JP2003128015A - Aligning apparatus and aligned measurement system equipped with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an aligning apparatus by which fed bar-shaped articles can be aligned effectively in a vertical position without hurting them, and an aligned measurement system equipped with the aligning apparatus. SOLUTION: The bar-shaped articles weighed in combination are discharged in a random position from a combination measuring apparatus 2, below which the aligning apparatus is provided. The aligning apparatus 3 comprises a sloped chute 21 for sliding down the bar-shaped articles in a diagonal position from the upstream, a lower timing hopper 22 for holding the bar-shaped articles discharged from the chute 21 in a diagonal position, a hopper shaking mechanism 25 for shaking the hopper 22 horizontally, a lower discharge chute 23 for collecting the bar-shaped articles discharged from the hopper 22 and discharging them into a cup container set below, and a chute shaking mechanism 27 for shaking the chute 23 horizontally.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an aligning device for aligning rod-shaped articles supplied from above in a vertical position and an aligning and weighing system including the aligning apparatus, and belongs to the technical field of article transfer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Bar-shaped articles such as elongated snacks are
It is sold as a cup-shaped container that is vertically aligned and filled. In recent years, it has been desired to fill the cup-shaped container with the rod-shaped article in a vertical position at a high filling rate.
There is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 001-213409.

In this apparatus, as shown in FIG. 9, rod-shaped articles M ... M loaded in a random posture from above are sequentially passed through a first alignment chamber A1 and a second alignment chamber A2 arranged vertically. After being aligned in a vertical position, the cup-shaped container W below is filled.

First, the rod-shaped articles M ... M that have been loaded hit the pair of rod-shaped members B and B (only one is shown) installed in the upper part of the first alignment chamber A1 by combining them in a cross shape. And it falls down. Further, the lower part of the first alignment chamber A1 is divided into four in the falling direction by four partition members C1 ... C1 (only three are shown), and the rod-shaped articles M ... M are separated from the partition members C1 ... C1. It strikes the wall surface and is in a more vertical orientation.

When the swinging means (not shown) swings the first alignment chamber A1 in the direction indicated by the arrow x with the first shutter D1 for opening and closing the lower opening of the first alignment chamber A1 closed, The rod-shaped articles M ... M held in the first alignment chamber A1 are further aligned in the vertical posture.

Then, the first shutter D1 is opened, and the rod-shaped articles M ... M are discharged into the second alignment chamber A2 below.
The upper part of the second alignment chamber A2 has four partition members C2 ... C2.
The rod-shaped articles M ... M that are divided into four in the falling direction by (only three are shown) are partition members C2 ... C2.
It hits the wall surface of and is in a more vertical position.

Then, when the swinging means (not shown) swings the second alignment chamber A2 as indicated by the arrow x with the second shutter D2 that opens and closes the lower opening of the second alignment chamber A2 closed, The rod-shaped articles M ... M held in the second alignment chamber A2 are aligned in a more vertical position and with a higher density.
Next, the second shutter D2 is opened, and the rod-shaped articles M ... M are filled in the lower cup-shaped container W in a vertical posture and at a high filling rate.

[0008]

However, even in such an aligning device, the following problems may still occur.

That is, when the charged rod-shaped articles M ... M are fragile like snacks, the articles M ... M may be damaged by the impact when they hit the rod-shaped members B, B.

Further, when the first and second alignment chambers A1 and A2 having a relatively large diameter or divided space with respect to the length of the rod-shaped articles M ... M have to be used, the rod-shaped articles may be dropped. M ... M may be in a horizontal posture or a posture close thereto. With the configuration of the aligning device, it is impossible to set the rod-shaped articles M ... M once having such a posture to the vertical posture. In addition, the rod-shaped articles M ... M in the horizontal position hinder the alignment of the other rod-shaped articles M ... M in the vertical position, or the first and second alignment chambers A1, A2.
This may cause a bridging phenomenon inside.

Therefore, in view of the above situation, the present invention provides an aligning device and an aligning and weighing system including the aligning device, which can effectively align the supplied rod-shaped articles in a vertical posture without damaging them. This is an issue.

