This application claims the benefit of Taiwan application Serial No. 102223381, filed Dec. 11, 2013, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a screwing accessory device, and more particularly to a screwing accessory device having a receiving box for screwed components.
Description of the Related Art
It is usual to screw a screwed component to a workpiece. However, when a size of the screwed component is smaller than a finger, the screwed component is easy to drop, and thus a screwing efficiency is reduced. For this reason, how to make the screwing process more efficient is one goal for an industry in this technology field.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a screwing accessory device capable of increasing screwing efficiency.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a screwing accessory device is provided. The screwing accessory device comprises a receiving box, a rack and a pushing component. The receiving box is for receiving the screwed component. The rack is connected to the receiving box. The pushing component is disposed within the receiving box and is used for pushing the screwed component.
The above and other aspects of the invention will become better understood with regard to the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiment(s). The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIGS. 1A to 1E illustrate an operation process of a screwing accessory device according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the receiving box of FIG. 1A along a direction 2-2′;
FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the receiving box of FIG. 1A along a direction 3-3′;
FIG. 4 illustrates a decomposed view of the rack of FIG. 1A;
FIG. 5 illustrates a local front view of the screwing accessory device of FIG. 1A; and
FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a pushing component and a receiving box according to another embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to FIGS. 1A to 1E, an operation process of a screwing accessory device according to an embodiment of the invention is illustrated.
As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the screwing accessory device 100 comprises a receiving box 110, a pushing component 120 and the rack 130.
The receiving box 110 has a receiving space 110a to receive several screwed components 140. Accordingly, a problem of the screwed components 140 disorderly straggling down the ground or the top of the table and a problem of the screwed components 140 being easy to drop to the ground may be prevented. The screwing tool 150 is screwdriver, for example. The screwing tool 150 may be operated by hand to capture the screwed components 140. In detail, the rack 130 may be held by one hand, and the screwing tool 150 may be operated by another hand. In another embodiment, the screwing tool 150 may be operated by automatic equipment (such as robotic arm). In the present embodiment, an end 151 of the screwing tool 150 may be magnetized and the screwed component 140 may be formed by a material including a magnetic material, such as metal; accordingly, the screwed components 140 can be absorbed by the end 151 of the screwing tool 150 through a magnetic force.
As illustrated in FIG. 1B, since the receiving box 110 is slidably connected to the rack 130, the receiving box 110 may move toward a direction D11 away from the screwing tool 150 to vacate a feeding space after the screwing tool 150 captures the screwed component 140; accordingly, the receiving box 110 may be prevented from blocking the screwing tool 150 moving along a screwing direction D21 (illustrated in FIG. 1C)
As illustrated in FIG. 1C, since the receiving box 110 vacates the feeding space for the screwing tool 150, the screwing tool 150 may move along the feeding direction D21 form screwing the captured screwed component 140 to a workpiece (not illustrated).
As illustrated in FIG. 1D, after the screwing tool 150 screws the screwed component 140 to the workpiece (not illustrated), the screwing tool 150 moves to above the receiving box 110 toward a reverse direction D22 of the screwing direction D21. After the screwing tool 150 moves to above the receiving box 110, the receiving box 110 moves toward a direction D12 approaching the screwing tool 150 to drive the screwed components 140 within the receiving box 110 to approach the screwing tool 150. Since the screwed component 140 under the screwing tool 150 is captured during preceding step (illustrated in FIG. 1A), a region under the screwing tool 150 is blank state, that is, there is no screwed component 140 in the region.
As illustrated in FIG. 1E, the pushing component 120 pushes the screwed components 140 within the receiving box 110 toward the direction D12 approaching the receiving box 110, such that the screwed component 140 most close to the screwing tool 150 may move to under the screwing tool 150 for being captured by the screwing tool 150. The following operations may repeat the steps illustrated in FIGS. 1A to 1E, and the similarity is not repeated. When the screwed components 140 within the receiving box 110 run out, the receiving box 110 without the screwed components 140 may be detached from the rack 130, and then another receiving box 110 filled up with screwed components 140 may be installed in the rack 130 for continuing screwing.
