JP3341059B2 - Automatic tray cup feeding device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic tray cup feeding device used in the fields of food and other manufacturing and packaging.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional tray cup automatic supply device, a tray cup stacked vertically is supported from below by a fixed claw, and a suction cup is sucked to the bottom of the lowermost tray cup to face the claw. The method of peeling off one by one is widely practiced. In addition, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 2-339 which improved the above sucker method.
No. 23 and Japanese Utility Model Application No. 2-14765, take out one tray cup at a time by inserting two claws into the gap between the bottom and the collar of the tray cup above it and lowering one of the claws. ing.

[0003]

However, in the suction method using a suction cup, the tray cups stacked vertically are supported by the claw, so that the claw deflects due to its weight and falls off. There was a problem of taking out mistakes due to losing resistance. Further, in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 2-33923 and Japanese Utility Model Application No. 2-14765, since the air cylinder is used for the driving mechanism of the claw, the outside air containing various bacteria is exhausted to the room or around the tray cup. There was a hygienic problem in implementing in the manufacturing and packaging fields that handle food and the like. In addition, there is a problem that the equipment cost is high because an air compressor must be provided for supplying air to the air cylinder and the air piping work must be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has a hygienic and low-cost facility that can be used in food production and packaging sites by mechanically moving claws. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic tray cup supply device.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an automatic tray cup supplying apparatus according to the present invention comprises a gap between the bottom of a vertically stacked tray cup and a second collar on the tray cup. In the automatic tray cup feeding device for inserting the claws and then lowering the lower claws to take out the lowermost tray cups one by one, the two slide guide shafts arranged in parallel are moved in opposite directions. Two L-shaped moving support members were arranged, and one end of the upper reinforcing plate material to which the upper claw was attached was fixed, and the other lower claw was attached, of the two reinforcing plate materials stacked on the respective upper ends. One end of the slide shaft is vertically attached to one end of the lower reinforcing plate material, and is passed through a protruding L-shaped portion at the lower portion of the moving support member, and a stopper plate is attached to the other end. And
A compression spring is inserted between the lower reinforcing plate and the moving support member to bring the upper and lower reinforcing plates into close contact, and a lower pawl elevating plate is disposed between the L-shaped moving supporting member and the stop plate through a slide shaft. Along with this, the lower pawl elevating plate and the output shaft of the motor are connected by a crank to raise and lower the lower pawl elevating plate, and when the lower pawl lowering plate moves up and down, the hit stop plate is pushed down or returned. A mechanism for raising and lowering a lower claw attached to a lower reinforcing plate member via a slide shaft, and, on the other hand, two racks are arranged in parallel with a slide guide shaft of the moving support member, and a left end of one rack is located on a left side. The right end of the other rack is fixed to the moving support member on the right side, the pinion is disposed between the two racks, and the pinion is connected to the pulse motor to rotate forward and backward. Yo And a mechanism for moving the upper pawl and the lower pawl in the lateral right and left moving support member of or close and away on the left and right.

Further, it is preferable to use a thin plate for the shape of the above-mentioned claw in order to securely insert it into the narrow gap of the collar of the tray cup.

The stop of the damper must be at a level at which two sets of claws can be inserted into the gap of the collar of the tray cup with the tray cup resting on the damper. However, the height varies depending on the type of tray cup, so that the height can be adjusted by raising and lowering the damper with a handle or other means in order to be able to accommodate any of them. According to this method, the height of the tall tray cup is adjusted to the height of the tallest tray cup, and the height of the lower tray cup is adjusted by attaching a spacer for height adjustment.

Further, as in the conventional case, if the tray cups are stacked only on the damper, the number of the tray cups is limited to about 50 to 70 at the maximum, and such a number of sheets can be finished in a few minutes. The work efficiency is extremely poor due to the setting of. In order to solve this problem, a tray cup automatic supply stocker provided with a plurality of stockers is provided so that each time the tray cup runs out, the tray cup on the next stocker can be automatically supplied. It is preferable to configure so that continuous operation can be performed for a long time.

[0009]

The operation will be described. First, when a switch corresponding to the type of the tray cup to be used is turned on, the pulse motor is operated and the two sets of claws are moved to the initial positions. Stack the tray cups up and down on the damper. When the operation start switch is turned on, the two sets of claws come close to each other and are inserted into the gap between the first tray cup from below and the collar of the second tray cup thereabove and stop. Subsequently, in conjunction with the lower claw being lowered, the damper is also lowered.