[0012]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is characterized in that it is constructed as follows.

First, the invention according to claim 1 relates to an aligning device for aligning a rod-shaped article supplied from above in a vertical posture, and is a casing for holding the rod-shaped article in an oblique posture by opening the upper and lower sides. A hopper having a body and a gate rotatably provided in the housing to open and close a lower opening of the housing; and a state in which the gate is closed and a rod-shaped article is held in an oblique posture in the housing. And a swinging means for swinging the hopper.

As described above, a rod-shaped article that has once become a horizontal posture during the alignment operation does not easily take a vertical posture and a problem occurs. However, instead of putting the rod-shaped article in a vertical posture, According to the present invention in which the hopper is swung after being held in an oblique posture, even if there are rod-shaped articles in a vertical posture or a horizontal posture, they can be easily arranged in the diagonal posture.
When the gate is opened in this manner, the rod-shaped articles fall downward in an aligned state. For example, when a cup-shaped container is arranged below, the rod-shaped articles are placed in the container in a vertical posture and have a high filling rate. Will be filled with.

Further, according to the present invention, since the rod-shaped member described in the section of the prior art is not used, the rod-shaped article supplied is not damaged.

Next, a second aspect of the present invention relates to the alignment device according to the first aspect, wherein a holding space for the rod-shaped article is provided in the housing in a direction in which the rod-shaped article is inclined. It is characterized in that a partition member for partitioning into a plurality of sections is provided.

According to the present invention, since the rod-shaped article supplied to the hopper is held in the housing along the partition member in an oblique posture, the degree of alignment in the oblique posture due to the swing of the hopper is increased. To increase.

The invention according to claim 3 relates to the aligning device according to claim 2, wherein the height of the partition member is such that the supplied rod-shaped articles are substantially even in the plurality of compartments. It is characterized in that it is set to be retained.

If the height of the partition member is excessively high, the movement of the bar-shaped article once held at a high density in the partitioned holding space is restricted, so that the degree of alignment is effectively increased even when the hopper swings. However, according to the present invention, even if the rod-shaped article is supplied at a high density to the holding space side,
By swinging the hopper, the rod-shaped article can easily move to another holding space by overcoming the partition member, and the amount of the rod-shaped article held in each holding space is equalized, so that the rod-shaped article is inclined. Will maintain a high degree of alignment.

Further, the invention according to claim 4 is the aligning device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a slide-down portion for sliding down the rod-shaped article in an oblique posture is provided above. It is characterized by being

According to the present invention, since the rod-shaped article is preliminarily inclined by the upper sliding portion, the rod-shaped article can be efficiently aligned in the diagonal posture by the lower hopper, and the degree of alignment is further improved. Can be increased and the swing time of the hopper can be shortened.

The invention according to claim 5 is the aligning device according to claim 4, wherein the sliding part has a plurality of sections in which sliding spaces of the rod-shaped article are divided in a direction in which the rod-shaped article slides. It is characterized in that it is provided with a partition member.

According to the present invention, since the rod-shaped article can slide down along the partition member, the rod-shaped article in which the degree of alignment in the oblique posture is further increased is supplied to the hopper.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in the aligning device according to any of the first to fifth aspects, the rod-shaped articles discharged from the hopper are gathered downward in a vertical posture. The present invention is characterized in that a gathering portion that is open at the top and bottom is provided, and the inner surface of the gathering portion is formed as a curved surface whose inclination angle continuously increases toward the bottom.

According to the present invention, since the rod-shaped articles discharged from the hopper are gathered in the vertical posture at the collecting portion, for example, when the cup-shaped container is arranged below, the rod-shaped articles are held in the vertical posture in the container. Will be filled with. Moreover, since the inner surface of the collecting portion is formed into a curved surface whose inclination angle continuously increases toward the bottom, the rod-shaped article can be smoothly aligned in the vertical posture along the curved surface, and The density of the article will increase.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the aligning apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the gathering portion has a shutter for opening and closing a lower opening of the gathering portion, and the shutter is closed for the gathering. And a swinging unit that swings the collecting unit in a state where the rod-shaped article is held in a vertical posture.

