GB2197841A - Apparatus for inserting articles into a container - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for inserting an article B such as a bag-in-box container, into a crate C at a loading station wherein an article support station S is located above the loading station and includes retractable support means 3 for supporting an article at the support station, and a vertically reciprocated suction head having one or more suction cups 21 for engagement with an upper face of an article means responsive to a build-up of suction in the or each cup resulting from engagement between the or each cup and said article to cause retraction of said support means so that the article is then suspended from the vacuum head, and means responsive to retraction of said support means to lower the suction head and article supported therefrom down into the crate, whereupon suction is released from the or each suction cup and the head is retracted back to its location above the support station to allow a filled crate to be removed laterally from the loading station and replaced by an empty container. Preferably, filled crates are pushed from the loading station to a stacking station and the support means comprises opposed sets if fingers mounted on pivotal arms 5 which can be swung outwardly by a single ram 15. <IMAGE>

Description

APPARATUS FOR INSERTING ARTICLES INTO A CONTAINER The present invention relates to apparatus for inserting articles into a container and more especially for inserting bag-in-box containers into a crate. It will be appreciated, however, that the apparatus could be used for inserting many different types of container or containers into another container.

One of the principal users of bag-in-box containers is the dairy industry and nowadays, dairies are asked to supply not only milk and cream but also various other foodstuffs which need not be liquid in various sized containers ranging from small cartons for liquids up to five gallon bag-in-box cartons. Nowadays, dairies, and the large ones in particular, tend to package their milk and other produce and then put it into a cold store ready for subsequent delivery to the customer. In order to assist in mechanical handling and subsequent distribution by rotor vehicle, the dairies now require that all the produce stored in the cold store be stored in uniform size containers such as crates.

The present invention has therefore been specifically designed for placing large bag-in-box containers of milk or the like into crates which can alternatively contain a plurality of smaller cartons or one large bag-in-box carton. The problem with inserting large bag-in-box containers into such crates has been that the cross-sectional dimensions of the bag-in-box containers are dictated by the size of the dispensing machines used for dispensing the contents of the containers and this means that for the maximum size of bag-in-box container there is very little room between the outer walls of the container and the inner faces of the side walls of the crate. This means that only by very accurately aligning the bag-in-box container with the crate is it possible to insert it at all.Furthermore, there is a limit in the dairy to the amount of space which can be taken up by the apparatus because of the associated bag filling and bag-into-box inserting apparatus and box sealing apparatus, and this has meant it is not possible to transfer the filled bag-in-box by picking it up and swinging it into the crate using a traditional transfer arm.

According to the present invention, we provide apparatus for inserting an article into a container, the apparatus having a container loading station for receiving containers, one at a time from a supply, and an article support station above the loading station for correctly locating an article directly above the container at the loading station, and comprising support means for supporting an article at the support station and a suction head above the article support station movable in response to the presence of a container at the loading station and to the presence of an article at the support station to bring one or more suction cups which are carried by the suction head down into engagement with an upper face of said article and to connect the or each suction cup with a vacuum source, means responsive to a build-up of suction in the or each cup resulting from engagement between the or each cup and said article to cause said support means to be removed from beneath the article at the support station so that the article is then suspended from the vacuum head and means responsive to removal of said support means to lower the suction head and article supported therefrom down into the container, whereupon suction is released from the or each suction cup and the head is retracted back to its location above the support station to allow a filled container to be removed from the loading station and replaced by an empty container and the next article to be positioned at the support station.

It will be appreciated that the term articles used above could include a pack comprising two or more articles connected together, e.g. by shrink wrapping.

Preferably, the apparatus includes a pusher to push a filled container from the loading station to a stacking station and a feed device to feed in an empty container in response to the removal of a filled container from said station, removal of said container also triggering the feeding of a further article to said support station.

Preferably, the support means comprises two sets of opposed support fingers mounted on arms which are pivotally supported for rocking movement about horizontal axes located above and to each side of the support station and which can be swung outwardly together under the control of a single ram once the article is engaged with the suction cups.

Preferably, each arm is supported for pivotal movement between its ends, its associated set of fingers being located at one end of the arm and extending normal thereto, and at its opposite end the arm is pivotally connected to one end of a link, the opposite end of which is pivotally connected to said ram.

The invention is now described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of apparatus for loading a large bag-in-box container into a crate; FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus, and FIGURE 3 is a partly schematic plan view with parts omitted for the sake of clarity.

Referring to Figure 1, the apparatus has been designed for loading bag-in-box containers B into crates C. The crates have a size which will accommodate a plurality of smaller sized cartons or a single three gallon bag-in-box container. They are also just sufficiently large enough to accommodate one four-and-a-half gallon bag-in-box container B provided this is accurately aligned and fed into it.

