JP2640016B2 - Cassette transfer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial application field) The present invention takes a desired cassette into a carrier from a rack (storage shelf) accommodating a large number of cassettes such as microfilms and moves the carrier to move the cassette. To move the cassette to another position.

(Technical Background of the Invention) It is known that a large number of cassettes such as microfilms are housed in a rack, a desired cassette is taken out from the rack, transferred to a microfilm search device and searched. Here, the cassette is extracted from a predetermined storage portion of the rack to a carrier, and is carried by the carrier. The carrier discharges the cassette at a predetermined position and is transferred to the next transport means or a search device.

However, the stop position of the carrier inevitably fluctuates to some extent, and the attitude of the cassette taken into the carrier also fluctuates due to the variation in the stop position. For this reason, there has been a problem that an operation error is likely to occur when the cassette is transferred to the next transporting means or a search device.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances,
When transferring a cassette from a storage unit such as a rack to a carrier, the position and orientation of the cassette were corrected correctly, so that it can be ejected in the correct orientation for the next transport means, etc. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cassette transfer device that enables transfer.

(Constitution of the Invention) According to the present invention, there is provided a cassette transfer apparatus having a cassette carrier that pulls out a cassette having a flat lower surface substantially horizontally from a cassette storage portion and carries the cassette to a predetermined position. A long guide rail, and a hand that moves back and forth on this guide rail,
A pair of sandwiching plates extending from the hand toward the cassette storage portion and swinging in the horizontal direction to sandwich the cassette from the left and right, and below these sandwiching plates which are provided integrally with the guide rails and advance and retreat with the hand. And a carrier control unit for controlling the advance / retreat of the hand and opening / closing of the holding plate, wherein the carrier control unit holds the cassette with the holding plate and holds the cassette at the position where the hand is retracted. The cassette transfer device is characterized by opening the cassette for a short time and free-falling the cassette onto the cassette receiving table to align the lower surface of the cassette with the cassette receiving table.

(Operation) The carrier moves to the storage section of the target cassette, opens the sandwiching plate, advances the hand, closes the sandwiching plate, and grasps the cassette. When the hand retracts and pulls out the cassette, the sandwiching plate is temporarily opened and closed again. At this time, the cassette is temporarily released from the sandwiching plate, during which the cassette is freely dropped and positioned with its lower surface in contact with the cassette receiving stand, so that the position and orientation of the cassette are aligned. The cassette thus arranged is carried to the next target position by the carrier and discharged from the carrier. Since the positions and postures of the cassettes with respect to the carrier are the same, the positions and postures of the cassettes discharged from the carrier are also aligned, and the cassettes are smoothly inserted into the receiving portion for receiving the cassettes.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a conceptual view showing a cassette transfer path according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view of the entire apparatus, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a rack and a carrier, and FIG. FIGS. 5A to 5C are explanatory views of a cassette attitude correcting operation using the cassette hand, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a buffer and a lift, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view showing a cassette grip portion of the lift, and FIG. 9 is an operation flowchart of the present invention.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 10 denotes a rack (storage shelf) for storing a large number of microfilm cassettes 12 two-dimensionally on a substantially vertical plane. That is, the rack 10 is provided with a number of vertically long cassette storage portions 14 opened on one surface thereof, and the cassettes 12 are stored in the storage portions 14 vertically. A vertically long window 16 is provided near the center of the rack 10, and the cassette 12 can be transferred to both sides of the rack 10 through the window 16.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a cassette carrier, one side of the rack 10,
That is, the cassette housing 14 moves so as to face the opening-side surface. That is, a horizontal beam 24 can be moved up and down while maintaining a horizontal level on a vertical guide rail 22 (only one is shown in FIG. 3) fixed to the left and right side edges of the rack 10. It is guided by the horizontal beam 22 and the horizontal beam 24 and moves vertically and horizontally by a servomotor (not shown).

The carrier 20 moves between the desired cassette storage portion 14 and the window 16 to carry the cassette 12 to the window 16, and conversely, returns the cassette 12 from the window 16 to the predetermined cassette storage portion 14, The structure is as shown in FIG.

