JP2000255508A - Pressing apparatus for object to be packaged in packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an object to be packaged from being raised by a method wherein no resistance is given to the object when the object is pushed up toward a packaging part where a film is held in a tense state, while a great resistance is given to the object when it tends to be raised in the operation of folding the film during a period until the discharge of the object is finished after finishing the push-up of the object, in a packaging machine which packages an object to be packaged while folding a film under a bottom face side of the object. SOLUTION: A pressing plate 93 for an object B to be packaged is connected to a support member 91 positioned above a packaging part with the aid of parallel links 92a, 92b. A damper 94 for giving a resistance to the movement of the pressing plate toward a rising direction, which is accompanied by the operation of folding a film, is provided in a mounting part where the parallel links 92a, 92b are mounted to the support member 91.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for holding an object to be packaged in a packaging machine, and more particularly to an apparatus for holding an object to be packaged such as a perishable food product from below a film held in tension in a packaging section. The present invention relates to a package holding device for suppressing the floating of the package in a packaging machine that folds a portion to the bottom side of the package.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A packaging machine for packaging an article to be packaged, such as fresh food, stored in a tray with a film of the tray is widely used. In this packaging machine, both sides of a film cut to a predetermined size are conveyed to a wrapping portion while being held by a conveyor belt, and the film is held in a tensioned state. In the stored state, the film is pushed up by the lift device, and in this state, the left and right side edges and the rear edge of the film are folded to the bottom side of the packaged object by the left and right and rear folding members, and the packaged object is moved forward by the pusher member. By doing so, the front edge of the film is folded so as to overlap the folded portion on the bottom side of the packaged object, and the packaged product is packaged with the film.

In this type of wrapping machine, when the left and right side edges and the rear edge of the film are folded toward the bottom surface side of the packaged object by the above-mentioned left and right and rear folding members, the packaged object rises and moves. Also, as shown in FIG. 8, when the packaged object B is moved forward by the pusher member P in a horizontal state and the front edge of the film F is folded toward the bottom surface side of the packaged object B, The tension of the film acting on the front end causes a problem that the rear end of the object to be packaged suddenly rises upward or rolls forward. There is a case where a device for holding a packaged object that comes into contact with the upper surface of the package to prevent the packaged product from floating is provided.

As an apparatus for holding a packaged object, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-162214,
A lever member provided with a holding plate is rotatably supported on the upper part of the packaging section, and the holding plate is brought into contact with the upper surface of the object to be packed, and the object to be packed is pressed by the weight of the holding plate. A device for preventing the package from being lifted, or a sponge holding belt having a sponge adhered to an outer peripheral surface thereof is provided on an upper portion of the packaging portion so as to be rotatable in the front-rear direction of the packaging machine. There is known a sponge-holding belt in which a sponge portion is prevented from being lifted by utilizing elastic force due to elastic deformation of a sponge portion.

[0005]

However, among the above-mentioned conventional devices for holding the object to be packed, the former case has a structure in which the weight of the holding plate acts on the object to be packed to prevent the object from being lifted. If the presser plate is too heavy, a large pressing force due to the weight of the presser plate will damage easily-packaged items such as tomatoes, and conversely, if the presser plate is too light, the packaged object together with the presser plate will be damaged. There was a problem in that it was not able to sufficiently fulfill its role as a presser device because it was raised. In the latter case, since the amount of elastic deformation of the sponge portion of the sponge-holding belt is small, the size of the packaged object that can be handled by the sponge-holding belt fixed at a certain height is very small. It will be limited to the range of the part. Therefore, an adjusting means for changing and adjusting the height of the holding belt with sponge is provided,
There has been a problem that the height of the sponge pressing belt has to be adjusted according to the size of the article to be packaged by the adjusting means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention addresses the above-mentioned problems of a device for holding an object to be packed in a packaging machine, and provides a large pressing force to the object to be packed at all times by using a lightweight holding member and a damper. An object of the present invention is to provide a device for holding a packaged object that can apply a large pressing force when the packaged product is about to float and prevent the packaged product from rising.

