JP2839460B2 - Equipment for transferring conveyed goods - 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 transferring an article being conveyed to a predetermined location.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a jelly-like drug (for example, a hairdressing agent) or the like is packed and sold in a tube container, about three tube containers are sometimes packaged in a box and then sold. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to pack a tube container in a box, an operator manually performs the operation at the side of a conveyor that continuously transports the tube container.

[0003]

It is needless to say that the conventional packing operation requires a lot of manpower and is inefficient, so that it has been desired to automate the operation. However, mechanization of the operation has been difficult or impossible for the following reasons. That is, the tube container has a columnar shape or an elliptical column shape from the mouth to the center of the container, and has a flat shape crushed like a fin fin from the center to the bottom of the container. Therefore, as the shape is formed mainly of a cylindrical surface or a spherical surface, irregularities such as a positional deviation in the width direction and a posture distortion due to the conveyance vibration on the conveyor, and variations in the conveyance pitch (excessive sticking and separation) ) Is liable to occur.
In addition, during the transport process on the upstream side of the box packing process, sampling inspection and defective product extraction may be performed.
In some cases, the transfer rows between the tube containers were missing.

[0004] However, the work of correcting such irregularities in the orientation of the tube container, the unevenness of the transport pitch, and the like and eliminating the state of missing teeth (hereinafter collectively referred to as "alignment") is performed by a machine. It has been difficult to perform such a process due to the complicated shape of the tube container as described above. Further, the tube containers need to be packed into the box in a state where they are close to each other in order to prevent rattling in the box, and in this case, the packing direction is such that the flat bottoms face each other diagonally in the box. Need to be aligned. Therefore, this has made the packing work more difficult.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and relates to a tube container or the like (hereinafter, simply referred to as an "article") being conveyed by a conveyor, the distance between the tubes and the posture (orientation) of each article. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for transferring a conveyed article, which can automatically and mechanically and automatically perform an intended operation such as packing in a box while changing the value in a predetermined manner.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the following technical measures have been taken in order to achieve the above object. That is, the present invention provides a delivery table provided on the side of a conveyor on which articles are conveyed in a horizontal state, and an article take-out means for taking out a plurality of articles arranged on the conveyor along the conveying direction to the delivery table. When, and a product feed passes means for transferring a plurality of articles held in the transfer table to a predetermined position, said article removal
The means is to set the article in the horizontal state to the upright state and to the delivery table
Take out and the delivery table holds the goods in an upright state
Is configured, the said article feed passing means is characterized by being variably configured the mutual distance and each transfer position of each article in the upright state in the course of transfer.

[0007]

The article take-out means takes out, at once, a plurality of articles arranged in the transport direction from the conveyor, and transfers them to the delivery table on the side of the conveyor. At this time, the mutual interval between the articles is in a state of being conveyed by the conveyor. Then, the article delivery means takes out the article on the delivery table and transfers it to a predetermined location such as a boxing work position. During the transfer, the article delivery means changes the mutual interval between the articles and the respective transfer postures according to the boxing operation or the like.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a conveyor (hereinafter, referred to as "article conveyor") 1 for transporting a tube container (hereinafter, referred to as "article") W.
And a box X capable of storing three articles W in a lump
Conveyor (hereinafter referred to as "box conveyor") 2
2 shows a boxing line in which a boxing operation of the articles W can be automated with respect to a portion where.

[0009] This line is an article W on the article conveyor 1
Device 3 for arranging articles and articles W on article conveyor 1
And a box lid closing device 5 for closing the lid of the box X after the articles W have been loaded. First, the alignment device 3 will be described.

The alignment device 3 is used to correct unevenness in the posture of the articles W on the article conveyor 1 and variations in the conveying pitch, and to eliminate toothlessness. It has a gate section 11 and an offset means 12. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the upstream gate section 10 includes a pair of separation members 15 provided at a predetermined interval in the transport direction above the article conveyor 1.
16. These separation members 15 and 16 are formed using a metal plate, a resin plate, a rubber plate, or the like as a material.
The plate surface is in an upright state, and is perpendicular to the conveying direction of the article conveyor 1. Separation member 1
The mutual interval between 5 and 16 is slightly larger than the outer dimension of the article W in the transport direction (the dimension in the left-right direction in FIG. 2), so that the article W can be sandwiched (not clamped) between them. .

