JPH0236448B2 - SOKOTSUKYOKISEIRETSUKYOKYUSOCHI - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a bottomed container alignment and feeding device, and more specifically, for example, a device for arranging and supplying bottomed containers, which has a flange on the outer periphery of the opening, in a special arrangement state prior to packing the bottomed containers into a carton. The present invention relates to an apparatus for aligning and feeding containers with bottoms.

Generally, in the can manufacturing industry, bottomed containers with a flange on the outer periphery of the opening are formed, for example, by drawing, and then packed into cartons for post-processing at a filling factory. and then transported by wheel. By the way, when packing such containers, if the containers are stacked one after another in the normal rotation with the opening facing upward, the bottom of the upper container will get into the opening of the lower container, making subsequent separation difficult. At the same time, there were drawbacks such as damage to the inner surface of the container. Therefore, in order to avoid such drawbacks and to pack a large number of containers by effectively utilizing the space inside the box, boxes have conventionally been packed in a stacked arrangement of containers as shown in FIG.

In other words, if the container's opening is facing upwards, it is called normal rotation, and if the container's opening is facing downwards, it is called inverted. They are always aligned and stacked with other containers in such a way that they always take contradictory postures of forward rotation and reverse rotation. It is already well known that when a large number of containers with bottoms each having a flange on the outer periphery of the opening are packed into a carton at the same time, the space inside the carton can be effectively utilized by the arrangement method described above.

The problem is how to mechanically and automatically pack containers with bottoms using such an arrangement method. FIGS. 2a and 2b schematically show a conventional packaging apparatus for bottomed containers using such an arrangement method. To briefly explain this conventional device, it is equipped with a supply conveyor 21 having a width capable of arranging a plurality of containers (four containers are shown for convenience in the figure for ease of understanding) in the transverse direction. The front end of the conveyor in the feeding direction is the boxing position, and a horizontally movable table 22 is arranged there on the same plane as the conveyor belt.
is installed. A carton 23 is positioned directly below the table 22, and above it a magnetic holding device 24 that attracts containers fed onto the table 22 and places them into the carton 23 is arranged.

Now, assuming that the bottom area of the carton 23 can accommodate four rows in one stage (one row extends in the transverse direction of the supply conveyor), the table 22 is also wide enough to accommodate these four rows. For convenience, if containers in the normal rotation position are marked with ◯ marks and containers in the reversed position are marked with x marks, the positions of the containers on the table 22 will be as shown in FIG. 2a. That is, the first column is indicated by reference numerals 1-1 to 1-4, and the rotation starts from normal rotation, and is alternately arranged with inversion and normal rotation. Next, the second row is indicated by reference numerals 2-1 to 2-4, and is arranged in the opposite direction to the first row, starting from inversion, then alternating with normal rotation and inversion. In this way, the third and fourth rows are arranged in the same way, and as a result, each row in the horizontal direction and in the feeding direction (referred to as the vertical direction for convenience), namely 1-1, 2-1, 3 -1, 4-1 or 1-2, 2
-2, 3-2, 4-2, etc. in the vertical direction are also arranged so that their orientations are alternately oriented in normal rotation and inversion. As a result, in the first stage, containers adjacent to each side are all arranged in opposite directions.

Next, the four rows of containers to be stacked as the second stage are arranged on the supply conveyor 21, and the arrangement state is the same as described above, with the orientation of each row in the horizontal direction and each row in the vertical direction being determined. There is no difference in that they are aligned alternately for normal rotation and reverse rotation. However, each horizontal row 1-1 of the first stage,
The postures of the containers in each horizontal row of the second tier stacked on top of 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, etc. must be such that their orientations are opposite in their vertical relationship, as shown in Figure 1. Must be. Therefore, the fifth row 5-1, 5-2, 5- corresponds to the first row of the second row.
The orientation of each container in 3 and 5-4 is 1- in the first row of the first stage.
It is necessary to arrange the containers so as to be opposite to the directions of the corresponding containers in 1 to 1-4.

