JP2003300504A - Item boxing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an item boxing device which efficiently performs a boxing operation and improves its processing capability and contributes to a reduction in the number of boxing devices, and hence the cost and installation space of the entire sorting facility. <P>SOLUTION: The device comprises storing conveyors each of which stores items of the same sort in a line toward the front and back; guide supply devices disposed between the storing conveyors and aligning devices and guide such that items fed by each storing conveyor are supplied in a specific arrangement with an arrangement device by the movement in a lateral direction which is perpendicular to the direction of the feed of the items; and a takeup-and-placing device which receives the items aligned in the specific arrangement with the aligning device and puts them into a container. The guide supply devices each have a lateral moving means which is movable in a lateral direction. The placing face of the guide supply device, on which the items are placed, is formed from an item carrying face. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is preferably used in, for example, a facility for sorting agricultural products, and relates to a packaging device for packaging a predetermined number of products such as agricultural products sorted by a sorting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an apparatus for automatically packing agricultural products sorted from a sorting conveyor in a box is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-62147, Japanese Patent No. 2858854, and Japanese Patent No. 3229338.
The device disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-62147 discharges and conveys fruits conveyed on a sorting conveyor onto a corresponding withdrawing conveyor of a withdrawing conveyor arranged for each assortment along the conveying path of the selecting conveyor. In addition, at the fruit alignment position on the downstream side of each of the drawer conveyors, a plurality of rows are arranged in a staggered pattern and pooled, and a predetermined number of fruits are collectively picked up by the pick-up transfer device and packed in a box. It is designed to be packed in a box prepared at the position.

The devices disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2858854 and Japanese Patent No. 3229338 are used in a so-called free tray type sorting facility in which agricultural products are placed on a tray, and are arranged for each assortment. Arranged on the downstream side of the drawer conveyor are storage means for holding the trays (articles) on which agricultural products for boxing are placed in a fixed arrangement, arrangement changing mechanism for arranging the articles in a predetermined arrangement, and pick-up boxing means. Then, the articles arranged in a predetermined arrangement by the boxing changing mechanism are picked up by the boxing means and packed in a boxing container waiting at a predetermined position.

[0004]

However, in each of these packaging devices, a packaging device such as a pick-up transfer device and a pick-up packing device is arranged on the downstream side of each drawer conveyor for each sorting section. Therefore, depending on the distribution ratio of assortment classification, there will be a packaging device that can fully demonstrate its capacity during the packaging work and a packaging device that cannot fully demonstrate its capacity, and the mobility of the packaging device as a whole sorting facility will be poor. I have a problem.

Further, since the packaging devices are installed according to the sorting, the number of installations as a whole of the sorting facility increases, the equipment cost increases, and a wide installation space is required. There is. Especially in recent years, as the sorting of various agricultural products has become diversified due to the development of measuring technology, the number of sorting is increasing accordingly, and the cost and the installation space for the packaging equipment as a whole sorting facility tends to increase. However, the reality is that improvement is desired.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to perform a packing operation efficiently and improve its processing capacity, and at the same time, reduce the number of packing devices to reduce the entire sorting facility. Another object of the present invention is to provide a box packaging device for articles, which can simultaneously reduce the cost and the installation space.

[0007]

In order to achieve such an object, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a plurality of storage conveyors for respectively storing articles of the same sorting section in a row in the front-rear direction, Provided between the plurality of storage conveyors and the aligning device, the articles sent out for each storage conveyor are moved in a lateral direction substantially orthogonal to the sending direction of the articles so that the articles have a predetermined arrangement in the aligning apparatus. A guide supply device for supplying as described above, and a pick-up and transfer device for picking up articles arranged in a predetermined arrangement by the arrangement device and packing them in a container.

With such a configuration, the articles stored in a single row on the plurality of storage conveyors are set and aligned so that the articles are arranged in a predetermined arrangement by the lateral movement operation of the guide supply device. Supplied to the device. And
The articles supplied to the aligning device in a predetermined arrangement are picked up by the pick-up and transfer device and packed in a container waiting at the packing position. As a result, the operation of the guide supply device can be controlled according to the number of articles stored on the plurality of storage conveyors, etc., and the processing capacity of the boxing work can be improved, and the transfer device for the plurality of storage conveyors can be achieved. It suffices to install one unit, etc., and the number is reduced, and the cost and installation space of the entire sorting facility are reduced.

