Dispenser for Wheel-Balancing Weights

Abstract

A balancing weight for vehicle wheels includes a plurality of balancing weight segments held by an adhesive tape. The balancing weight has a center mark formed by a partial cut between adjacent balancing weight segments at a position closest to the center of the balancing weight.

Claims

1. A dispenser of balancing weights for vehicle wheels, wherein a balancing weight comprises a plurality of balancing weight segments held by an adhesive tape that has a partial cut between adjacent balancing weight segments at a position closest to a center of the balancing weight, said dispenser comprising: a transport section, and a cutting section, wherein the transport section comprises a transport roller that is configured to transport a belt of balancing weights, including a plurality of said individual balancing weight segments, to the cutting section, and that has a plurality of teeth at a circumferential outer surface thereof, the plurality of teeth configured to generate friction to the belt of balancing weights, and wherein the cutting section having a knife configured to be moved from a first side of the belt of balancing weights to a second side of the belt of balancing weights to separate balancing weights from said belt and to form said partial cut at a gap between said adjacent balancing weight segments.

2. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the cutting section (200) has an arc shaped belt guide configured to conform the belt of balancing weights to a curve to widen said gap.

3. The dispenser according to claim 1, comprising at least one of a counter roller and a counter belt, wherein said at least one of the counter roller and the counter belt is configured to press the belt of balancing weights against the transport roller to increase friction therebetween.

4. The dispenser according to claim 1, comprising a sensor configured to detect gaps between individual balancing weights.

5. The dispenser according to claim 4, wherein the sensor is mounted at a location at the cutting path of the knife.

6. The dispenser according to claim 4, configured to use a signal from the sensor to determine a number of balancing weight segments.

7. A method for delivering balancing weights according to claim 1, the method comprising: transporting a desired number of balancing weight segments that are part of a belt of balancing weights to a belt guide, moving a knife between adjacent balancing weight segments from one side of the belt of balancing weights towards another side of the belt of balancing weights, to form said partial cut at the position closest to the center of the balancing weight, and moving the knife between adjacent balancing weight segments from one side of the belt of balancing weights to the other side of the belt of balancing weights, to cut off a chose balancing weight from the belt of balancing weights.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said transporting includes transporting the desired number of balancing weight segments to the belt guide that is arc shaped to conform the belt of balancing weights to a curved surface of the

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0046] In the following, the invention will be described by way of examples and without limitation of the general inventive concept, with reference to the drawings, of which:

[0047] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a balancing weight;

[0048] FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of a balancing weight;

[0049] FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a dispenser;

[0050] FIG. 4 presents an alternative embodiment of a dispenser;

[0051] FIG. 5 shows a transport roller in detail;

[0052] FIG. 6 depicts a sectional view of the slideway;

[0053] FIG. 7 shows the cutter in an operational state; and

[0054] FIG. 8 shows the cutter in an idle state.

[0055] While the invention can be variously modified and assume alternative forms, specific embodiments of the invention are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0056] FIG. 1 illustrates a first embodiment of a balancing weight 110 that includes an even number of balancing weight segments 105. The upper portion of FIG. 1 shows the balancing weight 110 in a top view, while the lower portion shows the balancing weight 100 in a bottom view, such that the adhesive tape 101 can be seen. The dashed lines between the upper and lower portions indicate the positions of the balancing weight segments 105. A partial cut 111 is at the center of the balancing weight 110 between the adjacent balancing weight segments 105 closest to the center (the third weight segment as viewed from any side of FIG. 1). This partial cut 111 identifies the center of the balancing weight 110 and represents, therefore, a centering mark. Here, only a small-size balancing weight 110 is shown to demonstrate the basic concept. As a person of skill will readily appreciate, the center indicator (the centering mark that includes the partial cut 111) is more useful at larger (longer) balancing weights that include a larger number of weight segments.

