1. A method for screwing caps onto receptacles with a device comprising a rotary spindle having a first end provided with a cap gripper head and a second end connected to a two-portion clutch member, one of which portions is constrained to rotate with the second end of the rotary spindle, and the other of which portions is constrained to rotate with a drive shaft on the same axis as the spindle and associated with a drive member, the portions of the clutch member comprising a magnetic bell and a magnetic core which have dimensions suitable for enabling it to be engaged in the bell, and are associated with a displacement member for displacing the bell and the core relative to each other between a position in which the core is engaged in the bell and a position in which the core is disengaged from the bell, the method comprising the steps of:
gripping a cap when the core is disengaged from the bell,
driving the spindle in rotation by engaging the core in the bell,
screwing the gripped cap on a neck of one of the receptacles,
tightening the gripped cap on the neck with the core engaged in the bell to a depth corresponding to a desired tightening torque.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the core is disengaged from the bell in such a way that the spindle freely rotates during the screwing of the cap onto the neck.
3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the core is engaged to a small extent in the bell during the screwing of the cap onto the neck to transmit some minimal level torque.
4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the core is mounted to slide on the second end of the spindle.
5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the spindle is mounted on a rotary platform secured to a structure having a cam secured thereto that co-operates with a wheel mounted on a slider support of the core so as to form the core displacement member.
6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the device includes means for adjusting the height of the cam relative to the structure.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A time slot interchange switch, comprising:
a data memory that receives and stores at least one stream of channel data;
a cache memory that receives the at least one stream of channel data; and
a microprocessor interface coupled to read data from the cache memory.
2. A method of reading data from a time slot interchange switch to a microprocessor, comprising:
writing channel data to a cache memory in addition to a data memory; and
providing data from the cache memory in response to requests from a microprocessor interface.