JP3495423B2 - Container holding device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a container gripping device in a lid fastening device for fastening a screw cap to a container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional device for gripping a container such as a bottle will be described with reference to FIGS. (For example, JP-A-1-
(See Japanese Patent No. 139394)

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a capper (lid clamper) to which the bottle gripping device is mounted, FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a pair of gripping bodies, and FIG. 10 is one gripping body ( FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a gripping arm) with a part thereof cut away. In this capper, a capper body 1 is rotatably provided on a base 2.

Around the upper member of the capper body 1, a plurality of air chucks 3 for gripping the cap for fitting (capping) the cap on the bottle A are provided with the gripping heads facing downward. As shown in FIG. 8, a gripping body 4 composed of a pair of gripping arms is provided at the lower positions corresponding to these gripping heads. In FIG. 8, two air chucks 3 are partially omitted. Also, two pairs of grippers 4 are shown.

A pair of gripping bodies 4 (gripping arms 4a, 4b)
Are symmetrically configured with respect to each other as shown in FIG.

Each of the pair of gripping arms 4a, 4b has an arm body 41 and a pair of movable pieces 49, 49 '. The arm body 41 has a base portion 42 provided on the capper body 1. It is integrally fixed to the dynamic drive shaft 5, and is configured to be rotated by the rotary drive of the rotary drive shaft 5.

An external drive robot 6 which is a drive source for the pair of rotating pieces 49, 49 'is provided at a position adjacent to the base 2, and the external drive robot 6 has a bendable arm. 7, a stepping driver 8 driven based on setting data (rotation direction, rotation angle) is attached to the tip of the arm 7.

In addition, in FIG. 8, 9 is a cap feeder for sequentially supplying the cap to the gripping head portion of the air chuck 3, and 10 is a feed screw for successively supplying the bottle A, respectively.

Next, the gripping arm 4a will be described in detail. Since the pair of gripping arms 4a and 4b are configured symmetrically, one gripping arm 4a will be mainly described below.

A mounting hole 44 having a notch 43 is formed in the base portion 42 of the arm body 41, and the arm body 41 is fixed to the rotary drive shaft 5 through the mounting hole 44. , The fixing bottle 45 is tightened to be integrally fixed to the rotation drive shaft 5. In addition, reference numeral 11 in FIG. 9 denotes a reinforcing plate which is provided between the two rotary drive shafts 5 and 5 '.

Further, a groove portion 47 is formed in the tip end portion 46 of the arm body 41, and the groove portion 47 has a pair of movable pieces 49, 49 each having a gripping surface 48, 48 'having an inner curved surface. 'Is pivotably mounted on the support shafts 50, 50' with the gripping surfaces 48, 48 'facing each other.

The gripping surfaces 48, 48 'of the pair of movable pieces 49, 49' form the variable gripping recess 51.

The base ends of the pair of movable pieces 49, 49 'are connected by teeth 52, 52' meshing with each other. By rotating one movable piece 49 ', the other movable piece 49 is moved in the opposite direction. It is designed to rotate and the movable piece 4
The shape of the variable grip concave portion 51 can be changed by turning 9 and 49 'in opposite directions.

In the movable piece 49 ', a gap between the distal end portions of the pair of movable pieces 49, 49' is opened by a spring 53 installed between the distal end portion of the movable piece 49 'and the base portion 42 of the arm body 41. The movable piece 49 'is urged in the direction, and the surface of the movable piece 49' opposite to the grip surface 48 'is brought into contact with one end of a spindle 54 provided on the arm body 41.

The spindle 54 is slidably inserted into a through hole 55 formed in the arm body 41, and a pin 56 is projected at both ends of the other end of the spindle 54. It is fixed through, and the pin 56 is inserted into the through hole 5
5 are slidably engaged with grooves 57 formed on both the left and right sides of the spindle 5 to prevent the spindle 54 from rotating.

A male screw 58 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the spindle 54. The male screw 58 is a gear rotatably housed in a housing 59 formed in the arm body 41 as shown in FIG. It is meshed with a female screw 61 formed at the center of rotation of 60. The spindle 54 can be moved toward and away from the movable piece 49 by the rotation of the gear 60, and the elastic return force of the spring 53 or the opening and closing can be opened and closed between the tips of the movable pieces 49 and 49 '.

