Claims
- 1. A method of moving a plurality of tool-holding carriages to respective predetermined positions along an elongate guide member comprising:
- (a) moving at least some of said carriages toward their respective predetermined positions simultaneously in opposite directions along said guide members be engaging said carriages with the common drive member;
- (b) positioning each of said carriages by
- (1) sensing when each carriage has reached its respective predetermined position, and
- (2) in response to each said sensing in step (b) (1), temporarily stopping said common drive member and disengaging a particular carriage, which has reached its respective predetermined position, from said common drive member and locking said particular carriage to said guide member; and
- (c) continuously maintaining the engagement of each respective carriage with said common drive member until the respective carriage has reached its respective predetermined position where it is locked to said guide member.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further including calculating the respective distances which said carriages must move in order to reach their respective predetermined positions, determining from said respective distances a sequence of said carriages corresponding to progressively larger ones of said respective distances, and positioning said carriages in step (b) one at a time serially in said sequence.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein step (b) includes sensing when each carriage has reached its respective predetermined position by sensing the incremental movement of said drive member independently of the carriages, and comparing said incremental movement to each of said respective distances.
Parent Case Info
This is a division of co-pending application Ser. No. 07/202,974 filed on Jun. 3, 1988.
US Referenced Citations (12)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
3426302C1 |
Feb 1986 |
DEX |
2072563 |
Oct 1981 |
GBX |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
202974 |
Jun 1988 |
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