Sheet materials separation-aiding apparatus

Abstract

A main object of the invention is to provide a sheet material separation-aiding apparatus that ensures that there can be a gap produced stably between a specific sheet material from a stack of sheet materials and a sheet material just below it, and that achieves size reductions, reduced energy consumptions and a decreased parts count. As shown in FIG. 4, the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1 comprises a rotating means 2 including an abutment portion 21 that is capable of coming in abutment on an end of the uppermost sheet material 101, a supporting means 3 that supports the rotating means 2 in a rotatable manner and is capable of moving in a vertical direction, a biasing means 4 that biases the supporting means 3 in a downward direction, and a lifting means 5 that lifts up an end 23 of the rotating means 2 in opposition to the abutment portion 21. As the end 23 is lifted up, it causes the rotating means 2 to rotate with the abutment portion 21 coming in abutment on the end of the sheet material 101, and as the end 23 is further lifted up, it causes the supporting means 3 and rotating means 2 to keep on going up while the rotating means 2 is kept from rotation by a counterforce that the abutment portion 21 receives from the sheet material 101.

Claims

1. A sheet material separation-aiding apparatus used in combination with a sheet material separator for separating a specific sheet material from a stack of sheet materials, characterized by comprising; a rotating means including an abutment portion that is capable of coming in abutment on an end of said specific sheet material, a supporting means that supports said rotating means in a rotatable manner and is capable of moving in a vertical direction, a biasing means that biases said supporting means in a downward direction, and a lifting means that lifts up an end of said rotating means in opposition to said abutment portion, wherein said sheet material separation-aiding apparatus comprises, in order from said stack of sheet materials, said abutment portion, a center of rotation of said rotating means and the end of said rotating means in opposition to the abutment portion, when the end of said rotating means in opposition to the abutment portion is lifted up, said rotating means rotates with said abutment portion coming in abutment on the end of said specific sheet material, and when the end of said rotating means in opposition to the abutment portion is further lifted up, said supporting means and said rotating means keep on going up while said rotating means is kept from rotation by a counterforce that said abutment portion receives from said specific sheet material, whereby there is a gap between said specific sheet material in said stack of sheet materials and a sheet material below it.

2. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said rotating means, said supporting means, said biasing means and said lifting means are configured in such a way as to be capable of turning about a parallel axis of turning to the stacking direction of said stack of sheet materials.

3. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that: said lifting means includes a cylinder, said supporting means can be guided by a vertically provided guide rod member in a vertical direction, a cylinder hanger extends from an upper end of said guide rod member in a direction away from said stack of sheet materials, and said cylinder includes a main portion hung from said cylinder hanger, and a distal end of a cylinder rod is attached to the end of said rotating means in opposition to said abutment portion.

4. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by further including a magnet floater, wherein: said magnet floater is mounted on a support in opposition to said stack of sheet materials with a vertically extending slit, and said rotating means rotates so that said abutment portion pops out of said slit to come in abutment on the end of said specific sheet material.

5. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that said biasing means is a coil spring through which said guide rod member passes.

6. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 3, characterized by further including a magnet floater, wherein: said magnet floater is mounted on a support in opposition to said stack of sheet materials with a vertically extending slit, and said rotating means rotates so that said abutment portion pops out of said slit to come in abutment on the end of said specific sheet material.

7. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 5, characterized by further including a magnet floater, wherein: said magnet floater is mounted on a support in opposition to said stack of sheet materials with a vertically extending slit, and said rotating means rotates so that said abutment portion pops out of said slit to come in abutment on the end of said specific sheet material.

8. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: said lifting means includes a cylinder, said supporting means can be guided by a vertically provided guide rod member in a vertical direction, a cylinder hanger extends from an upper end of said guide rod member in a direction away from said stack of sheet materials, and said cylinder includes a main portion hung from said cylinder hanger, and a distal end of a cylinder rod is attached to the end of said rotating means in opposition to said abutment portion.

9. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that said biasing means is a coil spring through which said guide rod member passes.

10. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 8, characterized by further including a magnet floater, wherein: said magnet floater is mounted on a support in opposition to said stack of sheet materials with a vertically extending slit, and said rotating means rotates so that said abutment portion pops out of said slit to come in abutment on the end of said specific sheet material.

11. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 9, characterized by further including a magnet floater, wherein: said magnet floater is mounted on a support in opposition to said stack of sheet materials with a vertically extending slit, and said rotating means rotates so that said abutment portion pops out of said slit to come in abutment on the end of said specific sheet material.

12. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by further including a magnet floater, wherein: said magnet floater is mounted on a support in opposition to said stack of sheet materials with a vertically extending slit, and said rotating means rotates so that said abutment portion pops out of said slit to come in abutment on the end of said specific sheet material.

13. The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus of claim 1, wherein the rotating means is enabled to rotate, thereby causing the abutment portion to tilt down toward the edge of the uppermost sheet material.

Description

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is perspective view of the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention.

(2) FIG. 2 is a side view of the rotating means, supporting means, biasing means and lifting means in the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus of FIG. 1 in a state before an abutment comes in abutment on a specific sheet material.

(3) FIG. 3 is a side view of the rotating means, supporting means, biasing means and lifting means in the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus of FIG. 1 in a state where the abutment comes in abutment on the specific sheet material.

(4) FIG. 4 is a side view of the rotating means, supporting means, biasing means and lifting means in the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus of FIG. 1 in a state where the specific sheet material is raised or lifted up.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(5) Reference is now made to a stack of sheet materials 100 used in combination with a sheet material separator including a sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1 according to one embodiment of the invention.

(6) The sheet materials 100 stacked up, shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, are often formed of a metal such as aluminum and iron. The stack of sheet materials 100 takes on a rectangular shape as viewed from above. The X-axis direction of the coordinate axes in FIGS. 2 to 4 defines a stacking direction.

(7) The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1 is provided to the sheet material separator of the material feeder that feeds a sheet material from the stack of sheet material to the next step on a one-by-one basis.

(8) The sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1 creates or makes a gap between the uppermost sheet material 101 that is a specific sheet material in the stack of sheet materials 100 and a sheet material positioned just below it. Then, the sheet material separator uses magnet adsorption, vacuum adsorption or the like to lift up the uppermost sheet material 101 so that only the uppermost sheet material 101 can be separated off.

(9) As depicted in FIGS. 2 to 4, the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1 comprises a rotating means 2 including an abutment portion 21 capable of coming in abutment on an end of the uppermost sheet material 101, a supporting means 3 that supports the rotating means 2 in a rotatable fashion and is capable of moving in a vertical direction, a biasing means 4 for biasing the supporting means 3 in a downward direction, and a lifting means 5 for lifting up an end 23 of the rotating means 2 in opposition to the abutment portion 21.

(10) The rotating means 2 is a plate member that is substantially L shaped as viewed from sideways.

(11) The abutment portion 21 is provided to a portion of the rotating means 2 that tilts down toward the end of the uppermost sheet material 101 as it rotates.

(12) The abutment portion 21 has a saw blade shape. The abutment portion 21 is designed such that when it tilts down toward, and comes into abutment on, the end of the uppermost sheet material 101, it comes into reliable engagement with the end of the uppermost sheet material 101.

(13) The supporting means 3 is designed in such a way as to be vertically guided by a vertically provided guide rod member 6.

(14) The supporting means 3 comprises a cylindrical portion 31 through which the guide rod member 6 passes, and a rotation-supporting portion 32 extending away from the stack 100 of sheet materials.

(15) As depicted in FIGS. 2 to 4, the guide rod member 6 is vertically provided in such a way as to guide the cylindrical portion 31 in the vertical direction.

(16) The rotation-supporting portion 32 supports the rotating means 2 in such a way as to be rotatable about the center 22 of rotation.

(17) The guide rod member 6 is provided with an upper stopper 61 at its upper end and a lower stopper 62 at its lower end.

(18) The upper 61 and lower stopper 62 prevent the supporting means 3 through which the guide rod member 6 passes and the biasing means 4 from disengagement out of the guide rod member 6. In particular, the upper 61 and lower stopper 62 limit the range of vertical movement of the supporting means 3.

(19) The biasing means 4 comprises a coil spring through which the guide rod member 6 passes, and which comes in abutment on the upper stopper 61 at its upper end and comes in abutment on the cylindrical portion 31 of the supporting means 3 at its lower end. The biasing means 4 or coil spring biases the supporting means 3 from the upper end toward the lower end of the guide rod member 6.

(20) The lifting means 5 includes a cylinder that includes a main portion 51 and a cylinder rod 52 capable of extension and contraction from that main portion 51.

(21) There is a cylinder hanger 7 provided, extending from the upper stopper 61 at the upper end of the guide rod member 6 in such a direction as to be away from the stack 100 of sheet materials.

