GB1596083A

GB1596083A - Carriages for conveying articles particularly in a processing plant

Info

Publication number: GB1596083A
Application number: GB12946/78A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Manufacture de Machines du Haut Rhin SA MANURHIN
Current assignee: Manufacture de Machines du Haut Rhin SA MANURHIN
Priority date: 1977-04-05
Filing date: 1978-04-03
Publication date: 1981-08-19
Also published as: IT7822003A0; ES468487A1; CH633758A5; FR2386460A1; DE2814567B2; JPS6027604B2; DE7810021U1; NL7803526A; DE2814567A1; JPS54369A; FR2386460B1; IT1094349B; DE2814567C3; BR7802101A; BE864836A

Abstract

The endless conveyor possesses entraining devices which are designed to receive and retain, for example, bottles. The entraining devices are connected to each other by connecting elements (11) to form a chain, which connecting elements (11) permit tilting of the entraining devices about the longitudinal axis of the chain. It is thereby possible, by the provision of corresponding guide rails for the entraining devices, to rotate the latter. In this manner the bottles carried in the entraining devices can, for example, be inverted. <IMAGE>

Description

(54) CARRIAGES FOR CONVEYING ARTICLES, PARTICULARLY IN A PROCESSING PLANT (71) We, MANUFACTURE DE MACHINES DU HAUT-RHIN S.A., a French Company, of 10 Rue de Soultz, 68060 Mulhouse Cedex, France, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The invention refers to a carriage for conveyance of an article, in particular in a plant for processing under continuous kinematic, the carriage being adapted for connection to other identical carriages to form an endless chain passing through the plant for conveying the articles to be processed from one workstation to another.

In order to ensure the conveyance of articles in processing plants, especially in plants known as being "under continuous kinematic", in which the processing operations are effected during movement of the articles, the practice is known of arranging the articles to be processed in "carriages" which are connected together to form an endless chain which serves the whole of the plant or a portion of it. Such arrangements are known in particular from the French Patent No. 2,250,692.

However, these known chains of carriages display various disadvantages, one of the most important of which is that the orientation of the carriages with respect to one another can be modified only in one single plane. For example, in a machine under continuous kinematic where the chain of carriages connects together operational drums upon which the operations of processing the articles are carried out, the orientation of the carriages with respect to one another can be modified only in a plane perpendicular to the axes of the drums.

In other words, if the axes of the drums are vertical the chain formed by the carriages can be curved only in the horizontal plane. If the articles conveyed in the carriages are bottles placed upright in the carriages, that means that these bottles will be able to be sloped or inverted only by taking them out of the car riages. This is a disadvantage, especially in the case of draining operations for which it is necesary to invert the bottles. Furthemore these known chains of carriages are in general of complicated, heavy and costly construction.

The aim of the invention is to create a novel carriage of the above type.

For this purpose the invention provides a carriage for conveyance of articles, in particular in a plant for processing under continuous kinematic, the carriage being adapted for connection to other identical carriages to form an endless chain passing through the plant for conveying the articles to be processed from one work-station to another, the carriage being characterised in that it includes a means of connection intended for connecting two such identical carriages to allow relative twisting in a plurality of directions of one carriage with respect to the other, and a seating equipped with means for guiding and retaining an article introduced into the carriage.

The carriages in accordance with the invention may be assembled into a chain for conveyance of articles, capable of being twisted without the articles which remain retained and centred being able to escape.

It is particularly important that the retaining means be complemented by guiding means: that is particularly important in the case of an article having rotational symmetry and especially a cylindrical one such as a bottle. In fact, if the retaining means are not distributed uniformly round the periphery of the seating of the carriage, for example when only one or two retaining members are provided it is necessary to supplement them with the guide means. In the case of one single retaining member it is necessary to provide for two guide members because the cylindrical article would bear against the seating only along one generatrix, which would be insufficient; further, the article would not be centred. Of course where sufficient retaining members are provided they may themselves serve as guide means.

In accordance with another characteristic, the means of connection is a flexible member.

In accordance with another characteristic, the means of connection consists of an appendage bearing a ball-joint head, as well as a second appendage diametrically opposite to the.

first appendage, this second appendage having a ball-joint seating for snap-fit reception of the ball-joint head of an adjacent identical carriage.

