GB2106481A - Apparatus for feeding generally planar articles - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for feeding generally planar articles, comprising: (a) a main feeder for moving successive, generally planar articles (103) to a processing machine; (b) a transfer device (2) arranged to move successive articles individually from the top of a stack (102) of the articles (103) to the main feeder; and (c) an article supply (1) arranged to store a plurality of the articles (103) in a stack (102) and to move the stack (102) upwardly as successive articles (103) are removed individually from the top thereof by the transfer device (2) and are transferred to the main feeder. The apparatus is particularly useful for feeding tin plate discs to a processing machine for making lever rings for paint cans. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for feeding generally planar articles This invention relates to apparatus for feeding generally planar articles, such as, discs, to a processing machine and is especially, but not exclusively, related to feeding to a ring making machine discs which have been treated in accordance with a method described in out copending Patent Application No 8114765, entitled"Treatment of Planar Articles".

In accordance with the invention, there is provided apparatus for feeding generally planar articles, which apparatus comprises: (a) a main feeder for moving successive, generally planar articles to a processing machine; (b) a transfer device arranged to remove successive articles individually from the top of a stack of the articles to the main feeder; and (c) an article supply arranged to store a plurality of the articles in a stack and to move the stack upwardly as successive articles are removed individually from the top thereof by the transfer device and transferred to the main feeder.

Preferably, the article supply is capable of providing two article stacks, whereby one of the stacks can be recharged with articles, whilst the other is being moved upwardly as succesive articles are removed individually from the top thereof by the transfer device. Also, the supply may have magnetic means for separating the uppermost articles in the stack being moved upwardly, if the articles are made of a ferro magnetic material, such as, tin plate discs. Such magnetic means causes the articles to be magnetized in one direction, such that the consequential repulsive forces tend to separate them. In this manner, the removal of the top particle from the stack is enhanced and the removal of the two uppermost articles, that is to say, the top article and the one below it, is substantially prevented.Additionally, the article supply may also be provided with mechanical means, such as, a friction surface in the form of serrations, for enhancing the separation of the upper stacked articles.

The transfer device, which is located generally above the article supply, may comprise suction means for engaging and removing the top article from the stack into a transfer position, wherein the so-removed article is subesquently engaged by one of a plurality of pawls moving on a continuous belt system moving in a direction which is transverse to that in which the article has been removed from the stack. The pawl engages the article and, at substantially the same instant, the suction means is rendered inoperable, such that the article can be transfered on to the main feeder.

The various elements of the transfer device and article supply are operated in timed sequence and inter-relationship, such that the upward feed of the article supply and the suction means and pawl transfer mechanism of the transfer device are operating in unison and the proper sequence.

The main feeder preferably feeds each individual article, which has been transferred by the transfer device, in a two-stage operation of which the first stage consists of moving the transferred article to a detection station, wherein means are provided for detecting the presence at that station of one or more articles. If only one article is present at the detection station, then it is subsequently transferred to a final processing machine, such as a ring-making machine, in the case of tin plate discs. However, if two planar articles present themselves at the detection station simultaneously, then the detector detects such a situation and causes the two, or possibly more, articles to be rejected and, preferably, recycled back for further stacking.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, a preferred embodiment of apparatus in accordance therewith will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a partial cross-sectional, side view of an article supply and transfer device of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is a front diagrammatic view of the article supply shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the transfer device; Fig. 4 is a side view of the transfer device; Fig. 5 is a view along the line V-V of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a view on the line VI--VI of Fig. 4; Fig. 7 is a plan view on the main feeder portion of the apparatus; Fig. 8 is a partial cross-sectional, side view of the feeder shown in Fig. 7;; Fig. 9 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale, of a detection station incorporated in the feeder of Figs. 7 and 8; Fig. 10 is a view along the line X-X of Fig. 9; and Fig. 11 is a view of a further portion of the main feeder.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention, and for feeding tin plate discs to a machine for stamping-out lever rings from the fed discs, comprises three basic units, namely, a disc supply, a transfer device and main feeder.

In Fig. 1 , there are shown the first two units, that is, a disc supply 1 and a disc transfer device 2, whilst Fig. 2 generally shows the disc supply 1 only and Figs. 3 to 7 show various views of the transfer device 2.

Referring then to Figs. 1 and 2 firstly, the disc supply 1 comprises a magazine 101 for receiving two stacks 102 of tin plate discs 103. A base plate 104 of the magazine 101 has two circular apertures 105 registering with the respective disc stacks 102. The apertures 105 have a diameter which is less than that of the discs 103, such that the latter can be supported on the base plate 104 but still in register with the respective apertures 1 05. However, the diameter of the apertures 105 sufficiently large to permit the head 106 of a piston of a piston/cylinder arrangement 107 to pass therethrough.