The gear 60 is meshed with a gear 62, and the gear 62 is fixed to one end of an input shaft 64 rotatably mounted on a bearing 63 formed on the upper surface of the arm body 41. Further, a groove-shaped engaging portion 65 is formed at the other end of the input shaft 64, and the engaging portion 65 is detachably engaged with a tip portion of a stepping driver 8 provided in the external drive robot 6. It is designed to be combined.

The spindle 54, gear 60,
62 and the input shaft 64, a pair of movable pieces 49, 4
A drive transmission mechanism 66 for symmetrically turning 9'is configured, and the drive transmission mechanism 66 causes the pair of movable pieces 4 to move.
The shapes of the variable grip concave portion 51 (opening) can be changed according to the shape of the bottle by turning 9 and 49 'symmetrically.

Next, the operation of this gripping device will be described. To grip the bottles A and A ′, first, the variable grip recesses 51 and 51 of the pair of grip arms 4 a and 4 b are adjusted so as to match the side shapes of the bottles A and A ′ gripped by them. It

The capper body 1 is rotated and the gripping arm 4 is moved.
When a is moved to the designated position, the arm 7 of the external drive robot 6 is advanced, the tip of the stepping driver 8 is docked to the engaging portion 65 of the input shaft 64, and the input shaft 64 and thus the gear 62 and the gear 60 are located. Quantitative rotation, spindle 54
A predetermined distance is slid along the through hole 55 toward the movable piece 49 '.

By sliding the spindle 54 in the direction of the movable piece 49 ', the movable piece 49' is swung by a predetermined angle in the closing direction against the elastic restoring force of the spring 53. At the same time, the movable piece 49 is also swung by a predetermined angle in the closing direction via the teeth 52 ', 52.

In this way, the two movable pieces 49, 49 are each swung by a predetermined angle in the closing direction, and as a result, the variable grip concave portion 51 is adjusted so as to follow the side shape of the bottle A '.

When the variable grip concave portion 51 is adjusted as described above, the motor for the stepping driver 8 is stopped, and the docking of the tip of the stepping driver 8 and the engaging portion 65 of the input shaft 64 is released. Then, the operation of the external drive robot 6 is released, and the adjustment of the movable grip concave portion 51 of the one grip arm 4a is completed.

After the adjustment of the variable gripping recess 51 of one gripping arm 4a is completed as described above, the above steps are repeated to change the variable gripping recess 5 of the other gripping arm 4b.
Adjust 1 in the same way

Then, after the adjustment of the variable grip concave portions 51 of the pair of gripping arms 4a and 4b is completed as described above, the rotary drive shafts 5 and 5 are rotated in the opposite directions, respectively. The gripping arms 4a, 4b of FIG. 9 are rotated from the positions shown by the chain double-dashed lines in FIG. 9 to the positions shown by the solid lines in FIG.
By grasping the bottle A ′ (two-dot chain line) by (two-dot chain line), the grasping operation of the bottle A ′ is completed.

FIG. 11 shows another example of the prior art, showing a gripping body 67 for a bottle having a circular cross section, which corresponds to the gripping body 4 of the above-mentioned conventional example.

The arm main body 68 is fixed to the rotary drive shaft 5, a grip piece 69 is attached to the tip end by a screw 70, a soft rubber 71 is fixed to the concave portion of the grip piece 69, and the inner diameter is the outer shape of the bottle. And is adapted to conform to the side surface of the bottle when the two arm bodies 71 are closed. When the outer diameter of the bottle is different, the gripping piece 69 that fits the bottle is replaced.

[0028]

By the way, when the lid of the container is a screw lid, the container having a male screw is gripped and fixed by a gripping device, and a screw lid having a female screw is attached to the container. While tightening with the air chuck of the tightening head, it is rotated and wound (screwed), but the tightening torque (tightening moment) at this time becomes considerably large, and if the cross section of the container barrel is circular or polygonal close to circle, It is easy and it is necessary to apply sufficient pressing force to the grip surface.

