JP2537320B2 - Article alignment method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is, for example, in the container filling and packaging industry, in which the front and back surfaces of the articles are unevenly arranged, and the front and back surfaces of articles which are successively fed are automatically aligned in one direction. Regarding the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when supplying an article having front and back sides, for example, a lid of a container, to the mouth of the container, a concave portion of the lid, that is, a female screw portion must be accurately matched. It is necessary to align the lids in one direction in advance, and some devices for this purpose have been developed in the art.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 19 (a) and 19 (b), a cap 20 having a large diameter portion and a small diameter portion is
Transfer member 21 in a random state with small diameter parts facing up and down individually
When the cap 20 is delivered to the receiving member 22 provided at the terminal end of the transfer member 21 when the large diameter portion of the cap 20 is supported by the receiving members 22 on both sides, that is, Those with a small diameter portion facing downward are transferred to the next step, and as shown in Fig. 19 (b), when the large diameter portion of the cap 20 is not supported by the receiving members 22 on both sides, that is, with the small diameter portion facing upward, It is dropped and eliminated, and then collected again in the cap supply device.

As another example, as shown in FIGS. 19 (c) and (d), the caps 20 continuously supplied in a random state on the transfer member 23 are caps 20 provided on both sides thereof.
Along the left and right guides 24, 25 that come into contact with the large-diameter portion, and the half or less of the lower surface is supported by the transfer member 23 to be sent in one direction, as shown in FIG. 19 (c). When the guides 24 and 25 come into contact with the large-diameter portion of the cap 20, the guides 24 and 25 are transferred to the next step, and as shown in FIG.
When 5 corresponds to the small diameter portion of the cap 20, the supporting force of the cap 20 is lost and the cap 20 is dropped and eliminated.

When the front and back of the cap are selected by the above-mentioned device, only the cap having the small diameter portion facing downward, that is, the cap having the proper orientation is supplied to the processing machine in the next step, and the cap having the small diameter portion being sent upward is used in the device. Since it has to be taken out of the transfer path in step 1 and hung again on the article aligning device, the sorting work is troublesome and the cap supply amount is halved. Therefore, it is difficult to continuously supply a large amount of caps aligned in a certain direction. Or, the efficiency is lowered and it is not possible to cope with the high-speed processing capability of the processing machine in the next step.

The cap returned to the feeding device without being aligned is agitated again in the device, so that the cap is scratched and the commercial value is lowered, or the cap itself is easily soiled. There were various problems such as.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has an article transfer path in the center, a pair of lateral guides on both sides thereof, and a large article bottom part. In the article aligning device provided with a stepped guide body that supports the diameter portion and the small diameter portion, and an upper guide body that abuts against the large diameter portion or the small diameter portion of the article, the lateral guide that gradually changes in inclination, The stepped guide body that gradually inclines upward and the upper guide body are wrapped from three directions, and the insertion posture is changed symmetrically between the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion in the transfer path during the transfer of the article. By doing so, it is an object of the present invention to provide an article aligning method for articles which allows continuous and automatic alignment of articles in a certain direction.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems The means of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned object is to provide a substantially cylindrical article having a front surface and a back surface having a large diameter portion and a small diameter portion having a predetermined width and an outer diameter difference. In an article aligning method for aligning the front and back in one direction, a pair of lateral guides are provided at both sides of the article, and a step guide for supporting the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion of the article is provided on the lower side thereof. ,
In an article aligning device having an upper guide member that abuts against a large diameter portion or a small diameter portion of an article, an article randomly supplied with different front and back directions is rolled with the front and back facing sideways. The step guide body is supported by the pair of lateral guides while supporting the front and back sides of the article, and the step guide body and the upper guide body engage the small-diameter portion of the article to form the step guide body. With the outward expansion of the side part of the upper guide body and the upper guide body, the step of moving while pushing the step part of the small diameter part and the large diameter part and biasing it to the side of the transfer path, and with the progress of this article And the large diameter portion or the small diameter portion of the article is sandwiched by the step guide body and the upper guide body that are gradually inclined upward, and the large diameter of the article is gradually increased by the pair of lateral guides having the inclined surfaces at the end faces. Inclining so that the end face of the small diameter part of the article faces downward while guiding the end face of the part And extent, in article alignment method that gave equipped with.