According to the present invention, since the rod-shaped articles are aligned in a vertical posture and with a high density by swinging the collecting portion, for example, when a cup-shaped container is arranged below,
The rod-shaped article is filled in the container in a more vertical position and at a higher filling rate.

According to the invention described in claim 8, the aligning device according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is arranged above the aligning device to combine and weigh rod-shaped articles. The present invention relates to an alignment weighing system, comprising: a combination weighing device that drops and discharges articles to the alignment device side.

According to the present invention, the rod-shaped articles that are normally discharged from the upper combination weighing device in a random posture can be effectively aligned in the vertical posture by the alignment device below the weighing device. High system is realized.

[0030]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An alignment weighing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below. For convenience of description, the bar-shaped article, the cup-shaped container, and the swinging direction will be denoted by the same reference numerals as used in the description of the related art.

This system fills a cup-shaped container with a rod-shaped article such as a snack snack weighed in a vertical posture. As shown in FIG. 1, the system 1 includes a combination weighing device 2 on the upstream side and a downstream weighing device. A side alignment device 3 is provided.

[Combination Weighing Device] The combination weighing device 2 has a box-shaped main body case 12 supported by a plurality of support legs 11 ... 11 on the frame F, and the rod-shaped articles are dispersed in the main body case 12. Distributed table 13, distributed table 13
A plurality of transport feeders 14 arranged radially around the ...
14, a pair of upper and lower pool hoppers 15 and 15 and weighing hoppers 16 and 1 provided for each of the transport feeders 14 and 14
6 etc. are assembled.

The rod-shaped articles loaded in the combination weighing device 2 are first fed by the dispersion table 13 to the transport feeder 14.
After being evenly distributed to the 14 ...
14 to pool hopper 15 ... 15 to weigh hopper 16
16 is supplied to each of the units, where each weight is weighed and a combination calculation is performed.

The individual chutes 17 ... 17 are arranged below the weighing hoppers 16 ... 16 respectively, and the weighing hoppers 16 ... Which correspond to the optimum combination as a result of the combination calculation.
Rod-shaped articles are discharged from 16 to the individual chutes 17 ... The rod-shaped articles that have been discharged and slid down the individual chutes 17 ... 17 are gathered and held by the upper timing hopper 19 below through the funnel-shaped upper discharge chute 18 disposed substantially in the center of the combination weighing device 2. It has become.

[Aligning Device] The aligning device 3, which is a feature of the present invention, includes the upper timing hopper 1 in order from the upstream side.
Inclined chute 2 that guides the rod-shaped article discharged from 9 downward
1, a lower timing hopper 22 that holds the rod-shaped articles discharged from the inclined chute 21 in an oblique posture, and a lower portion that collects the rod-shaped articles discharged from the lower timing hopper 22 and then discharges the cup-shaped container W below. The discharge chute 23 is supported and provided in the sub-frame F ′ in the frame F.

In the sub-frame F ', a gate opening / closing mechanism 24 for opening / closing the lower opening of the lower timing hopper 22, a hopper swinging mechanism 25 for horizontally swinging the hopper 22, and a lower opening of the lower discharge chute 23. A shutter opening / closing mechanism 26 for opening and closing the shutter, a chute swinging mechanism 27 for horizontally swinging the chute 23, and the like are assembled.

<Inclined Chute> As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inclined chute 21 has a bottom surface 21a and side surfaces 21b and 21b provided upright on both sides of the bottom surface 21a.
Further, in the center of the bottom surface 21a, the partition 2 protruding upward in an inverted V shape over substantially the entire length in the sliding direction of the rod-shaped articles M ... M.
1a 'is provided in parallel with both side surfaces 21b, 21b. That is, the sliding space of the rod-shaped articles M ... M is divided into two left and right sides on the bottom surface 21a side in FIG. And
The inclined chute 21 is arranged so as to incline downward at an appropriate angle. The inclination angle in that case is set according to the sliding speed of the rod-shaped articles M ... M sliding on the inclined chute 21.

