JP2014037308A - Article transportation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article transportation device capable of changing direction of an article even when an interval between articles is shorter than length of the article.SOLUTION: An article transportation device 1 comprises: a transportation conveyor 3 for arranging articles 2 at predetermined intervals and transporting the articles; a take-out pusher 37c for taking out the article 2 from the transportation conveyor 3 to the outside; return pushers 37a and 37b for returning the article 2 to the transportation conveyor 3; and article rotation means 4 having rotary turrets 16 provided at both sides of the transportation conveyor 3, for horizontally rotating the article on a recessed groove 18, by 180°. The two rotary turrets 16 are provided with a drive mechanism for driving a drive motor M2 and making the article 2 move forward and backward along the transportation conveyor 3, while horizontally rotating the article 2. A movable conveyor 36 of article take-out means has the return pushers 37a and 37b at both ends in a movement direction and the take-out pusher 37c at the center, takes out the article 2 on the transportation conveyor 3 by the take-out pusher 37c, and returns the article placed at the recessed groove 18 of the rotary turret 16 to the transportation conveyor by one of the return pushers.

Description

  The present invention relates to an article conveying apparatus that horizontally rotates an article conveyed by a conveyance path such as a conveyor by 180 °.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an article transporting apparatus that transports articles by arranging them at a predetermined interval on a transport path such as a conveyor, for example, when packing a box after transporting, the article on the transport conveyor is horizontally rotated 180 ° and changed in direction and then packed in the box. There are things to do.

In such a case, for example, a device described in Patent Document 1 has been proposed as a device for horizontally rotating the direction of an article by 180 ° on a conveyor.
In the article conveying apparatus described in Patent Document 1, horizontal rotating means is installed on a conveying conveyor, and the interval between articles to be conveyed is set to be larger than the length of the articles, so that articles conveyed to the horizontal rotating means are sequentially 180. ° The product is rotated horizontally to change the direction of the article.

JP-A-3-56321

However, the article conveying apparatus described above has a drawback that the conveying speed is slow because the interval between the articles on the conveying conveyor is longer than the length of the article, and the conveying efficiency is poor.
In view of such a situation, an object of the present invention is to provide an article transport device that can change the direction of an article even if the interval between the articles is smaller than the article length.

An article transport apparatus according to the present invention includes a transport path for transporting articles at a predetermined interval, an article take-out means for taking out articles from the transport path, an article return means for returning the taken-out articles to the transport path, and a transport path by the article take-out means. And an article rotating means for horizontally rotating the article taken out from 180 degrees.
According to the present invention, articles are arranged at a predetermined interval and conveyed by the conveyance path, the articles are taken out from the conveyance path by the article take-out means and placed on the article rotation means, and the article is horizontally rotated 180 ° by the article rotation means. After that, the article on the article rotating means can be returned to the conveyance path by the article returning means. Therefore, even if the interval between articles on the conveyance path is shorter than the length of the article, it can be taken out of the conveyance path and rotated by 180 ° to change the direction. Can be changed.

The article rotating means preferably includes a drive mechanism that moves the article along the conveyance path while horizontally rotating the article.
By moving the article rotating means along the conveying path while horizontally rotating the article on the article rotating means by the driving mechanism of the article rotating means, the article rotating means can be returned to the same position as the position where the article was taken out. it can.

The article rotating means is preferably provided on both sides of the conveyance path.
By installing article rotating means on both sides of the conveyance path and taking out articles on the conveyance path alternately to the article rotating means on both sides by the article taking out means, the article rotating means on both sides while conveying the article on the conveyance path at high speed The article can be rotated 180 ° to change its orientation.

The article take-out means is one take-out pusher for taking out articles on the conveyance path to the article rotation means, and the article return means is two return pushers that return the articles horizontally rotated by 180 ° by the article rotation means to the conveyance path. And a take-out and return drive mechanism for simultaneously driving the take-out pusher and the return pusher may be provided.
The article on the conveyance path can be taken out to the article rotation means by the take-out pusher of the article take-out means, and after the article is rotated 180 ° horizontally by the article rotation means, it can be returned to the conveyance path by the return pusher.
At the same time the article on the conveyance path is taken out by one take-out rotating means by the take-out pusher, and at the same time the article horizontally rotated 180 ° by the other article rotating means by one return pusher is returned to the carrying path, and then the article on the carrying path by the take-out pusher The article rotated horizontally by 180 ° on the one article rotating means can be returned to the conveying path by the other return pusher while taking out the other article rotating means.