As shown in FIG. 2, the separating members 15 and 16 have separate vertical drive units 18, respectively, and can be moved up and down at their own timing. Each vertical drive unit 18 includes an upper base 19 protruding above the article conveyor 1, a guide rod 20 movably held vertically with respect to the upper base 19, and a guide rod 2.
The belt driving means 22 has a belt driving means 22 which is endlessly stretched in the vertical direction to transmit the vertical movement to the connecting piece 21 provided on the upper part of the driving member 21 and a driving tool 23 for driving the belt driving means 22. .

In this embodiment, a stepping motor having a quick response is used as the driving tool 23. However, a general-purpose motor, a rotary solenoid, or the like may be used. In addition,
The vertical drive unit 18 itself can be replaced with a linear fluid pressure cylinder, solenoid, or the like. The separation members 15 and 16 are attached to the lower part of the guide rod 20 via a bracket 25, and can be adjusted in position along the conveying direction of the article conveyor W. Thus, it is possible to cope with a case where the size and the transport pitch of the article W are different.

As shown in FIG. 3, above the article conveyor 1, two sensors S1 and S2 are provided along the separation member 15 upstream of the separation member 15 on the upstream side (left side in the drawing).
Is provided, one sensor S3 is provided between the separation members 15 and 16, and the separation member 1 on the downstream side (right side in the drawing) is provided.
One sensor S4 is provided downstream of 6.
Although not shown, the article conveyor 1 is provided with a rotary encoder for measuring the transport amount. The vertical movement timings of the separation members 15 and 16 are controlled as follows based on signals from these detection devices.

That is, from the time when one of the sensors S1 and S2 detects the article W or from the beginning, the separation member 15 on the upstream side is lowered. When the sensors S1 and S2 both output the article detection signal, that is, when the article W reaches the upstream side of the separation member 15, the separation member 15 is raised. When the sensor S3 detects the article W, the two separating members 1
5, 16 descend. Thereby, both separation members 15, 1
The article W is sandwiched between the six pieces. Therefore, the article W
Will be corrected even if the posture is distorted (set in a state perpendicular to the transport direction). Further, even if a plurality of articles W are stuck, they will be separated one by one.

On the basis of the time when the sensor S3 detects the article W, the separation member 16 on the downstream side is raised after a lapse of a predetermined time or when the above-mentioned rotary encoder reaches a set value. Therefore, the article W in the above-described sandwiched state is carried out, and the sensor S4 outputs a detection signal. The detection signal of the sensor S4 is transmitted to a downstream gate unit 11 described later as an interlockable signal (a carry-out confirmation signal of the article W).

The upstream separating member 15 rises at the above-described timing when the next article W is carried in, and thereafter, these operations are repeated. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the biasing means 12 is provided with the upstream gate section 1.
0, and has a flipping roller 28 and a floating prevention rail 29. The repelling roller 28 is provided on the upper side of the article conveyor 1 and at a position corresponding to and adjacent to the separating member 15 on the upstream side, and a part of the circumferential portion thereof is formed on the article conveyor 1.
It is provided to be horizontally rotatable so as to be exposed upward. Thereby, one end (bottom part as a tube container) of the article W to be sandwiched between the separation members 15 and 16 is pushed, and the positioning in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction is made uniform.

In this embodiment, the support arm 32 of the flipping roller 28 is horizontally slidably held, and the support arm 32 is slidable by a driving tool 33 such as a fluid pressure cylinder. The degree of exposure or the presence or absence of exposure can be adjusted. Further, in adopting such a structure, a plurality of belt transmission means 34,
35 were combined to transmit torque.

