EP0048104A1 - Appareil de manipulation d'objets - Google Patents

Appareil de manipulation d'objets Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0048104A1
EP0048104A1 EP81303965A EP81303965A EP0048104A1 EP 0048104 A1 EP0048104 A1 EP 0048104A1 EP 81303965 A EP81303965 A EP 81303965A EP 81303965 A EP81303965 A EP 81303965A EP 0048104 A1 EP0048104 A1 EP 0048104A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
handling
cam
product
article
rotary member
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP81303965A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0048104B1 (fr
Inventor
John E. Nordstrom
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to AT81303965T priority Critical patent/ATE10355T1/de
Publication of EP0048104A1 publication Critical patent/EP0048104A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0048104B1 publication Critical patent/EP0048104B1/fr
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B11/00—Wrapping, e.g. partially or wholly enclosing, articles or quantities of material, in strips, sheets or blanks, of flexible material
    • B65B11/06—Wrapping articles, or quantities of material, by conveying wrapper and contents in common defined paths
    • B65B11/08—Wrapping articles, or quantities of material, by conveying wrapper and contents in common defined paths in a single straight path
    • B65B11/10—Wrapping articles, or quantities of material, by conveying wrapper and contents in common defined paths in a single straight path to fold the wrappers in tubular form about contents
    • B65B11/12—Wrapping articles, or quantities of material, by conveying wrapper and contents in common defined paths in a single straight path to fold the wrappers in tubular form about contents and then to form closing folds of similar form at opposite ends of the tube