Whilst the piston/cylinder arrangement 107 is fixed transversely with respect to the frame 108 of the disc supply 1, the magazine 101 can move transversely with respect thereto upon rollers 111 riding upon respective cross members 11 2. Thus, each stack 102 can be located in turn in a supply position above the piston head 1 06. The arrangement of Figure 2 has the right hand disc stack 102 located in the supply position with the magazine 101 shown in full lines, whilst the supply position for the left hand stack is shown with the magazine 101 in dashed outline. In this manner, the magazine 101 can be moved reciprocally from left to right, as shown in Fig. 2, in order to locate a full disc stack 102 in the supply position.

An upper plate 109 of the magazine 101 is provided also with apertures 110 which are in register with respective stack 102 but through which the discs 103 can be passed upwardly.

A sensor 1 3 is secured to an inclined frame member 114 adjacent but below the upper plate 109 of the magazine 101, for sensing either the presence of absence of a disc 103 in the supply position.

Associated with the upper part of the disc supply 1 is a pair of bar or flat magnets 115 which are of the permanent ceramic type, as shown more clearly in Fig. 4. These magnets 11 5 are arranged to magnetise the discs 103 in one direction only as they are fed upwardly towards the transfer device 2, such that the consequential, repulsive magnetic forces separate adjacent discs from one another. This separation of the magnitized discs 103 is most important, in that it eliminates or at least substantially reduces the possibility of two discs 1 03 being supplied to the transfer device 2 from the disc stack 1 02.

In addition to the annular, permanent ceramic magnet 1 15 for separating the discs 103 at the upper region of the stack 102, there is provided also at least one serrated surface (not shown) which engages the edges of a number of discs to aid the separation thereof.

When the bottom disc of the stack passes the sensor 1 13, with a predetermined number of discs still located in the region of the magnet 11 5 for supply to the transfer device 2, a signal from the sensor is transmitted to a control system (not shown) which causes retaining means (not shown) to engage beneath the bottom disc of the remainder of the stack in the supply position, in order to prevent the remaining discs from falling from within the magnet 11 5 under gravity. After this retaining means has been actuated, the-piston head 106 is retracted, as a result of a signal from the control system, to its lowermost position below the base plate 104 of the magazine 101.

The magazine 101 is then moved either manually or automatically in a transverse direction with respect to the frame 1 08, such that the full stack of discs 103 is located in the supply position above the piston head 1 06. The piston is then moved upwardly to cause this new stack of discs to be located beneath the remaining discs of the previous stack within the magnet 11 5, such that the supply operation is continuous. In the meantime, the space vacated by the previous stack can be replenished with a further stack of discs for subsequent transverse movement into the supply position.

Turning now to Figs. 3 to 6, the transfer device 2 is pivotally secured to the frame 108 so that it can be pivoted upwardly about a generally horizontal axis, with respect to the frame and disc supply 1 , for maintenance and servicing purposes.

A suction head 201 is reciprocably operable by means of a lever arrangement, to be described below, between an inoperative position, as shown in Fig. 4, and an operative position wherein it engages and adheres, under vacuum, to the top disc 103 of the stack 102, as shown in Fig. 5. As the suction head 201 moves from the operative to inoperative position with the top disc 103 adhered thereto, it is received in a recess 202 in a permanent magnet 203 of the transfer device 2.

The vacuum to the head 201 is then released and the top disc 103 now removed from the stack 102, is magnetically secured to the underside of the magnet 203.

Associated with the suction head 201 and magnet 202 is an endless chain 204 which is driven around two pairs of chain wheels 205, 206 and which has a series of spaced pairs of pawls 207 for engaging consecutive discs 103 magnetically secured to the magnet 203, with the suction head 201 in its inoperative position within the recess 202.

The chain 204 is driven in an anticlockwise direction and the drive shaft 208 of the chain wheels 206 is provided with an eccentricallymounted circular cam 209 for operating a first lever 210 which is connected to the operating arm 211 of the suction head 201 by a second lever 212, the latter being partially controlled under the bias of a spring 213.

In the inoperative position of the suction head 201, as shown in Fig. 4, the cam 209 is in engagement with the end 214 of the lever 210, such that the lever 212 and the operating arm 211 are in their respective raised position. With the suction head 201 in its operative position, as shown in Fig. 5, the cam 209 is disengaged from the lever end 214, such that the lever 212 and arm 211 are in respective lowered positions.

Between the movement of adjacent pairs of pawls 207 past the permanent magnet 203, the suction head 201 is moved from its inoperative position in the magnet recess 202 to its operative position, at which it picks up the top disc 1 03 of the stack 102, and is moved back again to its inoperative position, by means of the lever arrangement 210, 212 and operating arm 211, as described above.

Thus, the pawls 207, in turn, push consecutive discs 103, in a sliding action, from the underside of the magnet 203 and onto a feeder device 3, as shown in Figs. 7 to 11.

The sequential operations of the components ol the transfer device 2 are coordinated by any suitable means known per se.

