AU732238B2 - Apparatus for bottle collection and palletization - Google Patents

Description

Aldridge Co Translation from Patent, Legal, Technical Translations Wellington, New Zealand German AB1 PCT/EP98/02399

DESCRIPTION

Apparatus for Bottle Collection and Palletization The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for collecting empty bottles, particularly plastic bottles, and for palletizing the bottles.

EP-O 659 664 Al shows such a collecting and palletizing apparatus for empty plastic bottles. It consists of a palletizer, a collecting-device connected upstream thereof, and a transportation device connected between them. The collecting device is connected to a bottle-conveyor, and serves to receive the bottles arriving in a single line from the bottle-conveyor and to form them into layers. The collecting device has a circulating jostling belt, onto which the bottles are pushed via a funnel-like widening of the bottle-conveyor, the bottles being "dammed up" and positioned in transverse rows with the spaces being closed up. By means of profiled pushers, the bottles on the jostling belt are pushed into ready intermediate layers at the palletizer, and are progressively stacked up in layers, by means of a lift, to form a pallet. This collecting and palletizing technique is suitable for heavy and stablestanding bottles. For light-weight plastic bottles, particularly PET bottles, it cannot be used with sufficient reliability. These types of bottles are difficult to handle, due to their low weight, electrostatic charging, and the high feeding speed of the bottle-conveyor.

A similar collecting and palletizing apparatus is described in WO 97/11898. The collecting device in this case has a sorting apparatus, connected to a two-armed bottle-conveyor and consisting of a circulating conveyor belt and a number of rigid receivers for the lines of bottles. The bottles, ?R2z\fed in at an angle by the bottle-conveyor, migrate AMENDED PAGE 2 gradually into the line-of-bottle receivers, and reach the end, forming layers of bottles in a pusher which pushes them off onto a conveyor belt, on which they go to a palletizer with a lifting platform.

Also known in practice is the transportation of PET bottles by means of hydraulic conveyors. These conveyors are very expensive to construct, require considerable room, and are costly. Furthermore, there are considerable hygiene problems.

10 EP-O 291 674 Al discloses a filling apparatus, in which bottles are cleaned, filled with syrup or ready-to-drink beverages, and then sealed with caps, and finally palletized. Before palletizing, the individual bottles are packed into normal bottle- ":carriers. These are either carton or plastic carriers. Thus packed, the filled bottles then transported to the palletizer. The bottles are not packed until then have gone through the filling apparatus. The bottles can be turned inside the filling •station.

*•go It is desirable to provide a method and apparatus for reliable handling of even these critical bottle-types. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, 0 0 0 20 there is provided a method of collecting and palletizing empty bottles, in which the empty bottles, fed in one after another in one or more queues from a bottle-making machine or by a bottle-conveyor, are received by at least one collecting device and later conveyed therefrom to a palletizer and palletized there, wherein the empty bottles fed to the collecting device are transferred therefrom to one or more intermediate-carriers, thus forming layers of bottles, and the intermediate-carrier with the bottles is then transported to the palletizer.

In another aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for collecting ROG:RB:40318507 8 February 2001 and palletizing empty bottles, with at least one palletizer and at least one collecting device for receiving empty bottles fed in one after another in one or more queues from a bottle-making machine or by a bottle-conveyor in which a transport-device is arranged between the palletizer and the collecting device wherein the collecting device has at least one transferor and one or more intermediate-carriers, which can be transported by the transporting device, to take the bottles layer-wise.

Transferring the bottles onto a transportable intermediate-carrier provides higher reliability relative to the state of the art and makes possible a multitude of operational variants. This applies above all to the possibility of increasing the plant-capacity, to storage-possibilities, and to various internal and external carrier :"..circuits. In this regard, it is particularly advantageous that the intermediate-carrier i: can be stationary during the transfer operation, which enables high accuracy of depositing and positioning. The layer-forming on the intermediate-carrier permits pallet-appropriate order-picking of the bottles and a high pallet capacity.

ooooo For high apparatus-performance, it is a good idea to equip the collecting- *o* device with a number of intermediate-carriers and to move these to and fro, parallel oooo or in a circuit, between the transferor and the palletizer. The transferor will then 20 have no interruptions due to the transportation on the intermediate-carriers. In this regard it is also beneficial to arranged two or more layers of bottles, corresponding to the size of the pallet, on a transfer carrier. This further increases the performance capacity and, in addition, creates a buffer capacity in case of possible operational disruptions.

