JP2782671B2 - Device for feeding young plants to plug tray - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for feeding a young plant to a plug tray. When transplanting cultivated seedlings to a plug tray, or transplanting grafted seedlings to a plug tray, it is necessary to put these seedlings one by one into each plug of the plug tray. The present invention relates to a device for grasping a young plant with claws in such a case as described above, moving the plant to a predetermined position while grasping the plant, and inserting the plant into each plug of a plug tray.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various kinds of holding apparatuses for plantlets have been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2-121810, 3-130015 and 4-187029). Each of these conventional devices includes a moving means, an opening / closing means attached to the moving means via an elevating means or an advancing / retreating means, if necessary, and a claw attached to the opening / closing means. It is gripped by the claws and moves to a predetermined position in the gripped state. However, no device has been proposed for putting the grasped young plant into a plug tray. A device has been proposed in which a pot is positioned directly below a gripping device, a nail is opened, and a young plant held by the nail is thrown into the pot (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-190718). ,
It is not possible to put young plants one by one into each plug of a plug tray in which many plugs are densely provided. The fact is that when planting young plants into the plug tray, they are done manually.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The problem to be solved by the present invention is that the conventional apparatus does not allow one young plant to be inserted into each plug of the plug tray one by one. This is done manually.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is an apparatus for grasping a young plant with claws, moving the plant to a predetermined position while grasping the plant, and inserting the plant into each plug of a plug tray.
The present invention relates to an apparatus for feeding a young plant to a plug tray, comprising: a charging unit described below; a gripping unit described below; and a control unit that controls operations of the charging unit and the gripping unit. Input unit: machine frames arranged on both left and right sides, a transporter mounted on the machine frame so as to be slidable in the left and right direction, and intermittently moving the transporter mounted on the machine frame and in the left and right direction Driving means, a driving means attached to the transporter and intermittently advancing a transport member of the transporter, a laterally moving means and a forward / backward moving means mounted on the machine frame, A loading section provided with guide cylinder pieces respectively attached to these advancing / retreating means, with the plugs of the plug tray placed on the transport member facing slightly upward from the upper side. Gripping part: a gripping part provided with moving means in the left and right direction arranged above the guide tube piece of the input part, opening and closing means attached to the moving means, and claws attached to the opening and closing means.

[0005] The feeding device of the present invention repeats the operation of holding the seedlings with claws, moving while holding the seedlings, and throwing the seedlings into the plugs of the plug tray. This is a device for sequentially inputting one by one, and includes an input unit as described below, a grip unit, and a control unit for controlling the operations of the input unit and the grip unit.

[0006] The input section includes a machine frame, a transporter, drive means for moving the transporter in the left-right direction, drive means for advancing the transport member of the transporter, two advance / retreat means, and two And a guide tube piece. The machine frame of the loading section supports the transporter and the like, and is disposed on both left and right sides thereof, that is, on both sides in a relationship orthogonal to the forward direction of the transport member of the transporter when viewed from above.

[0007] A transporter is mounted on the machine frame so as to be slidable in the left-right direction. A typical example of such a transporter is a belt conveyor. Usually, two guide shafts are juxtaposed at intervals on both the left and right machine frames, and the support frame of the transfer machine is slidably fitted on the two guide shafts. Driving means for intermittently moving the transporter in the left-right direction is attached to the machine frame. As such a driving means, a cylinder drive can be adopted, but a ball screw is rotatably mounted on the machine frame,
It is preferable to adopt a motor drive in which a support frame of a transfer machine is screwed to the ball screw and the ball screw is connected to a rotation shaft of a pulse motor. In this case, when the pulse motor is driven for a certain period of time, via the rotating shaft, the ball screw and the support frame,
The transfer machine moves left and right.

A driving means for intermittently advancing the conveying member is attached to the conveying machine. As such a driving means, a plate-shaped mounting table may be used as a conveying member, and a cylinder drive for intermittently moving the mounting table may be employed. However, the driving member and the idler roller are tensioned as the conveying member. The endless belt engaged with the belt is used.Therefore, a belt conveyor is used as a conveyor, a pulse motor is mounted on a support frame of the belt conveyor, and a motor drive that connects the drive roller and a rotation shaft of the pulse motor is connected. It is preferable to employ it. In this case, when the pulse motor is driven for a certain period of time, the upper surface of the endless belt advances through the rotating shaft, the driving roller and the idle roller.

The machine frame is provided with means for moving in the left-right direction and means for moving in the front-rear direction. As such advancing / retreating means, a motor drive can be employed, but a cylinder drive is preferably employed. Usually, a cylinder for forward / backward movement is mounted on one of the left and right machine frames on one side of the machine frame, and a forward / backward moving means for forward / backward movement is mounted on another machine frame provided between the left and right machine frames.

Guide tube pieces are attached to the left and right moving means and the forward and backward moving means, respectively. These guide tube pieces are located at positions slightly facing the plugs of the plug tray placed on the transfer member of the transfer device, and are joined at the time of advance of the respective reciprocating means, as if they were 1
As described later, the guide tube is used when the young plant body is gripped by the claws of the grip portion, moved to above the plug of the plug tray, and then inserted into the plug. is there. Therefore, it is preferable that these guide tube pieces form a guide tube having a width gradually decreasing toward the lower portion when the guide tube is advanced, and the lower portion of the guide tube is the same as or slightly narrower than the plug of the plug tray.

