JP2000007137A - Spoon aligning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a spoon aligning device which can vertically align measuring spoons equipped with a shank stretching approx. horizontally from the edge of an opening of a measuring cup part in such a condition that the measuring cup part is positioned over. SOLUTION: A spoon aligning device is equipped with a feeder disc 8 of rotary type installed in inclination, a peripheral wall 12 in cylindrical form installed at a certain spacing 11 from the peripheral edge of the feeder disc 8, a spoon supplying means to cast in each measuring spoon 92 onto the feeder disc 8 surrounded by the cylindrical wall 12, a high-pressure air jetting mechanism 13 which is installed in an appropriate position on the peripheral edge of the feeder disc 8 for removing spoons out of alignment, and an aligned spoon takeout chuter which is installed behind the mechanism 13 in the disc rotating direction. The sizes of the spacing 11 in the disc radial direction and height direction are made greater than the thickness of the shank 94 of spoon 91 and smaller than the height of the measuring cup part 92.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a spoon aligning apparatus used in a production line for detergents in containers, bleaching agents, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a production line for detergents or bleaching agents in containers, a certain amount of granular or powdery detergents or bleaching agents is filled into containers by a filling machine, and then the detergents or bleaching agents are filled on the containers. Although the measuring spoon is automatically inserted by the spoon inserting machine, it is necessary to supply the measuring spoon to the spoon inserting machine with the orientation of the measuring spoon aligned in a specified direction.

Conventionally, various methods of aligning a measuring spoon, such as a center of gravity type, a hanging type, a pocket feeder type, and a vibration type, are known.
An optimal alignment method is adopted according to dimensions, materials, supply capacity, and the like.

[0004]

However, in a conventionally used spoon aligning apparatus, a measuring spoon 91 having a shape as shown in FIG.
It was very difficult to vertically align with the top facing up.

More specifically, a measuring spoon 91 shown in FIG. 10 has a substantially rectangular measuring cup portion 92 and a narrow handle portion extending substantially horizontally from an edge of an opening 93 of the rectangular measuring cup portion 92. 94, the spoon having a shape such that the center of gravity of the entire spoon is positioned on the measuring cup portion 92 side, and it is difficult to vertically align the spoon with the measuring cup portion 92 side having the center of gravity facing up, There is a problem that many unaligned measuring spoons remain in the spoon device.

For this reason, in the conventional apparatus, the unaligned measuring spoon must be removed before sending it to the spoon insertion machine, which takes time and effort, and as a result, the measuring spoon's alignment processing ability is reduced. However, this has been an obstacle to labor saving and efficiency improvement of the production line.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and includes a measuring spoon with a handle whose center of gravity is located on the side of a measuring cub, and an opening of a measuring cup. It is an object of the present invention to provide a spoon aligning device capable of vertically aligning a measuring spoon having a handle portion extending substantially horizontally from an edge with its measuring cup portion facing upward.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a spoon aligning apparatus, wherein a predetermined gap is provided between a rotary feeder disk inclined and disposed and an outer peripheral edge of the feeder disk. A cylindrical peripheral wall arranged at a predetermined distance, spoon supply means for supplying a measuring spoon onto a feeder disk surrounded by the cylindrical peripheral wall, and an unaligned spoon removing means provided at an appropriate position on a peripheral edge of the feeder disk. An alignment spoon removal shooter disposed on the rear side of the unaligned spoon removing means in the disk rotation direction, wherein a gap formed between the outer peripheral edge of the feeder disk and the cylindrical peripheral wall in the disk radial direction and The height dimension in the height direction is set to be larger than the thickness of the handle of the measuring spoon and smaller than the height of the measuring cup. The one in which the features.

Further, in the spoon aligning apparatus according to claim 2, the unaligned spoon removing means is constituted by a high-pressure air ejection mechanism.

Further, in the spoon aligning apparatus according to a third aspect, the unaligned spoon removing means is constituted by a rotary brush.