Preferably, by providing essentially continuous guidance of the bottles from when they are being received in lines from the bottle-conveyor till when they reach the palletizer, the invention ensures that the bottles always have a stable posture and also can be accurately positioned. The bottles can no longer fall over and can no longer cause operational disruptions. In particular, the apparatus according to the 8 February 2001 3 invention is able to receive bottles at a very high feed rate, transfer them in lines, arrange them in layers, and convey them on the intermediate-carrier to the palletizer.

The apparatus according to.the invention thus has a very high throughput capacity.

Of particular benefit is the fact that closing-up the lines of bottles, which are fed in with lateral spaces between them, can also be performed with a high degree of reliability. The closing-up of the lines of bottles is performed during transfer, in the gripping device, by means of laterally adjustable bottle-line grippers, and thus the resultant layer of bottles on the intermediate-carrier can be a compact layer suitable for ultimate palletizing. The apparatus according to the invention can also be adjusted 15 and changed-over to different bottle formats with relatively little cost.

During movement or transfer of the lines of bottles, intermediate storage or buffering can take place on a buffer-table or suchlike. It is also possible, however, to load the gripping device of the transferor directly at the bottle-conveyors or in the bottle producer, the bottles being pushed directly into the line-of-bottles gripper.

This makes it possible to transfer the bottles and form them into layers very rapidly.

Various forms of embodiment for the bottle guides are given in the dependent claims. In the receiver for the lines of bottles, silde-rail-type adjustable-width bottle-guides provide optimal lateral guidance; in addition, movable, controllably-driven stops can be provided in the receivers, to provide axial guidance, so that the transferred bottles cannot fall over in any direction. These stops can be suitably offset, to shift the lines of bottles axially, relative to one another, in such a way that they are arranged in offset lines staggered relative to one another, Aldridge Co 4 Patent, Legal, Technical Translations Wellington, New Zealand and can be packed in the layer of bottles with maximum density.

The preferred form of embodiment of the bottle guidance on the intermediate-carrier makes it possible to close the bottles up against one another, while nevertheless providing lateral guidance. This guidance also facilitates the insertion of the lines of bottles into the intermediate-carrier and the reception of the layer of bottles at the palletizer.

The arrangement of a collecting device in the immediate vicinity of a bottle-making machine makes it possible to save on large, expensive-to-build pneumatic conveyors which take up a lot of space, and to manage with short outputconveyors. The bottles produced are thereby very quickly received, transferred, and set down on one or more movable intermediate-carriers, ready for further handling.

Preferably, for each bottle-making machine, there is one collecting device, whose capacity is adapted to the rate of bottle production. For plants of greater capacity with a number of bottle-making machines or blowing devices, a corresponding number of collecting devices are provided. In the embodiment of the invention, the tendency to errors and stoppages during the direct loading of the intermediatecarrier at the bottle-making machine is very largely minimized. This increases the operational reliability of the entire installation. The question of capacity can be solved by connecting the collecting devices to a common transport-device and, in particular, by arranging an interim store for the empty and/or laden intermediatecarriers. This makes it possible, in particular, to have a central palletizer for the entire installation and to further reduce the risk of stoppages. The interim storage serves, on the one hand, to even out the different throughputs of the bottle-making machines and the central ,letizer, and can, on the other hand, serve as a buffer Aldridge Co Patent Legal, Technical Translations Wellington, New Zealand in cases of stoppage or disturbance of individual components of the installation. Above all, however, the bottle-making machine is decoupled from any disturbing influences from the region of the palletizer or conveyor system.

The collecting and palletizing apparatus according to the invention can be enlarged into larger bottle-handling installations, with the individual devices overlapping and complementing one another, and with the number and allocation of the individual components, collecting devices and palletizers, also being suitably adapted to one another.

Despite its high reliability, the collecting and palletizing apparatus according to the invention requires only relatively low levels of expenditure on construction and on control-technology. Also, it requires little space, and can be expanded as desired, in the above-mentioned manner. It can also be retrofitted to existing plants. The collecting and palletizing apparatus according to the invention is not confined to particular bottle-materials or bottle-formats, but can be used for any bottles.

Furthermore, it requires no specially trained operating staff.

In the preferred embodiment, the intermediate-carriers circulate within the bottle handling system and serve to transport the empty bottles, layer-wise, between the bottle-making machine and the palletizer. In addition, however, the intermediate-carriers can also circulate in a large circuit, by serving as a pallet-component and, together with the empty bottles, going first to the filling apparatus and from there possibly proceeding, via market channels, to the customer. From there they may also be returned to the bottle-handling system. This form of intermediate-carrier with preferably-permanent bottle-

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9 uidance throughout the entire circuit, facilitates the various bottle-handling operations and reduces the outlay of effort and money on construction and machinery as regards the bottle-making machine, the filler, and the logistics.

