JPH0449045Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically and continuously feeding ointment tubes and the like in a random state to a small box filling machine that operates independently in the same direction.

[Conventional technology and problems]

Packaging machine manufacturers have already automated the entire process from the filling machine to the small box filling machine for ointment tubes. , it is possible to continuously supply it to a small box filling machine. However, this type of equipment is very expensive, and filling machines,
Currently, companies with equipment that operates independently, such as small box filling machines, still operate manually.

In other words, in the case of such a small box packing machine that operates independently, feeding ointment tubes made of metal (for example, aluminum) is difficult because the tubes move unevenly due to the shape of the tubes, so there is a risk of scratches on the surface during handling. Otherwise, it is difficult to automate because it causes dents, and therefore packaging machine manufacturers have not started manufacturing an automatic continuous feeding device for tubes to a small box filling machine that operates independently, and have to manually supply the tubes. supply was forced. In this manual process, the operator feeds the tubes to the bucket conveyor while aligning the direction of the tubes, but the task of feeding tubes while visually checking them to the bucket conveyor, which operates at high speed, is too difficult, and this type of There was a desire for automatic feeding to small box filling machines that operate independently.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and solves the problems of the prior art by simple and rational means, and provides a tube correct method compared to the conventional small box filling machine that operates independently. The purpose is to provide an inexpensive device that can automatically supply food according to its direction and orientation.

[Configuration of the invention] The configuration of the present invention that solves the problems of the prior art is as follows:
A trough equipped with a vibrating conveyance device such as a vibrator is provided at the bottom of the hopper that randomly accommodates tubes, and the tube conveyance lower end of this trough is connected to the upper end of the upper end of the main belt conveyor, which is tilted upward. A width guide is provided above the main belt conveyor to direct the tubes supplied from the trough to one side of the lower side of the main belt conveyor, and the width guide is connected to one side edge of the main belt conveyor. A guideway narrow enough for one tube to pass through is formed between the main belt conveyor and the main belt conveyor, which has a speed faster than that of the main belt conveyor, and ,
A round belt running in the same direction as this is arranged, and at the delivery end of the above-mentioned guideway, it consists of a group of drum-shaped rollers with a recess into which one tube can intervene, and the rollers are arranged sequentially as they reach the lower side. A plurality of sets of roller conveyors with increased conveyance speeds are provided in series, and on one side of the main belt conveyor and the roller conveyor group,
A return conveyor is provided to return the fallen tubes to the upper side of the conveyance side of the main belt conveyor, and the tubes are stored vertically in stacks via a chute at the tube conveyance end of the roller conveyor, and
An upper stocker is provided with a shutter that intermittently drops the tubes one by one starting from the lowest tube, and a stopper that prevents the next tube from falling, and one side of the lower part of the upper stocker is provided with a shutter that intermittently drops the tubes one by one from the lowest tube. A metal sensor is provided, and a reversing member is provided so as to be able to move forward and backward under the upper stocker, and is capable of moving forward and backward under the upper stocker. Below the member, the tubes are stacked vertically via a chute, and the lower part has a shutter that intermittently drops the tubes one by one starting from the lowest one, and a stopper that prevents the next tube from falling. The present invention is characterized in that a stocker is provided, and a bucket conveyor of a small box filling machine that moves in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tube is provided below the lower stocker.

〔Example〕

The details of the embodiments will be explained with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the ointment tube, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the entire device, Fig. 3 is a side view of the same as above, Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the guideway section, Fig. 5 is a partial side view, 6 is a side view of the impeller section, FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway front view of the roller conveyor section, FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway front view of the upper stocker section, and FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway side view of the same as above. FIG. 10 is a partially cutaway front view of the lower stocker section.

1 in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a tube 2 which has been filled with ointment and is composed of a synthetic resin cap 2a and a tube folded part 2b made of a metal plate.
A horizontal trough 4 is provided below the hopper 1, in which a vibrator 3 is installed at the bottom. The tube delivery end of this trough 4 faces above the upper side of a horizontal trough 6, which is equipped with a vibrator 5 at the bottom. The delivery end of this trough 6 is the tube 2
The lower conveyor side of the main belt conveyor 7 faces the upper end of the upper side of the main belt conveyor 7, which is inclined upward. 8 in the diagram
is a micro switch that detects the amount of overlap of the tubes 2 supplied from the trough 4 onto the trough 6,
The vibrator 3 is turned on and off in response to the detection signal from the microswitch 8, and the amount of tube on the trough 6 is kept constant.

