GB2136410A - Machine for use in handling containers - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention relates to a machine for handling containers and in particular for use in the filling or treating of such containers. In accordance with the invention the machine incorporates a table (10) which is rotatable about a vertical axis and which is adapted to receive empty containers placed in a random fashion thereon. There is also provided stationary guide means (10a) and (10b) which act, in conjunction with the rotatable table, to produce an orderly line of empty containers which are advanced towards a discharge station. There is also provided a fluid pressure actuated piston and cylinder unit (15) having a pusher unit (16) which is arranged, when the leading empty container in said line arrives adjacent to said unit (15), to push said container into a further filling or treatment station. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Machine for use in handling containers This invention relates to a machine which is intended for use in handling containers, the machine being of the kind which incorporates a rotatable table on to which in use a plurality of empty containers will be fed, the table performing the function of presenting the empty containers successively and feeding them to a treatment station or to a filling head or heads from whence the containers will be discharged.Hitherto, a conveyor or other means provided for feeding the containers from the rotatable table to the treatment station or filling head or heads has commonly been provided with a movable gate for controlling the flow of containers to the treatment station or filling head or heads but such gates do not always operate effectively, particularly in situations where the filling or other machine is required to be able to deal with a variety of containers of different sizes. In addition to this however, the provision of the aforesaid conveyor or other means between the rotatable table and the treatment station or filling head or heads means that, apart from the cost of actually providing said conveyor or other means, the cost of providing space for the conveyor or other means will have to be allowed for.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved container handling machine which will avoid all the aforementioned disadvantages.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a machine for use in filling or treating containers comprising a rotatable table and fixed guide means which are arranged so as to co-act in use to receive empty containers placed in random fashion on said table and arrange them in a line in which they are moved towards a discharge position, there being also provided at said discharge position at least one fluid pressure actuated piston and cylinder unit or other means which is arranged to push the leading empty container laterally with respect to said line of empty containers and into a filling or treatment station whilst preventing further advance of the remainder of said line.

Preferably, detector means are also provided for detecting the presence of an empty container at the discharge station and for then initiating actuation of said piston and cylinder unit or units or other means.

The invention will be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a schematic plan view illustrating one example of a machine in accordance with the invention, Figure 2 is a schematic side view of the machine, looking in the direction of arrow 'A' of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a schematic plan view showing an alternative form of a machine constructed in accordance with the invention, and Figure 4 is a scrap plan view showing yet a further alternative form of a machine constructed in accordance with the invention.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 2, the machine shown therein is especially intended for use as a machine for filling containers although it is to be understood that this machine (and others in accordance with the invention) could be used for handling containers which are to be subjected to operations other than filling - e.g. washing or labelling.

In the filling machine seen in Figures 1 and 2 however there is shown therein a rotatable table 10 having an axis of rotation which extends in a vertical direction, there being provided means (generally indicated by reference numeral 11 in Figure 2) such as an electric motor and suitable gearing for rotating said table. Disposed at one side of said rotatable table is an apron 12 which at its inner end engages or lies closely adjacent to the table 10 and which at its outer end may be associated with a delivery conveyor along which empty containers such as tins or bottles may be delivered.Such empty containers, generally indicated by reference numeral 13, will be transferred (for example by hand) from the apron 12 to the table 10 and will be re-arranged on the table by the action of stationary guide members 1 Oa and 1 Ob so that they are discharged from the table in a line extending along a stationary prolongation 14 of the guide member 1 or. The table 10 thus performs the function of receiving empty conveyors in a random fashion and arranging them in an orderly line in which they can be discharged from the table in succession.

There is also provided a first fluid-actuated piston and cylinder unit 1 5 such as a pneumatically actuated piston and cylinder unit which is arranged so that the axis of the cylinder and the iength of the piston rod extend in a generally horizontal direction at right angles to the leading end of said line of empty containers 13.

The piston rod of said unit 1 5 is connected at its outer end to a pusher member 1 6 which is of generally rectangular configuration in plan view so as to have a forward flange 1 6a which is adapted to engage the leading empty container 1 7 and a side flange 1 6b which, on actuation of the piston and cylinder unit 1 5 will have the effect of engaging the container next to the leading container 17 and thus hold back any further advancement of the line of empty conveyors.