[0010] At this time, the second tray cup is supported by the upper claws, while the first tray cup is pulled down by the lower claws. Next, the damper also returns to the original position in conjunction with the return of the lower nail to the original position overlapping the upper nail. Subsequently, the claws separate from each other. Then, the tray cup comes off the upper claws that had previously supported the collar and rides on the damper. Again, the claws are brought close together and inserted into the gap between the collars of the tray cup. By automatically repeating the above series of operations, the tray cups stacked vertically can be automatically taken out one by one from below.

If the height of the tray cup is changed by changing the type of the tray cup, the damper is moved up and down by appropriate means so as to match the level at which the claw can be inserted into the gap between the collars of the tray cup. Alternatively, the level may be fixed to the height of the tallest tray cup, and in the case of a lower tray cup, a simple means for adjusting the level by attaching a height adjusting spacer may be used.

A stocker for automatically supplying a tray cup is provided, and when the tray cup runs out of the damper, the tray cup is automatically supplied.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, an upper claw 1 and a lower claw 2 which are made of a long thin plate are vertically stacked. A set of claws 3 is provided, and two sets of the claws 3 are arranged symmetrically at a required interval.

The upper claws 1 are integrally fixed with the reinforcing plate members 4, respectively, and two rear ends thereof are provided on the left and right.
The upper end of the V-shaped moving support member 5 is fixed. Depending on the type of the tray cup 6, one having a shape as shown in FIG. 8 cannot be inserted into the gap a of the collar at both sides and can be inserted only into the gap a at the four corners. As shown, in order to correspond to both, the shapes of the front and rear portions of the two sets of claws 3 are changed to the tray cup 6.
Are formed in a round shape along the shape of the four corners. Furthermore, since the length of the tray cup 6 varies, a slide claw 8 in which the rounded portions of the front end portions 7 of the upper claw 1 and the lower claw 2 are independent is fixed to a movable portion 9, and this movable portion 8 is moved back and forth. The fixed knob 10 is attached so as to be movable and attached to the reinforcing plate 4 of the upper claw 1.

Further, the upper end 7 of the slide shaft 12 is fixed to the rear end 11 of the lower claw 2, and a compression spring 14 is attached to the slide shaft 12. A bearing 16 is attached to a location 15, and the slide shaft 12 is inserted into the bearing 16 so that the bearing can slide up and down. Accordingly, the lower pawl 2 overlaps the upper pawl 1 by the spring pressure of the compression spring 14. Further, a stopper plate 18 is attached to the lower end of the slide shaft 12, and a rectangular lower pawl elevating plate 17 having a long hole 23 through which the slide shaft 12 passes is disposed between the stopper plate 18 and the moving support member 5. Lower claw lifting plate 1
7 lowers the hitting plate 18 when it lowers, and further lowers the hitting plate 18 to lower the lower pawl 2 together with the slide shaft 12 while compressing the compression spring 14,
Pull down the first tray cup 6. Conversely, when the lower pawl elevating plate 17 is raised, the lower pawl 2 is configured to be raised together with the slide shaft 12 with the help of the restoring action of the compression spring 14. That is, as the slide shaft 12 moves up and down, the lower claw 2 fixed to the upper end moves up and down integrally. Preferably, two slide shafts 12 are attached to the reinforcing plate 4 so that the lower claws 2 do not rotate around the slide shaft 12. The lower pawl elevating plate 17 is supported by two guide shafts 34 and is configured to slide up and down on a slide bearing 35.

The moving support member 5 is supported by two parallel slide guide shafts 19 so as to be movable in the left-right direction.
The two racks 22 are arranged on both sides of the pinion 21 pivotally supported at 0 in parallel with the slide guide shaft 19, one of the racks 22 is fixed to the left moving support member 5, and the other
2 is fixed to the right moving support member 5, and when the pinion 21 rotates forward and backward, the two racks 22 linearly move in opposite directions, and in conjunction with this, the moving support members 5 move relative to each other in the left and right direction. It is configured to move away or approach. At this time, the upper pawl 1 and the lower pawl 2 also move integrally with the movable support member 5, and the slide shaft 12 of the lower pawl 1 also moves integrally in the left-right direction. The slide shaft 12 can freely move in the left-right direction along the long hole 23.