The invention is diagrammatically represented, by way of example, in the drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows a bottle-handling system with a number of collecting and palletizing apparatuses, in a plant diagram; Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a collecting and palletizing apparatus according to Fig. l; Fig. 3 shows a variant of the bottle-handling system of Figs.1 and 2, with a collecting and palletizing apparatus next to a blowing machine, in a plant diagram; S-.Fig. 4 is a perspective drawing of the collecting device of a collecting and palletizing apparatus; Fig. 5 is a top view of a variant of the collecting device of Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is an enlarged top-view of another variant to Figs. 4 and o• ~Figs. 1, 2, and 3 are plan views of a bottle-handling system containing S 20 one or more collecting and palletizing apparatuses Each collecting and palletizing apparatus consists of a collecting device and a palletizer The collecting devices for their part, have one or more transferors and one or more movable or transportable intermediate-carriers which connect the collecting device with the respective palletizer The collecting and palletizing apparatus receives the lines or queues (9) of bottles conveyed from a bottle- ROG:RB:40318507 8 February 2001 Aldridge Co 7 Patent, Legal, Technical Translations Wellington, New Zealand making machine (36) (not shown in Figs. 1 and 2) by one or more bottle-conveyors collects them into layers of bottles and stacks these into multi-layer pallets At the output-side of the palletizer there can be one or more packing devices (33) together with output stations (34).

In the form of embodiment shown in Fig. i, the bottlehandling system has e.g. three collecting and palletizing apparatuses arranged next to one another in a row. Broken lines indicate the borders of the apparatuses. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the middle collecting and palletizing apparatus There are two bottle-conveyors connected to the middle apparatus and one bottle-conveyor each connected to the two outer apparatuses The bottle-conveyors (8) in Figs. 1 and 2 are preferably pneumatic conveyors. They have a slotted air-flow channel in which the bottles hanging by their above-mentioned [sic] collar, are guided and driven forward by an air-flow rushing along in the channel. The bottles move along in the bottle-conveyor at very high speed, e.g. ten bottles per second. In order to be able to nevertheless handle the bottles, each bottle-conveyor is progressively divided, at turnouts, into a number of lines As a result, e.g. four such lines running parallel to one another feed into the collecting and palletizing apparatus The bottle-making machine (36) consists of e.g. one or more blowing machines for producing plastic bottles. In the embodiment-example shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it is arranged quite some distance away from the collecting and palletizing apparatus and so the bottle-conveyors (8) are correspondingly long and are therefore preferably pneumatic conveyors of the type mentioned above.

Aldridge Co 8 Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 8 Wellington, New Zealand In the variant in Fig. 3, the bottle-making machine (36) is located in the immediate vicinity of the collecting and palletizing apparatus The bottle-conveyors in this case are preferably short, straight conveyors, by which the bottles produced and continually output by the bottlemaking machine (36) are conveyed, in e.g. two lines or queues to the collecting device and its transferor Before or at the feed-in point, there can be branchings into more than two lines The bottle-conveyor(s) can be of any suitable design.

They can be short pneumatic conveyors, for instance. They can also, however, be of any other suitable design.

Preferably the bottle-conveyors can have a suitable preferably small "damming-up" or buffer section for the reception of the bottles being fed continuously one after another, in lines, into the intermittently operating transferor In a modified form of embodiment, the bottle-making machine (36) can also deliver its bottles (3) directly to the transferor As also illustrated in Fig. 3, the collecting and palletizing apparatus can also have at least one interim store arranged between the collecting device and the palletizer For transportation of the individually movable intermediate-carriers a transport-device (24) is provided, which preferably operates in a circuit and has a forward-run (41) and a return-run The transport-device (24) connects the collecting device with the palletizer In addition, the interim store (37) is also connected to the transportdevice preferably to the forward-run (41).

The interim store (37) can be of any suitable design, e.g.

a tall rack store. It can have one or more rows of storage and, accordingly, one or more suitable storage and retrieval devices The individual storage regions each have an input (38) and an output (39) for the laden /n Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations Wellington, New Zealand intermediate-carriers both the input (38) and the output (39) being connected to the forward-run The storage-and-retrieval device (40) takes the intermediatecarriers inside the rack storage area, from the input, and stores them in the storage positions provided. Delivery of the intermediate-carriers through the output (39), by means of the storage-and-retrieval device occurs in the opposite manner. The intermediate-carriers then proceed directly, on the forward-run to the palletizer The unloaded, empty intermediate-carriers from the palletizer are conveyed, on the return-run back to the collecting device and its transferor The return-run (42) can have a buffer-section. However, the return-run (42) can also have its own storage, connected to it, for buffering the intermediate-carriers For the sake of simplicity in the drawing, this carrier-storage is not shown.

