GB1431968A - Apparatus for orientating and feeding elongated lightweight articles - Google Patents

Abstract

1431968 Endless conveyers; discharging from shoots STORK AMSTERDAM BV 15 Oct 1973 [25 Oct 1972] 48509/73 Headings B8A and B8S Apparatus for feeding articles, e.g. plastics bottles 6, from a hopper 1 to a filling machine 2, by means of which the bottles are aligned and oriented prior to entering the machine 2, comprises a feed out means 3 with a regulatable metering vibrator 4 at the base of the hopper 1 from which the bottles are fed to two parallel transit paths 5 (only one shown) each path 5 being provided with a shaker mechanism 7 thus producing two rows of horizontally aligned bottles, the bottles then passing to an orientating device 12 at which those bottles not already having their bottom ends forward are turned, so that all the bottles leave the device 12 in two rows with their bottom ends turned to the front and pass into a respective conveying line 16 having means 17 for feeding compressed air thereinto such that the bottles are fed through the lines 16 into a downwardly slanting buffer portion 24 of each line 16 for holding a buffer stock of bottles, the bottles passing from the buffer portions 24 to a common feed worm 18 by which the bottles are fed to the filling machine 2. Each orientating device 12 comprises a pair of endless ropes 13 adjoining each transit path 5, and below each pair 13 is a pair of endless ropes (14) and one endless rope (15), Fig. 4 (not shown), the ropes (14) moving in the direction of conveyance while the ropes (15) move in the opposite direction, and those bottles which from the start are in the correct position come into contact only with the ropes (14) while bottles which have assumed the wrong position (i.e. necks forward) contact the ropes (15) and are turned over before being carried on by the ropes (14). For each conveying line 16 there is a rotary feed member for feeding bottles from the bottom of the line 16 to the worm 18, each such feed member comprising an upright partcylindrical rotatable wall part 20 with a helically-extending upper surface 21 rotating in a cylindrical casing, Fig. 6, and when the helical surface 21 lies under the exit from the associated buffer portion 24 a bottle is allowed to drop on to this surface 21 and due to the further rotation of the wall part 20 the bottle sinks to the level of the worm 18 and is pushed by the leading edge 25 of the wall part 20 into the helix of the worm 18. A sensing member 28 operates a stop member 27 to make the transit paths 5 inoperative when the quantity of bottles in the buffer stock is too large, and a sensing member 29 near the upper end of each buffer portion 24 also renders the associated transit path 5 inoperative when the quantity of bottles in the buffer portion is too great, while a sensing member 30 above the exit from each conveying line 16 operates a stop pin 23 to prevent exit of bottles from the lines 16 when the quantity of bottles in the buffer portions 24 has decreased too far.