As shown in FIG. 2, on the upper surface of the main belt conveyor 7, a draw guide 9 is disposed for guiding the tubes 2 supplied from the trough 6 to one side of the main belt conveyor 7 on the lower side of conveyance. A narrow guide path 7a through which one tube 2 passes is formed between one side edge of the main belt conveyor 7 and the width shifting guide 9. , is disposed on an endless round belt 10 that runs at a faster speed than the main belt conveyor 7 and moves in the same direction as the main belt conveyor 7, and furthermore, the guideway 7
Above this taxiway a, as shown in FIG.
A resilient impeller 11 is provided on top of the tube 2 to be carried and to push back the tube 2 to the upper side of the conveyance. This impeller 11 is rotated in the opposite direction to the conveying direction of the main belt conveyor 7, specifically, clockwise in the drawing.

As is clear from Figures 3 and 7, the taxiway 7
A plurality of sets of roller conveyors 13a, 13b, and 13c each consisting of 12 groups of drum-shaped rollers each having a recess 12a into which one tube 2 can be inserted are provided in series at the delivery end of a. As shown in FIG. 7, each of the rollers 12 is pivotally supported by a machine frame 14, and a shaft 15 having a low rate 15a on the outer periphery is provided at the center. A belt 16 is suspended in a delta shape around the belt 16, and a small diameter pulley 18 is provided on the shaft of a tension pulley 17 provided on each belt 16, and the small diameter pulley 18 on the upper side is connected to a motor via a belt 19. Connect to 20,
The upper tension pulley 17 and the intermediate small diameter pulley 18 are connected by a belt 21, and the intermediate tension pulley 17 and the lower diameter small diameter pulley 18 are further connected by a belt 22. Therefore, the conveyance speed of the intermediate roller conveyor 13b is faster than that of the upper roller conveyor 13a.
Further, the conveyance speed of the downstream roller conveyor 13c is faster than that of the intermediate roller conveyor 13b. In the figure, 23 is a motor, and this motor 23 rotates the round belt 10 and the impeller 11 in the same direction.

As is clear from FIGS. 2, 3, and 7, the main belt conveyor 7 and the roller conveyor 1
A horizontal return conveyor 24 that runs in the opposite direction to these is provided close to and slightly below one side of 3a, 13b, and 13c, and this return conveyor 24
The lower conveying side of the main belt conveyor 7 faces above the upper side of the main belt conveyor 7. A return guide 25 is disposed diagonally across the lower side of the return conveyor 24 and is used to transfer the tube 2 to be returned onto the main belt conveyor 7. As shown in FIG. 7, on both sides of the return conveyor 24 in the longitudinal direction,
A fall prevention plate 26 and a machine frame 14 are provided to prevent the fallen tube 2 from falling further onto the floor. In addition, the roller conveyors 13a, 13
On the other side of b, 13c, a receiving tray 27 is provided via a chute 28 for collecting the tubes 2 that fall on the side opposite to the return conveyor 24.
Reference numeral 29 in the figure is a sensor provided on the side of the return guide 25 on the slightly lower side.The sensor 29 detects the amount of tubes sent back from the return conveyor 24, controls the vibrator 5, and controls the main The amount of tubes on the belt conveyor 7 is kept almost constant.

At the tube delivery end of the downstream roller conveyor 13c, there is provided an upper stocker 31 in which the tubes 2 are vertically stacked one by one through a chute 30. As is clear from FIGS. 8 and 9, this upper stocker 31 has a flat container structure, and is configured so that the tube 2 flowing down from the chute 30 is accommodated in a recumbent position as shown in FIG. There is. A lower shutter 33 that opens and closes the opening by the action of a solenoid 32 is disposed at the lower end opening of the upper stocker 31, and a solenoid 34 is installed in the upper part of the upper stocker 31, leaving a storage capacity for one tube. An upper shutter 35 is provided which opens and closes the upper opening by its action.

Further, a sensor 36 for detecting the tube 2 is disposed on one side of the lower part of the upper stocker 31, and furthermore, a sensor 36 for detecting the tube 2 of the upper shutter 35 is provided.
Sensors 37 and 38 for detecting the tube are arranged at the top and bottom of about one length of the tube. This sensor 3
8 has the function of stopping the driving parts of the main belt conveyor 7 and roller conveyors 13a, 13b, and 13c when the sensor 38 detects the presence of the tube 2. Further, the sensor 37 slides on the chute 30 and the upper shutter 35
It has the function of detecting the tubes 2 placed on top, opening the upper shutter 35, and causing the tubes 2 to fall one by one onto the lower shutter 33 in a horizontal state.

Reference numeral 39 denotes a stopper disposed on the wide side plate side of the upper stocker 31. During operation, the lower end of the stopper 39 intervenes in the upper stocker 31 through an opening 40 provided at the lower side of the upper stocker 31, and the lower end of the stopper 39 intervenes in the upper stocker 31 from the lowest stage to the next The upper end of the stopper 39 is pivotally supported by a shaft 41 provided on the machine frame (not shown) so as to prevent the tube 2 of the step from falling. Although not particularly shown, the stopper 39 is provided with a reciprocating rotational motion by a solenoid or the like.

