GB1279997A - Bottle loading apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1279997 Feeding bottles between endless conveyers MITSUBISHI JUKOGYO KK 2 Sept 1969 [10 Dec 1968] 11739/71 Divided out of 1279995 Heading B8A A bottle loading apparatus comprises guide means 24 for guiding a row of bottles B from a bottle conveyer 10 to carriers 20 of a bottle processing apparatus, transfer means 128 for pushing the row along the guide means 24, and control means for stopping the drive of the bottle conveyer 10 for a preselected period of time after the transfer means has engaged a row of bottles on the guide means. As shown, bottles B on conveyer 10 are stirred by members 16 into respective lanes defined by guides 19. Plates 22 respective to each lane cause the leading bottles B to tilt forward, and the rows of bottles are successively picked up by transversely disposed bars 28a, 28b, 30a, 30b carried by endless feed-chains 26. The bars 28a-30b push the bottles B along guide channels 24 and thence into containers 20 of a bottle-processing machine 14. Since alternate rows of the containers 20 are in laterally staggered relation (Fig. 3, not shown), the channels 24 are carried at their downstream ends on a laterally oscillatable frame member 46. The ends of the latter are motivated by the action of peripheral cam grooves formed in cams 56, 56<SP>1</SP>rotating with the drive-shaft 32 of the feed-chains 26. The cam grooves engage pins 60 of arms 58 which are connected to the frame member 46. In order to support the bottles at the gap between the ends of the guide channels 24 and the mouths of the containers 20, rotating support plates 170 (Fig. 7A) are rotated into position and are rotated away from this position (Fig. 7B) in order to permit the passage of the bottle pusher bars 28a-30b through the gap. This is effected by a cam (180) on the shaft 32 and a suitable follower and linkage system (Figs. 5 and 6, not shown, 32 in Figs. 1 and 2 being shown as 132 in Figs. 5 and 6). In order to stop the conveyer 10 when it tends to deliver a bottle row too closely on the heels of the preceding row on the guide channels 24 the drive of the conveyer 10 is through a fluid-controlled clutch 296 (Fig. 9). An inflatable circumferential member 306 when pressurized from a fluid conduit 310 transmits drive from a permanently driven shaft 298 to a drive sprocket 302 of the conveyer 10. A cam (318) (Fig. 8, not shown) on the drive-shaft 32 of the feed-chains 26 operates a follower twice per revolution so as to energize a switch (32) in circuit with a solenoid-valve (322) in the pressure line 310. This causes the clutch 296 to be released and the conveyer 10 to be stopped momentarily at those points in the cycle where there is danger of the bottles of a row on the conveyer 10 interfering with the bottles of a preceding row in the guide channels 24.