GB1597177A

GB1597177A - Apparatus to effect orderly feeding of bodies to a work station

Info

Publication number: GB1597177A
Application number: GB8292/78A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1977-03-07
Filing date: 1978-03-02
Publication date: 1981-09-03

Description

(54) APPARATUS TO EFFECT ORDERLY FEEDING OF BODIES TO A WORK STATION (71) I, HANS LIST, of Lau-Strasse 51, 7 Stuttgart 70, Federal Republic of Germany, a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- The present invention relates to apparatus to effect orderly feeding of a plurality of bodies to a work station.

In known apparatus there is provided a reversing unit in the form of a vibratory conveyor, which conveys bodies reaching it back to the mouth region of a loading station so that they are again subjected to a feeding cycle. In order to prevent dissolution of the ordered formation of fed bodies and to ensure feeding of the bodies to a downstream treatment station in correctly aligned state and as close together as possible, tunnel-shaped covers are associated with the individual conveying or formation-forming paths. A gap is left underneath the body conveying elements between the end of the vibratory conveyor and the start of the covers and the bodies falling through this gap land on a chute from where they can be automatically returned to a receiving container.

This requires additional constructional effort and space, which can, however, be avoided if the conveyor is arranged to extend up to the start of the covers. However, it has been found that the bodies then accumulate at the entry region of the covers to such an extent that the operational reliability and performance of the apparatus are impaired.

According to the invention there is provided apparatus to effect orderly feeding of a plurality of bodies to a work station, comprising a container for such bodies, a forward transport unit arranged to advance such bodies in an ordered formation along at least one path to a work station, means to convey such bodies from the containers to the forward transport unit, stripper means comprising a plurality of stripper elements to effect a wiping motion along a spatial region above the or each path to thereby move counter to the advance direction any bodies not being advanced in the ordered formation, order correcting means to effect collection, transfer and alignment of incorrectly ordered bodies, the correcting means being arranged to execute a reciprocatory motion relative to the forward transport unit and to the stripper means, and cover means covering a length portion of the or each path to define passage means for bodies advanced therealong, the cover means being arranged directly downstream of the stripper means with respect to the advance direction and provided with at least one recess for passage therethrough of the stripper elements.

Apparatus embodying the invention advantageously avoids additional constructions for the reintroduction of bodies into the supply container and in a simple manner eliminates the danger of a build-up of bodies at the entry region of the covers to thereby improve the performance of the apparatus.

In a preferred embodiment, the stripper elements are resilient and are mounted on a drive shaft. Preferably, the order correcting means comprises a body, which is drivable by an eccentric drive and which has ribs extending in the advance direction and laterally alongside the or each path. For preference, a respective such stripper element is associated with each path.

Alternatively, the stripper elements may comprise a brush, lambskin or similar roller extending transversely over the forward transport unit, the stripper elements being so positioned that appropriately dimensioned passage cross-sections for the bodies remain free in the region of the or each oath.

Expediently, the ribbed body of the order correcting means can be driven to execute a reciprocatory motion substantially normal to the advance direction. This ensures that build-ups of bodies on the or each path, as a consequence of any free space arising through downward motion of the body, are automatically dissolved so that impairment of the function of the apparatus is avoided. Furthermore, the body may periodically effect a transfer of at least a few of the bodies disposed on its ribs to the or an adjoining path.

An ordering of the bodies may, in that case, be achieved through a suitable shaping of upper ends of the ribs of the body, so that the bodies are returned to the or each path largely in the correct position.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a partly sectional side view of apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross-section, on the line I-I of Fig. 1, of cover means of the apparatus; Fig. 4 is a cross-section, on the line IV-IV of Fig. 1, of stripper means of the apparatus; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of stripper means according to a first modification; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of stripper means according to a second modification; Fig. 7 is a side view of stripper means according to a third modification; Fig. 8 is a side view of stripper means according to a fourth modification;; Fig. 9 is a side view of stripper means according to a fifth modification; Fig. 10 is a front view of stripper means according to a sixth modification; Fig. 11 is a sectional view of part of a forward transport unit in accordance with a modification; Fig. 12 is a perspective view of part of a transport unit in accordance with a further modification; Fig. 13 is a partly sectional side view of apparatus according to another embodiment of the invention; and Fig. 14 is a plan view of part of the apparatus of Fig. 13.