Further, the lower end of the inclined chute 21 is provided with a pop-out preventing member 21c for restricting excessive stick-out of the rod-shaped articles M ... M from the lower end by interfering with the sliding rod-shaped articles M ... M. Has been. A sheet-shaped synthetic resin material having appropriate rigidity is used for the pop-out prevention member 21c.

<Lower Timing Hopper> As shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, the lower timing hopper 22 has an upper opening 31.
a hopper body 31 having a square cross-section having a square cross section and a lower opening 31b, and a gate 33 that is rotatably attached to the hopper body 31 about pivots 32 and 32 to open and close the lower opening 31b. have.

The gate 33 having a U-shaped cross section is located inside the hopper body 31 with the lower opening 31b closed, and is attached so as to incline downward from the positions of the support shafts 32, 32 toward the tip. Has been.

Further, in the hopper main body 31, a partition member 34 is fixedly provided between a pair of side surfaces (left and right side surfaces in the drawings in FIGS. 3 to 6) that is inclined in the inclination direction of the gate 33 in the closed state. ing. As shown in FIG. 7, the partition member 34 having a predetermined height and having an inverted V shape is provided with a hopper body 31.
It is fixed in the center in parallel to the left and right side surfaces in the drawing, and in this case, the holding space for the rod-shaped articles M ... M formed by the hopper body 31 and the gate 33 is divided into two on the left and right sides on the gate 33 side. It is partitioned.

(Gate Opening / Closing Mechanism) The structure of the gate opening / closing mechanism 24 for opening / closing the lower opening 31b will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a bracket 41 is fixedly provided on the lower surface of the gate 33 at a position near the support shaft 32 in the substantial center thereof, and the bracket 41 extends in the left-right direction in the drawing in FIG. Guide member 42 having long hole 42a
Is fixed.

The cylinder 4 is attached to the lower surface of the support plate 43 supported by the sub-frame F '(see FIGS. 1 and 6).
4 are installed. Then, on the right end surface of the support plate 43 in the drawing, a side view L is provided so as to sandwich the cylinder 44.
A pair of character-shaped brackets 45, 45 (see FIGS. 4 and 6) are fixedly installed, and a shaft member 46 is installed between the right ends of the brackets 45, 45 in the drawing. The shaft member 4
One end of a connecting member 47 is attached to the shaft 6 so as to be rotatable around the shaft member 46. Also, the connecting member 4
A roller 48 is rotatably supported at the other end of 7,
The roller 48 and the guide member 42 are slidably engaged with each other through an elongated hole 42a. Then, the connecting member 47
The tip of the rod 44a of the cylinder 44 is rotatably attached at a predetermined position between the shaft member 46 and the roller 48.

By doing so, the rod 4 shown in FIG.
4a is advanced and the gate 33 is closed, the rod 4
When 4a retreats, as shown in FIG. 4, the connecting member 47 rotates about the shaft member 46 in the counterclockwise direction in the drawing. With this rotation, the roller 48 slides in the elongated hole 42a, so that the guide member 42 and the bracket 4
1 Further, as a result of the gate 33 pivoting around the support shaft 32 as shown by an arrow, the lower opening 31b is opened.

On the other hand, when the rod 44a advances, the connecting member 47 rotates about the shaft member 46 in the clockwise direction in the drawing. With this rotation, the roller 48 slides in the elongated hole 42a in the opposite direction to the above, so that the guide member 42 and thus the bracket 41 and the gate 33 are opposite to the arrow shown in FIG. As a result of the rotation in the direction, the lower opening 31b is again closed by the gate 33.

(Hopper rocking mechanism) The structure of the hopper rocking mechanism 25 for rocking the lower timing hopper 22 will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 3, 5 and 6, a bracket 51 is provided on the left side surface of the lower timing hopper 22 in the drawing.
Is fixed. On the other hand, a rail member 52 is fixedly provided on the upper surface of the support plate 43 near the hopper 22, and a plate-shaped arm member 54 is slidable in the left-right direction via a linear bearing 53 on the rail member 52. It is supported. The bracket 51 is fixed to the linear bearing 53 with the arm member 54 interposed therebetween. An elongated hole 54a extending in the width direction of the arm member 54 is provided at the left end of the arm member 54 in the drawing.