The spoon aligning device according to claim 4 is provided with a spoon detecting sensor for detecting the degree of clogging of the aligning spoons arranged on the aligning spoon removing shooter, and the feeder disk is detected by a detection signal of the sensor. It is designed to operate intermittently.

[0012]

In the spoon aligning apparatus according to the first aspect, a measuring spoon having an opening directed toward the cylindrical peripheral wall and a handle portion inserted into a gap between the outer peripheral edge of the feeder disk and the cylindrical peripheral wall. All other spoons are removed by the unaligned spoon removing means, and only the measuring spoons that are vertically arranged with the measuring cup portion facing upward are taken out of the aligned spoon removal shooter.

In the case of the spoon aligning device according to the second aspect, since the unaligned measuring spoon is blown off by the high-pressure air, the unaligned spoon can be reliably removed and the measuring spoon is not directly touched. Therefore, damage to the measuring spoon is reduced.

Further, in the case of the spoon aligning device according to the third aspect, since the measuring spoon in the unaligned state is repelled by the rotating brush, the unaligned spoon can be reliably removed, and the unaligned spoon removing means is provided. It can be configured at low cost.

In the case of the spoon aligning device according to claim 4,
When the aligned measuring spoons are fully lined up on the aligning spoon removal shooter 14 and cannot be fed into the shooter even if they are aligned further, the spoon detection sensor detects this and temporarily stops the rotation of the feeder disk. can do.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 5 show an embodiment of a spoon aligning apparatus according to the present invention. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a spoon alignment device, and 2 denotes a spoon supply device for supplying the spoon alignment device 1 with a measuring spoon 91 (see FIG. 10) having the above-described shape. The spoon feeding device 2 is provided with a hopper 4 for feeding a measuring spoon 91 conveyed from the previous process by the horizontal conveyor 3 and the like, and an inclination for carrying out the measuring spoon 91 put in the hopper 4 and throwing it into the spoon feeding device 1. It is composed of a conveyor 5 and the like.

The spoon aligning apparatus 1 includes a main body case 7 fixedly mounted on a gantry 6 and a rotary feeder disk (disc) 8 disposed in the main body case 7 and inclined.
A motor 10 for rotatingly driving the feeder disk 8 via a rotating shaft 9; and a cylindrical peripheral wall 1 fixedly disposed around the feeder disk 8 with a predetermined gap 11 therebetween.
2, a high-pressure air ejection mechanism 13 for blowing off unaligned spoons, and a shooter 14 for removing aligned spoons.

The inclination angle of the feeder disk 8 is as follows:
When the measuring spoon 91 is gently placed on the slowly rotating disk, the angle is set so that the measuring spoon does not slide down and rotates together with the disk. Such an angle varies depending on the material, dimensions, and surface properties of the feeder disk 8 and the measuring spoon 91, but is usually about 10 to 60 ° with respect to a horizontal plane.

The gap 11 formed between the cylindrical peripheral wall 12 and the feeder disk 8 has a gap g in the radial direction of the disk and a gap h in the height direction as shown in FIG. Each is larger than the thickness d of the handle 94 of the measuring spoon 91 and the height H of the measuring cup 92.
It is set to be smaller than.

By setting the size of the gap 11 in the above relationship, the measuring spoon 91 thrown onto the feeder disk 8 does not pass through the gap 11 and jump out of the disk. As shown in FIG. 3, the handle portion 94 has the opening surface 93 of the measuring cup portion 92 facing the cylindrical peripheral wall 12 side and the measuring cup portion 92 positioned above the gap 11. Only in the posture, it can enter the gap 11. Therefore, if only the measuring spoon 91 in which the handle portion 94 has entered the gap 11 is selectively taken out, the measuring spoon 91 thrown apart can be vertically aligned with the measuring cup portion 92 facing upward. it can.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the high-pressure air ejection mechanism 13 includes two air pipes 13 for blowing out high-pressure air sent from a compressor (not shown).
a, 13b, and the front side 3 in the rotation direction with respect to the uppermost part of the feeder disk 8 which is arranged obliquely.
It is located near 0 to 120 ° so as to blow high-pressure air from the gap 11 toward the surface of the feeder disk 8. By blowing high-pressure air toward the surface of the feeder disk 8 through the gap 11 in this manner, all spoons other than the measuring spoons in the gap 12 in the state shown in FIG. Only the vertically aligned measuring spoon can be left with the cup 92 up.