Referring now to the drawings, apparatus for the ordering, aligning and feeding correctly in position of, in particular, elongate bodies 5 to a work station comprises a supply container 2, which is arranged on a frame-shaped machine base 1 and downstream of which is arranged an oscillating conveyor channel 3. The conveyor channel 3 feeds a forward transport unit 4, which is disposed thereunder and which in the embodiment of Fig. 1 runs obliquely upwards. The forward transport unit 4 may, however, equally well extend horizontally or obliquely downwards.

The bodies 5 to be ordered and aligned are loaded into the supply container 2. In the present example, the bodies 5 are gelatine capsules. The desired or most expedient exit cross-section is set by means of an outlet slide 6 of adjustable height and the number of gelatine capsules issuing per unit of time can thus be chosen within limits.

The forward transport unit 4 comprises entraining elements in the form of endless helically- or spirally-shaped springs 7, which run at a spacing from one another and in respective pairs form a transport path or a formation-forming path 8, which receives and conveys further the bodies 5.

The drive motor, preferably regulable in rotational speed, for the transport unit is designated by 9 and attached to a longitudinal frame 10 of the machine base. A belt pulley 12 sits on the motor shaft 11, a corresponding belt pulley 13 likewise being mounted on the shaft 14 of a drive roller 15, which is set into rotation by means of a toothed belt or V-belt 16 or a chain and displays grooves 17 running in circumferential direction for an unobjectionable guidance and entrainment of the springs 7. A deflecting roller 18 is disposed at the input region of the forward transport unit 4 underneath the oscillating conveyor channel 3, which is actuated by means of one or more magnet arrangements 20 and supports itself through restoring springs 19 on a base plate 21.

The bodies 5 disposed in formation on the respective transport paths 8 each get to or into a collecting path 22, which is embodied by a cover 23, recessed in tunnelshape and preferably consisting of a transparent synthetic material, and which serves to feed the bodies correctly in position and in gapless sequence to the following work station. The tunnels for the bodies in row formation can be provided by longitudinal channels arranged at the respectively required spacings in a common cover plate. After the elongate cover 23, there follows a correspondingly, constructed, but curved cover 24.

Connected to this in turn is a further cover 25 running nearly vertically.

As shown in Fig. 3, the tunnel-shaped recesses in the covers 23 can be of wedgeshaped cross-section. Thereby, an adaptation to different diameters of the bodies 5 is made possible. The covers are removably attached at suitable fitting pieces 27 or like parts, for example by means of manually actuable screws 26.

Provided in the lower region of the vertically extending collecting paths is an apportioning device in the form of a tilting lever 28, which is rotatably mounted in a guide 29 and which is provided at its underside with a nose-shaped projection 30 covering the exit channels for the gelatine capsules and in its upper region with a sprung pressure piece 31. The tilting lever 28 is actuated by means of a magnet 32. In place of a tilting lever, a known parallel guide may also be used as an apportioning device.

Advantageously, there is provided a counter ing device with multiple channels individually displaceable relative to the feed device, that is in the present case the collecting paths, alternately into and out of alignment with the mouths of the collecting paths, the exit opening of each counting channel being alternately at least partially covered over and then freed. A counting device of that kind affords optimum performance and counting accuracy.

To avoid impairment of the aligning and collecting process of the bodies caused through bodies not being seized correctly in position by the respective transport path 8 and/or through wrongly oriented bodies as well as also to avoid the formation of a build-up in consequence of wrongly oriented bodies at the entry region of the bodies into the respective collecting paths a reverse unit comprising a stripper device 33 is provided.

