JP4279877B2 - Supply mechanism for packaging equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for sequentially manipulating from a supply point of a hopper collapsed cartons having oppositely disposed face contacting panels and for transferring the cartons to an in feed end of a packaging machine. The apparatus comprises carton pick up means (12) for sequentially engaging one of the face contacting panels and for withdrawing from the hopper a collapsed carton. The carton pick up means (12) is supported by a frame (19) that is slidably connected to a collar structure (22) through rods (24) to move the blank in a first direction (X) transverse to the flow of cartons. The collar structure (22) is swingable about the shafts (26, 28) to move the blank in a second direction transverse to the first direction relative to a rotatable transfer mechanism, to transfer the blank for further processing.

Description

  The present invention relates to the packaging of primary items such as cans or bottles in cartons, and more particularly, the cartons are fed from a hopper in a folded state and are fed into the infeed end of the packaging device. Related to transport to.

  British Patent No. 2 053 133 to Bosch relates to an apparatus for removing a foldable box blank from a fixed magazine, assembling and transferring the blank. This comprises a transfer suction member mounted on a rotating carrier attached to a four-point link and controlled by a cam. During rotation, the suction member remains stationary to facilitate the removal of the blank. During the transfer of the assembled blank to the transfer mechanism, the suction member is moved synchronously with this transfer mechanism.

  U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,575 to Le Bras relates to a cam assembly for a feeder mechanism in which a cam plate is formed for a continuous cam path and a shallower cam path. A cam path follower arm is used for relative movement in the first and second cam paths. The pick-up means is connected to the cam arm by an eccentric arm and a cam path for the pick-up means to move to an outwardly projecting position and an inwardly retracted position.

  German Patent No. 3 525 448 to I. M. A relates to an apparatus for supplying and assembling a folded carton from a hopper installed obliquely to a vertical line. This device comprises a rotatable frame to which a vacuum cup is attached via a link. As the frame rotates, the suction cup removes the folded carton from the hopper and subsequently retracts to simultaneously transport the folded carton while separating the carton walls. The links that allow this retraction are complex and therefore expensive to manufacture and maintain.

  Patent Document 4 discloses a rotary supply mechanism for supplying a blank from an inclined hopper.

The prior art emphasized above refers to a carton pick-up means that rotates continuously to pull out the carton and accelerate it to match the processing speed of the apparatus. One problem associated with carton transport is that the carton drawn by the rotating feeder is limited by the rotational motion, so the combination of the pull-out function and the acceleration function limits the speed of the device.
British Patent No. 2 053 133 U.S. Pat.No. 4,625,575 German Patent No. 3 525 448 International Publication No. 98/52825 Pamphlet

  The present invention and its preferred embodiments aim to overcome or at least reduce the problems associated with the prior art.

  One aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for sequentially operating a folded carton having face-to-face contact panels disposed from a feed point of a hopper and transferring the carton to a feeding end of a packaging device. The apparatus comprises carton pick-up means for sequentially engaging one of the surface contact panels and pulling the folded carton out of the hopper. The carton pick-up means is connected to the shaft by a frame and is movable to move the blank in a plane intersecting the carton flow. The frame is used for subsequent processing. In order to transfer the carton, the frame is slidably attached to the frame structure so as to move the frame in a linear motion relative to a rotatable transfer mechanism.

  The carton may be transferred to acceleration means and accelerated to match the speed of the packaging device.

  In one embodiment, the linear motion of the carton pick-up means is inhibited for a short time by the operation of the cam-controlled cam bar just before and during the withdrawal of the carton from the hopper, and the cam bar is movable radially during this short time. The cam bar is coupled to the carton pick-up means.

  In another embodiment, the carton pick-up means comprises a vacuum source and a suction cup.

  It is also possible to provide a controller to control the speed of the crossing and linear motion and (if necessary) the acceleration means.

  A second aspect of the present invention provides a method for sequentially manipulating a folded carton having face contact panels disposed oppositely from a hopper feed point and transferring the carton to the infeed end of a packaging device. However, the method matches the speed of the transfer device at the infeed portion of the packaging device, withdrawing the carton in a direction intersecting the carton flow, lowering the carton to the acceleration means, and And accelerating.

  Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a supply mechanism 10 for an apparatus for processing a carton blank is shown. A hopper H is provided at the upstream end of the packaging device, and a number of cartons that are folded flat are held in the hopper H so that they can be processed immediately. As shown in FIG. 3, the cartons are sequentially removed from the hopper H by the supply mechanism 10 and transferred to a rotatable transfer mechanism 60 or conveyor for further processing.