Each crate C is fed to a loading station L either from the left or the right as shown in Figure 1 (it could be fed in from a different direction), whereas each bag-in-box container B, after being placed on its side, is normally advanced to a support station S in a direction at right angles to the direction of feed of the crates C as illustrated by the arrow A in Figure 2. Normally the containers B, after filling and closing, are advanced to the support station S on an endless conveyor and are then stored on the downstream end of the conveyor until an empty crate C is at the station L, whereupon one container B is advanced into the station S where it is supported on support means in the form of two opposed sets of horizontally extending spaced fingers 1 each of which is supported on a generally horizontal bar 3.Each bar 3 isconnected to the lower end of a pair of spaced support arms 5, each pair of arms being pivotally supported for swinging movement in a vertical plane about a pivot pin 7 supported from a frame 9 of the apparatus. One arm of each pair is extended upwardly beyond its pivot pin 7 as shown at 11 and at their upper ends the extensions 11 are connected to one end of respective links 13, the opposite ends of which are pivotally connected to an end of a double acting ram 15 by means of a connector 17.

Once a container B is correctly located on the fingers 1 at the station S, a switch is activated to move a vacuum head 19 downwardly from the position shown and at the same time a plurality of suction cups 21 depending therefrom are put in communication with a vacuum source.

To move the head 19, a pair of double acting rams 23 is activated, and as a result, the cups 21 are moved down into engagement with the top surface of the container B.

Just as the cups contact this surface, the surface will be drawn up by the suction into tight engagement with the cups 21 thereby partially supporting the weight of a container B. When the head 19 reaches this container engaging position, a further switch is triggered to remove the support fingers 1 from beneath the container B by activating the ram 15 to swing the parts 1 to 17 shown in Figure 1 from their full line position to their broken line position. As the fingers 1 move away from beneath the container B, the total weight of the container will gradually be transferred to the suction cups 21, but in the event of these malfunctioning they will tend to funnel the container B down into the crate C.Once the fingers 1 and their support arms 5, etc., have moved fully to their broken line position, a yet further switch will be triggered to extend the pair of rams 23 further to lower the container B down into the crate C to the position shown. It is preferred that this lowering operation is achieved by a power stroke of the rams 23 so that the operation can be carefully controlled and carried out quickly. Once the container is correctly located in the crate C, the rams 23 trigger a limit switch which immediately releases the vacuum from the cups 21 and almost instantaneously powers the rams 23 to move the vacuum head 19 back to its initial position above the support station S.

At the same time as the vacuum head 19 and cups 21 are returning to their position above the support station S, the fingers 1 and their associated support arms 5, etc., are returned to their full line position shown in Figure 1 ready to receive another container B. Should the synchronisation between the ram 15 and the rams 23 be slightly wrong, this does not matter because the location, size and spacing of the suction cups 21 (two rows of three are illustrated) and of the fingers 1 are such that the cups 21 can move between the fingers 1. Obviously, the mushroom shaped heads of the cups 21 are resiliently deformable.

Once this position is reach, a further switch is operated to activate a pusher (not shown) to remove the filled crate C from the loading station L, e.g. in the direction of the arrow A, for subsequent stacking. When this operation is completed, a further switch is actuated to cause a further empty crate C to be fed into the loading station L and at the same time a filled containerB is advanced from its conveyor onto the fingers 1 at the support station S. Once the crate C is in position for filling and a container B is correctly located at the station S, the next loading cycle will begin.

Once the bag-in-box containers have been closed and sealed they have to be turned onto their side and this is achieved by advancing them on their end on a plurality of polished support surfaces which then terminate in sequence to allow the containers to tip over onto their side under gravity. The containers, once on their side, are then automatically aligned on a further endless conveyor belt ready for advance to the support station S.

If a greater output speed is required, the apparatus could be modified to handle two containers at a time, with the articles (e.g. bag-in-boxes) being loaded into the two containers simultaneously.

It will of course be understood that the present invention has been described above purely by way of example, and modifications of detail can be made within the scope of the invention. It will be appreciated, however, that by arranging for the support fingers 1 to swing outwardly from beneath the support station S, a single control mechanism mounted above the fingers can be used, thus ensuring they move in unison and saving space.

Claims (5)

CLAIMS:

1. Apparatus for inserting an article into a container, the apparatus having a container loading station for receiving containers, one at a time from a supply, and an article support station above the loading station for correctly locating an article directly above the container at the loading station, said apparatus comprising support means for supporting an article at the support station, and a suction head above the article support station movable in response to the presence of a container at the loading station and to the presence of an article at the support station to bring one or more suction cups which are carried by the suction head down into engagement with an upper face of said article and to connect the or each suction cup with a vacuum source, means responsive to a build-up of suction in the or each cup resulting from engagement between the or each cup and said article to cause said support means to be removed from beneath the article at the support station so that the article is then suspended from the vacuum head and means responsive to removal of said support means to lower the suction head and article supported therefrom down into the container, whereupon suction is released from the or each suction cup and the head is retracted back to its location above the support station to allow a filled container to be removed from the loading station and replaced by an empty container.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 and which further includes a pusher to push a filled container from the loading station to a stacking station and a feed device to feed in an empty container in response to the removal of a filled container from said station, removal of said container also triggering the feeding of a further article to said support station.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the support means comprises two sets of opposed support fingers mounted on arms which are pivotally supported for rocking movement about horizontal axes located above and to each side of the support station and which can be swung outwardly together under the control of a single ram once the article is engaged with the suction cups.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein each arm is supported for pivotal movement between its ends, its associated set of fingers being located at one end of the arm and extending normal thereto, and at its opposite end the arm is pivotally connected to one end of a link, the opposite end of which is pivotally connected to said ram.

5. Apparatus for inserting an article into a container, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.