JP7273290B2 - Stacking device for bags - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stacking device that stacks a predetermined number of flat and deformable articles such as bags.

Products such as tea bags are individually wrapped in flat bags, bundled into a predetermined number, and boxed or bagged. Therefore, in such product packaging work, a stacking device that stacks products in units of a predetermined number is used. As a stacking device, a predetermined number of bags held facing each other at a constant pitch are arranged so that the length increases from the inside to the outside, and the bottom gradually approaches the center from the upstream side to the downstream side. A configuration is known in which bags are sequentially stacked and stacked from the central bag by moving laterally along a plurality of guide plates arranged at intervals to form dents (see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent No. 6333572

However, the configuration of Patent Document 1 and the like requires a large installation area because it is necessary to dispose a long guide plate toward the side.

An object of the present invention is to provide a compact integrated device with a small installation area.

An article stacking apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is an article stacking apparatus for stacking a predetermined number of flat, deformable articles, comprising support rails for supporting the articles and a plurality of irregularities on the outer surface. A pair of conveying means formed on both sides of the article supported by the support rails for supporting both sides of the article by the concave portions of the uneven portion, and a supply means for supplying the article to the concave portion. a counting means for counting the number of the articles supplied to the conveying means; and a predetermined number of articles supported by the support rails and the conveying means. and a control means for controlling the conveying means and the moving means, wherein the control means moves the concave portion by a predetermined distance each time the article is supplied to the concave portion of the conveying means. With both sides of the articles accommodated in the recesses of the conveying means, the articles are arranged at a predetermined pitch with a given gap therebetween, and a predetermined number of the articles are counted by the counting means to obtain a predetermined number of articles. When the group is aligned, the moving means pinches the group of articles in the front and back and moves the group, thereby bringing the group of articles into close contact while taking out both side edges of the articles stored in the recesses of the conveying means. It is characterized by transferring to the downstream of the conveying means.

A second aspect of the present invention is an article stacking apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the control means moves the concave portion a distance longer than the predetermined distance when a predetermined number of articles are aligned. It is characterized in that the conveying means is driven to widen the space between the article positioned at the rearmost side of the article group and the newly supplied article.

A third aspect of the present invention is an article stacking device according to the second aspect, wherein the moving means comprises a front grip piece for engaging with an article positioned at the frontmost side of the group of articles, and a grip piece at the rearmost side of the group of articles. a rear grip piece for engaging an article located on the side; a grip piece moving means for moving the grip pieces along the conveying direction of the conveying means; and an advanced position for engaging the rear grip piece with the article. and a rear grip piece advance/retreat means for advancing and retreating to and from a retracted position that does not engage with the grip piece, and the control means widens the distance between the article positioned at the rearmost side in the conveying means and the article to be newly supplied. After that, the rear grip piece is advanced to position the rear grip piece between the rearmost article and the newly supplied article.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article stacking apparatus according to the first to third aspects, wherein the support rail supports four corners of the article.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article stacking apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the article is transferred to the support rail by the transfer means and the article is transferred to the support rail by the transfer means. and a pusher for pushing out the article and supplying it to the recess of the conveying means.

According to the present invention, a compact integrated device with a small footprint can be provided.

1 is a perspective view of a stacking device according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a side view of the integrated device of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a plan view of the integrated device of FIG. 1; FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing a state in which bag-shaped articles are aligned at a predetermined pitch with a predetermined gap between them by left and right cog belts. FIG. 4 is a view of bag-like articles held by support rails and cog belts at the upstream end of the article alignment section, viewed from the downstream side; FIG. 4 is a view of bag-like articles held by support rails in the article unloading section, viewed from the downstream side; It is a side view of the integrated device of 2nd Embodiment. FIG. 4 is a view of bag-like articles held by support rails and cog belts at the upstream end of the article alignment section, viewed from the upstream side of the accumulator conveyor; It is the side view which looked at the accumulation conveyor of FIG. 7 from the right side.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stacking device according to a first embodiment of the present invention as seen obliquely from above, FIG. 2 is a side view of the stacking device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a plan view.

