초록 ▼

A carriage mechanism operable with a picker assembly mounted at the face of a bin structure having discrete bin locations within that structure for storing cassettes, the picker assembly moveable along the face of the bin structure and between bin locations, the carriage mechanism operable to extrac

A carriage mechanism operable with a picker assembly mounted at the face of a bin structure having discrete bin locations within that structure for storing cassettes, the picker assembly moveable along the face of the bin structure and between bin locations, the carriage mechanism operable to extract a cassette from a first bin location, and load it into a cassette-receiving envelope of the carriage mechanism at a selected stored position of the envelope for transport to a second bin location remote from the first location. A bumper element mounted on the carriage mechanism at a fixed reference point is provided to move cassettes out of interferring relation with the carriage mechanism, by sweeping all X-Y coordinates of the face of the bin structure with the picker assembly to displace misaligned cassettes.

대표청구항 ▼

In a bin structure having discrete bin locations for storing individual cassettes, a carriage mechanism displaced from the bin structure for linear transport of a cassette with respect to the bin structure comprising: a cassette envelope for receiving a cassette, said envelope defined by a plurality

In a bin structure having discrete bin locations for storing individual cassettes, a carriage mechanism displaced from the bin structure for linear transport of a cassette with respect to the bin structure comprising: a cassette envelope for receiving a cassette, said envelope defined by a plurality of support rails for supporting the cassette in the envelope, said rails movable relative to each other to bias the cassette to an optimum holding position within the envelope, said holding position defined by orthogonal coordinates along respective coordinate axes with at least one first moveable support rail and at least one second movable support rail operative to bias the cassette along respective first and second coordinate axes of the envelope toward the optimum holding position for the cassette within the envelope, thereby to minimize movement of the cassette during transport by the carriage mechanism, as well as to minimize mis-insertion of the cassette into and out of the envelope; an extracting mechanism for extracting the cassette from a first bin location and out of the bin structure and drawing it into the envelope; and positioning apparatus for positioning the cassette with respect to a third axis of the envelope, and at the optimum holding position for the cassette within the envelope, and the cassette extracting mechanism cooperating with the support rails and the positioning apparatus to assure delivery of the cassette to the optimum holding position within the cassette receiving envelope, such position stabilizing the carriage mechanism for movement in the loaded position and preventing obstructive engagement of the cassette with the bin structure as the carriage mechanism moves the cassette from one bin location to another in the bin structure.