This stripper device, as is evident particularly from Figs. 1 and 4, is realised by stripperelements 34, which are respectively arranged spatially above the formation-forming paths and which are arranged on a common drive shaft 35 and conveys back against the running direction of the forward transport unit 4 those bodies or parts 51, which are disposed above the diameter region of the bodies 5 properly in formation.

The bodies 51 stripped back and/or off and also superfluous bodies drop either immediately or after a little delay on to a combined collecting, transfer and aligning device 36. This device is constructed as a profile body and displays ribs 37, which run in transport direction of the bodies 5 and which each engage into the space between two transport and formation-forming paths 8, respectively. The profile body is settable into a periodic raising and lowering motion by means of an eccentric drive 39 engaging at its back part 38 lying spatially underneath the formation-forming paths. In place of eccentric cranks, the profile bodies could also be actuated by means of dogs or cam discs.

The drive of the shaft 35 carrying the stripper elements 34 can take place from the main drive 9 through an additional belt pulley 53 and a belt or chain drive 54 with the aid of a V-belt or a chain 40 or, alterntively, also independently through an individual drive motor 41.

The stripper device 33, which can be provided at any section between the oscillating conveyor channel 3 and the covers 23 of the collecting paths 22, is in the exemplary embodiment arranged at the entry region of the bodies 5 in formation into the collecting paths as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. In order that the individual stripper elements 34 are optimally adaptable to the zones respectively to be wiped over, the covers 23 of the collect ing paths each contain respective slot-like recesses 42 for the passage of the stripper element concerned (Fig. 7). The stripper elements 34 can for example comprise a disc-shaped brush ring (Fig. 5) or consist of elastic spokes in the shape of rubber rods, helical springs or the like mounted radially to the drive shaft 35 (Fig. 6).

To facilitate the transfer and/or the alignment of the dropped-off or stripped-off bodies 51 it has proved expedient to shape those regions of the ribs 37 of the profile body, which are facing the formationforming and transport paths 8, respectively, to be suitably convex or concave (Figs. 4 and 10).

As Fig. 7 shows, the stripper device 33 can also be realised by a number of endless belts 43, which correspond to the number of the transport paths and which are each provided with stripper fingers 44 arranged at a spacing from one another and which run around two rollers 45 and 46, of which at least one is driven. The stripper fingers can in that case be constructed as bristle bundles (Fig. 8), as helical springs (Fig. 9), as elastic rods or the like.

In the case of a stationary body, it has proved advantageous to construct the stripper device 33 arranged at a suitable place as brush, lambskin or similar roller and to choose the outline of the roller so that appropriately dimensioned passage cross-sections 47 for the bodies 5 remain free respectively in the region of the transport paths 8 (Fig. 10).

Those sides 52 of the ribs 37 of the profile body, which are facing the transport paths 8, are here concavely constructed.

The entraining elements forming a respective transport path 8 may consist of any material suitable for this purpose and may be constructed as, for example, belts, strips provided with slots, V-belts or like transport elements. In certain cases, it is advantageous to construct the transport paths 8 each of three or more springs or like entraining elements, which at least in part lie in different planes.

In Fig. 11, four parallelly extending springs 7 are present, two of which circulate at al spacing from each other in a plane which lies above or below the plane of circulation of the other two springs. For this purposej the associated driving and deflecting rollers 48, respectively, are provided with corresponding recesses 49 and 50. Such a or a similar construction of the entraining elements entails the advantage that the bodies 5 lie in a trough-shaped receptacle screened to a certain extent. This acts advantageously on the formation-forming and collecting process.

A trough-shaped receptacle for the bodies 5 can be provided by a single spring system 51 of curved configuration, as shown in Fig. 12.

In place of the trough-shaped receptacle formed of four entraining elements 7 for the bodies 5 to be transported and as illustrated in Fig. 11, such a receptacle can also be realised through two upper entraining elements 71 in connection with an endless belt 53 disposed at a suitable spacing thereunder, as is evident from Figs. 13 and 14.

