JP2554020B2 - Suspended article carrier - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for automatically carrying articles in warehouses, factories, storage areas, and the like, and more particularly to a hanging-type article carrying device for supporting and carrying articles in a suspended state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an overhead crane with a hoist has been used for hoisting and carrying a relatively small load in a warehouse, a factory, a storehouse or the like. This is for hoisting a hoist equipped with a motor, speed reducer, winding cylinder, etc., to hold it in a suspended state on a rail horizontally arranged on the ceiling so that it can run on the rail and to wind it around the winding cylinder. Hook the hook attached to the tip of the rope on the hook-shaped or ring-shaped engaging part that forms a part of the load or on the hook-shaped or ring-shaped engaging part provided on the support such as containers supporting the load. A device for lifting and transporting luggage.
Further, a robot that lifts and carries the luggage by grasping a part of the luggage with an arm is also used as the transportation device.

[0003]

By the way, it is desired to move a package from one place to another in a warehouse or a factory, and to change the direction of the package at the transportation destination for the convenience of work. , And so on. In such a case, with a conventional overhead crane, after carrying the load to another place, the operator changes the direction of the load while lifting the load, and then lowers the load and puts it in a predetermined position. Need to collect. For this reason,
The worker must be waiting at the destination of the luggage.
On the other hand, in order to be able to automatically change the direction of the load, it is necessary to provide the crane device with a rotation drive mechanism in addition to the load lifting mechanism and the traveling mechanism. Also, when carrying a load by a robot, it is necessary that the robot has a rotational drive in a horizontal plane.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in an apparatus for carrying an article in a suspended state, a drive mechanism for rotating the article in a horizontal plane in a suspended state is not particularly provided. Also, an object of the present invention is to provide a device that can naturally change the direction of an article without manpower, thereby simplifying the configuration of the carrying device and saving labor in carrying work.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a movable supporter for supporting a transported object in a suspended state through an engaging member formed in a hook shape or a ring shape and traveling in a horizontal direction is provided at each tip. A pair of fingers are arranged such that the parts can be brought into contact with and separated from each other, and a drive mechanism for driving the tip parts of the pair of fingers so as to come into contact with each other or come close to and away from each other. Then, one of the pair of fingers is formed such that its tip portion is along the moving direction of the finger and its tip portion is directed in the direction of the other finger so that the tip portion is inclined forward and downward. When the tip of the other finger contacts or approaches the tip of the one finger, it is positioned below the tip of the one finger and intersects it, and the tip is inclined forward and downward. Was formed.

The drive mechanism may be a mechanism for symmetrically moving the pair of fingers in directions opposite to each other, that is, in a direction toward each other and a direction away from each other. Further, in the case where the engaging member is a rigid body such as a steel material or a plastic material, the other finger has a portion continuous from the tip portion intersecting the tip portion of the one finger, the same as the tip portion of the one finger. You may make it bend | fold in a direction and may form a rocking | fluctuation control part.

[0007]

In the carrying device constructed as described above, the pair of fingers of the movable supporting device are moved away from each other, and both or one of the fingers of the pair of fingers is driven by the drive mechanism. When they are brought into contact with each other or brought close to each other, the tips of one of the fingers are inserted into a hook-shaped or ring-shaped engaging member provided on the side of the object to be transported, and the tips of the pair of fingers are made to intersect each other. The ring-shaped member and the hook-shaped or ring-shaped portion at the upper end of the engagement member are linked. Then, when the movable supporter is moved upward, the object to be conveyed is lifted by the movable supporter through the engaging member, but at this time, since the tip of one finger is inclined, the object to be conveyed is inclined. Gravity causes the engagement member to slide downwards according to its inclination. Then, the engagement member moves from the tip of one finger to the tip of the other finger located below the finger. At the same time,
The engaging member rotates by an angle corresponding to the intersecting angle formed by the tips of the pair of fingers, and therefore the orientation of the transported object changes naturally.