Further, as in the invention described in claim 2, the guide supply device may have a lateral movement means capable of moving in a lateral direction substantially orthogonal to the sending direction of the articles sent out for each storage conveyor. preferable. With such a configuration, by controlling the movement of the lateral moving means that can move in the lateral direction substantially orthogonal to the sending direction, the arrangement of the articles to be packed can be set to a predetermined value. The control can be simplified and the reliability of the operation can be enhanced.

Further, in the lateral movement means, it is preferable that the placing surface on which the article is placed forms an article conveying surface, as in the invention according to claim 3. It is preferable that a plurality of the placement surfaces are formed and the articles placed on the respective placement surfaces are collectively packaged in a plurality of containers, as in the invention described in (1). By configuring in this way,
Since the placing surface of the lateral moving means functions as an article conveying surface, the configuration of the lateral moving means can be further simplified, and the articles placed on the plurality of placing surfaces can be collectively stored in a plurality of containers. Since it is packed in a box, the efficiency of the packing work can be further improved.

In addition, it is preferable that the lateral moving means is movable along the transfer path in association with the lifting operation of each lifting stopper of the plurality of storage conveyors. . By configuring in this way, the lateral movement means is provided in the end portion of the plurality of storage conveyors and moves in association with the elevating and lowering operation of the elevating stopper that sends out the articles on the conveyors. It can be reliably placed (supplied) on the placement surface of the lateral movement means so that a predetermined arrangement can be obtained.

Further, as in the invention described in claim 6, the lateral moving means engages with an article sent out for each storage conveyor to move the article in a lateral direction substantially orthogonal to the sending direction. It is preferable to have an engaging member. By configuring in this way, by moving the engaging member engages the article, the articles sent out from each storage conveyor is moved laterally and set in a predetermined array,
It is possible to reliably move the article corresponding to each storage conveyor.

Further, in the pick-up and transfer device, as in the invention described in claim 7, it is preferable that adjacent intervals of the articles to be packed in a box be different depending on the size of the articles. With such a configuration, the adjoining intervals of the pick-up and transfer devices differ depending on the size of the article, so that articles of various sizes can be boxed, and the versatility of the boxing apparatus can be improved.

Further, it is preferable that the plurality of storage conveyors store at least two kinds of articles of different sorting categories, as in the eighth aspect of the invention. With this configuration, the articles of at least two types of assortment are stored in the plurality of storage conveyors and appropriately boxed, so that the boxing work of the articles of different assortment can be performed more efficiently.

Further, it is preferable that the article is a saucer on which agricultural products are placed, as in the ninth aspect of the invention. By configuring in this way, for example, even a saucer on which agricultural products such as watermelons with a high unit price per piece and a variety of assortment classifications are placed can be reliably and efficiently boxed in a predetermined arrangement, and in a agricultural product sorting facility. It is possible to further improve the processing capacity for packing agricultural products in boxes.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 6 show a first embodiment of an article packaging apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 2 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a side view of a main part thereof. 4 is an enlarged plan view of a main part, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are operation explanatory views of the guide supply device.

1 to 4, the boxing device 1 includes storage conveyors 2a to 2c having a plurality of (three in the figure) arrayed therein.
And a guide supply device 3 arranged on the downstream side of the storage conveyors 2a to 2c, and an alignment device 4 and a pick-up transfer device 5 arranged on the downstream side of the guide supply device 3.

The storage conveyors 2a to 2c are composed of roller conveyors having a large number of rollers 6 (see FIG. 3) and are arranged in correspondence with predetermined sorting sections of the sorting conveyor 7, respectively. The discharge device 8 is set in a direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction (b) of the sorting conveyor 7, and the discharging devices 8 are arranged at positions corresponding to the storage conveyors 2a to 2c of the sorting conveyor 7.

The receiving tray 9 (article) on which the agricultural product W conveyed by the sorting conveyor 7 is placed and the discharging device 8 of the sorting section determined by the measuring device (not shown) is actuated, whereby a predetermined storage conveyor is produced. 2a to 2c are discharged onto the downstream side and are conveyed in a single row downstream thereof. Elevating stoppers 10a to 10c (see FIG. 4) that can move up and down to stop the conveyed tray 9 at a predetermined position and stand by are arranged at the end portions of the storage conveyors 2a to 2c.

The guide supply device 3 has a lateral moving body 12 as a lateral moving means arranged on the frame 11 and connected to the end portions of the storage conveyors 2a to 2c.
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, reference numeral 2 denotes a roller conveyor 13 that forms a conveying surface of the tray 9, and the roller conveyor 1
Guide rail 14 and rack 1 for moving 3 in the lateral direction
5, a movement mechanism 18 including a pinion 16 and a motor 17
Etc.