This means that if each row is an even number row in the horizontal direction, the fifth row corresponding to the first row of this second row
The posture of each container in the row is 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4 corresponding to the last row of the adjacent first row.
It will be placed exactly the same as -4. this is,
As is clear from Figure 2a, the same applies to the third row, and therefore the eighth
The column and the ninth column, which corresponds to the first column of the third column adjacent thereto, are arranged in exactly the same posture (pattern). In this way, if the width of the carton is such that containers of this type are packed in an even number rows in the horizontal direction, the cartons are conveyed onto the supply conveyor 21, which delivers them to the table 22 at the boxing position while maintaining the aligned posture of the packed state. The arrangement of each container is very complicated.

Normally, containers of this type are individually and continuously fed to such a supply conveyor 21 from another feed conveyor that crosses the feed conveyor 21 in a normal rotation state to form each of the above-mentioned rows. The containers are transferred onto the contact supply conveyor 21, and as described above, the containers are arranged alternately in forward rotation and reverse rotation in each row, and the pattern is changed from a predetermined row. In a transfer arrangement where this is repeated, it has been thought that it is very difficult to synchronize the timing of forward transfer and reverse transfer, and that it is difficult to perform this automatically. For this reason, conventionally, a specialized worker orients the containers arranged in an appropriate posture on the supply conveyor so that they can be boxed as described above, and sequentially supplies them onto the table 22 at the boxing position. As a result, the above-mentioned boxing of containers of this type is very time consuming and highly tiring for the workers, and if one container is oriented incorrectly, subsequent containers will all be stacked up, down, and up when packed into cartons. Full automation was desired because of the risk of not exhibiting the stacking and alignment pattern described above with adjacent containers on each side.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to rotate a bottomed container having a flange on the outer periphery of the opening with other bottomed containers adjacent above and below and on each side with the opening facing upward. The bottomed containers are arranged in such a way that they can be easily corrected to the arrangement state in which multi-stage boxing can be automatically carried out one by one by reversing the direction of the container and turning it downward. A feeding device will be provided.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the bottomed container alignment and feeding apparatus of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 3a to 3c show how the containers are aligned and fed on the supply conveyor 21 when containers with bottoms are boxed into the state shown in FIG. 1, with the openings of the containers facing upward, as in FIG. 2a. The forward rotation position is indicated by an ○ mark, and the downward inverted position is indicated by an × mark.

According to this alignment supply method, the supply conveyor 21
If a group of containers arranged in the transverse direction is one row or one row in the lateral direction, rows are sequentially formed in the longitudinal direction of the supply conveyor 21. At this time, as is clear from FIG. 3a, the orientation of the containers in each row is the same, but the orientation is different for each row. However, if the number of rows is an even number (4 rows in this embodiment) for one row packed in a box, the fifth row, that is, the row corresponding to the first row of the second row, as shown in FIG. From then on, in the first stage, in other words, each row is arranged with its direction alternately changed in a direction opposite to the corresponding row in the previous stage. That is, as is clear from FIG. 3a, the last row of the former stage and the first row of the latter stage are arranged in the same direction.

For convenience, we will use two rows, that is, two horizontal rows for one row.
If the double number of columns is one cycle column, the 1/2 cycle column will be the first stage, and the latter 1/2 cycle column will be the upper stage. Looking at this one-cycle train, the first-half 1/2-cycle train and the second-half 1/2-cycle train have the above-mentioned relationship, and such one-cycle trains appear on the supply conveyor 21 by repeating one after another. The containers are arranged in a line so that the containers are aligned. The apparatus of the present invention performs such alignment of containers on the supply conveyor 21.

