JPH0464921B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <<Industrial Application Field>> The present invention relates to a packaging device suitable for packaging green onions, chives, and other slender plants, and more specifically, The present invention relates to a packaging device that supplies an elongated plant between finger claws that run at a predetermined interval in a direction, and then inserts the elongated plant into an open film for packaging.

<<Background of the Invention>> When attempting to automatically package elongated plants such as green onions, which have hard roots at one end and soft leaves at the other end, using a horizontal pillow packaging machine, it is difficult to wrap multiple green onions in a bundle. A pair of cross sections L with the roots located rearward in the direction of travel and slightly separated in the center
The rear end of the root of the long leek is fed onto the linear conveyance guide plate, connected to a pair of endless chains disposed on both sides of this guide plate, and is connected to a pair of endless chains disposed on both sides of this guide plate, and is connected to the rear end of the root of this long leek by a finger claw that protrudes upward from the center of both guide plates. The green onion is then pushed forward and inserted into the bag making machine from the front end of the green onion leaf to be packaged.

In other words, the reason why the roots are positioned backward in the direction of travel is that the finger claws push the roots from behind to position the green onions to be fed into the packaging machine. If the leaf is placed backwards, the tip of the leaf may be soft and bend, damaging the packaged item.If the tip of the leaf is open and a portion of it protrudes behind the finger nail, the leaf may be bent. This is because, since it is displaced backward from its normal position, it gets caught in the sealing part during the subsequent horizontal sealing in packaging, making it impossible to perform packaging correctly and causing defective packaging.

However, as described above, if the root part is positioned backward in the direction of travel and the green onion is pushed, the leaf part may be open when inserting the green onion into the bag making machine, or the green onion is usually curved, resulting in multiple pieces being bundled together. Since the leaves are grouped together on the root side, the leaf side is expanded and widened, so it may hit the entrance end of the bag making machine and not enter the bag making machine correctly, resulting in defective packaging. However, since automatic packaging cannot be performed reliably and accurately, there has been a desire to develop such an automatic packaging device.

The present invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to open leaves of long onions, chives, and other slender plants while maintaining a proper distance from their roots without damaging the leaves. It is an object of the present invention to provide a packaging device which can be inserted into a film and which can eliminate packaging defects as in the past.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above object, according to the device of the present invention, one end of a long onion or the like is relatively hard and the other end is relatively soft, and the other end is A conveyance means for conveying an elongated plant having a wider shape than the one end; a plurality of finger claws running in the same direction as the conveyance means at predetermined intervals; and a plurality of finger claws disposed on the front end side in the traveling direction of the conveyance means. means for forming a bag-like opening in a packaging film; vertical sealing and horizontal sealing means for the packaging film provided in front of the bag-like opening forming means in the direction of travel; and a cutter for cutting the horizontal seal of the packaging film. The conveying means is for conveying the elongated plant with one end in front, and is composed of a series of rollers rotatably mounted between a pair of endless chains, Near the unloading side of the means, an accelerating means consisting of a rotational force imparting member that contacts the upper or lower part of the roller group and rotates the roller group forward in the transport direction is provided, and the accelerating means rotates the roller The moving speed of the slender plants was increased by rotating the group, so that the front ends of the slender plants could be pressed against the fingers in front of them at the rear in the traveling direction of the bag-shaped opening forming means.

<<Function>> First, the object to be packaged on the conveyance means is conveyed with one relatively hard end facing forward. Therefore, when entering the bag-like opening forming means such as a bag-making machine located in front of the bag-forming machine, the bag is inserted from one end which is relatively hard and narrow, so it can be smoothly inserted without getting caught at the entrance. inserted.

Furthermore, the object to be packaged that is moving on the conveyance means is accelerated by the acceleration means disposed in the middle of the conveyance means.

Then, the object to be packaged moves relatively forward on the conveyance means, and one end of the object to be packaged comes into contact with the finger pawl located in front and is positioned. Thereby, the packaging process can be carried out reliably without getting the packaged item caught in the subsequent packaging process.

<<Examples>> Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The apparatus of the present invention is an improvement on the known packaging apparatus, and the main part thereof is the improvement in the part for inserting the articles to be packaged into the bag making machine while maintaining a predetermined interval.

