Transferring apparatus with pinion gears

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9446899-B2
Application number	US-201314423397-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 16, 2013
Priority date	Aug 31, 2012
Publication date	Sep 20, 2016
Grant date	Sep 20, 2016

Abstract

A transferring apparatus includes a plurality of side-arm transfer units each provided with a pair of side arms each of which is capable of stretching toward and retracting from both sides of an object to be conveyed. The side-arm transfer units are arranged side by side in a left-and-right direction that is orthogonal to a stretching-and-retracting direction of the side arms. The side arms each include pinion gears, a rack gear, and a motor that drives the pinion gears. The motors positioned between the side-arm transfer units are connected to the pinion gears whose positions in the stretching-and-retracting direction are different from each other.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A transferring apparatus comprising:
a plurality of side-arm transfer units each provided with a pair of side arms each of which is capable of stretching toward and retracting from both sides of an object to be conveyed, wherein
the side-arm transfer units are arranged side by side in a left-and-right direction that is orthogonal to a stretching-and-retracting direction of the side arms,
each of the side arms comprises:
a base member;
a middle member that advances from and retreats to the base member in the stretching-and-retracting direction; and
a top member that advances from and retreats to the middle member in the stretching-and-retracting direction,

the base member comprises:
three or more pinion gears that are arranged along the stretching-and-retracting direction; and
a motor that drives the pinion gears,

the middle member comprises a rack gear that engages with at least one of the pinion gears and extends in the stretching-and-retracting direction,
the motor is arranged outside an area between a pair of the base members of the pair of the side arms,
the motor is positioned between one side-arm transfer unit and an adjacent side-arm transfer unit, and is connected to a pinion gear whose position in the stretching-and-retracting direction is different from the position of another pinion gear to which another motor positioned between the one side-arm transfer unit and the adjacent side-arm transfer unit is connected,
the numbers of the pinion gears included in the respective ones of the pair of the base members of the side-arm transfer units are the same, and
the respective motors included in the respective ones of the pair of the base members of the side-arm transfer units are connected to the pinion gears that are rotation symmetric with respect to a center point of the pinion gears' positions where the pinion gears included in the pair of the base members are arranged, wherein
the motor provided to the side arm on a left side of the left-and-right direction in the one of the side-arm transfer units and the motor provided to the side arm on the left side of the left-and-right direction in the other one of the side-arm transfer units are connected to the pinion gears whose positions in the stretching-and-retracting direction are the same, and
the motor provided to the side arm on a right side of the left-and-right direction in the one of the side-arm transfer units and the motor provided to the side arm on the right side of the left-and-right direction in the other one of the side-arm transfer units are connected to the pinion gears whose positions in the stretching-and-retracting direction are the same.

2. The transferring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the base member of at least one of the side arms out of the pair of the side arms is movable in the left-and-right direction.

Assignees

• Murata Machinery Ltd

Inventors

• Yamada Fumie

Classifications

• B65G1/0407 Primary

  using stacker cranes (constructional features of stacker cranes B66F9/06) · CPC title

• B65G1/0435

  with pulling or pushing means on either stacking crane or stacking area · CPC title

• B65G1/04 Primary

  mechanical · CPC title