The stacking device 10 of the present embodiment is a device for stacking a predetermined number of bag-shaped items B individually wrapped in a flat bag, such as a tea bag, using a deformable material such as paper or a resin film. be. The bag-shaped article B has, for example, a rectangular shape, and is conveyed substantially horizontally while being laid on the conveying surface of the supply conveyor 12 with one side facing downstream in the conveying direction. In addition, although the conveyance interval of the bag-like articles B conveyed on the supply conveyor 12 may be random, in FIGS. Also, in FIG. 1, the supply conveyor 12 is omitted.

At the downstream end of the supply conveyor 12, a transfer device (transfer means) 16 for transferring the horizontal bag-like member B to the accumulator conveyor 14 is arranged. The transfer device 16 of this embodiment includes a pair of upper and lower endless belts 16A and 16B. The endless belts 16A and 16B are superimposed one on the other, and the bag-like article B is sandwiched between the endless belts 16A and 16B and conveyed. be done. The conveying path of the bag-shaped article B defined by the endless belts 16A, 16B has a substantially 1/4 arc shape, and receives the horizontal bag-shaped article B from the downstream end of the supply conveyor 12 at the upstream end, At the end, the bag-like articles B are placed in a vertical posture, and the bag-like articles B are supplied one bag at a time to the accumulation conveyor 14 positioned below. Adjacent to the transfer device 16, a sensor 17 (see FIG. 2) for counting the number of bags B conveyed between the endless belts 16A and 16B and supplied to the accumulation conveyor 14 is arranged. A signal from the sensor 17 is transmitted to the control device 19 to count the number of bags B, and the sensor 17 and the control device 19 correspond to counting means.

The accumulating conveyor 14 holds a plurality of supplied bag-like articles B at a predetermined pitch in the horizontal direction in a substantially upright state facing each other. The accumulation conveyor 14 is provided with four parallel support rails 18 having an L-shaped cross-section that engage with the four corners of the rectangular bag-like article B, each support rail 18 being arranged in the horizontal direction.

The accumulation conveyor 14 is provided with a pair of upper and lower endless cog belts (conveying means) 20 between upper and lower support rails 18 arranged on the left and right. Each of the cog belts 20 has cogs (concavo-convex portions) at a predetermined pitch perpendicular to the running direction of the belt on its back surface. The cog belts 20 are arranged parallel to the support rails 18, and align the bag-like articles B supplied to the accumulator conveyor 14 in a substantially upright state at a predetermined pitch. That is, the cog belt 20 holds the left and right side edges of each bag-shaped article B in the respective concave portions 20B (see FIG. 4) of the cog, thereby holding the bag-shaped article B in a substantially upright state in a direction facing each other. and align. In the following description, a state in which a predetermined number (20 in this embodiment) of bag-like articles B are aligned with respect to each bag-like article B is referred to as a bag-like article group BG.

The cog belt 20 is provided only in a partial section from the upstream end of the support rail 18 toward the downstream side of the support rail 18 from the slightly downstream side. This section is used as an article arranging section A1 in which bag-like articles B are arranged at a predetermined pitch. On the other hand, the downstream section of the article arranging section A1 consisting only of the support rails 18 is an article unloading section A2 for picking up a predetermined number of bag-shaped article groups BG aligned in the article arranging section A1 and stacking them in close contact with each other in the article arranging direction. used as

At the upstream end of the accumulation conveyor 14, the upper support rail 18 is shorter than the lower support rail 18, and the bag-like article B dropped from the transfer device 16 interferes with the cog belt 20 and the upper support rail 18. It falls without a hitch and is received by the lower pair of support rails 18 . On the upstream side of the upstream end of the accumulation conveyor 14, the back surface of the bag-like article B received by the lower support rail 18 is pushed from the upstream side to the downstream side to push the bag-like article B between the left and right cog belts 20. An indentation pusher 21 is provided. The bag-like article B pushed by the pushing pusher 21 has its left and right sides pressed against the cog projections 20A (see FIG. 4) of the cog belts 20 on both sides, and both sides are flexed to climb over the projections 20A. It is accommodated in the recess 20B.