FIG. 1 shows the above-mentioned main part of the present invention, and 1 indicates an endless chain, and this chain 1 is provided in pairs on the left and right, each chain being engaged with the front and rear sprockets 2-2, and moving in the direction of the arrow. It's starting to run. As shown in FIG. 2, the pair of left and right chains 1-1 are provided with rotatable rollers 3-3.
has been passed. The rotatable roller 3 is composed of a shaft portion 3a and a roller portion 3b.The shaft portion 3a and the roller portion 3b are integrally formed, and the shaft portion 3a is rotatably connected to the chain 1. It may be connected, or the shaft portion 3
a is fixed to the chain 1 and the roller part 3b
may be rotatable with respect to this shaft portion 3a.
The rotatable rollers 3 are arranged in groups at predetermined intervals, and between the rotatable roller groups, finger claws 4 project upward and are attached to the chain 1. The intervals between these finger claws 4-4 are relatively large, and a slender plant 5 such as a thin green onion, which is an object to be packaged, is placed between these finger claws 4-4, placed on the rotatable roller 3, and conveyed. It's getting old. In order to facilitate the work of inserting the elongated plant 5 between the finger claws 4-4, the interval between the finger claws 4-4 is made sufficiently longer than the length of the elongated plant 5.

Moreover, this elongated plant 5 has one end that is relatively hard (root) and the other end that is relatively soft (leaf),
And at least when multiple green onions are tied together,
One in which the other end is wider than the one end is applied. In other words, the leaves of green onions are generally open and wider than the roots, and even if they are not open, green onions are usually curved, and when viewed as a packaged product made up of multiple green onions, This means both when the leaf side is in an expanded state.

Further, a horizontal L-shaped guide frame 6-6 is provided on the left and right side edges of the rotatable roller 3-3 and slightly spaced upward. As a result, the elongated plant 5, which is the object to be packaged, is transferred to the rotatable roller 3-3.
At the top, it is prevented from spreading horizontally.

In the above-mentioned device of the present invention, a pair of left and right guide rails 7 is provided at the lower part in front of the chain 1-1 in the running direction, and as the chain 1-1 runs, the lower surface of the rotatable roller 3-3 is attached to the guide rails 7. The guide rail 7-7 is configured such that the upper surface of the guide rail 7-7 comes into pressure contact with the upper surface of the guide rail 7-7. When the lower surface of the rotatable roller 3-3 comes into contact with the guide rail 7-7 in this way, the frictional resistance between them causes the guide rail 7-
The rotatable roller 3-3 in contact with the chain 1-1 rotates in the same direction as the running direction of the chain 1-1, as shown in FIG.

A bag maker 8, which is a bag-shaped opening forming means, is provided adjacent to the front end of the chain 1-1. This bag making device 8 is generally used in a known horizontal pillow packaging machine, and is supplied from below and folds a packaging film 9 to form a bag shape in which both ends of the packaging film 9 are brought together in the shape of palms facing upward. It is something to do. An endless belt 10 is provided at the entrance of the bag-making device 8, and this allows the upwardly spreading leaves of the elongated plant 5, which is the object to be packaged, to enter the bag-making device 8 smoothly, as will be described later. This is to guide you while holding it down so that you can do it. A vertical sealing device 11 is provided in front of the bag-making device 8 for vertically sealing the upper end of the packaging film 9 that is folded together in the shape of palms. However, the horizontal pillow packaging machine is equipped with a known horizontal seal cutting device.

The above-mentioned device of the present invention has been specially developed for packaging elongated plants 5 such as long onions, and the packaging method will be described first. When putting in the elongated plant 5, its root part 5a is positioned at the front in the advancing direction. As a result, the elongated plant 5
is placed on a rotatable roller 3 installed between the chain 1-1, and has front and rear finger claws 4-
4, and is transported forward as the rotatable roller 3-3 moves. In this way, when the chain 1-1 travels forward and comes to the position of the guide rail 7-7, the rotatable roller 3 carrying the elongated plant 5 moves onto the guide rail 7-7.
ride on top. At this time, as the chain 1-1 travels, the rotatable roller 3 rotates forward in the traveling direction due to frictional resistance with the guide rail, as shown by the arrow in FIG.