The lateral moving body 12 has the left and right side walls 12a.
And the central partition wall 12b, the two transport surface portions 12A, 1
2B, and an elevating stopper 1 similar to the elevating stoppers 10a to 10c on the downstream side of each of the transport surface portions 12A, 12B.
9a and 19b (see FIG. 4) are arranged. And
In this guide supply device 3, the lateral moving body 12 is moved in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 4 when the motor 17 of the moving mechanism 18 is rotated by the operation of a control device (operation panel) not shown.

As shown in FIG. 3, the aligning device 4 has a roller conveyor 22 similar to the roller conveyor 13 of the lateral moving body 12 arranged on the frame body 21, and the roller conveyor 22 is a frame body. It is configured to move up and down as indicated by an arrow D by an elevating cylinder 23, a guide 24, and the like provided on 21. That is, the lifting cylinder 23 is operated by the operation of the control device, and the piston rod advances to set the roller conveyor 22 to the raised position shown by the chain double-dashed line, and the piston rod retracts to set the roller conveyor 22 to the solid line. Is set to the lowered position.

The tip of the pick-up and transfer device 5 is arranged above the aligning device 4, and a packing part 25 is provided on the downstream side of the aligning device 4 along the carrying direction a. There is. The pick-up and transfer device 5 has, for example, a frame 28 whose base end is fixed to a frame 27 of an empty box lowering device 39, and a scaling device 29 is provided in the frame 28 as shown in FIGS.
It is arranged so that it can move as shown by arrow E. Scale device 2
9, a predetermined number (four in the figure) of suction pads 30 are attached downward, and the suction pads 30 have an interval (pitch) in the front-rear direction due to the expansion / contraction operation of the expansion / contraction device 29. It is designed to be enlarged or reduced according to the size of 9).

The pick-up and transfer device 5 aligns the expansion / contraction device 29 with the distance between the front and rear trays 9 in advance, positions the expansion / contraction device 29 at the tip of the frame 28, and arranges it in the aligning device 4.
The agricultural product W on the tray 9 that has been raised by the operation of the elevating cylinder 23 is adsorbed by the adsorption operation of the adsorption pad 30, and after the descending operation of the alignment device 4, the expansion / contraction device 29 itself is attached to the base of the frame 28 together with the adsorption pad 30. By moving it in the end direction, it is positioned above the boxed portion 25.

Further, the packing section 25 is provided with the aligning device 4
Similarly to the above, the frame 21 has a roller conveyor 33 that is vertically movable by an elevating cylinder 34 and a guide 35, and when the pistron rod of the elevating cylinder 34 moves back and forth, a rising position, which is a boxing position, and an empty position. Box feeder 2
6, the empty box feeding position which is flush with the empty box carrying conveyor 36, and the packed cardboard boxes 37
It is configured to be set at three positions, that is, a delivery position for delivering the sheet 8 above.

The empty box supply device 26 includes the empty box lowering device 39, a plurality of rows of box conveyors 40 connected to the upper part of the empty box lowering device 39, and a predetermined height of the empty box lowering device 39. It has the empty box conveyor 36 and the like connected to the position. Then, an empty cardboard box 37 supplied from the distribution conveyor 40 into the empty box lowering device 39 is lowered by the empty box lowering device 39 and, for example, two in the packing section 25 via the empty box conveying conveyor 36. It is supplied one by one.

Next, an example of the operation of the packaging device 1 will be described. In addition, two watermelons as agricultural products W placed on the saucer 9 are boxed in two two cardboard boxes 37,
Storage conveyor 2a among storage conveyors 2a to 2c of three articles
Watermelon W1 of grade "L" is stored in the storage conveyor 2
An example will be described in which watermelons W2 of grade "M" are stored in b and 2c. First, the watermelons W1 and W2 on the pans 9 of the grade “L” and the grade “M” conveyed by the sorting conveyor 7.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, each storage conveyor 2a ...
2c is discharged to the downstream side, is conveyed to the downstream side, and is stored (pooled) in a line on the storage conveyors 2a to 2c by the lift stoppers 10a to 10c in the raised position.