Further, a damper 24 made of a rectangular plate for supporting the tray cup 6 below between the two sets of claws 1 is provided.
Attach. The damper 24 is integrally linked with the lower pawl elevating plate 17 via a crankshaft 25. When the lower pawl elevating plate 17 moves up and down, the leading end moves up and down in an arc in conjunction with the elevating and lowering. The withdrawn tray cup is discharged along the slope. The mounting position of the damper 24 is set at a level to be inserted into the gap a between the first sheet from the bottom of the tray cups 6 stacked thereon and the second sheet above the tray cup 6. However, the height of the tray cup 6 varies depending on the type, so that the height can be adjusted by raising and lowering the damper by appropriate means so as to be able to cope with any of them. In this embodiment, as a simple means, the level of the damper 24 is set to the height of the tallest tray cup 6, and a spacer 26 is attached to the tray cup 6 lower than that, so that the claws 1 and 2 Match it to the gap of the cup collar.

The lower pawl elevating plate 17 is connected to the crankshaft 2.
7 is attached to an eccentric shaft 29 of a motor 28 through a shaft 7, and when the shaft 30 of the motor 28 makes one rotation, the crankshaft 2
The lower pawl elevating plate 17 is supported by a slide shaft 34 via the slide 7, and is configured to slide up and down by sliding a slide bearing 35.

Further, if the tray cups 6 are merely stacked only on the damper 24 as in the prior art, at most 50 to
The limit is about 70 sheets. With such a number of sheets, it takes several minutes to complete, and the work efficiency is extremely poor due to the setting of the tray cup 6. As an example for solving this, FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, an automatic supply device 32 for the tray cup 6 having a plurality of stockers 31 mounted on the circumference is provided above the two sets of claws 3, and a sensor is provided when the tray cup 6 runs out on the damper 24. Upon detection, the next stocker 31 is automatically rotated and moved so that the tray cup 6 set in advance can be automatically supplied.

FIG. 7 shows the appearance of a tray cup made of foamed styrene, and FIG. 8 shows the appearance of a tray cup made of plastics. The shapes of tray cups currently on the market are generally summarized in these two points.

[0021]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

The present invention is sanitary because the tray cup is taken out by mechanically moving the claws without using an air cylinder for exhausting outside air containing various germs as in the prior art. It can be used safely in the manufacturing and packaging fields that handle food and the like.

Further, since it is not necessary to provide an air compressor for supplying air or to provide an air pipe, the equipment cost is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a main part of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a detailed plan view of a nail.

FIG. 4 is a side view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view showing an automatic tray cup supply device.

FIG. 6 is a front view of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a tray cup made of expanded polystyrene.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a tray cup made of plastics.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper nail 2 Lower nail 3 Two sets of nails 6 Tray cup 24 Damper a Clearance of collar

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 59/06 B65G 59/10

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vertically stacked nail is disposed on the left and right sides, and is inserted into a gap between the bottom of a vertically stacked tray cup and a second collar on the tray cup, and then the lower nail is lowered. In an automatic tray cup feeding apparatus for taking out the bottom tray cups one by one, two L-shaped moving support members which are supported by two slide guide shafts arranged in parallel and move thereon are arranged. One end of the upper reinforcing plate having the upper claws attached thereto is fixed to one end of the lower reinforcing plate having the lower claws attached thereto, and one end of the slide shaft is fixed to the upper reinforcing plate having the two laminated plates at the upper end thereof. Is vertically attached, penetrates this through the protruding L-shaped portion at the lower part of the moving support member, attaches a stop plate to the other end, and a compression spring is provided between the lower reinforcing plate member and the moving support member. Insert and adhere upper and lower reinforcing plate Further, a lower pawl elevating plate through which a slide shaft penetrates is arranged between the moving support member and the stop plate, and the lower pawl elevating plate is connected to the output shaft of the motor by a crank to connect the lower pawl elevating plate. Configured to go up and down,
When the lower pawl descending plate moves up and down, the hitting plate is pushed down or returned, and a mechanism for raising and lowering the lower pawl attached to the lower reinforcing plate material via a slide shaft, and on the other hand, a slide guide shaft of the movable support member Two racks are arranged in parallel, the left end of one rack is fixed to the left moving support member, the right end of the other rack is fixed to the right moving support member, and between the two racks A mechanism for disposing a pinion, connecting the pinion to a pulse motor, and rotating the pinion forward and backward to move the upper and lower claws to the left and right by moving the left and right moving support members to the left and right. An automatic tray cup feeding device.