On the other hand, a substantially U-shaped bracket 55 is erected on the upper surface of the support plate 43 near the left end in the drawing.
A motor 56 is arranged on the upper surface of the bracket 55.
The rotation of the motor 56 is transmitted to the output shaft 57a of the gear box 57. And
A block member 58 is attached to the tip of the output shaft 57a, and the lower part of the block member 58 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, a shaft member 59 is fixedly provided with a gap g offset from the output shaft 57a. This shaft member 59
A roller 60 is rotatably supported at the lower end, and the roller 60 and the arm member 54 are slidably engaged with each other via an elongated hole 54a.

By doing so, when the motor 56 is driven, its rotation is changed by the gear box 57 and the output shaft 5 thereof.
It is transmitted to the block member 58 via 7a. When the block member 58 rotates, the arm member 54 is engaged with the roller 60 supported by the shaft member 59 and the arm member 54.
Slides repeatedly on the rail member 52 as indicated by arrow x. That is, the lower timing hopper 22 is repeatedly swung in the direction indicated by the arrow x via the arm member 54 and the bracket 51. In this case, the swing stroke is twice the offset distance g of the shaft member 59 from the output shaft 57a, and for example, about 10 mm is practically used.

As shown in FIG. 5, while the lower timing hopper 22 is swinging, the connecting member 47 is immovable, and the roller 48 attached to the connecting member 47 and the gate 33.
The guide member 42 on the side repeatedly slides through the elongated hole 42a as shown by the chain line.

<Lower discharge chute> As shown in FIG.
The lower discharge chute 23 includes an upper opening 23a and a lower opening 2.
3b, and the inner surface thereof is formed as a curved surface whose inclination angle continuously increases toward the lower part.

(Shutter Opening / Closing Mechanism) The structure of the shutter opening / closing mechanism 26 for opening / closing the lower opening 23b will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 8, a rotary cylinder 72 is installed on the lower surface of a support plate 71 supported by the subframe F '(see FIG. 1).
A shutter 73 for opening and closing the lower opening 23b is attached to the second output shaft 72a.

By doing so, the rotary cylinder 7
When 2 is driven, the rotation is transmitted to the shutter 73 via the output shaft 72a, and the shutter 73 closes the lower opening 23b as shown by the arrow in FIG. 8 (see the solid line).
And the state in which the lower opening 23b is opened (see the chain line) are repeatedly realized. In that case, the shutter 73
In consideration of the swing stroke of the lower discharge chute 23, which will be described later, the portion that closes the lower opening 23b can reliably close the lower opening 23b even while swinging. The size is increased by a predetermined size.

(Chute swing mechanism) As shown in FIG.
Chute swing mechanism 2 for swinging the lower discharge chute 23
7 is provided on a support plate 81 supported by a sub-frame F ′ (see FIG. 1) and has a configuration substantially similar to that of the hopper swing mechanism 25, and therefore description thereof will be omitted. The lower discharge chute 23 is connected to the chute swing mechanism 27 via the support member 82, and by doing so, the chute 23 is repeatedly swung in the direction indicated by the arrow x.

[Operation of this Embodiment] The operation of the alignment weighing system 1 will be described.

First, in the upper combination weighing device 2,
Weighing hopper 16 corresponding to the optimum combination as a result of the combination calculation
When the rod-shaped article M ... M is discharged from the article ... 16, the article M ...
M is an individual chute 17 ... 17, an upper discharge chute 18,
And, via the upper timing hopper 19, it is supplied to the inclined chute 21 of the lower aligning device 3.

Rod-shaped articles M that are normally supplied in a random posture
.. M slides down along the inclined chute 21 and the partition 21a 'provided on the inclined chute 21 while being aligned in an oblique posture. In this case, the tip of the inclined chute 21 is provided with the fly-out prevention member 21c, so that the rod-shaped articles M ... M do not fly out of the tip and are not deviated from the transfer route.

