FR2477512A1 - Glass thermometer feed and sorting machine - has agitator and feed head to position each thermometer before discharge - Google Patents

Abstract

The machine has a frame which supports a sieve assembly between sidewalls and the base so as to form a container for the medical thermometers. The bottom of this container has an oblong opening and a discharge chute located some way from the opening. Two agitators are arranged side by side below the opening and span beyond the edges of the opening. The ejector feeds the pieces individually into a container. The whole machine is designed to handle the glass thermometers gently, so as not to break them.

Description

 Certain parts in the form of short rods are difficult to handle or to be subjected to various operations and checks entering their manufacture.

These problems arise with particular acuity in the manufacture of thermometers, in particular medical thermometers, where the part is a tube which not only constantly tends to slip when handled, but which is also fragile and which contains mercury. metallic state. These medical thermometers, when placed in a dispensing device such as a hopper, tend to get stuck and oppose any reordering, while their fragile nature prevents any vigorous manipulation aimed at untangling a heap. blocked in a hopper. In addition, the manufacture of these medical thermometers requires that they be able to be handled quickly so that the remaining part of the manufacturing planning can be followed. The invention is designed to solve these problems, which 'she successfully achieves. It allows thermometers to be loaded in large numbers into the hopper, while these thermometers exit the latter one by one, towards a horizontal receiver, at a rate of one thermometer per second, without the jamming frequency exceeding one thermometer per thousand thermometers handled.

 The invention lies mainly in the cooperation of an agitator with the slot formed between the lower edges and spaced from the inclined sides downwards of the hopper, so that short single-headed rods, for example tubes of thermometers, take constantly horizontal positions and are parallel to each other and to the slot, which eliminates their natural tendency to jam inside or near the slot of the hopper when a large number of these parts are deposited in said hopper. The invention also resides in a horizontal receiving device with parallel bars on which the articles are advanced by means of a mechanized reciprocating plunger which, when retracted, releases the parts so that they can pivot downwards , by gravity, to take positions in which they are pa parallel and suspended vertically, these positions being reached by pivoting of the parts around their enlarged bulbs s and by sliding along the receiving device, then down, along an inclined track which is connected to the receiving device. The pieces are then taken one by one in the receiving device or on the track by a handling mechanism which leaves the square of the invention, so that these parts can be subjected to other operations.

The invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of non-limiting example and in which
FIG. 1 is an elevation, with partial vertical section of the hopper assembly, along line 1-1 of FIG. 2, of the hopper feeder for short rods, for example tubes of thermometers, according to the invention, the tube ejection plunger being shown in withdrawal and advance positions respectively in solid lines and in dotted lines
- Figure 2 is a partial top view of the hopper feeder shown in Figure 1, the lower part of the rod holding track not being shown
- Figure 3 is a vertical section along line 3-3 of Figure 1, showing in solid lines the stirring plates in their lowest position and, in dotted lines, the maximum height reached by the upper edges of these plates
- Figure 4 is a section on an enlarged scale, along line 4-4 of Figure 1, of the inclined track for receiving the rods; and
- Figure 5 is a vertical section along line 5-5 of Figure 1.

 Figures 1, 2 and 3 show in detail the supply apparatus 10 according to the invention, intended for dispensing one by one short rods T, this expression also applying to tubes such as thermometer tubes.

The loader or the feeding apparatus 10 generally comprises a table 12 which supports a hopper 14 intended to receive coins in a chamber 15 below which an agitator 16 stirs the coins inside the hopper 14, in order to to prevent them from jamming or forming a vault while they are exited one by one from the bottom of the hopper 14 by a feeding device 18 which directs them to a receiving device 20 with parallel bars, located at the top of an inclined track 22 for holding formed of parallel rails and leading to a removal station 24 arranged at the lower end of this track 22.