[0009]

The present invention configured as described above has the following effects.

[0010] When articles having different front and back directions and different outer diameters are randomly supplied to the transfer path so that both sides of the front and back faces toward a pair of lateral guides, the lateral guides and step guides are provided. The article is wrapped from three sides by the upper guide body and is transferred in one direction through the transfer path.

At this time, the articles supplied into the transfer path are
The stepped guide body is engaged so that the large diameter portion or the small diameter portion is located on one side.

As the article advances, the pair of lateral guide end faces gradually incline inward in the transfer path, and the stepped guide gradually inclines upward in the transfer path. The lateral guide pushes the end surface of the large diameter portion of the article, and the step guide pushes the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion of the article upward, and the end surface of the small diameter portion on the other side of the article tilts downward and guides the upper portion upward. It is held and transferred by the body.

Further, if the lateral guide is overhanged and the stepped guide is inclined, the lower surface of the small diameter portion of the article is in contact with the article take-out body in the transfer path, and the right and left articles are different. Causes 90 ° rotation from a vertical state to a horizontal state in the transfer path, and the symmetrical movement of the article causes the front and back of the article to be aligned in one direction.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the method for aligning articles according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 18, A is an article aligning device for unifying and aligning articles 1 having different front and back sides in one direction. The article 1 described above is, for example, a container for filling and packaging liquids, powders, and the like. Caps,
Machine parts and elements that have a convex shape, or those that have a difference in outer diameter between the front side and the back side are used, and they are aligned regardless of the weight difference such as metal or synthetic resin. It is a thing.

In the apparatus A, the articles 1 are preliminarily aligned in the vertical and horizontal postures while being rotated in the tank while being stirred in the article supply apparatus (not shown). Is sent.

FIGS. 1 to 17 show a first example of an article aligning apparatus A for aligning articles 1 having an outer diameter difference between a large diameter portion and a small diameter portion on the front and back thereof, that is, those having a convex front shape. And a pair of lateral guides 3 and 3 on both sides thereof, and a step guide member 4 for supporting the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion of the article 1 at the lower portion thereof. , And an upper guide body 5 that is in contact with the large diameter portion or the small diameter portion of the article at the top.

Then, it is installed so as to have a slight downward inclination (about 30 °) from the inlet side to the outlet side, or in the opposite direction to the above state, that is, it has a slight upward inclination toward the outlet side. If the outlet side is inclined downward, it is dropped by its own weight, and if the outlet side is inclined upward or is horizontally installed, the article 1 advances. An air nozzle type for injecting in the direction, a conventional vibrating means, or the like is adopted.

The transfer path 2 is provided with the lateral guides 3 and 3.
In the space surrounded by the step guide body 4 and the upper guide body 5, the article 1, for example, the container cap is vertical, that is, the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion thereof correspond to the lateral guides 3, 3. In such a state, it can be smoothly slid and pass, and further, the lateral guides 3, 3 and the stepped guide body 4 and the upper guide body 5 are formed to have a size such that there is not much space between them and the article 1. .

The lateral guides 3 and 3 mentioned above are provided in the transfer path 2
1 to 17 are arranged so as to be in contact with the end surface of the large diameter portion of the article 1 on both sides of
The article 1 is projected so as to be pushed inward, or an inclined surface is formed on the end surface thereof, and the article 1 is provided in series from the inlet side to the outlet side.

The stepped guide member 4 supports the large-diameter portion of the article 1 below the transfer path 2, and the first guide member 6 supports it.
And a second guide body 7 that supports the small diameter portion of the article 1,
6 to 16, the first and second guide bodies 6 and 7 are gradually inclined so as to rotate the article 1 inward, that is, toward the center, and have a bilaterally symmetrical shape. A step portion 8 for locking the step of the article 1 is provided at the connection portion with the first and second guide bodies 6 and 7, and the step portion 8 is provided in series from the inlet side to the outlet side. There is.

