US 12,290,870 B2
Projection nut feeder
Shoji Aoyama, Osaka (JP); and Yoshitaka Aoyama, Osaka (JP)
Assigned to Shoji Aoyama, Osaka (JP)
Appl. No. 18/025,752
Filed by Shoji Aoyama, Osaka (JP)
PCT Filed Oct. 28, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/040487
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 10, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/091262, PCT Pub. Date May 5, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0347441 A1, Nov. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. B23K 11/14 (2006.01)
CPC B23K 11/14 (2013.01) 2 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A projection nut feeder comprising:
an air cylinder in which a piston and a piston rod integrally advance and retract in a cylinder, and a hollow guide pipe joined to the cylinder via a joining member, the joining member having a sliding hole for supporting the piston rod while allowing the piston rod to slide in an advanceable and retractable manner;
a stopper member having a stopper surface, the stopper member being arranged at a position where the hollow guide pipe and a feed pipe for feeding a projection nut are coupled to each other, to form a temporary locking chamber of the projection nut; and
a feed rod constituted by a sliding rod of an extended portion of the piston rod and a guide rod having a diameter smaller than that of the sliding rod so that the guide rod is capable of entering into a screw hole of the projection nut,
wherein a relative position between the temporary locking chamber and the feed rod is set such that the screw hole of the projection nut received by the stopper surface and stopped at a predetermined position in the temporary locking chamber is coaxial with the feed rod,
wherein the hollow guide pipe has an inner diameter to form a gap between the sliding rod and the hollow guide pipe, and the hollow guide pipe has a support hole for supporting the sliding rod while allowing the sliding rod to slide, the support hole being formed at an end part of the hollow guide pipe on a temporary locking chamber side and having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the hollow guide pipe to form a sliding gap between the sliding rod and the support hole even in a state where the feed rod is retracted,
wherein, in an axial direction of the hollow guide pipe, a length of the support hole is smaller than a length of the gap between the sliding rod and the hollow guide pipe, the length of the gap being defined between the joining member and the support hole, and
wherein the feed rod including the piston is always supported at three positions such that an upper end part of the feed rod is supported by the cylinder via the piston, an intermediate part of the feed rod is supported by the sliding hole of the joining member, and a lower end part of the feed rod is supported by the support hole.