GB2316926A - Infeed arrangement for a packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

An infeed pitching arrangement 10 accelerates one or more articles 12 from an unpitched supply. The supply moves over a dead plate 13 and said one or more articles are lifted from below into engagement with a driven belt 15 by article engaging blocks 31 moving at the same speed as the driven belt 15. In operation as the articles 12 slide along the dead plate 13 they do not contact the moving belt 15. At the instant the first group of articles 12 is over the guide member 27, cam 23 moves to lift the guide member 27 and cause blocks 31 to be lifted into engagement with the bases of the articles 12 and lift them clear of the dead plate 13 and into contact with the moving bolt 15. The lifted articles 12 are thus accelerated away from the following stream of articles.

Description

INFEED ARRANGEMENT FOR A PACKAGING MACHINE This invention relates to an infeed arrangement for a packaging machine.

Infeed systems are known which act upon an unpitched supply of articles to separate a first group from the downstream end of the supply and then the next group and so on so as to result in a pitched supply of said articles. One known arrangement utilises an endless belt with spaced lugs which engage behind the groups of cans in turn and move the group forward relative to the supply. There are, however, disadvantages to such systems especially when run at speed, namely the impact of the lugs on the articles and also the system is product sensitive in that different chains/lugs will be required for different products.

Another type of known arrangement incorporates a screw conveyor but this again has a number of disadvantages. Firstly a different screw is required for each product format. Also there is sliding contact on the bottles which can result in label damage. In addition there are further difficulties associates with long product groups.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an infeed pitching arrangement for an article packaging machine which arrangement, in use, accelerates one or more articles from the downstream end of an unpitched supply of said articles, the arrangement comprising a stationary plate area over which in use said supply of articles pass, a moving article engagement device for engaging from below said one or more articles through one or more openings in the plate area, actuating means enabling said article engagement device to project above the plate area for a predetermined distance thereby in use to urge said one or more articles into contact with a driven belt disposed above the articles, said article engagement device being driven at the same speed as the driven belt in the machine direction so as to lift and accelerate said one or more articles at the downstream end of the supply to produce pitched product groups.

In preferred arrangements a number of parallel openings are provided in the plate area, which openings extend in a direction parallel to the lengthwise axis of the machine. A preferred feature is that the driven belt is endless and has a cushioned surface facing the plate area for receiving said one or more articles when lifted Another preferred feature is that the article engagement device comprises an endless chain drive on which are mounted a number of transverse floating elements which are able to move in a perpendicular direction away from the chain drive. In some embodiments the actuating means comprising one or more cam operated guides which engage said floating elements from below so as to lift them.

Conveniently each floating element has a number of projections and recesses corresponding to the openings and remaining areas of the plate area such that the projections can extend through the openings to engage and lift the articles and also each guide is elongate and remains parallel to the plate area throughout their movement.

With certain arrangements two or more types of floating elements are provided, each type having different formations on the underside for engaging different cam operated guides. Normally groups of the two or more types of floating element are provided on the article engagement device to enable different lifting patterns to be obtained. Preferably each group is of an overall length equal to the desired pitch length of the packaging machine.

In chosen arrangements the endless chain drive for the article engagement device comprises a pair of parallel chains between which said floating elements extend and on which they are mounted.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided an infeed pitching arrangement for an article packaging machine, which arrangement, in use, accelerates one or more articles from the downstream end of an unpitched supply of said articles, the arrangement comprising a stationary plate area over which, in use, said supply of articles pass, moving article engagement means for engaging said one or more articles, actuating means enabling said article engagement means to move into an engagement position for a predetermined distance thereby in use to urge said one or more articles into contact with a moving support, said article engagement means being driven at the same speed as the moving support in the machine direction so as to accelerate said one or more articles at the downstream end of the supply to produce pitched groups of articles.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail. The description makes reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a simplified exploded perspective view of part of a packaging machine incorporating an infeed arrangement according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a side view of the arrangement of figure 1 adapted for use with bottles, Figure 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of figure 1 but showing cans, Figure 4 is a sectional view on line 44 of figure 1 but showing cans, Figure 5 is a part cut away perspective view of part of another embodiment according to the present invention, Figure 6 is a sectional view on line 6-6 of figure 5 including an upper belt, Figure 7 is a sectional view on line 7-7 of figure 5 including an upper belt, and Figure 8 is a series of sectional views of floating blocks present in the figure 5 embodiment.