[0007]

That is, the present invention provides:
A package that presses up the package from below the film held in tension in the packaging section and, in that state, wraps the peripheral portion of the film toward the bottom surface of the package to prevent the package from rising in the packaging machine. An object holding device, wherein a holding member for suppressing the lifting of the object to be packaged is disposed above the packaging part so as to be vertically movable, and during the folding operation of the film from the end of pushing up the object to the end of discharging. And a restraining means for restraining the pressing member from moving in the floating direction.

According to the present invention, since the pressing member provided above the packaging portion is not normally restrained from moving in the floating direction according to the present invention, for example, the to-be-packaged product such as tomato is easily damaged. Even in the case of an object, it will not be damaged. When the package is suddenly lifted when the peripheral portion of the film is folded into the bottom surface of the package, the movement of the holding member in the rising direction is suppressed by the restraining means. It is possible to reliably prevent the floating of the member, that is, the floating of the packaged object. Thus, the posture of the article to be packaged can be kept constant, and the packaging of the article to be packaged with the film can be performed favorably.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a packaging machine 1 according to this embodiment has a weighing-in device 10 provided at the center of the front of a main body 2, and a weighing-in device 10 provided at both sides of the main body 2. The film F fed from one of the film storage units 20a and 20b and the film rolls A and A 'stored in the film storage units 20a and 20b, respectively, is captured and stored in the packaging unit 3 in the main body. A film supply device 30 for transporting, and a lifting device 50 for pushing up a packaged object B such as fresh foodstuff carried in from the weighing-in / carrying-in device 10 from below the film F held in the packaging section 3.
A folding device 60 that wraps the package B pushed up by the lift device 50 with the film F; and a bottom surface of the package B disposed above the weigh-in / carry-in device 10 in front of the packaging section 3. And a sealing device 70 for heat-sealing the film folded into the side.

A display section 80 is provided above the main body 2.
a console 80 having an operating section 80a and an operating section 80b. The operation of each of the devices 10, 30, 50, 60 is controlled by a built-in main control unit (not shown). The price of the packaged item B is calculated based on the signal indicating the weight of the packaged item B measured by the above. Further, an automatic labeler 81 is installed above the folding device 60, and the weight and price of the packaged object B are printed and issued on a label based on the output signal from the console 80 and issued. The label is automatically affixed to the packaged object B located on the folding device 60.

Here, the structure of the film supply device 30 will be described. The supply device 30 is composed of film rolls A and A 'stored in the film storage units 20a and 20b.
A pair of left and right film unwinding mechanisms 31 and 32 that unwind the film F while capturing the film F, and a film transporting mechanism 33 that transports the film F to the packaging unit 3 located at the center.
The film F fed from each of the feeding mechanisms 31 and 32
And a pair of film introduction mechanisms 34 and 35 for selectively introducing the film into the film transport mechanism 33.

As shown in FIG. 2, the film transport mechanism 33 transports the film F fed from the film feeding mechanisms 31 and 32 while pinching one side edge (the right side edge in FIG. 2). Movable side transfer unit 36
And a fixed-side transport unit 37 that transports the film F while sandwiching the other side edge (the left side edge in FIG. 2).

The transport units 36 and 37
As shown in FIG. 3, two guide rods 38, 38, both ends of which are supported by the main body 2, are disposed below the frame 3.
Support blocks 39, 39 fixed to the lower surface of 6a are externally slidably fitted to the guide rods 38, 38.
Below the movable transfer unit 36, a timing belt 40c stretched between a pair of timing pulleys 40a, 40b along the guide rods 38, 38 is provided.
And a sprocket 41a, which rotates integrally with one of the timing pulleys 40a, and a sprocket 41b, which is fixed to the rotation shaft of a drive motor 42 fixed to the main body 2, are interlocked via a chain 41c. Have been. The support blocks 39, 39 fixed to the lower surface of the frame 36a of the movable transfer unit 36 are fixed to the upper surface of the timing belt 40c.