Further, the article placement position in the article rotating means is inclined so that one end on the side where the article is taken out from the conveyance path is relatively low and the other end on the side where the article is returned to the conveyance path is relatively high. You may do it.
When the article is taken out from the conveyance path to the article rotation means, the one end of the article placement position on the conveyance path side is formed with a relatively low height, so that the article is smoothly pushed out, and the article rotation means is 180 °. When the article is returned to the conveyance path after the horizontal rotation, the other end of the article placement position on the conveyance path side is relatively high, so that the article passes over this and is returned to the conveyance path. Is smooth.
The article placement position is preferably a concave groove for positioning and supporting the article.

In addition, a stopper capable of appearing and retracting is provided at a position facing the article rotating means on the conveyance path, and the stopper may protrude to stop the article when the article is taken out by the article rotating means.
Since the article conveyed on the conveyance path is stopped by the stopper, the article can be stopped at a position facing the article rotating means, and at this stop position, the article can be accurately taken out by the article taking means to the article rotating means. it can.

  According to the article conveying apparatus of the present invention, even if the interval between articles conveyed on the conveying path is narrow, the article can be taken out of the conveying path and horizontally rotated by 180 °, so that many articles can be efficiently conveyed at high speed. You can change the direction.

It is a principal part perspective view which shows schematic structure of the article | item conveying apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the state which removed the plate of the taking-out and return drive mechanism in the article conveyance apparatus shown in FIG. It is principal part explanatory drawing which looked at the goods rotation means and its drive mechanism in the goods conveyance apparatus from diagonally downward. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of the article rotating means and its driving mechanism shown in FIG. 3. It is a principal part perspective view which shows an article rotation means. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the article rotating means shown in FIG. It is a top view which shows an article taking-out means, an article return means, and its drive mechanism. It is a side view which shows an article taking-out means, an article return means, and its drive mechanism. (A)-(f) is a figure which shows the process of rotating an article | item 180 degrees horizontally in an article conveyance apparatus. The principal part structure of the article | item taking-out means and article | item return means in the article | item conveying apparatus by a modification is shown, (a) is a top view of the state which took out the article | item to the rotation turret with the take-out pusher, (b) It is a top view of the state which adjusted the position.

Hereinafter, an article conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the schematic diagram of the article conveying apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the article conveying apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes, for example, a conveying conveyor 3 as a conveying path that conveys a substantially rectangular bar-shaped article 2 arranged at predetermined intervals. The article rotating means 4 provided on both sides of the conveyor 3 and rotating the article 2 taken out from the conveyor 3 180 degrees horizontally, and the article removing means 5A for moving the article 2 on the conveyor 3 to the article rotating means 4 And an article return means 5B for returning the article 2 onto the transport conveyor 3, and a take-out and return drive mechanism 5C for driving the article take-out means 5A and the return means 5B.

  The conveyor 3 is formed in an endless circular shape, and the output shaft 6 of the conveyor drive motor M1 rotates a drive shaft 8 provided at the front end in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 3 via a transmission belt 7a and a transmission roller 7b. The conveyor 3 is driven to intermittently rotate at high speed. In the conveyor 3, the partition walls 10 are arranged at predetermined intervals, the articles 2 are arranged for each partition wall 10, and the intervals between the partition walls 10 are set to a constant pitch shorter than the length of each article 2.

  The interval between the partition walls 10 arranged in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 3 is set slightly longer than the width of the article 2 to facilitate the removal and return of the article 2. A substrate 11 for installing the drive motor M1, the article rotating means 4, the take-out and return drive mechanism 5C of the conveyor 3 is installed at the lower part on the front end side of the conveyor 3.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the article rotating means 4 and its drive mechanism 14 are provided on both sides in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the transport conveyor 3.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the article rotating means 4 is supported by a substantially disk-shaped rotating turret 16 so as to be rotatable, and a guide frame 15 having an opening 15 a is provided around the rotating turret 16. A rotating shaft 16 a is provided at the lower part of the rotating turret 16, and a disk-shaped holder 17 is provided at the upper part. A concave groove 18 for placing the article 2 in the diameter direction including the center of rotation is formed in the holder 17 at the top of the rotating turret 16. The concave groove 18 is formed with a slight inclination, and its one end 18a is relatively low and the other end 18b is relatively high.
The rotating turret 16 is horizontally rotatable by 180 °, and one of the one end 18a and the other end 18b of the concave groove 18 faces the opening 15a of the guide frame 15 at the horizontally rotated position, and the article is conveyed with respect to the conveyor 3. 2 can be taken out and returned.

