JPH04142240A - Container positioning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit the dimensional errors of containers by any shape or of the same container to be corrected without the need of any replacement thereof by a method wherein a container mounting stand is supported by a support spring, lifting pins are made to project beyond the container mounting stand in response to the up and down motion of a lift driving stand supporting resiliently thereon a number of pins and various containers are placed and retained in their center. CONSTITUTION:A container positioning device 30 consists of a container mounting stand 31 and a lift driving stand 33 for supporting this container mounting stand 31 via a supporting spring 32. The container mounting stand 31 is provided with a number of pin holes conforming to the outer peripheral contour of various containers. The pins 36 having a pointed end directly below in the positions corresponding to the pin holes 101-413 of the container mounting stand 31 are resiliently supported by springs 37 in a vertically movable manner on the upper surface of the lift driving stand 33 on the side of the container mounting stand 31. As the lift driving stand 33 rises, the pins are passed through the pin holes 101-413 and project beyond the container mounting stand 31. When a container A mounted on the container mounting stand 31 is retained by a container retaining mechanism, only the pins 36 free from the load of the container A project. Of all the pins 36, the pins 36 corresponding to the outer periphery of the container A control and retain the container A in contact with the outer peripheral thereof to place it in the center.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improvements in container positioning devices used in rotary labeling machines.

(Prior art) As a conventional container positioning device, the Utility Model Publication No. 53-449
A device shown in Japanese Patent No. 51 has been proposed.

This conventional container positioning device will be explained with reference to FIG. (50) is a bottom locator as a container positioning device, and this bottom locator (50) is attached to a cylindrical body (
53) is screwed onto the opening (53) of this cylindrical body (53).
A) is formed to approximately match the outer circumferential shape of the container. A support member (54) that supports the bottom of the container is fitted into the opening (53a) so as to be able to rise and fall freely, and a spring (55) is elastically loaded between the support member (54) and the support base (51). However, normally, the upper surface of the cylindrical body (53) and the upper surface of the support member (54) are configured to coincide with each other due to the elastic force of the spring (55). For this reason, the container is positioned by placing the container on the support member (54), pressing and holding the container from above, and fitting the bottom of the container into the opening (53a) for positioning.

Therefore, when used for different containers, the cylindrical body (53) and support member (5
4) and was used for positioning.

In addition, as another conventional container positioning device for positioning a cylindrical container, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 35-14741, the upper end is inserted into a radial guiding elongated hole drilled in a rotary base plate. Push-in rods that are inserted and protruded and whose lower ends are attached to a push-opening plate that can be raised and lowered are connected to each other by springs, and these push-off rods are spread and approached by the vertical movement of the push-opening plate and placed on a rotating platform. Container positioning devices have been proposed that perform positioning according to the size of the container.

Furthermore, in the container positioning device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-43532, a centering holding pin is fixed to a container holding plate and its holding plate, and the holding pin can penetrate through this holding plate. It is provided with an upper article mounting plate having a cutout or hole, and these holding plates and centering holding pins are replaced for each type of container depending on the container.

[M1ll that the invention seeks to solve] However, with conventional container positioning devices, it is necessary to replace the bottle guide and bottom locator for positioning each time the container shape changes, which not only reduces work efficiency but also requires a large number of bottle guides and bottom locators for each container. A bottle guide and bottom locator had to be prepared, which caused problems such as increased costs.

The present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and provides container positioning with a simple structure that eliminates the need to replace containers of any shape and that allows container errors to be easily corrected even if the containers are the same. It provides equipment.

[Means to solve the problem]

The container positioning device according to the present invention includes a container mounting table in which a large number of pin holes are drilled to regulate the outer periphery of various containers, a container mounting table supported via a support spring, and a container positioning table in which a large number of pin holes are bored to regulate the outer periphery of various containers. It is equipped with an elevating drive platform that elastically supports a large number of pins that are inserted into the elevating l! ! These lifting pins are made to protrude from above the container mounting table as the driving table moves up and down,
Various containers placed on this container mounting table are centered and held.