Then, for example, when a predetermined number of watermelons W1 are stored in the storage conveyor 2a, the motor 17 of the guide supply device 3 is operated by the control signal of the control device, and the lateral moving body 12 is moved.
Is moved to the left side in the transport direction (i) to the leftmost end (lower end in the figure) shown in FIG. 5, and the transport surface portion 12B on the other side of the lateral moving body 12 (right side in the transport direction (i)) is stored in the storage conveyor 2a.
To face. The transfer surface 12B is connected to the storage conveyor 2a.
The elevating stopper 10a of the storage conveyor 2a is lowered, for example, for a predetermined time at a position opposed to, and the two trays 9 located on the most downstream side are fed toward the lateral moving body 12.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, the tray 9 on which the two watermelons W1 are placed is supplied to the transfer surface 12B on the other side of the lateral moving body 12 while being guided by the side wall 12a and the partition wall 12b. The elevating stopper 10 of the storage conveyor 2a
After feeding out two saucers 9, a moves up and prohibits the next saucer 9 from being sent out. The tray 9 is sent out from the storage conveyor 2a onto the transfer surface portion 12B of the lateral moving body 12 by the rollers 6 of the storage conveyor 2a forming the article transfer surface.
And rotation of the rollers of the roller conveyor 13.

When the two trays 9 are supplied to the conveying surface portion 12B of the lateral moving body 12, the motor 17 is operated by the control signal of the control device to move the lateral moving body 12 to the right side in the conveying direction B as shown in FIG. It is moved to the position, and one side (the left side in the transport direction B) of the transport surface portion 12A is set to a position facing the storage conveyor 2a. At this position, the elevating stopper 10a of the storage conveyor 2a is lowered again for a predetermined time, so that
As shown in (2), two trays 9 are sent out from the storage conveyor 2a in the direction of the lateral moving body 12 and are supplied to the conveying surface portion 12A on one side of the lateral moving body 12. As a result, the two trays 9 on which the grade L watermelon W1 is placed are respectively supplied to the two transfer surface portions 12A and 12B of the lateral moving body 12.

Next, in this state, the lateral moving body 12 is moved to the right by a predetermined distance in accordance with a control signal from the control device, and is positioned at the center of the guide supply device 3 in the width direction (lateral direction) as shown in FIG. Then, at this position, the lift stoppers 19a and 19b provided on the downstream side of the transport surface portions 12A and 12B are lowered.
By the lowering of the elevating stoppers 19a and 19b, the two trays 9 (four trays 9 in total) supplied to the transporting surface portions 12A and 12B are respectively sent to the downstream side and the rollers of the aligning device 4 in the lowered position. Is supplied on the conveyor 22,
The aligning device 4 sets the four receiving trays 9 in an array state in which two receiving trays 2 are aligned. At this time, the tray 9 is also fed from the lateral moving body 12 to the aligning device 4 by the rotation of the rollers of the roller conveyor 13 and the roller conveyor 22 that form the article conveying surface.

When the tray 9 is supplied to the aligning device 4 and arranged in a predetermined manner, the elevating cylinder 23 of the aligning device 4 operates and its piston rod advances to move each tray 9 together with the roller conveyor 22 to the raised position. The watermelon W1 on the tray 9 at this raised position is raised and the suction pad 30 of the transfer device 5 is moved.
Is picked up by the suction operation. At this time, the four suction pads 30 of the expansion / contraction device 29 have two front and rear pitches set to predetermined values according to the size (class) of the watermelon W1 and the like, and two suction pads 30 on the left and right respectively. Satisfactorily adheres to the upper surface of each watermelon W1 and reliably prevents a drop or the like due to a suction error.

The four watermelons W1 picked up by the suction pad 30 are transferred in the direction of the box 25 by the movement of the expansion / contraction device 29 in the direction of the arrow E and stopped above the box 25, Then, the suction operation of the suction pad 30 is released so that the suction pad 30 is packed in a cardboard box 37 waiting below. Two empty cardboard boxes 37 are supplied onto the roller conveyor 33 of the packing section 25 by the empty box supply device 26, and the roller conveyor 33 is set to a predetermined packing position by the operation of the elevating cylinder 34. By the pick-up and transfer device 5 into two empty cardboard boxes 37 on the roller conveyor 33 at the packing position.
The watermelon W1s picked up together will be boxed at the same time (collectively).

When four watermelons W1 are packed in two cardboard boxes 37, two of which are boxed, the lifting cylinder 3 of the cartoning section 25.
4, the roller conveyor 33 is lowered to the lowered position, and the cardboard box 3 in which the watermelon W1 is packed at the lowered position.
7 is sent out onto the product transport conveyor 38 and transported downstream thereof. As a result, the boxing work for a total of four watermelons W1 of grade L in the two cardboard boxes 37 is completed,
The roller conveyor 33 in the lowered position moves up to the empty box supply position and waits for the supply of the next two empty cardboard boxes 37.