On the other hand, when it is hard like a glass container, there is no particular problem, but when it is thin and easily deformed (is easily crushed) like a synthetic resin container such as a PET bottle, this pressing force causes the bottle to be deformed. There is a problem that the liquid is deformed and the necessary resistance torque cannot be obtained, the screw cap is not tightened sufficiently, or the internal volume of the bottle is changed due to the deformation and the filling liquid is spilled.

Further, in the delivery by the arm, when the bottle is delivered, the positioning is prioritized, and if the clamping force of the arm is increased, an excessive force is applied to the bottle, and if the clamping force of the arm is weakened, the bottle vibrates violently.

When handling a larger bottle, if the distance between the tips of the two gripping arms is made large, the bottle is likely to be deformed, and if it is made small, it is necessary to open the arm largely to receive the bottle in a fixed position. Arranging a plurality of grippers increases the size in the opening direction, which causes a problem that the device becomes large.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new container gripping device which solves these problems.

[0033]

[Means for Solving the Problems] As a structure for achieving the above object, a container gripping device of the present invention is provided with a plurality of lid fastening heads arranged around a rotating shaft so as to be integrated with the lid fastening head. In a capper that fits or winds a lid on a bottle held right below the lid-closing head on a rotating container table, a plurality of semicircular concave grips fixed to the upper side of the container table and fixed on the upper side of the container table. A star wheel having a surface, a sprocket fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the container base and having a pitch circle larger than the container base, and a part of the outer periphery of the star wheel wound horizontally around two guide rollers. A roller chain that runs along with it, a gripping body that is rotatably supported by a pin of the roller chain, and has a semicircular concave gripping surface and a roller that faces the outside of the roller chain, and a roller of the gripping body. Engage A roller chain, which comprises a grooved cam and is stretched between the two guide rollers, is engaged with a sprocket fixed to the container base, and the roller is engaged with the grooved cam so that the gripping body The semicircular concave gripping surface and the semicircular concave gripping surface provided on the outer circumference of the star wheel are concentric when they approach each other and form a circle slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the container to be gripped. It was done.

It is also effective to detachably attach a soft elastic body to each container contact surface of the gripping surface of the star wheel and the gripping surface of the gripping body that runs in opposition thereto.

[0035]

According to the container gripping device of the present invention thus constructed, the container is sent from the upstream to the capper by the transfer device, and the container sent to the capper has a half circumference of its side surface on the outer peripheral surface of the star wheel. It is fitted in a semi-circular recess provided on the other side, guided on the opposite side by a guide, and after traveling for a while, it is sandwiched by a gripping body having the other gripping surface that approaches from the outside in synchronization with the container and the lid tightening step. Enter the area,
Engage a part of the running path of the roller chain with a sprocket fixed to the star wheel, run along a part of the outer circumference of the star wheel, and after the lid is tightened here, the gripping body separates Then, the grip is released, it is transferred to the exit star wheel and sent to the downstream process.

In the lid tightening process area, the distance between the star wheel and the gripping surface of the gripper rotatably mounted on the pin of the annular roller chain is narrowed by the roller of the roller chain and the chain guide, and the roller and cam of the gripper. In addition, a pressing force is generated by the tightening margin of the soft rubber detachably attached to the grip surface, and a sufficient resistance torque can be obtained for winding and tightening the screw lid.

The magnitude of the torque is adjusted by changing the tightening margin by increasing or decreasing the thickness of the shim fitted on the grip body.

It should be noted that the grip body should always be oriented toward the center of rotation of the star wheel during the lid tightening process, and the center of the star wheel should be positioned so that the tip of the grip body does not interfere with the container before and after the lid tightening process area. The direction (posture) of the gripping body is controlled by the groove cam and the roller so that the gripping body faces in the close direction.

[0039]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 7 are configuration diagrams when the present invention is applied to a bottle gripping device as an example of a container.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a capper to which the bottle gripping device of the present invention is mounted, and 74 is a transfer star wheel arranged between an upstream device such as a filling device (filler), 75 is an exit star wheel disposed on the downstream side, and 76 is a capper.