Next, the drive mechanism 14 of the rotating turret 16 will be described with reference to FIGS.
The rotating shafts 16a of the rotating turrets 16 of the pair of article rotating means 4 disposed on both sides of the conveyor 3 are inserted through the through holes of the movable plate 21 via holders 20 that rotatably support the rotating turrets 16, respectively. Then, it protrudes downward and is fixed coaxially to the gear 22 at a position below the movable plate 21. The gear 22 of each rotary shaft 16a is fixed to the substrate 11 and meshes with each rack 23 extending in a direction parallel to the transport conveyor 3.
In addition, for example, U-shaped slide guides 25 are fixed to the lower surface of each movable plate 21, and these slide guides 25 are slidably fitted to slide rails 26 fixed to the substrate 11. Yes. Since each slide rail 26 is arranged in parallel with the conveyor 3 and the rack 23, the pair of article rotating means 4 moves back and forth in a direction parallel to the conveyor 3.

In addition, oval cam grooves 28 are respectively drilled in the two movable plates 21, and, for example, cylindrical cam followers 29 are slidably fitted into the cam grooves 28, respectively. The pair of cam followers 29 are planted at both ends of the link arm 30, and the link arm 30 is connected to the movable lever 31 at the center thereof. The link arm 30 and the movable lever 31 are supported by a support shaft 32 so as to be integrally rotatable.
A turret drive motor M2 in the drive mechanism 14 of the article rotating means 4 is fixed to the substrate 11. The drive lever 33 and the movable lever 31 fixed to the output shaft of the drive motor M2 are connected via a rod 34, and the drive lever 33 and the movable lever 31 are interlocked with each other while maintaining a state parallel to each other. Thus, the link mechanism is configured to be rotatable only within a predetermined angle range.

Therefore, according to the drive mechanism 14 of the article rotating means 4 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, when the drive motor M2 is driven to link the drive lever 33 and the movable lever 31, the link arm 30 swings around the support shaft 32. Therefore, the pair of movable plates 21 move back and forth in the opposite direction along the slide rail 26. In addition, when the pair of movable plates 21 move back and forth, the gear 22 fixed to the rotating shaft 16a of each rotating turret 16 is set to mesh with the rack 23 and rotate in the same direction.
Therefore, by setting the rotation range of the gear 22 fixed to the rotation shaft 16 a to be 180 ° corresponding to the swing range of the drive arm 33, the rotation range of the rotary turret 16 is reduced by the groove 18. It can be set to rotate 180 ° half a turn.

  Moreover, the distance that the article rotating means 4 having the rotating turrets 16 moves back and forth with respect to the swing range of the drive arm 33 can be set to (1 pitch + α) of the article 2 on the conveyor 3. Accordingly, α is set to a slight distance smaller than one pitch of the article 2. When the article 2 is taken out from the conveyor 3 to the rotary turret 16, the article 2 is in contact with the partition wall 10, but when the article 2 is returned from the rotary turret 16 to the conveyor 3, the distance α is from the partition wall 10. It will return to the position which opened the gap, and since it does not contact the front and rear partition walls 10, the return operation becomes easy. The conveyor 3 moves one pitch while the article rotating means 4 rotates the article 180 °.

Next, the article take-out means 5A for feeding the articles 2 arranged at a predetermined pitch on the transport conveyor 3 onto the concave groove 18 of the rotating turret 16 of the article rotating means 4, and the article 2 is returned to the transport conveyor 3 after 180 ° horizontal rotation. The article return means 5B will be described with reference to FIGS.
A movable plate 36 is disposed above the article 2 of the conveyor 3 so as to be movable in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 3. The return pusher serves as an article return means 5B at both ends of the movable plate 36 in the moving direction. 37a and 37b are attached, and a take-out pusher 37c is attached as the article take-out means 5A at the center.
These three pushers 37a, 37b, 37c are equally spaced, and the distance between adjacent pushers 37a, 37b, 37c is set to be slightly longer than the length of the article 2 as shown in FIGS. Has been.