When the packing work of the watermelon W1 of the grade "L" on the storage conveyor 2a is completed, the raising / lowering stoppers 10a to 10c which move downward are switched to the raising / lowering stopper 10b of the storage conveyor 2b by the control signal of the control device. Then, the boxing work of the watermelon W2 of grade “M” stored on the storage conveyor 2b (or the storage conveyor 2c) is performed in the same manner as the storage conveyor 2a.

At this time, since the watermelon W2 of the same grade is stored in the two-row storage conveyors 2b, 2c, two lateral trays 12 of the guide supply device 3 are provided with two saucers 9 from each storage conveyor 2b, 2c. Alternately send it to the top and four watermelons W2
May be processed by arranging them two by two, or the tray 9 on the storage conveyor 2b may be first sent out and processed, and then the tray 9 on the storage conveyor 2c may be sent out and processed, depending on each processing method. The moving direction of the lateral moving body 12 and its distance are set to a predetermined value. As a result, one pick-up and transfer device 5 enables boxing work of the watermelons W1 and W2 of two grades on the three-row storage conveyors 2a to 2c.

That is, in the case of this packaging device 1, the tray 9 stored in the three-row storage conveyors 2a to 2c corresponds to the lateral movement operation of the lateral moving body 12 of the guide supply device 3 and this. Lifting stopper 10a for the storage conveyors 2a to 2c
By the descending operation of 10c, two pieces are respectively supplied to the two transport surface portions 12A and 12B of the lateral moving body 12, and a total of four saucers 9 supplied to the lateral moving body 12 are arranged by the aligning device 4 of the lateral moving body 12. By the movement operation to the position corresponding to, the lateral moving body 12 supplies the aligning device 4 in a predetermined arrangement.

Then, a total of four watermelons on the tray 9 supplied to the aligning device 4 in a predetermined arrangement are collectively picked up by the suction operation of the four suction pads 30 of the transfer device 5. By the movement operation of the suction pad 30 onto the packing portion 25, the two empty cardboard boxes 3 waiting at the packing position.
Two of the four watermelons are simultaneously boxed in the box 7, and the boxing operation is performed in a predetermined order for the three storage conveyors 2a to 2c.

In the above description, the storage conveyor 2a stores the watermelon W1 of the grade "L", and the storage conveyors 2b and 2c store the watermelon W2 of the grade "M", so that one unit is picked up. Two kinds of watermelon W1, such as transfer device 5,
W2 was packed in a box. For example, by storing watermelons of grade "S" in the storage conveyor 2c, each storage conveyor 2a
2 c, all kinds of watermelons (articles) can be different, and in some cases, each storage conveyor 2 a
It is also possible to make all the types of watermelons in 2c the same and to correspond only to the sorting group having a large amount.

As described above, in the packaging device 1 of the above-described embodiment, the guide supply device 3 having the lateral moving body 12 is arranged at the end portions of the three storage conveyors 2a to 2c, and
Since the aligning device 4 and the pick-up and transfer device 5 are arranged on the downstream side of the guide supply device 3, the saucer on which the watermelons W1 and W2 on the storage conveyors 2a to 2c are placed by the movement operation of the lateral moving body 12. 9 can be supplied to the aligning device 4 in a predetermined arrangement and can be boxed by the boxing unit 25.
It is possible to efficiently pack the watermelons W1 and W2 of a predetermined grade sent from the boxes 2 to 2c, and to improve the processing capacity of the boxing work of the watermelons W1 and W2.

In particular, the lateral movement of the lateral moving body 12 and the elevating stoppers 10a-1 of the storage conveyors 2a-2c.
By controlling the ascending / descending operation of 0c in association with each other, for example, the watermelon W stored in each of the storage conveyors 2a to 2c.
1. Watermelon W1 and W2 of different grades can be packed in each cardboard box 37 in a predetermined order according to the number of stored pools (number of pools) of W1 and W2, respectively, to further increase the efficiency of boxing work of watermelons W1 and W2. Can be improved. as a result,
Even with watermelons W1 and W2, which are agricultural products whose sorting categories are diversifying and whose unit price per piece is relatively high, they can be reliably boxed in a corrugated cardboard box 37 and are applied to agricultural product sorting facilities with great effect. Can be expected.

Further, the pick-up and transfer device 5 and the like store three rows of storage conveyors 2a to 2c for storing at least two kinds of agricultural products W.
Since one unit is installed corresponding to the above, it is not necessary to install each of the transfer / transfer devices 5 on each of the storage conveyors 2a to 2c as in the conventional case, and the number of transfer / transfer devices 5 installed is reduced. The installation cost of the entire sorting facility can be reduced, and the number of transfer devices 5 can be reduced to reduce the installation space and efficiency of the sorting facility. Cost reduction is possible.