Definitions

  • This invention relates to apparatus for handling articles as they move without interruption on a conveyor. It is desirable that on any conveyor line system for assembly, processing or wrapping, the products moving along the conveyor are handled without slowing down or stopping the conveyor. This provides the maximum efficiency of operation, and many handling devices have been proposed to operate in this way. In general, however, such devices are either inefficient or complex, and there is a need for a simple yet flexible mechanism which is capable of high speed operation.
  • the invention provides a handling apparatus for articles, wherein a handling arm is movable in a cyclic path that passes through an article handling zone, the arm movement being controlled by a linkage which comprises pivot means pivotally mounting the handling arm on a first rotary member, cam means fast to the handling arm, a cam follower mounted on a second rotary member in sliding engagement with the cam means, and drive means for rotating the first and second rotary .
  • Two examples of uses of the apparatus of the invention are the transfer of articles from one conveyor to another moving at an angle to the first, and the performance of some handling operation on the articles as they pass continuously through the handling zone in a straight line. Both examples are encountered in the high speed wrapping machine which is the subject of our copending European Patent Application numbered consecutively with this Application, and which is used herein to illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention.
  • the handling apparatus When the handling apparatus is designed to move articles or groups of articles from a first conveyor standing at any angle to a second conveyor, it advantageously comprises a number of handling arms each of which may consist of an L-shaped arm mounted on a rotating mechanism in the included angle between the first conveyor and the second conveyor. These arms are pivoted on the first rotary member and each is provided with its own cam means which cooperates with a respective cam follower on the second rotary member.
  • the first and second rotary members are preferably driven at the same speed.
  • the handling arms are able to pick up an article or groups of articles from the first conveyor and change their direction of movement to that of the second conveyor either with or without a change in the orientation of the articles and without disturbance of a grouping of articles which are to be processed (for example wrapped) together, after which the handling arm retracts in a path that carries it sideways and out of the way of the second conveyor, thereafter extending itself behind another product or group of products on the first conveyor to repeat the cycle without having to start and stop the product group for the direction change.
  • a variation of the above handling apparatus can serve as a tucker in a product wrapping machine to make an end fold in which the handling or tucker arm moves out and sideways as it retracts, to avoid pulling out the fold just made.
  • the parts are essentially the same as those of the transfer mechanism described above excepting cam shapes.
  • the wrapping machine illustrated diagramatically in Figures 1 to 11 has a number of sections which cooperate to achieve the overall result. Each of the sections will be described very generally and the relevant ones will then be described in greater detail. Unless the context indicates otherwise the word "product" refers either to a single article, such as a roll of paper tissue or towelling, or to a single group of articles to be wrapped in one wrapper.
  • the direction changing mechanism brings the product to be wrapped from an infeed conveyor extending from a different direction to conveying means in the wrapping machine which thereafter transport the product continuously in a single direction.
  • the direction changing means are unique in their mode of action in that although they change the direction of product movement, they do not change the orientation of the product, and do not significantly change its speed, utilizing a mechanical motion believed to be unique and which may be utilized in other devices, such as my tucker.
  • the product After entering the wrapper machine proper through the direction changing mechanism, the product passes beneath a wrapping film supply section (Fig. 1) fed from a roll of wrapping material from which sheets of wrapping film are cut and supplied to lie in a horizontal plane above the product supported by conveying structure that will be described later.
  • a wrapping film supply section (Fig. 1) fed from a roll of wrapping material from which sheets of wrapping film are cut and supplied to lie in a horizontal plane above the product supported by conveying structure that will be described later.
  • the wrapping film is supplied in a specific relationship to the product such that an amount of film sufficient to wrap the forward side, bottom and part of the back of the product extends ahead of the product as it moves down the conveyor, the remainder extending above and behind the product.
  • the wrapper is carried between pairs of belts moving beside the product at the same speed.
  • the lower wrapper carrying belts turn on vacuum wheels so the edge of the wrapping film is brought downward ahead of the product by engagement with the vacuum wheels which are rotating on either side of the product with axes that are not quite transverse to the conveyor but are skewed or toed outward slightly to create a slight outward pull on the wrapping film as it moves downwardly in contact with the vacuum rolls.
  • the vacuum wheels must grip lightly to prevent wrinkles.
  • the film As the product moves over the slot area in which the wrapping film was pulled downwardly, the film is pulled taut at the forward edge of the product and is withdrawn from its downward extension into the slot to cover the bottom surface of the product as the product advances so that the film now extends in a horizontally disposed U from behind the product at the top around the top, front, bottom, to behind the product at the bottom (Fig. 2).
  • the upper stationary bars of the conveyor are selected from material and finish having slightly less friction than the lower stationary bars of the conveyor, with the result that with the film nipped between the advancing paddles of the conveyor and the back of the product, and greater friction on the lower portion of the film than the upper portion of the film, the film is gradually pulled around the lower side of the product a tiny amount which snugs the articles in the group tightly together and pulls the wrapping film tightly about them.
  • a secondary but still major feature is to seal the package so produced on a narrow edge which in the direction of product travel in my machine is a rear surface, particularly where multiple articles are being wrapped.