Each of the pushers 37a to 37c is formed in a stepped tree shape as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, for example, and the length is equal to the distance between the two articles 2 arranged at a predetermined pitch on the conveyor 3. The upper part of each article 2 is pushed to perform removal and return operations. Side guides 39 that prevent the articles 2 from falling are provided on both sides of the conveyor 3, but cannot be installed in the area where the articles are taken out and returned.
Therefore, it is preferable to set the length of each pusher 37a-37c to the length of the distance of the two articles | goods 2 before and behind. The rear portions of the return pushers 37a and 37b and the take-out pusher 37c serve as guides for preventing articles from falling from the conveyor 3. Further, the article 2 is taken out at the rear part of the pusher 37c, and the article 2 is returned at the front part of the pushers 37a and 37b.
The movable plate 36 is connected to a moving plate 38 parallel to the movable plate 36 via an arm portion extending downwardly.

  In the take-out and return drive mechanism 5 </ b> C, the movable plate 36 is positioned above the conveyor 3, and the moving plate 38 is positioned below the conveyor 3. Further, a slide rail 40 is fixed to the substrate 11 at a position facing the moving plate 38, and a slide guide 41 having a concave cross-sectional shape fixed to the moving plate 38 is guided by the slide rail 40 to reciprocate (A direction and B Direction). Further, a pusher drive motor M3 which is a drive means for the article take-out means 5A and the article return means 5B is fixed to the substrate 11. On the back surface of the substrate 11, a drive pulley 43 is connected to an output shaft of a drive motor M <b> 3 that protrudes to the back surface side through a through hole, and a driven pulley 44 is attached to the moving surface of the movable plate 36 on the back surface of the substrate 11. . A belt 45 is wound and stretched between the drive pulley 43 and the driven pulley 44. The connecting plate 47 connected to the moving plate 38 of the take-out and return drive mechanism 5C is fixed to the belt 45.

Therefore, the return pushers 37a and 37b and the take-out pusher 37c reciprocate via the belt 45 and the connecting plate 47 that reciprocate by rotating the drive motor M3 forward and backward. By reciprocating the movable plate 36, for example, the article 2 on the conveyor 3 is taken out by the pusher 37c, moved onto the concave groove 18 of one rotary turret 16, and horizontally rotated 180 ° by the rotary turret 16, It is taken out by the return pusher 37a or 37b and returned onto the conveyor 3.
It should be noted that a minute interval is provided between the operation timings of the intermittent conveyance of the conveyor 3, the operations of the return pushers 37 a and 37 b and the take-out pusher 37 c, and the 180 ° rotation operation of each rotary turret 16. After each operation is settled by this minute time interval, the next operation is performed. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the clogging of the article 2 from occurring when the article 2 is conveyed, taken out and returned.

  Further, a pair of stoppers 48 can be projected and retracted by air cylinders or the like (not shown) at positions facing the movable plate 36 on both sides of the conveyor 3. Alternatively, the stopper 48 may be fixedly held at the protruding position. When the article 2 to be taken out reaches the rear area of the take-out pusher 37c, the stopper 48 protrudes to stop the article 2, and the article pusher 37c is operated to remove the article 2 stopped. I try to take it out.

  When the article 2 on the transport conveyor 3 is taken out by the take-out pusher 37c, when the first article 2 is taken out, the one article 2 on the front end side is taken out to the one rotary turret 16 at the rear portion of the take-out pusher 37c. In this state, since the area where the article 2 on the conveyor 3 is taken out becomes a gap, next, the next article 2 on the conveyor 3 is taken out to the other rotating turret 16 by the pusher 37a. The article 2 taken out by one rotary turret 16 is rotated 180 ° and then returned at the front part of the return pusher 37a or 37b to be returned to the original position (gap) of the conveyor 2.