42 is a metal sensor disposed on one side of the lower part of the upper stocker 31;
2 has the function of detecting the tube folded portion 2b made of a metal plate of the tube 2. A reversing member 44 for the tube 2 having a solenoid 43 is provided on one side below the upper stocker 31 so as to be movable horizontally. Therefore, this reversal action member 4
When the upper stocker 4 advances, the tube folded part 2b side of the tube 2 from which the upper stocker 31 is ejected and falls comes into contact with the reversing action member 44, and when the upper stocker 31 moves out, it is arranged so that it does not come into contact with the tube 2 from which it ejects and falls. be.

A chute 45 is provided below the upper stocker 31 via the reversing member 44, and a lower stocker 46 is provided at the lower end of the chute 45, as shown in FIG. This lower stocker 46 is similar to the upper stocker 3 mentioned above.
It has exactly the same action and structure as 1, but
Since the tubes 2 whose directions are aligned are housed in the lower stocker 46, the metal sensor 42 of the upper stocker 31 is omitted. In the figure, 47 is a lower shutter, 48 is an upper shutter, 49, 50, and 51 are sensors, and 52 is a stopper. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, below the lower stocker 46, there is disposed a bucket conveyor 53 that is connected to a conventionally known regular box filling machine and that moves continuously.

[Effect]

Next, the operation will be explained based on the above embodiment.

First, when a large amount of tubes 2 are accommodated in the hopper 1, the tubes 2 in the hopper 1, which are in contact with the trough 4, are conveyed little by little onto the trough 6 by the vibration conveying action of the vibrator 3.
The weight of the tube supplied onto the trough 6 is detected by a micro switch 8, and the amount of tube on the trough 6 is kept constant while turning on and off the vibrator 3. Furthermore, the tube 2 on the trough 6 is
Due to the vibrating conveying action of the vibrator 5, they are sequentially transferred onto the main belt conveyor 7. The tube 2 on the main belt conveyor 7 moving in the direction of the arrow is guided to the guide path 7a while being conveyed along the width guide 9.

Since the guide path 7a formed between the round belt 10 provided along one edge of the main belt conveyor 7 and the width shifting guide 8 is narrow, the tubes 2 overlap as shown in FIG. Sometimes the impeller 11
Push the upper tube 2 back to the upper side by
Alternatively, the tube 2 on the taxiway 7a is dropped by climbing over the round belt 10 and falling onto the return conveyor 24.
Let be one column state.

The tube 2 that fell onto the return conveyor 24 is
It is sent in the opposite direction to the main belt conveyor 7 and returned to the upper side of the main belt conveyor 7 along the return guide 25. At this time, a sensor 29 installed near the return guide 25 detects the amount of tubes 2 being sent back, and controls the vibrator 5 on and off as appropriate to keep the amount of tubes on the main belt conveyor 7 constant. Try to keep it.

The tubes 2 on the guideway 7a are sequentially supplied onto the upper roller conveyor 13a, and if the tubes 2 overlap on the roller conveyor 13a as shown in FIG. It is dropped onto the conveyor 24 or the tray 27. Roller conveyors 13a, 13b, 13
Since the speed of tubes c is increased in stages, the tubes 2 on the roller conveyor are supplied to the chute 30 one by one with the interval between them gradually increasing. Tube 2, who skied down Chute 30, was the 8th
As shown in the figure, it is placed on an upper shutter 35 provided on an upper stocker 31 in a recumbent state.
The sensor 37 corresponding to the tube 2 detects the intervention of the tube 2, and this detection signal operates the solenoid 34, which opens the upper shutter 35 and holds the tube 2 in a horizontal state.
drop onto the lower shutter 33 provided at the bottom of the. In this way, the tubes 2 are stored one after another, and when the tubes 2 of the upper stocker 31 are detected by the sensor 38, the driving parts of the main belt conveyor 7 and roller conveyors 13a, 13b, and 13c are stopped.

On the other hand, due to the AND condition in which the sensors 36 and 38 respectively detect the tube 2, the stopper 39
The solenoid 32 is activated and assumes a position that prevents the tube 2 from falling from the lowest stage to the next stage.
The lower shutter 33 is opened by this action, and the tube 2 at the lowest stage is dropped and released as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. The discharged tube 2 slides down on the chute 45 and is supplied to the next lower stocker 46. Further, at the lower part of the upper stocker 31, a metal sensor 42 detects the tube folded portion 2b of the tube 2.
When the detection signal activates the solenoid 43, the reversing member 44 enters the drop zone of the tube 2, reversing the tube 2 as shown by the imaginary line in FIG.
Inside, the caps 2a of the tubes 2 are aligned toward the left in the paper.