The lifting prevention rail 29 has one end (as a tube container) so that the article W does not jump up when it is pushed out by the flipping roller 28 or pressed down by the separating members 15 and 16. Bottom)
Are projected upward in the transport direction.
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the article W is gradually lowered in the process of being carried into the upstream gate section 10.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a plurality of the downstream gates 11 are provided above the article conveyor 1 at predetermined intervals in the transport direction (three in the present embodiment). Is provided. This partition member 37
Corresponds to the number of articles that can be taken out of the article conveyor 1 by the article take-out means 43 (see FIG. 8) described later in one operation.

Each partition member 37 is formed of a metal plate, a resin plate, a rubber plate, or the like, and has its plate surface in an upright state, and is perpendicular to the conveying direction of the article conveyor 1. In addition, the interval between the partition members 37 is slightly larger than the outer dimension of the article W in the transport direction (the dimension in the left-right direction in FIG. 5), and the article W can be sandwiched between them (no clamping is performed). ing.

As shown in FIG. 5, the partitioning members 37 are suspended by respective vertical driving members 38, and can be moved up and down at their own timing. Vertical drive 3
For 8, a linear or rotary hydraulic cylinder, solenoid, or the like can be used. In addition, reference numeral 39 denotes a frame fixed to the article conveyor 1 side.
The vertical drive 38 can be adjusted in the vertical and horizontal directions as needed (the position adjustment structures are not shown).

Although illustration is omitted, a sensor is provided on the article conveyor 1 so as to face immediately upstream of each partition member 37, and the sensors are arranged in order from the partition member 37 which is arranged on the upstream side (left side in FIG. 5). When two articles W are detected, the same two articles W
, And when the same one article W is detected, it is controlled to descend. Therefore, at the time when all the partition members 37 have been lowered, one article W has been dammed upstream of each partition member 37.

For this reason, the downstream gate 1
In (1), the mutual interval in each article W can be corrected to be constant. In addition, in the downstream gate section 11, since each partition member 37 descends after waiting for the entry of the article W, even if the article conveyance row on the article conveyor 1 has a toothless state. This can be eliminated.

The above is the configuration and operation of the alignment device 3. Next, the transfer device 4 (see FIG. 1) will be described. As shown in FIG. 7, a plurality (three) of the transfer devices 4 are held by the downstream gate portion 11 of the alignment device 3.
The first half of the work from the removal to the mid-transfer operation where the article W is taken out at one time, and is transferred to the box conveyor 2 and then loaded into the box X waiting on the box conveyor 2 And a delivery table 45 provided at a work relay section of these two means 43 and 44. I have.

The delivery table 45 is provided with a vertical hole 4 having a diameter slightly larger than that of the article W so that the article W can be held in an upright state (the direction of the mouth as the tube container is downward).
Reference numeral 6 denotes a block body in which required (three) recesses are provided. The distance between the holes 46 is the same as the distance between the partition members 37 in the downstream gate section 11. As shown in FIG. 8, the article take-out means 43 includes an elevating support 48 provided to be vertically movable with respect to the apparatus frame 47, and an advancing / retracting body 49 provided to be movable back and forth below the elevating support 48. , A plurality (3) provided on the side of the moving body 49
And the suction unit 50 and the device frame 4
7 is provided with a raising drive means 51 for raising.

The lifting support 48 is guided by lifting and lowering guide means 53 such as a vertical linear guide, and the lifting drive is transmitted by ball screw means 54. Reference numeral 55 denotes a driving tool such as a motor with a brake for operating the ball screw means 54. The moving body 49 is guided by moving means 56 such as a horizontal linear guide.
The forward / backward drive is transmitted by the belt drive means 57. 58 is a belt driving means 57 and the moving body 4
9 is a connection piece for connecting to the connection member 9.

In order to make the belt driving means 57 always operable irrespective of the vertical movement position of the lifting support 48, in this embodiment, one of the wheels of the belt driving means 57 is used. 60 (right back side in FIG. 8)
The wheel 60 has a spline nut structure.
Then, a spline shaft 61 erected upright so as to be parallel to the ball screw means 54 is made to penetrate. And
The spline shaft 61 is made rotatable by a driving tool 62 such as a motor with a brake.