The bottomed containers arranged in an array on the supply conveyor 21 as shown in FIG. The worker removes the containers for 1/2 cycle row from the frontmost end in the feeding direction once, and while operating the supply conveyor 21, the worker removes the containers at the top of the other rows that were not removed. The container is pressed down to prevent its progress and the entire vertical row of containers is allowed to slide on the conveyor belt, and in the meantime, subsequent containers are sequentially fed into the space that has been removed by so-called pressing and rearranged in a dense manner. be done.
Then, the first four rows after the realignment are placed on the movable table 22 at the boxing position, as shown in FIG. 3c. Thereafter, the next stage, that is, the top four rows, are always placed on standby at the front end of the supply conveyor in the feeding direction, lining up in a predetermined pattern so that the boxes are stacked in boxes as explained in Fig. 1. . Therefore, the arrangement of the bottomed containers on the supply conveyor 21 is first corrected only once (1/2 as described above).
Just remove the container for the cycle).
From then on, it is only necessary to arrange the containers on the supply conveyor 21 so that the orientation changes row by row and the above-described one-cycle row pattern is repeated.

In the container alignment and supply line described above, there were four horizontal rows of containers to be packed into boxes, but FIG. 4 shows an example where there are two horizontal rows during box packing. There is. In this case, the 1-cycle row is twice as many rows as the horizontal row for one row to be packed, so there are 4 rows, and the first row of the 1/2-cycle row in the first half is ), and the second column is 0 (normal rotation), the second half cycle column is the first column (third column)
is ○ (normal rotation), and the second column (fourth column) is × (reversed). Containers are then placed on the supply conveyor to repeat this one-cycle train pattern.
Then, only during the first run, the first container for each interval of the longitudinal rows is removed from the feed conveyor for 1/2 cycle row, i.e. two containers each, and thereafter the feed conveyor is operated continuously as described above. While supplying new containers, the containers are rearranged and moved onto the movable table 22 in this state.

In this way, the containers to be placed on the supply conveyor are all arranged in the same direction for each row, that is, in forward or reverse rotation, and the orientation is alternately changed for each row, and the containers are placed horizontally for one row to be packed. direction column 2
If the double number of rows is taken as one cycle row, the orientation of the containers in each row for the latter 1/2 cycle row may be set to be opposite to the first half 1/2 cycle row. Then, the containers may be arranged and aligned on the supply conveyor so that a one-cycle train consisting of such a pattern is sequentially and repeatedly displayed. A bottomed container aligning and feeding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention that accomplishes this is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Bottomed container alignment and feeding device 20 shown in these figures
includes a supply conveyor 21 having a width capable of arranging a plurality of bottomed containers in a transverse direction. As described above, the supply conveyor 21 is conveniently arranged so that when the containers on the conveyor are closely rearranged, the containers at the forefront in the feeding direction are stopped and the subsequent containers are advanced by so-called pressing. It consists of a so-called net conveyor in which the belt is formed from a net-like material. According to this, when a slight advance prevention force is applied to the containers on the supply conveyor, the conveyor belt does not easily slip against the containers and disturb the alignment of the containers. ,
Subsequent containers can be advanced quickly.

Near the rear end of the supply conveyor 21 in the feeding direction, that is, the inlet end, two conveyors 25 are arranged above and across the supply conveyor.
These conveyors are conveniently referred to as cross conveyors because they intersect with the supply conveyor. This cross conveyor 25 transports the containers in a line in a normal rotation state. Each cross conveyor 25 is provided with stoppers 26a, 26b, 27a, and 27b, each consisting of a cylinder-piston device, located near the side of the supply conveyor 21. Among these stoppers, stoppers 26a and 27a are installed horizontally on the conveyor at the end of the cross conveyor on one side of the supply conveyor 21, and their piston rods protrude so as to come into contact with the front side of the advancing containers. be done. Further, on the cross conveyor on the other side of the supply conveyor 21, a piston rod is arranged so as to be inclined downwardly above the conveyor belt so as not to obstruct the advancing containers. It extends into the opening and protrudes to abut against the inner wall. This state is the seventh
This becomes clearer by referring to Figures a and b. Figure 7 a and b show one cross conveyor 2.
Although the operation of the stoppers 26a and 26b in Fig. 5 will be explained, the structure of the other cross conveyor is the same.