The pushing pusher 21 of this embodiment is provided at the tip of a swing arm 21B that swings around a horizontal rotary shaft 21A. By swinging the swing arm 21B around the rotation shaft 21A, the pushing pusher 21 is pushed in the substantially longitudinal direction of the support rail 18 near the center of the rear surface of the bag-like article B supported by the support rail 18. Reciprocating motion is possible. When the bag-shaped article B is inserted into the concave portion 20B by the pushing pusher 21, the four cog belts 20 synchronously move the cogs facing each other by a predetermined pitch toward the downstream side of the accumulator conveyor 14 to supply. A bag-like article B to be supplied next from the conveyor 12 is inserted into the concave portion 20B at the most upstream end of the parallel portion of the cog belt 20 by the pushing pusher 21 .

Gripper moving mechanisms 22 and 24 each composed of a linear guide or the like are provided on both sides of the accumulation conveyor 14 . Gripper moving mechanisms 22 and 24 move grip pieces 22A and 24A along the longitudinal direction of the accumulator conveyor 14 to collect a predetermined number of bag-shaped article groups BG held in the recessed portion 20B of the cog belt 20 and form a bundle. It is a mechanism for

The gripper moving mechanism 22 is for moving the rear side stacking grip piece 22A that abuts on the rear surface of the bag-like article B positioned most upstream among the predetermined number of bag-like articles B held in the concave portion 20B of the cog belt 20. is the mechanism of On the other hand, the gripper moving mechanism 24 moves the front grip piece 24A that abuts on the front surface of the bag-like article B positioned most downstream among the predetermined number of bag-like articles B held in the concave portion 20B of the cog belt 20. is the mechanism of

The gripper moving mechanism 22 includes a pair of guide rails 22B arranged side by side along one side of the accumulator conveyor 14, for example. The rear grip piece 22A is attached via an air cylinder 22C to a block 22D that spans over the guide rails 22B and moves slidably along both guide rails 22B. The block 22D is attached to an endless belt 22E extending longitudinally between the left and right guide rails 22B, and the endless belt 22E is driven by a motor 22F. Thereby, the block 22D, that is, the rear grip piece 22A can reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the accumulator conveyor 14. As shown in FIG. 1 and 2 show the state when the block 22D is located at the most upstream side and the state when it is located at the most downstream side.

On the other hand, as shown in the plan view of FIG. 3, the grip moving mechanism 24 is arranged along the side opposite to the pusher moving mechanism 22, and is a pair of guide rails arranged parallel to the accumulator conveyor 14. 24B. The front grip piece 24A is attached via an air cylinder 24C to a block 24D that is stretched over the guide rails 24B and slidably moves along both guide rails 24B. The block 24D is attached to an endless belt 24E extending longitudinally between the left and right guide rails 24B, and the endless belt 24E is driven by a motor 24F. Thereby, the block 24D, that is, the front grip piece 24A can reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the accumulator conveyor 14. As shown in FIG.

The rear grip piece 22A is located at a retracted position lowered by the air cylinder 22C to a height where it does not interfere with the bag-shaped article B held on the accumulator conveyor 14, and at the approximate center of the rear surface of the bag-shaped article B held on the accumulator conveyor 14. It is possible to move up and down between the stacking position raised to a height where it can be pressed against. The front grip piece 24A is also positioned at a retracted position lowered to a height where it does not interfere with the bag-like article B held on the accumulator conveyor 14 by the air cylinder 24C, and at the front surface of the bag-like article B held by the accumulator conveyor 14. It can be moved up and down between the stacking position raised to a height where it can be pressed against the center.