There is also provided, adjacent said piston and cylinder unit 1 5 and ahead of the line of empty conveyors a detector 1 8 which may for example comprise a pneumatic valve or alternatively a micro-switch which can be arranged to actuate a solenoid valve, said detector 1 8 having in any case the effect, when energised by engagement with the leading empty container 17, of actuating the piston and cylinder unit 1 5 so that said container 17 will be pushed laterally from the line of empty containers into the position indicated in Figure 1 by reference numeral 1 7a, the container then being in a filling station at which it will be capable of receiving liquid or solid material which is to be discharged into the container.As previously indicated the flange 1 6b of the pusher 1 6 prevents further advance of the line of empty containers leaving the table 10 whilst the container 1 7 is being pushed across into the filling station as represented by reference numeral 1 7a.

Whilst said line of empty containers is temporarily halted, the table 10 continues to rotate and thus passes beneath the rearmost containers in said line.

There is also provided a second fluid-pressure actuated piston and cylinder unit comprising a further pneumatically actuated piston and cylinder unit 1 9 which is disposed so that the axis of its cylinder and the length of its piston rod extend in a horizontal direction parallel to the end of said line of empty containers. Said piston and cylinder unit 1 9 is provided with a pusher 20 which is connected to the outer end of its piston rod. There is also provided, adjacent to said unit 1 9 a further detector 21 which may again comprise a valve or micro-switch which is adapted to be engaged by the container 1 7 when it reaches the filling station 1 7a.Energisation of such detector 21 is then arranged either to actuate directly the filling machine 22 (see Figure 2) having a filling head 23 or alternatively to actuate a third piston and cylinder unit 24 which will have the effect of pushing up the empty container 1 7 onto the filling head 23, the arrangement being such in either case that the filling machine will then discharge the desired amount of articles or solid or liquid materiai into the container presented to it.

Preferably completion of the filling operation by the filling machine 22 is then arranged to provide a signal to actuate the second piston and cylinder unit 1 9 so that the pusher 20 thereof will push the now filled container 1 7a in the direction of the arrow 'B' as shown in Figure 1 so that the filled container will then pass onto a so-called "dead plate", or onto another conveyor, or into a chute.

Retraction of the piston and cylinder unit 1 9 can then preferably be used to effect actuation again of the piston and cylinder unit 1 5 so that the next empty container which will have been positioned adjacent the detector 1 8 when said unit 1 5 was retracted will be pushed across into the filling station and a further cycle will be commenced.

With a filling machine as above described it will be appreciated that the rotatable table 10 will be positioned directly adjacent to the filling head, thereby saving space in comparison with known arrangements in which the rotatable table is connected to the filling head by means of a conveyor or the like. Furthermore by making use of the aforementioned two piston and cylinder units 1 5 and 1 9 containers of varying shapes and sizes can all be handled very effectively.

In the alternative arrangement shown in Figure 3 there is shown a circular table 25 which is arranged to be rotatable about a vertical axis by any suitable power driven means (not shown).

There is also provided fixed guide means which, in the example shown, comprises a first fixed guide member 26 which forms an upstanding wall extending at its inner end from a position adjacent to the centre of said table 25 to its outer end at or adjacent to the circumference of said table, together with a second fixed guide member 27 which also comprises an upstanding wall portion 27a together with a generally horizontally arranged base portion 27b which may be generally co-planar with the upper surface of said table 25.The inner end of said fixed guide member 26 may be conveniently supported on a vertically extending post which projects through a central aperture provided in the table 25 and the two fixed guide members 26 and 27 together define a passage 28 which narrows in the direction of rotation of said table 25 which as shown in the drawing is intended to be rotated in a clockwise direction.

There is also provided a fluld-pressure actuated (such as a pneumatically actuated) piston and cylinder unit 29 which is disposed underneath said table 25 adjacent to the outer end of said passage 28, said piston and cylinder unit being arranged with its axis extending in a generally radial direction relative to the table 25. To the outer end of the piston rod 30 of said piston and cylinder unit 29 is attached a pusher member 31 of generally L-shaped configuration in plan view so that it comprises a shorter flange 31 a which extends in the plane perpendicular to the axis of said unit 29 together with a Ipnger flange 31 b which extends in a direction parallel to said axis.

