GB2041890A

GB2041890A - Vibratory Feed Device

Info

Publication number: GB2041890A
Application number: GB8004389A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-02-13
Filing date: 1980-02-08
Publication date: 1980-09-17
Also published as: GB2041890B

Abstract

A vibratory feed device for use with a hopper which device comprises a feed tray 16 having resilient mountings 20,24 and a vibration motor 27 which is arranged to vibrate the tray in the direction of feed said tray being provided with a plate 28 which is adjustable relative to the tray and which, in use, serves as a gate for the discharge orifice of the hopper. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Vibratory Feed Device This invention relates to a vibratory feed device for use with hoppers, and to hoppers incorporating such a feed device.

It is known to locate a vibratory feed device below a hopper so as to receive articles from the hopper and to transfer it to a receptacle or another feeding device. Such vibratory feed devices are often provided in the form of a so called "tray vibrator" which is mounted on resilent elements and is vibrated by means of a suitable vibrating motor.

Such prior tray feeders however have certain disadvantages in use. In particular, there is a tendency for the feeder tray to pivot about the resilient elements and in some circumstances the tray may contact the hopper which will not only reduce the vibration of the tray and hence the feed effectiveness but will also produce an undesirable noise level.

1,1 addition. such hopper/tray feeder combinations have an inherent problem in that the outlet of the hopper of the tray tends to become blocked by the material in the hopper jamming or "bridging" the outlet orifice. Such a problem is common when feeding a regularly shaped material but feeding manufactured components having an irregular shape presents an even greater problem. Attempts have been made to overcome this problem by providing an additional vibrator motor on the hopper and hinging one of the walls thereof but these attempted solutions have generally been unsatisfactory.

According to one aspect of the present invention I provide a vibratory feed device for use with a hopper which device comprises a feed tray having a resilient mounting and a vibration motor which is arranged to vibrate the tray in the direction of feed said tray being provided with a plate which is adjustable relative to the tray and which, in use, serves as a gate for the discharge orifice of the hopper.

According to another aspect of the invention I provide a hopper having a vibratory feed device associated therewith, said hopper having an inlet and a discharge orifice towards which material in the hopper is directed under the influence of gravity, the feed device being disposed beneath the discharge orifice and comprising a device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4.

The gate is preferably adjustable relative to the tray in order to provide the desired aperture for the particular articles which are being fed.

Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view with a part broken away of a hopper feed device according to the invention; Figure 2 is a side elevation as shown in Figure 1;and Figure 3 is a scrap section on the lines 3-3 of Figure 2, illustrating the attachment of the gate to the tray.

The hopper is rectangular in plan and is defined by side walls 10 and end walls11 a and 11 b which slope at their lower ends towards a hopper discharge orifice 12. As can be seen in the drawings the slope of the sloping portion of the forward end wall 11 a is arranged at a relatively shallow angle as compared with the slope of the sloping portion of the rear end wall 11 b. The hopper is mounted on legs 13 fixed to a base 14.

A feed device 1 5 is disposed beneath the orifice 1 2 and comprises a generally rectangular tray 16, which is open at the top 17 and at one end 1 8 so that articles can be fed from the outlet 12 towards the open end 18.

As its forward end of the tray 1 6 is provided with a transverse element 1 9 to which a resilient blade member 20 is secured by means of bolts 21. The other end of the blade member 20 is bolted to the hopper at 22.

The rear end of tray 1 6 is provided with a flange 23 to which a resilient blade member 24 is bolted at 25, the other end of the blade member 24 being bolted to the hopper at 26. The resilient blade members 20 and 24 acts as blade springs and permit vibration of the tray 1 6 in the direction of feed.

In order to effect vibration of the tray 1 6 a vibration motor 27, preferably of the pneumatic type, is secured to the flange 23.

A plate 28 is secured to the tray 1 6 so that it can act as a gate for the orifice 12 of the hopper.

To this end the plate 28 includes a pair of outwardly-extending flanges 29 which can be bolted to outwardly-extending flanges 30 on the tray. The flanges 30 on the tray are provided with elongate slots 31 (Figure 3) so that the precise position of the plate 28 relative to the tray 1 6 can be adjusted and the plate then secured in position by means of bolts 32.

