JP2512113Y2 - Goods alignment device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for aligning articles such as bottles made of plastic, glass or the like for aligning the orientation of articles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When filling a product such as a bottle with a liquid using a liquid filling machine, it is necessary to orient the product in a pre-filling step.

As a conventional apparatus for aligning articles, Japanese Patent Publication No. 44-2
There is one as described in Japanese Patent No. 1600. This prior art is an aligning device for articles having a protrusion (neck) on a part of a main body, and a chute for supplying articles arranged in a row and a bottom of the chute for contacting the bottom of the main body. Has a main body moving belt for accelerating in the carrying-out direction, and a rotating brush for contacting the projecting portion and accelerating the projecting portion in the non-carrying-out direction so that its bottom is directed in the carrying-out direction.

Further, in this prior art, it is essential that a jump-up restraining belt, which is provided on the bounce-back side when the article comes into contact with the above-mentioned main body moving belt and bounces, and accelerates the article in the carrying-out direction, is essential. I am trying.

[0005]

However, according to the prior art, since the article supplied from the chute is immediately and impulsively contacted with the moving belt or the rotating brush of the main body, the article necessarily inevitably bounces, It is indispensable to provide the above-mentioned bounce control belt.

Therefore, in the conventional device, the structure of the device is complicated because the rebound control belt is driven, and the article is easily damaged, and the glass article may be broken. Also, if the next item arrives before the bounced item settles down,
The product will be clogged and the operating rate will also deteriorate.

An object of the present invention is to suppress the rebound of the articles in the aligning process while simplifying the structure and to align the articles in a safe and reliable manner.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article aligning device for aligning the orientation of an article having a protruding portion on at least a part of a main body, wherein the articles are aligned in a constant supply direction. An article supply section that supplies the article, an article receiver that temporarily positions and holds the article that is supplied from the article supply section, and is capable of contacting each of the main body section and the protruding section of the article that is released from the article receiver, and Ri Na and a main body portion moving means and the projecting portion moving means is moving in opposite directions,
The receiving member is provided on the side of the main body moving means and the protruding portion moving means.
Is obtained by the so that such comprises a tapered article guide portion comprising a width decreasing toward.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect of the present invention, the article supply section includes an article cutting device including at least one article detection sensor and an article stopper. It was done like this.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the main body portion moving means and the protruding portion moving means are belt conveyors.

The present invention according to claim 4 provides the invention according to claims 1 to 3.
In any one of the present inventions, the receiving member is made of a cushioning material.

[0012]

[0013]

The articles arranged in a certain feeding direction by the article feeding unit (the orientations are not uniform) are once positioned and held by the article receiving member and then released from the article receiving member so that their traveling directions are opposite to each other. Either of the body moving portion and the protruding portion moving means is brought into contact with either the main body portion or the protruding portion, and the directions thereof are aligned. The article may have any cross-sectional shape such as a round shape or a flat shoulder shape. At this time, the article is positioned and held by the article receiver before coming into contact with either the main body section moving means or the protruding section moving means, and suppresses rebound. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the rebound of the article and prevent the article from being damaged or cracked without complicating the device configuration. In addition, the operation rate can be improved without immediately causing the article to settle down and causing a clogging. The article receiver is provided with a tapered article guide.
Reliably prevent the items from bouncing back on the receiver.

[0014] By providing an article cutting device,
Stop supplying subsequent items until the items are sorted
As a result, the products are always supplied one by one at intervals,
Reliably prevent clogging of articles.

[0015] Bell the main body moving means and the protruding portion moving means.
By using a conveyor,
The moving means is a direction perpendicular to the axis of the article (the main body moving means or
Or the moving force of the protrusion moving means) is applied.
You. This means that the product is in the axial direction
Moves by preventing contact reaction force in the product supply direction)
Reliably prevent rebound of the article on the means.

[0016] To configure the article receiver with cushioning material
As a result, the rebound of the article on the receiver is surely prevented.

[0017]

[0018]

1 is a schematic view showing a first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an alignment state by a main body moving device, FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an alignment state by a protruding part moving device, and FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a modified example of the article receiver, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the second embodiment, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the essential parts of FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the alignment state by the roller moving means. It is a figure.

(First Embodiment) (See FIGS. 1 to 4) The aligning device 10 aligns the articles (bottles) 1 in the vertical direction. The article 1 is provided with a protrusion (neck) 1B at the upper end of the main body 1A.