  • the rear surface being one of the narrow surfaces of the package this permits maximum printed display area on the broad surfaces of the package which is not defaced by a seal.
  • the objective is achieved regardless of the number of articles in a package, the number typically ranging from one or two 11 inch rolls of toweling through one, two, or four rolls of toilet tissue. Other articles may be wrapped.
  • support fingers (Figs. 3-5) approach the product at the side and move up to support that portion of the film that extends sidewardly or transversely from the product.
  • the paddle type conveyor that has previously been described as.coming down in back of the product from above to nip the film against the product to allow tightening travels upwardly at a slight angle to the product path while a lower chain carrying upwardly extending paddles travels from below at a slight upward angle to the product path so that as the upward paddle is withdrawn, the .lower paddle moves upwardly to take its place, folding the film upwardly around the back of the product at the same time.
  • Both the lower paddles and the upper paddles are discontinuous so that a mechanism can later come in to make a first attachment of the lower film to the upper film to retain the tight configuration of the wrapping about the product at a later time.
  • the wrapper is plastic film as generally described throughout, the mechanism is a tack welding wheel to bond the plastic.
  • Other wrapper stock and sealing means are possible.
  • FIG. 3-5 Before this time the laterally extending fingers are withdrawn from supporting the upper film, (Figs. 3-5).
  • An air-jet (Fig. 6) pushes the upper film downwardly at the ends of the package to make the first end fold.
  • a tucker (Figs. 7,11, and 13) makes an end fold and the package then moves into a conventional end folding section of the machine which folds the remaining side portions of the film to make end folds.
  • the tack-welding is then accomplished (Fig. 8) between the paddles of the lower paddle conveyor, which then withdraw downward.
  • the product moves between belts that engage the ends of the product (Fig. 9) which serve to convey the product down the product path as a full back seal bar comes in to permanently seal the back seam.
  • the package then moves between end sealing belts (Fig.
  • Fig. 11 may represent the wrapping either of two rolls of towel or four rolls of toilet tissue.
  • Figs. 1 through 10 schematically represent the steps in applying the film to the product to form a complete package while Fig. 11 represents a view like that of Fig. 7 where more than one product is involved in the axial direction of product flow.
  • the linear path of product flow is the path extending horizontally from one end to the other end of the wrapping machine.
  • the product moves without substantial deviation in direction or speed while it is being wrapped.
  • the linear product path could be other than horizontal, but as the preferred form is here described the path is level.
  • the reason for having a generally linear product path is to allow very high speed wrapping of the product, at a rate much higher than accomplished by previous machines which do not have a linear product path or which started and stopped the product or substantially changed its speed during the course of wrapping. While linear flow and generally uniform movement of the product are important to high speed wrapping, they are by no means sufficient, as is shown in this application. Many innovative details were necessary to solve the problems of high speed wrapping, in addition to the general concept.
  • the basic axis of the machine will be taken to be the product path.
  • the directions will be referred to as side, lateral or transverse.
  • the remaining directions at right angles to the product path will be referred to as up and down.
  • right and left side, lateral or transverse directions will be taken to be directions lateral to the first conveyor and (generally) aligned with the axes of the vacuum wheels, while up and down would refer to directions at right angles to those.
  • the wrapping machine proper begins with a direction changing mechanism 50 operating to move articles 53 from conveyor 51 which is an infeed conveyor, toward conveyor.52 which is the first element in the conveyors defining a linear product path on which products will be wrapped.
  • the direction changing mechanism includes L-shaped arms 54 secured to shafts 55 extending through respective bearings in rotating member 56 which is rotated about a bearing 57.
  • a cam plate 58 having a cam slot or track 59 is rigidly secured to the top of each shaft 55.
  • a cam follower roller 60 enters each cam track or slot 59 from a second rotating member 61 driven to rotate around a bearing at center 62.
  • Belts 63 and 64 which may desireably be timing belts drive rotating members 56 and 61 about their respective centers 57 and 62 at equal rotational speeds.
  • L-shaped arms 54 The action of L-shaped arms 54 is to sychronize behind product 53 on infeed conveyor 51 enclosing the back and end of the product.
  • the precise shape of the arm might vary with product type and shape and cam shape but should prevent separation of articles making up a product to be wrapped as products are swept in an arc from conveyor 51 to linear product path 92 without change in product orientation.
  • rolls with axes along conveyor 51 now have axes directed laterally of product path 92 as they are placed between upper and lower belts.
  • Arms 54 retard respecting products 53 and withdraw to the side, then move at high acceleration to come behind a product on infeed conveyor 51 and synchronize with it to repeat the cycle.
  • the number of arms and exact cam shape may vary, and of course cams and cam followers could be reversed, with appropriate design changes, here or in the tucker of Fig. 13.
  • Fig. 13 the track of the tip of L-shaped arm 71 is shown as a dot and dash line.
  • the product path is not shown in Fig. 13 structurally but is between the tucker arms 71.
  • Arm 71 stops as it reaches the Fig. 7 or Fig. 11 position as shown by the cusp of the path in Fig. 13. It then turns slightly to form a greater angle with the end of product 53, reducing drag on wrapper 91.
  • the tip of arm 71 slows down in relation to the product and retreats backward and to the side to clear the product and to get out of the way.
  • the cam track 59 or 76 is shaped to achieve the described path.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Basic Packing Technique (AREA)
  • Specific Conveyance Elements (AREA)
  • Relays Between Conveyors (AREA)
  • Special Conveying (AREA)
  • Vending Machines For Individual Products (AREA)
  • Extrusion Moulding Of Plastics Or The Like (AREA)
EP81303965A 1980-09-15 1981-08-28 Appareil de manipulation d'objets Expired EP0048104B1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AT81303965T ATE10355T1 (de) 1980-09-15 1981-08-28 Geraet zum handhaben von gegenstaenden.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US18711580A 1980-09-15 1980-09-15
US187115 1980-09-15