Therefore, by rotating the drive motor 42 in a predetermined direction, the pair of support blocks 3
9 and 39 slide along the guide rods 38, 38, whereby the entire movable transport unit 36 is moved in the axial direction of the guide rods 38, 38. The space between the fixed-side transport unit 37 and the fixed-side transport unit 37 can be appropriately adjusted.

On the other hand, the fixed-side transport unit 37 is fixed to the main body 2 while being supported by the ends of the guide rods 38, 38.

Here, the movable transfer unit 36 and the fixed transfer unit 37 have the same configuration. Therefore, the structure of the movable transfer unit 36 will be described, and the structure of the fixed transfer unit 37 will be described. Will not be described.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the movable transfer unit 36 has a pair of pulleys 43a, 43 rotatably supported on both ends of an upper portion of a frame 36a.
The upper transport belt 43c, which is a flat belt, is stretched along the transport direction of the film F between the pair of timing pulleys 44a and 44b, which are also rotatably supported at both ends of the frame 36a. A lower transport belt 44c, which is a timing belt, is stretched in parallel with the upper transport belt 43c below the upper transport belt 43c.

The timing pulley 44a located on the left side in FIG. 3 is driven by a belt drive motor 45a such as a pulse motor, and operates the belt drive motor 45a in a counterclockwise direction, for example. As a result, the film F sandwiched between the lower transport belt 44c and the upper transport belt 43c is
Conveyed toward. In that case, the lower transport belt 44
c and the upper conveyor belt 43c are arranged in close contact with each other, whereby the two conveyor belts 44c and 43c
One side edge of the film F is reliably sandwiched between them.

The lower transport belt 44c of the fixed transport unit 37 having the same structure as that of the movable transport unit 36 is also connected to another belt drive motor 4c.
5b, the other side edge of the film F is held between the transport belt 44c and the upper transport belt 43c.

The film feeding mechanisms 31 and 32 and the film introduction mechanisms 34 and 35 are disposed at both ends of the film transport mechanism 33, respectively. In addition,
Since the film feeding mechanisms 31 and 32 and the film introducing mechanisms 34 and 35 have the same configuration, only one will be described and the other description will be omitted.

That is, for example, one film feeding mechanism 31 located on the right side of the film transport mechanism 33 in FIG.
Has a feeding roller 47 that is driven by a driving motor 46 and feeds the film F from the film roll A while capturing the film F, and a pressing roller 48 that sandwiches the film F between the feeding roller 47 and the feeding mechanism. 31
The film introduction mechanism 34 is disposed at an upper position so as to be able to swing up and down. In this case, the lower transport belts 44c, 4 constituting the respective transport units 36, 37 in the film transport mechanism 33 are attached to the film introduction mechanism 34.
4c, a pair of introduction belts 49, 49 are provided to sandwich both side edges of the film F.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the film introduction mechanism 34 is set at an introduction position where the introduction belts 49, 49 are in contact with the lower transport belts 44c, 44c. When operated, the end of the film F fed from the feed roller 47 is transferred to the two transport units 36 and 37 and transported to the packaging unit 3 with both lateral edges held therebetween. Is done.

A perforation forming device 90 for forming perforations in the width direction of the film F is provided near the film feeding mechanism 31 and the film introducing mechanism 34. The perforation forming device 90 is provided between the feeding roller 47 and the introduction belt 49 of the film introduction mechanism 34, and moves up and down in conjunction with the operation of feeding the film F by the feeding roller 47. A cutter 91 for forming a perforation in the width direction of the film F is provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, under the packaging section 3 to which the film is conveyed and supplied by the movable side conveyance unit 36 and the fixed side conveyance unit 37, fresh food items and the like stored in the tray C are covered. The above-described lift device 50 that receives the package B from the weigh-in / carry-in device 10 and pushes it up to the packaging unit 3
And the folding device for folding the front and rear left and right side edges of the film F to the bottom surface of the tray C to wrap the object B together with the tray C directly above the film F. 60 are provided.