As described above, since the design of the screwing accessory device 100, the screwed components 140 may be efficiently managed, and the problem of the screwed components 140 disorderly straggling down the ground or the top of the table and the problem of the screwed components 140 being easy to drop to the ground can be resolved or be improved. In addition, the screwing efficiency may be increased due to the relative motions of the receiving box 110, the pushing component 120 and the rack 130. The structure of the screwing accessory device 100 is described below.
Referring to FIG. 2, a cross-sectional view of the receiving box of FIG. 1A along a direction 2-2′ is illustrated. The screwed component 140 comprises a capturing portion 141 and a screwed portion 142. The capturing portion 141 has a recess 141a, such as a flat-headed recess, a cross-shaped recess, a tetragonal recess, a hexagonal recess or other structure conducive to the screwed components 140 being captured. The end of the screwing tool 150 has a structure corresponding to the recess 141a for entering the recess 141a to capture and rotate the screwed component 140. The screwed portion 142 has a male thread for being screwed to the workpiece (not illustrated). In detail, the screwed component 140 may be various screws or bolts.
The receiving space 110a of the receiving box 110 comprises a first position limiting groove 110a1 and a second position limiting groove 110a2. The capturing portion 141 and the screwed portion 142 of the screwed component 140 are located within the first position limiting groove 110a1 and the second position limiting groove 110a2 respectively. The first position limiting groove 110a1 is closer to the screwing tool 150 than the second position limiting groove 110a2 is; accordingly, the capturing portion 141 of the screwed component 140 within the receiving box 110 may face the screwing tool 150 for being captured by the screwing tool 150.
Referring to FIG. 3, a cross-sectional view of the receiving box of FIG. 1A along a direction 3-3′ is illustrated. The pushing component 120 comprises a pushing portion 121. The pushing portion 121 is slidably disposed within the first position limiting groove 110a1 for pushing the capturing portion 141 (illustrated in FIG. 2) of the screwed component 140 to move. The receiving box 110 further has a sliding groove 110b, and the rack 130 has a sliding rail 131. The sliding rail 131 of the rack 130 is slidably disposed within the sliding groove 110b of the receiving box 110 for sliding with respective to the sliding groove 110b. In the present embodiment, the sliding groove 110b is a T-shaped groove, and the sliding rail 131 is a T-shaped rail. Through the design of T-shape, the sliding rail 131 not only may slide with respect to the sliding groove 110b, but also may be prevented from being detached from the sliding groove 110b along a direction D3 substantially perpendicular to the direction D11 (illustrated in FIG. 1B) and the screwing direction D21 (illustrated in FIG. 1C).
Referring to FIG. 4, a decomposed view of the rack of FIG. 1A is illustrated. The rack 130 comprises a connecting frame 132 and a ring 133. The connecting frame 132 comprises the sliding rail 131, an elastic clamp pair 1321 and an engaging component 1322, wherein the sliding rail 131 is fixedly disposed the elastic clamp pair 1321. The elastic clamp pair 1321 comprises a first elastic clamp 1323 and a second elastic clamp 1324 connecting to the first elastic clamp 1323. An end 1325 of the first elastic clamp 1323 and an end 1326 of the second elastic clamp 1324 are engaged with two ends of a piercing hole 1322a of the engaging component 1322; accordingly, the elastic clamp pair 1321 may be prevented from being easily detached from the engaging component 1322. Since the first elastic clamp 1323 and the second elastic clamp 1324 both have flexibility, the elastic clamp pair 1321 may be detached from the piercing hole 1322a of the engaging component 1322 by an applying force. The engaging component 1322 comprises an engaging portion 1327 and a stopper 1328 connecting to the engaging portion 1327. The above piercing hole 1322a pierces the engaging portion 1327.