The suction portions 50 are held at predetermined intervals from each other with respect to a rotary support shaft 65 protruding from the advancing and retreating member 49 along the conveying direction of the article conveyor 1. In addition, the rotation support shaft 65 is fixed so as not to rotate. As shown in FIG. 5, the distance between the suction portions 50 is the same as the distance between the partition members 37 in the downstream gate portion 11. The partition members 37 are positioned adjacent to each other on the upstream side so as not to interfere with each other.

Each suction section 50 has a suction head 68 having a plurality of (three in the example) suction cups 67 as shown in FIG.
And a guide means 70 for holding the suction head 68 so as to be vertically movable with respect to a shaft mounting base 69, and a vertical driving tool 71 for transmitting vertical driving to the suction head 68. 72
Is a spring constituting a shock absorber. A fluid pressure cylinder, a solenoid, a drive mechanism with a motor, or the like can be used as the vertical driving tool 71.

The raising drive means 51 has a transmission arm 75 having a plurality of joint shafts 51a, 51b, 51c, as shown in FIG. In the transmission arm 75, the joint shaft 51a is provided.
Each belt transmission means (not shown) is bridged between the first and second belt transmission devices 51b and 51b, and 51b and 51c. And
A rotation driving tool (not shown) such as a stepping motor is connected to the uppermost joint shaft portion 51a, and the lowermost joint shaft portion 51a is connected thereto.
The rotation support shaft 65 described above is connected to c.

Therefore, the raising drive means 51 can rotate the rotation support shaft 65 by rotating the rotary driving tool by a predetermined angle, that is, can simultaneously start the all suction portions 50 by raising. The suction unit 50 is configured to be selectively switched between a posture in which the suction cup 67 faces downward and a posture in which the suction cup 67 faces rearward (right side in FIG. 7). Of course, it can be turned by a servomotor or the like.

As shown in FIG. 6, the transfer device 4 is provided with an article pressing means 77 above the side of the article conveyor 1. This article pressing means 77 is used when the article take-out means 4 takes out a plurality (three) of articles W held by the downstream gate section 11 of the aligning device 3, especially when the suction cup 67 comes into contact with the article W. This is for preventing the position shift and rotation of each article W from occurring.

The article pressing means 77 is a pressing strip 78 having an L-shaped cross section which is long in the conveying direction of the article conveyor 1.
Is vertically swung by a belt driving means 79, and reference numeral 80 denotes a rotary driving tool such as a motor. The operation sequence of the article take-out means 43 having such a configuration will be described with reference to a time chart shown in FIG.

When a predetermined number of articles W are carried into the downstream gate 11 of the aligning device 3 and all the partition members 37 (see FIG. 5) are lowered, first, the article pressing means 77 (see FIG. 6) presses. The article 78 is swung downward, and each article W is pressed immovably. Next, in the suction unit 50, the suction cups 67 that are initially in the downward state are started to be suctioned, and the suction head 68 is lowered to press the suction cups 67 against the article W. Then, immediately thereafter, the suction head 68 is raised. Therefore, each article W is lifted from above the article conveyor 1 in a state of being sucked by the suction cup 67. The article pressing means 77 raises the pressing strip 78 simultaneously or slightly earlier when the suction head 68 is lifted, so that the pressing strip 78 is prevented from colliding with the article W.

Next, the elevating support 48 (see FIG. 8) starts to rise, and reaches the uppermost set position of the suction unit 50 (article W).
Lift. Then, after the suction unit 50 reaches the uppermost set position, the raising drive unit 51 operates to move the suction unit 50 backward. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the article W sucked and held by the suction unit 50 is in an upright state (the mouth as the tube container is facing down).

After the suction section 50 is turned backward, the moving body 49 starts to move backward. Thus, the article W sucked and held by the suction unit 50 reaches the position above the delivery table 45 while standing. next,
The lifting support 48 descends to the middle one stage, and the suction unit 50
Stops the suction of each suction cup 67 and releases the article W. Therefore, each article W is dropped into each hole 46 of the delivery table 45. Of course, the upright state is maintained in each hole 46.