It is particularly advantageous to produce the carriage in one single piece by, for example, moulding from synthetic resin. The use of a snap-fit connecting member is particularly practical when the forces exerted on the carriage are small; in fact, by snapping in, the chain of carriages may be easily produced or dismantled as a function of the articles to be processed, the seatings in the carriages being preferably adapted to the shape and dimensions of the articles.

The invention will be described in greater detail by referring to the drawings herewith, in which: Figure 1 represents diagrammatically in plan a plant under continuous kinematic, equipped with a chain of carriages able to be curved only in the horizontal plane; Figure 2a is a plan of a first embodiment of a carriage in accordance with the invention; Figure 2b is an axial section along the line I-I in Figure 2a in the left-hand part of it and along the line II--II in Figure 2a in the right-hand part of it; Figure 3a is a plan of two carriages coupled together corresponding with a second preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 36 reperesents in elevation, seen in the direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the chain, the two carriages as Figure 3a;; Figure 3c represents in section along the line III--III in Figure 3a one of the two carriages as the latter Figure; Figure 3d is a section along the line IV-IV in Figure 3a, the left-hand half-section showing an article (bottle) resting in an upper position and the right-hand half-section showing the article (bottle) in a lower position; Figure 4a represents diagrammatically in elevation a plant under continuous kinematic, equipped with a chain of carriages in accord ance with the invention; and Figure 46 represents diagrammatically in plan the plant under continuous kinematic as Figure 4a.

Figure 1 represents diagrammatically in plan a plant under continuous kinematic, equipped with a chain of carriages of known type, able to be curved only in the horizontal plane. In the example represented the plant includes a first operative drum 1 and a second operative drum 1'. An endless chain 2, consisting of an assembly of carriages 3, only some of which have been shown in the Figure, connects together these two operative drums 1 and 1' and by passing round a certain number of return drums 4, is moved with a uniform motion in the direction of the arrow F, bringing first of all to the operative drum 1, then to the opera tive drum 1', bottles placed upright in the carriages 3.Loading of the bottles into the carriages 3 is effected by manual or automatic means on a portion of the chain located up stream of the drum 1 in the direction of travel of the bottles, in the same way that unloading is effected downstream of the drum 1' after the bottles have undergone processing opera tions, for example, filling and stoppering, effected respectively on each of these two drums 1 and 1'.

The disadvantage of an installation such as that shown in Figure 1 is that the bottles along the whole of their course are kept upright in the carriages with, as is the case in the example which has just been described, their mouths turned upwards, and that they can neither be sloped nor inverted. This disadvantage is serious in certain cases. For example, if, before filling, the bottles must be rinsed and drained with their mouths of course turned downwards, it would not be possible to carry out these operations on a supplementary operative drum mounted up steam of the operative drum 1 in the plant as Figure 2, and the rinsing followed by the draining would have to be done neccessarily on a distinct plant with all the disadvantages that that entails in supplementary investment and labour costs.

Furthermore in the case of a chain of carriages which curve only in the horizontal plane as in Figure 1, the side of the chain serving the operational drums 1 and 1' and the return side are perforce arranged in the same horizontal plane, which entails the requirements of considerable ground space.

In order to remedy these disadvantages the invention provides for a concept of articlecarrying carriages and means enabling them to be assembled in a chain, such that these carriages can be directed with respect to one another into different planes.

Figures 2a and 26 show a first embodiment of the invention. The vehicle 3 exhibits an annular structure obtained preferably by moulding from a material such as a plastics substance.

In the central opening of this annular structure, guide ribs 5 and retaining ribs 6 co-operate with a bottle (not shown) which is placed in this carriage. In order that the bottle 3 be held without slipping inside the carriage, the retain ing ribs 6 are carried by a block 7 moulded onto a leaf spring 8 rivetted at 9 onto the wall of the carriage. The spring 8 thrusts the block 7 and hence the ribs 6 powerfully in the direc tion of the axis W0 of the carriage.In order to introduce a bottle into the carriage the block 7 must be retracted by pulling the end 10 of the spring 8 in the direction of the arrow G, then when the bottle has been introduced the spring is released and the pressure then exerted by the block 7 or more precisely the retaining ribs 6 against the wall of the bottle prevents it from slipping, whatever the direction given to the carriage. At the side of the carriage shown in solid line in Figure 2a is shown in dash-dot line a second carriage of the chain, connected to the first carriage by flexible joint elements 11.These flexible joint elements of course enable the direction of the two vehicles to be modified with respect to one another in the plane perpendicular to their axes as may be seen in Figure 2a where the two carriages are making between them an angle which may be of the order of 30". But these flexible joint elements likewise, though to a lesser degree, enable the direction of the carriages to be modified into other planes. For example, if in the chain formed by the carriages the carriage in station n and consequently the bottle which it contains are vertical, it will be possible to give the carriage in station (n + 1) a slight tilt of the order of 5O with respect to the vertical.This tilt will appear as oblique opposite positions of the upper and lower flexible connecting elements 11 with respect to the vertical plane passing through the middle of these elements.