  The supply mechanism 10 comprises carton pick-up means 12 for pulling out the lowest folded carton from the hopper. In this embodiment, the carton pickup means includes a plurality of suction cups 14, 16, 18, 20, for example, four suction cups, which are supported by a cup holder and a frame 19, respectively. The cup holder frame is fixedly attached to each of the long support rods 24. In one type of embodiment, each rod 24 is slidably attached to a collar structure 22 that is pivotally attached to shafts 26 and 28. The shafts 26, 28 are generally supported at their ends by a suitable support structure, which is conventional and is attached to the side frame. A suitable drive mechanism, such as a servomotor, is provided for rotating the shaft 26 in the crossing YY ′ (FIGS. 4, 5 and 7) which will be described in more detail below.

  In order to move the slide rod 24 through the collar structure 22 in a reciprocating linear motion, the slide rod is connected to a support frame 40 shown in FIG. 2 for transmitting the linear motion by the driving means.

  The feeder is operated by a suitable driving means, such as a servo motor S, for driving a driving belt D that transmits a driving force to the pair of indexers 44 and 50. Indexers 44 and 50 convert continuous drive input into reciprocating (and optionally intermittent) drive output.

  In order to give a linear motion to the pickup means, links 43 and 42 that are rotatably connected to each other connect the drive output unit to the support frame 40. Therefore, when the link 43 rotates back and forth in a reciprocating manner, the link 42 is moved in the direction XX ′ (FIGS. 1, 5, 6, 7 and 8) in a linear motion, and in the same direction Cause the linear motion of the frame 19 of

  Similarly, links 48 and 46 that are pivotably connected to each other connect the drive output to the collar structure in order to impart a crossing action to the pick-up means. Thus, when the link 48 pivots back and forth in a reciprocating fashion, the link 46 is moved in the YY 'direction in a linear motion, and the frame 19 (around the shafts 26, 28) in the same direction is pivoted. cause.

  In this embodiment, a vacuum circuit breaker is provided in the supply mechanism 10, which is used with a vacuum source to set the vacuum connection time and the break time, so that the time that the carton is held by the supply mechanism 10 is set. You can see that it is decided.

  Although the use of a vacuum cup is preferred to feed the carton to the conveyor, the present invention can be used with or be used with other types of pick-up means, such as grippers, without departing from its scope. You can see that it can be configured.

  In order to accelerate the carton once pulled out of the hopper H, acceleration wheels 34 and 36 are provided. In this embodiment, two pairs of acceleration wheels arranged adjacent to each other are provided, providing a nip feed point N for receiving the leading edge of the carton and allowing the carton blank to pass therethrough To do. The acceleration wheels 34, 36 are attached to drive shafts 32, 38, which are driven by suitable drive means D1.

  The acceleration wheels 34, 36 are attached to the feeder frame 30, which can be installed in the packaging device or as a separate module. It can be seen that the feed mechanism can be installed in a new machine or can be installed in an existing machine on a retrofit basis.

  The hopper H is preferably of the “gravity feed” type, in which the carton blank is held in an inclined state in order to provide an active feed. This maintains a continuous supply of cartons.

Here, the transfer process will be described with reference to FIGS. In order to transfer the blank from the tilted position, the supply mechanism 10 continuously and sequentially supplies the cartons from the hopper to the rotatable transfer mechanism 60 . This rotatable transfer mechanism 60 is continuously rotating in the direction V indicated by the arrow in FIG.

  In the first step shown in FIG. 4, the pickup means 12 is moved toward the hopper H in the cross direction Y. The suction cup 20 moves and is in contact with the side wall of the carton. Subsequently, a vacuum is applied to a set of suction cups by a vacuum source. Thus, the carton is pulled out by moving the pickup means in the crossing direction Y ′. As soon as the carton is moved in the crossing direction, the suction cup 20 moves in a downward linear motion X, moving the carton towards the acceleration wheels 34, 36 as shown in FIG. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6, the carton is received by the nip feeding portion of the wheel and accelerated. A vacuum is maintained during the transfer phase so that the suction cup holds the side wall of the carton.

  Once the carton is deposited on the wheel, the vacuum circuit breaker disconnects the vacuum source from the suction cup and releases the carton by moving the suction cup in cross and linear motion X ′, Y ′ as shown in FIG. .