The bodies 5 in that case lie with their underside on the endless belt 53 circulating synchronously with the entraining elements 71 so that the two entraining elements 71 each form a lateral limitation for the bodies 5.

In place of springs, the entraining elements 71 can also be provided by four-cornered belts, V-belts or ring cords of rubber or the like material.

To enable the mutual spacing s1 between each pair of entraining or limiting elements 71 to be varied rapidly and in simple manner for the purpose of adaptation to different diameters or widths of the bodies 5 respectively to be transported, a deflecting roller 54 and/or a driving roller 55 are so constructed that two limiting pulleys 56 and 57 associated with one pair of entraining elements 71 are laterally displaceable either steplessly or in steps relative to each other. For this purpose the limiting pulleys 56 and 57 are each detachably arranged on rods 58 of the deflecting roller 54 and/or driving roller 55 to form a rod cage. It can sometimes prove adequate to make only one of the two limiting pulleys 56 and 57 displaceable.The width of a recess 59 in the cover 25 is in that case dimensioned to correspond to the maximum spacing 3 between the entraining elements 71; the width of the endless belts 53 depends on the greatest possible transverse extent of the elements 71.

Due to a respective endless belt 53 being associated with the entraining elements 71 of each transport path 8, an adequate free space 61 remains between the transport paths 8 for the use of a combined collecting, transfer and aligning device 36 (see Figs. 1 and 4).

Should such a device 36 for any reason prove not to be necessary, a single endless belt 53 of corresponding width may be used.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. Apparatus to effect orderly feeding of a plurality of bodies to a work station, comprising a container for such bodies, a forward transport unit arranged to advance such bodies in an ordered formation along at least one path to a work station, means to convey such bodies from the container to the forward transport unit, stripper means comprising a plurality of stripper elements to effect a wiping motion along a spatial region above the or each path to thereby move counter to the advance direction any bodies not being advanced in the ordered formation, order correcting means to effect collection, transfer and alignment of incorrectly ordered bodies, the correcting means being arranged to execute a reciprocatory motion relative to the forward transport unit and to the stripper means, and cover means covering a length portion of the or each path to define passage means for bodies advanced therealong, the cover means being arranged directly downstream of the stripper means with respect to the advance direction and provided with at least one recess for passage therethrough of the stripper elements.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stripper elements are resilient and are mounted on a shaft, means being provided to rotate the shaft.

3. Apparatus as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2, comprising a plurality of such paths, each stripper element being associated with a respective one of the paths.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the stripper elements comprises a respective disc-shaped brush ring.

5. Apparatus as claimed in either claim 2 or claim 3, wherein each of the stripper elements comprises a respective plurality of resilient spokes.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein each plurality of spokes extends radially of the shaft.

7. Apparatus as claimed in either claim 5 or claim 6, wherein each plurality of spokes is mounted directly on the shaft.

8. Apparatus as claimed in either claim 5 or claim 6, wherein each plurality of spokes is mounted directly on the shaft.

9. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the spokes comprise helical spring elements.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stripper elements are mounted on endless belt means guided around two rollers, at least one of the rollers being operable to drive the belt means.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the stripper elements are arranged spaced apart on the belt means, each of the stripper - elements comprising a plurality of bristles.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the stripper elements are arranged spaced apart on the belt means, each of the stripper elements comprising a helical spring element.

13. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the order correcting means comprises a body provided with a plurality of ribs, which each extend in the advance direction and are disposed laterally of the or each path, and crank means to reciprocate body.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13, the crank means being operable to reciprocate the body in a direction substantially perpendicular to the advance direction.

15. Apparatus as claimed in either claim 13 or 4, wherein the portion of each of the ribs nearest the path or paths is convexlyshaped.