Further, since the lateral moving body 12 which is movable by a predetermined distance is arranged in the guide supply device 3 in correspondence with the three storage conveyors 2a to 2c, the lateral moving body 12 is moved by the moving distance, for example, watermelon. It is possible to easily cope with the case where there are many W1 and W2 assortment classifications (grades or the like) or the increase or decrease in the number of threads of the storage conveyors 2a to 2c. Further, since the pickup / transfer device 5 is provided with the expansion / contraction device 29 capable of expanding / contracting the suction pad 30, for example, the front / rear pitch can be applied to agricultural products W of various sizes by the expansion / contraction operation of the expansion / contraction device 29. Thus, the versatility of the packaging device 1 can be improved.

Further, the lateral moving body 12 of the guide supply device 3 has two transport surface portions 12A, 1 partitioned by the partition wall 12b.
2B is provided, and the article conveying surface thereof is formed by the conveying surface of the roller conveyor 13, so that the conveying surface portion 12 is moved by elevating the elevator stoppers 19a and 19b, for example.
The saucer 9 on A and 12B can be automatically sent out,
It is possible to simplify the structure for conveying articles such as the tray 9 and the watermelons W1 and W2. Further, since the lateral moving body 12 is provided so as to be movable laterally by the motor 17, the guide rails 14 and the like, the moving mechanism 18 of the lateral moving body 12 itself can be simplified, and accordingly, the guide It is possible to simplify the structure of the supply device 3 and form it at low cost.

Furthermore, since the roller conveyor 33 of the packing section 25 moves up and down between the three height positions, the watermelons W1 and W2 adsorbed by the adsorption pad 30 at the ascending position can be securely and securely stored in the cardboard box 37. Boxes can be packed in a good condition (a state in which impacts are reduced), and empty cardboard boxes 37 can be smoothly supplied onto the roller conveyor 33.
The packed cardboard boxes 37 can be reliably and smoothly sent to the product conveyor 38.

Further, the roller conveyor 22 of the aligning device 4
However, since it moves up and down between a descending position flush with the conveying surface of the guide supply device 3 and an ascending position which is the suction position by the suction pad 30, the tray 9 on the lateral moving body 12 is smoothly supplied at the descending position. At the same time, the suction operation of the suction pad 30 can be reliably performed at the raised position. From these, it is possible to automatically and reliably and smoothly perform the packaging of the watermelons W1 and W2 from the supply of the empty corrugated cardboard box 37 into the corrugated cardboard box 37 and the delivery of the packed corrugated cardboard box 37. It becomes possible to further improve the efficiency of the boxing work for the watermelons W1 and W2.

7 to 9 show a second embodiment of the packaging device according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 8 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 9 is a front view of essential parts. . Hereinafter, the same parts as those in the first embodiment will be described with the same reference numerals. The characteristic of the boxing device 1 of the second embodiment is that the guide supply device 3 is provided with a lateral transfer device 41 as two lateral transfer means in the front and rear direction along the conveyance direction a of the four storage conveyors 2a to 2d.
a and 41b are arranged, and the respective lateral transfer devices 41a and 41b are arranged.
By the lateral movement of the storage conveyor 2
The point is that the tray 9 delivered from a to 2d is brought close to the central position which is the delivery position to the aligning device 4.

That is, 4 arranged at a predetermined interval.
A guide supply device 3 having an article conveyance surface formed by a roller conveyor 42 is arranged at the end portions of the storage conveyors 2a to 2d of the strip, and the cylinder 43 is provided before and after the guide supply device 3 along the conveyance direction a. By the operation of the engaging claws 45 facing each other along the guide rails 44 (see FIG. 8) in the central position direction, and the elevating stopper 46 arranged to be able to ascend and descend at a predetermined position such as the downstream side of the central position. The horizontal transfer devices 41a and 41b are respectively arranged.

A fixed stopper 47 is arranged between the front and rear lateral transfer devices 41a and 41b, and the cylinder 4
3 and the locking claw 45, the piston rod 43 of the cylinder 43
By connecting a to a connecting member 48 provided with a plurality of locking pieces 45, it is moved integrally, and further, the connecting member 48 is guided by a guide rail 44 and a slide guide 50 (see FIG. 9).
It is arranged so as to be movable in a predetermined direction. The locking claw 45 acts on the tray 9 when it moves toward the central position, and tilts when it returns, so that it does not act on the tray 9.