It will appear also as a slight twist of the two flexible connecting elements connecting the carriages in stations n and (n + 1). Similarly the carriage in station (n + 2) may be in turn slightly tilted by 5 , for example, with respect to the carriage in station (n + 1) and hence by 10 with respect to the carriage in station and so on step by step, with the result that the carriage in station (n + 36) may be offset by 180 with respect to the carriage in station n and hence the bottle which it contains be located with its head down if the bottle seated in the carriage station n is located vertically with its head up. Thus with a chain of carriages answering to the simple arrangements as Figures 2a and 2b it is possible to bring about reversal of the bottles.

What has just been described is putting the bottle 14 in place in the carriage by introducing the bottle from above. It is quite obvious that the bottle may also be introduced from below in order to bring it first of all into a position such as that represented in the righthand part of Figure 3d; then next into the posizion shown in the left-hand part of this same Figure.

However, the solution which has just been described displays the disadvantage of demanding a relatively long length of chain (corresponding, for example, with 36 carriages) in order to obtain reversal of the bottles. This is why one will prefer the solution which will now be described with the aid of Figures 3a to 3d.

In this new solution the carriage 3 likewise exhibits a structure on the whole annular, obtained preferably by moulding from a plastics substance endowed with a certain elasticity in bending, such as a polyamide or an acetal resin.

However, the block 7 provided on the carriage as Figures 2a and 2b for preventing slipping of the bottle is replaced by a plurality of elastic tongues 12, each equipped at its bottom end with a bead 13 which projects towards the inside of the carriage. Figure 3d shows two axial positions which amongst others a bottle 14- can occupy in the carriage. This bottle 14 directed vertically with its bottom downwards is introduced into the carriage 3 through its top opening. This introduction is effected without difficulty, the internal diameter of the carriage 3 being slightly larger than the outer diameter of the bottle 14. The bottle 14 then comes to rest of its own weight on the beads 13 of the tongues 12, as shown in the left-hand portion of Figure 3d, because the diameter of passage defined in the carriage by these beads is smaller than the outer diameter of the bottle 14.

If one now exerts a sufficient force directed from the top downwards on the bottle 14 the bottom of it will drive the beads 13 outwards by deforming the tongues 12 elastically as shown in the right-hand portion of the Figure 3a, and the bottle can then move down, for example, as far as the position shown in the righthand portion of Figure 3d. In such a position and whatever its tilt, the bottle is held without being able to slip by the friction against the beads 13 which are applied hard against the wall of the bottle by the elastic nipping of the tongues 12.

In Figure 3d there may likewise be seen the method of connection together of the carriages 3. Each carriage has an appendage 15 and an appendage 16 diametrically opposite one another. The appendage 15 carries a ball-joint head 17 and the appendage 16 a seating 18 for this ball-joint head. The seating 18 corresponds with a little more than a hemisphere, with the result that the introduction of the ball-joint head 17 of one carriage inside the ball-joint seating 18 of the adjacent carriage as may be seen in the extreme right-hand portion of Figure 3d, gives a snap-fit connection which assembles consecutive carriages together.The fact of employing an elastic plastics substance for moulding in one single piece the carriage in accordance with Figures 3a to 3d enables parts which have a slight counter-clearance (such as the ball-joint head 17 and the balljoint seating 18) to be turned out directly by moulding.

