FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 of 1970)
As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2006
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See section 10 and rule 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
An automated system for online cooling, testing and packing incandescent lamps
APPLICANTS
Crompton Greaves Limited, CG House, Dr Annie Besant Road, Prabhadevi,
Mumbai 400030, Maharashtra, India, an Indian Company
INVENTOR
Gajjar Pinkalkumar Kishorlal, Crompton Greaves Limited, L2, BLW, Lighting Division, Vadodara, Gujarat, India, an Indian national
PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The foilowing specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in
which it is to be performed:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an automated system for online cooling, testing and packing incandescent lamps.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Manufacture of incandescent lamps or general light source (GLS) includes the steps of capping the lamps, cooling the lamps, quality testing the lamps and packing the good lamps that pass through the quality test. Capping is carried out in a capping machine. During capping, a metal cap, usually aluminium cap, with holder pins and applied with a thermosetting binder like cement at the inner surface of the cap is fitted onto the lamp at the bottom thereof by baking. The capped lamps are loaded into trolleys and taken to the shop floor to allow the lamps to cool down to ambient temperature on the trolleys. The cooled lamps are taken to a quality testing machine for testing on the trolleys. The lamps that pass through the quality test are again taken for packing on trolleys. Packing of good lamps is carried out in a packing machine. The rejected lamps are scraped. Transportation of the lamps from the capping machine to the shop floor for cooling and from the shop floor to the testing machine and from the testing machine to the packing machine are all carried out manually. Therefore, the cooling, testing and packing operations are all time consuming thereby reducing productivity and increasing cost of production. Because of the manual transportation of the lamps, manpower requirement is high thereby further increasing cost and causing operator fatigue. Further it requires a large number of trolleys for transportation and cooling and a large shop floor area. As a result of this also, cost of production is increased. The temperature zones in the shop floor differ because of which uneven cooling of the lamps also takes place.


OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide an automated system for online cooling, testing and packing incandescent lamps, which system reduces the time period for carrying out the operations of cooling, testing and packing the lamps and increases productivity and reduces cost.
Another object of the invention is to provide an automated system for online cooling, testing and packing incandescent lamps, which system does not require trolleys for carrying the lamps from the capping machine to cooling and to the testing machine and from the testing machine to the packing machine and also does not require shop floor for cooling the lamps.
Another object of the invention is to provide an automated system for online cooling, testing and packing incandescent lamps, which system does not require manpower for transporting the lamps from the capping machine to cooling and to the testing machine and from the testing machine to the packing machine and reduces operator fatigue.
Another object of the invention is to provide an automated system for online cooling, testing and packing incandescent lamps, which system ensures uniform cooling of the lamps.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention there is provided an automated system for online cooling,
testing and packing incandescent lamps, the system comprising a lamp cooling

conveyor mechanism disposed between a capping machine and a quality testing machine and comprising a plurality of endless conveyors arranged one below the other spacedly in series in the vertical plane and movable in the forward and reverse directions, a loading conveyor disposed between one end of the conveyor mechanism and the capping machine vertically inclined and comprising a feed end disposed in the proximity of the capping machine adapted to receive capped lamps from the capping machine and a discharge end disposed in the proximity of the top end of the conveyor mechanism adapted to deliver capped lamps to the top most conveyor and an unloading conveyor disposed between the testing machine and the other end of the conveyor mechanism vertically inclined and comprising a feed receiving end disposed in the proximity of the lowermost conveyor of the conveyor mechanism adapted to receive cooled lamps from the conveyor mechanism and a cooled lamp discharging end disposed in the proximity of the quality testing machine adapted to deliver cooled lamps to the quality testing machine and a good lamp carrying conveyor disposed between the quality testing machine and a packing machine with its one end disposed in the proximity of the quality testing machine adapted to receive good lamps from the quality testing machine and the other end disposed in the proximity of the packing machine adapted to deliver good lamps to the packing machine.
The following is a detailed description of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figs 1 and 2 are schematic elevation and top view of an automated system for online cooling, testing and packing incandescent lamps according to an embodiment of the invention.