In this boxing device 1, the tray 9 stored in the storage conveyor 2a is supplied to the horizontal transfer device 41b on the downstream side as shown by the arrow in FIG. 7, and one cylinder 43 of this horizontal transfer device 41b. By the movement of the locking claw 45 toward the center position by the operation of, the guide is supplied to one side of the center position, which is the delivery position to the aligning device 4, and the lifting stopper 46 at that position waits. Further, the tray 9 stored in the storage conveyor 2d is similar to the tray 9 on the storage conveyor 2a in that the locking claw 45 by the operation of the other cylinder 43 of the lateral transfer device 41b is substantially the same as the arrow 9 in FIG. By the movement, it is guided and supplied to the other side of the central position.

Further, the tray 9 stored in the storage conveyor 2b is the horizontal transfer device 41 on the upstream side as shown by the arrow C in FIG.
a, and a fixed stopper 47 of the lateral transfer device 41a.
The tray 9 stored in the storage conveyor 2c is stopped by the operation of one cylinder 43 in this state and the locking claw 45 moves toward the center position in this state. Almost the same as the conveyor 2b,
It is moved by the lateral movement device 41a as shown by the arrow L and made to stand by at the other central position.

That is, the trays 9 on the four storage conveyors 2a to 2d are guided and supplied to the central positions of the front and rear by the operation of the two lateral transfer devices 41a and 41b.
The receiving tray 9 is sent to the aligning device 4 in a predetermined arrangement by the lowering operation of the elevating stopper 46, and is picked up by the pick-up and transfer device 5 and packed in the box in the packing part 25, as in the above embodiment. Become.

Also in the boxing device 1 of this embodiment, the four-row storage conveyor 2 is constituted by the lateral transfer devices 41a and 41b.
In addition to being able to guide and supply the trays 9 on the a to 2d to the central position by a predetermined procedure or the like and to supply them to the aligning device 4 in a predetermined arrangement, it is possible to obtain the same effect as that of the above-described embodiment. Various operational effects can be obtained.

That is, in the case of the packing device 1, among the four storage conveyors 2a to 2d, the storage conveyor 2a, the storage conveyor 2d, the storage conveyor 2b, and the storage conveyor 2 are used.
By setting c as the same sorting section, it is possible to continuously box the agricultural products (articles) on the storage conveyors 2a to 2d by a single operation of only the horizontal transfer device 41b or the horizontal transfer device 41a. By operating the device 41a and the lateral transfer device 41b alternately (or at a predetermined timing), a boxing operation for two types of agricultural products W, that is, the agricultural product W on the storage conveyors 2a and 2d and the agricultural product W on the storage conveyors 2b and 2c. Can be performed in parallel and can be applied to various forms of boxing work.

The number of rows of the storage conveyor in each of the above embodiments is an example. For example, in the first embodiment, there are two or more articles of different sorting categories (or the same sorting category) or the second sorting category. In the embodiment, the number of rows of the storage conveyors connected to both sides of the lateral transfer device can be set appropriately (increased or decreased) such as a plurality of rows instead of one. Further, the configuration of the lateral moving body and the lateral transfer device of the guide supply device in each of the above-described embodiments can also adopt an appropriate configuration that can move an article such as a saucer to a central position which is a delivery position, and as an article, However, the present invention is not limited to the saucer on which the agricultural products are placed, but can be applied to other appropriate articles packed in a predetermined container.

[0056]

As described in detail above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, articles stored in a single row on a plurality of storage conveyors are arranged in a predetermined arrangement by a lateral movement operation by the guide supply device. Since it is set to be supplied to the aligning device, the box feeding work can be efficiently performed and the processing capacity can be improved by controlling the operation of the guide supply device according to the number of stored articles on each storage conveyor. At the same time, one pick-up and transfer device may be installed for a plurality of storage conveyors, the number of which can be reduced, and the cost and installation space of the entire sorting facility can be reduced.

According to the invention described in claim 2, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, by controlling the movement of the lateral moving means movable in the lateral direction substantially orthogonal to the feeding direction. Since the arrangement of the articles to be packed in the box can be set to a predetermined value, the structure and control of the guide supply device can be simplified, and the boxing device at a low cost can be obtained, and the reliability of the operation can be enhanced.