Thereafter, the advance by the reciprocating body 49 and the lowering to the middle two stages by the elevating support 48 are performed in parallel. Further, after the reciprocating body 49 (suction unit 50) returns to the foremost position, the raising drive unit 51 operates to move the suction unit 50 downward. At this point, each of the suction units 50 is connected to the article conveyor 1.
And a position corresponding to each other between the downstream gate portions 11 (see FIG. 5) of the alignment device 3. Finally, the lifting support 48 lowers the suction unit 50 to the lowermost set position, and returns to the initial setting state of the article takeout means 43 as a whole.

As shown in FIG. 10, the article transfer means 44, which is one of the remaining components of the transfer device 4, is capable of changing three clamp portions 83, 84, 85 and their mutual intervals and rotational attitude. Attitude changing means 87. The upright base body 88 serving as a substrate of the attitude changing means 87 is not shown in the drawings, but the article take-out means 43 described above is omitted.
(Refer to FIG. 8) It is attached to the forward / backward moving mechanism (49A) having the same configuration as the advance / retreat body 49 described in FIG. It is attached to the device frame 47 via a moving mechanism (48A). Therefore, the above-described clamp portions 83, 84, 85 and the posture changing means 87 can be moved forward and backward and up and down as a whole.

The clamps 83, 84 and 85 are arranged as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, a pair of holding pieces 20 are driven by a driving tool 90 such as a fluid pressure cylinder, a solenoid, and a motor driving mechanism.
0aa and 200b are provided so as to be able to approach and separate from each other. With such a configuration, both holding pieces 200
When one end (a flat bottom as a tube container) of the article W is clamped between the guides 91a,
1b acts to naturally align the rotational attitude of the article W, which is advantageous for attitude correction.

It is possible to replace the holding pieces 200a and 200b with suction cups that do not exert an air suction action, or with suction bodies that have an air suction action. The posture changing means 87 enables the clamp portions 83, 85 arranged in the left and right directions to be able to approach and separate from the clamp portion 84 arranged in the center, and simultaneously moves all the clamp portions 83, 84, 85 in the same direction. The posture is to be rotated.

First, a description will be given of the clamp portion 84 disposed at the center. This clamp portion 84 is attached to the lower end portion of the central suspension shaft 94, and this central suspension shaft 94 is vertically , And is held in a state where only rotation is allowed without moving to either of the left and right (detailed structure related to holding is not shown). Further, a central standing interlocking rod 96 is connected to an upper end of the central suspension shaft 94 via an eccentric arm 95. This center standing interlocking rod 96
An upper cam follower 97 is attached to the upper end of the cam follower 97.

On the other hand, the clamp portions 83 on the left and right sides,
85 is attached to the lower end of the side suspension shaft 100, and the side suspension shaft 100 does not move up, down, front and back with respect to the upright base body 88, and is held in a state where rotation and left and right movement are allowed. Have been. Reference numeral 101 denotes a horizontal guide unit such as a linear guide for guiding the lateral movement. An eccentric arm 103 is provided at the upper end of one side suspension shaft 100 (the right side in FIG. 10).
The side upright interlocking rod 104 is connected via the arm. On the eccentric arm 103, a lower cam follower 105 rotatable around the side upright interlocking rod 104 is provided.

The other side suspension shaft 100 (left side in FIG. 10)
At the upper end of the arm, the side standing interlocking rod 1 is connected via an eccentric arm 107.
The lower cam follower 109 is provided on the eccentric arm 107 so as to be rotatable around the side standing link 108. An upper cam follower 11 is provided at the upper end of each of these side standing interlocking rods 104 and 108.
0,111 are attached.

The upper cam followers 97, 110, 111 attached to the standing interlocking rods 96, 104, 108, respectively.
Are elongated holes 115a, 115 into which these are individually fitted.
b and 115c, are aligned and held in a horizontal row by a connection frame 115 having b. In addition, the long hole 1 of this connection frame 115
15a, 115b, and 115c are short in the central arrangement and long in the left and right arrangement.