In this figure, 26 is a board, 28 is a guide rail fixed on the board 26 so as to be perpendicular to the rack 10, and 30 is a cassette hand that moves on the guide rail 28. Reference numeral 32 denotes an endless belt that runs parallel to the rails 28. The endless belt 32 is moved forward and backward by a driving mechanism 34 using a motor. The hand 30 is fixed to the belt 32 and moves forward and backward on the rail 28. As a result, the hand 30 moves so as to approach or separate from the cassette storage section 14 of the rack 10.

Here, the hand 30 includes a pair of left and right sandwiching plates 36 extending toward the rack 10. These sandwiching plates 36 are driven by an electromagnetic solenoid (not shown) so that the distal ends thereof approach and separate from each other. The traveling of the hand 30 and the opening / closing operation of the sandwiching plate 36 are controlled by a hand control device 37 (FIG. 4).

The operation is performed as follows. When the carrier 20 moves in front of the desired cassette 12, the hand 30 advances toward the cassette 12, and holds the cassette 12 as shown in FIG. 5A.
Sandwich between 36. Then, the desired cassette 12 is taken out of the storage section 12 by the hand 30 retreating. Note that there is some variation in the stop position of the carrier 20, so that when the cassette 12 is pulled out onto the guide rail 28 as shown in FIG. Occurs. In this state, the sandwiching plate 36 is opened once and the bottom surface of the cassette 12 is
And align it correctly as shown in Fig. 5C.
In this embodiment, the guide rail 28 itself also serves as a cassette receiving stand.

The rack 10 and the carrier 20 are stored in a storage case 38. An openable / closable glass plate 40 is fitted on the surface of the storage case 38 on the carrier 20 side, so that the cassette 12 can be viewed from the outside (FIG. 3).

50 is a microfilm search device. This search device
50 is provided on the other surface side of the rack 10, that is, on the side surface opposite to the carrier 20.
38 are substantially T-shaped in plan view (see FIG. 2).

As shown in FIG. 1, the search device 50 has a cassette loading port 52 that opens upward at the right end, and vertically loads the cassette 12 from above. From the cassette 12 loaded here, the microfilm is automatically taken up by the take-up reel 54.
And a search for a target image is performed. For example, when the identification code of the target image is input from the keyboard 55, the film is automatically fed, the target image is automatically searched, and the target image is projected on the screen 56. If necessary, the image is printed by the printer 58 (FIG. 2). The search may be performed by manually inserting a predetermined cassette into the loading port 52.

A buffer 70 and a lifter 72 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 are interposed between the search device 50 and the rack 10. The buffer 70 receives the cassette 12 from the carrier 20 through the window 16 of the rack 10, changes the direction of the cassette, and transfers the cassette to the lifter 72. The lifter 72 inserts this cassette into the cassette loading port 52 of the search device 50.
The cassette 12 is returned to the carrier 20 from the cassette loading port 52.

The buffer 70 has a bucket 74 rotatably mounted on a substrate 76 by a shaft 78 (FIG. 7).
74 is rotated by a motor 80 (FIG. 6) in a range between a horizontal position (solid line position in FIG. 7) and a vertical position (same virtual line position). The bucket 74 has an opening at the rotation end side, into which the cassette 12 can be inserted. At the horizontal position of the bucket 74, the bucket 74 enters the window 16 of the rack 10 and faces the carrier 20 side. The carrier 20 and the cassette 12 are transferred at this horizontal position, and are transferred to the lift 72 at the vertical position.

The lift 72 has a movable plate 82 that can move up and down. This moving plate
The 82 is fixed to a linear bearing 86 held by a vertical guide rod 84 fixed to the substrate 76, and moves up and down integrally with the linear bearing 86. The upper end of the guide rod 84 is
It is held on an upper plate 92 fixed to columns 76 by columns 88, 90.