In FIG. 2, a state in which the rear grip piece 22A stands by at the most upstream retracted position, and a state in which the front grip piece 24A is set in the most upstream stacking position are drawn in solid lines. A state in which 22A and front grip piece 24A are set at the most downstream stacking position is drawn by a broken line. That is, in FIG. 2, a predetermined number of bag-shaped article groups BG aligned at a predetermined pitch by the cog belts 20 in the article alignment section A1 are indicated by solid lines, and are arranged in rows by the rear grip piece 22A and the front grip piece 24A. A broken line indicates a state in which the article is sandwiched from the front and rear and moved to the article unloading section A2 on the downstream side. Although the support rails 18 are omitted in FIG. 2, the support rails 18 hold the four corners of the bag-shaped articles B in the article alignment section A1 and the article extraction section A2.

Next, the stacking action by the grip pieces 22A, 24A will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4-6. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing a state in which the bag-like articles B are aligned at a predetermined pitch with a predetermined gap between them by the left and right cog belts 20 . 5 is a schematic view of the bag-like articles B held by the support rail 18 and the cog belt 20 at the upstream end of the article arranging section A1, viewed from the downstream side, and FIG. FIG. 12A is a schematic arrow view of the bag-shaped article B held by the support rail 18 at A2, as viewed from the downstream side;

As shown in FIG. 4, the bag-shaped articles B supplied to the accumulator conveyor 14 are pushed by the pushing pusher 21 between the cog belts 20 provided in the article alignment section A1. That is, the bag-like article B, which is loaded from the transfer device 16 and whose lower two corners are supported by the pair of lower support rails 18 at the upstream end of the accumulator 14, is pushed by the push-in pusher 21. , and the left and right sides are pressed against the convex portions 20A of the cog belt 20 . Both sides of the bag-shaped article B pressed against the projections 20A are bent, and the bag-shaped article B climbs over the projections 20A of the cog belt 20 and is accommodated in the recesses 20B. At this time, the rear gripper piece 22A is at the retracted position, i.e., below where it does not interfere with the bag-like article B held by the cog belt 20, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 2 and FIG. It waits at a position slightly upstream of the most upstream bag-like article B to be placed. 6, the front grip piece 24A is in the stacking position, that is, above the bag-like article B held by the cog belt 20 so that it can be engaged, and is first supplied to the cog belt 20 by the pushing pusher 21. It waits at a position where it engages with the front surface of the bag-like article B on the most downstream side.

When both sides of the bag-like article B are held in the concave portions 20B of the left and right cog belts 20, the cog belts 20 travel a predetermined distance toward the downstream side, and the front grip pieces 24A also move downstream in synchronization with the cog belts 20. to the specified distance. As a result, the bag-like article B is conveyed downstream by one pitch (one pitch of the aligned articles). In the example shown in FIG. 4, since the bag-like article B is held every two pitches of the cog, one pitch of the bag-like article B corresponds to two pitches of the cog. In the accumulation conveyor 14, when the bag-shaped articles B are supplied, the bag-shaped articles B are fitted into the concave portions 20B of the cog belt 20, and the cog belt 20 and the front grip piece 24A are moved by 2 cog pitches to convey a predetermined number of bag-shaped articles. This action is repeated until B is aligned with the cog belt 20 .

The number of bags B supplied to the accumulation conveyor 14 is counted by a sensor 17 and a control device 19 (see FIG. 2), which are counting means. When the number of bag-shaped articles B counted by the counting means reaches a predetermined number and the bag-shaped article group BG is aligned, the rear grip piece 22A is raised to the stacking position, and the front grip piece 24A is positioned downstream. By moving to the side, a predetermined number of bag-like article groups BG held by the cog belt 20 are moved downstream while the rear grip pieces 22A take out both side edges of the bag-shaped articles contained in the recess 20B. are held by the grip pieces 22A and 24A and stacked with the front and rear surfaces in close contact with each other. When the bag-shaped article group BG is held between the front and rear grip pieces 22A and 24A, the front grip piece 24A is moved upstream and the rear grip piece 22A is moved downstream. The grip pieces 22A and 24A may be moved and held.