The above-mentioned upper guide body 5 is provided on the upper side of the transfer path 2 so as to contact the large-diameter portion or the small-diameter portion of the article 1 and hold the gradually inclined article 1 in a predetermined posture. The main guide body 9 is composed of a central main guide body 9 and sub-guide bodies 10 and 10. The main guide body 9 has a lower surface that is smooth and gradually increases with the inclination of the article 1. Then, an inclined surface is formed, and the large-diameter portion of the article 1 is formed again in a smooth shape from a position inclining beyond the center.

The sub-guides 10 and 10 are formed symmetrically on both sides of the main guide 9 so that the surface contacting the upper surface of the large-diameter portion of the article 1 is inclined. It is formed so that it gradually has an inclined surface with
The horizontal guides 3 and 3 are provided on the same plane and on the same plane as the end face inclination.

The main guide body 9 and the sub guide body 10,
The article contact surface with 10 is formed so as to be parallel to the article contact surfaces of the first and second guide bodies 6 and 7 in the stepped guide body 4, and the article in the transfer path 2 1
In the transfer of the above, the sheet moves while being sandwiched by these contact surfaces.

In FIGS. 10 to 17, reference numeral 11 denotes a take-out body provided between the pair of stepped guide bodies 4, that is, in the lower central portion of the transfer passage 2, and is an article inverted by 90 ° in the transfer passage 2. The lower surface of the small diameter part in 1 is supported horizontally and stably.

The operation of the embodiment having the above configuration will be described.

An article 1 having different front and back directions and different outer diameters, for example, a synthetic resin cap for a seasoning liquid bottle is vertically and vertically attached to the transfer path 2 in the article aligning apparatus A while the front and back are separated. When it is supplied and inserted so that both sides of the front and back sides correspond to the pair of lateral guides 3 and 3, the large diameter portion of the cap 1 is directed to the right (shown by the solid line in FIGS. 3 to 5) and the large diameter portion. In a state where the portion is facing left (shown by phantom lines in FIGS. 3 to 5), the cap 1 is wrapped from three sides by the lateral guides 3, 3 and the stepped guide body 4 and the upper guide body 5, The transfer path 2 is continuously transferred in one direction from the inlet side to the outlet side.

At this time, in the cap 1 supplied into the transfer path 2, the large diameter portion of the step guide 4 is located at the first guide body 6 and the small diameter portion thereof is located at the second guide body 7. 1
The step of is engaged with the step 8 of the support 4.

As the cap 1 advances, the end faces of the pair of lateral guides 3 and 3 in the transfer path 2 gradually incline inward, and the step guide member 4 in the transfer path 2. Gradually increases inward, so
The lateral guides 3, 3 push the end surface of the large diameter portion of the cap 1, and the step guide body 4 pushes the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion of the cap 1 upward, so that the end surface of the small diameter portion on the other side of the cap 1 tilts downward. Therefore, the upper portion of the cap 1, that is, the peripheral surface and the end surface of the large diameter portion are held and transferred by the main guide body 9 and the sub guide body 10 in the upper guide body 5. (See FIGS. 6 to 13) Further, when the end face inclination of the lateral guides 3 and 3 and the inclination of the step guide body 4 are further developed, the cap 1 is guided by the inclination of the lateral guides 3 and 3 and eventually. The lower surface of the small diameter portion is grounded to the take-out body 11 of the cap 1 in the transfer path 2, and the caps 1 on the left and right sides on the inlet side that are different from each other are symmetrical in the transfer path 2.
Due to the transfer fluctuation of the cap 1, the front and back of the cap 1 are aligned in one direction.

