JP2003341826A - Commodity supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a commodity supply device for twin measuring and packing facilities, easily replaceable in existing facilities. <P>SOLUTION: The commodity supply device provided at the upper part of a distribution feeder comprises a vibration feeder provided at the upper part of the distribution feeder for a twin combined scale and a carrying direction changing shutter provided near the end of a tray of the vibration feeder for receiving approximately half width of tray of commodities carried via the full width of tray of the vibration feeder. The carrying direction changing shutter is used to selectively changing at least a half of flow of the commodities on the full width of tray of the vibration feeder, whereby the commodities on the vibration feeder are supplied to the left or right side or to both sides of the distribution feeder each time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of an article supply device for supplying articles onto a dispersion feeder of a composite type combination scale which can be operated with a plurality of capacities.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An article supply device for supplying articles onto a distribution feeder of a combination scale has, for example, a circular arrangement as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, on a dispersion feeder 34 located at the top of the combination scale. The articles are supplied, uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction by the dispersion feeder, and supplied to the linear feeders arranged radially. FIG. 3 shows a composite type combination weigher called a twin type, which is divided in half at the center of the dispersion feeder and can be operated with separate left and right weighing capacities. .

In view of the combination weigher, therefore, the combination weigher is provided with a container called a weighing hopper for each of a plurality of weighing devices, and articles are supplied to these weighing hoppers from a supply hopper located above the containers, and these containers are supplied. The weighed articles are weighed, and those weighed values are variously combined, a combination whose total weight is equal to or close to a target weight is selected from the combinations, and the articles are discharged from the weighing hoppers forming the selected combination. Then, new articles are supplied to the empty weighing hoppers from the above-mentioned supply hoppers, and the weighing, combination selection, and discharge are repeated.

It is well known that a stable supply of articles to the above-mentioned weighing hopper group is required for the stable operation of the combination scale with a predetermined accuracy and capability, but stable supply of articles to the weighing hopper is known. Depends on the supply state of the articles when the articles are supplied to the combination scale. For example, the one shown in FIG. 6 has the left and right vibrating feeders 50 and 51 even if the left and right are not evenly supplied.
If the layer thickness of each article is stable above 2,53, there is no problem in weighing.

However, since the one shown in FIG. 3 supplies the articles on the left and right dispersion feeders 34 by one supply feeder 30, it is necessary to uniformly and stably supply the articles to both. Although not shown, a wrapping machine is provided below the collecting chutes 40 and 41, and when one of the weighing devices has to be stopped due to addition or replacement of packaging material, only the other one is used. You may have to drive. However, when one of the twins is stopped and only one of them is operated, the articles in the operating dispersion part are extruded little by little into the stopping dispersion part, and the layer thickness of the stopping dispersion part is higher than the optimum value. There is a phenomenon that becomes.

For this reason, there is a feeder in which a distribution hopper 31 called a diverter is provided below the front end portion of the supply feeder so that articles are not supplied to the suspended dispersion portion by switching the gate. However, there is a drawback that the height dimension of the combination scale becomes high by providing this.
This is because a distribution hopper 31 as a diverter and gates 32 and 33 associated therewith are required. (Dimension of H1 shown in FIG. 4) To improve this, as shown in FIG. 5, there is a device in which the opening and closing mechanism of the gates 32 and 33 of the sorting hopper 31 is devised to make the height dimension as short as possible.
(Dimension of H2 shown in FIG. 5)

[0007]

Although various measures have been taken in this way, there is still the problem of being tall. It is necessary to reduce the height by packing the height dimension. A twin type packaging machine (not shown) is provided at the bottom of the collecting chutes 40 and 41, and both are operated with the same capacity, thus saving space and efficiency. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for twin type weighing and packaging equipment to be installed without making major changes to conventional equipment.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a twin-type weighing and packaging equipment article supply apparatus that can be easily replaced into conventional equipment.