When a predetermined number of bag-like article groups BG are aligned on the cog belt 20, the speed of the cog belt 20 is increased for a short period of time, and the air cylinder 22C causes the bag-like article B to be held by the cog belt 20 with the rear grip piece 22A. Raised to an engageable stacking position. That is, in the present embodiment, by increasing the speed of the cog belt 20, the bag-shaped article B located at the uppermost stream of the bag-shaped article group BG arranged in a predetermined number and the newly supplied bag-shaped article B are separated from each other. The distance between the rear grip pieces 22A is increased to prevent the rear grip pieces 22A from interfering with the bag-like article B when the rear grip pieces 22A are raised. It should be noted that the speed of the cog belt 20 must be increased when widening the distance between the bag-shaped article B positioned most upstream in the bag-shaped article group BG arranged in a predetermined number and the bag-shaped article B to be newly supplied. For example, the speed of the supply conveyor 12 and the endless belts 16A and 16B may be reduced or stopped while the speed of the cog belt 20 remains unchanged.

When the gripping pieces 22A and 24A start moving, the front gripping piece 24A is positioned to contact the front surface of the bag-like article B on the most downstream side. The grip piece 22A is moved toward the front grip piece 24A. As a result, the bag-shaped articles B held in the recessed portion 20B of the cog belt 20 are bent at the side edges, and are successively pushed downstream from the rear side by the rear grip piece 22A, thereby holding a predetermined number of bag-shaped articles. Group BG is sandwiched between front and rear grip pieces 22A and 24A and overlapped.

When the predetermined number of bag-like article groups BG held by the cog belts 20 are all stacked, the gripper moving mechanism 24 is also driven, and the front grip piece 24A and the rear grip piece 22A sandwich the bag-like article B, and the bag-like article B is moved downstream. moved to the side. That is, a predetermined number of bag-like article groups BG sandwiched between the front and rear grip pieces 22A and 24A are slid on the rails while their four corners are supported by the support rails 18, and the articles are held by the front and rear grip pieces 22A and 24A. It is moved to the extraction section A2.

Thereafter, the bag-shaped articles B accumulated in the article removal section A2 are taken out while maintaining the superimposed state, and packed in a box on the downstream side, for example. During this time, bag-like articles B are supplied from the supply conveyor 12 to the article alignment section A1. Align in between.

The rear grip piece 22A, which has moved the bag-shaped article B to the article take-out section A2, is lowered to the retraction height by the air cylinder 22C, and returned to the standby position on the upstream side by the gripper moving mechanism 22. The front grip piece 24A is also returned upstream to the initial position where it abuts on the most downstream bag-like article B of the cog belt 20 . The operations of the pushing pusher 21, the cog belt 20, the gripper moving mechanism 22, etc. are controlled by the control device 19 based on the count value from the sensor 17. FIG.

As described above, since the stacking device 10 of the first embodiment does not require a long guide plate facing the side as in the conventional art, the stacking device 10 can be configured compactly, and the installation area can be greatly reduced. can. In addition, the number of pieces to be stacked can be changed only by changing the control of the cog belt 20, the front side stacking grip piece 24A, and the rear side stacking grip piece 22A, and versatility is also excellent.