The connecting frame 115 is freely held for forward / backward movement (approach / separation from the upright base body 88) along a guide bar 118 extending horizontally toward the upright base body 88. Further, the spring 119 provided between the upright base 88 and the upright base 88 constantly pulls and urges the upright base 88. Accordingly, each of the upstanding interlocking rods 96, 1
04 and 108 are drawn toward the upright base body 88, but the upright base body 88 comes into contact with lower cam followers 105 and 109 that can rotate around the side upright interlocking bars 104 and 108 on both sides. Cam plate 122,1
23 are provided.

When the lower cam followers 105 and 109 try to approach each other along the left-right direction, they gradually approach the upright base body 88, and conversely, the lower cam followers 105 and 10.
9 have a symmetrical cam shape which causes them to gradually move away from the upright base body 88 when they attempt to move away from each other.

It is preferable that the positions of the cam plates 122 and 123 with respect to the upright base body 88 can be adjusted in the left and right directions. Such position adjustment is extremely useful in changing the mutual interval, the rotation timing, and the like when the clamp portions 83 and 85 described later are moved toward and away from each other. The side upright interlocking rod 10
4 and 108, the eccentric arm on either side (the left eccentric arm 107 in the drawing) is provided with
Is connected. In this embodiment, a fluid pressure cylinder is used as the left-right movement driving device 125, but a motor-driven belt driving device, a ball screw mechanism, or the like may be used.

The horizontal guide means 101 provided on the side suspension shafts 100 on both sides is fixed to one of the belt transmission means 127 (shown on the left side in the drawing) on the upper side of the belt transmission means 127 stretched in the horizontal direction. The other side (right side in the drawing) is fixed to the lower tension side. Therefore, when the left-right movement driver 125 is operated, the left-right movement is transmitted to one (left side in the drawing) side suspension shaft 100 via the eccentric arm 107, and the left-right movement is transmitted to the other side via the belt transmission means 127. It is transmitted to the side suspension shaft 100 (on the right side in the drawing), and the side suspension shaft 100 causes lateral movement in a direction opposite to the above.

The operation status of the article delivery means 44 having the above-described structure is as follows. That is, the delivery table 45 is moved by the article take-out means 43 (see FIG. 7).
After the article W has been loaded into the transfer base 45, the upright base body 88 is moved by the forward / backward movement of the forward / backward movement mechanism 49A (see the forward / backward moving body 49 in FIG. 8).
4,85 will be positioned.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 10, the left and right movement driving device 125 of the posture changing means 87 pushes the eccentric arm 107 outward in the left and right direction (to the left in FIG. 10). The eccentric arm 103 is pushed outward in the opposite direction to the left and right (rightward in FIG. 10). Accordingly, each of the clamp portions 83, 84, 85 is separated from each other at an interval corresponding to the mutual interval between the holes 46 in the transfer table 45, and the clamp operation direction is parallel to the front-back direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 7). Stopped at.

The vertical movement mechanism 48A (the lifting support 48 shown in FIG. 8)
7), the clamping operation of the article W by the clamps 83, 84, 85, and the ascending and descending by the up-down movement mechanism 48A, the reciprocation mechanism 49A starts to retreat to the right in FIG. However, during this retreat, the left-right movement driving tool 125 moves the eccentric arm 107 inward in the left-right direction (rightward in FIG. 10).
To pull in. Therefore, the belt transmission means 12
7, the other eccentric arm 103 is also inward in the left-right direction (FIG. 10).
Left).

At this time, the lower cam follower 109 on the eccentric arm 107 contacts the cam plate 122 while the spring 119
As a result, the side suspension shaft 100 is connected to the upright base body 88 via the connection frame 115, the upper cam follower 111, and the side upright interlocking rod 108. Rotates.

The same occurs on the other eccentric arm 103 side. As a result, the side suspension shaft 100 connected to the eccentric arm 103 also rotates. Further, as the connection frame 115 is pulled in the direction of the upright base body 88 as described above, the center suspension shaft 94 also rotates. For this reason, the left and right clamp portions 83 and 85 rotate so as to be close to each other and to take an oblique posture with the clamp portion 84 disposed at the center as the center. Therefore, these clamp parts 83, 84,
The article W held at 85 is rotated obliquely in the diagonal direction of the box X while being transferred from the delivery table 45 to the box X as shown in FIG. Is made.

