JPH0211357Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a capping device for capping a culture bottle used for artificial cultivation of mushrooms such as enoki mushrooms.

The process of artificially cultivating mushrooms such as enoki mushrooms is to first create a culture medium by appropriately mixing rice bran and sawdust, bottle it in a culture bottle, cap it, and heat sterilize it.After sterilization, remove the cap and inoculate the seed fungus. The normal process is to cap the mushrooms again and culture them, and once the mycelia are fully grown, remove the cap, scrape out the dead sterilization, and grow the mushrooms in that state. Therefore, it is necessary to attach the cap to the culture bottle containing the culture medium twice, and the capping operation is essential in the sterilization process and the mycelium growth process. Conventionally, this type of plugging work has been done by hand, but as mass artificial cultivation of mushrooms becomes widespread, there is a desire for a device that can perform a large volume of plugging work by mechanical means. Conventionally, this type of equipment usually used multiple retaining claws to hold the cap in place, but when using the retaining claws to attach the cap, the mechanism and control system itself became complicated. Not only was it impossible to supply them at a low price, but they were also inferior in terms of their ability to quickly process large quantities of caps.

Furthermore, JP-A-49-117187 can only be applied to caps with gripping pieces, and requires a vacuum device, which poses problems in terms of manufacturing costs. It is not suitable for capping multiple culture bottles in each row when capping mushroom culture bottles, which are usually capped. Although Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 53-44619 is also known, it does not disclose a technique for capping a plurality of culture bottles simultaneously in a large quantity so as to prevent tooth loss.

The present invention has been devised in view of these points, and aims to provide a cap crowning device that has a simple structure, can be supplied at low cost, and can quickly process a large amount of capping. Its gist is that it consists of a cap alignment plate, a pressure roller, and a conveyor, the cap alignment plate is sloped downward, and the gap is such that the culture bottle can pass its rim close to the lower end of the cap alignment plate. The caps are opened to form a plurality of guide paths separated by partition bars provided on the conveyor, leaving a flat section above the cap alignment plate and guiding the caps downward in rows below. A stopper is formed at a position where a part of the lowest cap protrudes from the lower end of the cap alignment plate to prevent it from escaping downward. After passing, the cap engaged with the culture bottle is placed in a position to press downward, and one running surface is provided, and the feed side is slightly higher than the level of the flat part of the cap alignment plate, and each partition bar is This apparatus for capping a mushroom culture bottle is characterized in that a belt is provided that crosses a flat part from the upper end at a distance slightly shorter than the diameter of the cap.

The following description will be given with reference to the drawings shown as examples. 1 is a cap orienting device 3 that houses a cap A, lifts the cap A upward, and aligns the direction of the cap A in a fixed direction via a guide tube 2. It is a hotspa to send. The cap orienting device 3 is provided with a conveyor 4 and a means for determining the orientation of the caps and tilting the caps in a predetermined orientation on the conveyor belt. but,
Such a device is installed with the aim of minimizing the facility area of the entire device, and if the cap can be fed into the cap mounting device in a fixed direction, it is possible to It could be something else.

5 is a cap attachment device according to the present invention,
This device 5 mainly consists of a cap alignment plate 6, a pressure roller 7, and a conveyor 8, and the cap alignment plate 6 allows the culture bottles 10 placed in a container 9 to move on the conveyor 8 with the mouth edge close to the lower end 11. It is provided with an interval between it and the lower end 11 that allows it to pass through, and is also provided with a downward slope on the conveyor 8. In FIG. 1, the cap alignment plate 6 is provided so as to go around the lower side of the conveyor 4 of the cap alignment device 3, but it is not placed around the conveyor 4 in the feeding direction of the caps A. A cap alignment plate 6 may be provided at the bottom, or the cap alignment plate 6 may be left as is and the hopper 1 and cap alignment device 3 may be placed on the left side in FIG. Of course, it is also possible to install a horizontal conveyor in the upper left corner of FIG. good.

A plurality of guide paths 13 for the caps A are formed on the cap alignment plate 6 and are partitioned by partition bars 12, and the guide paths 13 have an interval that is at least larger than the circumference of the caps A. The upper part of the cap alignment plate 6 on which the guide path 13 is formed is a flat part 15 that receives the caps A that slide down from the conveyor 4 with or without the guide 14.