Referring to FIGS. 7a and 7b, containers 30 are continuously conveyed in a line by this cross conveyor 25,
When entering the upper area of the supply conveyor 21, a phototube device 29 attached to a gate 28 provided at the entrance of the area detects the number, and when a predetermined number (16 in this embodiment) is reached, a cross is detected. The operation of the conveyor 24 is stopped. At this time, the stopper 26a at the tip of the cross conveyor has its rod protruding and positions the advancing container at a predetermined position.

When the cross conveyor 25 stops, the stopper 2
Rod 6a retracts, and at the same time, stopper 2
The rod 6b protrudes and pushes back the following container,
The containers positioned in the upper region of the supply conveyor 21 are separated. In this way, it is arranged on the cross conveyor in the area on the conveyor belt of the supply conveyor 21, and the escape intervals 31, 3 are arranged in front and behind the conveyor belt of the supply conveyor 21.
A predetermined group of containers 2 formed therein is dropped to the side of the cross conveyor by a transfer device 33 provided on the cross conveyor.

This transfer device will be explained again with reference to FIGS. 5 and 8. Since the transfer devices 33 installed in each cross conveyor 25 are structurally the same, one of them will be explained. The transfer device 33 is a transfer device 33 that carries containers aligned along the cross conveyor over the upper region of the supply conveyor in the cross conveyor 25. It includes a rotatable rod 35 located above 30. A number of fingers 36 (15 fingers in this embodiment) corresponding to the plurality of containers arranged in the area are attached to the rod 35 and extend laterally of the rod. As the rod 35 rotates, each of the free ends 37 of these fingers 36 enters the opening of the container and applies a force to the container that causes the container to slide off to the side of the cross conveyor.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 9a, the containers 30 that were lined up in a row on the cross conveyor are placed on the side of the conveyor and on the falling side of the containers at every other container contact point. They are rotated so as to change their direction by 90 degrees by the baffle plate 38 (FIG. 9b), and are slid down from the cross conveyor sideways at almost the same time. At this time, as each container rotates, a state of mutual contact appears in which the diagonals of the containers are linearly connected. Therefore, the total length of the row becomes longer (displaced) than in the aligned state shown in FIG. However, in reality,
In order to reduce the amount of displacement as much as possible and to prevent the containers from being thrown off when the finger 36 rotates, the transfer device 3 is installed as shown in FIG.
The attachment position of each finger 36 to the rod 35 in 3 is shifted angularly little by little so that the outer finger 36 sequentially enters the container and drops to the side of the cross conveyor. In addition, the number attached to each container 30 in FIGS. 7a, b and 9a, b indicates the number of containers arranged at a predetermined position on the cross conveyor, and this number is the number of containers placed on the supply conveyor. It is also the number of containers in the horizontal row.
That is, in this embodiment, since the number of containers placed in one row in the horizontal direction on the supply conveyor 21 is 15, a corresponding number of containers are arranged in the upper region of the supply conveyor in the cross conveyor. Therefore, the number of fingers 36 in the transfer device 33 is 15 in total.

The 15 containers arranged on the cross conveyor 25 in this way change their directions and are slid down almost simultaneously to the side of the cross conveyor. A wide chute 39 is provided.
This chute 39, as schematically shown in FIG. The outlet section 40 communicates with a chute 41 provided on the other cross conveyor 25. This chute 41 is simply formed by a gently sloped passageway in order to transfer the containers aligned on the other cross conveyor 25 onto the supply conveyor 21 while maintaining normal rotation.