The automated system 1 as illustrated in Figs 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings comprises a lamp cooling conveyor mechanism 2 disposed between a capping machine 3 and a testing machine 4. The conveyor mechanism comprises a plurality of endless rope and pulley conveyors 5 (pulleys marked 6) arranged one below the other spacedly in series in the vertical plane and movable in the forward and reverse directions. 7 is a rope and pulley loading conveyor disposed between one end of the conveyor mechanism and the capping machine vertically inclined and having a feed end 8 disposed in the proximity of the capping machine adapted to receive capped lamps being discharged from the capping machine. The loading conveyor also has a discharge end 9 disposed in the proximity of the top most conveyor of the conveyor mechanism adapted to load the capped lamps onto the top most conveyor of the conveyor mechanism. 10 is a rope and pulley unloading conveyor disposed between the testing machine and the other end of the conveyor mechanism vertically inclined and having a feed receiving end 11 disposed in the proximity of the lowermost conveyor of the conveyor mechanism adapted to receive cooled lamps from the conveyor mechanism. The unloading conveyor also has a cooled lamp discharging end 12 disposed in the proximity of the testing machine adapted to delivery cooled lamps to the testing machine. 13 is a lamp carrying rope and pulley conveyor disposed between the testing machine and a packing machine 14. One end 15 of the conveyor 13 is disposed in the proximity of the testing machine adapted to receive good lamps from the testing machine and the other end 16 of the conveyor is disposed in the proximity of the packing machine adapted to deliver quality lamps to the packing machine. Capped lamps from the capping machine are carried to the lamp cooling conveyor mechanism via the loading conveyor. The capped lamps being fed onto the lamp cooling conveyor mechanism travel on the various conveyors of the

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conveyor mechanism in the forward and reverse directions continuously from the top most conveyor to the lowermost conveyor until they are delivered onto the unloading conveyor. The number of conveyors of the conveyor mechanism and the speed of the conveyors of the conveyor mechanism are selected such that the travel time for the capped lamps on the conveyor mechanism is sufficient for the lamps to cool down to the ambient temperature. The cooled lamps are delivered to the testing machine by the unloading conveyor. Quality lamps are taken to the packaging machine by the lamp carrying conveyor for packing. Rejected lamps are scraped. As the capped lamps are taken to the testing machine on the conveyor mechanism and get cooled on the conveyor mechanism and good lamps from the testing machine are carried to the packaging machine on conveyor, production time is considerably reduced and productivity is increased. Trolleys for carrying the lamps and shop floor for cooling the lamps have been eliminated. Manpower requirement is practically eliminated and operator fatigue has been eliminated. Cost of production is reduced because of all this. Further the lamps being cooled travel in the same location one below the other in opposite directions. Therefore the lamps being cooled are not exposed to uneven temperature zones and the cooling is uniform.
Instead of rope and pulley conveyors, the lamp cooling conveyor mechanism, the loading conveyor, unloading conveyor and lamp carrying conveyor also can be of other conveyor configuration and construction. Such variations of the invention are obvious to those skilled in the art and the scope of the invention should be construed and understood to include such variations.

We claim
1. An automated system for online cooling, testing and packing incandescent lamps, the system comprising a lamp cooling conveyor mechanism disposed between a capping machine and a quality testing machine and comprising a plurality of endless conveyors arranged one below the other spacedly in series in the vertical plane and movable in the forward and reverse directions, a loading conveyor disposed between one end of the conveyor mechanism and the capping machine vertically inclined and comprising a feed end disposed in the proximity of the capping machine adapted to receive capped lamps from the capping machine and a discharge end disposed in the proximity of the top end of the conveyor mechanism adapted to deliver capped lamps to the top most conveyor and an unloading conveyor disposed between the testing machine and the other end of the conveyor mechanism vertically inclined and comprising a feed receiving end disposed in the proximity of the lowermost conveyor of the conveyor mechanism adapted to receive cooled lamps from the conveyor mechanism and a cooled lamp discharging end disposed in the proximity of the quality testing machine adapted to deliver cooled lamps to the quality testing machine and a good lamp carrying conveyor disposed between the quality testing machine and a packing machine with its one end disposed in the proximity of the quality testing machine adapted to receive good lamps from the quality testing machine and the other end disposed in the proximity of the packing machine adapted to deliver good lamps to the packing machine.

2. The automatic system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conveyor mechanism comprises a plurality of endless rope and pulley conveyors and the loading conveyor, unloading conveyor and lamp carrying conveyor each is a rope and pulley conveyor.