In order to prevent the measuring spoon 91 carried in a correct posture as shown in FIG. 5 from being erroneously repelled, a measuring spoon 91 is provided below the high-pressure air ejection mechanism 13. It is desirable to provide a handle guide bar 15 for pressing the tip side of the handle 94 from outside as necessary.

The aligning spoon takeout shooter 14
Is a measuring spoon 91 as shown in FIGS.
And three guide rails 14a to 14b for supporting and transporting in a vertical state. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, the start ends thereof are opened in the main body case 7 and the cylindrical peripheral wall 12. Through the opened windows 16 and 17, at an appropriate position on the rear side in the rotation direction of the high-pressure air ejection mechanism 13, for example, near the zenith of the feeder disk 8, and a gap 11 between the feeder disk 8 and the cylindrical peripheral wall 12. It is facing.

This alignment spoon removal shooter 14
Received the aligned measuring spoon 91 sent in a state of being placed on the outer peripheral edge of the feeder disk 8 as it was, and slid it out of the apparatus, so that the measuring cup portion 92 was raised. The measuring spoon 91 which is vertically aligned in this state is fed to a spoon inserting machine in a next step (not shown).

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, above the alignment spoon takeout shooter 14 near the start end thereof, as shown in FIGS.
A spoon detection sensor 18 such as a photoelectric sensor for monitoring whether or not the alignment spoons are fully lined up and clogged on the shooter is provided, and the illustration is omitted based on the detection signal of the spoon detection sensor 18. The rotation of the motor 10 is controlled by the control unit, and the feeder disk 8 is operated intermittently according to the degree of clogging of the alignment spoon sent out onto the shooter.

Next, the spoon aligning operation of the measuring spoon aligning device configured as described above will be described. First, the measuring spoon 91 is supplied to the hopper 4 of the spoon supply device 2 by the belt horizontal conveyor 3 or the like from the previous process, and is conveyed by the inclined conveyor 5 onto the feeder disk 8 of the spoon alignment device 1, and the orientation thereof varies. Throw in the state. At the same time, the motor 10 is rotationally driven by a control device (not shown), and the feeder disk 8 is rotated clockwise as indicated by an arrow in FIG.

Thus, the alignment processing operation of the measuring spoons 91 thrown into the feeder disk 8 in a random state is started. The rotation speed of the feeder disc 8 is set to a moderate speed such that the thrown-in measuring spoon is not blown outward by the centrifugal force, for example, about 10 to 30 rpm.

A large amount of the measuring spoon 91 thrown onto the feeder disk 8 as described above slides down along the inclined surface of the disk and gathers near the lowermost end of the inclined surface of the disk. Since each measuring spoon 91 rolls or entangles and slides down in a different posture, for example, as shown in FIGS. 8A to 8H, the handle 94 enters the gap 11. While lying sideways, lying down, lying down, or stacking, they gather in various postures near the lowermost end of the inclined surface of the disk.

Each measuring spoon 91 which has slid down to the lowermost end of the inclined surface of the disk as described above is used as shown in FIG.
It is placed on the disk periphery in various postures as exemplified in (a) to (h) and is carried upward as the feeder disk 8 rotates.

On the other hand, from the two air pipes 13a and 13b of the high-pressure air ejection mechanism 13, high-pressure air is always ejected toward the disk surface through the gap 11. When each measuring spoon 91 carried by the feeder disk 8 reaches the position of the high-pressure air ejection mechanism 13, high-pressure air is blown onto each measuring spoon 91.