The weigh-in / carry-in device 10 includes a weighing device 11 for measuring the weight of the package B stored in the tray C, and a pair of carrying-in belts 12 disposed on both sides of the weighing device 11.
And loading the package B stored in the tray C on the weighing device 11 so that the weight of the package B is weighed together with the tray C by the weighing device and the tray C Is loaded into the lift device 50 having a plurality of lift posts 51 that support the packaged object B in a state where the packaged object B is stored with the driving of the loading belts 12, 12.

The tray C carried on the lift post 51 of the lift device 50 is pushed up from below the film F, as shown by a chain line in FIG.
As a result, the film F comes into close contact with the upper surface of the package B, and both side edges in the width direction of the film F are held between the transport belts 43c and 44c in the movable transport unit 36 and the fixed transport unit 37. The film F
Are held in a stretched state in the width direction.

The object B to be packaged together with the tray C is packaged by the folding device 60 with the film F thus stretched. That is, the folding device 6
2, a pair of left and right folding plates 61 and 62 arranged in the transverse direction of the film F as shown in FIG. 2, and after being arranged in the orientation direction of the film F above these folding plates 61 and 62. It has a folding plate 63 and a discharge pusher 64 arranged above the folding plate 63. And
When the left and right folding plates 61 and 62 are driven by lever members, they move in the direction in which the left and right folding plates 61 and 62 are separated from each other along the longitudinal direction of the film F, and the rear folding plate 63 is driven by a drive motor 67. The film F advances and retreats in the transverse direction. The discharge pusher 64 is also driven by the drive motor 66 to move forward and backward in the transverse direction of the film F.

Then, by the above-mentioned folding plates 61 to 63,
As shown by a chain line in FIG.
After the front, rear, left and right side edges of the tray C are folded into the bottom side of the tray C, the articles B packed together with the tray C are wrapped by the discharge pusher 64 that advances at a timing later than the rear folding plate 63. Sealing device 7 arranged in front of part 3
The film F extruded toward 0 and then folded on the bottom side of the tray C extruded on the sealing device 70 is heat-sealed.

Further, above the packaging section 3, there is provided an article holding device 90 which comes into contact with the upper surface of the article B to prevent the article B from floating.

This packaged object holding device 90 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, a pair of left and right lever members 92, 92 rotatably supported in a vertical direction by a support member 91 provided at a position above the packaging section 3, and these lever members 92, 92,
Pressing members 93, 93 connected to the distal end of the member 92 and pressing the packaged object B are provided between the support bases of the lever members 92, 92 and the support member 91. And a damper 94 for giving resistance to the rotation in the lifting direction of the holding member.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the support member 91 has a central support portion 91a and front left and right front wall portions 91a.
b, 91b and a mounting base 91c on the rear end side made of a metal.
1c, it is fixed to the front wall of a cover body 95 that covers the drive motors 65, 66, 67 and the like. Support blocks 96, 96 project forward from left and right front wall portions 91b, 91b. It is fixed to.

The pressing member 93 has side walls 93 on both sides.
a, 93a, comprising a lightweight pressing plate having a U-shaped cross section, and connecting portions 93b, 93b rising upward are connected to an intermediate portion between both side walls 93a, 93a of the pressing member 93; Projecting portions 93c, 93c projecting obliquely upward toward the outside are provided at both ends in the length direction of 93.
Is provided. The pressing member 93 has a film F whose length dimension is indicated by a virtual line in FIG.
The film F shown by a solid line in FIG. 7 from the push-up position X where the left and right side edges and the rear edge of the
Has a length extending to a forward movement position Y of the packaged object B in which the front edge portion of the packaged object B is folded toward the bottom surface side of the packaged object B.

