JPH01150617A - Branching and aligning device for container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To separate plural rows of bottles or the like in two directions and to align same in a single row to be supplied by forming a distribution conveyer by a plurality of transport conveyers having an angular transport surface higher at the central part thereof, and disposing guide members on the upper surface of the distribution conveyer. CONSTITUTION:A distribution conveyer 1 is formed by combining a plurality of transport conveyers 2 which are higher at the central part thereof in the longitudinal direction of the conveyers and have transport surfaces 1a, 1b inclined downward to the right and left side ends, and guide members 3a, 3b are disposed facing the upper surface of the conveyer. In this arrangement, plural rows of containers 7 are guided by outer guide members 3a, 3b on the upstream side transport conveyer 1A to reach a position (c). At this time, angles of inclination of the inclined transport surfaces 1a, 1b of the distribution conveyer 1 are increased and the guide members 3a, 3b are expanded, so that the containers 7 are gradually separated in right and left, two directions and aligned in a single row at a position (e). Thus, plural rows of containers can be separated in two directions and aligned in a single row to be supplied.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a container branching and arranging device, and particularly to a container branching and arranging device for branching and arranging containers such as bottles that are being conveyed in multiple rows into two rows. The present invention relates to a branch alignment device.

[Conventional technology]

In order to continuously supply containers to inspection machines that detect defects in containers such as bottles, fillers that fill the containers with contents, labelers that attach labels to the containers, etc., it is necessary to line up containers in - rows. There is a need. For this reason, various devices have been proposed in the past for arranging containers such as bottles, which have been conveyed in multiple rows or in an unaligned state, into a single row.

As a type of such a device, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-1612
The apparatus described in Japanese Patent No. 16 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17.

16 and 17, the device comprises a wide supply channel 31 for supplying bottles, a conveyor section 32 consisting of a number of conveyor belts 33 extending parallel to each other, and a narrow supply channel 34, Feed channel 31.34 and conveyor section 3
2, a first guide surface 35 and a second guide surface 36 are erected. The conveying surface of the conveyor portion 32 is the 17th
As shown in the figure, from the first guide surface 35 to the second guide surface 36
It is provided with a slight inclination in the direction of , and the openings roll on this inclined surface and are collected in the collection container 37 . On the other hand, the upright field 38 is conveyed by the conveyor belt 33 of the conveyor section 32 and the first. They are guided by the second guide surfaces 35 and 36 and arranged in a substantially single row.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, the multiple rows of conveyor belts are inclined only in one direction.
Containers such as bottles that have been conveyed in multiple rows or in an unaligned state are collected and arranged only in a single row or in a state close to this. Therefore, when containers transported in a plurality of rows or in a non-aligned state are to be branched into two directions, there is a problem in that a separate branching device must be provided.

In addition, in conventional equipment, the conveyor section is tilted in one direction so that containers that have fallen down, such as containers that have been opened, roll along the inclined surface of the conveyor section and are collected in a collection device. There is a problem in that a container (opening 38a in FIG. 17) that has fallen inward and cannot be blocked from being transferred to the collection container side by this upright container is transported in a state that cannot be removed.

The present invention was devised in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to branch containers conveyed in multiple rows into two directions, collect and align them in a single row, and simultaneously remove fallen containers. An object of the present invention is to provide a container branching and alignment device that can perform the following steps.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention uses a plurality of parallel rows of conveyors, each of which is conveyed at a downward slope from the center to both left and right sides, so that the central part in the longitudinal direction is high and the longitudinal sides are low. The container is formed on a surface to constitute a sorting conveyor, and a guide member is provided facing the upper surface of the sorting conveyor, so that the multiple rows of containers supplied to the sorting conveyor E are branched into two rows. It is something to do.

[Effect]

According to the above means, containers conveyed in multiple rows or in a non-aligned manner are transported in two directions by a mountain-shaped inclined conveying surface that is sloped downward from the center in the longitudinal direction to both left and right sides of the sorting conveyor. As the containers are separated, overturning containers are removed, and the containers separated into two directions are conveyed while being gradually arranged in a single line by a guide member provided facing the upper surface of the sorting conveyor.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the container branching and alignment device according to the present invention will be described.
This will be explained with reference to FIGS. 15 to 15.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing the entire container branching and alignment device. a guide member 3 that is
It is composed of overturning container holders 4, 5, and 6 provided on both sides of the sorting conveyor 1 and at the center on the downstream side. Each conveyor 2 constituting the sorting conveyor 1 consists of an endless conveyor belt wound between a driving sprocket 8 and a driven sprocket 9, and these conveyor belts are supported and guided by guide rails 11. The drive sprocket 8 is a drive shaft 81 equipped with drive motors M1 to M5.
- It is connected and fixed to S11. And each drive shaft S
The rotational speeds of ~S11 are different, and the conveyor speeds of the plurality of rows of conveyors 2 are set to gradually increase from the center to both sides.

