate the rate at which buttons are received by the button applicator.

Claim 23

The machine of claim 7 wherein the gate means includes a pivoted rocker arm having spaced stop-lugs and adapted to be pivotally actuated for alternately positioning the stop-lugs within a button arresting disposition within the path of the buttons to serially arrest and sequentially discharge the buttons as they are delivered thereto, and drive means operatively connected with the rocker arm adapted to actuate the rocker arm at selected intervals.

Claim 24

The machine of claim 6 wherein the means defining the button magazine further includes a plurality of vertical chutes for retaining the buttons in stacked, vertical alignment arranged in operative association with the button delivery means.

Claim 25

The machine of claim 9 wherein the means defining the button magazine further includes a chute indexing means connected with the chute for aligning the chute and the button delivery means.

Claim 26

The machine of claim 6 wherein the button magazine means further includes a closed, vertical wall defining a button receptacle having means defining therein a discharge opening for discharging buttons therethrough, and the button delivery means comprises: A. a horizontally disposed conveyor belt mounted within the receptacle and extending to said discharge opening, adapted continuously to displace buttons toward the discharge opening; B. a vertically disposed agitator belt operatively arranged adjacent the discharge opening of said receptacle and having an operative surface spaced from said horizontally disposed conveyor belt a distance sufficient for accommodating a serial passage of the buttons between the surfaces thereof; and C. drive means continuously driving the agitator belt in a manner such that its operative surface continuously is displaced upwardly, whereby randomly deposited buttons within the receptacle are continuously agitated and ejected in an ordered fashion from the discharge opening of the button magazine.

Claim 27

The machine of claim 11 wherein the means defining the button magazine means further includes a button dispenser adapted to receive and dispense buttons, comprising: A. a plurality of adjacent, vertically disposed channular chutes, each chute being adapted to receive and support therein a stack of buttons to be dispensed; B. indexing means connected with the chutes adapted selectively to advance the chutes to a button ejecting position; and C. a button ejector operatively associated with the chutes adapted selectively to discharge buttons therefrom.

Claim 28

The machine of claim 12 wherein the buttons delivered from the button receptacle are of a circular configuration having a convex upper surface and the buttons discharged from the channular track are of a rectangular configuration having an inclined light-reflecting planar side surface.

Claim 29

The machine of claim 6 wherein the button orienting means includes a pair of parallel and inclined tracks, one of w which is provided with a button receiver having a substantially vertically aligned V-shaped channel section terminating in a substantially horizontally aligned terminal section, whereby the orienting means is adapted to support the buttons on a side edge surface within the V-shaped channel section, as the buttons are delivered from the magazine, and to reorient the buttons to a selected orientation in which the buttons are supported by the supporting planar surface as the buttons are directed along the path to the button applicator.

Claim 30

The machine of claim 14 further comprising a knife edge disposed within the button receiver adapted to engage the buttons while they are supported on an edge surface and to incline each of said buttons in a direction determined by the relative orientation of its supporting planar surface, whereby each button is caused to be inclined within the V-shaped section of a channel in a direction such that its planar surface is engaged and supported by one side surface of a v-shaped channel section.

Claim 31

The machine of claim 15 further including means disposed adjacent the V-shaped section adapted to engage each button and cause it to be oriented in a manner such that its planar surface is directed downwardly as it is advanced toward the terminal section of the track.

Claim 32

The machine of claim 16 further including a gate having a pivoted rocker arm and drive means operatively connected therewith adapted to alternately position opposite ends of said rocker arm into a button arresting disposition wiThin the path of the buttons and sequentially to discharge the buttons as they are serially advanced into engagement with the opposite ends of the rocker arm.

Claim 33

The combination of claim 17 further including means adapted to insure that the buttons are advanced along the tracks in single file and in a common inclined plane, whereby a serially and ordered delivery of the buttons to the gate is accommodated.