Further, in the case where the engaging member is a rigid body, when the swinging restricting portion is formed on the other finger, the engaging member which is transferred to the tip portion of the other finger by the above-mentioned operation. The upper end portion of is in a state of being sandwiched between the tip end portion of one finger and the swing restriction portion of the other finger. Therefore, when the engaging member tries to rotate in the horizontal plane, both side surfaces of the upper end portion of the engaging member collide with the tip end portion of one finger and the swing restricting portion of the other finger, respectively. Since the member is prevented from rotating further, swinging of the transported object during transportation is suppressed.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 4 are perspective views showing a schematic structure of a main part of a suspension type article carrying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and are views showing an operation process in order. In these figures, only the portion of the movable supporter that supports the luggage is shown, and the mechanism for moving the movable supporter up and down and the mechanism for moving the movable supporter in the horizontal direction are omitted.

The movable supporter 10 is a pair of left and right members which are integrally attached to the luggage 12 and engage the engaging member 14 whose upper end is formed in a ring shape to support the luggage 12 through the engaging member 14. It has fingers 16 and 18. The engaging member 14 is formed by bending a round bar made of a steel material, a plastic material, or the like into a ring shape. Incidentally, the engaging member may be one in which a part of the ring is opened and the upper end is hook-shaped. Further, instead of a round bar, a square bar or a narrow strip plate is ring-shaped or hook-shaped. It may be molded. Further, in the illustrated example, the engaging member 14 is integrally attached to the luggage so as to form a part of the luggage 12, but the engaging member is integrally formed with a support tool such as a container for supporting the luggage. It may be formed.

The bases of the pair of left and right fingers 16 and 18 are integrally fixed to the pair of left and right movable blocks 20 and 22, respectively. The movable blocks 20 and 22 are located at the left and right ends on the front end side of the base plate 24. It is slidably supported by two guide rods 28, 28 which are erected on a pair of support plates 26, 26 fixed to the portions. One finger 16 projects forward from the front end surface of the movable block 20, and its tip has the other finger 18 as shown in FIG.
The tip portion is bent in the direction along the guide rod 28 so as to face in the direction of. Also, the tip of one finger 16 is
As shown in a partially enlarged front view of FIG. 5, it is formed to incline forward and downward. Similarly, the other finger 18 projects forward from the front end surface of the movable block 22 and once bends in the direction of the one finger 16 along the guide rod 28 as shown in FIG. The continuous portion is further bent toward the front side, and its tip is formed in a direction intersecting with the tip of one finger 16. Then, the bent portion that is continuous from the tip portion becomes a swing restricting portion 30 described later. Further, the tip of the other finger 18 is positioned below the tip of the one finger 16 as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. It is formed to incline downward.

The left and right movable blocks 20 and 22 have link plates 36 and
One end of 38 is rotatably connected to a pin. And
The other end of both link plates 36, 38 has a common joint pin 40
A pin is rotatably connected to the upper surface side of the slide plate 42 via. Although not shown, the slide plate 42 is slidably supported by a support member fixedly mounted on the base plate 24, and a rack 44 is integrally formed on the lower surface side of the slide plate 42. There is. A forward / reverse rotation motor 46 is fixedly mounted on the base plate 24 via a mounting block 48, and a pinion 52 that meshes with the rack 44 is fixed to a rotation shaft 50 of the motor 46. Then, by driving the motor 46 to rotate normally,
The slide plate 42 moves rearward through the pinion 52 and the rack 44, and slides through the common joint pin 40.
The rear ends of both link plates 36 and 38, which are connected to the pin 42, are pulled rearward, and the movable blocks 20 and 22 are guided by the guide bar 28 and approach each other via the link plates 36 and 38. The tips of the pair of fingers 16 and 18 are brought into contact with each other. On the other hand, by driving the motor 46 in the reverse direction, the slide plate 42 moves forward through the pinion 52 and the rack 44, and the rear end portions of both link plates 36, 38 are pushed forward, so that both link plates Both movable blocks 20 and 22 are pushed in a direction in which they are separated from each other via 36 and 38, so that both tip ends of the pair of fingers 16 and 18 are separated from each other.