The forward-run (41) and the return-run (42) are preferably in the form of straight conveyor lines. They can be conveyor belts, rollerways, or other suitable conveyingmeans. At the starting and finishing end-points, the intermediate-carriers are transferred by means of suitable transverse conveyors. At the finishing point, the palletizer takes the layers of bottles (25) from the intermediate-carriers on the transverse conveyor; the empty intermediate-carriers can then travel back on the return-run At the starting end, the transverse conveyor is in the region of the collecting device and transferor thus, without a timing- or cycleinterruption, ready-laden intermediate-carriers can be delivered very rapidly onto the forward-run and new, empty intermediate-carriers can be brought into the loading position; and also, during transportation, and during unloading at the palletizer the next empty Aldridge Co 10 Patent, Legal, Technical Translations Wellington, New Zealand intermediate-carrier can already be receiving its load at the collecting device Figs. 1, 2, and 4 show a variant of the intermediatecarrier and the transport device In the form of embodiment shown, the transport device (24) is a shuttle which moves to and fro in a straight line, and moves the intermediate-carriers to and fro in a straight line, from their receiving position at the collecting device (4) to the delivery position at the palletizer In the form of embodiment in Fig. 1, a further variant is shown. Here, e.g. at each of the two outer collecting devices two intermediate-carriers with shuttles (24) are arranged parallel to each other in each case, and operate with timewise staggering. This likewise enables overlapping of the cycle times during loading and unloading, and during the transportation of the intermediate-carriers In the preferred form of embodiment, the direction of transport of the intermediatecarriers runs longitudinally relative to the lines of bottles and at right angles to the cross-rails Fig. 1 shows, in addition, collecting devices with different capacities. The outer two collecting devices (4) are designed for a high throughput of e.g. 100,000 bottles per hour, and therefore have correspondingly rapid transferors The middle collecting device has a lower capacity and slower transferors To even things out and to save space, the collecting device can, however, in this case have two transferors each with one intermediate-carrier and transport-device and with one bottle-conveyor being allocated to each transferor in the manner described above. The transferors can each have their own separate cross-rail or a common cross-rail Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 1 1 Wellington, New Zealand The bottles are preferably made of plastic, particularly polytetrafluoroethylene. These bottles, known as PET bottles, are thin-walled and low in weight. At the neck of the bottle, they have a circumferential, laterally projecting collar by which they can be gripped and suspended and thus conveyed, e.g. by the bottle-conveyors At the bottom these bottles generally have a central recess, and on the surrounding edge they have a number of upward grooves, such that the standing surface is formed by five support-points distributed around the central axis of the bottle. The diameter of the standing surface is thus smaller than the outer diameter of the bottle, and therefore PET bottles are somewhat unstable. Moreover, these bottles can become electrostatically charged and so repel each other. Due to their low standing-stability and low weight, these bottles react sensitively to mechanical jolts, air-currents, etc. and are inclined to fall over.

Fig. 4 shows the output or end-region (10) of the bottleconveyor at the collecting device Here the bottles arrive in lines or queues one after another and are stopped at the end of the conveyor by controllable obstructors (not shown). In this region, there is a buffering or slow-down section in which also e.g. the conveyor air is blown off. The bottles in the end-region are driven forward from behind by the oncoming bottles. In Fig. 4 it can be seen how the bottles hang by their collars in the conveying channels.

Fig. 4 shows a form of embodiment of the collecting device in detail. This design corresponds to Figs. 1 and 2, but can also be used for an apparatus according to Fig. 3.

The collecting device consists of at least one receiver (12) for the lines of bottles and at least one transferor and also preferably a number of intermediate-carriers The collecting device has a number of form-fitting Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 12 Wellington, New Zealand bottle-guides (13, 18, 21) by which the bottles are received in lines from the bottle-conveyor transferred to the intermediate-carrier grouped into a layer of bottles and conveyed to the palletizer the bottles preferably being essentially always guided in such a way that they cannot fall over and can move only in a restricted and controlled manner. The intermediatecarrier is stationary during the transfer and loading process.