The aligning apparatus 10 has an article supply section 11, an article receiver 12, a main body section moving apparatus 13, and a projecting section moving apparatus 14.

The article supply unit 11 is a rectangular frame-shaped article guide 2.
1 and the articles 1 are aligned in a fixed supply direction and dropped and supplied (the articles 1 are not aligned in the vertical direction, and an upright posture and an inverted posture are mixed).

The article supply unit 11 opens the lower end front surface of the article guide 21 as an article outlet 22.

The article receiver 12 includes a pair of left and right opening / closing bodies 31,
32. (a) The article 1 supplied from the article supply unit 11 is temporarily positioned and held in a state where both the opening and closing bodies 31, 32 are closed, and (b) the article by opening both the opening and closing bodies 31, 32. 1 is released and dropped and transferred to the side of the main body moving device 13 and the protruding part moving device 14.

Immediately below the article receiver 12, a pair of left and right belt conveyor main body moving devices 13 and a single belt conveyor protruding portion moving device 14 are arranged. The moving devices 13 and 14 extend parallel to each other in the article unloading direction. The pair of left and right body part moving devices 13 is used for the article 1
The main body moving devices 13 are arranged side by side through a protrusion passing gap 33 that is wider than the protrusion 1B, and the main body moving devices 13 are arranged so as to extend outward from both sides of the article receiver 12. The protruding portion moving device 14 has a lower level of the above-described protruding portion passing gap 33 formed by the pair of left and right body portion moving devices 13 (the level difference between the body portion moving device 13 and the protruding portion moving device 14 is shorter than the length of the protruding portion 1B. ) Is located. The main body moving device 13 is rotated so as to move the upper conveyor surface in the article unloading direction, and the protrusion moving device 14 is rotated so as to move the upper conveyor surface in the opposite article unloading direction.

As a result, both moving devices 13 come into contact with the main body portion 1A (bottom portion) of the article 1 which is released from the article receiver 12 and falls in the upright posture, and carries out the bottom portion in the article carrying-out direction. (At this time, the main body 1A of the article 1 does not contact the protrusion moving device 14) (see FIG. 2). Also,
The protruding portion moving device 14 is released from the article receiver 12, falls in an inverted posture, and comes into contact with the protruding portion 1B (neck portion) of the article 1 that has entered the protruding portion passing gap 33 between the two main body portion moving devices 13 and The projecting portion 1B is unloaded in the anti-article unloading direction and the bottom portion is directed in the article unloading direction (at this time, the projecting portion 1B of the article 1 does not contact the main body moving device 13) (see FIG. 3). That is, the article 1 released from the article receiver 12 is
Either the main body moving device 13 or the protruding part moving device 14 is contacted, and when any of them is contacted, the bottom part thereof is aligned so as to be directed in the article carrying-out direction.

The article receiver 12 is made of a cushioning material made of an elastic material such as rubber, and bufferly receives the article 1 supplied from the article supply unit 11, and the article receiver 12 holds the article 1. It surely prevents the bounce of 1.

Further, each opening / closing body 31, 3 of the article receiver 12 is
The reference numeral 2 is provided with taper-shaped (for example, an inclination angle θ is 45 degrees) article guide portions 34, 34 that are narrowed toward the main body moving device 13 and the protruding portion moving device 14. By making the article guide portion 34 tapered, it is possible to reliably prevent the article 1 from bouncing back on the article receiver 12 as compared with the case where it is flat. At this time, the article guide portion 34 centers the central axis of the article 1 with respect to the moving devices 13 and 14, and also allows the protruding portion 1B to be reliably guided onto the protruding portion moving device 14.

Further, each opening / closing body 31, 3 of the article receiver 12 is
2 are opposed to each other in their closed state.
A protrusion insertion port 35 can be formed between the lower edges of 34. As a result, the article 1 that is positioned and held by the article receiver 12 in the closed state can have its protrusion 1B approach the protrusion moving device 14, and after the article receiver 12 is opened, the protrusion 1B moves to the protrusion moving device 14. The fall distance before contact can be minimized, and the jumping up of the article 1 on the protrusion moving device 14 can be suppressed.

The article receiver 12 includes the opening / closing bodies 31, 3
As shown in FIG. 4, the guide regions of the article guide portions 34, 34 provided in 2 are made narrow so that the projecting portion 1B of the article 1 can be guided onto the projecting portion moving device 14 by the article guiding portion 34. Is also good.