On the other hand, when the rod-shaped articles M ... M are discharged from the upper timing hopper 19 and a predetermined time elapses, the gate 33 of the lower timing hopper 22 causes the gate opening / closing mechanism 24 to open.
And the hopper 22 is swung by the hopper swing mechanism 25.

In this case, even if the rod-shaped articles M ... M supplied through the inclined chute 21 have a vertical posture or a horizontal posture, the partition member 34 in the hopper 22 is swung by the swing of the lower timing hopper 22. Easily aligned in a diagonal position along.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, even if the rod-shaped articles M ... M are concentratedly supplied to one holding space (for example, the left side in the drawing) partitioned by the partition member 34, the partition member 34 is provided.
M is set to a predetermined height such that the rod-shaped articles M ... M can move over the partition member 34 and move to the other holding space (right side in the drawing), the lower timing hopper 22 swings so that one of The excessive rod-shaped articles M ... M in the holding space can move over the partition member 34 and move to the other holding space as indicated by the arrow. As a result, the amounts of the rod-shaped articles M ... M held in the holding spaces are equalized, and the degree of alignment in the oblique posture is increased.

Further, since the inclined chute 21 is provided above the lower timing hopper 22, the rod-shaped members M ... M which are previously aligned in an oblique posture are supplied to the hopper 22, so that the oblique posture in the hopper 22 is increased. Will be aligned efficiently. In other words, rod-shaped products M ... M
It is possible to increase the degree of alignment of the hopper 22 in an oblique posture and shorten the swing time of the hopper 22.

Since the rod-shaped members B, B used in the prior art are not used in this embodiment, the rod-shaped articles M ... M will not be damaged during supply.

Next, when the swing of the hopper 22 for a predetermined period is completed, the gate 33 is opened and the rod-shaped articles M ... M are discharged to the lower discharge chute 23 below. At this time, the shutter 73 of the chute 23 is closed by the shutter opening / closing mechanism 26 and the chute 23 is swung by the chute swinging mechanism 27.

In this case, since the inner surface of the lower discharge chute 23 is formed as a curved surface whose inclination angle continuously increases as it goes downward, the supplied rod-shaped article M ...
M will be smoothly aligned in the vertical position along this curved surface. Further, since the chute 23 is swung while the rod-shaped articles M ... M are held in the chute 23,
The rod-shaped articles M ... M are arranged in a more vertical position and with high density.

When the shutter 71 is opened, the rod-shaped articles M ... M in the lower discharge chute 23 are filled in the lower cup-shaped container W in a vertical posture and at a high density. In that case, even if a cup-shaped container W whose height is slightly higher than the length of the rod-shaped articles M ... M is used, the rod-shaped articles M ... M are highly aligned in the vertical posture. Since the container W is filled, sticking out of the rod-shaped articles M ... M from the opening of the container W is suppressed, and a sealing failure at the time of sealing this opening, damage to the rod-shaped articles M ... M, and the like. The defect will be avoided.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the bar-shaped articles M ... M such as snacks discharged from the upstream combination weighing device 2 in a random posture are effectively lengthened by the downstream alignment device 3. It becomes possible to arrange the rod-shaped articles M ... M in the posture in a vertical posture and at a high filling rate, thereby realizing the alignment weighing system 1 with high added value.

In general, the rod-shaped articles M ... M in an aligned state.
In order to sort the product into a normal product and a defective product in the middle of processing, a sorting means having a complicated structure is required. In the alignment weighing system 1 according to the present invention, for example, an upper timing hopper 19 having a sorting function is required. By adopting this, it is possible to distribute the rod-shaped articles M ... M in a random posture in which the distribution is easy, so that the configuration of the system 1 is prevented from becoming complicated and the added value is increased.

[Other Embodiments] In the above embodiment, the partition 21a 'is provided on the inclined chute 21 over substantially the entire length, but the partition may be provided only on the rear half side, for example. Alternatively, the inclined chute 21 may be omitted, and the rod-shaped articles M ... M may be directly discharged from the combination weighing device 2 to the lower timing hopper 22.