Thereby, by selectively operating one cross conveyor 25 and its transfer device 33 or the other cross conveyor 25 and its transfer device 33 as appropriate, containers in the horizontal rows in the same direction for each row. The direction of each row can be changed, or adjacent rows can be freely arranged in the same direction at once. Therefore, the operation timings of one cross conveyor 25 and its transfer device 33 and the other cross conveyor 25 and its transfer device 33 are arranged on the supply conveyor 21 using various conventionally known cam devices or electrical control devices. It can be easily taken depending on the pattern to be used.

In this way, the containers 30 arranged on the supply conveyor 21 by repeating one cycle row as shown in FIG. 3a by the bottomed container arrangement and supply apparatus 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention are They are realigned in the manner described with reference to that figure, and a predetermined number of rows are sent onto the movable table 22 and positioned. Meanwhile, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the empty carton or box 23 is placed in the entrance section 42 directly below the movable table retracted position (FIG. 5);
It is then moved laterally by a carton pusher 34 to a cartoning position. Here, carton 23 is
The bottom of the carton table 45 is supported by the carton table 45, which is movable up and down by the cam disk 43 and the links 44a and 44b.

Thus, when the carton 23 is placed directly under the movable table 22 holding the containers in a predetermined pattern alignment state, the magnet provided in the magnetic holding device 24 is lowered and the containers aligned on the movable table 22 are moved. is attracted by magnetic force while retaining its pattern. Next, the movable table 22 is pulled rearward (to the left in FIG. 6), and the magnetic holding device 2 is thereby
4 descends and enters the carton 23 positioned directly below it, and the magnet provided in the magnetic holding device 24 rises to separate the aligned containers from the magnetic holding device and pack them into the carton 23. This process is repeated sequentially, and as a result, carton 2
As shown in FIG. 1, the containers packed in the container 3 are stacked and aligned with the containers adjacent above and below and on each side mutually in opposite directions, that is, in a forward or reversed state. Thereafter, as the stacking of containers progresses inside the carton 23, the link 44a is pushed down by the action of the cam disk 43 rotated by the motor 46, and the carton table 45 is constantly moved by the lowered carton table 45. It is positioned at the proper position.

Note that when the containers arranged on the movable table 22 are packed into boxes, that is, when the magnetic holding device 24 starts to be operated, as shown in FIGS. Stop device 47 located on the conveyor near the end
The advance of the container on the supply conveyor is stopped by . This stopper device 47 is connected to the supply conveyor 2.
It has a frame consisting of a side plate 47a erected on each side of the frame 1 and a cover 47b bridging between the side plate 47a and the upper end of the side plate 47a. A cylinder piston device 47c is attached to at least one of the two side plates 47a, and the movement of the piston of the cylinder piston device 47c is transmitted to a support 48 held within the frame by a link device. Gives vertical movement. This support body 48 includes rods 49, 5 which are vertically slidably supported.
has 0. One rod 49 is arranged in the width direction of the supply conveyor 21 in a number corresponding to the number of containers so as to contact each container in the front row of the supply conveyor 21, and the other rod 50 is arranged in the width direction of each container in the second row. They are similarly arranged so as to be in contact with each other.
A magnet is embedded in the lower end of the front rod 49 to ensure reliable adsorption when it comes into contact with the container. Incidentally, if a magnet is also embedded in the lower end of the rear rod 50, the adsorption becomes even more reliable.

According to such a stopper device 47, when the magnetic holding device 24 is lowered, the cylinder piston device 4
7c, the support body 48 is simultaneously lowered, and as shown in FIG. 10b, the rod 49 enters the inside of the container in the forward rotation state of the container in the front row of the supply conveyor, and becomes suspended from the support body 48. .
On the other hand, the inverted container rests against the bottom of the container, as shown by the rod 50 for the second row of containers. Then, at least by the action of the magnet at the lower end of each of the front rods 49, the containers are firmly attracted and the subsequent containers are stopped from advancing. Next, the entire frame of the stopper device 47 is moved by a cylinder-piston device 51 (FIG. 6) installed behind it in a direction opposite to the feeding direction via a link device. As a result, the entire container on the supply conveyor 21 is moved slightly backward, and the movable table 22
Contact with the upper alignment container is broken. Thereby, the magnetic holding device 24 can be lowered without any trouble after the movable table 22 is retracted.