Further, each opening / closing body 31, 3 of the article receiver 12 is
As shown in FIG. 3 (B), the opening operation of 2 forms (a) a release area for dropping the article 1 toward the moving devices 13, 14 by performing only the opening stroke M1 (not shown). Alternatively, (b) an opening stroke M1 may be followed by a retract stroke M2 (not shown) to form the release area for the article 1 described above.
According to the opening operation of (b), M1 can be made small, and the installation width W of both open / close bodies 31, 32 in the opened state can be made small, so that the apparatus can be made compact.

Further, each opening / closing body 31, 3 of the article receiver 12 is
As shown in FIG. 1, a plate-shaped article guide 36,
37 may be provided upright. According to this, the article receiver 1
When the respective open / close bodies 31, 32 of 2 are in the closed state, the article guides 36, 37 close the article outlet 22 of the article guide 21 constituting the article supply unit 11, and the article supply unit 1
The drop supply region of the article 1 from 1 to the article receiver 12 can be closed in four rounds, and the drop supply state of the article 1 can be further stabilized.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The articles 1 aligned in a constant supply direction by the article supply unit 11 (directions are not uniform) are once positioned and held by the article receiver 12 and then released from the article receiver 12 so that the traveling directions are opposite to each other. Either the main body moving device 13 or the projecting part moving device 14 has its main body 1
One of A and the protruding portion 1B can be brought into contact with each other to align their directions. The cross-sectional shape of the article 1 may be round, flat, or any other shape.

At this time, the article 1 has the main body moving device 13
Before being contacted with any of the protrusion moving device 14 and the protrusion moving device 14, the article receiver 12 is positioned and held to suppress rebound. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the rebound of the article 1 and prevent the article 1 from being damaged or cracked without complicating the device configuration. Further, the operation rate can be improved without immediately causing the article 1 to calm down and causing clogging.

Main body moving device 13 and protruding part moving device 1
By using 4 as a belt conveyor, the main body moving device 13 and the projecting portion moving device 14 apply only the moving force to the article 1 in the direction perpendicular to the axis of the article (the moving direction of the main body moving device 13 or the projecting portion moving device 14). Give. This prevents the contact reaction force in the axial direction of the article (the article supply direction to the main body moving device 13 or the protrusion moving device 14) from being applied to the article 1, and the article on the moving apparatuses 13 and 14 is prevented. It surely prevents the bounce of 1.

By constructing the article receiver 12 with a cushioning material, the rebound of the article 1 on the receiver 12 can be reliably prevented.

By providing the article guides 34, 34 having a tapered shape, the article receiver 12 reliably prevents rebound of the article 1 on the receiver 12.

(Second Embodiment) (See FIGS. 5 to 7) The aligning device 110 includes an article supply section 111 and an article receiver 1.
12, a main body part moving device 113, and a protruding part moving device 11
4 and.

Like the article supply section 11 of the aligning apparatus 10, the article supply section 111 has a rectangular frame-shaped article guide 121, and drops and supplies the articles 1 in a predetermined supply direction (article 1). The vertical direction is not uniform, and both upright and upright postures are mixed). The article supply unit 111 is provided with an article guide 121.
The front end of the lower end is opened as the article outlet 122.

The article receiver 112, like the article receiver 12 of the aligning apparatus 10, has a pair of left and right openers 131 and 132.
(A) The article 1 supplied from the article supply unit 111 is temporarily positioned and held in a state where both the opening and closing bodies 131 and 132 are closed, and (b) the article 1 is opened by opening both the opening and closing bodies 131 and 132. Is released and dropped and transferred to the side of the main body part moving device 113 and the protruding part moving device 114.

Directly below the article receiver 112, a pair of left and right belt conveyor main body moving devices 113 and a roller protruding portion moving device 114 are arranged. The main body moving device 113 extends in the article unloading direction. The pair of left and right main body moving devices 113 are juxtaposed via a protrusion passing gap 133 wider than the protruding portion 1B of the article 1, and each main body moving device 113 extends from directly below the article receiver 112 to the outside on both sides thereof. It is located in. Projection part moving device 11
4 is a lower level of the above-mentioned protrusion passing gap 133 formed by the pair of left and right main body moving devices 113 (main body moving device 113).
And the protruding portion moving device 114 has a level difference shorter than the length of the protruding portion 1B). Then, the main body moving device 113 is rotated so as to move the upper conveyor surface in the article unloading direction, and the protrusion moving device 114 is rotated so as to move the upper roller surface in the opposite article unloading direction.