Table 12, which supports the main sub-assemblies mentioned above, comprises an upper rectangular plate 26 (Figures 1 and 2) which is bolted or otherwise fixed to the upper ends of four tubular legs 28 arranged at the four corners of this plate 26 and whose lower ends are intended to rest on a support surface 30 (Figure 3). Two roughly rectangular blocks 32 are bolted or otherwise fixed firmly to the top plate 26 of the table, as shown at 33, and their upper and opposite angles are cut to about 450 in order to present inclined surfaces 34 facing one the other. The strongly inclined lower parts 36r, of inclined walls 38 of the bottom of the hopper 14, are bolted or otherwise fixed, as shown at 35, on the inclined upper surfaces 34 of the blocks 32 which partially support them. The strongly inclined lower parts 36 of the walls 38 of the bottom have laterally spaced edges 40, arranged face to face and delimiting between them an interval which forms an elongated horizontal slot or opening 42 for exit or discharge of the parts in which the upper end of the agitator 16 can go up and down.

 The agitator 16 is suspended from the upper plate 26 of the table by means of elongated bolts 44 whose upper ends are screwed into tapped holes 46 of the plate 26 and whose lower ends have heads 48 which support a rectangular plate 50 which the upper ends of vertical and parallel cylinders 52 and 53 with pressurized fluid are bolted or otherwise fixed, in opposite positions uiagonally (Figures 2 and 3). Elongated sticks 56 and 57 are fixed to the upper ends of the rods 54 and 55 of the pistons of the jacks 52 and 53, and vertical stirring plates 58 and 59 are bolted or otherwise fixed to the vertical faces of these sticks 56 and 57.

 The plates 58 and 59 agitation are mounted at a certain distance from each other and parallel to each other, and they rise by passing through a rectangular and elongated opening 60 of the upper plate 26 of the table and also in the rectangular and elongated slot or opening 42 for the outlet of the parts formed between the opposite lower edges of the walls 38 of the bottom of the hopper. Each of the stirring plates 58 and 59 has a chamfered or downwardly inclined upper end face 62 or 63 intended to separate and direct outward and upward all the short rods such as tubes T of thermometers, at the except for the single rod or tube T which it is chosen to eject. This tube falls between the parallel and spaced upper faces 62 and 63 of the plates 58 and 59 c1agitation which are configured and are placed one of the another of a sufficient distance to receive between them only one short rod T at a time, for example a thermometer tube, one end of which has a slightly enlarged bulb.

The upper parts of the inner surfaces pa parallel and spaced 64 and 65 of the plates 58 and 59 'agitation, these upper parts being located immediately below the upper edges 62 and 63, have shallow grooves which delimit an enlarged and elongated cavity vertically 68 at the upper part of which the thermometer tube or any other chosen rod T falls on the upper edge of an ejection plunger 102 capable of performing an alternating movement between the plates 58 and 59 of agitation and interior of the cavity 68, as described in detail below. The sticks 56 and 57 are biased elastically downwards by helical compression springs 70 which quickly bring the plates 58 and 59 back from their raised position, shown in dashed lines (Figures 3) to their lower position, shown in solid lines, when the supply of compressed air to the cylinders 52 and 53 is cut. As will appear below in the description of the operation of the apparatus according to the invention, the jacks 52 and 53 are preferably actuated alternately and intermittently so that the corresponding plates 58 and 59 of agitation rise and descend regularly and independently of each other, but preferably in accordance with a programmed and predetermined sequence in order to prevent the blocking or the arching of clusters of intersecting rods T. As shown in FIG. 1, the rods T, for example tubes of thermometers, are loaded into the hopper 14 so that their bulbs are turned forward.

To adapt the hopper 14 to rods T of length which may vary slightly, the front side wall 72 and the rear side wall 74 (Figure 2) of the hopper 14 are respectively fixed and adjustable. The adjustable wall 74 is mounted on brackets 76, one branch of which has a hole 7 which can receive a bolt O yes allows a horizontal movement for adjusting the angles 76 and the adjustable wall 74 relative to the parallel upper parts 82, facing upwards , walls 38 of the bottom.