The receiver (12) for the lines of bottles is connected to the end-region (10) of the bottle-conveyor The receiver (12) has an e.g. stationary buffer-table with a number of reception channels and rail-like bottle-guides (13) extending, in appropriate number, as a prolongation of the end-region (10) of the bottle-conveyor and laterally guiding the bottles received from the bottleconveyor The rails (13) are adjustable in width and can be adapted to various bottle-formats. In addition, they can be shifted laterally to conform in number and arrangement to the bottle-conveyor At the end facing the conveyor, the rails (13) can have angled guide surfaces to slidingly guide the bottles in.

On the buffer-table the bottles can slide along while remaining standing upright. Alternatively, instead of having a stationary table surface, the buffer-table (12) can have a conveyor belt or suchlike moving in the direction of forward movement of the bottles To receive the bottles the obstructors in the end-region are opened in a timed manner so that the lines of bottles (14) held there can be pushed onto the buffer-table As soon as the predetermined line-length has been achieved, the obstructors in the end-regions (10) close again, so that the next load of bottles can be "dammed up".

In the region of the bottle guides the receiver (12) has at least one stop (15) for each lane. In the simplest Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 13 Wellington, New Zealand form of embodiment, the stops (15) can be arranged to be stationary, with a periodic axial offset from line to line amounting to preferably half the bottle-diameter. As a result, adjacent lines of bottles (14) are offset relative to one another in such a way that gaps are closed up and, in the subsequent layer of bottles the bottles are packed together as closely as possible.

In the form of embodiment shown, the stops (15) are, in addition, able to be moved axially and have a controlled drive (16) for this purpose, arranged e.g. on a table extension or beneath the buffer-table When a new load of bottles is received, the stops (15) are positioned directly in front of the end-region (10) of the bottleconveyor As soon as the obstructors of the end-region (10) open and the bottles come pushing out, the stops retreat in a controlled manner and thereby provide axial guidance for the bottles being received. As a result, the bottles cannot be tipped over during their reception. Overall, the bottles being received are guided form-fittingly around all four sides, with the rear guidance being provided by the next-following bottle in the line.

After reception, the lines of bottles (14) stand on the receiver ready for the transferor The transferor is preferably a biaxial or multiaxial robot (11) with freely controllable and programmable axes, and has a portal-type cross-rail running at right angles to the lines of bottles on which one or more grippingdevices (17) can run to and fro and lift over or transfer the lines of bottles (14) onto the intermediate-carrier (6) standing ready on the forward-run (41).

The gripping-device (17) involved is a multiaxially-movable gripping head. It has a number of bottle-line grippers which suitably grip the lines of bottles (14) on the receiver (12) in their head-region, hold them fast and Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 14 Wellington, New Zealand release them again onto the intermediate-carrier The bottle-line grippers (18) consist, for example, of long gripping channels with lateral gripping arms which hold the bottles under the collars thereof and thereby hold them form-fittingly.

The bottle-line grippers (18) can comprise one or more adjusting-devices In the form of embodiment shown, the adjusting-device (19) allows lateral movement of the bottle-line grippers whereby the lines of bottles (14) can be pushed closer together after pickup. In the end-region (10) and in the receiver the lines of bottles (14) are distanced somewhat from one another for reasons of format-fitting and for other structural reasons.

This lateral spacing is greater than the spacing desired in the layer of bottles Due to the lateral movement of the bottle-line grippers the lines of bottles (14) can be brought close to one another and, depending on the desired packing density, can even be brought into contact with one another. The adjusting-device (19) has, for this purpose, a suitable drive and a freely programmable control system.

In the embodiment-example shown, the lines of bottles (14) and the intermediate-carrier are of the same length. To fill the intermediate-carrier the lines of bottles (14) are placed next to one another, for which the gripping-device (17) runs to and fro several times. In this illustrated form of embodiment, the layer of bottles formed on the intermediate-carrier is as large as the pallet-bottom.

In a modified version of the form of embodiment shown, an intermediate-carrier can be extra-long, and can take two or more layers of bottles Therefore two or more lines of bottles (14) respectively must be arranged one after another on the intermediate-carrier For this purpose, the adjusting-device (19) may additionally be able Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 15 Wellington, New Zealand to move in the longitudinal direction of the lines of bottles, and for this purpose may have, for instance, a telescopic device for extending the bottle-line grippers (18) (not shown). In addition, the adjusting-device (19) also performs the raising and lowering movements of the grippers for the transfer operation, during which the grippers (18) constitute the bottle-guidance means.