In the above embodiment, the partition member 34 is provided on the hopper body 31 of the lower timing hopper 22, but the partition member may be provided on the upper surface of the gate 33.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the inclined chute 21 and the lower timing hopper 22 are each provided with one inverted V-shaped partition portion 21a 'or partition member 34, but a plurality of partition portions or partition members are provided. You can
Further, for example, a flat plate-shaped partition portion or partition member may be provided.

In the above-described embodiment, the rod-shaped articles M ... M are discharged or held by opening and closing the lower opening 31b of the lower timing hopper 22 with the gate 33. An opening may be provided on the side corresponding to the right side surface in the drawing, and the opening may be opened and closed by a gate.

In the above embodiment, the gate opening / closing mechanism 24 side is immovable while the lower timing hopper 22 is rocking. However, both may be rocked together.

[0075]

As described above, according to the present invention,
(EN) Provided are an aligning device and an aligning and weighing system including the aligning device, which can effectively align a supplied rod-like article in a vertical position without damaging it. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is widely applicable to the technical field of article processing such as a line for filling a rod-shaped article into a container.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration of an alignment weighing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a configuration of an alignment device excluding an inclined chute.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a main part for explaining a gate opening / closing mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a main part for explaining a hopper swing mechanism.

6 is an enlarged plan view taken along the line EE of FIG.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line W-W of FIG.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line A-E of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view for explaining a problem in the conventional aligning device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Alignment weighing system 2 Combination weighing device (weighing device) 3 Alignment device 21 Inclined chute (sliding part) 21a 'Partition (partition member) 22 Lower timing hopper (hopper) 23 Lower discharge chute (collecting part) 23a Upper opening 23b Lower opening 25 Hopper swing mechanism (swing means) 27 Chute swing mechanism (swing means) 31 hopper body (housing) 31a Upper opening 31b Lower opening 33 gates 34 Partition member 73 shutter M rod-shaped article

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takashi Tatematsu             1 959 Shimohagi, Ritto City, Shiga Prefecture             Fern Shiga Office (72) Inventor Ritsuzo Kubo             1 959 Shimohagi, Ritto City, Shiga Prefecture             Fern Shiga Office F-term (reference) 3E054 AA05 BA01 DA06 DA10 EA03                       FA01 FA07 FA09 FC02 FC03                       FC08 FC14 FD02 GA01 GA02                       GB04 GC01 HA02 HA07 JA02                 3E055 AA07 BB01 CA02 DA03 DA07                       DA14 EA01 EA07 FA03

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An aligning device for aligning a rod-shaped article supplied from above in a vertical posture, the casing being open at the top and bottom to hold the rod-shaped article in an oblique posture, and rotatable to the casing. And a hopper having a gate for opening and closing a lower opening of the housing, and a swinging means for swinging the hopper in a state where the gate is closed and the rod-shaped article is held in an oblique posture in the housing. An aligning device comprising: and. 2. The partition member for partitioning the holding space of the rod-shaped article into a plurality of compartments in a direction in which the rod-shaped article is tilted, in the housing. Alignment device. 3. The aligning device according to claim 2, wherein the height of the partition member is set so that the supplied rod-shaped articles are held substantially evenly in the plurality of compartments. . 4. The aligning device according to claim 1, further comprising a slide-down portion provided above the slide-down portion for sliding down the rod-shaped article in an oblique posture. 5. The partition member for partitioning the sliding space of the rod-shaped article into a plurality of sections in a direction in which the rod-shaped article slides down, in the sliding portion. Alignment device. 6. A downwardly provided collecting portion for collecting the rod-shaped articles discharged from the hopper in a vertical posture, and an inner surface of the collecting portion has an inclination angle as it goes downward. The aligning device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the aligning device is formed of a curved surface that continuously increases in size. 7. A shutter for opening and closing a lower opening of the gathering portion, and a swinging movement of the gathering portion in a state where the shutter is closed and the rod-shaped article is held in a vertical posture in the gathering portion. 7. The aligning device according to claim 6, further comprising swinging means for moving. 8. The aligning device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which is arranged above the aligning device to combine and weigh rod-shaped articles and drop and discharge the articles to the aligning apparatus side. An alignment weighing system comprising: a combination weighing device.