(22) The main portion 51 of the cylinder is hanged down from the cylinder hanger 7 and, as depicted in FIGS. 2 to 4, the cylinder is capable of rocking in a direction indicated by an arrow B with the hanging position 51a of the main portion 51 as center.

(23) The cylinder rod 52 is mounted at its distal end to the end 23 of the rotating means 2 in opposition to the abutment portion 21. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the rotating means 2 is capable of rocking in a direction indicated by an arrow C with the mounting position 52a of the cylinder rod 52 as center.

(24) As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the cylinder is obliquely mounted in place as viewed from sideways.

(25) As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the rotating means 2 comprises, in order from the stack 100 of sheet materials, the abutment portion 21, center of rotation 22 and opposite end 23 as viewed from sideways.

(26) The upper 61 and lower stopper 62 at the upper end of the guide rod member 6 are fixed to a magnet floater 8 that is mounted on a turning movement-supporting means 9 in such a way as to be capable of turning about the axis of turning parallel to the stacking direction of the sheet material stack 10, as indicated by an arrow A in FIG. 1.

(27) It follows that the aforesaid rotating means 2, supporting means 3, biasing means 4, lifting means 5 and guide rod member 6 and cylinder hanger 7 and magnet floater 8 are so integrated together that they are capable of turning about the axis of turning parallel to the stacking direction of the sheet material stack 100.

(28) The magnet floater 8 is provided on its surface 81 opposite to the sheet materials stack 100 with a vertically extending slit 82. Rotation of the rotating means 2 causes the abutment portion 21 to pop out of the slit 82, coming in abutment on the end of the uppermost sheet material 101.

(29) When the stacked sheet materials 100 are formed of iron as an example, the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1 puts the magnet floater 8 in actuation to lift up the uppermost sheet material 101. For instance, when the stacked sheet materials 100 are formed of aluminum that cannot be lifted up by the magnet floater, the uppermost sheet material 101 is lifted up by the operation to be described below. Thus, the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1 is well compatible with both sheet materials, one being formed of iron and another of a nonferrous metal such as aluminum.

(30) FIG. 2 shows a state of the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1 before it comes in abutment on the end of the sheet material stack 100. The supporting means 3 is in abutment on the lower stopper 62 by biasing of the biasing means 4. The end of the cylinder rod 52 is in a position away from the main portion 51, and the abutment portion 21 of the rotating means 2 is standing up as viewed from sideways.

(31) As the cylinder of the lifting means 5 contracts from the state of FIG. 2, there is a force produced for lifting up the opposite end 23 of the rotating means 2. The lifting force of the lift means 5 causes the rotating means 2 to rotate counterclockwise in FIGS. 2 to 4 about the center of rotation 22.

(32) At that time, the center of rotation 22 acts as the fulcrum and the mounting position 52a of the cylinder rod 52 acts as the point of effort. Rotation of the rotating means 2 causes the abutment portion 21 to tilt down toward the end of the uppermost sheet material 101.

(33) As shown in FIG. 3, the abutment portion 21 comes in abutment on the end of the uppermost sheet material 101, whereupon the rotation of the rotating means 2 remains a halt by a counterforce that the abutment portion 21 receives from the uppermost sheet material 101.

(34) The cylinder of the lifting means 5 contracts further from a state of FIG. 3. At this time, the point of the abutment portion 21 in abutment on the end of the uppermost sheet material 101 acts as the fulcrum, the mounting position 52a of the cylinder rod 52 as the point of effort, and the center of rotation 22 as the point of action.

(35) Upward lifting force takes place at the center of rotation 22 of the rotating means 2, so does at the supporting means 3 that supports the rotating means 2.

(36) This upward lifting force allows the supporting means 3 and rotating means 2 to go up against the biasing action of the biasing means 4.

(37) The counterforce received by the abutment portion 21 allows the supporting means 3 and rotating means 2 to start going up; there is no need for controlling the actuation of the cylinder of the lifting means 5 or the like.

(38) As the supporting means 3 and rotating means 2 start going up, it causes the end 23 of the rotating means 2 in opposition to the abutment portion 21 to be lifted up. At this time, the biasing means 4 is actuated such that the center of rotation 22 of the rotating means 2 is pushed down by way of the supporting means 3.

(39) Consequently, there is a moment taking place in such a direction as to press the abutment portion 21 constantly against the end of the uppermost sheet material 101. Thus, the support means 3 and rotating means 2 keep on going up, as shown in FIG. 4, without moving the abutment portion 21 away from the uppermost sheet 101.