Thereafter, the lowering by the up-down movement mechanism 48A, the releasing operation of the clamp portions 83, 84, 85, the up-down movement mechanism 4
The upward movement by 8A and the return operation by the posture changing means 87 (return rotation and mutual separation of the clamp portions 83, 84, 85) are performed in this order, and return to the original state. The above is the configuration and operation of the transfer device 4.

Next, the box cover closing device 5 will be described.
The box lid closing device 5 performs a lid closing operation at one station on the box X after the article W has been loaded therein as shown in FIG. 12, and removes the side flaps f1 and f2 in the box X. A pair of left and right horizontal rocking pieces 13 to be folded
0, 131, a pair of left and right back swinging pieces 132 for folding the lid flap f3 of the box X, and a front face for guiding the insertion flap f4 provided on the lid flap f3 into the box X when the lid flap f3 is folded. The swinging piece 133 and FIG.
As shown in the figure, a swing drive unit 1 for swinging these swing pieces.
37.

The box cover closing device 5 is provided at a position where the articles W are packed in the box conveyor 2 or at a position downstream thereof. The horizontal rocking pieces 130 and 131 are configured to rock right and left around a pivot 140 that faces in the front-rear direction above the side of the box X. Back swinging piece 132
Is configured to swing in the front-rear direction about the pivot 141 pointing in the left-right direction above the rear part of the box X.

The front swinging piece 133 is located above the front of the box X,
It is configured to swing back and forth around a pivot 142 that faces in the left-right direction. Each rocking piece jumps up to a position higher than the height of the box X so that the rocking piece does not collide with the box X conveyed on the box conveyor 2 in the standby state. Wait like that.

On the other hand, the swing drive section 137 includes cam disks 147, 148,
149, 150, each separate belt transmission means 152, 1
A predetermined operation required for each rocking piece is extracted through 53, 154, and 155. In FIG. 13, the pivots 14 of the rocking pieces are provided at the rotation centers of the one end wheels of the belt transmission means 152, 153, 154, and 155.
Although reference numerals 0, 141, and 142 are shown, other belt transmission means, a crank mechanism, a link mechanism, and the like may be provided.

The operation timing of each rocking piece is such that the horizontal rocking pieces 130 and 131 first rock in the mutually approaching direction, and the horizontal rocking pieces 130 and 131 return alternately. 132 and the front swinging piece 133 are adjusted so as to swing in the mutually approaching direction. The rotation shaft 145 repeats operation and stop every time a transfer completion signal is sent from the transfer device 4 with one rotation as one cycle by a stepping motor (not shown) or the like.

In the present embodiment, the back swinging pieces 132 are paired on the left and right sides, and these are separate cam discs 147, 14 respectively.
9. Therefore, their swing timings can be shifted. That is,
Thereby, a twist in the surface direction can be applied to the lid flap f3 and the insertion flap f4 during the folding, and by doing so, the insertion flap f
4 can be adjusted so that it can be easily and reliably inserted into the box X.

In this embodiment, the back swinging piece 132
Is a socket-shaped main body 132a and the main body 132a
And a tip shaft portion 132b which is held so as to be able to adjust in and out. Thereby, as the box X, it is possible to cope with those having different sizes of the lid flap f3 and the insertion flap f4. Rolling piece 130, 1
31, the back rocking piece 132 and the front rocking piece 133
It is preferable that the positioning such as the mutual interval between the two can be adjusted according to the external dimensions of the box X.

The configuration and operation of the box cover closing device 5 have been described above. The overall flow of the line including the aligning device 3, the transfer device 4, and the box cover closing device 5 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 7. That is, the articles W continuously conveyed by the article conveyor 1
Are the upstream gate section 10 and the downstream gate section 1 of the aligning device 3.
1 sequentially.