In figures 1 to 4 there is shown a first embodiment of an infeed pitching arrangement 10 which is incorporated in a packaging machine. The arrangement 10 is located, in use, immediately after the infeed from a consumer's product outfeed and after a metering unit, for example, a starwheel metering unit 11 which pushes a constant stream of product into the arrangement. After the arrangement 10 the pitched groups of products 12 (cans and bottles are shown in this embodiment) have a carton of some description applied to them. The carton may, for example, be a wrap, a basket type container or a fully enclosed carton. This carton application part of the packaging machine is not, however, described as it does not form part of the invention.

The starwheel unit 11 pushes the products 12 in two rows along a stationary dead plate 13. Lengthwise extending through slots 14 are provided in the deadplate below where the products 12 pass. Above the deadplate 13 is an upper belt 15 which moves at machine speed which is greater than the speed of the products being delivered by the starwheel unit 11. The lower section 16 of the upper belt 15 is parallel to the dead plate 13 and is spaced from the deadplate 13 by a distance slightly greater than the height of the products 12. As the products 12 are urged along the deadplate they do not contact the underside of the lower section 16 of the upper belt 15.

The belt 15 itself has an external foam covering so as to be cushioned and a support may be provided immediately above the lower section 16 or at least a part thereof.

Below the deadplate 13 is a pair of endless chains 20 (shown schematically in figure 1 by broken arrows) which are spaced from each other in parallel fashion. The chains 20 are also driven at machine speed, like the upper belt 15, about drive cogs 21 mounted on axles 22. Between the upstream and downstream cogs 21 is a series of three cam wheels 23, 24, 25 each of which is associated with a guide member 26, 27, 28 and which are mounted on a common shaft 29. Each guide member is rotatable mounted on a pair of pivoting arms 30 in a simple parallelogram mechanism so that each guide member can move towards and away from the dead plate 13 whilst remaining parallel thereto, this motion being determined by the nature of the active surface of its associated cam wheel. The central cam wheel 24 is known as Cam A and the two flanking cam wheels 23, 25 are known as Cams B.

Mounted between the two chains 20 are floating blocks 31 which are attached to the chains 20 in a manner which allows a freedom of movement of the blocks 31 perpendicularly away from the chains 20. This mechanism is not shown but could comprise a pin at each end of each block 31 which pin extends through a hole in an extension of an adjacent chain link.

Each floating block 31 has on its outwardly facing surface a number of recesses 32 and projections 33 the width of the recesses corresponding to the width of the portions of the dead plate 13 between the slots 14. The movement of the blocks 31 away from the chains 20 when below the dead plate 13 results in the projections 33 projecting above the dead plate 13 but not projecting in this manner when the blocks 31 are not moved away from the chains 20. Only a few blocks are illustrated in figure 1, removed from their proper positions below the dead plate for clarity.

The form of underside of the blocks 31 depends on whether the block is an A Block or a B Block. B Blocks as shown in figure 3 have protrusions 34 at their lateral edges and a central recess whilst A Blocks as shown in figure 4 have lateral recesses and a central protrusion 35. Alternate groups of A Blocks and B Blocks are provided on the double chains 20, one pair of alternate groups being shown in figure 1. Each group has a length in the machine direction equal to the machine pitch or increment.

When the side guide members 26, 28, which may be made from plastic or metal with or without a friction reducing element, are raised by the respective Cams B, 23, 25 then the guide members engage the lateral protrusions 34 on the B Blocks causing them to rise but are accommodated in the lateral recesses of the A Blocks causing no movement of the A Blocks.

