Semiautomatic assembly system for mounting electronic components on circuit boards

Claim 2

A semiautomatic numerically controlled assembly system for selectively dispensing parts and indicating installation locations of the dispensed parts on a workpiece, said system comprising: a. a frame; b. a storage station supported on said frame; c. a plurality of electric dispensing means; d. electric indicating means mounted on said frame for indicating a specific installation location among a plurality of installation locations in response to a location identifying electric signal; e. program controlling means mounted on said frame for reading part identifying and part locating data from a program and for generating data signals in response to the part identifying and part locating data; f. electronic control circuitry coupled to receive the data signals generated by said program controlling means for decoding the data signals and generating a part identifying signal and the location identifying signal in response thereto to control said dispensing means and said indicating means respectively; g. a plurality of heads mounted in each of a plurality of bays each of said heads having a receiving end and an angularly downwardly inclined slide track; and h. means for removably mounting each of a plurality of multipart shipping magazines onto the receiving end of a different one of said heads, said electric dispensing means each being mounted adjacent to a different one of said heads for releasing one part from a specific one of said magazines in response to the part identifying signal and each bay of said plurality of heads being pivotally mounted to said storage station at an end opposite to the slide track about a common pivot axis by a hinge support bracket to permit access to each of said plurality of multi-part shipping magazines for replacement thereof.

Claim 3

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said indicating means comprises: a. an upwardly disposed translucent surface upon which the workpiece is indexingly positionable; b. a socket bed mounted below said translucent surface, said bed having a plurality of apertures formed therethrough; c. an illuminating device mounted within each of the apertures formed in said bed and operable by the location identifying signal; and d. a compartmented partition supported on said bed and extending upwardly to said translucent surface for isolating said illuminating devices from each other.

Claim 4

A semiautomatic program controlled assembly system for selectively dispensing a part from a plurality of multi-part shipping magazines and for indicating the installation location for the part on a workpiece, said system comprising: a. a frame; b. a storage station having a plurality of bays pivotally mounted at one end about a common pivot axis by a hinge support bracket supported on said frame; c. a plurality of heads mounted in each bay, each of said heads having a receiving end and an angularly downwardly inclined slide track; d. means for removably mounting each of the magazines onto the receiving end of a different one of said heads; e. a plurality of individually actuatable escapement devices each mounted adjacent to a different one of said heads, each of said escapement devices having a pair of pins alternately reciprocally movable with respect to the track of said adjacent head for releasing one part from the magazine each time said escapement device is actuated; f. means responsive to a part identifying signal for selectively actuating one of said escapement devices; g. a light emitting apparatus supported on said frame and including a housing having a substantially horizontal upper surface with an enlarged central opening therein; h. indexing means on the upper surface of said light emitting apparatus for precisely locating the workpiece thereon; i. a plurality of individually operable indicating devices mounted within said light emitting structure, each of said indicating devices positioned within said structure to indicate a specific location on the workpiece in response to a location identifying signal applied thereto; j. program controlling means supported on said frame for reading data from a program and for generating data signals in response to the data; k. an electronic control station mounted on said frame having decode circuitry coupled to receive and decode the data signals from said program controlling means and in response thereto to generate the part identifying signal, and to generate the location identifying signal; and l. means for actuating said program controlling means and said electronic control station.

Claim 5

A semiautomatic program controlled assembly system for selectively dispensing a part from a plurality of multi-part shipping magazines and for indicating the installation location for the part on a workpiece, said system comprising: a. a frame; b. a storage station having a plurality of bays pivotally mounted at one end about a common pivot axis by a hinge support bracket supported on said frame; c. a plurality of heads mounted in each bay, each of said heads having a receiving end and an angularly downwardly inclined slide track; d. means for removably mounting each of the magazines onto the receiving end of a different one of said heads; e. a plurality of individually actuatable escapement devices each mounted adjacent to a different one of said heads, each of said escapement devices having a pair of pins alternately reciprocally movable with respect to the track of said adjacent head for releasing one part from the magazine each time said escapement device is actuated; f. means responsive to a part identifying signal for selectively actuating one of said escapement devices; g. a light emitting apparatus supported on said frame and including a housing having a substantially horizontal upper surface with an enlarged central opening therein; h. indexing means on the upper surface of said light emitting apparatus for precisely locating the workpiece thereon; i. a plurality of individually operable indicating devices mounted within said light emitting structure, each of said indicating devices positioned within said structure to indicate a specific location on the workpiece in response to a location identifying signal applied thereto; j. program controlling means supported on said frame for reading data from a program and for generating data signals in response to the data; k. an electronic control station mounted on said frame having decode circuitry coupled to receive and decode the data signals from said program controlling means and in response thereto to generate the part identifying signal, and to generate the location identifying signal; and l. means for actuating said program controlling means and said electronic control station.

Claim 6

An assembly system as claimed in claim 3 wherein said light emitting apparatus comprises: a. a translucent panel mounted on the lower surface of the upper surface of the housing and positioned adjacent to the central opening therein; b. a socket bed supported within the housing and having a plurality of holes formed therethrough in which said plurality of indicating devices are mounted; and c. a compartmented partition supported on the upper surface of said bed and extending upwardly to said translucent panel for isolating said plurality of indicating devices from each other.

Claim 7

An assembly system as claimed in claim 3 wherein each of said plurality of indicating devices includes a light bulb and a bulb mounting socket.