The article conveying apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has the above-described configuration. Next, an article conveying method for conveying the article 2 conveyed by the conveying conveyor 3 by reversing the direction by 180 ° will be described with reference to FIG.
The articles 2 are arranged in the same direction at a predetermined pitch on the conveyor 3 of the article conveying apparatus 1. The conveyer 3 is intermittently operated by the rotation of the drive motor M1 for the conveyer to convey the article 2, and the article 2 is changed to the reverse direction and returned to the conveyer 3 at the end of the conveyance.

First, the articles 2 on the conveyor 3 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are sequentially conveyed at the positions where the articles 2 positioned by the partition walls 10 and arranged at predetermined intervals are arranged, and the article rotating means 4 are arranged on both sides. Stoppers 48 protrude on both sides of the conveyor 3 to stop the article 2.
At this time, by the drive mechanism 14 of the article rotating means 4, one rotating turret 16 (hereinafter referred to as 16A) is located on the rear side, and the other rotating turret 16 (hereinafter referred to as 16B) is moved forward. It is in a position shifted to the side. Then, the stopper 48 stops the article 2 at the position facing the concave groove 18 of the one rotating turret 16 </ b> A at the rear by the stopper 48.

In the example shown in FIG. 9A, it is assumed that the area of the article 2 on the front side of the article 2 to be taken out on the conveyor 3 is a gap. After the article 2 in the gap of the conveyor 3 is taken out into the concave groove 18 of the other rotating turret 16B by the take-out pusher 37c in the previous stage, the article 2 is horizontally rotated by 180 ° and rotated by the other rotating turret 16B. The turret 16B is in a position moved forward.
In the state shown in FIG. 9A, the movable plate 36 of the take-out and return drive mechanism 5C has a return pusher 37b located outside the other rotary turret 16B, and is located between the other rotary turret 16B and the transport conveyor 3. The take-out pusher 37c is located, and the return pusher 37a is located between the transport conveyor 3 and one rotating turret 16A.

  From this position, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the drive motor M3 for pusher of the take-out and return drive mechanism 5C is driven to move the belt 45 in the direction A, and the take-out pusher 37c and the return pushers 37a and 37b are moved. Are moved in the same direction. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9B, the movable plate 36 moves in the direction A, so that the article 2 on the concave groove 18 of the other rotating turret 16B is a gap on the conveyor 3 by the return pusher 37b. While returning to the original position, the article 2 on the transport conveyor 3 stopped by the stopper 48 by the take-out pusher 37c is taken out into the concave groove 18 on one rotating turret 16A.

  Here, the product 2 placed in the concave groove 18 of the other rotating turret 16B has a manufacturing error because the other end 18b of the concave groove 18 on the conveyor 3 side is on the conveyor 3 side and is high. Even if there is a slight level difference with the conveyor 3 due to an assembly error or the like, the article 2 can be smoothly returned onto the conveyor 3. Further, when the article 2 is taken out from the conveyor 3 toward the concave groove 18 of one rotary turret 16A, the height of the one end portion 18a of the concave groove 18 facing the conveyor 3 is low, so that the article 2 is smooth. It is taken out from the conveyor 3 into the groove 18.

And as shown in FIG.9 (c), while returning the articles | goods 2 to the conveyance conveyor 3 from the ditch | groove 18 of the other rotation turret 16B, the article | item 2 is put into the ditch | groove 18 of one rotation turret 16A from the conveyance conveyor 3. FIG. After removal, the turret drive motor M2 in the drive mechanism 14 is driven.
Then, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the drive lever 33 of the drive motor M2 rotates by a predetermined angle and the movable lever 31 is interlocked via the rod 34, so that the link arm 30 swings around the support shaft 32. The pair of movable plates 21 move back and forth in the opposite direction along the slide rail 26. When the pair of movable plates 21 move back and forth, the gear 22 fixed to the rotating shaft 16a of each rotating turret 16 meshes with the rack 23 and moves in the reverse direction so that the front and rear positions are switched while rotating in the same direction.

  Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 9C to 9E, the article rotating means 4 having one rotating turret 16 </ b> A has a distance of (1 pitch + α) of the article 2 of the conveyor 3 along the conveyor 3. The article rotating means 4 having the other rotating turret 16 </ b> B moves rearward by a distance of (1 pitch + α) of the article 2 of the conveyor 3 along the conveyor 3. Moreover, one rotating turret 16A in which the article 2 is placed in the concave groove 18 rotates 180 ° horizontally to change the direction of the article 2, and the other rotating turret 16B also rotates 180 ° horizontally to end one end 18a of the concave groove 18. Is located on the conveyor 3 side.

