Abstract:
This system selects and delivers a rivet of correct size for workpiece thickness at each rivet location. Positive control of rivet orientation is provided at the crucial junction point of plural supply paths with the delivery path to the riveting machine. This is done by a simplified modular device, called a "transfer station," which hands off one rivet from the correct supply path to the delivery path, on demand by a measuring device. Positive rivet-orientation control is also provided everywhere else in the system, including the escapements and the injector--making it feasible to use a pneumatic tube for delivery to the injector. Thus only the measuring device and injector need be mounted to the installing head of the riveter. Orientation at the escapement is fixed by a dual-blade mechanism that constrains each rivet shank, keeping the rivet from toppling head-first into a pneumatic supply tube to the transfer station. A two-stage mechanism at the injector fixes rivet orientation by delivering each rivet just below the installing head at a shallow angle.