[0009]

The article supply apparatus according to the present invention has at least the following configuration. For details, in a combination scale in which a plurality of article transporting devices (straight-moving feeders) are radially arranged, and a dispersion feeder is provided to uniformly distribute and feed the articles on the plurality of article transporting devices, At the upper part of the central part of the feeder, there is provided a vibrating feeder that conveys at least the article horizontally.In the vicinity of the tip of the vibrating feeder tray, approximately half the tray width of the article conveyed by the full width of the vibrating feeder tray is set. A bottom plate for receiving and a vertical wall for changing the conveying direction of the article are integrally formed together with the bottom plate from one side surface to the front, and shutters for switching the conveying direction are provided symmetrically at predetermined intervals. At the position where the outlet of the vibrating feeder and the upper portion of the dispersion feeder are related to each other, the conveying direction switching shutter selectively changes approximately half of the flow of the articles with respect to the entire width of the vibrating feeder tray, whereby the vibrating feeder is changed. The above article is configured so that it can be fed to the left side, right side, or both sides of the above-mentioned dispersing feeder.

That is, the switching is performed in response to a request signal from the combination weigher. For example, in the case of a twin type combination weigher, the operation may be temporarily stopped when adding a packaging material for the packaging machine in the subsequent stage. In that case, since one side is stopped, it is possible to switch so that the articles are not unnecessarily supplied to the stopped dispersion feeder. Further, the vibrating feeder can be stopped while the shutter is moving.

In the article supply apparatus according to the present invention, the articles on the vibrating feeder are left or right or both sides by selectively moving in parallel the transport direction switching shutters provided symmetrically at a predetermined interval in the horizontal direction. It is also possible to use air cylinders to translate the required stroke pneumatically.

Further, the transfer direction switching shutters provided symmetrically at a predetermined interval are capable of supplying articles to the left side, right side, or both sides by selectively rotating and moving in the horizontal direction. By using a shutter, it can be made compact without requiring a large space.

In the present invention, it is desirable that the bottom plate of the transfer direction switching shutter be inclined downward in the article discharge direction. Since the articles do not remain on the transfer direction switching shutter by making the descending inclination in this way, it is preferable in hygiene.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An article supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG.
(A) is a front view and is a sectional view of a portion necessary for the present invention. (B) is a plan view taken along the line CC 'of FIG. 1
Is a dispersion feeder on the right half, and 2 is a dispersion feeder on the left half. 3 is a vibrator for the right side distributed feeder, and 4 is a vibrator for the left side distributed feeder. Reference numeral 5 is a tray of linear feeders arranged radially, 6 is a linear feeder, 7 is a right side switching shutter, and 8 is a left side switching shutter. The left and right switching shutters 7 and 8 are supported by the frame 9 at a predetermined interval.
A guide rod 16 penetrates through and is configured to be slidable in the direction shown by arrow 10. Reference numeral 11 denotes a vibrating feeder, which is arranged so as to drop the article substantially at the center of the upper portions of the dispersion feeders 1 and 2, and the left and right switching shutters 7 and 8 are arranged at the tips thereof so as to receive the article. In FIG. 1B, the switching shutter on the right side is in a state of being set to a position for receiving approximately half the tray width at the tip of the vibrating feeder. The left and right switching shutters 7 and 8 are driven by the air cylinder 12 in the direction of arrow 10. 13 is a bracket for supporting the air cylinder, 14 is an air cylinder rod, and 15 is a tip fitting of the air cylinder, which is fixed to the frame 9. Reference numeral 17 is a frame that supports the guide rod 16 and the air cylinder 12, and 18 is a main body of the combination weigher.

