JP2006069679A - Article feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make feeding quantity of a cap from a hopper 2 optimum by adjusting an inclination of the hopper 2 in accordance with size, a material, quantity, etc. of the cap. <P>SOLUTION: A cap conveyor 4 is arranged by slightly inclining it from an erected state. The rear side of the hopper 2 is made free to vertically oscillate by connecting a front end of the hopper 2 to this cap conveyor 4 by a hinge 20. Both side walls 18a of the hopper 2 are supported by supporting rods 22. These supporting rods 22 are devised to change their height by a height adjusting mechanism 26 and changes the inclination by changing height of the rear side of the hopper 2 in accordance with the material, the size, the fed quantity, etc. of the cap. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an article supply apparatus, and more particularly to an article supply apparatus that sends out an appropriate amount of articles such as caps accommodated in a hopper and supplies them to a downstream apparatus by a conveyor.

  A large amount of caps are housed in a hopper that is tilted with the front side facing downward, and these caps are fed out from the front side by an appropriate amount by vibrating with a vibrator, etc. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a cap supply device that supplies a transport conveyor, further transports the transport conveyor upward by the transport conveyor, and supplies the transport device to a downstream apparatus is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  The cap supply device described in Patent Document 1 includes a hopper loader, a magnet conveyor that is slightly inclined from an upright state near the hopper loader, and a guide inclined receiver that connects the hopper loader and the magnet conveyor ( Corresponding to the hopper of the present invention. Inclined guide supports penetrate the tip of the row feeder that feeds the cap from the hopper loader side to the rear end face, and supports the inclined bottom surface with a pedestal, while the open front faces the magnet conveyor side. I am letting.

In the cap supply device, the cap that has fallen into the row feeder that has been vibrated by the vibrator is received by the guide inclined receiver, and the inclined bottom surface of the guide inclined receiver is lowered by its own weight and is sent out from the front side. To be absorbed.
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 55-42017 (page 2-3, FIG. 1)

  In the conventional cap supply apparatus described in Patent Document 1, a guide inclined receiver (hopper) is fixed, and the cap is slid down by its own weight and sent to the conveyor side. There is a problem that the amount to be delivered varies depending on (the size of the diameter, the length), the material (whether it is aluminum or resin, etc.) and the quantity. Further, even if the vibrator is provided, the tilt guide receiver cannot be vibrated as a whole, and there is a problem that a sufficient delivery effect cannot be exhibited.

  The present invention includes a hopper that inclines the front side downward and sends an article from the front side, a conveying means that conveys the article sent from the hopper to the downstream side, and a vibration generating means that imparts vibration to the hopper. In the article supply apparatus for feeding articles from the hopper by a vibration action, the hopper is supported by a fulcrum shaft so that the amount of inclination can be changed, and support means capable of supporting the hopper in different inclination states is provided, and the hopper In this case, the amount of the article is adjusted by changing the inclination amount.

  The article supply apparatus according to the present invention determines the optimum inclination amount according to the difference in friction coefficient depending on the material of the article, the size of the article, the supply amount, etc. It can be adjusted to the optimum delivery amount.

  The hopper is rotatably supported by the fulcrum shaft, supported by the support means, and the height of the hopper is adjusted by the support means, thereby making it possible to adjust the amount of inclination of the hopper. The purpose of adjusting the amount of inclination according to the size, material, supply amount, etc., to obtain the optimum amount of articles to be delivered is realized.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of a cap supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view thereof. This cap supply device is loaded with a large number of caps (not shown), and receives a hopper 2 that feeds an appropriate amount from the front side, and a cap conveyor (conveyance) that receives the cap fed from the hopper 2 and conveys it upward. Means) 4 and a vibrator (vibration generating means) 6 attached to the bottom surface 2a of the hopper 2 and applying vibration to the hopper 2.

  The cap conveyor 4 is arranged to be inclined slightly forward (right side in FIG. 1) from an upright state, and pulleys 8 (upper pulleys not shown) arranged up and down, and these pulleys 8 And an endless belt 10 wound around the endless belt 10 and a plurality of protrusions 12 attached to the endless belt 10 at equal intervals.

  The cap conveyor 4 is attached to an inclined frame 16 fixed to be inclined on the base frame 14, and the periphery thereof is covered with a cover (generally indicated by reference numeral 18). The cover 18 includes a cover 18a on both side surfaces, a lower front cover 18b that covers the lower side of the front surface (the surface on the hopper 2 side), and an upper side of the front surface of the hopper 2 (the right surface in FIG. 1). The upper front cover 18c that covers the space and the transparent acrylic cover 18d that covers the upper side of the upper front cover 18c. Furthermore, a resin sheet cover 18e is provided to cover the gap between the upper surface of the hopper 2 and the transparent acrylic cover 18d.