The bottle A is sandwiched by a semicircular recess provided on the outer peripheral portion of the transfer star wheel 74 and a guide, and is indicated by an arrow L.
Direction, is delivered to the capper 76, advances in the direction of the arrow M while the lid is being tightened as described later, and is then carried out by the exit star wheel 75 in the direction of the arrow N.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1 (a region for the lid fastening process), FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 1 (a guide roller portion of the roller chain), and FIG. 4 is taken along the line D-D of FIG. Sectional view (tensioner portion of roller chain), FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line EE of FIG. 1 (straight running portion of roller chain), and FIG. 6 is line FF of FIG.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view and FIG. 7 is a detailed view of a G portion in FIG.

In these drawings, 77 is a capper 76.
The rotary shaft 78 of the bottle base 78 (see FIG. 2) is fixed to the rotary shaft 77 to rotate the bottle A on which the bottle A is placed.
Multi-row (two rows in the figure) sprockets fixed to the outer peripheral portion of 8, a star wheel 80 fixed to the bottle base 78 and having a semicircular recess in the outer peripheral portion, 81 a star wheel 8
0, and a soft rubber attachment that is attached to a recess of a gripping piece 92 described later with an attachment screw (not shown).

The star wheel 80 can be replaced according to the outer diameter of the bottle A, and the rubber attachment 81 has a semicircular shape (see FIG. 7) having an inner diameter slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the bottle A. It forms a gripping surface.

Further, 82 is a multi-row (two rows in the figure) annular (roller) chain having a lip 82a, 83 is a gripping body for gripping the bottle A together with the star wheel 80, 8
4 is a two-row chain guide, 85 (see FIG. 5) is a chain guide for the straight running portion of the chain 82, and 86 is the grip body 8.
Push cam that pushes 3 toward the center of the star wheel 80, 8
Reference numeral 7 is a groove cam that regulates the direction of the grip body 83, 88 is a multi-row (two rows in the figure) guide roller (two) that changes the traveling direction of the chain 82, and 89 is a multi-row tensioner that applies tension to the chain 82. It is a sprocket (two rows in the figure).
(Refer to FIG. 4, since the tensioner has a known structure, its explanation is omitted.)

The grip body 83 is a rest 90 rotatably supported by a pin 82b of a chain 82 (see FIGS. 2 and 7).
And it is screwed to this rest 90 via a shim 91,
And a gripping piece 92 having a semi-circular recess, and a detachable soft rubber attachment 81 is fixed to the recess of the gripping piece 92 in the same manner as the recess of the star wheel 80 to form a gripping surface. The rest 90 has a roller (cam follower) 93 coaxially with the chain pin 82b and a roller (cam follower) 94 at a position distant from the roller 93. The roller 93 is provided with the push cam 86 and the roller. 94 are engaged with the groove cams 87, respectively. Reference numeral 95 (see FIG. 2) is a bottle for preventing the gripping piece 92 from bending in the vertical direction.

The chain 82 has a lip 82a supported on the upper surface of a chain guide 84, and is horizontally wound in a substantially triangular shape between two direction changing rollers 88 and a tensioner sprocket 89. Between 88, it engages with the sprocket 79 fixedly mounted on the bottle base 75, is driven by this, and travels in synchronization with the bottle A.

Next, the operation of the gripping device having the above structure will be described. Bottle A is Transfer Star Wheel 74
It is carried by and is delivered to the capper 76.

In the capper 76, the semicircle of the side surface of the bottle A is fitted into the recess of the star wheel 80, and the opposite side is guided by the guide to proceed to the lid tightening process area.

When entering the lid tightening process area, the gripping body 83 which runs in synchronization with the bottle A from the outside of the star wheel 80.
Approaches and holds it so as to hold the semicircle on the opposite side of the bottle A.

The distance between the star wheel 80 and the gripping body 83 is two rubber attachments 81 fixed to the two.
Are adjusted so as to form a circle having an inner diameter slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the bottle A so as to be concentric and have a tightening margin, and this tightening margin causes a pressing force to the bottle A. The pressing force is adjusted by changing the tightening margin by the shim 91.