According to the invention described in claim 3, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 2, since the placing surface of the lateral moving means functions as an article conveying surface, the structure of the lateral moving means is constituted. Further simplification can be achieved and an inexpensive box packaging device can be obtained.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 4, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 3, the articles placed on the plurality of mounting surfaces are packaged in a plurality of containers at one time. ,
It is possible to pack the articles in a plurality of containers at the same time, and it is possible to further improve the packing efficiency.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 5, in addition to the effects of the invention described in claims 2 to 4, a lateral movement means is provided at the end portion of the storage conveyor to raise and lower the article on the conveyor. Since the stopper is moved in association with the raising / lowering operation, the articles on the storage conveyor can be reliably placed on the placing surface of the lateral moving means so that a predetermined arrangement can be obtained.

According to the invention described in claim 6, in addition to the effects of the invention described in claims 2 to 5, the engaging member engages with the article to move and is thereby sent out from each storage conveyor. Since the articles to be moved move laterally and are set in a predetermined arrangement, the articles corresponding to each storage conveyor can be surely moved, and a stable supply operation of the articles can be obtained.

According to the invention described in claim 7, in addition to the effects of the invention described in claims 1 to 6, since the adjoining intervals of the pick-up and transfer devices are different depending on the size of the article, various sizes can be obtained. Can be packed in a box, and the versatility of the packing device can be improved.

According to the invention described in claim 8, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claims 1 to 7, articles of at least two types of assortment are stored in a plurality of storage conveyors. Since the products are packed in boxes, it is possible to efficiently carry out the work of packing the articles of different sorting categories, and reduce the sorting cost and the like.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 9, in addition to the effects of the invention described in claims 1 to 8, for example, a saucer on which agricultural products such as watermelons having various sorting categories are placed, As it is packed in a certain arrangement reliably and efficiently,
It is possible to further improve the processing capacity for packing agricultural products in the agricultural product sorting facility.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a first embodiment of a box packing device for articles according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the main part.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory diagram of the same.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining another operation.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of an essential part showing a second embodiment of the article packaging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the same.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the main part of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ...... Boxing device 2a-2d ... Storage conveyor 3 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Guide supply device 4. Alignment device 5 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Transfer device 7 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Sorting conveyor 9 ......... Saucepan 10a to 10c ... Lifting stopper 12: Horizontal moving body 12A, 12B ... Conveying surface part 13: Roller conveyor 14: Guide rail 17: Motor 18: Moving mechanism 22 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Roller conveyor 23 ... Lifting cylinder 25: Boxing section 26 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Empty box supply device 29 ........ Scaling device 30 ... Suction pad 33: Roller conveyor 34 ... Lifting cylinder 37 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Cardboard box 41a, 41b ... Lateral movement device 42 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Roller conveyor 43 ... Cylinder 45 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Locking claw W1, W2 ..... watermelon

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 3E003 AA01 AB02 BA02 BB02 BB04                       BC03 BD01 CA02 CB06 DA04                       DA05                 3E028 AA02 BA01 CA04 EA01 GA02                       GA05 HA03                 3E054 AA10 AA14 BA10 CA01 DD03                       DE01 DE08 EA02 FA02 FA05                       FA07 FE04 FE06 GA01 GA02                       GA03 GA06 GB02 GB03 GC02                       GC05 HA04 HA07 JA02

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of storage conveyors for respectively storing articles in the same sorting section in one row in the front-rear direction, and articles provided for each storage conveyor, which are provided between the plurality of storage conveyors and an aligning device. A guide supply device that supplies the articles in a predetermined arrangement in the aligning device by a movement operation in a lateral direction that is substantially orthogonal to the delivery direction of the articles,
A pick-up and transfer device for picking up articles arranged in a predetermined array by the aligning device and packing them in a container. 2. The article according to claim 1, wherein the guide supply device has a lateral movement unit that is movable in a lateral direction substantially orthogonal to a delivery direction of an article delivered for each storage conveyor. Boxing device. 3. The article packaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the lateral movement means has a placement surface on which an article is placed to form an article conveying surface. 4. The article packaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of the placing surfaces are formed, and the articles placed on the respective placing surfaces are packaged in a plurality of containers in a lump. . 5. The lateral moving means is movable along its transfer path in association with the lifting operation of each lifting stopper of the plurality of storage conveyors. A box packing device for the article described. 6. The lateral movement means has an engagement member that engages with an article sent out for each storage conveyor to move the article in a lateral direction substantially orthogonal to the sending direction. Item 6. A box packing device for articles according to any one of items 2 to 5. 7. The packing apparatus for articles according to claim 1, wherein the pick-up and transfer apparatus has different intervals between articles to be packed in a batch depending on the size of the articles. 8. The storage conveyor comprises at least two storage conveyors.
The article packing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein articles of different types of assortment are stored. 9. The article packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article is a saucer on which agricultural products are placed.