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, each of the lever members 92 includes the support block 96 and the pressing member 93.
And a pair of upper and lower parallel links 92a, 9 respectively connecting
2b, and each of these parallel links 92a, 9
The base 2b is pivotally connected to both sides of the support block 96 via connecting pins 92d... 92d, and the connecting portions 93b and 93b of the pressing member 93 are connected to the distal ends of the parallel links 92a and 92b. It is pivotally connected via pins 92e... 92e. And these parallel links 92
a, 92b, 92a, 92b and each of the above support blocks 96
The holding member 93 constitutes a parallel four-bar linkage. The holding member 9 is provided by this parallel four-bar linkage.
Reference numeral 3 is adapted to be moved up and down in a horizontal state with respect to the rotation of the lever members 92, 92.

The center support portion 91 of the support member 91
A bracket 97 having a U-shape is fixed to the lower surface of the bracket a.
4, 94 are provided respectively. This damper 94
The case body 94a is filled with oil so that a predetermined resistance is given to the rotation of the rotating shaft 94b due to the viscosity of the oil. The tip of the rotating shaft 94b protruding from the case body 94a is rotated. A gear 94c is provided.

Of the parallel links 92a, 92b of the lever members 92, 92, the lower link 92b located inside and below the base link has its base end extended outward, and the extension 92c A semi-circular gear 98 that meshes with the rotary gear 94c is provided at the base end including. Thus, when the lever members 92, 92 rotate in the lifting direction of the pressing member, the rotating gear 94c is rotated via the semicircular gear 98. At this time, the rotating gear 94c is rotated with respect to the rotation of the rotating gear 94c. The resistance by the damper 94 is given, so that the lever members 92, 9
Resistance is also given to the rotation of the holding member 2 in the lifting direction. In that case, the oil damper 94
With the characteristics described above, little resistance is given to slow rotation of the rotating shaft 94b, and conversely, large resistance is given to rapid rotation.

Further, as shown in FIG.
At a longitudinally intermediate portion of the parallel links 92a and 92b, a regulating plate 99 for regulating a downward rotation range of the supporting members 92 and 92 is engaged with the regulating plate 99 to support the supporting members 92 and 92b.
A stopper 100 for restricting the downward rotation of 92 is provided.

Next, the operation of the apparatus for holding the object to be packaged in the packaging machine having the above configuration will be described.

First, the tray C weighed by the weigh-in / carry-in device 10 and carried onto each of the lift posts 51 of the lift device 50 is moved upward by the lift posts 51 as shown by the phantom line in FIG. Is pushed up to the push-up position X from below the film F held in tension. As a result, the film F comes into close contact with the upper surface of the packaged object B, and both side edges in the width direction of the film F are conveyed by the respective conveying belts 43 in the movable-side conveying unit 36 and the fixed-side conveying unit 37.
c, 44c, and the film F is held in a stretched state in the width direction.

In this case, with the lifting operation of the tray C by the lift device 50, the upper surface of the packaged object B accommodated in the tray C comes into contact with the lightweight pressing member 93 via the film F, and B pushes up the holding member 93. At this time, the lever members 92, 92 are pivoted about the support block side as the pressing member 93 is pushed up, and the rotating shaft 94b of the oil damper 94 is rotated from the semicircular gear 98 via the rotating gear 94c. However, since the lifting operation by the lift device 50 is slower than the film folding operation by the folding plates 61, 62, 63, the damper 94 is not moved up by the slow lifting operation. Due to the damper characteristics, the rotation of the rotation shaft 94b rotates with little resistance.

Thus, the holding member 93 can be pushed up to a predetermined height without giving a large resistance to the packaged object B. As a result, it is possible to always press the packaged object B without giving a large pressing force to the packaged object B by the lightweight pressing member 93, and the pressing force due to the weight of the pressing member 93 makes it easy to damage the packaged object B such as a tomato. Can be prevented from being damaged.