Next, the article aligning apparatus A shown in FIGS. 18 (a) and 18 (b) aligns articles 1 having a large-diameter portion and a small-diameter portion on their front and back sides, that is, those having a tapered shape. The basic structure is almost the same as that of the first embodiment device described above, but the guide member 4 for supporting the lower surface of the article 1 is used.
Has a smooth surface according to the shape of the article.

With this configuration, the embodiment is shown in FIG.
According to the operation sequence shown in (b), the articles 1 are arranged in a horizontal state in which the left and right directions are different from each other (as shown by a solid line and an imaginary line in FIG. 18 (a)), which is inverted by 90 ° from the vertical state. However, the operation thereof is almost the same as that of the first embodiment, and thus the detailed description will be omitted.

[0031]

As described above, in the article arranging method according to the present invention, since all the supplies from the article supply device can be aligned in one direction, the amount of the product supplied from the article supply device is about half that of the conventional one. Therefore, the load on the article supply apparatus can be reduced, and the rotation of the article supply apparatus can be reduced, which reduces scratches and stains on the article due to stirring.

Since the articles inserted into this device are uniformly arranged and discharged from the outlet side, there is no article that is not sorted and eliminated as in the conventional case, and
The device for collecting the removed articles and the installation space for the device are not required, and the factory can be effectively used.

Even when articles having different shapes on the front and back sides are continuously supplied at random, the articles can be aligned in one direction, and the work efficiency is greatly improved. It can fully cope with the increase in high-speed processing capability.
And so on.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a first embodiment device used in an article alignment method for articles according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a central sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 3a shows an alignment state by the device in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of a part.

FIG. 4b shows the device in FIG. 1 in alignment.
It is sectional drawing of a part.

5 is a view showing an alignment state by the apparatus in FIG. 1; FIG. 1c;
It is sectional drawing of a part.

FIG. 6d is an alignment state of the apparatus shown in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of a part.

FIG. 7e shows the aligned state by the device in FIG. 1e.
It is sectional drawing of a part.

8f shows an alignment state by the device in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of a part.

1. FIG. 9g shows an alignment state by the device in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of a part.

10 is a view showing an alignment state by the apparatus shown in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of h part.

FIG. 11 is a view showing an alignment state by the apparatus in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of i part.

FIG. 12 is a view showing an alignment state by the apparatus shown in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of j section.

FIG. 13 is a view showing an alignment state by the apparatus in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of k section.

FIG. 14 is a view showing an alignment state by the device in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of a 1 part.

15 is a view showing an alignment state by the apparatus in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of a m section.

16 is a view showing an alignment state by the device in FIG. 1;
It is sectional drawing of n part.

FIG. 17 is a view showing an alignment state by the apparatus in FIG.
It is sectional drawing of o part.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing, in the order of (a) to (g), the alignment state by the apparatus of the second embodiment used in the article alignment method for articles according to the present invention.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory view schematically showing an example of a conventional article alignment device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 article 2 transfer path 3 lateral guide 4 stepped guide 5 upper guide

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An article aligning method for aligning a substantially cylindrical article having a front surface and a back surface having a large-diameter portion and a small-diameter portion having a predetermined width and an outer diameter difference in one direction. And a pair of lateral guides on both sides thereof, a stepped guide body that supports the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion of the article in the lower portion, and an upper guide body that abuts the large diameter portion or the small diameter portion of the article in the upper portion. In an article aligning device including: a step of inserting articles randomly supplied in different front and back directions into a transfer path in a direction in which the front and back sides roll sideways; and an article by a pair of lateral guides. While supporting the front and back sides of, by engaging the small diameter portion of the article by the step guide body and the upper guide body,
The step of pushing the stepped portions of the small diameter portion and the large diameter portion by the outward spreading of the side portions of the stepped guide body and the upper guide body, and biasing them to the side of the transfer path; The pair of lateral guides having a sloping surface at the end faces while sandwiching the large-diameter portion or the small-diameter portion of the article by the step guide body and the upper guide body that gradually incline upward as the article advances. And a step of tilting the small-diameter end surface of the article so as to face downward while following the large-diameter end surface of the article.