One such device consists of two paralle plates comprising two grooves, one on each plate and one opposite the other.
A component, whose leads must be positioned to line up with the said grooves, is placed on the ends--which are facing the same way--of the plates.
By making the component body slide inside the plates (e.g. by means of a pressure device), the leads are made to press against the plates; this causes the leads to bend in the same direction and to slide in their respective grooves; in the configuration thus obtained, the pitch of the leads is equal to the distance between the grooves.
This is certainly not an ideal solution as regards `centering` the component body in relation to the leads made parallel by the above-mentioned method.
In another known type of the said devices, the action of the pressure device is assisted by two tappet members in contact with the ends of the component body and moving in synchrony with the pressure device; in this technical solution, the component body is `centred` with respect to the leads, and at the same time the leads are bent and perfectly parallel.
Both of the above-mentioned devices have constant pitch, which undoubtedly causes difficulties for the following reasons.
To illustrate the above, it should be remembered that the pairs of bars between which the components--with the co-axially-situated leads--are integrally interposed, are arranged to lie parallel and must be capable of being reeled for transport. In order to bend the leads to the desired configuration the components must be detached from the bars and supplied by a suitable loader, for the above-mentioned reasons to a corresponding bending device designed to achieve the desired lead spacing; the constructional difficulties, space requirements and capital and maintenance costs are evident. In particular, if different pitches are required for the same component, there must be as many loaders as desired pitches, each loader being associated with a corresponding bending device. This is certainly not ideal in terms of space utilization since, as is known, the frequency of use of components which are the same but with different pitches is irregular, whereas it is naturally necessary for a `loader` whose pitch has the minimum frequency of use, to be connected to the device. In the case of components with bodies of different sizes but with the same pitch, it is necessary to use as many devices for `centering` as mentioned above, the body with respect to the leads orientated in parallel and in the same direction. These difficulties are heightened in the case where the leads are to be bent in accordance with either one of the above-mentioned configurations.
An object of this invention is to provide a device for bending the co-axially-situated leads of electric and/or electronic components which is made in such a way as to be universal, i.e. suitable for working both leads to bend them in the same direction, or one lead to bend it towards the other lead, with the possibility of achieving this in accordance with a range of pre-established pitches for a variety of dimensions of the bodies of the components.