The ring 133 has a plurality of engaging through holes 133a. After the engaging component 1322 is engaged with one of the engaging through holes 133a, the stopper 1328 of the engaging component 1322 and the elastic clamp pair 1321 are located in an inner side of the ring 133 and an outer side of the ring 133 respectively. Since an outer diameter of the stopper 1328 is larger than an inner diameter of the engaging through hole 133a, the connecting frame 132 may be prevented from being easily detached from the ring 133. In addition, several engaging through holes 133a are located at different heights, and the engaging component 1322 of the connecting frame 132 may be engaged with anyone of the engaging through holes 133a for adjusting a relative position of the connecting frame 132 and the ring 133. Further, since the engaging through holes 133a are located at different heights, a relative height of the connecting frame 132 and the ring 133 may be adjusted with accordance to a feeding stroke of the screwing tool 150 or a length of the screwing tool 150. In another embodiment, several engaging components 1322 may be fixedly disposed on the engaging through holes 133a to become a portion of the ring 133; under such design, the relative height of the connecting frame 132 and the ring 133 may be adjusted through the elastic clamp pair 1321 being detached from or assembling in the engaging component 1322 fixedly disposed on the ring 133.
The ring 133 may hitch the screwing tool 150 for preventing from the screwing tool 150 easily dropping. In detail, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the ring 133 has an inner diameter H1, and the screwing tool 150 (illustrated in FIG. 1A) has a smaller outer diameter H2 and a larger outer diameter H3. The inner diameter H1 of the ring 133 ranges between the smaller outer diameter H2 and the larger outer diameter H3 of the screwing tool 150. Accordingly, even if the screwing tool 150 is released, the screwing tool 150 is prevented from dropping to the ground or being detached from the ring 133 due to the larger outer diameter H3 of the screwing tool 150 being larger than the diameter H1 of the ring 133. In addition, the screwing tool 150 may move up and down with respect to the ring 133 due to the smaller outer diameter H2 of the screwing tool 150 being smaller than the diameter H1 of the ring 133.
Referring to FIG. 5, a local front view of the screwing accessory device of FIG. 1A is illustrated. The rack 130 further comprises a stopper 134. The stopper 134 is protrudently disposed on the sliding rail 131 (as illustrated in FIG. 4) for restricting the motion range of the receiving box 110. In detail, when the receiving box 110 moves toward the direction D12, the receiving box 110 may be prevented from being easily pushed out of the sliding rail 131 (as illustrated in FIG. 4) due to the blocking by the stopper 134. In addition, through the design of the stopper 134, during the receiving box 110 being pushed toward the direction D12 (as illustrated in FIG. 1D), the receiving box 110 may be pushed to be blocked by the stopper 134 regardless of consideration for the moving distance of the receiving box 110; accordingly, a required operating time may be reduced and a screwing efficiency may be increased. In addition, during the pushing component 120 pushing the screwed components 140 toward the direction D12, the screwed components 140 may be prevented from being pushed out of the receiving box 110 toward the direction D12 due to the screwed components 140 being blocked by stopper 134.
In addition, since the screwed components 140 within the receiving box 110 are located between the pushing component 120 and the stopper 134, the screwed component 140 may be prevented from being detached from the receiving box 110. In detail, the screwed component 140 may be prevented from being detached from the receiving box 110 toward the direction D11 due to the blocking by the pushing component 120, and the screwed component 140 may be prevented from being detached from the receiving box 110 toward the direction D12 due to the blocking by the pushing component 120.
Referring to FIG. 6, a cross-sectional view of a pushing component and a receiving box according to another embodiment of the invention is illustrated. The screwing accessory device of the present embodiment comprises the receiving box 110, a pushing component 220 and the rack 130. The pushing component 220 is different from the pushing component 120 described above in that the pushing component 220 further comprise an elastic clamp pair 221. The elastic clamp pair 221 press on two opposite sidewalls 110s of the receiving space 110a, such that the pushing component 220 is not easy to be detached from the receiving box 110; accordingly, the screwed components 140 (not illustrated) within the receiving space 110a is not easy to be detached from the receiving box 110 due to blocking by the pushing component 220.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment(s), it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.
Patent Grant
9827653
