The invention relates to a feeding device comprising a housing with a feeding outlet as well as feeding means arranged therebetween for guided feeding of objects, parti¬ cularly conical, cylindrical or spherical rollers £ r roller bearings, one after the other to the feeding outlet.

A previously known feeding device of this kind com¬ prises feeding means i ^* n the form of two opposed, rotating friction discs between which the objects are fed while be¬ ing frictionally engaged by the rotating discs. However, this known device has a substantial disadvantage in that a desired frictional engagement cannot always be maintained for a long period of operation, and the feeding may be dis¬ turbed with consequent drawbacks such as the need for adjust¬ ment of the friction discs and interruptions in the opera- tion line.

To eliminate these problems, the feeding device ac¬ cording to the invention (compare the appended claim 1) uses as feeding means an endless belt provided with con¬ veying means, e.g. a toothed belt,arranged to embrace, with the side provided with said conveying means, a re-direct¬ ing guiding member provided with a guiding groove for the objects or rollers, respectively, said guiding member com¬ municating with the feeding inlet, on the one hand, and with the feeding outlet, on "the other hand, wherein the conveying means are dimensioned to engage with an edge on each object when the latter is obliquely positioned while

changing its direction in the guiding groove.

Suitable embodiments and additional advantageous features will appear from the sub-claims and the detailed description below, in which the invention is described more fully with reference to the drawing.

Fig. 1 shows a central vertical section through a feeding device according to the invention; and

Fig. 2 shows a horisontal section taken along line II-II in Fig. 1. The feeding device shown in Fig.l consists of a sub¬ stantially plate-formed housing 1, which e.g. is divided in parallel to the plane of the drawing, in one base part (the one illustrated in Fig. 1) and a lid part (not shown) . The housing 1 has a vertical inlet channel 3, which is connect- able to an inlet tube 2 and an outlet channel 5 parallel to the inlet channel 3 and connectable to an outlet tube 4. Both channels 3,5 communicate with a central chamber 6 in the housing, and in this chamber there is an endless toothed belt 7 serving as a feeding means and arranged to constant- ly run around two upper end wheels, viz. a drive wheel 8 and a freely rotatable idler wheel 9. The upper, inner por¬ tion 7' of the toothed belt runs around a central re-direc¬ ting and guiding wheel 10 located below the wheels 8,9, whereas its lower, outer portion 7" runs around an arcuate belt backing member 11, which at one end is pivotably mount¬ ed at a pivot 12 and at the other end is loaded by a com¬ pression spring 13, so that the backing member 11 exerts a stretching pressure on the lower portion 7" of the toothed belt. The toothed belt 7 comprises cogs or teeth on both sides, so as to provide a positive driving engagement with the teeth or cogs of the driving wheel 8. The toothed belt in its turn drives, by means of the outer cogs or teeth,the re-directing and guiding wheel 10, which is likewise provid- ed with teeth on its annular surface. This surface, however, is broken by a central, as seen in section (in a plane through the axis of the wheel 10, compare Fig. 2) substanti¬ ally V-shaped guiding groove 14 for the objects, in particu-

lar conical, cylindrical or spherical rollers, which are to be fed.

As is shown in Fig. 1 the inlet channel 3 is connect¬ ed to a U-shaped feeding passage, which on the outside is limited by the inner portion 7' of the toothed belt and on the inside is limited partly by a guiding member in the form of a substantially W-shaped, rather stiff wire 15, project¬ ing downwards almost to the bottom of the guiding groove 14 of the wheel 10 at the top side thereof,and partly by the temporary lower half of the guiding groove 14 of the wheel 10.

In the other transversal direction (i.e. in front of and behind the drawing plane) the channels 3,5 may be limit¬ ed by fixed walls or slightly spring loaded guiding rails or the like for adjustment to different dimensions of the objects to be fed. The wheel 10 can also be formed for such a dimensional adjustment, e.g. through adivision into two complementary wheel discs being parallel, spring-loaded and non-rotatable relative to one another but rotatable together and forming a guiding groove with a variable width.

If needed, one or more 'support blocks may be pro¬ vided as counter-pressure means for the upper, inner por¬ tion 7' of the toothed belt in the region of the U-shaped passage. Such a support block 16 is shown to the right in Fig. 1. Also, such a support block may resiliently support the toothed belt.

The feeding device operates as follows: A series of objects, in the illustrate example a series of conical rol¬ lers r for roller bearings oriented with their longitudinal axes in the feeding direction, enter via the inlet tube 2 and abut each other under the influence of gravity. The inlet tube 2 and the inlet channel 3 are so dimensioned that the relative order of the rollers is maintained. At the same le¬ vel as the guiding member 15, the rollers r_ enter into the guiding groove 14 of the wheel 10 and contact partly the side wall portions of the guiding groove, partly (on the outside) the toothed belt portion 7', as appears from Fig.2.

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During"the passage of the rollers in the guiding groove 14, the rollers are redirected and caused to tilt, as shown in Fig. 1 for the rollers r ¹ , r". These rollers push the roll located in the upward outlet channel 5 and the outlet tube 4 forwards, the pushed rollers being influenced by a reaction force backwards. However, this reaction force can be over¬ come in that the roller r" is tilted and enters with its rear, lower edge portion 17 into driving engagement with a cog or a tooth 18 of the portion of the toothed belt co- vering the guiding groove 14. At each moment, at least one roller will be in such an engagement with the toothed belt 7, whereby all the rollers in front thereof are fed under abutment one against the other at the same speed as the toothed belt. Hereby, a well-ordered, guided, reliable and even gentle feeding of the rollers is achieved.

The feeding device according to the invention may be used for different kinds of objects, although they must be provided with an edge portion or some other protruding por¬ tion engaging with the conveying means of the running belt when tilted during redirection. Further, the device may be installed in various places, wTiere objects are to be fed, e.g. from one operation or production station to another. Moreover and if desired, the objects can be treated with a fluid, particularly pre-washed,during the feeding pro- cess, wherein a fluid, in particular a cleaning liquid, is circulated through the central chamber in the housing.

Several modifications and detail changes are possible within the scope of the inventive idea as presented in the following claims (see especially claim 1) .

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