A predetermined number (three in this embodiment) of articles W on the most downstream side among the arranged articles are taken out by the article taking-out means 43 of the transfer device 4, and after being set up, they are delivered. It is held on the table 45. And the transfer device 4
The article delivery means 44 takes out the article W from the delivery table 45 alternately with the article take-out means 43, and places the article W on standby at a predetermined position of the box conveyor 2 (the lid flap f
3. The insertion flaps f4 are each kept horizontal).

The box X in which the article W is loaded as described above
All the flaps are folded in by the box lid closing device 5, and are conveyed downstream by the box conveyor 2.
By the way, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the conveyors (article conveyor 1 and box conveyor 2) may be configured such that the transport surface is configured by a large number of rotatable rollers or balls, or configured by a chute.

In this embodiment, the belt driving means and the belt transmission means are used frequently in various places. However, these can be replaced with a fluid pressure cylinder, a motor driven ball screw mechanism or the like. The outer shape of the article W and the number of articles W to be packed are not limited at all. In addition, according to the number of articles W to be packed in boxes, the partition members 37 in the alignment device 3
, The suction unit 50 of the transfer device 4,
Needless to say, the number of the holes 46 and the number of the clamps 83, 84, 85, etc. used increases or decreases.

The transfer device 4 is not limited in that the transferred articles W are packed in a box, and other operations (the posture and position of the articles W need to be accurately aligned in advance) The transfer of the article W may be performed for the purpose of performing a certain operation.

[0067]

According to the present invention, there is provided the above-mentioned structure, wherein after a plurality of articles on the conveyor are transferred to the delivery table by the article take-out means, the article delivery means is transferred from the delivery table to the article delivery means. The articles are taken out and transferred to a predetermined location such as a boxing operation position, and the article transfer means performs the transfer of each article and the transfer of each article according to the boxing operation during the transfer. The loading posture is changed. In this way, the first half of the transfer operation by the article take-out means and the second half of the transfer work by the article delivery means are shared, thereby simplifying the configuration of each means, thereby mechanizing this kind of work and This makes automation feasible. Therefore, work that is significantly more efficient than conventional manual work is possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a box packing line in which a box packing operation of articles can be automated in a portion where an article conveyor and a box conveyor are parallel to each other.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view taken on line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view taken on line DD of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line EE of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view showing a portion corresponding to the line FF in FIG. 1 in an enlarged manner.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an article removing means of the transfer device.

FIG. 9 is a time chart showing an operation procedure of the article removing means of the transfer device.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view schematically showing a main configuration of an article delivery means of the transfer device.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged plan view showing a state in which articles are transferred from a delivery table to a box by an article transfer means of the transfer apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view schematically showing a main part of the box cover closing device.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view schematically showing a swing drive unit in the box cover closing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Article conveyor 2 Box conveyor 3 Alignment device 4 Transfer device 5 Box lid closing device 10 Upstream gate part 11 Downstream gate part 43 Article removal means 44 Article delivery means 45 Delivery table W Article X box

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor ▲ Suki ▼ Kenji Moto, 8 Shiroyama-cho, Ayabe-shi, Kyoto Gunze Co., Ltd. Machinery Works (56) References JP-A-59-37111 (JP, A) JP-A-59-37111 Showa 57-114412 (JP, A) Actually open Showa 59-60104 (JP, U) Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-59965 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B65B 5 / 00-5/12 B65B 21/00-25/24 B65B 35/00-35/58 B65G 47/00-47/96

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A delivery table (45) installed on the side of a conveyor (1) on which articles (W) are transported in a horizontal state ;
An article take-out means (43) for taking out a plurality of articles (W) arranged in the conveying direction on the conveyor (1) to the delivery table (45), and a plurality of articles held by the delivery table (45) the (W) and a goods feeding pass means (44) for transfer to a predetermined place, the article removal means (43), articles of horizontal state (W)
The delivery table (45) is taken out to the delivery table (45) in the upright state, and the delivery table (45) holds the article (W) in the upright state.
Is configured to pass means (44) said article feed is an upright in the middle transfer
The transfer device for a conveyed article, characterized in that the mutual interval and each transfer posture of each article (W) are variably configured.