The assembly obtained between two consecutive carriages equipped with ball-joint devices able to be snapped together, in accordance with Figures 3a to 3d gives these carriages a relative freedom of direction much greater than the solution previously described by refer- ring to Figures 2a to 2b. Thus if the carriage and the bottle in station n are vertical, the carriage and the bottle in station (n + 1) may be tilted by 15 at least, with the result that complete reversal of the bottle will be obtained by bringing into play only 12 carriages instead of 36 in the case of the solution as Figures 2a and 2b.

The carriage in accordance with Figures 3a to 3d has in the diametrical plane perpendicular to that of the appendages 15 and 16 two ears 19 and 19' and two diametrically opposite ears 20 and 20'. These ears serve essentially for guiding the chain of carriages during its movement, either on guide-rails 21 and 22 (Figure 3c) upon which the ears 19 and 20 rest, or in co-operation with guide-rails 23 and 24 which pass respectively between the ears 19 and 19' and the ears 20 and 20'. The employment as the case may be of one or other of these two types of guide-rail will be explained later.

Figures 4a and 4b show diagrammatically a plant under continuous kinematic, equipped with a chain of part-carrying carriages in accordance with the invention and in particular bringing into play carriages such as those shown in Figures 3a to 3d. The references used for Figure 1 have been repeated here for the portions of the plant similar to those as Figure 1. The plant in accordance with Figures 4a and 4b includes essentially two operative drums 1 and 1' served in succession by an endless chain 2 composed of carriages 3 containing bottles 14. This chain moves in the direction of the arrow F.

In the example shown, the drum 1 is assumed to be a draining drum into which the bottles make their way in the vertical position upside down as shown in the upper right-hand portion of Figure 4a. The chain 2 is guided at the inlet and outlet of the operative drum 1 by return drums 4. At 28 the chain encounters a pair of rails which extend in half-spirals and which correspond with the guide-rails 23 and 24 as Figure 3c, that is to say, they engage respectively between the ears 19 and 19' and the ears 20 and 20' of the part-carrying carriages. Under the action of these half-spiral rails the chain 2 is twisted and the bottles 14 pass from the upside down vertical position to the upright position, being the position in which they will be processed on the operative drum 1' which is assumed to be, for example, a filling and stoppering drum.Of course the pitch of the spirals of the guide-rails at 28 is such that the reversal of the bottles is effected over a length of chain 2 which corresponds with 12 carriages.

At the outlet from the drum 1' the bottles 14, filled and closed, are withdrawn from the carriages 3. Then the carriages 3 of the chain 2 meet spiral guide-rails 29 similar to those located at 28 but which extend over only quarter-spirals instead of extending over halfspirals. These rails make the axes of the carriages 3 move from the vertical position to the horizontal position, which will enable the chain 2 to be made to pass round a return drum 26 having its axis horizontal, and thus having a return side of the chain 2 which is located underneath the forward side and in the same vertical plane, whence an important economy in ground area with respect to the arrangement shown in Figure 1.

At the end of the return run the chain 2 passes round a return drum 25 with its axis horizontal, then it meets at 27 two quarterspiral rails which bring the axes of the carriages into the vertical. New bottles 14 are then introduced into the carriages 3 and the succession of operations which has just been described is repeated.

All the portions of the chain which are not in contact with the spiral rails at the locations 27, 28 and 29 or which are not supported by an operative drum or a return drum are guided and supported by angle-iron rails of the type of those referenced 21 and 22 in Figure 3c.

Of course the invention is not restricted to the embodiments described and illustrated above, from which other forms and other embodiments may be foreseen without thereby departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A carriage for conveyance of articles, in particular in a plant for processing under continuous kinematic, the carriage being adapted for connection to other identical carriages to form an endless chain passing through the plant for conveying the articles to be processed from one work-station to another, the carriage being characterised in that it includes a means of connection intended for connecting two such identical carriages to allow relative twisting in a plurality of directions of one carriage with respect to the other, and a seating equipped with means for guiding and retaining an article introduced in the carriage.

2. A carriage as in claim 1, characterised in that the means of connection is a flexible member.

3. A carriage as in claim 1, characterised in that the means of connection consists of a first appendage bearing a ball-joint head as well as a second appendage diametrically opposite to the first appendage, this second appendage having a ball-joint seating for snapfit reception of the ball-joint head of an adja cent identical carriage.

4. A carriage as in any one the claims 1 to 3, characterised in that it is moulded in one single piece.

5. A carriage as in any one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that it is formed of a resilient plastics material.

