Transfer and grinding apparatus

Claim 1

Apparatus for transferring a rectangular viewing panel for a cathode ray or television picture tube between an article receiving and pickup station and a grinding station and flat grinding the annular sealing edge of the skirt portion of said panel, such apparatus comprising, in combination; a. at said receiving and pickup station, I. a platform having a horizontal upper surface for receiving and supporting said panel with said sealing edge contacting said upper surface, and II. a jig on said upper surface of said platform for positioning of said panel with the vertical centerline of the face plate portion thereof in vertical axial alignment with a selected point on such upper surface, such jig including a circularly arcuate vertical surface having a horizontal radius corresponding to the largest radius of said annular sealing edge with the geometric center of the arc of such arcuate vertical surface coinciding with said selected point on the upper surface of said platform; b. at said grinding station, I. an even number of rotatably supported grinding wheels having upwardly disposed flat circular grinding faces of equal diameters and extending in a common horizontal plane, such faces radially symmetrically disposed about an axial centerline vertical to said plane and intersecting with a circularly arcuate line extending horizontally from said selected point on said upper surface of said platform, said grinding wheels being spaced from each other such that each said grinding face can at times contact all points on said sealing edge of said panel when such edge rests on such grinding faces with said vertical centerline of said face plate portion of the panel coinciding with said axial centerline, II. first motor means for rotating adjacent ones of said grinding wheels in opposite directions when such motor means are energized; and c. adjacent said pickup station and said grinding station, I. a rotatable vacuum chuck for picking up and supporting said panel and means for supporting such chuck for vertical movement thereof and arcuate horizontal movement of the chuck through a circularly arcuate path of travel lying vertically above said circularly arcuate line and extending parallel therewith, II. second motor means for rotating said chuck when such second motor means are energized, III. third motor means for vertically moving said chuck to lowered panel pickup and edge grinding positions, and to raised panel transfer positions accordingly as such third motor means are energized in first and second modes, respectively; IV. fourth motor means for horizontally moving said chuck through said circularly arcuate path of travel to said pickup station and to said grinding station accordingly as such fourth motor means are energized in first and second modes, respectively, and V. valve means for supplying and terminating negative pressure to said chuck accordingly as such valve means are deenergized and energized, respectively.