GB707403A - Improvements in or relating to the feeding or transferring of bottles and like articles to machines - Google Patents

Abstract

707,403. Conveyers for bottles &c. LIQUID CARBONIC CO., Ltd., and MIDGLEY, P. April 1, 1952 [April, 1951], No. 8011/51. Class 78 (1) Apparatus for feeding bottles and like articles in groups to a machine comprises a conveyer upon which the articles are carried in upright position, driven means for receiving bottles from a supply, engaging them successively and transferring them to the conveyer in spaced relation, and an associated driven endless element, e.g. a chain, havirig a blanked shielding portion adapted to interrupt the transfer of articles by the driven means for a period providing an interval between delivery of successive groups of bottles to the conveyer sufficient, to permit one group of bottles to be loaded on to the machine before another is presented thereto. In one form, Figs. 2 and 4, bottles are conveyed by a slat conveyer 1 past a pair of curved guides 48, 49 designed to stop a bottle which has fallen over on the conveyer, and pass on into the path of teeth 5 carried by an endless chain 4 and designed to engage the bottles separately and' convey them along guides 9, 8 to a further slat conveyer 3 where they are received in spaced relation and retained in'position by curved side pieces 3a on the slats of the conveyer. In order to feed groups of bottles to the conveyer 3 certain teeth are missing from the chain 4 and are replaced by shielding members 10 designed to block entry of the bottles to the passageway between guides 8, 9 and the chain 4. In the case of jamming of a bottle between guide 9 and the chain 4 guide 9 is displaced against a spring 59, the displacement being caused to actuate a switch to stop the conveyer system. One of the guides 48, 49 may also be displaceable, the displacement caused by a fallen bottle passing between them being adapted to actuate the same stop switch. In order to load each group of bottles on conveyer 3 into a machine 11, e.g. a washing machine, a platform 15 having a downwardly bent outer edge 16 is positioned at the side of conveyer 3 remote from the side pieces 3a, and a plurality of partition plates 18 are secured to it. A pusher bar 21 is reciprocated in timed relation to the conveyer 3 and chain 4 to displace a group of bottles from conveyer 3 on to the platform 15 such that the bottles pass between the plates 18 and topple over the bent edge 16 against a slideway 17, up which they are propelled into the machine by a second pusher bar 25, operating in lateral guide slots 19 and passing through, a slot in the bent edge 16. Pusher bar 25 is driven in timed relation with conveyer 3 and chain 4 through slotted cranks 29 pivoted at 30, the return movement of cranks 30 being arranged to operate the pusher bar 21 by engagement with rollers 32 on arms 24 carried by a shaft 23 on which arms 22 carrying the pusher bar 21 are mounted. Return movement of pusher bar 21 is effected through a spring 33. In a modification. Fig. 6. the teeth 5 are replaced by a star wheel 62 and an endless chain 71 carrying shielding members 77 is passed around a sprocket concentric with the star wheel. Bottles 82 carried by the slat conveyer 1 are prevented from leaving guides 75 on either side thereof by the sihielding members for a predetermined period after which a predetermined number are transferred to conveyer 3 by the star wheel along a pivoted guide 76 which is displaced in the event of jamming to stop the conveyer system as in the first form. Each shielding member 77 has an extension 80 adapted to underlap the shielding surface of the adjacent shielding member. In a further modification, Fig. 10, conveyers 1 and 3 are arranged in line and the bottles are guided to the star wheel 62 by guides 83, 84 and 85, the end 86 of guide 84 being continued by a portion 87 of a pivoted guide 88 replacing the guide 76. Specification 660.700. [Group XVII], is referred to.