As a result, both main body moving devices 113 come into contact with the main body 1A (bottom portion) of the article 1 which is released from the article receiver 112 and falls in an upright posture, and the bottom portions thereof are directed in the article unloading direction. Carry out (at this time, the main body 1 of the article 1
A does not contact the protrusion moving device 114). Further, the protrusion moving device 114 is released from the article receiver 112,
The protruding portion 1B (neck portion) of the article 1 that has fallen in the inverted posture and has entered the protruding portion passing gap 133 between the both main body moving devices 113.
And the projecting portion 1B is carried out in the anti-article carry-out direction and the bottom part thereof is carried in the article carry-out direction (at this time, the article 1
The protruding portion 1B does not contact the main body moving device 113). That is, the article 1 released from the article receiver 112
Is in contact with either the main body moving device 113 or the protruding part moving device 114, and in the case of contacting any of them,
They are aligned so that their bottoms face the article unloading direction.

The article receiver 112 is made of a cushioning material like the article receiver 12 of the aligning apparatus 10.

Further, each opening / closing body 13 of the article receiver 112
Similar to the respective opening / closing bodies 31 and 32 of the aligning device 10, 1 and 132 are tapered (for example, the inclination angle θ is 45 degrees) toward the main body moving device 113 and the protruding portion moving device 114. The article guide portions 134 and 134 of FIG.

Further, each opening / closing body 13 of the article receiver 112
1 and 132, like the respective opening / closing bodies 31 and 32 of the aligning device 10, in the closed state thereof, the article guide portions 13 facing each other.
A protrusion insertion port 135 is formed between the lower edges of the Nos. 4 and 134.

Further, each opening / closing body 13 of the article receiver 112
The opening / closing bodies 31, 3 of the aligning apparatus 10 are provided on the front surfaces of
Similar to 2, the plate-shaped article guides 136 and 137 may be provided upright.

Further, in the aligning device 110, the first and second article detection sensors 141, 1 are provided in the article supply section 111.
42, an article cutting device 140 including an article stopper 143 and an article holder 144. The article stopper 143 moves in and out of the article guide 121 by the cylinder 145, and the article holder 144 moves in and out of the article guide 121 by the movement stroke of the article stopper 143 transmitted by the link 146. The article stopper 143 is located between the article detection sensors 141 and 142 and is located between the article guide 12 and the article guide 12.
1 can be invaded to hold an article. That is, the article slicing device 140 causes the article stopper 143 to be withdrawn (opened) from the article guide 121 by turning on the first sensor 141 (passage detection), releases the article 1 and supplies the article 1 to the side of the article receiver 112. When the second sensor 142 is turned on (passage detection), the article stopper 143 is inserted into the article guide 121 (closed).
Prepare for stopping the succeeding article 1. As a result, the article slicing device 140 can always supply the articles one by one at intervals.

It should be noted that the article cutting device 140 is the first sensor 14
It is not essential to include only the first sensor 142 and the second sensor 142. That is, the article slicing device 140 includes the first sensor 14
1 is turned on (passage detection), the article stopper 143 is withdrawn (opened) from the article guide 121, the article 1 is released and supplied to the side of the article receiver 112, and thereafter, for a predetermined time (the article 1
The article stopper 143 may be inserted (closed) into the article guide 121 after a lapse of a sufficient time to ensure the passage of the article 1 to prepare for the subsequent article 1 being stopped.

In the aligning device 110, the opening / closing bodies 131 and 132 of the article receiver 112 are opened / closed as follows (see FIG. 6). That is, in the aligning device 110, the cylinder 152 around the piston rod 151, which is erected on the pedestal 110A, can be moved up and down, and the open / close cam 153 having a front triangular shape integrally connected to the cylinder 152 can be moved up and down. . On the other hand, the support brackets 131A and 132A of the opening and closing bodies 131 and 132 can be moved to face each other along the guide rod 154 provided on the frame 110A.
While the support brackets 131A and 132A are biased in the closing direction by springs (not shown), the opening / closing cam 153 is lowered to move the support cams 153 to both support brackets 1A and 132A.
The support brackets 131A and 13A and 13A and 13A are interrupted by the cam followers 155 and 155.
2A is moved oppositely in the opening direction, and by extension, the opening / closing body 13
1, 132 are opened from their closed position.