[0011] The grip portion includes a moving means in the left-right direction, an opening / closing means, and a claw. The moving means is arranged above the guide tube piece of the input section, and is for moving the seedlings held by the claws to above the plug of the plug tray placed on the transport member of the input section. . As such a moving means, a cylinder drive can be adopted.However, a guide shaft and a ball screw are arranged side by side on two columns that stand upright over the transfer device of the loading section in the left-right direction, and Attach a support member that is slidingly fitted and screwed with the ball screw,
It is preferable to employ a motor drive in which the ball screw is connected to the rotation shaft of a pulse motor. In this case, when the pulse motor is driven for a certain period of time, the support member moves in the left-right direction via the rotating shaft and the ball screw.

The opening / closing means is attached to the moving means,
It is for opening and closing the nail. As such an opening / closing means, for example, an opening / closing cylinder in which a cylinder cylinder is attached to a support frame of the moving means as described above can be used.

The claw is attached to the opening / closing means and is used for gripping the young plant. As such a pawl, for example, a pawl having a pair of pawls opposed to a support frame as described above and one end of the pair of pawls supported on a cylinder rod of an opening / closing cylinder can be used. .

A driving means for intermittently moving the transporter in the loading section described above in the left-right direction, a driving means for intermittently advancing the transport member, an advancing / retreating means in the left-right direction, an advancing / retreating means in the front-rear direction, and a gripper Both the moving means in the left-right direction and the opening / closing means in the section are connected to a control section, and their operations are controlled by a temporal command signal from the control section.

[0015]

The plug tray is placed on the conveying member, and the plug tray is advanced to a predetermined position by the driving means attached to the conveying device. First, the young plant held by the claws is moved from the right end of the first row of the plug tray to above the first plug by the moving means. On the other hand, the guide cylinder pieces attached to these are advanced by the laterally moving means and the forward and backward moving means and the forward and backward moving means, and a guide cylinder is formed immediately above the first plug from the right end of the first row. In this state, when the nail is opened by the opening / closing means and the young plant is dropped, the young plant is put into the first plug from the right end of the first row via the guide tube.

Next, the pawl is returned to the original position by the moving means,
Here, a new seedling is gripped by the nail. On the other hand, the guide tube piece attached thereto is moved back to the original position by the forward / backward moving means, and the guide tube piece attached thereto is also usually moved back to the original position by the left / right moving means. After that, the transporter is moved rightward by one plug by the driving means attached to the machine frame, and the second plug from the right end of the first row is moved to the position where the first plug was located from the right end of the first row. To move. Perform the same operation again,
The young plant is put into the second plug from the right end of the row. By repeating the same operation, seedlings are put into each plug of the first row one by one.

After each young plant is put into each plug in the first row, the conveying member is advanced by one row of plugs by driving means attached to the transporter, and the position where the plug in the first row was located The second row of plugs is moved to the left side by the driving means attached to the machine frame, and the second row of plugs is first moved from the right end of the first row to the position where the first plug was located. Move the first plug from the right end. Hereinafter, the same operation is repeated, and seedlings are thrown into each plug of the plug tray one by one. In the present invention, the insertion position of the plug tray into each plug is always constant, the plug tray is intermittently moved one plug at a time in the left-right direction, for example, rightward, and the plug tray is moved in the front-rear direction, usually. It moves intermittently in the forward direction by one row of plugs.

[0018]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention. Two machine frames 11 and 12 are arranged side by side on both left and right sides, and a key-shaped machine frame 13 is erected on the machine frame 11. Has a gate-shaped machine frame 14
Has been passed.

A belt conveyor 21 is mounted between the machine frame 11 and the machine frame 12 as a carrier so as to be slidable in the left-right direction. The belt conveyor 21 includes a support frame 22 and a support frame 2.
2, a driving roller 23 and a floating roller 24 rotatably supported at both ends in the front-rear direction, an endless belt 25 which is tensioned and engaged with the driving roller 23 and the floating roller 24, and attached to the support frame 22. The drive roller 23 is connected to the rotation shaft of the pulse motor 26, and two guide plates 27, 28 are provided on the left and right sides of the support frame 22 in the front-rear direction with the endless belt 25 interposed therebetween. It is erected.

Two guide shafts 31 and 32 are mounted between the machine frame 11 and the machine frame 12 with an interval in the front-rear direction, and these guide shafts 31 and 32 are provided between the guide shafts 31 and 32. A ball screw 33 is rotatably mounted in parallel with the above. One end of the ball screw 33 is pivotally supported by the machine frame 11, and the other end is connected to a rotation shaft of a pulse motor 34 attached to the machine frame 12. The support frame 22 of the belt conveyor 21 is slidably fitted with two guide shafts 31 and 32 at the bottom thereof, and is screwed with a ball screw 33.