[Effect]

In the container positioning device according to the present invention, when attaching labels to various containers, the elevating drive platform rises and a large number of pins protrude from the container mounting platform on which the containers are placed through the pin holes. By centering and engaging the container against the outer periphery of the container, it is precisely positioned to accommodate a wide variety of containers with different shapes.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below with reference to illustrated embodiments. Figure 1 (A
) and (B) are respectively a front view showing the configuration of a labeling machine incorporating a container positioning device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a sectional view of the rotation mechanism of the labeling machine, and 's2 is a sectional view of the rotating mechanism of the labeling machine. Cross-sectional view showing the positioning device, ′
! Figure J3 is an enlarged sectional view of the main part of Figure 's2.

's1 In diagram (^), (1) is the supply conveyor that supplies containers A, (2) is a series of discharge conveyors forming an extension of this conveyor, and (3) is the machine platform (4) that these conveyors traverse. The rotating body (5) of the label pasting machine installed above rotates in synchronization with the timing screw (6) installed on the negative side of the supply conveyor (1), and is aligned at predetermined intervals by the timing screw (6). a co-feeding star wheel (7) that sequentially supplies the containers A to the rotating body (3);
) is a conventionally known label sticking mechanism provided on the machine base (4), (8) is a brush member provided downstream of this label sticking mechanism, and (9) is a brush member disposed on the rotary body (3). Conveyor(
2) Discharge side star wheel for discharging container A upwards, (1
0) is a guide located between both star wheels <5) and (9) to guide the delivery and reception of the container A between the supply conveyors (1) and (2) and the rotating body (3).

However, in FIG. 1(B), (11) is a vertically arranged and fixed main shaft, and a pair of disc-shaped cam plates (12) and (13) are fixed to the upper and lower ends of this main shaft. A disk (15) to which a horizontal table portion (16) is screwed is fixed to a cylinder (14) rotatably attached to the main shaft between both cam plates. 15) constitutes the rotating body (3). The rotating body (3) is configured to be rotated about the axis of the main shaft (11) by a drive source (not shown) via a rotating gear (17) fixed to the disk (15). There is.

As will be described in detail later, on the table portion (16) of the disc (15) constituting the rotating body (3), the containers A that are sequentially supplied by the supply star wheel (5) are placed. Container positioning device (30
) are arranged at equal intervals, and on the other hand, above the table part (16) of the disc (15), the upper end of the container is held at a position directly above each container positioning device (30) and pressed downward. A container holding mechanism (18) is provided.

In addition, in FIG. 2, the table part (1
6) Below, there is a cylindrical part (15) extending from the disc (15).
5a) is formed vertically, and this cylindrical part (15a)
The rotary gear (17) is screwed onto the lower end of the rotary gear (17), and a driving force from a drive source (not shown) is transmitted to the rotating body (3) via the rotary gear (17). (15b) is a support portion formed at the upper end of the cylindrical portion (15a) and provided with a hole (15c).

A support shaft (20) is rotatably fitted into the cylindrical portion (15a), and the lower end of the support shaft (20) has a cam groove (12a) formed in the cam plate (12). ), and one end of a support arm (22) is fitted into the upper end of the support shaft (20). A hollow shaft portion (23) formed at the other end of the support arm portion (22) is fitted to the table portion (16) via a bearing (24) so as to be relatively rotatable. ) The lifting drive stand (33) of the container positioning device (30) is fitted into the upper part and is fixed to the container mounting stand (31).

However, the driving force from the drive source (not shown) is transmitted to the rotating gear (1
7), the rotating body (3) rotates, and the driven force of the cam follower (21) engaged with the cam groove (12a) is transmitted to the support arm (22) via the support shaft (20). The container mounting table (31) is driven in conjunction with the rotating body (3).

The container positioning device (30) is connected to the container mounting table (31).
and an elevating drive platform (33) that supports the container mounting platform (31) via a support spring (32).