In the aligning device 110, the gantry 1
The motor 161 provided on 10A enables the drive wheel 162 of the main body moving device 113 and the drive wheel 163 of the protrusion moving device 114 to be driven simultaneously (see FIG. 5B).

In the aligning device 110, the protruding portion moving device 114 may be concentrically arranged on the article supply center axis of the article supply section 111 (see FIG. 7A), or the article supply section 111 articles. E from the supply center axis in the article unloading direction
Only the eccentric arrangement may be made (see FIG. 7B). Figure 7
In the case of the concentric arrangement of (A), the edge of the protruding portion 1B of the article 1 comes into contact with the roller surface deviated from the vertical center line of the protruding portion moving device 114, and the roller rotational force causes the contact reaction force Fa diagonally upward to the protruding portion 1B. The upward component force of Fa exerts a flip-up action on the article 1. On the other hand, in the case of the eccentric arrangement of FIG. 7 (B), the edge of the protruding portion 1B of the article 1 contacts the roller surface on the vertical center line of the protruding portion moving device 114, and the roller rotational force horizontally contacts the protruding portion 1B. Only the force Fb is applied, and the article 1 is not flipped up.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The articles (the orientations are not uniform) 1 aligned in a certain supply direction by the article supply unit 111 are once positioned and held by the article receiver 112, and then the traveling directions released from the article receiver 112 are opposite to each other. Either of the main body portion 1A and the protrusion portion 1B is brought into contact with either the main body portion moving device 113 or the protruding portion moving device 114, and the directions thereof are aligned. The cross-sectional shape of the article 1 may be round, flat, or any other shape.

At this time, the article 1 has the main body moving device 11
3 and the protrusion moving device 114 are positioned and held by the article receiver 112 before contacting any of them, and rebound is suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the rebound of the article 1 and prevent the article 1 from being damaged or cracked without complicating the device configuration. Further, the operation rate can be improved without immediately causing the article 1 to calm down and causing clogging.

By providing the article cutting device 140, the supply of the succeeding articles 1 is stopped until the preceding articles 1 are aligned and processed, so that the articles 1 are always supplied one by one at intervals. Surely prevent clogging of 1.

By using the main body moving device 113 and the projecting portion moving device 114 as a belt conveyor, the main body moving device 113 and the projecting portion moving device 114 apply only the moving force in the direction perpendicular to the axis to the article 1. This prevents application of an axial contact reaction force to the article 1 and reliably prevents rebounding of the article 1 on the moving means.

By constructing the article receiver 112 with a cushioning material, the rebound of the article 1 on the receiver 112 is reliably prevented.

The article receiver 112 is provided with taper-shaped article guides 134, 134 to reliably prevent the article 1 from rebounding on the article 112.

[0057]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the rebound of the articles in the aligning process and to align the articles safely and surely while simplifying the configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an alignment state by a main body moving device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an alignment state by a protrusion moving device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a modified example of the article receiver.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a second embodiment.

6 is a schematic diagram showing a main part of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a state of alignment by roller moving means.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 article 1A main body section 1B projecting section 10 aligning apparatus 11 article supplying section 12 article receiver 13 main body moving apparatus (main body moving means) 14 projecting section moving apparatus (projecting section moving means)

Claims (4)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An article aligning apparatus for aligning the orientation of articles having a protrusion on at least a part of a main body, wherein the articles are aligned in a certain supply direction and are supplied from the article supply section. An article receiver for temporarily positioning and holding the removed article, and a main body moving means capable of coming into contact with each of the main body and the protrusion of the article released from the article receiver and moving in mutually opposite directions. Ri Na and a projecting portion moving means, the receptacle is on the side of the body portion moving means and the projecting portion moving means
Sei assortment device of the article, characterized in Rukoto such comprises a tapered article guide portion comprising a width decreasing toward. 2. The apparatus for aligning articles according to claim 1, wherein the article supply unit includes an article cutting device including at least one article detection sensor and an article stopper. 3. The apparatus for aligning articles according to claim 1, wherein the main body part moving means and the protruding part moving means are belt conveyors. 4. The apparatus for aligning articles according to claim 1, wherein the receiving member is made of a cushioning material.