[0057] FIG. 2 shows another embodiment with a balancing weight 112 having an odd number of weight segments 105. A partial cut 113 is placed at a position close to the center of the balancing weight 112 between the adjacent balancing weight segments 105 closest to the center of the balancing weight 112. In this embodiment, the partial cut 113 is between the second and the third balancing weight segment 105, as seen from the left.

[0058] In FIG. 3, an embodiment of a dispenser is shown in a side view. The dispenser includes a transport section 300 and a cutting section 200. A belt of balancing weights 100 is fed (delivered) by a drive mechanism to the cutting section 200 (which includes a cutter 250, shown in FIGS. 7, 8), where desired portions of mass material are cut from the belt of balancing weights 100. In this embodiment, a belt of balancing weights 100 including of a plurality of individual balancing weight segments 105, is fed/delivered from the left side of the dispenser in a feeding direction 102 into the transport section 300 of the dispenser. In a related case, there may be a coil (not shown) configured to supply the balancing weights 110, 112. In one embodiment, a transport roller 340 is configured to transport the belt of balancing weights 100 (that has balancing weight segments 105), which may be delivered coming from an approximately vertical first, initial direction (a portion of the belt of the balancing weights is shown stretched along the direction of gravity, in the left-hand side of FIG. 3) into an approximately horizontal, second direction (as indicated by the portion of the belt 100 between the transport roller 340 and the cutting section 200), for the ease of cutting the belt 100. A counter belt 320, which may be suspended between a first pulley 310 and a second pulley 330, and which is shown to be configured to press the belt of balancing weights 100 against the transport roller 340, in operation provides for and generates friction to and with the belt of balancing weights 100. The degree of friction may further be increased by utilizing teeth 341, 342 at the transport roller 340. In an embodiment, at least the transport roller 340 is driven by a motor (not shown). To determine the precise amount of balancing weight mass material, which has been transported, an angle encoder or counter may be provided.

[0059] After passing the transport roller 340, the balancing weights 110, 112, 120 are pushed in an approximately horizontal direction (a second direction that is transverse to the initial, first direction of propagation of the belt of balancing weights 100 prior to interaction between the belt of balancing weights 100 and the transport roller 340), and are guided by a slideway 260 towards the cutting section 200. The slideway 260 has an end section or portion 263, which may be a appropriately curved, 262, closely before and next to the output end of the end section 263. Cutting may be carried out by a knife 215, which is disposed to pass close to the end section 263 of the slideway 260. The knife, at least in one case, may be held by a knife holder 216 and may be locked/affixed to the knife holder by a counter holder 217.

[0060] Before the instance of cutting off a particular section 120 of the belt of balancing weights 100, the belt of balancing weights 100 is bent or redirected to an angle of 90 or smaller, from the second direction, by pushing the belt of balancing wheels 100 against a curved belt guide 220. Bending of the belt 100 may further be supported and/or enhanced by the presence of the curved section 262 of the slideway 260 on the opposite side of the belt 100 from the curved belt guide 220.

[0061] The balancing weights 110, 112 of the section 120 of the now-curved belt of balancing weights 100 form a gap 106 (shown in FIG. 7, for example) between the adjacent balancing weight segments of the section 120 and the section of the belt supported by the curved section o263 of the slideway 260, which allows the knife 215 to slide or pass between these two adjacent balancing weights. After the belt 100 was re-shaped/bent to form the angle as discussed above, the cutter 250 portion of the cutting section 200 including a knife 215 is moved from one side 107 to the other side 108 through the belt of balancing weights 100, cutting the adhesive tape 101 between two balancing weight segments 105, without cutting the balancing weight segments 105 themselves, and therefore separating a balancing weight 120 from the belt of balancing weights 100.

[0062] To transport and/or position the belt of balancing wheels 100 to ensure that the knife 215 exactly passes through a gap 106 between adjacent balancing weights 110, 112, 120, a position sensor 270 may be utilized, which may be held by a sensor holder 271. The position sensor 270 may be arranged such that it detects the specific gap 106 through which the knife 215 passes or an adjacent gap 106 (that is, a gap that neighbors the gap 106 through which the knife 215 passes). The position sensor 270 may be structured as an optical sensor or as a magnetic sensor.