Next, the rear folding plate 63 and the left and right folding plates 61 and 62 of the folding device 60 are driven, and the rear folding plate 63 moves forward in the transverse direction of the film F, and the left and right folding plates 6 are moved.
1, 62 move in the direction approaching each other along the longitudinal direction of the film F, and by each of these folding plates 61 to 63,
The trailing edge portion and the left and right edge portions of the film F stretched as shown by the chain line in FIG.
As a result, the trailing edge portion of the film F is separated from the transport belts 43c and 44c of the movable transport unit 36 by the pushing of the rear folding plate 63, and is folded near the front end on the bottom surface side of the tray C.

Then, by the discharge pusher 64 which is advanced at a timing delayed from the forward movement of the rear folding plate 63, the packaged object B packaged together with the tray C is sealed by the sealing device 70 disposed in front of the packaging section 3. Extruded towards. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7, the front edge of the film F is folded into the bottom side of the tray C, and the front edge is superimposed on the previous folded portion, so that the packaged object B is packaged in a sealed manner. After that, the front end side of the film F is
Is separated from each of the conveyor belts 43c and 44c.

In the above-described film folding operation, when the left and right side edges and the rear edge of the film F are folded at high speed to the bottom side of the packaged object B by the rear folding plate 63 and the left and right folding plates 61 and 62. When the tray C is about to rise, or when the packaged object B is moved forward at a high speed in a horizontal state by the discharge pusher 64 to fold the front edge of the film F into the bottom side of the packaged object B. When the rear end of the tray C tries to float up suddenly due to the tension of the film F acting on the front end of the tray C, the pressing member 9
A push-up force acts on the lever members 92 to rotate the lever members 92 upward about their base ends. In this case, the lever members 92, 92 are rotated upward, and the semi-circular gear 98 provided on each lower link 92b of each of the lever members 92, 92 rotates the rotary gear 9 on the damper 94 side.
4c is rotated, but a large resistance is given by the damper 94 to the rapid rotation of the rotating gear 94c.

As a result, a large resistance is given to the upward rotation of the lever members 92, 92, whereby a great resistance is given to the movement of the holding member 93 in the floating direction, and the tray C Can be reliably prevented from rising. As a result, tray C
Can be kept constant, and the packaged object can be satisfactorily packed with the film F.

In the tray C extruded onto the sealing device 70, the overlapped portion of the film F folded into the bottom surface of the tray C in the sealing device 70 is heat-sealed.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the pressing member provided above the packaging portion is not normally restrained from moving in the floating direction, it is easy to damage the to-be-packaged object such as a tomato. Even in the case of this, it will not be damaged. When the package is suddenly lifted when the peripheral portion of the film is folded into the bottom surface of the package, the movement of the holding member in the rising direction is suppressed by the restraining means. It is possible to reliably prevent the floating of the member, that is, the floating of the packaged object. Thus, the posture of the article to be packaged can be kept constant, and the packaging of the article to be packaged with the film can be performed favorably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a packaging machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway sectional view showing a configuration around a packaging unit.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view showing a part of the film supply device.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the packaged object holding device.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the device for holding a packaged object.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the device for holding an object to be packed.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a holding state of the packaged object holding device.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 packaging machine 90 packaged object holding device 93 holding member 94 restraining means (damper)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An object to be packaged in a packaging machine which pushes up an object to be packaged from below a film held in tension in a packaging part and folds a peripheral portion of the film into a bottom surface side of the object to be packaged in that state. A package holding device for suppressing lifting, wherein a holding member for suppressing lifting of the package is disposed above the packaging portion so as to be vertically movable, and after the lifting of the package is completed and until the discharging is completed. An apparatus for holding an object to be packed in a packaging machine, comprising: means for suppressing movement of the holding member in a floating direction during a film folding operation.