(See Figure 3). As shown in Fig. 4, this container mounting table (31) is provided with a large number of pin holes corresponding to the outer circumferential shapes of various containers, and is suitable for various types of containers, such as missing^, ~A6, hexagonal. Bottle Be, BT, square bottle [:a,
Cs, Ct. , pin holes are formed in sets corresponding to the outer peripheries of the oval bottles Dll+DI2+DI3 in a number necessary to maintain the stability of the containers. In Fig. 5, there are three pin holes for each kind of hole, corresponding to holes A, ~A, with different outer diameters, that is, hole A.
1, there are pin holes (101) (101) on its outer periphery,
(101) are provided at predetermined intervals, and similarly, in the '1iSS diagram, hexagonal bottles Be, BT
Only pin holes (206) and (207) corresponding to
In FIG. 7, only the pin holes (308), (309), and (310) corresponding to the square bottles C8, C9, and CIO are shown, and in FIG. Only pin holes (411), (412) and (413) corresponding to D+3 are shown, and these pin holes (101) to (413) are shown.
), one pin hole corresponds to the outer peripheral shape of multiple containers, such as pin holes (tol), (
3oa), pin holes (104), (30B), etc. All of these pin holes (101) to (413) are bored in the container mounting table (31) (see FIG. 4).

The elevating drive platform (33) has a pair of fan-shaped chuck holes (33a) drilled symmetrically with the center.
3a) is fitted into the fan-shaped protrusion (23a) formed at the upper end of the hollow shaft (23) of the support arm (22), and
An elevating shaft (34) vertically installed at the bottom of the elevating drive platform (33) is slidably fitted into the hollow shaft portion (23).
The lower end of the elevating shaft (34) passes through the hole (15c) of the support portion (15b) and comes into contact with an elevating cam (35) provided along the circumferential direction of the rotating body (3). (See Figures 3, 10, and 11). Therefore, the lifting shaft (34) moves up and down in accordance with the rotation of the rotating body (3), and the lifting drive platform (33) moves up and down (see Figure 9).
. Note that the lower surface (33b) of the elevating drive platform (33) abuts against the abutting portion (23b) of the hollow shaft (23), thereby restricting downward displacement. (23c) is the container mounting stand (3
This is a hole for fixing to 1).

Further, pin holes (101) to (4) of the container mounting base (31) are provided on the upper surface of the lifting drive base (33) on the container mounting base (31) side.
A pin (36) with a pointed end located directly below corresponding to
) is elastically supported so as to be movable up and down via a cover spring (37),
As the elevating drive platform (33) rises, the pin holes (101) ~
(413) and protrudes above the container mounting table (31) (see Fig. 3). This spring (37
) is set to have a predetermined biasing force regardless of the weight of any type of container placed on the container mounting table (31).

Therefore, when the container A placed on the container mounting table (31) by the supply side star wheel (5) has its upper end held by the container holding mechanism (18), the pin that comes into contact with the bottom of the container A In (3δ), only the pin (36) that does not receive pressure from the container mounting table (31) and is not subjected to the load of the container A held by the container holding mechanism (18) protrudes; among these protruding pins (3δ), A pin (36
) comes into contact with the outer periphery of the container A to regulate and hold the container A and at the same time perform centering. And container A
While the container A is being transferred to the labeling mechanism (A), the lifting drive platform (33) rises (←The container holding mechanism (18) further descends and supports the container A. The positional error of the rod container A placed on the mounting table (31) is also automatically corrected and centered by the upward stroke of the tip of the pin (36) having a resilient force.