As described above, a large number of containers 30 are placed in the carton 23.
When the carton 2 is packed in a predetermined pattern,
3 is sent to a transport conveyor 53 via a downwardly inclined roller conveyor 52, and is carried out from this boxing device.

As explained above, according to the bottomed container alignment and feeding device of the present invention, the bottomed container having the flange portion on the outer periphery of the opening is aligned with other bottomed containers adjacent to each other on the upper and lower sides and on each side. This makes it possible to carry out aligned feeding prior to realigning the containers on the feeding conveyor in the case of packaging the containers in an inverted and inverted state. That is, according to the apparatus for arranging and supplying containers with bottoms of the present invention, the containers with bottoms can be repeatedly rotated forward and reversed in each row on the supply conveyor, or can be selectively arranged. Since the above-mentioned unique boxing pattern can be made to appear at the boxing position with an extremely easy operation from the state, as a result, this type of boxing can be performed mechanically and automatically.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the stacked arrangement of containers with bottoms to be boxed, and Figures 2a and b are schematic illustrations of the orientation (direction) of containers in the conventional method, showing part of the supply conveyor and the boxing position. FIG. 3a is a schematic plan view and side view shown on a movable table of FIG. A plan view schematically shown in the same manner as
Figures 3b and c are Figure 2a, which shows the arrangement modified from the arrangement shown in Figure 3a to the alignment for packaging.
Fig. 4 is a plan view similar to Fig. 3c in the case where there are two horizontal rows of containers to be boxed, and Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the bottomed container alignment and feeding device of the present invention. Figure 6 is a side view of the apparatus shown in Figure 5, Figures 7a and b are side views schematically showing a cross conveyor for transferring containers to the supply conveyor, and Figure 8 is a side view of the cross conveyor. A cross-sectional view of the transfer device installed at the top taken along the - line in FIG. 5, and FIGS. FIG. 10a is a plan view schematically showing the state of dropping the
Figures b, c, and d are side views schematically showing stopper devices for blocking the advance of containers on a supply conveyor during boxing of containers arranged on a movable table in the order of their operation. 20...bottomed container alignment and supply device, 21...supply conveyor, 22...movable table, 23...carton, 24...magnetic holding device, 25...cross conveyor, 30...bottomed container, 33... Transfer device, 36...Finger, 41...Shoot, 47
...stopper device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A supply conveyor having a width that allows a plurality of containers with bottoms to be arranged in a row in the transverse direction, and a first and second conveyor that crosses over the supply conveyor near the rear end of the supply conveyor in the feeding direction. a second cross conveyor extending from a side of the first cross conveyor onto the supply conveyor and curved to invert and transfer bottomed containers dropped from the first cross conveyor to the supply conveyor; a chute, a chute that extends from a side of the second cross conveyor onto the supply conveyor and transfers a container with a bottom that is dropped from the second cross conveyor to the supply conveyor in a normal rotation state; and a transfer device provided along each of the first and second cross conveyors for selectively dropping bottomed containers arranged in a row on each of the second cross conveyors into the respective chute. , each of the two transfer devices comprises a rod disposed above the first and second cross conveyors and a predetermined number of fingers attached to the rod, and the rotation of the rod causes A bottomed container alignment and supply device characterized in that the bottomed containers aligned on the cross conveyor are dropped into the chute on the side of the cross conveyor by the rotated fingers. 2. The bottomed container alignment and supply device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of fingers are attached to the rod at different angles with respect to adjacent fingers. Feeding device.