 The supply device 18, which expels each separate rod or tube T of the thermometer after it has fallen onto the upper edge of the ejection plunger 102, at the upper part of the cavity 68 formed between the stirring plates 58 and 59, comprises a cylinder or motor 84 with reciprocating, horizontal, elongated movement and pressurized fluid, one end of which is mounted on an inclined support 86 (Figures 1 and 2) which itself is bolted or otherwise fixed to the end an elongated horizontal arm 88 projecting towards the rear of the upper plate 26 of the table to which it is bolted. A rod 92, in the form of a rectangular plate, is fixed to the outer end of the rod 90 of the piston of the jack 84 and comprises, at its upper end, a threaded connection 94 to which the rod 90 of the piston is connected. The lower end of this link is fixed to the rear ends of two compression springs 96, spaced laterally and the front ends of which are connected to a rectangular block 98.

The rear end of the thin and elongated ejector or plunger 102, mentioned above, is fixed, for example by means of locking screws 100, to the block 98 mounted on springs. The front part of the ejection plunger 102 can move below the lower end of the hopper 14, immediately below the slot or the horizontal opening 42 for discharging the parts (FIGS. 1 and 2), between opposite positions in which this plunger is represented at 102 in FIG. 1, in solid lines and in dotted lines. At the same time, a shoulder 103 of the upper edge of the ejection plunger 102 moves in the space immediately located above the cavity 68, between the stirring plates 58 and 59, in order to bear against the rod or the single selected tube T comprising a head and to push it outwards and to the left (FIG. 3) passing it through a discharge opening 104, as shown in dashed lines in FIG. 1.

Meanwhile, the front end 105 of the ejection plunger 102 moves from its withdrawal position to its advance position (Figure 2). At this time, the head or the bulb of the part T comes to rest on the inclined upper edges 106 of two horizontal lotto bars, spaced laterally, forming part of the receiving device 20, at the same time as the rod pivots downwards, between the bars, by gravity (Figure 5). The bars 108 are fixed by their opposite ends to vertical bars 110 which, themselves, are fixed to the outer outer wall 112 of the hopper 14.

These parts together form the receiving device 20.

The front ends of the horizontal and elongated guide bars 108 are bolted by tie rods 114 to the horizontal and upper end sections 115 of parallel guide rails 116, spaced apart laterally (FIG. 2), forming part of track 22 and secured to one to the other by a bracing bar ^ 18 in order to form between them an interval 120 sufficiently wide to allow the passage of the rods of the parts T, but too strait to allow the passage of the heads or bulbs of these parts. the short single-headed rods or tubes T of thermometers pivot downward between the bars 108 of the receiving device 20, from their previous horizontal positions in the hopper 14 and up to their vertical positions between the bars 108 of the device 20, the parts T therefore take a vertical orientation in the interval 120 formed between the parallel guide rails 116 (FIG. 4) by pivoting on their heads or bulbs respective B. When each piece T reaches the receiving device 20 and pivots down to take a vertical position, the next piece, which acts in the same way, therefore pushes the pieces previously arrived along the bars 108 on the horizontal sections upper 115 of the guide rails 116, then the parts T arrive quickly on elongated and inclined sections 122 on which they slide down towards horizontal and lower sections 124 of the rails (FIG. 1). These last sections of the guide rails 116 are bolted, parallel to each other and with the same spacing, on the top of a base 126 from which the pieces T are removed manually or by a conventional automatic device for handling parts or by an automaton (not shown) in order to be further processed in other stages of the manufacturing process.

 To stop the operation of the supply device 18 in response to the accumulation of a desired maximum number of tubes T on the track 22, the latter comprises a parts detector 130 (FIG. 4) which overlaps the interval 120 and which is bolted at 132 on the inclined sections 122 of the guide rails 116, at the lower ends of hanging blocks 134 and 135 which, themselves, are fixed, for example by members i38, to a transverse bar 140 of the opposite ends of which are fixed and run down from the elements 142 and 144. The detector 130 comprises a conventional high-level limit valve, connected to the pneumatic circuit controlling the supply of compressed air to the jack 84.