Claim 34

The machine of claim 6 wherein the adhesive applicator comprises: A. a pair of mutually parallel tracks mounted on the vehicle adjacent the button applicator in parallel relation to the surface of the highway; B. a carriage supported for rectilinear reciprocation along said tracks; C. an adhesive nozzle mounted on said carriage adapted to discharge adhesive; and D. drive means coupled with the carriage adapted to drive the carriage in a first direction opposite to the direction of travel of the machine as adhesive is discharged from the nozzle and at a rate commensurate with the travel of said machine, and to drive the carriage in the direction of travel of the machine at a rate substantially greater than the rate of travel of the machine upon termination of adhesive discharge, whereby the nozzle is caused to be retained in a fixed relationship relative to each area as the adhesive is discharged from the nozzle as the machine continuously is directed along the surface of the highway.

Claim 35

The machine according to claim 6 wherein the adhesive applicator includes: A. a nozzle for discharging adhesive therefrom; B. means defining a pressure chamber operatively coupled with the nozzle and adapted to be supplied with a flowable adhesive; and C. a reciprocating discharge plunger mounted for displacement within the chamber for effecting a discharge of adhesive therefrom, whereby adhesive is discharged under pressure from the nozzle through an operative reciprocation of the plunger.

Claim 36

The machine of claim 20 wherein the adhesive applicator further includes a reciprocating member forming a reciprocating closure for said nozzle adapted to open and close the nozzle as the discharge plunger is reciprocatingly displaced for intermittently discharging adhesive from the chamber.

Claim 37

The machine of claim 21 wherein the reciprocating closure for said nozzle includes an actuator having a pivoted overcenter linkage adapted to be displaced to an overcenter position for imparting rapid reciprocation to said closure member, and linkage means adapted to delay rapid opening of the nozzle during a selected portion of the actuation of the actuator until an overcenter condition for the overcenter linkage is achieved.

Claim 38

The machine of claim 22 wherein the overcenter linkage includes a rectilinearly reciprocating spring-biased bellcrank adapted to be displaced by the actuator and operatively connected with the linkage means, whereby the overcenter condition is achieved by reciprocating the bellcrank to a predetermined point along its path of rectilinear travel.

Claim 39

A glue applicator comprising: A. a closed chamber having an inlet for delivering fluid adhesive thereto; B. a piston operatively disposed within one end of said chamber adapted to be displaced therethrough; C. means defining a discharge orifice at the opposite end of said chamber; D. a reciprocating closure member operatively seated in said discharge orifice adapted to be reciprocally displaced for effecting opening and closing of said chamber; E. a pneumatically driven ram connected with said piston adapted to impart axial displacement to said piston for forcing adhesive towards said orifice to achieve a pressurization thereof; F. linkage means connected with said reciprocating closure member; G. an overcenter drive means including a rectilinearly reciprocating spring-biased bellcrank connected with the linkage means for driving said closure member to displace the member from said orifice as the bellcrank is reciprocateD; and H. an actuator connected with the bellcrank adapted to impart rectilinear reciprocation thereto.

Claim 40

A glue applicator comprising: A. a closed chamber having an inlet for delivering fluid adhesive thereto; B. a piston operatively disposed within one end of said chamber adapted to be displaced therethrough; C. means defining a discharge orifice at the opposite end of said chamber; D. a reciprocating closure member operatively seated in said discharge orifice adapted to be reciprocally displaced for effecting opening and closing of said chamber; E. a pneumatically driven ram connected with said piston adapted to impart axial displacement to said piston for forcing adhesive towards said orifice to achieve a pressurization thereof; F. linkage means connected with said reciprocating closure member; G. an overcenter drive means including a rectilinearly reciprocating spring-biased bellcrank connected with the linkage means for driving said closure member to displace the member from said orifice as the bellcrank is reciprocateD; and H. an actuator connected with the bellcrank adapted to impart rectilinear reciprocation thereto.