The moving plate 82 is pushed up by a push rod 94 penetrating the substrate 76 and moves up and down. That is, the push rod 94 is vertically movably held by a linear bearing 96 fixed to the substrate 76, and has its upper end fixed to the moving plate 82 and its lower end pushed up by the plate cam 100 via the link 98. It has become. Here, one end of the link 98 is connected to the lower surface of the substrate 76 by a link 102, and a cam follower 104 (FIG.
Transfer on top of

Therefore, if the plate cam 100 is rotated by the motor 106, the link
Push rod 94 moves up and down via 98. Plate cam
The rotation position of the plate 100 is such that the plates 108 and 1 rotate integrally with the plate cam 100.
It is determined by detecting the position 10 (FIG. 6) with the optical sensor 112.

A pulley 114 is rotatably mounted on the outer periphery of the linear bearing 86 holding the moving plate 82 as shown in FIG.
The pulley 114 is provided with a pair of arms 116, 116 projecting radially at symmetrical positions. Cassette grips 118, 118 are attached to these arms 116, 116. Each grip 118 has a pair of swingable claws 120, 120 as shown in FIG.
The lower end of 22 is engaged with these claws 120, and the pressing rod 122 is depressed to open the pawl 120, and the pressing rod 122 is returned to the return spring 12.
If it is returned upward by 4, the claws 120 are closed. The tips of these claws 120, 120 are engaging projections of the cassette 12.
When the cassette 12 is opened, the cassette 12 is opened. When the cassette 12 is closed, the cassette 12 is gripped.

The opening and closing of the grip 118 is performed by an opening and closing drive mechanism 128 mounted on the upper surface of the moving plate 82. The mechanism 128 includes upper push rods 130 and 130 held on the movable plate 82 so as to move up and down in opposition to the push rod 122 at a position where the cassette 12 is attached to and detached from the grip 118, and the push rods 130 and 130 Upper end and connecting rod 132
And two stoppers that regulate the vertical movement of the crank plates 134 and 134 with respect to the moving plate 82 at the other vertices.
136, 136. The connecting rod 132 is moved right and left by a cam 140 rotated by a motor 138. For example, the eighth
In the figure, when the cam 140 rotates counterclockwise to move the connecting rod 132 to the left, the crank plate 134 pushes down the upper end of the pressing rod 130.
Accordingly, if the push bar 122 of the cassette grip is located below the cassette grip, the push bar 122 is pushed down and the claw 120 is opened.

Here, the grip 118 and the arm 116 can rotate around the linear bearing 86 together with the pulley 114. That is, it rotates around the guide rod 84 which is a vertical axis. This rotation is controlled by a motor 142 (FIG. 6) mounted on the lower surface of the moving plate 82. That is, the rotation of the motor 142 is transmitted to the pulley 114 by the belt 144. The light shielding plates 146, 146 fixed to the upper surface of the arm 116 are detected by optical sensors 148, 148 fixed to the moving plate 82, and the push bar 122 of the grip 118 comes under the push bar 130 of the mechanism 128. Arm 1
Stop 16. In this position, one grip 118 is located above the bucket 72 in the upright position, and the other grip 118 is located above the cassette loading slot 52 of the search device 50.

