Apparatus for introducing rolled steel into the entrance of a processing machine such as a cold shear or straightening machine including a roller path for carrying the steel sections at a speed of transport in a direction of transport toward one of the shear and straightening machine. The apparatus comprising: a carriage arranged above the roller path and comprising a drive for moving the carriage along the direction of transport at a speed; structure connected to the carriage for holding down the steel sections; and a holding device comprising a lift magnet mounted on the carriage and being displaceable with respect to the holding device along a predetermined path parallel to the direction of transport of the carriage, the lift magnet comprising structure for measuring the path of movement of the magnet along the path and for generating and transmitting a signal to the carriage drive as a function of the measured path for adapting the speed of movement of the carriage to the speed of transport of the steel sections.

An article transfer apparatus (10) is provided for transferring articles (16) from a predetermined first position to a varying second position and discharging the articles (16) at the second position. Difficulty is often encountered in controlling the drop height of articles (16) delivered by a conveyor (18) for random placement at varying levels in a container (12). It is desirable to minimize the drop height to prevent damage to the article (16). A carriage (36) on the article transfer apparatus (10) is controllably operated to controllably discharge articles (16) at a preselected distance above either the bottom of the container (12) or articles (16) predisposed within the container (12). The invention is particularly useful for transferring finished metal piston pins (16) from a conveyor (18) to a tote box (12).

A device for accurately positioning and orienting a kinescope at a preselected position includes a horizontally moveable but vertically fixed carriage which transports the envelope from a first loading position to a preselected position. A second carriage, which is vertically moveable and horizontally fixed, is centered at the preselected position. The second carriage normally is beneath the horizontally moveable carriage and is raised to lift the envelope from the horizontally moveable carriage. Neck centering members are coupled to the vertically moveable carriage and are boomerang shaped to include oppositely facing internally curved surfaces. The curved surfaces urge the neck of the envelope toward the preselected position irrespective of the tilt of the neck and assure that the neck is centered at the preselected position and that the longitudinal axis of the envelope is parallel to the vertical axis. Simultaneously rotatable bumpers are rotated to engage the sides of the envelope to assure that the horizontal and vertical axes of the envelope are parallel to the transverse and longitudinal axis of the device.

A hopper for providing moulding sand having an opened top and a bottom member having through holes for discharging the sand is positioned spaced apart at a suitable distance horizontally from a cover member connected to a suitable source for generating gas for hardening the moulding sand. A pattern plate provided with vacuum evacuating means is disposed to be selectively connected to either one of the hopper and the cover member for discharging and filling the moulding sands into a flask placed on a pattern plate and for introducing hardening gas and allowing said gas to penetrate and permeate through the layer of sand filled in the flask to harden the filled sand, respectively. By using vacuum evacuation of a hollow chamber in the pattern plate instead of pressurized air and hardening gas under pressure, the entire moulding apparatus can be rendered lighter in construction and smaller in size, while any leakage of poisonous hardening gas can be completely prevented from occurring.

An automatic press line is disclosed which has a series of presses with a conveyor for transporting a succession of workpieces from one press to the next, and loading/unloading devices mounted one to each end of each press for loading and unloading the workpieces into and from the press line and for the transfer of the workpieces from press to press via the conveyor. Each loading/unloading device has a carriage to be controllably moved up and down on a support frame. The carriage carries a parallelogram linkage comprising a top link mounted to the carriage for up and down motion relative to the same, a pair of side links extending in a vertical plane, and a bottom link to which there is affixed a work carrier having suction cups. Extending between the carriage and one of the side links, a drive lever is swung back and forth to cause the parallelogram linkage to reciprocate the work carrier in a horizontal direction. The horizontal motion of the bottom link of the parallelogram linkage combines with the up and down motion of the carriage to enable the work carrier to move the successive workpieces into or out of the press. The support frame may be moved transversely of the press line for a change of press dies.