Next, the integrated device of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9. FIG. In the stacking device 10 of the first embodiment, the accumulator 14 is arranged along the horizontal direction, but in the second embodiment, the accumulator is arranged along the vertical direction, and the transfer device (transfer means) A suction conveyor is used. Other configurations are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment, and the same reference numerals are used for the same configurations as those of the first embodiment, and descriptions thereof are omitted. 7 is a side view of the stacking device 30 of the second embodiment, and FIG. 8 shows bag-like articles B held by the support rails 18 and the cog belts 20 at the upstream end of the article alignment section A1. FIG. 2 is a schematic arrow view of the accumulator conveyor 32 of the form seen from the upstream side. 9 is a side view of the accumulation conveyor 32 of FIG. 7 viewed from the right side.

As with the accumulation conveyor 14 of the first embodiment, the accumulation conveyor 32 of the second embodiment includes four support rails 18 extending from the article arranging section A1 to the article unloading section A2, and the article arranging section A1 It has four cog belts 20 that are arranged only on the . The accumulating conveyor 32 is arranged vertically so that the article alignment section A1 is on the top and the article pick-up section A2 is on the bottom, and the bag-shaped articles B are pushed between the left and right cog belts 20 by using the pushing pushers 21 from above. .

The supply conveyor 12 for supplying the bag-shaped articles B is horizontally arranged at the height of the upstream end of the accumulator conveyor 32, and supplies the bag-shaped articles B from its side. A suction conveyor 34 is arranged in parallel above the downstream portion of the supply conveyor 12 as a device for transferring the bag-shaped articles B to the accumulation conveyor 32 . The suction conveyor 34 is horizontally arranged with a gap substantially equal to the thickness of the bag-like article B from the conveying surface of the supply conveyor 12 .

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, the suction conveyor 34 has a pair of endless belts 34A and a pair of suction boxes 34B. The endless belt 34A and the suction box 34B are perforated with the suction box 34B positioned adjacent to the lower span inside the endless belt 34A. The suction box 34B is connected to a vacuum device (not shown), whereby the upper surface of the bag-like article B conveyed on the supply conveyor 12 is attracted to the back surface of the endless belt 34A downstream of the supply conveyor 12. The bag-like article B sucked by the suction conveyor 34 is conveyed toward the downstream end of the suction conveyor 34 by an endless belt 34A running at the same speed as the supply conveyor 12. The number of bags B conveyed by the suction conveyor 34 is counted by the sensor 17 and the control device 19 (not shown in FIG. 7).

A suction conveyor 34 extends further downstream from the downstream end of the supply conveyor 12 and its downstream end is located above the upstream end of the accumulation conveyor 32 . When the bag-like article B held and conveyed by the suction conveyor 34 reaches the downstream end of the suction conveyor 34, the push-in pusher 21 pushes the bag-like article B downward toward the accumulation conveyor 14, and the bag-like article B is pushed downward. It is pushed between the left and right cog belts 20 of the accumulator conveyor 32 . That is, both sides of the bag-like article B are held in the recesses 20B of the cog belt 20 . After that, the cog belt 20 is moved by a predetermined pitch, during which the next bag-like article B is moved to the upstream end of the accumulation conveyor 32 by the suction conveyor 34 . Then, the next bag-like article B is pushed into the concave portion 20B of the cog belt 20 by the pushing pusher 21 .

When a predetermined number of bag-like article groups BG are aligned at a predetermined pitch in the article alignment section A1 provided with the cog belts 20, the front and rear grip pieces 36A and 36B provided on the gripper moving mechanism 36 move the predetermined number of bags. The group of articles BG is sandwiched from the front and the rear and stacked, and moved along the support rails 18 to the article unloading section A2. The stacking pushers 36A and 36B can move horizontally between a retracted position and a stacking position where the grip pieces 36A and 36B hold and move the bag-like article B by using an air cylinder 36C.