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

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. be realised through two upper entraining elements 71 in connection with an endless belt 53 disposed at a suitable spacing thereunder, as is evident from Figs. 13 and 14. The bodies 5 in that case lie with their underside on the endless belt 53 circulating synchronously with the entraining elements 71 so that the two entraining elements 71 each form a lateral limitation for the bodies 5. In place of springs, the entraining elements 71 can also be provided by four-cornered belts, V-belts or ring cords of rubber or the like material. To enable the mutual spacing s1 between each pair of entraining or limiting elements 71 to be varied rapidly and in simple manner for the purpose of adaptation to different diameters or widths of the bodies 5 respectively to be transported, a deflecting roller 54 and/or a driving roller 55 are so constructed that two limiting pulleys 56 and 57 associated with one pair of entraining elements 71 are laterally displaceable either steplessly or in steps relative to each other. For this purpose the limiting pulleys 56 and 57 are each detachably arranged on rods 58 of the deflecting roller 54 and/or driving roller 55 to form a rod cage. It can sometimes prove adequate to make only one of the two limiting pulleys 56 and 57 displaceable.The width of a recess 59 in the cover 25 is in that case dimensioned to correspond to the maximum spacing 3 between the entraining elements 71; the width of the endless belts 53 depends on the greatest possible transverse extent of the elements 71. Due to a respective endless belt 53 being associated with the entraining elements 71 of each transport path 8, an adequate free space 61 remains between the transport paths 8 for the use of a combined collecting, transfer and aligning device 36 (see Figs. 1 and 4). Should such a device 36 for any reason prove not to be necessary, a single endless belt 53 of corresponding width may be used. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. Apparatus to effect orderly feeding of a plurality of bodies to a work station, comprising a container for such bodies, a forward transport unit arranged to advance such bodies in an ordered formation along at least one path to a work station, means to convey such bodies from the container to the forward transport unit, stripper means comprising a plurality of stripper elements to effect a wiping motion along a spatial region above the or each path to thereby move counter to the advance direction any bodies not being advanced in the ordered formation, order correcting means to effect collection, transfer and alignment of incorrectly ordered bodies, the correcting means being arranged to execute a reciprocatory motion relative to the forward transport unit and to the stripper means, and cover means covering a length portion of the or each path to define passage means for bodies advanced therealong, the cover means being arranged directly downstream of the stripper means with respect to the advance direction and provided with at least one recess for passage therethrough of the stripper elements.

16. Apparatus as claimed in either claim

13 or 14, wherein the portion of each of the ribs nearest the path or paths is concavelyshaped.

17. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the forward transport unit comprises entraining elements defining the or each path.

18. Apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the entraining elements defining the or each path comprise at least two endless helical springs extending substantially parallel to each other.

19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the entraining elements defining the or each path comprise et least three substantially similar parallelly extending elements, at least two of which are, at corresponding points in their length, disposed in different planes.

20. Apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein each of the substantially similar elements comprises an endless helical spring.

21. Apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein each of the entraining elements comprises a respective endless trough-shaped element composed of helical springs.

22. Apparatus as claimed in claim 18, comprising a respective endless belt means associated with the or each path, the belt means being arranged below the two endless springs associated with the respective path and being arranged to circulate substantially synchronously therewith.

23. Apparatus as claimed in claim 22, comprising at least one pair of discs associated with said two springs and mounted on respective roller means, the or at least one of the roller means being operable to drive the entraning elements and the spacing between the discs of the or each pair being adjustable to adjust the spacing of the springs.

24. Apparatus as claimed in claim 23, wherein the or each roller means comprises a plurality of rods arranged in the form of a cage, at least one of the discs of the or each pair being detachably and axially mounted on the rods of the respective roller means.

25. Apparatus to effect orderly feeding of a plurality of bodies to a work station and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of Figs, 1 to 4 or Figs. 13 and 14 of the accompanying drawings.

26. Apparatus as claimed in claim 25 and modified substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of Figs.

5 to 12 of the accompanying drawings.

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