GB2213120A

GB2213120A - Apparatus for feeding articles to a working station

Info

Publication number: GB2213120A
Application number: GB8827738A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Antonio Gamberini; Roberto Natali
Original assignee: GD SpA
Current assignee: GD SpA
Priority date: 1987-12-03
Filing date: 1988-11-28
Publication date: 1989-08-09
Also published as: IT1213739B; JPH01167115A; IT8703717A0; DD283590A5; BR8806341A; DE3840394A1; GB8827738D0

Description

f- 2 2 13 12 u I- V 1 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING ARTICLES TO A WORKING STATION

This invention relates to an apparatus for feeding articles to a working station.

In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus for feeding articles of fragile nature with intermittent motion along a rectilinear path defined by a first belt conveyor and then deviating the articles through 90' by pushing them onto a second belt conveyor, without subjecting them to stress which could damage them.

In the known art, it is usual to make a 900 deviation in the travel direction of articles conveyed by a belt conveyor by using a pusher operating transversely to the direction along which the conveyor extends. The articles gradually reaching the zone in which the pusher operates halt against a fixed stop element and are subjected to the action of the pusher while they rest against said element.

As the belt conveyor which feeds the article travels with continuous motion, the articles lying on it slide against the conveying surface of the conveyor each time the first article of the row halts against said fixed stop element, and can suffer damage if they are of particularly fragile nature. Moreover, during each halt on said entry conveyor, all the articles are subjected to compression by the articles which follow them, as these latter continue to be urged towards the stop element by the conveyor.

The aim of the present invention is to provide an apparatus of the described type which is free of the aforesaid drawbacks.

2 This is attained according to invention in an apparatus for feeding working station, comprising a first horizontal belt conveyor with one end supply unit for said articles and 1 situated in a position in which said the present articles to a substantially situated at a ts other end articles are withdrawn, a stop element for said articles conveyed by said first belt conveyor and disposed at said withdrawal position, and an element for removing said articles which have arrived in correspondence with said withdrawal position, said first belt conveyor has a conveying surface narrower than said articles, these latter projecting laterally from both sides of said first belt conveyor, said apparatus comprising two support elements parallel to said first belt conveyor and disposed in proximity to both the edges thereof, and operating means for generating, in determined phase relationship with the movement of said removal element, a substantially vertical relative motion between said support elements and the conveying surface of said first belt conveyor, so that during the course of said operational stages said support elements are disposed at a higher level than said conveying surface.

The present invention is described hereinafter by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a constructed in invention7 and k :L plan view of an apparatus accordance with the present Figure 2 is a front view of a detail of the apparatus of Figure 1 to an enlarged scale.

V.

L, 1 3 With Y:eference to Figure 1 of the drawings in particular, the reference numeral 1 indicates a supply unit for articles 2, comprising for example a production machine for manufacturing articles such as chocolates.

The reference numeral 3 indicates overall an apparatus for feeding the articles 2 to a working station 4, consisting for example of a wrapping machine.

The feed apparatus 3 comprises a horizontal belt conveyor 5 extending endlessly about two end rollers 6, one of which is driven. The exit end of the belt conveyor 5 is disposed adjacent, in correspondence with a position defined at the withdrawal position, to the entry end of a horizontal belt conveyor 7 which extends endlessly about two rollers 8, one of which is driven, and forms an angle of 90' with the belt conveyor 5.

A fixed stop element 9 is disposed in front of the exit end of the conveyor 5, and a pusher element 10, also called hereinafter the removal element, is disposed to the side of the terminal portion of the conveyor 5 to push in succession onto the conveyor 7 the articles 2 which come to rest against the stop element 9.

As can be seen in Figure 1, the transverse dimension of the conveying surface of the conveyor 5 is less than the width of the base of the articles 2, so that these latter project laterally from the conveyor 5 with their projecting portions overlying two support elements formed by the upper edges 11 to two walls 12 extending in a vertical plane and disposed parallel to the two sides of the conveyor 5. As shown in Figure 2, the walls 12 are mobile reciprocatingly, under the 1 4 action of operating means comprising an actuator element 13, between two positions, shown respectively by full lines and by dashed lines, in which the walls 12 are disposed with their edge 11 at a level respectively higher than and lower than the conveying surface of the belt conveyor 5.

is When in use, the articles 2 originating from the supply unit 1, are led as a row continuous motion by the conveyor 5 towards the stop element 9. Each article 2 during its haft in contact with said stop element 9 is pushed onto the belt conveyor 7 by the pusher element 10 and is then transferred to the working station 4.

While each individual article 2 is at rest in contact with the stop element 9 and during the course of its transfer onto the conveyor 7 by the pusher element 10, the walls 12 are moved by the actuator 13 into their upper position so as to separate from the conveying surface of the conveyor 5 all the articles 2 which precede the article 2 at rest against the stop element 9. When that article 2 has been transferred onto the conveyor 7, the walls 12 are lowered and those C articles 2 which have been separated froir, the conveyor 5 again rest on the conveyor 5 and resume their advancement towards the stop element 9.

From the aforegoing it is apparent that the presence of the walls 12 prevents the articles 2 disposed on the conveyor 5 and preceding the articles at rest against the stop element 9 from undergoing compression and slippage against the conveying surface of the belt conveyor 5 while said article 2 is at rest and being transferred onto the conveyor 7.

z 11 1.

Within the inventive principle, numerous modifications can be made to the described apparatus 3 but without leaving the scope of the present invention.

For example, the walls 12 could be f ixed and the conveying surface of the belt conveyor 5 could be lowered in an obvious manner, not described or shown, by associating it with said actuator 13 during each halt of an article 2 against the stop element 9 and during its transfer by the pusher element 10.

6

Claims

1. An apparatus for feeding articles to a working station, comprising a first substantially horizontal belt conveyor with one end situated at a supply unit for said articles and its other end situated in a position in which said articles are withdrawn, a stop element for said articles conveyed by said first belt conveyor and disposed at said withdrawal position, and an element for removing said articles which have arrived in correspondence with said withdrawal position, in which said first belt conveyor has a conveying surface narrower than the base of said articles, said base projects laterally from both sides of said first belt conveyor, said apparatus comprising two support elements parallel to said first belt conveyor and disposed in proximity to both the edges thereof, and operating means for generating, in determined phase relationship with the movement of said removal element, a substantially vertical relative motion between said support elements and the conveying surface of said first belt conveyor, so that during the course of said operational stages said support elements are disposed at a higher level than said conveying surface.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which said support elements are mobile vertically under the action of said operating means in such a manner that their upper edges are moved during said operational stages to a level higher than said conveying surface.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which said opening means are associated with said conveying surface such that this latter is moved during said , i 1 7 operational stages to a level lower than the upper edges of said support means.

4. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised by comprising a second substantially horizontal belt conveyor disposed with one end adjacent to said first belt conveyor in correspondence with said withdrawal position, and its other end adjacent to said working station, said second belt conveyor forming an angle of substantially 90' with said first belt conveyor.

one of the said element f irst belt

5. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claims, characterised in that for removing said articles from said conveyor in correspondence with said withdrawal position is a pusher element driven with horizontal motion transversely to said first belt conveyor

6. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said support elements are the upper edges of two vertical walls.

7. An apparatus for feeding articles to a working station substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Pubb.shed 1989 at The Patent Office, State House, 86 71 High Holborn, London WC1 R 4TP- Further copies may be obtained from The Patent Office. Wes Branch, St Mary Cray, Orpington- Kent BR5 3RD. Printed by Multiplex techniques ltd, St Mary Cray, Kent, Con_ 1/87