In FIG. 1, the plug tray A having a large number of plugs is placed on the endless belt 25. When the pulse motor 34 is intermittently rotated forward for a certain period of time, the belt conveyor 33 21 and the plug tray A is intermittently moved rightward by one plug at a time, and the pulse motor 34 is rotated in the reverse direction for a predetermined time.
, The plug tray A is returned to the original position together with the belt conveyor 21. In addition, when the pulse motor 26 is intermittently rotated forward for a certain period of time, the plug tray A is intermittently advanced by one row of plugs together with the endless belt 25 via the drive roller 23 and the idle roller 24.

A machine cylinder 13 is provided with a forward / backward moving cylinder 41 to which a cylinder cylinder is fixed, and a machine casing 14 is provided with a forward / backward moving cylinder 42 to which a cylinder cylinder is fixed. Have been. Guide cylinder pieces 43, 44 are attached to the cylinder rod ends of the advance / retreat cylinders 41, 42, respectively.
3 and 44 are plug trays A mounted on the endless belt 25.
Is located slightly higher than it, and forms a single guide tube when it is advanced, and the guide tube becomes narrower in order toward the lower part and the lower part is narrower than the plug of the plug tray A. It is formed to have a width.

One pillar 51 is provided upright on the machine frame 11, and a guide shaft 5 is provided between the pillar 51 and the other pillar (not shown) which is provided to extend rightward across the belt conveyor 21.
3 is mounted, and a ball screw 54 is rotatably mounted in parallel with the guide shaft 53. Ball screw 54
Is supported at one end by a column 51, and the other end is connected to a rotating shaft of a pulse motor (not shown) attached to the other column. A key-shaped support member 55 is slidably fitted on the guide shaft 53 and is screwed with the ball screw 54.

An opening / closing cylinder 61 to which a cylinder cylinder is fixed is attached to the support member 55, and a pair of claws 71 and 72 are pivotally supported by the support member 55.
One end of each of the first and second shafts 72 is supported by a cylinder rod end of the opening / closing cylinder 61. The pair of claws 71, 72 are located above the guide cylinder pieces 43, 44, and when the cylinder rod of the opening / closing cylinder 61 is raised, the pair of claws 7
When the seedlings (not shown) are closed and the young plant (not shown) is gripped, and the cylinder rod is lowered, the pair of claws 71 and 72 are opened, and the young plant (not shown) that has been held is dropped. .

In FIG. 1, the position of the guide cylinder formed when the guide cylinder pieces 43 and 44 are advanced, and the pair of claws 71 and 72 are opened above the guide cylinder, and the young plant (not shown) that has been gripped up to that point falls. And the endless belt 25 moves forward, so that each plug of the plug tray A is positioned immediately below the guide cylinder from the right end of the first row. Plug →
... → the sixth plug from the right end of the first column → the first plug from the right end of the second column →... → the sixth plug from the right end of the second column.

[0026]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention described above has an effect that young plants can be surely inserted one by one into each plug of a plug tray in which a large number of plugs are densely provided. There is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11-14: Machine frame, 21: Belt conveyor, 2
6, 34 ... pulse motor, 31, 32, 53 ...
Guide shafts, 33, 54 ... ball screws, 41, 42
..Advancing and retreating cylinders, 43, 44...
1 ... opening and closing cylinder, 71, 72 ... claw, A
・ Plug tray

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-8-140488 (JP, A) JP-A-8-23788 (JP, A) JP-A-4-38209 (JP, U) (58) Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A01G 9/08

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] An apparatus for gripping a young plant with claws, moving to a predetermined position while gripping the same, and inserting the plug into each plug of a plug tray, comprising: ,
A device for feeding a young plant to a plug tray, comprising: a feeding unit; and a control unit for controlling an operation of the gripping unit. Input unit: machine frames arranged on both left and right sides, a transporter mounted on the machine frame so as to be slidable in the left and right direction, and intermittently moving the transporter mounted on the machine frame and in the left and right direction Driving means, a driving means attached to the transporter and intermittently advancing a transport member of the transporter, a laterally moving means and a forward / backward moving means mounted on the machine frame, A loading section provided with guide cylinder pieces respectively attached to these advancing / retreating means, with the plugs of the plug tray placed on the transport member facing slightly upward from the upper side. Gripping part: a gripping part provided with moving means in the left and right direction arranged above the guide tube piece of the input part, opening and closing means attached to the moving means, and claws attached to the opening and closing means. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor in the input section is a belt conveyor. 3. A ball screw screwed into a support frame of the transporter and rotatably mounted on the machine frame, and a driving means for intermittently moving the transporter in the loading section in the left-right direction is connected to the ball screw. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the apparatus further comprises a pulse motor for intermittently rotating the ball screw. 4. The plug-tray according to claim 3, wherein the forward / backward moving means in the left / right direction and the forward / backward moving means in the input / output section are forward / backward cylinders each having a cylinder cylinder mounted on a machine frame. Input device. 5. The guide tube pieces respectively attached to the reciprocating means in the input section form a guide tube having a width gradually narrowing toward the lower portion when moving forward, and whether the lower portion of the guide tube is the same as the plug of the plug tray or not. 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the width of the seedling is slightly narrower than that of the plug.