Claim 41

An adhesive applicator comprising: A. an elongated barrel; B. means for delivering adhesive to the barrel; C. means defining an adhesive discharge port in a plane extending diagonally from the axis of the barrel; D. a reciprocating closure plate adapted to be displaced along a path having an axis extending transversely of the discharge port for effecting a selective opening and closing of the port; and E. a reciprocating, plate-coupled drive means for reciprocatingly displacing said plate including,

Claim 42

An adhesive applicator comprising: A. an elongated barrel; B. means for delivering adhesive to the barrel; C. means defining an adhesive discharge port in a plane extending diagonally from the axis of the barrel; D. a reciprocating closure plate adapted to be displaced along a path having an axis extending transversely of the discharge port for effecting a selective opening and closing of the port; and E. a reciprocating, plate-coupled drive means for reciprocatingly displacing said plate including,

Claim 43

The machine of claim 6 wherein the button applicator includes: A. a spirng-biased stop for arresting each button as it is received therein; B. a button ejector having a spring-biased lip adapted to be actuated to engage the trailing edge of each button arrested by the stop and to eject the engaged button from the machine; and C. means mounting the button ejector in operative association with the adhesive applicator in a manner such that as the button is ejected from the machine it is caused to be deposited in adhesive applied by said applicator.

Claim 44

The machine of claim 26 further including a resilient roller adapted to engage the upper surface of each of the buttons as it is deposited in the adhesive for forcibly seating the button within the adhesive.

Claim 45

The machine of claim 6 wherein the surface cleaner comprises: A. a driven rotary brush having a rotor including a plurality of rotatable discs connected thereto and adapted to strike the surface of the highway; and B. a pivotally supported frame supporting said brush for pivotal oscillation about a horizontal axis.

Claim 46

The machine of claim 28 further comprising drive means including a driven sheave and V-belt drive linkage mounted on the frame and operatively coupled with the rotor for imparting a determinable rate of rotation thereto.

Claim 47

The machine of claim 29 further including means operatively associated with said frame adapted to be actuated for pivotally oscillating said brush relative to the surface of the highway.

Claim 48

The machine of claim 30 further comprising a displaceable bearing mount supporting said brush for pivotal displacement about a vertical axis and displacement means adapted to impart lateral displacement of said brush whereby the brush selectively is displaced in lateral directions relative to the center line of said vehicle.

Claim 49

The machine of claim 31 further comprising guide means including: A. a boom pivotally connected at the leading end of the machine including support means engaging the surface of the highway and adapted to support the boom at its extended end; B. means interconnecting the steering mechanism of the vehicle with the boom whereby steerage of the boom may be effected through the steering mechanism; and C. linkage operatively connected between the boom and the bearing mount in a manner such that lateral displacement imparted to said boom serves to impart lateral displacement to said bearing mount, whereby the brush is caused laterally to be displaced relative to the center line of the machine as the roLler supported end of the boom is caused to follow a preselected path along the surface of the highway.

Claim 50

The machine according to claim 6 further comprising an extended boom mounted at the leading portion of the machine and interconnected with the steering mechanism and adapted to be steered to follow a selected path.

Claim 51

The machine of claim 1 further comprises: A. a supporting frame pivotally connected at one end thereof to said mobile frame and depending thereform; B. means connected with the supporting frame adapted to engage the given surfaces and support the supporting frame for displacement therealong; and C. means mounting said adhesive applicator and said button applicator on said supporting frame.

Claim 52

The machine of claim 6 further comprises: A. a supporting frame pivotally connected at one end thereof to the vehicle to depend therefrom; B. means connected with the supporting frame adapted to engage the surface of the highway and support the supporting frame for displacement therealong; and C. means connecting said adhesive applicator, button orienting means, button applicator, and pressure applicator to said supporting frame.

Claim 53

The machine according to claim 35 wherein the pressure applicator includes a pneumatic tire positioned at a preselected spacing above the surface of the highway, and bearing means supporting the tire adjacent the button applicator, whereby as the buttons are deposited in the globs of applied adhesive the pressure applicator is caused to engage the upper surfaces thereof.

Claim 54

The machine according to claim 36 wherein the bearing means are supported for fore-and-aft adjustment relative to said button applicator by means including screw-threaded blocks coupled with said supporting frame.

Claim 55

The machine according to claim 37 further comprising a reciprocating actuator operatively coupled with the supporting frame and adapted to be actuated for rotating the supporting frame about said one end whereby the frame is caused to be elevated relative to said surface of the highway.