  The acceleration wheels 34, 36 accelerate the blank, which is subsequently arranged in contact with the leading projections of the conveyor set schematically shown in FIG. The protrusion holds the position of the carton and moves the carton downstream to the assembly station. At the same time, the suction cup 20 returns to the start position shown in FIG.

  4-9, it will be seen that when the feeders pull out and manipulate the cartons, they are also translated with respect to the path of rotation of the transfer mechanism.

The supply mechanism 10 and the rotatable transfer mechanism 60 are controlled by a controller, and the processing speed of the carton is adjusted.

  It can be seen that the adjustment of the device is controlled by a computer program that allows this adjustment to be automated, thereby minimizing the downtime of the device. For example, the speed of the feeder can be increased or decreased if necessary, and the acceleration vector can be increased or decreased so that the operating angle changes.

  It has been determined that by separating the drawer function and carton acceleration into two separate functions, the risk of carton damage can be reduced, thus increasing processing speed.

  The device according to the present invention is adjustable in many respects so as to be able to process a carton containing many different groups of articles, and without the excessive downtime spent on device adjustment, the dimensions of the carton. And create a range of shapes (eg, 4 to 8 bottles). Indeed, the apparatus can be easily adapted to process cartons to produce a wide range of cartons having many commodity groups.

It is a perspective view of the carton blank supply mechanism of the packaging device by one mode of the present invention. It is a perspective view of the carton blank supply mechanism of the packaging device by one mode of the present invention. It is the schematic which shows a feeder and a blank transfer mechanism. It is a figure which shows the procedure which supplies a blank from a hopper to a transfer mechanism. It is a figure which shows the procedure which supplies a blank from a hopper to a transfer mechanism. It is a figure which shows the procedure which supplies a blank from a hopper to a transfer mechanism. It is a figure which shows the procedure which supplies a blank from a hopper to a transfer mechanism. It is a figure which shows the procedure which supplies a blank from a hopper to a transfer mechanism. It is a figure which shows the procedure which supplies a blank from a hopper to a transfer mechanism.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Supply mechanism 12 Carton pick-up means 14, 16, 18, 20 Suction cup 19 Frame 22 Collar structure 24 Support rod 26, 28 Shaft 30 Feeder frame 32, 38 Drive shaft 34, 36 Acceleration wheel 40 Support frame 42, 43 Link 44,50 Indexer 46,48 Link 60 Transfer mechanism D Drive belt D1 Drive means H Hopper N Nip feeding point S Servo motor

Claims (8)

A device for sequentially operating a folded carton having face contact panels arranged oppositely from a feed point of a hopper and transferring the carton to a rotatable transfer mechanism at a delivery end of a packaging device. , Comprising carton pick-up means for sequentially engaging one of the surface contact panels and pulling the folded carton out of the hopper, the carton pick-up means being connected to the shaft by a frame ; The frame is slidably attached to the collar structure for reciprocal linear motion in a direction corresponding to the rotatable transfer mechanism, and the collar structure intersects the rotatable transfer mechanism. The collar structure is pivotally mounted for reciprocal movement in the direction of And the frame, respectively, are connected to the drive means by individual links, the link apparatus characterized by being adapted to convert reciprocating rotary motion into a reciprocating linear motion.   The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the carton is transferred to an accelerating means and accelerated to match the speed of the packaging device.   The linear motion of the carton pick-up means is restrained for a short time by the operation of a cam-controlled cam bar immediately before and during the withdrawal of the carton from the hopper, the cam bar being movable in the radial direction during this short time, and The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cam bar is connected to the carton pickup means so as to be interlocked.   4. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the carton pick-up means comprises a vacuum source and a suction cup.   The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the surface contact panel comprises opposing side walls of the carton.   6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device is driven by a servo motor.   7. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the controller controls the speed of crossing and linear movement and, if necessary, the acceleration means. A method for sequentially operating a folded carton having a face contact panel disposed oppositely from a supply point of a hopper and transferring the carton to a feeding end of a packaging device,
Using a carton pick-up means to sequentially pull out the folded cartons by converting the reciprocating rotational motion into a reciprocating linear motion intersecting the folded carton flow;
Lowering the folded carton to an accelerating means by converting a reciprocating rotational motion into a reciprocating linear motion parallel to the carton flow ;
Carton transfer method characterized by comprising the steps of: accelerating to meet the speed of transport in the portion infeed before KiSo location the carton.

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