If desired, the plate 28 may be provided with a strip of hard material at its leading edge 33, which may or may not be replaceable or alternatively the end 33 of the plate may itself be hardened.

When the device is in operation the tray 1 6 is caused to vibrate longitudinally by means of the vibration motor 27, the direction of the vibration being controlled by the resilient blade elements 20 and 24. The gate for the hopper, in the form of a plate 28, is secured to the tray 16 and consequently vibrates with the tray.

It has been found that the use of such a vibrating gate serves to reduce considerably the tendency for the articles being fed to bridge across the outlet 11 of the hopper. In addition, since the mounting of the resilient elements is on the hopper a degree of vibration is also applied to the hopper body which also tends to reduce the tendency to bridge.

In order to further reduce the tendency for articles in the hopper to bridge, particularly where elongate irregularly shaped articles are to be fed, a pair of deflector bars 34 are provided. These deflector bars 34 are arranged to extend parrallel to one another between the ends 11 a and 11 b and are disposed substantially vertically above the edges of the rectangular discharge orifice 12.

In addition a further optional feature is the deflector plate 35 which extends from the rear end wall 11 b downwardly to an opposite edge which is disposed substantially vertically above or slightly beyond the edge of the discharge orifice beneath it A similar deflector plate can be used which extends from the front end wall 11 a to a position substantially vertically above or slightly beyond the edge of the discharge orifice vertically beneath it. This can be used instead of or as well as the rear deflector plate 35.

The angle of slope of the deflector plates and of tha sloping portions of the walls should be at least the angle of slide which will depend on the nature of the articles to be fed. Generally this angle is in the range of 50 to 450.

The feed device of the invention also has considerable advantage over the prior art in that in prior constructions it has been the practice to locate the resilient blade members at each side of the tray and consequently once the tray is loaded then it will change its orientation relative to the hopper and can make contact therewith with undesirable results.

The hopper and feed devices of the present invention has been found to be particularly convenient for feeding irregularly shaped manufactured articles from the hopper to, for example, another feed device such as a bowl feeder. An example of an irregularly shaped article which has been fed satisfactorily is a valve stem for a combustion engine, although it will be appreciated that the hopper and feed device can be used for feeding other materials, including bulk materials if desired.

Claims

1. A vibratory feed device for use with a hopper which device comprises a feed tray having a resilient mounting and a vibration motor which is arranged to vibrate the tray in the direction of feed said tray being provided with a plate which is adjustable relative to the tray and which, in use, serves as a gate for the discharge orifice of the hopper.

2. A device according to claim 1 which includes at least one resilient mounting at each end of the device.

3. A device according to claim 1 or 2 in which the gate is adjustable relative to the tray.

4. A device substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

5. A hopper having a vibratory feed device associated therewith, said hopper having an inlet and a discharge orifice towards which material in the hopper is directed under the influence of gravity, the feed device being disposed beneath the discharge orifice and comprising a device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4.

6. A hopper according to claim 5 in which at least one resilient mounting of the feed tray is secured to the hopper.

7. A hopper according to claim 5 or 6 in which the discharge orifice is rectangular and the walls of the hopper slope towards the rectangular orifice from each side thereof.

8. A hopper according to claims 5, 6 or 7 in which a pair of deflector bars extend between opposed sides of the hopper above the discharge orifice.

9. A hopper according to claim 8 in which the deflector bars are parallel and are disposed respectively vertically above parallel edges of the rectangular discharge orifice.

10. A hopper according to any of claims 5 to 9 in which a deflector plate is provided.

11. A hopper according to claim 10 when dependent upon claim 8 or 9 in which the deflector plate is arranged transverse to the deflector bars.

12. A hopper according to claim 10 or 11 in which the deflector plate has an outer edge secured to a wall of the hopper and an inner edge which extends to or slightly beyond a position vertically above one edge of the rectangular discharge orifice.

13. A hopper substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.