In order to protect fragile parts T with a single head against deterioration, for example glass tubes for thermometers, due to jamming of these parts in the lower end of the hopper 14, in particular in the slot 42, a anti-jamming limit valve 150 is mounted and bolted to the side of the extended ejection plunger 102 (FIG. 1) and it is connected to the pneumatic compressed air supply circuit of jack 84 in order to participate in the control of ze latest. The movable rod 152 of the valve 150 ends with a head 154 which is spaced from a button 156 with which it cannot come into contact and which is mounted on the rectangular block 98 mounted on springs. Consequently, if the aforementioned jamming occurs, the ejection plunger 102 is forced to a stop, as is the block 98 to which it is fixed. However, the rod 92 continues to move to the left, in the orientation of FIG. 1, in order to push the button 156 mounted on the block 98 against the head 154 of the stem 152 of the valve 150 to close the latter and , therefore, to stop the compressed air supply to the horizontal cylinder or reciprocating motor until the jamming is removed.

The operation of the hopper feeder or autsmatic loader with short single head rods is apparent from the preceding description relating to the construction of this loader, and it therefore seems sufficient to only resume it briefly at this stage of the description. tion. The operator fills the hopper 14 with any desired number of short stems with a single head, DCr example of tunes
T of thermometers with heads or bulbs facing forward, that is to say towards the extreme front wall 72 of the hopper 14. Compressed air is then supplied to the pneumatic circuit in order to actuate the jack 84 by via one or more conventional valves (not shown). The implementation of the cylinder 84 and the forward movement resulting from the rod 90 of the piston, the rod 92 and the ejection plunger 102 have the effect of causing the front end of the latter to move towards the left, in the cavity 68 formed between the stirring plates 58 and 59, immediately below the slot 42, and bring the shoulder 103 of this plunger against the rear end of the rod or tube T chosen which is thus pushed forward, its head or its enlarged bulb first, on the inclined faces 106 of the horizontal and elongated guide bars 108. The part T then pivots down around its head or its bulb to take an upright position. The pneumatic circuit then reverses the compressed air supply to the jack 84, in order to pull the piston rod outwards and to the right (FIGS. 1 and 2), which causes a withdrawal movement of the front section of the plunger. 102 of ejection in the cavity 68, between the plates 58 and 59 of agitation.

 Although they are stopped momentarily during the reciprocating movement of the ejection plunger 102, the stirring plates 58 and 59, which execute an alternating movement, at the same time, rise and fall intermittently between their positions shown in solid lines and those shown in dotted lines (FIG. 3) in order to agitate the supply of parts T and to prevent these parts from jamming in the slot 42. In this way, the repeated actions of the pneumatic cylinder 84 for supplying parts and of its piston rod 90, which cause the ejection plunger 102 to perform a reciprocating movement, cause the parts T to be brought one by one to the receiving device 20, each rod T pivoting down around its head or its enlarged bulb, used as a pivot, as described above and shown in FIG. 4. Each of the successive parts T then pushes the preceding parts T along the guide blocks 108 and, consequently, on the hor sections. upper horizontal 115 of the guide rails 116 from which the parts descend by sliding on the inclined sections 122 of these rails to arrive on the lower horizontal sections 124. The parts are then taken by any suitable device in order to be subjected to d other operations, for example a control operation and a packaging operation.

 At the same time, the et5 and 5 ettation plates go up and down intermittently, through the slot 42, in the hopper 14 where they constantly stir the parts T contained therein and not only oppose the jamming of these parts in the slot 42, but also arrange the parts parallel to each other and to the slot 42, and in contact with each other.

The pieces then slide by gravity along the inclined lower walls 38 (FIG. 3) of the hopper 14, then into the slot 42 formed between the lower edges of these walls 38, and they fall one by one onto the momentary support formed by the upper edge of the ejection plunger 102 which performs an alternating movement in the cavity 68 formed between the stirring plates 58 and 59. The parts are then pushed, as described above, by the shoulder 103 from a position located below the outlet slot 42 of the hopper 14 to a position in which they rest on the guide blocks 108 where they pivot down to orient themselves vertically, a position they then retain (Figure 4).