Pulleys 17 are provided on both sides of the upper end 16 of the cap alignment plate 6, and the feed side of the pulley 17 rotates laterally along the upper end 16 at a position slightly higher than the extension plane of the cap alignment plate 6 or the flat portion 15. A belt 18 is provided. Then, from the belt feeding side of the belt 18, the partition bar 1 is
The distance to the upper end of cap A is shorter than the diameter of cap A, and the feed side of belt 18 is connected to guide path 1.
The cap A, which was unable to enter the guide path 13 because the cap 3 was full, is positioned so as to be in contact with the cap A.

This belt 18 moves the fed caps A in one direction on the flat portion 15 so that each guide path 13 is filled with caps A evenly.

If all the caps A are filled in the guide path 13, the caps A that fall further will fall into the flat part 15.
The upper part is sent to the end by the belt 18, but it is possible to leave nothing at the end and place a hopper at the falling position and temporarily stay there, but preferably, the flat part A limit switch 19 is provided at the end of the belt 15, so that when the cap A is filled for each guideway 13 and the cap A reaches the flat part 15 above the guideway 13 on the distal end of the feed side of the belt 18, In addition to stopping the cap A at that position, this may be detected and the conveyor 4 of the cap orienting device 3 may be stopped based on the signal.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a stopper that prevents the lowest cap A in the guide path 13 from escaping downward at a position where it partially protrudes from the lower end 11, and this stopper 20 protrudes laterally from the lowermost end of the partition bar 12. They are configured to face each other in the guide path 13. lower end 11
Preferably, as shown in FIG. 4, an arcuate notch 21 is formed in each guide path 13 to make the protruding surface of the lowest cap A as large as possible. Reference numeral 22 denotes a support rod bridged over the partition bar 12, and this support rod 22 is provided with a leaf spring 23 that presses the cap A located at the lowest position downward.

The pressing roller 7 is made of rubber or plastic material, and the cap A engages with the rim 24 of the culture bottle 10 of the container 9 sent by the conveyor 8.
It is provided at a position where the cap A can be pressed downward after it is separated from the cap alignment plate 6.

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the caps A that have fallen from the conveyor 4 onto the flat part 15 of the cap alignment plate 6 are placed in the guide path 13 below the falling position.
It slides down and is hardly affected by the rotating belt 18, but even if it were, it would be moved laterally on the flat part 15 by the belt 18 and it would not be affected by the rotating belt 18.
3, and slides down the guideway 13. The cap A that enters first becomes the lowest cap, and each guide path 13 is gradually filled with cap A. The lowest cap A has a part facing downward from the lower end of the cap alignment plate 6, and the stopper 2
0 prevents it from falling off. At this stage, the pressure of the leaf spring 23 against the cap A is not strong. Cap A is on a certain guideway 13 where everything is filled.
If the cap A falls, the cap A will remain on the flat part 15, but a belt 18 is rotating at the upper end 16 of the flat part 15, the feeding side of which is located slightly above the surface of the cap alignment plate 6. The width from the belt 18 to the guide path 13 is made shorter than the diameter of the cap A, so that the cap A, which cannot be placed inside the guide path 13, has a part of its upper part in contact with the belt 18. Flat part 15 in the direction of movement
It will move while rotating above, and if there is an empty guide path 13, it will slide there.

In this way, when the inside of the guide path 13 is completely filled with cap A, the cap A is
flat part 15 due to the belt 18.
Try to move horizontally on top. If nothing is provided at the end of the flat part 15, it will be ejected to the outside, or if the limit switch 19 is provided at the end of the flat part 15, if the cap A hits it, it will be ejected to the outside. 4 stops. At that time, the cap A will remain on the flat part 15 above the guide path 13 near the end, but if there is space for the cap A in the guide path 13, it will slide down into the guide path 13. As a result, no cap comes into contact with the limit switch 19, and the conveyor 4 starts rotating again.

The distance between the conveyor 8 and the lower end 11 of the cap alignment plate 6 is such that when the culture bottle 10 in the container 9 is conveyed on the conveyor 8, the rim 2 of the culture bottle 10 is
4 is provided to pass closely to the lower end 11 of the cap alignment plate 6, so that when the culture bottle 10 passes under the lower edge 11 of the cap alignment plate 6, the lip 24 of the culture bottle 10 is placed at the lowest position. The cap A is engaged with the cap A to separate the cap A from the cap alignment plate 6. Also, since the leaf spring 23 presses the cap A at this time of detachment, the elastic force causes the cap A to
engages the lip rim 24 somewhat tightly, albeit incompletely, and in this state the culture bottle 10 moves under the pressure roller 7. Then, the pressing roller 7 applies a pressing force to completely attach the cap A to the culture bottle 10. Furthermore, when the lowest cap A is separated from the cap alignment plate 6, the next cap A becomes the lowest one due to the downward slope of the cap alignment plate 6, and the capping operation is repeated in the same way, and the container 9
Caps have been attached to all of the culture bottles 10 that have been placed. Of course, if the caps A come out of the guideway 13 and a space is created in the guideway 13, the limit switch 19 causes the conveyor 4 to rotate one after another and the guideway 13 is filled with caps A.