The above sorting conveyor 1 is the upstream sorting conveyor IA
and a downstream sorting conveyor IB, and these upstream and downstream sorting conveyors IA.

Tipping container supports 4.5 are provided along both sides of the IB. As shown in the side view of FIG. 2, the first-stream sorting conveyor IA has an inclined conveying surface la that slopes downward from the center to the left and right sides, so that the central part in the longitudinal direction is higher and the both sides are lower. It is constructed by arranging a plurality of rows of conveyors 2 so as to have la. That is, the upstream sorting conveyor IA forms a flat conveying surface from the starting end to position a as shown in FIG. 3, but from position a to d as shown in FIGS.
Mountain-shaped inclined conveyance surfaces 1a, la are formed, the angle of inclination of which increases gradually with increasing position.

Further, from the d position to the f position, the chevron-shaped inclined conveying surfaces 1a and Ia having a maximum inclination angle of about 9 degrees are continuous, and as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, from the f position to the i position. The chevron-shaped inclined conveyance surfaces 1a, la are formed so that the angle of inclination gradually becomes smaller, and form a flat conveyance surface from the i position to the terminal end of the conveyor IA.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, a chevron-shaped inclined conveyance surface 1a on the upstream-side sorting conveyor IA,
A semi-cylindrical sliding member 10 is provided at the top of la from position a to position f, and this sliding member 10
This prevents the container from riding on the top of the conveying slope and preventing it from falling off, and also prevents foreign matter from entering the top.

On the other hand, the downstream sorting conveyor IB is equipped with an overturning container holder 6 at the center in the longitudinal direction, and is lowered from the center to the left and right sides so that the center is higher in the longitudinal direction and lower in both sides. a pair of inclined conveying surfaces 1b;
It is constructed by arranging a plurality of rows of transport conveyors 2 connected by an upstream sorting conveyor IA so as to have lb; lc, lc. That is, the downstream sorting conveyor IB forms a flat conveying surface from the starting end to the j position as shown in FIG. Mountain-shaped inclined conveyance surfaces 1b, lb whose inclination angle gradually increases as the position increases.
(lc, lc) is formed. In addition, from position 1 to position m, there is a chevron-shaped inclined conveyance surface i with a maximum inclination angle of about 6°.
b, tb (lc, lc) or consecutively, and O from position m
The inclined conveying surfaces 1b, Ib (lc.

lc) is formed so that its inclination angle becomes gradually smaller, forming a flat conveyance surface from the 0 position to the terminal end.

Further, the guide member 3 provided facing the upper surface of the sorting conveyor 1 is connected to outer kite members 3a and 3b provided on both left and right sides of the sorting conveyor 1 from the upstream start end to the downstream end, and It is comprised of inner guide members 3c and 3d provided near the center. These guide members 3a to 3d are the sorting conveyor 1
It is provided with a slight gap from the conveyance surface of the
The overturned container 7a passes through this gap and the overturned container holder 4,
It is scheduled to be collected on May 6th.

Next, the operation of the container branching and aligning apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIGS. 13 to 15.

As shown in FIG. 13, the containers 7 that have been conveyed in multiple rows or in an unaligned state on the upstream conveyor IA are guided by the outer guide members 3a and 3b and go almost straight to position C. In the upstream sorting conveyor IA, the inclination angle of the inclined conveyance surfaces 1a, la increases from the C position to the C position, and the outer guide members 3a, 3b move from the C position to the C position.
Since the containers 7 in a plurality of rows or in an unaligned state are spread out at an angle toward both sides, the outer guide members 3a, 3
It slides down to both sides of the conveyor IA along b
branched in the direction. At this time, each of the transport conveyors 3 constituting the upstream sorting conveyor IA is set so that the transport speed gradually increases from the center to both sides, so the containers 7 in the unaligned cluster are at the C position. During the period from 1 to 2 until it is conveyed to position C, it gradually branches into two directions and is assembled and arranged in a state close to a single row in each direction.