Therefore, the lift 72 descends to open the grips 118, 118, so that the cassette 12 in the bucket 72 or in the cassette loading port 52 can be gripped by the pawl 120. In this state, by raising the lift 72 and then rotating the arms 116, 180 °, the cassette can be transferred or exchanged from one of the bucket 72 and the loading port 52 to the other.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Now, a large number of cassettes 12 are loaded into the rack 10, and the identification code of each cassette 12 and the loading position (address) are entered on the keyboard.
The data is input from the server 55 and stored in a control device (not shown).
If the identification codes of the target images are sequentially input to the keyboard 55, the carrier controller 37 moves the carrier 20 to the cassette 12 containing the first target image (step 20).
0). Then, the carrier 20 opens the sandwiching plate 36 (step 20).
2) The hand 30 is advanced (step 204). When the sandwiching plate 36 is closed (step 206), the cassette 12 is sandwiched by the sandwiching plate 36. Next, the hand 30 retreats while holding the cassette 12 (step 208), and when a sensor (not shown) detects that the cassette 12 has retreated to a predetermined position, the hand plate 30 is opened and closed momentarily (step 210). By this operation, the posture of the cassette 12 is corrected by bringing the cassette 12 from the state of FIG. 5B into contact with the cassette receiving base shared by the guide rail 28 as shown in FIG. 5C. In this state, the carrier 20 moves to the window 16 (Step 212).
On the other hand, the bucket 74 of the buffer 70 waits horizontally in the window 16 in advance, and the carrier 20 advances the hand 30 (step
214), and transfer the cassette 12 to the bucket 74. Then, when the sandwiching plate 36 is opened (Step 216), the cassette 12 is
From 0, the bucket is moved to the bucket 74, and the carrier 20 retreats as it is (step 218). On the other hand, when the bucket 74 receives the cassette 12, the bucket 74 stands upright and escapes from the window 16, and the grip 11
We face the lower law of 8. The lift 72 descends, grips the cassette 12 in the bucket 74 with the grip 118, and rises again. Then, the arm 116 rotates by 180 ° to transfer the cassette 12 gripped by the grip 118 above the loading port 52. Next, lifter 72
Descends, inserts the cassette 12 into the loading port 52, opens the claw 120 of the grip 118, releases the cassette 12, and then retreats upward.

Prior to the lowering of the lifter 72 to retrieve the cassette 12 into the loading port 52, the next cassette to be used is
To the bucket 74 so that the next cassette 12 that waits in the bucket 74 at the same time as lowering to remove the searched cassette 12 from the loading port 52 also has another grip.
116 can grab it. Therefore, if the lifter 72 is raised and rotated by 180 °, it is possible to load a new cassette into the loading port 52 and at the same time return the searched cassette to the rack 10, thereby further shortening the cassette replacement time.

In this embodiment, the operation when the carrier 20 extracts the cassette 12 from the cassette loading section 14 of the rack 10 is described, but when returning the cassette 12 to the rack 10, the bucket 74 of the buffer 70 becomes a cassette storage section, Of course, the cassette is taken out from here.

The present invention is not limited to a microfilm cassette, but may be another cassette such as a magnetic tape cassette.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention takes out a cassette from a cassette loading portion by sandwiching a cassette from the left and right with a pair of left and right sandwiching plates, and opens the cassette once to place the cassette on the cassette receiving stand. Then, the position and posture of the cassette are corrected by bringing the cassette into contact with the lower surface of the cassette. After that, the cassette is transported to another position again by sandwiching the cassette between the sandwiching plates. Therefore, even if a slight shift occurs in the stop position of the cassette, the positional shift of the cassette can be prevented from becoming excessive, and the carrier can be prevented. A stable transfer can be achieved by eliminating the transfer error of the cassette.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a conceptual diagram showing a cassette transfer path according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view of the entire apparatus, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a rack and a carrier, and FIG. 4 is a cassette hand mechanism of the carrier. FIGS. 5A to 5C are explanatory views of a cassette attitude correcting operation by this cassette hand, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a buffer and a lift, FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an operation of a buffer and a lift, FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view showing a cassette grip portion of the lift, and FIG. 9 is an operation flowchart of the present invention. 10 ... rack, 12 ... cassette, 16 ... window, 20 ... cassette carrier, 28 ... guide rail that doubles as cassette holder, 30 ... hand, 36 ... sandwich plate, 37 ... carrier control unit.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cassette transfer device having a cassette carrier for extracting a cassette having a flat lower surface substantially horizontally from a cassette accommodating portion and transporting the cassette to a predetermined position, wherein the carrier has a guide rail that is long in a direction in which the cassette is extracted. A hand that moves forward and backward, a pair of sandwiching plates that extend from the hand in the direction of the cassette accommodating section and swing horizontally to sandwich the cassette from the left and right, and are provided integrally with the guide rail and advance and retreat with the hand. And a carrier control unit for controlling the forward / backward movement of the hand and the opening and closing of the holding plate. The carrier control unit holds the cassette by the holding plate and Open the sandwiching plate for a short time at the position where A cassette transfer device, which is positioned with respect to a receiving table.