When the bag-shaped article group BG is transferred, the grip pieces 36A and 36B are lowered to the article extraction section A2 together with the air cylinder 36C by the elevating mechanism 36D while reducing the distance between them. When the bag-like article group BG transferred by the unillustrated take-out means is taken out from the article take-out section A2, the grip pieces 36A and 36B are retracted to the retracted position by the air cylinder 36C and lifted to the original position by the lift mechanism 36D. be. Thereafter, the same processing operation is repeated each time a predetermined number of bag-shaped article groups BG are aligned in the article alignment section A1. In FIG. 9, a predetermined number of bag-shaped article groups BG aligned at a predetermined pitch in the recesses of the cog belt 20 are indicated by solid lines, and are sandwiched from the front and rear of the row by the rear grip piece 36B and the front grip piece 36B. A broken line indicates a state in which the article has been moved to the article unloading section A2 on the downstream side.

As described above, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained in the integrated device of the second embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the cog belt having recesses on the back surface is used to align the bag-shaped articles, but it is sufficient to provide uneven portions for holding the sides of the bag-shaped articles at a predetermined pitch. can also be used. Moreover, the location where the bag-like article is held is not limited to the side edges, and may be the upper and lower edges. Furthermore, the shape of the recess for holding the bag-like article is not limited to the shape illustrated in FIG. 4, and may be, for example, a U-shape or a V-shape. In the present embodiment, bag-shaped articles have been described as an example, but the articles to be stacked are not limited to bag-shaped articles, and may be flat articles that are deformable.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 stacking device 12 supply conveyor 14 accumulation conveyor 16, 34 transfer device (transfer means, supply means)
17 sensor (counting means)
18 support rail 19 control device 20 endless cog belt (conveying means)
20A Convex part 20B Concave part 21 Pusher (supply means)
22A, 24A, 36A, 36B grip piece (moving means)

Claims (5)

An article stacking device for stacking a predetermined number of flat deformable articles,
a support rail for supporting the article;
a pair of conveying means having a plurality of uneven portions formed on an outer surface and provided on both sides of the article supported by the support rail so as to support both sides of the article by the concave portions of the uneven portion;
supply means for supplying the article to the recess;
a counting means for counting the number of the articles supplied to the conveying means;
moving means for moving a predetermined number of articles supported by the support rails and the conveying means by sandwiching them in front and rear in the direction of travel to bring them into close contact with each other, and moving them downstream;
A control means for controlling the conveying means and the moving means,
The control means moves the recess by a predetermined distance each time the article is supplied to the recess of the conveying means , thereby moving the article with both sides of the article accommodated in the recess of the conveying means. are aligned at a predetermined pitch with a constant gap therebetween, a predetermined number of the articles are counted by the counting means, and when the predetermined number of articles are aligned, the moving means sandwiches the article group in the front and rear and moves the article group. The article stacking apparatus is characterized in that, while taking out both sides of the articles accommodated in the concave portion of the conveying means, the group of articles are brought into close contact with each other and conveyed downstream of the conveying means. When a predetermined number of articles are aligned, the control means drives the conveying means so as to move the concave portion a distance longer than the predetermined distance, and the rearmost article in the article group and the new article are moved. 2. An article stacking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the distance from the article to be supplied to is widened. The moving means includes a front grip piece that engages with the article positioned on the frontmost side of the group of articles, a rear grip piece that engages the article positioned on the rearmost side of the group of articles, and a rear grip piece that engages with the article positioned on the rearmost side of the group of articles. It has grip piece moving means for moving along the conveying direction of the conveying means, and rear grip piece advance/retreat means for advancing and retreating the rear grip piece between an advanced position where it engages with the article and a retreated position where it does not engage the article. death,
The control means expands the distance between the rearmost article and the newly supplied article in the conveying means, and then advances the rear grip piece to newly feed the rearmost article and the newly supplied article. 3. An article stacking apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said rear grip piece is positioned between said article to be supplied. 4. The article stacking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support rail supports four corners of the article. The supply means has transfer means for transferring the article to the support rail, and a pusher for pushing out the article transferred to the support rail by the transfer means and supplying the article to the concave portion of the transfer means. The article stacking device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that:

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