Further, as shown in FIG. 14, while the overturned container 7a is being conveyed from the C position to the C position, the overturned container 7a is transferred along the inclined conveyance surfaces la, la, passes through the outer guide members 3a and 3b, and then passes through the overturned container holder 4. It is collected at .5. Further, while the container 7 passes through the C position and is conveyed to the i position, the straight guide member 3
a, 3b, and the overturned containers 7a are almost completely removed (approximately 95%).

The containers 7 that have been conveyed to the downstream sorting conveyor IB in a single row are transported to the downstream sorting conveyor IB when the outer guide members 3a and 3b
Since it is provided so as to be inclined gradually toward the center from position to position, it is transferred from the outermost conveyor 2 to the adjacent inner conveyor 2F. At this time, from the k position to the n position, the conveyor IB has a chevron-shaped inclined conveyance surface 1b, l
As shown in FIG. 15, the overturned container 7b on the center side of the containers 7 arranged in a single row is transferred on the inclined conveyance surface lb and passes through the inner kite member 3C. and is collected on the inner overturning container holder 6. In this way, in the downstream sorting conveyor IB, the overturned container holder 6 is provided at the center in the longitudinal direction, and the transport conveyors 2 on both sides adjacent to the overturned container holder 6 are tilted toward the overturned container holder 6 to perform inclined conveyance. Since the surfaces lb and lc are formed, the overturned containers 7b on the center side of the containers 7 arranged in a single row are formed on the inclined conveyance surfaces lb and lc.
c, it is completely removed (99.9% or more) and collected in the overturning container pedestal 6. Then, the containers 7 arranged in a single row are discharged from the terminal end of the downstream sorting conveyor IB and sent to the next process.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the description of the embodiments, the present invention is capable of handling containers that have been conveyed in multiple rows or in a non-aligned manner in a mountain-shaped manner that is sloped downward from the center in the longitudinal direction to both left and right sides of the sorting conveyor. The containers are separated into two directions by the inclined conveyance surface, and overturned containers are removed.The containers that have been separated into two directions are gradually collected and arranged in a single line by a guide member provided facing the upper surface of the sorting conveyor. transported. That is, according to the apparatus of the present invention, containers in multiple rows or in an unaligned state can be branched into two rows, each row can be collected and aligned in a single row, and at the same time, overturned containers can be removed.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is also possible to eliminate overturned containers located inside containers arranged in a single row, which could not be eliminated conventionally.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the container branching and alignment device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the same container branching and alignment device, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1. Figure 4 is the IV of Figure 1.
-TV sectional view, Fig. 5 is a v-V sectional view in Fig. 1, Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the ■-■ line in Fig. 1, and Fig. 7 is a -
8 is a sectional view taken along the line ■--■ of FIG. 1, FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line IX-TX, and FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line
11 is a sectional view taken along the line XI-XI in FIG. 1, FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along the line XI-XI in FIG. Figure 16 is a plan view of a conventional container branching and alignment device, and Figure 17 is a
61 which is a sectional view on the -X■ line... sorting conveyor, 2
...Conveyance conveyor, 3...Guide member, 4,5.6
... Tipping container pedestal, 7... Container, 8... Drive sprocket, 9... Driven sprocket, 10... Sliding member, 11... Guide rail, M... Drive motor, S ...Drive shaft. Applicant's representative Yasuo Ishikawa Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 7
Figure 1] Figure 10 Figure 5 Figure 6
Figure 8 Figure 9
Figure 11 Figure 12

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A plurality of parallel rows of conveyors are each formed into an inclined conveying surface that slopes downward from the center to both left and right sides, so that the central part in the longitudinal direction is high and the longitudinal sides are low. A branching arrangement of containers, characterized in that a sorting conveyor is constituted, a guide member is provided facing the upper surface of the sorting conveyor, and multiple rows of containers supplied on the sorting conveyor are arranged in two rows. Device. 2. Container branching according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of rows of conveyors constituting the sorting conveyor are set such that the conveyance speed increases from the center toward both sides. Alignment device. 3. The container branching and arranging device according to claim 1, wherein overturned container holders for collecting overturned containers are provided on both sides of the sorting conveyor. 4. A patent claim characterized in that the sorting conveyor is provided with an overturning container holder at the longitudinally central portion on the downstream side, and the transport conveyors on both sides adjacent to the overturning container holder are inclined toward the overturning container holder. A device for branching and aligning containers according to item 1.