Of the measuring spoons 91 which are carried in various postures when the high-pressure air is applied, the measuring spoon 91 which is in a vertical state as shown in FIG. The outer peripheral edge of the disc inserted into the portion 94 serves as a stopper and supports the entire spoon. Although not blown off, the measuring spoons 91 in other postures as shown in FIGS. 8B to 8H directly receive the wind pressure of the high-pressure air, and therefore are all directed toward the center of the feeder disk 8. Blown away.

As a result, the peripheral portion of the feeder disk 8 after passing through the position of the high-pressure air ejection mechanism 13 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (2), only the measuring spoon 91 with the opening 93 of the measuring cup portion 92 facing the cylindrical peripheral wall 12 and the handle portion 94 inserted into the gap 11 remains.

At this time, if the handle portion guide bar 15 for pressing the handle portion 94 of the measuring spoon 91 aligned in the vertical state from the outside is provided, the measuring spoon 91 which is carried in the vertical state is provided. Can be reliably prevented from being accidentally repelled by high-pressure air.

The measuring spoons 91 aligned as described above are further fed according to the rotation of the feeder disk 8, and when they reach the starting position of the shooter 14 for taking out the aligned spoons, they are transferred to the guide bars 14a to 14c.
Opening window 17 of cylindrical peripheral wall 12 and opening window 1 of case body 7
6 and is carried out of the apparatus and fed to a spoon insertion machine (not shown) in the next step.

On the other hand, the measuring spoon 91 blown off by the high-pressure air jetting mechanism 13 slides down the disk surface by its momentum, gathers again near the lowermost end of the inclined surface of the disk, and repeats the operation of aligning the spoon. Therefore, the measuring spoons 91 put on the feeder disk 8 are sequentially aligned according to the rotation of the feeder disk 8, and are carried out of the aligned spoon takeout shooter 14 to the outside.

The alignment operation of the measuring spoon proceeds, and the measuring spoons 91 aligned on the aligning spoon removal shooter 14 are fully lined up. Is detected by the spoon detection sensor 18, the motor 10 is stopped, and the rotation of the feeder disk 8 is temporarily stopped.

Then, a shooter 1 for taking out an alignment spoon
The measuring spoons 91 lined up on the feeder 4 are sequentially conveyed to the spoon inserting machine, and when a space is left on the shooter, the spoon detecting sensor 18 detects this and rotates the feeder disk 8 again to align the measuring spoons. Resume operation. In this way, the feeder disk 8 is operated intermittently according to the progress of the spoon alignment operation.

As described above, the measuring spoons 91 which have been put into the spoon aligning device 1 in a disjointed state are vertically aligned with the measuring cup portion 92 upward in accordance with the rotation of the feeder disk 8, and are sequentially arranged in the device. It is carried out.

In the above embodiment, the unaligned measuring spoon is blown off by using the high-pressure air ejection mechanism 13, but instead or alternatively, the high-pressure air ejection mechanism 13 is used.
In addition, a rotary brush 23 as shown in FIG. 9 may be used.

The rotary brush 23 includes a flexible blade 2 made of a flexible and resilient material such as rubber around a rotary cylinder 23a that is driven to rotate by a motor (not shown).
3b are radially planted, and the rotating cylinder 23a is rotated at a high speed in the direction of the arrow, so that the flexible blade 23
Only the measuring spoon 91 that is not aligned at the tip of b is flipped toward the center of the disk. This makes it possible to eliminate an unaligned measuring spoon similarly to the high-pressure air ejection mechanism 13 described above.

[0041]

As described above, according to the spoon aligning device according to the first aspect, the measuring spoon can be vertically aligned and taken out with the measuring cup portion up. For this reason, a measuring spoon having a handle extending substantially horizontally from the opening edge of the opening of the measuring cup portion, such as a measuring spoon with a handle whose center of gravity has been conventionally difficult to align is located on the measuring cub portion side. It can be aligned vertically with its measuring cup part up.

