TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to manufactur¬ ing shell-like flat casings, which are used, in particular for housing and protecting a music opti- cal record medium called minidisk.

BACKGROUND ART

Currently, there are known optical disks which can be recorded and then played back for digital reproduction of music.

These assemblies, generally called minidisk, include an actual, very small, disk housed inside a protection casing that is formed by two flat shell- halves which are joined to each other in form of a shell.

More particularly, as shown in Figure 4, the shell-halves of the casing 100 define respectively a base member 101 and a cover member 102, which are adapted to be snap-jointed to each other along their edges.

The base and cover members have pins on the inside for reciprocal centring.

The base member 101 features, on the surface that remains inside the casing, a circular ridge 104 that delimits a seat aimed at housing the disk 105.

A shutter 106 is constrained to the base member 101 in correspondence of a slot 107 made in the same base member for reading the disk 105. The shutter 106 is mounted slidably in a

guide 108 and can be locked in a closing position by an elastic member 109 hinged to a pin 110 fitted to the inner surface of the base member 101.

In order to set the above mentioned disks in the respective casings, special devices are current¬ ly used, which are supplied by casings and disks feeding lines

These devices include subsequent operative stations in which they separate the cover members from the respective base members, insert respective disks, and then assemble the casings.

In the above cited devices it is generally difficult, for the responsible staff, to access to various working zones, and also the possibility to see these zones is limited, mainly because the lines for feeding the casings, the disks and other acces¬ sories, as well as the line for carrying away the already assembled casings and faulty casings, are rather encumbering. All these drawbacks can, of course, cause serious problems while performing check or mainte¬ nance operations for most risky working areas, with the possibility of negative effects on the general efficiency of the machine.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The subject of the present invention is a machine for setting a disk in a shell-like flat casing, wherein the various working zones can be easily accessed by the responsible staff, so that check and maintenance operations are made easier. This machine includes: a conveying line for feeding casings, with each

casing including a base member and a cover member; a conveying line for feeding disks; a carousel fitted with holding means placed along its periphery for holding the casings and the rela- ted disks, the carousel being rotated in step so that the casings and the disks are carried through a plurality of operative stations.

Each of the holding means features a first recess for housing a base member, a second recess for housing a related cover member, and a third recess for housing the disk to be set into a respec¬ tive casing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The characteristic features of the invention are set out in the following, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a schematic plan view of the subject machine;

- Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a section of the subject machine, in which the station for feed¬ ing the casings without the related disks, is shown; _ Figure 3 shows a perspective view of a section of the machine, similar to the one shown in Figure 2, illustrating the station for feeding the disks to be set;

- Figure 4 shows a perspective exploded view of a casing with a related disk set therein.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

with reference to the above described fig-

ures, reference numeral 30 indicates a line for feeding the casings 100 to the subject machine.

The feeding line includes substantially a conveying belt aimed at carrying, one by one, the casings 100 until they go in abutment on a frontal stopping edge 31, situated in correspondence with a station for loading the machine.

The machine for setting the disks 105 inside the respective casings 100 basically includes a carousel 32, rotating in step about a vertical axis. The carousel 32 carries the casings 100 and disks 105 through suitable working stations, as numbered methodically in Figure 1.

In particular, the carousel 32 comprises, according the rotation direction A, a station 1 for loading the casings 100; a station 2 checking the presence and correct position of the casings, by means of optical sensors; a station 3 opening the casings; a station 4 for loading the disks 105; a station 6 where the elastic member 109 for blocking the shutter 106 is inserted; a station 7 for check¬ ing the presence and the correct position of this elastic member 109; a station 11 for cleaning the inside of the casings by means of ionised compressed air, as well as for checking the bar code of the disks,- a station 12 for introducing the disks 105 into the base members 101 of the casings; a station 103 for positioning the cover members 102 on the base members 101 of the casings; a station 15 for closing the casings by ultrasonic welding means; a station 17 for introducing the shutters 106; three stations 18, 19 and 20 for checking the presence and correct working of the shutters 106; a station 22 for unloading the incomplete or faulty casings; a

station 24 for detecting the absence of products.

Other stations, not indicated explicitly, are not active or aimed at other functions.

The carousel 32 features a ring 33 rotating with respect to a circular central platform 34, integral with the supporting frame 35 of the ma¬ chine.

The central platform 35 supports all the units that handle the products,- the cited units are mechanically controlled by special transmission means linked to the engine of the carousel, so as to operate in suitable phase relation with the rotation of the same carousel.

The rotating ring 33 of the carousel 32 carries a plurality of means 36 for holding the casings 100 and the related disks 105, each of these means being formed by a circular sector of the same ring 33.

In fact, the number of these holding means 36 is equal to the number of the stations of the carou¬ sel 32, since in each operative phase each of the same holding means 36 is situated in correspondence with a relative station.

As shown in detail in Figures 2 and 3, each of the above mentioned holding means 36 has a recess 37 for housing the base member 101 of a casing 100, a recess 38 for housing the corresponding cover member 102, and a recess 39 for housing the disk 105 to be set; these recesses 37, 38 and 39 are open in the central part for allowing the introduction of special means for handling the base member 101, the cover member 102 and the disk 105.