Next, the operation of this container positioning device (3o) will be explained. When the container A is supplied onto the container mounting table (31) of the container positioning device (3o) by the supply star wheel (5), the container holding mechanism (18) holds the upper end of the container A. This container mounting table (31) has container A placed thereon, and the lifting drive table (33) is mounted on this container mounting table (31).
The lifting shaft (34), which rotates together with the rotating body (3) and slides on the lifting cam (35), rises and moves up and down the lifting drive platform (33) against the elastic force of the support spring (32).
) is displaced upward. As the elevating drive platform (33) rises, the pin (
36) tries to penetrate through the pin holes (lot) to (413) and protrude from the container mounting base (31), but the pin (36) corresponding to the bottom of container A is held by the container holding mechanism (18). Since the load of the container A exceeds the biasing force of the spring (37), the pin holes (101) to (413) contact the bottom of the container A. On the other hand, the pin (36) which is not subjected to the load of the container A All protrude from the container mounting table (31). These pins (3) projecting from the pin holes (101) to (413)
Since each of the containers 60 and 60 has a position corresponding to a predetermined outer circumferential shape depending on the type of each container, the container A is held in contact with the outer circumference of the container A, and at the same time, the container A is positioned and centered. Then, the container A that has been positioned and centered is placed on the container mounting table (
31), and while rotating together with the container mounting table (31), the container holding mechanism (18) descends to hold the container under pressure and is transferred to the label sticking mechanism (7), where the label is attached. Can be pasted. When the label is pasted on the container A, it is brushed by the brush member (8), and then the lifting drive platform (33) descends to release the holding of the container A, and the container A is moved to the discharge side star wheel ( 9) and discharged to the discharge conveyor (2). In addition, in the above embodiment, the container mounting table (31) that rotates together with the rotating body (3) is used as the rotation mechanism for rotating the container A during labeling, but the mechanism is not limited to this. It goes without saying that the container holding mechanism for holding the upper end of the container A may be configured as a container rotation mechanism. Furthermore, if the container is large, container rotation mechanisms may be provided above and below.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the pin hole (1) of the container mounting table (31)
01) to (413) have been described for containers with different peripheral shapes, such as hexagonal bottles, square bottles, and oval bottles, but they are not limited to these, and can also be applied to various types of deformed bottles. Needless to say, in the above description, the container positioning device is applied to a rotary labeling mechanism, but it can also be incorporated into a part of a line-type labeling mechanism to hold and position various containers.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a container mounting table in which a large number of pin holes are drilled to regulate the outer periphery of various containers, this container mounting table is supported via a support spring, and each of the above-mentioned containers is supported via a support spring. An elevating drive platform is provided that elastically supports a number of pins that are fitted into pin holes so as to be able to rise and fall, and the elevating pins are made to protrude from above the container mounting table in response to the elevation of the elevating drive platform.
Since the various containers placed on this container mounting table are centered and held, it is possible to accurately position and hold even a variety of containers having different shapes without replacing the container mounting table. Errors in the position of the container can be easily corrected, which has the effect of improving work efficiency and reducing costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1(A) and 1(B) are a front view showing the overall configuration of a labeling machine incorporating a container positioning device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a cross section of the rotation mechanism of the labeling machine. 2 is a sectional view showing the container positioning device, FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the main part of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a container damaged by an embodiment of the present invention. A plan view showing the container mounting table of the positioning device, Sections 5 to 8 are explanatory diagrams showing the positions of the pin holes of the container mounting table corresponding to various containers, and Fig. 9 shows the arrangement position of the lifting cam. FIG. 10 is an embodiment diagram showing the elevating drive platform of the container positioning device, FIG. 11 is an embodiment diagram showing the upper part of the hollow shaft portion into which the elevating drive platform is fitted, and FIG. 12 is a conventional It is a sectional view showing a bottom locator. (31): Container mounting stand, (32): Support spring, (3
3): Lifting drive platform, (36): Pin, (37):
Spring, (101) to (413) - Pin hole. Patent applicant Shibuya Kogyo Co., Ltd. Figure (A) Figure 1 (B) Figure Figure Figure 10 Figure 12

Claims (1)

[Claims] A container mounting table has a number of pin holes drilled therein to regulate the outer periphery of various containers, and this container mounting table is supported via a support spring, and a number of pins fitted into each of the pin holes can be raised and lowered. It is equipped with an elevating drive platform that is resiliently supported, and as the elevating drive platform moves up and down, these elevating pins are projected from above the container mounting platform to center and hold the various containers placed on the container mounting platform. Characteristic container positioning device.