[0063] After the belt of balancing weight 100 has been cutthe cut-off section (the balancing weight) 120 slides or falls down along the sidewall 261 towards and in a delivery direction as indicated by an arrow 103, and may be further delivered to a tray from which it can be further removed by either a robot or a person to be applied to a wheel.

[0064] FIG. 4 shows an alternative embodiment, similar to the embodiment above. Here, however, instead of the counter belt 320 a counter roller 350 is provided to establish friction with the belt of balancing weights 100.

[0065] FIG. 5 illustrates a transport roller 340 in detail. The transport roller 340 may be driven by a driveshaft 343 and via an optional gearbox (not shown) by a motor (not shown). The transport roller 340 may have a cylindrical shape. It may be structured to have a plurality of teeth 341, 342 or spikes at its outer circumference. In operation, these teeth 341, 342 penetrate into the adhesive tape 101 of the belt of balancing weights 100 and improve/increase friction for precise transport of the belt of balancing weights 100. In one embodiment, multiple rows of teeth 341, 342 are present that may be displaced against (with respect to) each other.

[0066] FIG. 6 shows a sectional view of the slideway 260. The slideway 260 may have at least one sidewall 261 to prevent the belt of balancing weights 100 from sliding off the slideway 260. At the top of the slideway 260, a belt of balancing weights 100 that includes multiple balancing weight segments 105 on an adhesive tape 101, may be pushed forward by the transport roller 340.

[0067] In FIG. 7, the operational state of the cutter 250 including a knife holder 216 with an attached knife 215 is shown. This image is a sectional view from right side of FIG. 1 to the cutter 250. Due to the bending the belt of balancing weights 100 at and along the curved belt guide 220, a gap 106 is formed at the cutting edge 202, at which the knife 215, attached to a knife holder 216, is moved in a cutting direction 253 (across the belt 100) from a first side 107 of the belt of balancing weights 100 to the second side 108 of the belt 100 to separate the balancing weight (section) 120 from the belt of balancing weights 100.

[0068] In FIG. 8, the cutter 250 is shown in an idle state, where the knife 215 is located next to the belt of balancing weights 100.

[0069] It will be appreciated to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that this invention is believed to provide balancing weights and dispensers for balancing weights. Further modifications and alternative embodiments of various aspects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this description. Accordingly, this description is to be construed as illustrative only and is provided for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the general manner of carrying out the invention. It is to be understood that the forms of the invention shown and described herein are to be taken as the presently preferred embodiments. Elements and materials may be substituted for those illustrated and described herein, parts and processes may be reversed, and certain features of the invention may be utilized independently, all as would be apparent to one skilled in the art after having the benefit of this description of the invention. Changes may be made in the elements described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the following claims.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0070] 100 belt of balancing weights [0071] 101 adhesive tape [0072] 102 feeding direction [0073] 103 delivery direction [0074] 105 balancing weight segment [0075] 106 gap between balancing weight segments [0076] 107 first side [0077] 108 second side [0078] 110 balancing weight with even number of segments [0079] 111 partial cut [0080] 112 balancing weight with odd number of segments [0081] 113 partial cut [0082] 120 cut balancing weight [0083] 200 cutting section [0084] 202 cutting edge [0085] 215 knife [0086] 216 knife holder [0087] 217 counter holder [0088] 220 belt guide [0089] 250 cutter [0090] 253 cutting direction [0091] 260 slideway [0092] 261 sidewall [0093] 262 curved section [0094] 263 end section [0095] 270 position sensor [0096] 271 sensor holder [0097] 300 transport section [0098] 310 first pulley [0099] 320 counter belt [0100] 330 second pulley [0101] 340 transport roller [0102] 341 tooth [0103] 342 tooth [0104] 350 counter roller