On the intermediate-carrier which is preferably tubshaped, there is likewise a bottle-guidance arrangement It consists, for example, in a tray in which the bottles are guided form-fittingly all the way round, in the standing position, as in the receiver In the form of embodiment shown, the intermediate-carrier has, for this purpose, a carrier-edge (22) shaped to conform to the bottle-contour, and this carrier-edge (22) also has suitable projections to stagger the lines of bottles.

Inside the intermediate-carrier there are arranged a multiplicity of upstanding guide-pins which stand between four adjacent bottles and grip them. The edge of the carrier and the guide-pins can have angled guide-in surfaces to facilitate the sliding in and placement of the bottles Alternatively, the bottleguides (21) can be constituted in any desired manner, e.g.

as compartment fins or suchlike.

There are also various forms of embodiment for the palletizer Each palletizer has one or more palletizing-stations (26) at which the layers of bottles are progressively stacked up on a pallet bottom, to produce a completed pallet The palletizing-station (26) is arranged beside the end position of the intermediate-carrier or transportation-device On the other side of the palletizing station, there can be arranged one or more stacks of insert layers (27, 28, 29) in a row. These stacks contain the pallet bottoms and the intermediate layers and top layers necessary for stacking he layers of bottles and will be called "palletizing Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Techncal Translations 16 Wellington, New Zealand layers" below. For the intermediate and top layers, we are talking, for example, of cartons or other suitable materials in sheet form which are inserted between the layers of bottles The palletizer has at least one gripping device 31) for transferring the layers of bottles (25) from the intermediate-carrier to the palletizing-station (26) and for fetching the palletizing layers from the stacks (27, 28, 29) and inserting them. In the preferred form of embodiment, separate gripping devices (30, 31) are provided, to increase the throughput rate.

The palletizer is likewise preferably a linear multiaxial robot (11) with a cross-rail running at right angles to the line of bottles and serving for the travel of the gripping devices (30, 31). The gripping devices (30, 31) have suitable gripping heads, which are able to be at least raised and lowered, and which possibly have other axes of motion.

The gripping device (31) is designed as a bottle gripper which preferably grips the entire layer of bottles (25) and transfers it to the palletizing-station (26) in a single action. For attending to multilayer and extra-long intermediate-carriers the gripping device (31) can have additional axial adjustability in the form of a telescopic arrangement or suchlike.

In the embodiment-example in Fig. i, the two outer highperformance palletizers each have their own stacks of palletizing layers (27, 28, 29). The gripping device (31) serves both intermediate-carriers The middle palletizer shown enlarged and in greater detail in Fig. 2, is intended for a lower throughput. It has two gripping devices (31) with an interval between them, each having an intermediate-carrier assigned to it. Between i gripping devices (31) there are arranged common stacks Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations Wellington, New Zealand of palletizing layers (27, 28, 29) with a single gripping device (30) that works on both sides. This gripping device thus serves both palletizing-stations (26).

In the form of embodiment in Figs. 1 and 2, all the gripping-devices (30, 31) are arranged within the individual palletizers and also on a common cross-rail overlapping all the apparatuses. Correspondingly, the stacks of palletizing layers (27, 28, 29), the palletizingstations and the end positions of the intermediatecarriers are arranged in a row, next to one another.

Next to the palletizing-stations (26) there are pallet conveyors (32) one for each palletizing station (26) operating in the longitudinal direction, and preferably connected via a waiting position to a transverse conveyor.

Two neighbouring pallet conveyors (32) are connected to one another by way of the transverse conveyor and are mutually connected to a packing device In this regard, further waiting and queuing positions can be provided. The transverse conveyor can also be used, as shown in the to this extent somewhat modified Fig. 2, for rear-side feeding of the stacks of inserts (27, 28, 29).

The completed pallets (35) formed at the palletizingstation (26) are fed on longitudinal and transverse conveyors to a packing device (not shown), where they are, for example, wrapped with plastic foil and possibly strapped around to stabilize them. At the adjacent output station, the packed pallets (35) are placed ready for collection and from there they can be taken, for example, to an interim store and onward to the filling machine (not shown).

Figs. 5 and 6 show modifications to the collecting device and the transferor In both cases the transferor can transfer the bottles directly from the bottle- Rn veyors by means of the gripping-device(s) (17),

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(c I T Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 18 Wellington, New Zealand without the interposition of a buffer-table In this case, the grippers (18) for gripping the lines of bottles are arranged at the same height as the bottle-conveyors with the result that the bottles can be pushed over directly, in a suspended state, into the grippers The adjusting-devices (19) enable the grippers (18) to be adjusted and accurately positioned in relation to the bottle-conveyors In particular also, a number of bottle-grippers (18) can be loaded at the same time. In the form of embodiment shown, the gripping-head (17) has two bottle-grippers but this number can be as high as desired, preferably corresponding to the number of lines or bottle-conveyors however, the number can also be different.