According to the spoon aligning device of the second aspect, the unaligned measuring spoon is blown off by the high-pressure air, so that the unaligned spoon can be reliably removed and the measuring spoon is not directly touched. Less damage to the measuring spoon. Therefore, the quality of the product can be improved.

According to the spoon aligning device according to the third aspect, since the measuring spoon in the unaligned state is repelled by the rotating brush, the unaligned spoon can be reliably removed and the unaligned spoon removing means can be manufactured at a low cost. Can be configured. For this reason, the cost of the spoon alignment device can be reduced.

According to the spoon aligning device of the fourth aspect, when the measuring spoons aligned on the aligning spoon takeout shooter are fully lined up and cannot be fed onto the shooter even if they are aligned further, The rotation of the disk can be paused. Therefore, it is possible to provide a spoon aligning device suitable for use in an automatic production line.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cut-away side view showing a schematic structure of an entire apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a feeder disk and a cylindrical peripheral wall portion.

FIG. 4 is a schematic enlarged perspective view of an airflow ejection mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of an airflow ejection mechanism.

FIGS. 6A and 6B show the structure of an alignment spoon takeout shooter, wherein FIG. 6A is a perspective view and FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic enlarged perspective view of a starting end portion of an alignment spoon removal shooter.

8 (a) to 8 (h) are views showing examples of various forms of a measuring spoon dropped and gathered at the lowermost end of the inclined surface of the feeder disk.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view of a rotary brush.

10A and 10B show the structure of a measuring spoon, wherein FIG. 10A is a side view, FIG. 10B is a plan view, and FIG. 10C is a longitudinal sectional view.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Spoon aligning device 2 Spoon supply device 3 Horizontal conveyor 4 Hopper 5 Inclined conveyor 7 Main case 6 Stand 8 Feeder disk 9 Rotating shaft 10 Motor 11 Gap 12 Cylindrical peripheral wall 13 High-pressure air ejection mechanism 13a, b Air pipe 14 Shooter for taking out alignment spoon 15 Handle guide bar 16, 17 Opening window 18 Spoon detection sensor 23 Rotary brush 23a Rotating cylinder 23b Flexible blade

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3F080 AA21 BC01 CC04 CC19 CC23 CC26 CF09 DA07 DA18 DB05 DB06 EA09 EA18 FB05 3F081 AA18 BC01 CC20 CD09 DA05 DA14 DB05 DB06 EA09 EA18 FB06

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A spoon aligning device for automatically aligning a measuring spoon having a handle extending substantially horizontally from an opening edge of an opening of a measuring cup portion vertically with the measuring cup portion facing up, A rotary feeder disk that is inclined, a cylindrical peripheral wall disposed with a predetermined gap between the outer peripheral edge of the feeder disk, and a measuring spoon on the feeder disk surrounded by the cylindrical peripheral wall. A spoon supply unit to be supplied, an unaligned spoon removing unit provided at an appropriate position on a peripheral edge of the feeder disk, and an aligned spoon takeout shooter disposed behind the unaligned spoon removing unit in the disk rotation direction. The gap dimension between the outer peripheral edge of the feeder disc and the cylindrical peripheral wall in the disc radial direction and the height direction is measured. A spoon aligning device characterized in that it is set to be larger than the thickness of the handle portion of the measuring spoon and smaller than the height of the measuring cup portion. 2. The spoon aligning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said unaligned spoon removing means comprises a high-pressure air ejection mechanism. 3. The spoon aligning device according to claim 1, wherein said unaligned spoon removing means comprises a rotary brush. 4. A spoon detection sensor for detecting the degree of clogging of the alignment spoons arranged on the alignment spoon removal shooter, and the feeder disk is operated intermittently by a detection signal of the sensor. The spoon alignment device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.