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0048104A1 true EP0048104A1 (fr) 1982-03-24
EP0048104B1 EP0048104B1 (fr) 1984-11-21

Family

ID=22687660

Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP81303966A Expired EP0048105B1 (fr) 1980-09-15 1981-08-28 Machine d'enveloppement à cadence élevée
EP81303965A Expired EP0048104B1 (fr) 1980-09-15 1981-08-28 Appareil de manipulation d'objets

Family Applications Before (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP81303966A Expired EP0048105B1 (fr) 1980-09-15 1981-08-28 Machine d'enveloppement à cadence élevée

Country Status (5)

Country Link
EP (2) EP0048105B1 (fr)
JP (1) JPS5786412A (fr)
AT (2) ATE10355T1 (fr)
CA (1) CA1180992A (fr)
DE (2) DE3167325D1 (fr)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4459251A (en) * 1982-04-29 1984-07-10 Joint Systems, Inc. Method and apparatus for controlled application of a coating material to a pipe joint
KR101115243B1 (ko) * 2004-12-27 2012-03-14 텔레폰악티에볼라겟엘엠에릭슨(펍) 삼중 편파 슬롯 안테나
CN112373770A (zh) * 2020-11-26 2021-02-19 长沙长泰智能装备有限公司 一种新型全自动拉伸膜包装机

Families Citing this family (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4439812A (en) * 1981-11-02 1984-03-27 General Electric Company Impregnated capacitor foil
US4559781A (en) * 1983-10-31 1985-12-24 Allied Corporation Master cylinder
NL8601428A (nl) * 1986-06-03 1988-01-04 Thomassen & Drijver Inrichting voor het verpakken van een rij deksels, en de vervaardigde verpakking.
GB8802973D0 (en) * 1988-02-10 1988-03-09 Molins Plc Wrapping machines
CN112478268A (zh) * 2020-12-24 2021-03-12 浙江希望机械有限公司 环形推料导轨及应用该导轨的装盒机推料装置
AT17635U1 (de) * 2021-04-07 2022-09-15 Juergen Fuchs Ing Zuführvorrichtung für Schlauchbeutelmaschine
CN114560130B (zh) * 2022-03-15 2023-08-01 台山市宏盛自动化机械有限公司 一种床垫自动包装机
CN114771931B (zh) * 2022-06-20 2022-09-06 小洋电源股份有限公司 一种用于铅酸蓄电池盒的覆膜装置

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3176824A (en) * 1963-04-19 1965-04-06 Eldred Company Loader
US3899069A (en) * 1973-07-18 1975-08-12 Sig Schweiz Industrieges Rotary transfer apparatus for grouping articles
DE2461530A1 (de) * 1974-12-27 1976-07-01 Eisenhuette Prinz Rudolph Ag Foerdervorrichtung fuer langgut, insbesondere fuer schienen

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB770124A (en) * 1954-06-28 1957-03-13 Package Machinery Co Wrapping machine
US2938319A (en) * 1957-11-04 1960-05-31 Paper Converting Machine Co Apparatus for handling cylindrical objects
US3507089A (en) * 1967-05-11 1970-04-21 Brown & Williamson Tobacco Bundling machine
JPS5641732B2 (fr) * 1972-06-23 1981-09-30
JPS5237263A (en) * 1975-09-18 1977-03-23 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Disposer
GB1589778A (en) * 1976-10-29 1981-05-20 Starpak Pty Ltd Wrapping apparatus and a method of wrapping

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3176824A (en) * 1963-04-19 1965-04-06 Eldred Company Loader
US3899069A (en) * 1973-07-18 1975-08-12 Sig Schweiz Industrieges Rotary transfer apparatus for grouping articles
DE2461530A1 (de) * 1974-12-27 1976-07-01 Eisenhuette Prinz Rudolph Ag Foerdervorrichtung fuer langgut, insbesondere fuer schienen

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4459251A (en) * 1982-04-29 1984-07-10 Joint Systems, Inc. Method and apparatus for controlled application of a coating material to a pipe joint
KR101115243B1 (ko) * 2004-12-27 2012-03-14 텔레폰악티에볼라겟엘엠에릭슨(펍) 삼중 편파 슬롯 안테나
CN112373770A (zh) * 2020-11-26 2021-02-19 长沙长泰智能装备有限公司 一种新型全自动拉伸膜包装机
CN112373770B (zh) * 2020-11-26 2022-07-01 长沙长泰智能装备有限公司 一种新型全自动拉伸膜包装机

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS5786412A (en) 1982-05-29
EP0048104B1 (fr) 1984-11-21
CA1180992A (fr) 1985-01-15
ATE10352T1 (de) 1984-12-15
ATE10355T1 (de) 1984-12-15
DE3167324D1 (en) 1985-01-03
EP0048105A1 (fr) 1982-03-24
DE3167325D1 (en) 1985-01-03
JPH0419086B2 (fr) 1992-03-30
EP0048105B1 (fr) 1984-11-21

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