As described above, in the present invention, the cap alignment plate 6 is sloped downward to provide a plurality of guide paths, and the cap A located at the lowest position in the guide path partially protrudes downward to temporarily escape. In addition to providing a stopper, the opening rim 24 of the culture bottle 10 to be carried is arranged so as to pass through the lower end 11 of the cap alignment plate 6, and a pressing roller 7 is provided to press a cap that is incompletely fitted. Because of this, it has an extremely simple configuration, can be manufactured at low cost, and has an extremely high processing capacity. Also, in order to increase its ability,
Since it is sufficient to increase the guide path of the cap alignment plate and to make the conveyor and pressure roller similarly large, it can be applied to a large-capacity capping device at low cost.

In particular, in the present invention, the feeding side is slightly higher than the level of the flat part of the cap alignment plate, and a belt is provided that crosses the flat part from the upper end of each partition bar at a distance slightly shorter than the diameter of the cap. The cap, which slides down onto the flat part, partially contacts the belt when the guide path is full, so it always moves on the flat part in the lateral direction, that is, while looking at the entrance of each guide path. Therefore, if a certain guide route is filled, the next guide route will be proceeded to. For example, if the leftmost guideway is set as the first row, and caps are sent toward that direction, when the first row of guideways is filled, the next cap will go to the second row, and so on. Caps are then fed into the guideways of each row. In this way, the cap moves on the flat surface in search of an open guide path, and the cap is smoothly placed on a plurality of guide paths.

It is also possible that the amount of caps carried onto the cap alignment plate is larger than the amount of caps flowing into each guideway, but even if the caps do not slide down a certain guideway continuously, the caps on the flat part may Since the caps are sent in the direction of the next guideway, it is possible to increase the amount of caps delivered to the cap alignment plate.
There is no need to adjust the amount of carry-in and the amount of caps fed into one guide path, and a large amount of caps can be set quickly and smoothly.

In this way, even if more caps are fed than the number of caps that the crowning device can handle, the caps will not overflow from the cap alignment plate, and as long as the caps are fed onto the cap alignment plate, the caps will not fall due to the belt. Due to the movement of the caps, the caps are arranged almost evenly within each guideway. As a result, it is possible to reliably cap a plurality of mushroom culture bottles packed in a container, often lined up in four rows, at the same time in each row.

As described above, the present invention has an extremely simple structure and is capable of quickly attaching a large amount of caps.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side view of the cap crowning device according to the present invention in combination with a hopper and a cap alignment device, and Fig. 2 shows the state when a cap falls from the cap alignment device to the cap alignment plate. Fig. 3 is a partial plan view centered on the flat part of the cap alignment plate, Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the cap alignment plate, and Fig. 5 shows the state in which the caps are attached. FIG. 3 is a partially sectional side view. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... hopper, 2... guide tube, 3... cap alignment device, 4... conveyor, 5... cap crowning device, 6... cap alignment plate, 7... pressure roller, 8... conveyor, 9... Container, 10...
Culture bottle, 11...lower end, 12...partition bar,
13... Guide path, 14... Guide frame, 15... Flat part, 16... Upper end, 17... Pulley, 18...
Belt, 19... Limit switch, 20... Stopper, 21... Notch, 22... Support rod, 2
3... Leaf spring, 24... Mouth rim.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] It consists of a cap alignment plate, a pressure roller, and a conveyor, and the cap alignment plate is sloped downward and is mounted on the conveyor with a space such that the culture bottle can pass its mouth edge close to the lower end of the cap alignment plate. , leaving a flat portion above the cap alignment plate and forming a plurality of guide paths partitioned by partition bars below the flat portion for guiding the caps downward in a row;
A stopper is formed in this guide path to prevent the cap located at the lowest position from escaping downward at a position where a part of the cap protrudes from the lower end of the cap alignment plate, and the pressure roller is used to align the culture bottles with the caps. After passing the lower end of the plate, the cap engaged with the culture bottle is placed in a position to press downward, and furthermore, the feeding side is slightly higher than the level of the flat part of the cap alignment plate, and the diameter of the cap is set from the upper end of each partition bar to A device for capping a mushroom culture bottle, characterized in that a belt is provided that crosses the flat part at slightly shorter intervals.