6. A carriage as in claim 5, characterised in that said plastics material is a polyamide or an acetal resin.

7. A carriage as in any one of the claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the guiding and re taining means comprise an assembly of elastic tongues, the free ends of which terminate in beads adapted to hold the article being con

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. by bringing into play only 12 carriages instead of 36 in the case of the solution as Figures 2a and 2b. The carriage in accordance with Figures 3a to 3d has in the diametrical plane perpendicular to that of the appendages 15 and 16 two ears 19 and 19' and two diametrically opposite ears 20 and 20'. These ears serve essentially for guiding the chain of carriages during its movement, either on guide-rails 21 and 22 (Figure 3c) upon which the ears 19 and 20 rest, or in co-operation with guide-rails 23 and 24 which pass respectively between the ears 19 and 19' and the ears 20 and 20'. The employment as the case may be of one or other of these two types of guide-rail will be explained later. Figures 4a and 4b show diagrammatically a plant under continuous kinematic, equipped with a chain of part-carrying carriages in accordance with the invention and in particular bringing into play carriages such as those shown in Figures 3a to 3d. The references used for Figure 1 have been repeated here for the portions of the plant similar to those as Figure 1. The plant in accordance with Figures 4a and 4b includes essentially two operative drums 1 and 1' served in succession by an endless chain 2 composed of carriages 3 containing bottles 14. This chain moves in the direction of the arrow F. In the example shown, the drum 1 is assumed to be a draining drum into which the bottles make their way in the vertical position upside down as shown in the upper right-hand portion of Figure 4a. The chain 2 is guided at the inlet and outlet of the operative drum 1 by return drums 4. At 28 the chain encounters a pair of rails which extend in half-spirals and which correspond with the guide-rails 23 and 24 as Figure 3c, that is to say, they engage respectively between the ears 19 and 19' and the ears 20 and 20' of the part-carrying carriages. Under the action of these half-spiral rails the chain 2 is twisted and the bottles 14 pass from the upside down vertical position to the upright position, being the position in which they will be processed on the operative drum 1' which is assumed to be, for example, a filling and stoppering drum.Of course the pitch of the spirals of the guide-rails at 28 is such that the reversal of the bottles is effected over a length of chain 2 which corresponds with 12 carriages. At the outlet from the drum 1' the bottles 14, filled and closed, are withdrawn from the carriages 3. Then the carriages 3 of the chain 2 meet spiral guide-rails 29 similar to those located at 28 but which extend over only quarter-spirals instead of extending over halfspirals. These rails make the axes of the carriages 3 move from the vertical position to the horizontal position, which will enable the chain 2 to be made to pass round a return drum 26 having its axis horizontal, and thus having a return side of the chain 2 which is located underneath the forward side and in the same vertical plane, whence an important economy in ground area with respect to the arrangement shown in Figure 1. At the end of the return run the chain 2 passes round a return drum 25 with its axis horizontal, then it meets at 27 two quarterspiral rails which bring the axes of the carriages into the vertical. New bottles 14 are then introduced into the carriages 3 and the succession of operations which has just been described is repeated. All the portions of the chain which are not in contact with the spiral rails at the locations 27, 28 and 29 or which are not supported by an operative drum or a return drum are guided and supported by angle-iron rails of the type of those referenced 21 and 22 in Figure 3c. Of course the invention is not restricted to the embodiments described and illustrated above, from which other forms and other embodiments may be foreseen without thereby departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the claims. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A carriage for conveyance of articles, in particular in a plant for processing under continuous kinematic, the carriage being adapted for connection to other identical carriages to form an endless chain passing through the plant for conveying the articles to be processed from one work-station to another, the carriage being characterised in that it includes a means of connection intended for connecting two such identical carriages to allow relative twisting in a plurality of directions of one carriage with respect to the other, and a seating equipped with means for guiding and retaining an article introduced in the carriage.

veyed in the carriage by elastic nipping or when the article is above the beads, by gravityaided abutment.

8. A carriage as in any one of the claims 1 to 6, characterised in that it includes at least two pairs of ears, the ears of each pair being diametrically opposite one another and located in a diametral plane perpendicular to that in which the connection means is located these ears being adapted to co-operate with guide rails.

9. A carriage substantially as herein described with reference to either of Figures 2 and 3.