The recesses 37, 38, aimed at housing re¬ spectively the base member 101 and the cover member 102 of the casing 100, are situated in reciprocal

alignment along a radial axis of the carousel 32; the recess 39 aimed at housing the disk 105 is situated beside the above mentioned recess 37 for housing the base member. The disks 105 are fed by a line 40 that has a conveying belt carrying a plurality of supporting plates 41, and each plate 41 has a vertical shank 42 fitted thereto.

Each disk to be transferred to the machine, is placed on the plate 41 with the shank 42 passing through its hole (see Figure 3) .

In the loading station 4, the disks 105 are taken, one by one, from the supporting plates 41, by picking up means 43, indicated only generally since they are not concerned by the invention.

Each disk is then transferred to the related recess 39 of the holding means 36 of the carousel.

A further conveying belt 44, parallel to the previous one but advancing in the opposite direc- tion, brings the empty plates 41 back.

The disk feeding line 40 reaches the carousel

32 right downstream of the casing opening station 3.

Each casing 100 is previously placed into the recess 37 by an arm 45 equipped with suitable grip- ping means, and working at loading station 1.

In the above mentioned station 3, a transfer¬ ring device 46, provided with suction means, separ¬ ates, in a known manner, the cover member 102 from the related base member 101 and places it into the respective recess 38.

The cover member 102 strikes against a plur¬ ality of pins 47 and a pair of blocks 48 perpendicu¬ lar to each other, so that said cover member 102 remains locked inside the recess 38. The base member 101 is set in a centric

position inside the recess 37 by a pair of pins 49 fitted into related holes made in the same base member.

In the station 12, the disk 105 is positioned by a suitable handling units 50 equipped with suc¬ tion means. Afterwards, in the station 13, a further transferring device, similar to the one described previously, places the cover member 102 again on the base member 101. The line 51 for feeding the elastic means 109 which have the task of blocking the shutters 106, is situated downstream of the line 40 for feeding the disks 105.

This feeding line 51 has, in its terminal section, a special and known separation device.

A handling unit 52, in a known way, takes over the elastic means 109 and places them so as to make the shank 110, protruding from the base member

101 of the casings, to pass through the said means 109.

The shutters 106 are fed to the carousel 32 by a relative line 53, situated in correspondence with the station 17, equipped in its terminal sec¬ tion with a relative and known separation device. A mechanical handling unit 54 takes over, using known means, the shutters 106 and places them in suitable centring means.

Pushing means, aimed at inserting the shut¬ ters in the same casings, operate in correspondence with the said centring means.

Another handling unit 55 transfers the assem¬ bled casings to the delivering line 56.

Now, the machine is described beginning from the loading phase of a casing 100 on the carousel 32, in correspondence with the station 1.

In this station 1, the closed casings 100, fed by the line 30, are taken over, one by one, and transferred to the recess 37 of respective holding means 36 of the carousel 32. The casings 100 are arranged, in the recesses 37, with the cover members 102 turned upwards, so as to allow the same cover members 102 to be subsequ¬ ently transferred to the relative recess 38, when the casings reach the station 3. The base member 101 of each casing remains in the recess 37, with the internal part turned upwards.

In the subsequent station 6, the disks 105, fed by the line 44, are transferred to the recesses 39 of the holding means 36. When the elastic means 109 for locking the shutters 106 have been inserted in the station 6 and the correct positioning of these elastic means has been checked in the station 7, the disk 105 is inserted, in the station 12, in the correspondent recess defined by the base member 101 of the casing. Then, in the next station 13, the cover member is closed placing the cover member 102 again on the base member 101.

Afterwards, in the station 15, the assembled casings are welded, at the angles, by four ultraso¬ nic welding means.

When the shutters 106 have been inserted, in the station 17, and the correct operation of the same shutters 106 and relative elastic locking means 109 has been checked, the assembled casings, in the subsequent stations 18, 19 and 20, are transferred to the delivering line 56.

Possible incomplete or faulty products are conveyed to suitable collecting means, in correspon- dence with the station 23.

The described machine allows to set the so called minidisks inside the relative casings in the best possible way.

In particular, the arrangement of different feeding and unloading lines is improved so that the responsible staff has a good visibility and easy access to the different working areas, therefore checking and maintenance operation on the same machine are facilitated. _' In particular, this is obtained by adopting the holding means 36 equipped not only with recesses 37, 38 for the base member and the cover member of the casings 100, but also with a recess 39 specially aimed at housing the disks 105. Therefore, the line 40 for feeding the disks 105 can be arranged near to the feeding line 30 of the casings 100, in this case right downstream of the loading, checking and separating stations.

In this way, a large area delimited by the above mentioned feeding lines and unloading lines is made accessible.

In fact, the disks 105 remain housed in the respective recesses 39 of the carousel 32 until they are transferred onto the corresponding base members 101, in the station 12.

Different units for handling the parts are supported by the central platform 34, around which the ring 33 of the carousel 32 turns, and this improves the arrangement of the machine members. It is understood that what above has been described as a mere example, not limitative, there¬ fore possible constructive variants are protected by this technical solution, as described above and claimed hereinafter.