There is also provided a container detector 32 which may comprise for example a micro-switch or a pneumatic valve and which is arranged, when engaged by an empty container 33 to actuate the piston and cylinder unit 29 so that the pusher member 31 will then be moved-outwardiy on the piston rod 30, thereby engaging said leading empty container 33 to move it into a position shown in dotted lines and indicated by reference numeral 33a, whilst at the same time the flange 31 b of said pusher member will extend between said container 33 and the next succeeding container 34 in order to separate them and hold the container 34 and all the remaining empty containers behind it until the piston rod 30 of said unit 29 is again retracted to permit the empty container 34 to advance into engagement with the detector 32 whereafter the cycle will be repeated, the previously empty container 33 having in the meantime been filled by any convenient filling machine incorporating a filling head or heads.

In use, empty containers would be placed at random on the rotatable table 25 as is the case in the first-described embodiment so that they are carried in a clockwise direction by said table and thence into the rearward or inner end of said passage 28 whereupon the gradual narrowing of said passage will result in said empty containers being formed into a line in which adjacent containers engage each other as seen in the drawing. The fixed guide members 26 and 27 support such empty containers laterally as they are moved along the passage 28 and towards the discharge position which is the position in which the container 33 is shown in the drawing.Empty containers placed on the rotatable table 25 will thus again be presented quickly in an orderly fashion in which they are arranged in a side-byside relationship in a line so that the leading container in such line can be displaced laterally from the line by said piston and cylinder unit 29 for the desired filling operation to be carried out.

Referring to the further alternative arrangement shown in Figure 4, there is shown a rotatable table 25, guides 26 and 27, a piston and cylinder unit 29, pusher member 31 and a detector 32 which are all seen in Figure 3. Figure 4 however also shows the possibility of using up to three further piston and cylinder units, indicated by reference numerals 35, 36 and 37.

Thus, the piston and cylinder unit 29 (when activated by detector 32) is used to push the leading empty container 38 into the position indicated by reference numeral 38a; the piston and cylinder unit 35 can then be used to push the container from position 38a (after the completion of an operation in said position) to the position 38b; the piston and cylinder unit 36 is then used to push the container from position 38b to 38c; and piston and cylinder unit 37 is used to push the container from position 38c to position 38d, the container then finally passing on to a delivery chute or conveyor 39. Ali four positions 38a; 38b; 38c; and 38d might be used for example when filling jars with a powder. Thus tare weighing can be undertaken at position 38a; main filling at position 38b; check weighing at position 38c and final topping up at position 38d. On the other hand, a simple operation, such as the loading of a quantity of sweets into a can, may be undertaken when the can 38 is adjacent the detector 32 in which case only one piston and cylinder unit (namely unit 29) would be required. If, however, a second operation was then required (e.g. adding a sugar coating to the aforesaid sweets) then position 38a would be used as well.

It is of course to be understood that in any of the above-described embodiments, the or each piston and cylinder unit can be replaced by a solenoid or any other convenient "pusher" mechanism.

Claims (4)

1. A machine for use in filling or treating containers comprising a rotatable table and fixed guide means which are arranged so as to co-act in use to receive empty containers placed in random fashion on said table and arrange them in a line in which they are moved towards a discharge position, there being also provided at said discharge position at least one fluid pressure actuated piston and cylinder unit or other means which is arranged to push the leading empty container laterally with respect.to said line of empty containers and into a filling or treatment station whilst preventing further advance of the remainder of said line.

2. A machine as claimed in Claim 1 wherein there is provided detector means for detecting the presence of an empty container at the discharge station and for then intiating actuation of said piston and cylinder unit or other means.

3. A machine as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein there are provided one or more further fluid pressure actuated piston and cylinder units or other means which are arranged for moving said leading container sequentially between further filling or treatment stations.

4. A machine for use in filling or treating containers substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1 and 2, or Figure 3, or Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.