Next, the operation of the movable supporter 10 having the above structure will be described.

A movable supporter 10 is provided by an elevator mechanism (not shown).
Up and down, and as shown in FIG. 1, a pair of fingers 16, 18
From a state in which the both tip ends of the are separated from each other, the motor 46 is driven in the normal direction to bring the pair of fingers 16 and 18 close to each other.
As the pair of fingers 16 and 18 gradually approach each other, the tip of one of the fingers 16 is inserted into the ring-shaped portion of the upper end of the engaging member 14 of the luggage 12, and then the pair of fingers 16 is inserted as shown in FIG. When both tip portions of 16 and 18 come into contact with each other, the ring-shaped portion formed by intersecting the both tip portions and the ring-shaped portion of the upper end portion of the engaging member 14 are linked. Partial enlarged views at this time are shown in FIG. 5A (front view) and FIG. 6A.
(Plan view) and FIG. 7 (A) (right side view). It should be noted that both tip portions of the pair of fingers 16 and 18 may not be in complete contact with each other, and when the movable supporting device 10 is raised as described later, the engaging member 14 has a pair of fingers 16 and
It does not matter if there is a gap that does not fall off from 18.

When the pair of fingers 16 and 18 and the engaging member 14 are engaged with each other, the movable supporting unit 10 is moved by an elevating mechanism (not shown).
To rise. As a result, the luggage 12 is hoisted to the movable supporter 14 via the engaging member 14, but the luggage 12
When one of the fingers 16 of the movable supporting device 10 is loaded with the load of the
Slide downward according to the inclination of the tip of 16. Then, the engaging member 14 moves from the tip of one finger 16 to the tip of the other finger 18 while rotating 90 ° in a horizontal plane as shown in FIG. Changes by 90 °. Partial enlarged views at this time are shown in FIG. 5B (front view), FIG. 6B (plan view) and FIG. 7B (right side view), respectively. The engaging member
Since 14 rotates by an angle corresponding to the intersecting angle formed by the tips of the pair of fingers 16 and 18, by appropriately setting the angle at which the tips of the pair of fingers 16 and 18 intersect. The direction of the luggage 12 can be changed at an angle other than 90 °.

When the luggage 12 is lifted by the movable supporter 10, the movable supporter 10 is moved by a horizontal movement mechanism (not shown).
Is moved in the horizontal direction to transport the luggage 12 to a desired location in a warehouse or factory. At this time, the upper end of the engaging member 14 supported by the fingers 18 is, as shown in FIG. 6B, the tip of one finger 16 and the other finger.
It is sandwiched between the rocking | fluctuation control part 30 of 18. Therefore, even if the engaging member 14 tries to rotate in the horizontal plane due to the vibration during the transportation of the luggage 12, both side surfaces of the upper end portion of the engaging member 14 are swayed by the tips of the one finger 16 and the other finger 18. Since each of them collides with the movement restricting portion 30, the rotation of the engaging member 14 to a certain extent or more is stopped, and the swing of the load 12 during transportation can be suppressed to a small extent.

When the load 12 is transported to a desired place and stopped there, a movable support machine is operated by an elevator mechanism (not shown).
10 is lowered, and the lowering operation of the movable support machine 10 is stopped at a position where there is a slight gap between the lower surface of the load 12 and the mounting surface. Then, the motor 46 is reversely driven to separate the pair of fingers 16 and 18. In the process, a pair of fingers
When both tip ends of 16 and 18 are separated, the action of gravity due to the load of the luggage 12 causes the engagement member 14 to slide downward in accordance with the inclination of the tip end of the other finger 18. And the engaging member
14 disengages from the other finger 18, and as shown in FIG. 4, the load 12 is turned 90 degrees from the state shown in FIG. Placed on.