The intermediate-carriers in Figs. 5 and 6 can correspond to the form of embodiment in Fig. 4. Fig. 6, shows another modification in this regard. The intermediate-carriers in this case consist of trays, open on one side, with a bottom plate and three peripheral carrier-edges (22) in the form of a U. In place of the missing fourth carrier-wall, a transversely movable pusher (43) with a suitable drive (44) is provided at the loading station. The pusher together with the existing edges of the carrier forms the lateral bottle-guide (21).

In this form of embodiment,. the intermediate-carrier (6) and its bottom plate have no upstanding guide-pins (23) in the middle region.

The pusher (43) also serves to position the bottles and push them together on the intermediate-carrier The lines of bottles (14) can be deposited on the intermediatecarrier by the transferor with mutual lateral spacing between the lines. For this purpose, the pusher (43) is somewhat drawn back, and affords the necessary free space. Then the pusher (43) travels forwards again and pushes the deposited lines of bottles (14) up to the already layerized lines of bottles and thus creates the 4- Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 19 Wellington, New Zealand required packing density for the layers of bottles In this process, time is saved for the transferor and this is of benefit for the preferred direct-loading of the bottle-grippers (18) from the bottle-conveyors In addition, the intermediate-carriers can thereby take any shapes of bottle. Furthermore, in this case the edges of the carrier (22) are designed as smooth walls, without profiling for guidance purposes. In Fig. 6, the bottle arrangement is only partially shown, and in a purely diagrammatic manner.

For onward transportation of the intermediate-carriers the fourth carrier-wall can be dispensed with. The layer of bottles (25) is then guided, round three sides thereof, by the remaining three edges of the carrier (22).

Alternatively, the pusher (43) can also be designed as a fourth carrier-wall and detachably connected to the drive During loading, the carrier-wall is unhinged and acts as a pusher plate. At the end of loading, it is reconnected in a suitable manner to the intermediate-carrier A further variant of the bottle-handling system is also possible with regard to the intermediate-carrier circuit.

In the form of embodiment shown in Fig. 3, the intermediate-carriers circulate within the bottlehandling system between the collecting device and the palletizer They are continually being loaded and unloaded, and can also in the meantime be temporarily stored in the loaded or empty state. In the modification under discussion, it is possible to also use the intermediate-carriers to form the pailets and to let them out of the bottle-handling system In this case, the intermediate-carriers preferably have the bottle-guides (21) shown in Fig. 4. In addition, the intermediate-carriers can also have suitable mutual guides so that they can be stacked on top of one another to form pallets in a simple, self-centering manner. For this kp\ipose, the palletizer with its robot is Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 2 0 WellIngton, New Zealand designed accordingly and, instead of gripping the individual layers of bottles grips the entire intermediate-carrier and transfers it to palletbuilding. In this variant, the intermediate-carriers (6) circulate in a larger circuit, going through the filling station, the intermediate merchant(s), and the customer, and back through a reprocessing or cleaning station to the bottle-handling system In this variant, the circulating intermediate-carrier (6) takes not only the empty bottles loaded in the bottlehandling system but also the full bottles after the filling operation.

The forms of embodiment illustrated and described can be modified in various ways. The bottle-conveyor can be designed in any suitable way. Instead of a pneumatic conveyor which transports the bottles suspended, it can be a standing conveyor with rollers, conveyor belt, or other suchlike suitable transporting mechanism. Moreover, the number of lines of bottles (14) in the region of the bottle-conveyor receiver and transferor can vary. The number of lines of bottles at each of said components does not always have to be the same as at the others, either. The same is true for the gripping device (31) for transferring the layers of bottles (25) to the palletizing-station This gripping device (31) can, in one variant, grip and transfer only part of a layer of bottles In the other variant with the extra-long intermediate-carriers it is possible to grip a number of layers of bottles (25) at once. In the form of embodiment described, the layer of bottles (25) is the same size as the area of the pallet-bottom. This dimensional datum is a matter of definition, and can also be modified.

In some circumstances, various pallet-sizes and/or bottleformats are handled at a collecting and palletizing apparatus and so the intermediate-carrier is only ,Rtly Pfilled. Also variable are the structural designs of Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 21 Wellington, New Zealand the technical components of the collecting and palletizing apparatuses particularly the receiver (12) of the lines of bottles, the transferor the palletizer the intermediate-carrier and suchlike. In particular, the gripping-devices for gripping the lines of bottles (14) can be designed in any suitable way. The intermediatecarrier can be in plate-form or any other suitable form for a holder or carrier of the layers of bottles.

Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations 2 2 Wellington, New Zealand LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS 1. bottle-handling system 2. collecting and palletizing apparatus 3. bottle 4. collecting device transferor 6. intermediate-carrier 7. palletizer 8. bottle-conveyor 9. line end-region 11. robot 12. receiver (of lines of bottles), buffer table 13. bottle-guide, rail 14. line of bottles stop 16. drive 17. gripping device, gripping head 18. bottle-guide, gripper for line of bottles 19. adjusting-device cross-rail 21. bottle-guide 22. edge of carrier 23. guide-pin 24. transport device, shuttle layer of bottles 26. palletizing-station 27. stack of palletizing layers, pallet bottoms 28. stack of intermediate palletizing-layers 29. stack of top palletizing-layers gripping device (for palletizing layer) 31. gripping device (for layer of bottles) 32. pallet conveyor 33. packing device 34. output station pallet Aldridge Co Patent, Legal, Technical Translations Wellington, New Zealand 36. bottle-making machine, blowing machine 37. interim store 38. input 39. output storage-and-retrieval device 41. forward-run 42. return-run 43. pusher 44. drive

Claims (24)

1. A method of collecting and palletizing empty bottles in which the empty bottles, fed in one after another in one or more queues from a bottle-making machine or by a bottle-conveyor, are received by at least one collecting device and later conveyed therefrom to a palletizer and palletized there, wherein the empty bottles fed to the collecting device are transferred therefrom to one or more intermediate-carriers, thus forming layers of bottles, and the intermediate-carrier with the bottles is then transported to the palletizer. S S

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the intermediate-carrier is stationary when the bottles are being transferred.

A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the intermediate-carriers are temporarily stored in an interim store.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein the intermediate-carriers :i are moved in a circuit within the apparatus. o oooo 20

5. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the bottles are palletized together with the intermediate-carriers.

6. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the intermediate- carrier is loaded directly at the bottle-making machine, which is a blowing-machine.

7. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the bottles are transferred and held, by the transferor and on the intermediate-carrier, with lateral guides.

8. An apparatus for collecting and palletizing empty bottles, with at least one palletizer and at least one collecting device for receiving the empty bottles fed 8 February 2001 in one after another in one or more queues from a bottle-making machine or by a bottle-conveyor in which a transport-device is arranged between the palletizer and the collecting device, wherein the collecting device has at least one transferor and one or more intermediate-carriers, which can be transported by the transporting device, to take the bottles layer-wise.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein a transporting device travelling to and fro, or in a circuit, is provided for the intermediate-carrier(s).

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8 or 9, wherein an interim store is provided for interim storage of filled and/or empty intermediate-carriers.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8, 9, or 10, wherein the transferor and the •intermediate-carriers are provided with bottle-guides.

12. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein the collecting device is arranged directly at the bottle-making machine, which is a blowing machine. *o 20

13. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein the transferor has at least one bottle-line gripping-device with a number of laterally adjustable grippers.

14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the bottle-guide of the intermediate-carrier has a formed carrier-edge and a number of guide-pins in its internal region.

An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the bottle-guide of the intermediate-carrier has a movable carrier-edge or an external pusher.

16. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 15, wherein the 8 February 2001 intermediate-carrier takes one or more layers of bottles.

17. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 16, wherein the palletizer has a palletizing-station arranged between one or more stacks of insert-layers and the intermediate-carrier.

18. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 17, wherein the palletizer has separate gripping devices for the insert layers and the layers of bottles. 10

19. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 18, wherein the transferor and the palletizer are designed as linerarly-multiaxial robots with cross-rails and gripping devices that can travel thereon and be raised and lowered. o

20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the gripping-devices can travel transverse to the direction of feed of the bottles and intermediate-carrier. *0ooo*

21. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 20, wherein the palletizer has two palletizing-stations which have an interval between them and have: separate gripping devices for the layers of bottles; common stacks of insert layers and a 20 common gripping device for the insert layers.

22. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 21, wherein a bottle- handling system has one or more collecting and palletizing apparatuses arranged beside one another, with common cross-rails.

23. A method of collecting and palletizing empty bottles substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to the accompanying drawings. 8 February 2001

24. An apparatus for collecting and palletizing empty bottles substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated: 8 February 2001 Freehills Carter Smith Beadle Patent Attorneys for the Applicant CERTUS MASCHINENBAU GmbH o* *21 0 o *0 8 February 2001