The opposite is true for the central guide member 27. When this is raised by its Cam A 24 then it engages the central protrusion 35 on the A Blocks causing them to lift but the central protrusion 35 is accommodated in the central recess in the B Blocks which do not therefore lift.

When in use the guides 26, 28 lift a whole group of B Blocks whilst the following group of A Blocks are unaffected. When the guides 26, 28 are lowered and the central guide 27 is raised then the following group of A Blocks is lifted whilst having no effect on the next following group of B Blocks. This alternating process continues.

The operating procedure for the arrangement is as follows. Two rows of products 12 are moved forward by the starwheel unit 11. Side guides are not shown but would be present in practise to ensure movement of the products in the correct direction. As the products slide along the dead plate 13 they do not contact the moving belt 15 above them as there is a gap "X" of say 2 mm. At the instant the first group of product is directly over the guide members 26, 27, 28 Cam A moves to lift the central guide member 27, whilst Cam B moves to lower the lateral guide members 26, 28. This movement coincides with the last of the group of A Blocks also passing over the upstream end of the central guide member 27. The entire group of A Blocks are lifted simultaneously in parallel which causes the projections 33 to engage the bases of the products and lift them into contact with the cushioned surface of the lower section 16 of the upper belt 15 and clear of the dead plate 13.

Because the blocks 31 and belt 15 are moving at the same speed, the lifted A Blocks are accelerated away from the following stream of product. Once separated the group of products can be engaged by known group transport means such as a side-lug transport for further processing.

While this is happening the next group of products are approaching the critical position above the guide members. Again, at the instant the next group of product is over the guide members, Cam A moves to lower the central guide member 27 whilst Cam B moves to raise the lateral guide members 26, 28. This moment coincides with the last of the group of B Blocks are passing over the lateral guides. The entire group of B Blocks are lifted simultaneously in parallel. Again the products above the group of B Blocks are lifted into contact with the belt 15 and accelerated away. The process continues with the subsequent set of A Blocks then B Blocks etc.

It will be appreciated that the result is positive product pitching at potentially high speeds without any of the inherent drawbacks of known systems. The pitch of the arrangement is determined by the subsequent processing operation and is indicated by the length of the groups of A and B Blocks. There are no difficulties changing from an arrangement for 2 X 3 groups as shown in figure 2 to an arrangement for 2 X 4 groups. All that is required is a faster infeed by the staawheel unit 11 so that more product is located over the blocks 31 when they are raised. The only other adjustment necessary is the height of the upper belt 15 to allow for products of a different height.

In the second illustrated embodiment many features are identical and so like parts have been given the same reference numerals and their function will not be described. The principal difference of the arrangement in figures 5 to 8 is that there are provided a further pair of wide guide members 50, 51 laterally outwards of the lateral guide members 26, 28. These wide guide members 50, 51 are acted upon by further cams 52, 53 also mounted on the same shaft 29.

Again the floating blocks 31 are provided with outward recesses 32 and protrusions 33 for projecting through the slots 14 in the dead plate 13.

However the inner surfaces require further modification in terms of more protrusions and recesses. Each full pitch group of A Blocks and B Blocks is further divided into half pitch groups Al and A2 and B1 and B2. The reason for these changes will become apparent but will enable full pitch operation or half pitch operation. Because the full pitch of the arrangement may be quite large to accommodate say a 2 X 4 group, it will run quite inefficiently, although effectively, on 2 X 2 groups. It is desirable, therefore, to be able to adapt the arrangement to operate on a half pitch basis such that the effective modified pitch is 2 X 2 rather than 2 X 4. A simple change, however, results in a reversion back in this example to a full operation on 2 X 4 groups.

The four types of blocks 31 are shown more clearly in figure 8.

Blocks Al and A2 are similar to the A Blocks of the first embodiment but A2 has a further pair of wide recesses whilst Al does not. Similarly Blocks B 1 and B2 are similar to the B Blocks of the first embodiment but B2 has a further pair of wide recesses whilst B2 does not.

In full pitch operation the wide guide members 50, 51 are inactive, staying in a lowered position which never cause the blocks 31 to lift.