The suspended article carrier according to the present invention is
Although it has the above-described configuration, the scope of the present invention is not limited by the above description and the contents of the drawings, and various modifications can be included without departing from the scope of the invention. That is, as a mechanism for driving the pair of fingers, for example, the left and right movable blocks to which the pair of fingers are fixed are screwed to a screw rod in which a left screw and a right screw are screwed with the center part as a boundary. Alternatively, a drive mechanism or the like may be used in which the tip ends of the pair of fingers are brought into contact with and separated from each other by rotating the screw rod by rotating the motor in the forward and reverse directions. Further, in the above embodiment, both the pair of fingers are driven, but either one of the fingers may be fixed and only one of the fingers may be driven. Further, in the above embodiment, the fingers are fixed to the front end surface of the movable block so as to project from the front end surface to the front side, but the fingers may be fixed to the lower end surface of the movable block or the side surfaces facing each other. . As the material of the engaging member, a steel material or a plastic material has been exemplified, but the carrying device of the present invention can be applied as long as it is a flexible material and can maintain a ring shape to some extent.

[0020]

Since the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, when the carrying device according to the present invention is used to support and carry an article in a suspended state, the article is lifted. The direction of the article can be changed naturally without manpower even without providing a driving mechanism for rotating the article in a horizontal plane, so that the structure of the carrying device can be simplified and labor saving in carrying work can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a movable supporter which is a main part of a suspension type article carrying device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a view showing a part of a state of an operation process. .

FIG. 2 is likewise a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a movable support machine, and is a view showing a part of a state of an operation process.

FIG. 3 is likewise a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a movable support machine, and is a view showing a part of a state of an operation process.

FIG. 4 is likewise a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a movable support machine, showing a partial state of an operation process.

5A is a partially enlarged front view corresponding to the state shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5B is a partially enlarged front view corresponding to the state shown in FIG.

6A is a partially enlarged plan view corresponding to the state shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 6B is a partially enlarged plan view corresponding to the state shown in FIG.

7A is a partially enlarged right side view corresponding to the state shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 7B is a partially enlarged right side view corresponding to the state shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Movable support machine 12 Luggage 14 Engagement member 16, 18 Fingers 20, 22 Movable block 28 Guide rod 30 Swing control part of the other finger 32, 34, 40 Joint pin 36, 38 Link plate 42 Slide plate 44 Rack 46 Positive・ Reverse rotation motor 52 pinion

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A movable supporter through an engaging member that is integrally attached to a transported object or integrally formed on a support tool that supports the transported object and has an upper end portion formed into a hook shape or a ring shape. In a suspension-type article carrier which supports a carried object in a suspended state and moves the movable support device to carry the carried object, the movable support device is configured such that the tip ends of the movable support device are brought into contact with each other. A pair of fingers that are freely arranged, and a drive mechanism that drives both tip portions of the pair of fingers to contact or approach and separate from each other, and one of the pair of fingers, The tip is formed so that the tip is along the moving direction of the finger and the tip faces the direction of the other finger so that the tip inclines forward and downward. Finger Is formed below the tip of one of the fingers when it comes into contact with or comes close to the tip of the finger, and the tip is inclined forward and downward. When the parts come into contact with each other or come close to each other, the engaging member inserted and engaged with the distal end of one finger slides on the distal end of one finger according to its inclination, and the other end of the finger moves to the other end. Suspended article carrying device, characterized in that it is adapted to transfer while changing its direction to the tip of each finger. 2. The suspension type article carrying device according to claim 1, wherein the drive mechanism symmetrically moves the pair of fingers in mutually opposite directions. 3. An engaging member that is integrally attached to a transported object or integrally formed on a support tool that supports the transported object is a rigid body, and the other finger is a distal end portion of one finger. 3. The suspension-type article carrying device according to claim 1, further comprising a swing restricting portion which is continuous from the intersecting tip portions and is bent in the same direction as the tip portion of one of the fingers.