  The upper side of the hopper 2 is connected to the cap conveyor 4 side by two hinges 20, and the rear side swings up and down with a shaft (fulcrum shaft) 20 a serving as the center of opening and closing of the hinge 20 as a fulcrum. It is supported so that it can move. Further, the hopper 2 is supported on the rear side by two support rods 22 that are substantially vertically raised from the base frame 14. The bottom surface 2a of the hopper 2 has a central flat surface 2aa and inclined surfaces 2ab on both sides thereof. Further, a rectangular tube-shaped cap discharge port 2b having substantially the same width as the flat portion 2aa of the bottom surface 2a is formed near the lower portion on the front side. On the other hand, on the cap conveyor 4 side, a plate-shaped receiving member 4a having the same height as the flat portion 2aa of the bottom surface 2a of the hopper 2 is provided.

  The two support rods 22 that support the hopper 2 are pivotally connected to the side walls 2d and 2d of the hopper 2 by support shafts 22a, and a height adjusting mechanism 26 is provided at the lower part thereof. . The configuration of the height adjusting mechanism 26 will be described. Support plates 28 are fixed upright on both sides of the base frame 14, and slide bearings 30 that support the support rods 22 are attached to the upper ends of the support plates 28. A lower end 22b of the support rod 22 is slidably supported in the slide bearing 30. A plurality of holes 22c are provided in the lower end 22b of each support rod 22 at regular intervals, and the holes 22c are indexed through a cylindrical member 34 fitted to the lower end of the support rod 22. By inserting the tip of the plunger 32, it can be stopped at that position. A compression spring 36 is interposed between the upper end of the cylindrical member 34 and a spring seat 22d fixed above the hole 22c of the support rod 22, and always urges the cylindrical member 34 downward. is doing. In addition, the support means described in Claim 1 is comprised by the support rod 22 and the height adjustment mechanism 26 provided in the lower part.

  Since the height adjusting mechanism 26 has the above-described configuration, the index plunger 32 is extracted from the hole 22c, the support rod 22 is moved up and down to a predetermined height, and the index plunger 32 is inserted into another hole 22c again. Thereby, the height of the position supported by the support rod 22 of the hopper 2 can be adjusted, and the front-back inclination of the hopper 2 can be changed.

  In the cap supply device according to the above configuration, as a basic operation, the hopper 2 is arranged so as to have a forward and downward inclination. Therefore, when the hopper 2 is vibrated by the vibrator 6, the cap supply device is accommodated in the hopper 2. The cap (not shown) that has been moved gradually moves forward and is sent out from the discharge port 2b to the cap conveyor 4 side. The caps fed out from the hopper 2 are sequentially engaged with the protrusions 12 attached to the endless belt 10 of the cap conveyor 4, conveyed upward, and supplied to the downstream apparatus. The inclination of the hopper 2 is set to an angle within a range in which the cap is sent out when vibration is applied by the vibrator 6 and the cap is not sent out without vibration.

  Furthermore, this cap supply apparatus can adjust the amount of caps sent from the hopper 2 to the cap conveyor 4 by changing the amount of inclination of the hopper 2. For example, when an aluminum cap having a diameter of 30 mm is accommodated in the stainless steel hopper 2 and sequentially fed out, it is optimal when the inclination angle of the bottom surface 2a of the hopper 2 is 18 degrees. If it is tilted more than this, the cap will be discharged from the hopper 2 so that the avalanche will fall regardless of whether vibration is applied to the hopper 2, and if the tilt angle is less than this, the cap will not be sent out sufficiently. End up.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the inclination angle of the hopper 2 is adjusted on the basis of the inclination of 18 degrees. For example, the hopper 2 is adjusted so that the inclination of the hopper 2 is increased (see the hopper 2 indicated by an imaginary line in FIG. 1) and the inclination is reduced when the cap is reduced (see the hopper 2 indicated by a solid line in FIG. 1). In the case of a resin cap, the inclination of the hopper 2 is strengthened. In this way, the optimum inclination amount is obtained according to the friction coefficient, the size, the supply amount, etc. for each cap material, and the inclination amount of the hopper 2 is adjusted based on this. Therefore, an optimum supply amount can be set according to the properties of the cap to be handled. In this embodiment, the front end of the hopper 2 is connected to the cap conveyor 4 side by the fulcrum shaft 20a of the hinge 20, and the rear side is supported by the two support rods 22 by the support shaft 22a penetrating the side wall 2d. As a result, the hopper 2 can be vibrated entirely by the vibrator 6 and the cap can be smoothly fed out from the hopper 2 because the vibration is allowed without being fixed.

It is a side view of a cap supply apparatus. (Example 1) It is a front view of a cap supply apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

2 Hopper 4 Transport means (cap conveyor)
6 Vibration generation means (vibrator)
20a fulcrum shaft 22 support means (support rod)
26 Support means (height adjustment mechanism)

Claims (3)

A hopper that inclines the front side downward and feeds articles from the front side, a conveying means that conveys articles sent from the hopper to the downstream side, and a vibration generating means that imparts vibrations to the hopper. In the article supply apparatus for sending articles from the hopper by the action,
The hopper is supported by a fulcrum shaft so that the amount of inclination can be changed, and a support means capable of supporting the hopper in different inclination states is provided, and the amount of articles delivered is adjusted by changing the amount of inclination of the hopper. An article supply apparatus characterized by the above.   2. The article supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the front side of the hopper is supported by a fulcrum shaft, and the hopper is supported by the conveying means via the fulcrum shaft.   The article supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support means supports the hopper in a state where vibration is allowed.

Images