With particular reference to Figs. 7 to 11, the main feeder device 3, for moving discs 103 delivered consecutively thereto onwardly to a machine 4 for stamping-out lever rings for cans, receives each disc from a transfer device 2 in the direction of the arrow A in Fig. 7.

The feeder device 3 comprises a carriage 301 mounted for reciprocable motion upon a base 302 by means of V-section rollers 303 which ride upor and are located alternately on opposite sides of a corresondingly-shaped horizontal guide 304 which is also mounted upon the base 302. The carriage 301 is reciprocably driven along the longitudinal axis of the base 302, by a cylinderoperated piston 305 via drive linkage 306, and has two pairs of depending pusher lugs 307, 308 for engaging the transferred discs consecutively, as will be described below.

Each disc 103 is transferred to the left-hand end of the base 302 from the transfer device 2, in the direction of the arrow A, and in Fig. 7 is represented by the reference numeral 103'. This left-hand position of the disc 103' is assumed when the carriage 301 is in its left-hand position, as shown in dashed line in Figs. 7 and 8. The pair of pusher lugs 307 engage the edge of the disc 103' and, upon a right-hand movement of the piston 305, push the disc 103' into a detecting position, represented by the reference numeral 103", as a consequence of the right-hand motion of the carriage 301.

At this detecting position of the disc 103", there is located a detector 308 for determining whether there is more than one disc at that position. If the detector 308 senses the presence of two or more discs 103" at that position, then a reject mechanism displaces the discs transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the base 302, so that the discs can be re-stacked in the supply 1. Any suitable form of detector, such as, a thickness detector, may be used for the component 308. However, if, as in the normal operation of the apparatus, only one disc 103" is sensed at the detecting position, then no rejection is effected and the carriage is moved in the left hand direction by a reverse movement of the piston 305.At this stage, the other pair of pusher lugs 308 engage the edge of the disc 103" and a further right-hand movement of the carriage 301 then causes the disc 103" to be pushed on to the working station of the ring-making machine 4, as indicated by the reference numeral 103".

As can be seen from Figs. 8 and 11, each lug 307, 308 is pivotably mounted upon the carriage 301, such that when the latter is moving in the left-hand direction, the lugs do not interfere with the positioning of the discs 1 03', 1 03". Also, each lug 307, 308 is biassed by a respective spring 309,310.

Thus, it can be seen that each disc 103 is fed along the length of the base 302 in two stages, the first being from position 103' to the detecting position 103" and the second from the detecting position to the working station 103"' of the machine 4.

The apparatus of the present invention can deal with any type of generally planar article, such as, a disc, although it is preferred to use ring-making machine discs which have been treated in accordance with a method described in out Copending Application No. 8114765, entitles "Treatment of Planar Articles".

Claims (15)

1. Apparatus for feeding generally planar articles, comprising: (a) a main feeder for moving successive, generally planar articles to a processing machine; (b) a transfer device arranged to remove successive articles individually from the top of a stack of articles to the main feeder; and (c) an article supply arranged to store a plurality of articles in a stack and to move the stack upwardly as successive articles are removed individually from the top thereof by the transfer device and are transferred to the main feeder.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article supply is arranged to provide two stacks of articles, such that one of the stacks can be recharged with articles, whilst the other of the stacks it being moved upwardly as successive articles are removed individually from the top thereof by the transfer device.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the article supply includes means for separating the upper most articles in the stack being moved upwardly.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said separating means comprises magnetic means.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said separating means includes mechanical means in the form of a friction surface arranged to engage the side edges of the uppermost articles in the stack being moved upwardly.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said mechanical means comprises a serrated friction surface.

7. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the transfer device comprises suction means arranged to engage and remove the top article from the stack and locate the so-removed article in a transfer position.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the transfer device further comprises a plurality of pawls which are movable continuously, in a direction transverse to that in which the top article has been removed from the stack, and of which at least one is arranged to engage each removed top article, as it is located in the transfer position, and to transfer the so-engaged article to the main feeder.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said suction means is rendered inoperable at substantially the same instant at which each removed top article is engaged by the at least one pawl.

1 0. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the transfer device and article supply are operated in timed sequence and interrelationship.

1 Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the main feeder is arranged to feed each successive article, transferred thereto by the transfer device, to a processing machine in a twostage operation.

12. Apparatus according to clalim 11, wherein, in the first stage operation, the main feeder is arranged to move each transferred article to a detecting station which includes means for detecting the presence of one or more articles thereat.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the detecting station includes means for rejecting two or more articles whose simultaneous presence at the station is detected by said detecting means.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, including means for recycling two or more rejected articles to the article supply.

1 5. Apparatus according to claim 12, 13 or 14, wherein said detecting means includes a thickness detector.

1 6. Apparatus according to any of claims 11 to

1 5. wherein, the second stage operation, the main feeder is arranged to move each article to a processing machine.

1 7. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in the form of a disc feeder apparatus.

1 8. Disc feeding apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.