As shown in FIGS. 9C to 9E, while the conveyor 3 on which the articles 2 are arranged is conveyed by one pitch of the articles 2, the article rotating means 4 having the rotating turret 16A is (1 pitch + As shown in FIG. 9 (f), the article 2 rotated 180 ° by the rotating turret 16A is returned to the gap of the conveyor 3 by the return pusher 37a, so that the article 2 to be returned is A gap of α is opened without interfering with the partition wall 10 of the conveyor 3.
In this way, the front and rear positions of one rotating turret 16A and the other rotating turret 16B are interchanged, and the article rotating means 4 having one rotating turret 16A moves forward in synchronization with the advance of the gap of the conveyor 3 and the other rotating turret 16B. The article rotating means 4 having the position moves backward to the position of the article 2 next to the gap of the conveyor 3.

7 and 8, when the movable plate 36 of the take-out and return drive mechanism 5C moves in the B direction by the reverse rotation of the drive motor M2, as shown in FIG. 9 (f), one rotation is performed by the return pusher 37a. The article 2 on the concave groove 18 of the turret 16 </ b> A is pushed and returned to the space of the conveyor 3. At the same time, the article 2 stopped on the conveyor 3 by the stopper 48 is taken out by the take-out pusher 37c and taken out into the concave groove 18 of the other turret 16B.
Next, by rotating the drive motor M2 of the drive mechanism 14 of the article rotating means 4 in the reverse direction, the pair of rotating turrets 16A and 16B is horizontally rotated by 180 °, and the article rotating means 4 having one rotating turret 16A is (1). The article rotating means 4 having the other rotating turret 16B is moved forward by the same distance while being moved backward by a distance of pitch + α).
By sequentially repeating such an operation, the direction of the article 2 on the conveyor 3 that moves at a predetermined speed is rotated 180 ° by the two rotary turrets 16A and 16B arranged on both sides thereof and rearranged. Can be returned to the transport conveyor 3 and sequentially packed in a box or the like.

As described above, according to the article conveying apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, when the article 2 is conveyed by the conveying conveyor 3, the article 2 is taken out of the conveying conveyor 3 by the take-out pusher 37c, and is horizontally rotated by 180 ° by the rotating turret 16 and returned. Since the articles 2 are returned to the conveyor 3 by the pushers 37a and 37b, the arrangement interval of the articles 2 is set to be shorter than the length of the articles 2 on the conveyor 3, and the articles 2 are rotated halfway without interfering with each other. Can be returned to the conveyor 3.
In addition, the rotating turrets 16A and 16B are installed on both sides of the conveyor 3 so that the articles 2 can be alternately rotated halfway and moved back and forth, so that the conveyor speed of the conveyor 3 can be set to double that of the conventional conveyor. .
The article 2 is pushed by the partition wall 10 on the conveyor 3 and conveyed at a predetermined pitch, and the position stopped by the stopper 48 is a position facing the concave groove 18 of the rotary turrets 16A and 16B. 2 can be taken out and returned.

Further, the drive mechanism 14 can simultaneously perform the half rotation of the pair of rotating turrets 16A and 16B and the back-and-forth movement of the article rotating means 4 along the conveyor 3 and the conveyors 3 by the three pushers 37a to 37c. Since the upper article 2 can be taken out and returned, the movement of the article 2 can be easily controlled with a simple configuration.
Further, since the concave groove 18 provided in the rotating turret 16 is formed on the inclined surface, the article 2 is not easily clogged during the take-out and return operations of the article 2 and can be moved smoothly.

Note that the article transporting apparatus 1 according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately changed or replaced without departing from the gist of the present invention. Next, modifications and the like of the present invention will be described, and the same or similar parts and members as those of the above-described embodiment will be described using the same reference numerals.
In the above-described embodiment, the article rotating means 5 is provided on both sides of the conveyor 3 so that the articles 2 are alternately taken out from the conveyor 3 and half-rotated by the rotary turret 16. The article rotating means 5 may be provided on any one of the side portions. In this case, the pusher provided on the movable plate 36 of the take-out and return drive mechanism 5C may be provided with the return pusher 37a and the take-out pusher 37c.
In this case, the length of the pushers 37a and 37c is preferably set to a length corresponding to the width of one article 2.