In half pitch operation the arrangement is such that, instead of each full group passing over the guide members before being lifted, a half group of floating blocks passes over the upstream end of the guide members and is then lifted to engage what product is above it. On the chains the half groups of blocks will be in the order Al, A2, B1, B2, Al, A2 etc.

As the Al group moves over the beginning of the guides in a lowered position the lateral guides 26, 28 are still lifting the previous B1, B2 blocks but have no effect on Ai. The wide guides 50, 51 are then raised and they engage and lift the Al blocks. As the A2 group moves over the guides the previous B1, B2 blocks are lowered as guides 26, 28 drop. Central guide 27 is simultaneously lifted so as to raise the A2 blocks and hold the Al blocks whilst the wide guides 50, 51 are lowered.

As the B1 group moves over the guides, the wide guides are again raised which also lifts the B1 blocks. As the B2 group moves over the guides, the central guide 27 lowers and the wide guides 50, 51 lower whilst the lateral guides 26, 28 are raised. B1 and B2 are, therefore, in a raised condition with Al and A2.

Half pitch operation is, therefore, successfully achieved.

In another arrangement which is not illustrated the blocks may move in from one or both sides rather than from below so as to urge the product against a moving wall which is driven at machine speed in the same way as the blocks.

It will also be appreciated that other mechanisms could be utilised for the lifting of the cans and also the invention can be used on any number of rows of cans, not just two as illustrated. For example the mechanism can be used on one row or on three or more rows.

Claims (12)

1. An infeed pitching arrangement for an article packaging machine which arrangement, in use, accelerates one or more articles from the downstream end of an unpitched supply of said articles, the arrangement comprising a stationary plate area over which in use said supply of articles pass, a moving article engagement device for engaging from below said one or more articles through one or more openings in the plate area, actuating means enabling said article engagement device to project above the plate area for a predetermined distance thereby in use to urge said one or more articles into contact with a driven belt disposed above the articles, said article engagement device being driven at the same speed as the driven belt in the machine direction so as to lift and accelerate said one or more articles at the downstream end of the supply to produce pitched product groups.

2. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein a number of parallel openings are provided in the plate area, which openings extend in a direction parallel to the lengthwise axis of the machine.

3. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the driven belt is endless and has a cushioned surface facing the plate area for receiving said one or more articles when lifted.

4. An arrangement as claimed in claim 3 wherein the article engagement device comprises an endless chain drive on which are mounted a number of transverse floating elements which are able to move in a perpendicular direction away from the chain drive.

5. An arrangement as claimed in claim 4 wherein the actuating means comprises one or more cam operated guides which engage said floating elements from below so as to lift them.

6. An arrangement as claimed in claim 5 wherein each floating element has a number of projections and recesses corresponding to the openings and remaining areas of the plate area such that the projections can extend through the openings to engage and lift the articles.

7. An arrangement as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6 wherein each guide is elongate and remains parallel to the plate area throughout their movement.

8. An arrangement as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 7 wherein two or more types of floating elements are provided, each type having different formations on the underside for engaging different cam operated guides.

9. An arrangement as claimed in claim 8 wherein groups of the two or more types of floating element are provided on the article engagement device to enable different lifting patterns to be obtained.

10. An arrangement as claimed in claim 9 wherein each group is of an overall length equal to the desired pitch length of the packaging machine.

11. An arrangement as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 10 wherein the endless chain drive for the article engagement device comprises a pair of parallel chains between which said floating elements extend and on which they are mounted.

12. An infeed pitching arrangement for an article packaging machine, which arrangement, in use, accelerates one or more articles from the downstream end of an unpitched supply of said articles, the arrangement comprising a stationary plate area over which, in use, said supply of articles pass, moving article engagement means for engaging said one or more articles, actuating means enabling said article engagement means to move into an engagement position for a predetermined distance thereby in use to urge said one or more articles into contact with a moving support, said article engagement means being driven at the same speed as the moving support in the machine direction so as to accelerate said one or more articles at the downstream end of the supply to produce pitched groups of articles.