An arrow 11-shows the flow of articles on the vibrating feeder.
1, 11-2 and 11-3, in the state of FIG. 1 (B), when the article is not supplied on the dispersion feeder on the right side, the flow of the article on the vibrating feeder is 11-1.
In the portion corresponding to (1), it directly drops onto the left side feeder, but in the portion corresponding to (11-2), once drops onto the right switching shutter, and along the vertical wall 7-2 of the right switching shutter 7 the arrow 11 -3, and falls on the dispersion feeder 2 on the left side. Since the left and right switching shutters are supported by the frame 9 at predetermined intervals, the flow of articles from the vibrating feeder can be switched in three directions. That is, if the switching shutter is slid rightward from the state shown in FIG. 1B, the articles from the vibrating feeder are evenly dropped and supplied onto the left and right dispersing feeders. And slide it one more step to the right,
Articles can be supplied only on the right side dispersion feeder 1.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 11 denotes a vibrating feeder, which, similarly to FIG. 1, selectively supplies the articles conveyed from the vibrating feeder to the left and right dispersing feeders by the left and right switching shutters. In this figure, the left and right switching shutters are rotatably supported around pivots 20 and 20 'as fulcrums, and the left and right switching cylinders are individually rotated to rotate in the horizontal direction. Is supplied in a predetermined direction.

Therefore, the shapes of the left and right switching shutters 7 and 8 will be described. Left and right switching shutter 7
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numerals 8 and 8 each have a substantially 1/4 circular shape on a plane, and the right shutter includes a bottom plate 7-1 and a vertical wall 7-2. Similarly, the left shutter is also composed of a bottom plate 8-1 and a vertical wall 8-2. In the present invention, the bottom plates 7-1 and 8-1
Is inclined downward in the discharge direction of the article, and the vertical walls 7-2 and 8-2 are formed integrally with the bottom plate from one side surface of the bottom plate to the front.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the left and right switching shutters are slid horizontally and rotated, the dimension from the tip of the vibrating feeder to the upper surface of the dispersion feeder is extremely short. Therefore, it is possible to install a highly efficient twin type weighing and packaging facility without significantly changing the existing equipment. Also, the drop is small, and the product (especially fragile items such as potato chips)
The effect is to reduce the damage of the.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a front view of the article supply apparatus of the present invention,
(B) is a plan view taken along the line CC 'of the front view (A).

FIG. 2 is an article supply device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a twin-type combination weighing device equipped with a conventional article supply device.

FIG. 4 is a conventional hopper gate type article supply device.

FIG. 5 is another example of a conventional hopper gate type article supply device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a dispersion feeder section of a conventional twin combination weigher.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Right side dispersion feeder 3 Right side vibrator 7 Right switching shutter 8 Left switching shutter 9 frames 11 Vibration feeder 12 Air cylinder 16 guide rod

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A combination scale comprising a plurality of article transporting devices arranged in a radial pattern and provided with a dispersing feeder for uniformly distributing the articles on top of the plurality of article transporting devices. In addition to providing at least a vibrating feeder for horizontally conveying the article, in the vicinity of the tip of the vibrating feeder tray, there is a bottom plate for receiving approximately half the tray width of the article conveyed by the full width of the tray of the vibrating feeder, Conveyance direction switching shutters having a vertical wall for changing the conveyance direction of the article formed integrally with the bottom plate from one side surface to the front are provided symmetrically at predetermined intervals, and the outlet of the vibration feeder and the dispersion feeder are provided. At a position related to the upper part, approximately half of the flow of articles with respect to the entire width of the vibrating feeder tray is cut by the transfer direction switching shutter. The article on the vibrating feeders by selectively changing, the product supply device, characterized in that can be supplied to the respective left or right side or both sides on said dispersion feeder. 2. The conveyance direction switching shutters provided symmetrically at predetermined intervals are selectively moved in parallel in the horizontal direction so that the articles on the vibrating feeder are left or right or both sides on the dispersion feeder. The article supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article supply apparatus is capable of supplying the article. 3. The conveyance direction switching shutters provided symmetrically at predetermined intervals are selectively rotated in the horizontal direction so that the articles on the vibrating feeder are left side or right side or both sides on the dispersion feeder, respectively. The article supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article supply apparatus is capable of supplying the article. 4. A bottom plate for receiving approximately half the tray width of an article conveyed by the full width of the tray of the vibrating feeder is inclined downward in accordance with the discharging direction of the article to change the conveying direction of the article. 4. A transport direction switching shutter in which a vertical wall is formed integrally with the bottom plate from one side surface to the front, and the shutters are symmetrically provided at a predetermined interval. The article supply apparatus according to any one of 1.