Further, after the tube 2 is discharged from the upper stocker 31, when the lower shutter 33 returns to the closed state, the stopper 39 is withdrawn, and the tube groups in the next stage and above are lowered by one tube. When the sensor 38 no longer detects the tube 2, the main belt conveyor 7 and the roller conveyors 13a, 13b, 13c resume driving, and the tube 2 is supplied onto the upper shutter 35 as described above. The upper shutter 35 is opened and the tubes 2 are sequentially and continuously supplied into the upper stocker 31.

Then, the stopper 52 and the lower shutter 47 are activated by a signal from a timing cam (not shown) installed in the small box filling machine, and the tubes 2 are discharged one by one, and the tubes are placed in a fixed position on the bucket conveyor 53. 2 is inserted and supplied one by one.

〔effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(a) Unlike conventional small box filling machines that operate independently, tubes aligned in a certain direction can be automatically and continuously supplied, resulting in significant labor savings.

(b) With a simple configuration, random tubes can be arranged in a line and the tubes can be fed to the upper stocker with gaps between the tubes;
Stacking and storage in the upper stocker can be ensured.

(c) While transferring the tubes from the upper stocker to the lower stocker in a stacked manner, the reversing member operated by a metal sensor can reliably align the tubes in a fixed direction, and the structure is simple. .

(d) It is economical, as it can be easily incorporated into existing small box filling machines and existing equipment can be used effectively as is.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the ointment tube, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the entire device, Fig. 3 is a side view of the same as above, Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the guideway section, Fig. 5 is a partial side view, 6 is a side view of the impeller section, FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway front view of the roller conveyor section, FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway front view of the upper stocker section, and FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway side view of the same as above. FIG. 10 is a partially cutaway front view of the lower stocker section. 1...Hopper, 2...a, 2a...cap, 2b...tube folding part, 3...vibrator, 4...trough, 5...vibrator, 6...
Trough, 7... Main belt conveyor, 7a... Taxiway, 9... Crossing guide, 10... Round belt, 1
3a, 13b, 13c...Roller conveyor, 24
... Return conveyor, 25 ... Return guide, 30 ...
...Shoot, 31...Upper stocker, 33...
Lower shutter, 35... Upper shutter, 3
6, 37, 38...sensor, 39...stopper, 40...opening, 42...metal sensor, 44
... Reversing action member, 45 ... Shoot, 46 ...
Lower stocker, 47...Lower shutter, 48
...Upper shutter, 49,50,51...Sensor, 52...Stopper, 53...Bucket conveyor.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (a) A trough equipped with a vibrating conveyance device such as a vibrator is provided at the bottom of a hopper that stores tubes at random, and the lower end of the trough for tube conveyance is placed with the lower side of the tube facing upward. (b) At the top of the main belt conveyor, a purging guide is provided to guide the tubes supplied from the trough to the lower side of the main belt conveyor. A narrow guideway is formed between one side edge of the main belt conveyor and the width guide, and a guide path is narrow enough to allow one tube to pass through, and a guide path is formed along approximately the entire length of one side edge of the main belt conveyor. , a round belt having a speed higher than that of the main belt conveyor and running in the same direction as the main belt conveyor is installed; (c) a recess where one tube can intervene at the delivery end of the guideway; A plurality of sets of roller conveyors are arranged in series, each consisting of a group of drum-shaped rollers, and the conveying speed is gradually increased toward the lower side. (d) On one side of the main belt conveyor and the roller conveyor group , a return conveyor is provided to return the fallen tubes to the upper side of the conveyance side of the main belt conveyor; (e) the tubes are stored in stacks in a vertical direction via a chute at the tube conveyance end of the roller conveyor; An upper stocker is provided with a shutter that intermittently drops the tubes one by one starting from the lowest tube, and a stopper that prevents the next tube from falling, and one side of the lower part of the upper stocker is provided with a shutter that intermittently drops the tubes one by one from the lowest tube. A metal sensor is provided, and a reversing member is movably disposed below the upper stocker to abut the tube falling from the upper stocker and reverse it in response to a metal detection signal from the metal sensor; (f) further, Below this reversal action member, tubes are stacked vertically via a chute, and there is a shutter that intermittently drops the tubes one by one starting from the lowest one, and a stopper that prevents the next tube from falling. At the same time, a lower stocker with a
An automatic continuous feeding device for tubes to a small box filling machine, characterized in that a bucket conveyor for the small box filling machine is provided which moves in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tubes.