In this way, the single-head T pieces accumulate between the guide blocks 108 from where they are pushed by the T pieces which subsequently arrive on the upper horizontal sections 115 of the guide rails 116, then they descend on the inclined sections 122 towards the lower horizontal arms 124 of the guide rails 116. The detector 130 determines, as described above, the admissible number of parts T that can accumulate on the rails 116 for guiding the track 22, from the receiving device 20, and it momentarily stops the operation of the jack. tire 84 until the parts T are withdrawn from the distribution station 24 located at the lower end of the track 22. During this time, as described above, any jamming occurring in the bottom of the hopper 14 causes a stop triggered by the anti-jamming valve 150 until the blockage is eliminated. Normal operation, described above, then resumes.

It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that the parts T do not have to be rods or tubes of circular cross section, the medical thermometers being in fact of practically triangular cross section, with rounded edges. It is also obvious that the hopper feeder 10 according to the invention can handle tubes or rods T not having a head or a bulb.

In this case, the inclined track 22 is eliminated and the interval between the guide blocks 108 of the receiving device 20 is reduced, so that the rods or tubes T cannot fall into this space. Such rods or c such tubes T without head or without a hen can then be shouted directly on the device Zvde this reception by means of a suitable conventional device, for example a conventional automaton not falling within the scope of the 'invention.

 It goes without saying that many modifications can be made to the device described and shown without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims (4)

R E V E N D I C A T I O N S  1. Hopper feeder intended to move one by one of the parts (T) in the form of short rods, caracteris. in that it comprises a support structure (12), a hopper (14) for receiving parts mounted on the structure and comprising spaced side walls (72 and 74) and bottom walls (38) which are clinched downwards and which converge to form a chamber (15) having, at its lower part, an elongated outlet opening (42) and a discharge opening situated at a certain distance from the outlet opening, two elements (58 and 59) stirring of the parts being arranged side by side, parallel to each other and at a certain distance from each other, below the outlet opening, these elements being able to be displaced relative to one another to the other in order to go up and down, in opposite directions, beyond the outlet opening, to enter and exit the chamber (15), members (52 and 53) controlling the upward and downward movements of the agitation elements one with respect to the other, beyond the outlet opening, a receiving device (20) ion of the parts being mounted near the hopper, in alignment with the discharge opening of the parts, a ejector (102) of feet being mounted between the agitating elements so as to be able to execute a substantially horizontal reciprocating movement between positions adjacent to the outlet opening and the discharge opening, respectively, for pushing a single piece (T) from the position adjacent to the outlet opening to the position adjacent to the discharge opening and passing the part in the latter to bring it on the receiving device (20), a member (84) controlling the horizontal reciprocating movement of the ejector, across the outlet opening, in synchronism with the members (52 and 53! for controlling the movements of the agitating elements. 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the stirring elements comprise plates (58 and 59) which have opposite upper surfaces (62, 63), inclined so as to move away from one of the other and bearing against the coins.  3. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the organs controlling the stirring elements comprise two motors (52, 53) capable of performing reciprocating movements independently of one another, one of the motors being connected to one stirring element and the other motor to the other stirring element.  4. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that each part) comprises an enlarged part forming a head (B) close to one end, the device (20) for receiving the parts comprising two elongated elements (108) arranged horizontally and parallel to each other, at a certain distance from each other, the spacing of these elements being greater than the thickness of the rod of the parts, but less than the thickness of the head of said parts , the rod of the parts deposited by the ejector (102) on the receiving device pivoting downwards passing through the space provided between the elements (108), the pivoting being effected on the head (B) of the parts, a coin dispenser (24) being arranged below the receiving device, at a certain horizontal and vertical distance from the latter, an inclined track (22), intended for the ejected pieces, being aligned with the receiving device from which it descends to the distributor, this track comprising two elongated members (116) parallel to each other and arranged at the same spacing as the elements (108) with which these elements (116) are aligned and to which they are connected.