  In the above-described embodiment, the articles 2 on the transport conveyor 3 can be taken out and returned by the pushers 37a to 37c provided on the movable plate 36 of the take-out and return drive mechanism 5C. The pushers 37a to 37c may be configured so as to be able to appear and retract with respect to the article 2 on the transport conveyor 3 by an air cylinder or the like. In this case, since the pushers 37a to 37c and the stopper 48 can be projected and retracted, it is possible to select a mechanism that does not take out the article 2 on the conveyor 3 and does not rotate horizontally. Therefore, it is possible to selectively adopt a method in which the article 2 is rotated 180 ° horizontally and a method in which the article 2 is not rotated.

A modification of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
10A, the take-out and return drive mechanism 5C of the article conveying apparatus 1 is driven, and the article 2 on the conveyer 3 is taken out into the concave groove 18 of the rotating turret 16 by the take-out pusher 37c of the movable plate 36 and rotated. When the turret 16 is rotated 180 °, if the width of the article 2 has a certain width or more, the rotating article 2 may interfere with the take-out pusher 37c.
In such a case, after the article 2 is taken out into the concave groove 18 of the rotary turret 16 by the control means of the pusher drive motor M3, the drive motor M3 may be controlled to rotate slightly in the opposite direction and stop. As a result, a gap is formed between the take-out pusher 37c and the end face of the article 2 placed in the concave groove 18 of the rotary turret 16, so that the article 2 is in contact with the take-out pusher 37c even if the rotary turret 16 is rotated. Interference can be prevented.

In the above-described embodiment, the article rotating means 4 is provided with the drive mechanism 14 that moves back and forth along the conveyor 3 while rotating the article 2 on the concave groove 18 halfway by the rotating turret 16. It is not limited to a simple configuration. For example, when the article 2 is taken out from the conveyor 3 onto the concave groove 18 of the rotary turret 16, if the conveyor 3 is stopped, it is not necessary to move the rotary turret 16, and the configuration of the drive mechanism 14 is further simplified. Become.
In the present embodiment, the article rotating means 4 is configured to include the rotating turret 16 and the guide frame 15, but the guide frame 15 may be omitted as long as it includes at least the rotating turret 16.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Goods conveying apparatus 2 Goods 3 Conveyor 4 Goods rotation means 5A Goods takeout means 5B Goods return means 5C Takeout and return drive mechanism 10 Partition wall 14 Drive mechanism 16, 16A, 16B Rotating turret 16a Rotating shaft 18 Groove 18a Groove One end 18b The other end 22 of the concave groove Gear 23 Rack 26 Slide rail 36 Movable plates 37a, 37b Return pusher 37c Extraction pusher 40 Slide rail 43 Drive roller 44 Receiving roller 45 Belt 48 Stopper M1 Conveyor drive motor M2 For turret Drive motor M3 Drive motor for pusher

Claims (6)

A transport path for transporting articles at predetermined intervals;
Article take-out means for taking out articles from the transport path;
Article return means for returning the taken-out article to the transport path;
An article conveying apparatus comprising: article rotating means for horizontally rotating an article taken out from the conveying path by the article taking means;   The article transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article rotating means includes a drive mechanism that moves the article along the transport path while horizontally rotating the article.   3. The article conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article rotating means is provided on both sides of the conveying path. The article take-out means is one take-out pusher that takes out an article on the conveyance path to the article rotating means,
The article returning means is two return pushers for returning the article horizontally rotated 180 ° by the article rotating means to the conveyance path,
The article conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a take-out and return drive mechanism that simultaneously drives the take-out pusher and the return pusher.   The article placement position in the article rotating means is such that one end on the side where the article is taken out from the transport path is relatively low in height and the other end on the side where the article is returned to the transport path is relatively high. The article conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the article conveying apparatus is inclined. 6. A stopper according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a stopper capable of appearing and retracting is provided at a position facing the article rotating means in the conveying path, and the stopper protrudes to stop the article when the article is taken out by the article rotating means. Article conveying apparatus described in the item.

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