(40) The aforesaid operation allows the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1 to lift up the uppermost sheet material 101, making a gap between the uppermost sheet material 101 and a sheet material positioned just below it.

(41) The uppermost sheet material 101 is further lifted up by means of magnet adsorption, vacuum adsorption or the like. Once only the uppermost sheet material 101 has been separated off, the cylinder of the lifting means 5 extends.

(42) This extension of the cylinder causes the supporting means 3 and rotating means 2 to go down. As the cylinder of the lifting means 5 extends further after abutment of the supporting member 3 on the lower stopper 62, it causes the rotating means 2 to rotate clockwise in FIGS. 2 to 4 about the center of rotation 22.

(43) This rotation of the rotating means 2 causes the abutment portion 21 to return from the state in which it tilts down back to such a state shown in FIG. 2 in which it stands up.

(44) By repetition of the aforesaid operation of the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1, a gap can be sequentially made between the stacked sheet material 100 and the uppermost sheet material 101.

(45) In the aforesaid embodiment, the stacked sheet materials 100 have been explained with reference to aluminum, iron or other metal sheets, but the present invention is in no sense limited to it. Nonmetal sheet materials may also be used for the stacked sheet materials.

(46) In the aforesaid embodiment, the rotating means 2 has been explained with reference to the plate member that is substantially L-shaped as viewed from sideways, but the present invention is in no sense limited to it. The rotating means may have other configurations provided that it comprises, in order from the stacked sheet materials, the abutment portion, the center of rotation of the rotating means and the end of the rotating means in opposition to the abutment portion.

(47) In the aforesaid embodiment, the abutment portion 21 has been explained with reference to the one having a saw blade shape, but the present invention is in no sense limited to it. The abutment portion may have a configuration such that when the supporting means and rotating means go up, there is a frictional force large enough to prevent a sheet material from dropping from between the abutment portion and the sheet material on which it abuts.

(48) In the aforesaid embodiment, the supporting means 3 has been explained with reference to the one including the cylindrical portion 31 through which the guide rod member 6 passes and the rotation-supporting portion 32 that extends from the cylindrical portion 31 in a direction away from the stacked sheet materials, but the present invention is in no sense limited to it. The supporting means may have other configuration provided that the supporting means is vertically guided while the rotating means is supported in a rotatable manner.

(49) In the aforesaid embodiment, the guide rod member 6 has been explained with reference to the one designed to guide the cylindrical portion 31 of the supporting means, but the present invention is in no sense limited to it. Other mechanism may also be used with the proviso that the supporting means can be vertically guided.

(50) In the aforesaid embodiment, the biasing means 4 has been explained with reference to the one comprising a coil spring, but the present invention is in no sense limited to it. For the biasing means, other mechanical element may also be used to bias the supporting means.

(51) In the aforesaid embodiment, the lifting means 5 has been explained with reference to the one including a cylinder, but the present invention is in no sense limited to it. Any mechanism other than the cylinder may also be used to lift up the end of the rotating means in opposition to the abutment portion.

(52) In the aforesaid embodiment, the cylinder has been explained with reference to the one that is obliquely mounted in place as viewed from sideways, as shown in the side views of FIGS. 2 to 4, but the present invention is in no sense limited to it. The cylinder may be longitudinally or laterally mounted in place as viewed from sideways, provided that the end of the rotating means in opposition to the abutment portion can be lifted up.

(53) In the aforesaid embodiment, the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 1 has been explained with reference to the stacked sheet materials 100 formed of iron as an example wherein the uppermost sheet material 101 is lifted up by the magnet floater 8, but the present invention is in no sense limited to it. Even with the stacked sheet materials formed typically of iron, the uppermost sheet material may be lifted up by the magnet floater 8 once the sheet material separation-aiding apparatus has gone to the trouble of raising the uppermost sheet material in the same operation as is the case with aluminum, so as to ensure that the only uppermost sheet material is lifted up or separated off.

EXPLANATION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

(54) 1: Sheet material separation-aiding apparatus 2: Rotating means 3: Supporting means 4: Biasing means 5: Lifting means 6: Guide rod member 7: Cylinder hanger 8: Magnet floater 9: Turning movement-supporting means 21: Abutment portion 22: Center of rotation 23: Opposite end 31: Cylindrical portion 32: Rotation supporting portion 51: Main portion 51a: Hanging position 52: Cylinder rod 52a: Mounting position 61: Upper stopper 62: Lower stopper 81: Surface in opposition to the stacked sheet materials 82: Slit 100: Stacked sheet materials 101: Uppermost sheet material