This invention relates to manufacturing and/or assembly operations, and more particularly, to a material carousel having a support column and a hub rotatably attached to the support column wherein the hub includes a plurality of equally spaced arms each adapted to hold cable and/or harness assemblies or which include a bin for holding materials used for production operations.
Many manufacturing and assembly facilities are designed to provide lean manufacturing practices which minimize movement, material requirements, waste and optimize factory floor utilization in order to perform the same or additional tasks while saving costs. Such facilities include several work areas or cells where various manufacturing and/or assembly operations (i.e. production operations) are performed by operators. In order to provide lean manufacturing practices, many of the work cells are arranged in either a substantially “L” or “U” shaped configuration.
Manufacturing and assembly facilities frequently utilize workbenches for performing production operations. Referring to
Materials used in production operations, such as small parts or assemblies, are typically located in a rear portion 18 of the workbenches 10,12 away from first 20 and second 22 operators. Thus, accessibility to the materials (indicated by arrow 30) is difficult for either operator 20,22 due to the location of the small parts or assemblies on the workbenches 10,12. In addition, replenishment of material by material handlers directly on the rear portion 18 of each workbench 10,12 (indicated by arrow 32) results in a disruption of production operations.
Moreover, due to the orientation of the first 10 and second 12 workbenches, an empty space 24 is formed adjacent to first 26 and second 28 ends of the first 10 and second 12 workbenches, respectively. Due to its location, the space 24 cannot be used as part of production operations, thus resulting in unusable factory floor space. Further, the amount of unusable factory floor space is doubled if a configuration is used wherein three workbenches are arranged in a “U” shape thus forming two unusable spaces 24.
A material carousel for manufacturing and/or assembly operations is disclosed. The carousel includes a hub having a plurality of arms, wherein each arm is adapted to hold cable and/or harness assemblies or includes a bin for holding materials used for production operations. The carousel also includes a support column extending through the hub, wherein the hub is adapted to rotate about the support column. An adjustable support collar is also provided for supporting the hub on the support column. Further, the carousel includes a peg mechanism for stopping rotation of the hub after a predetermined rotation angle.
Before any embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted,” “connected,” “supported,” and “coupled” and variations thereof are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect mountings, connections, supports, and couplings. Further, “connected” and “coupled” are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings. In the description below, like reference numerals and labels are used to describe the same, similar or corresponding parts in the several views of
Referring to
The support column 36 and arms 42 may be fabricated from commercially available materials and configured as tubing or pipes although other shapes may also be used.
In one embodiment, first hub 40 includes eight flat bottom, 27.7 mm diameter side recesses 44 located at equal angles of 45 degrees relative to an adjacent recess 44 and centered on each side surface or side wall 46. The arms 42 may each have a diameter of approximately 28 mm to thus provide a press fit when inserted into a corresponding side recess 44. Referring back to
Referring back to
Alternatively, the support column 36 may have a plurality of transverse through holes through which a pin is inserted in order to removably attach each of the hubs 40,50 in a desired location on the support column 36. In still another embodiment, a hub having a dodecagonal shape may be used which includes twelve arms that extend from the hub. In addition, hubs having other polygonal shapes may be used. In each embodiment, the hub 40 or center member rotates about the support column 36 and is fabricated from a material having low friction characteristics sufficient to enable the hub 40 or center member to freely rotate about the support column while the center member is supported on the flange 53 of the support collar 52.
The carousel 34 may also include first 62 and second 63 mechanisms for independently stopping rotation of the first 40 and second 50 hubs, respectively. In one embodiment, the first 62 and second 63 mechanisms each include a plurality of thin resilient members or pegs 67 which extend downward from a stationary plate element 69 affixed to the support column 36. Upon rotation of a hub 40,50 by an operator, the arms 42 continually strike the pegs 67 which causes the pegs 67 to deflect. This slows down and ultimately stops rotation of the hub 40,50. Alternatively, the pegs 67 may be configured to be sufficiently stiff so as to stop rotation of the hub 40,50 after a predetermined angular rotation. By way of example, the pegs 67 are fabricated from a resilient material such as plastic. In alternative embodiments, the first 62 and second 63 mechanisms may be either a cam or a ratchet mechanism.
Referring to
Each bin 58 and arm 42 rotates about the support column 36 via the respective hubs 40. In order to obtain a desired part, an operator may push on a portion of the carousel 34, such as an arm 42 or a bin 58, to rotate the carousel 34 in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction so that a desired part is readily accessible to the operator. Referring to
Therefore, the current invention provides a freestanding, free rotating material carousel 34 which supports lean manufacturing practices while also optimizing factory floor utilization. Further, the carousel 34 is applicable across all material handling areas, and is scalable based on the particular material type.
While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, permutations and variations will become apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended that the present invention embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations.
This application is a divisional of and claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 13/369,681, filed Feb. 9, 2012 and entitled MATERIAL CAROUSEL, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20140231368 A1 | Aug 2014 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13369681 | Feb 2012 | US |
Child | 14260931 | US |