The reaction force of the pressing force to the chain side is received by the chain guide 84 on the lower side via the roller of the chain 82 and on the upper side by the push cam 86 via the roller 93.

Since the distance between the star wheel 74 and the two semicircular recesses of the grip body 83 facing each other is narrow,
Most of the outer circumference of the bottle can be restrained and gripped,
Even with a thin PET bottle, a strong pressing force can be applied without buckling deformation.

While maintaining this state, the bottle A advances circumferentially within the lid tightening process area, during which the lid tightening head of the capper 76 (corresponding to the air chuck 3 of the above-mentioned conventional example) descends and the screw lid is closed. Tighten.

When it comes out of the lid tightening process area, the gripping body 83 is released, the pressing force is released, and it is delivered to the exit star wheel 75 and sent to the next process.

In the vicinity of the inlet to the region for closing the lid and the vicinity of the outlet from the region, the tip of the gripping body 83 moves in a direction from the lateral direction of the bottle A to the bottle A in sequence as it advances. Since this reverse movement is performed, the tip of the grip body 83 interferes with the bottle A.

In order to avoid this, the groove cam 87 and the roller 9
4, the tip side of the grip body 83 is rotated so as to move forward on the inlet side (see the grip body at the position J in FIG. 1) before entering, and the tip side of the grip body 83 is rotated so as to be delayed on the outlet side. (See the gripping body at the K position in FIG. 1).

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been briefly described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various design changes can be made within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. It belongs to the technical scope of the invention.

[0059]

According to the container gripping device of the present invention, since the gripping device grips the range close to the entire circumference of the side surface of the container where the lid of the container is a screw lid, it is deformed by a synthetic resin container, for example, soft. Even an easy PFT bottle can be gripped without deforming so as to obtain a sufficient resistance torque necessary for winding and tightening the screw lid.

Further, the internal volume of the bottle changes due to the deformation, and the problem that the filling liquid spills does not occur.

Furthermore, extra force is applied to the bottle,
There will be no problems such as severe shaking of the bottle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a capper equipped with a bottle gripping device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.

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

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG.

5 is a sectional view taken along line EE of FIG.

6 is a view on arrow F of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a detailed view of a G portion in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a capper equipped with a conventional container gripping device.

9 is a plan view of a grip body in the grip device of FIG. 8. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of another gripping body in the conventional gripping device.

[Explanation of symbols]

A bottle 74 Transfer Star Wheel 75 exit star wheel 76 capper 77 rotation axis 78 Bottle stand 79 sprockets 80 star wheel 81 rubber attachment 82 Roller chain 82b pin 83 gripping body 84 Chain guide 86 push cam 87 groove cam 88 Guide roller 89 tension sprocket 91 Sim 92 gripping piece 93, 94 roller

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B67C 3/00-9/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A lid is attached to a bottle held immediately below the lid-closing head on a container table that rotates integrally with the lid-closing head by a plurality of lid-closing heads arranged around a rotating shaft. In a capper for fitting or winding, a star wheel fixed on the upper side of the container base and having a plurality of semicircular concave gripping surfaces on the outer circumference, and fixed on the outer peripheral part of the container base, A sprocket having a larger pitch circle, a roller chain that is horizontally wound around two guide rollers and runs along a part of the outer circumference of the star wheel, and is rotatably supported by a pin of the roller chain. A roller chain which is composed of a grip body having a semicircular concave grip surface facing the outside of the roller chain and a roller, and a groove cam engaging with the roller of the grip body, and stretched between the two guide rollers. The above By engaging with a sprocket fixed to a table and engaging the roller with the groove cam, a semicircular concave grip surface of the grip body and a semicircular concave shape provided on the outer circumference of the star wheel are formed. A container gripping device, characterized in that when the gripping surfaces approach each other, they are concentric and form a circle slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the container to be gripped. 2. A soft elastic body is detachably attached to each container contact surface of the gripping surface of the star wheel and the gripping surface of the gripping body that runs in opposition thereto. The container gripping device described.