As a result, the elongated plant 5 on the rotatable roller moves forward in the running chain 1-1, and the tip of the root portion 5a comes into contact with the finger claw 4. In this way, the elongated plants 5 that are sequentially fed into the bag making machine 8 by the conveyance chain 1-1 have their root tips attached to the finger claws 4.
It is positioned by being brought into contact with it, and is maintained at the correct position by keeping a predetermined distance. Once the root portion 5a is inserted into the bag making device 8, the wide leaf portion is guided by the inner surface of the bag making device 8 and smoothly enters the bag making device 8 while reducing its diameter. In addition, in this example, since the endless belt 10 is provided above the bag making device 8, if the leaf portion of the endless belt 10 protrudes upward, it can be pushed down and placed further inside the bag making device 8. It makes it easy to enter.

The slender plant 5 that has entered the bag making device 8 in this way
Thereafter, it moves forward together with the packaging film 9 while maintaining the correct position at the above-mentioned predetermined distance, and its upper edge is vertically sealed by a vertical sealing device in a known manner, and then horizontally sealed and cut. is,
A package of elongated plants is obtained which is entirely covered with the film 9.

When the guide rail 7-7 is used as the acceleration means as in this embodiment, there is no need to run a belt conveyor or the like in addition to the endless chain with finger claws, which simplifies the drive mechanism. be able to.

As described above, in the above embodiment of the present invention, the rotatable roller 3 and the guide rail 7 are used as means for pressing the elongated plant 5 against the finger claw 4 in front of it, but various other methods may be adopted. I can do it. As an example, an endless belt is provided in place of the guide rail 7 in the above embodiment, the upper surface of this endless belt is brought into contact with the lower surface of the rotatable roller 3, and this endless belt is moved in the opposite direction to the running direction of the chain 1-1. It may be driven. Alternatively, an endless belt may be installed at the upper end of the rotatable roller, with the lower surface of the belt in contact with the upper end surface of the roller, and the belt may be driven in the same direction as the chain runs.

In the illustrated embodiment, the finger claw 4-4
A rotatable roller 3-
However, it is not necessary to provide such a large number of rollers 3-3, and some of the rollers may be replaced with flat plates, or the number of rollers 3-3 may be reduced. In short, when the rotatable roller 3-3 is rotated by an accelerating means such as the guide rail 7-7, if the elongated plant placed on it is moved forward so as to come into contact with the front finger claw. It's good.

<<Effects>> As described above, in the packaging device for slender plants according to the present invention, the conveyance means of the packaging device is composed of a series of rollers rotatably mounted between a pair of endless chains, and the packaging device for slender plants is When conveying with one end forward, an accelerating means consisting of a rotational force imparting member that contacts the roller group and rotates the roller group forward in the conveying direction is provided near the discharge side of the conveying means. Even with such a simple configuration, the transport speed of the slender plant is relatively accelerated than the moving speed of the finger claws, and the front end of the slender plant is This allows the plant to be pressed against the finger claw, and when entering a bag-like opening forming means such as a bag-making machine, the other soft end of the elongated plant is smoothly inserted without being caught at the entrance.

In addition, since one hard end is in contact with the finger claw and maintained at a predetermined interval, the predetermined interval is maintained even in the bag-shaped film. will no longer stand out.

Furthermore, since one hard end (the tip of the root) is pressed against the finger nail, the alignment is more reliable than when the other soft end (the leaf) is pressed against the finger nail for alignment. Become.

In other words, this solves the problem that occurs when the packaged item has a special shape, such as a green onion, where one end is hard and the other end is soft, and the other soft end is wide. This makes it possible to reliably carry out automatic packaging work on such items, and to provide an automatic packaging apparatus that has been eagerly awaited.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the main parts of a device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the main parts of the device, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of the chain conveying means shown in FIG. 1. It is. 1... endless chain, 3... rotatable roller, 4... finger claw, 5... elongated plant,
7...Guide rail, 8...Bag making machine.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A means for transporting an elongated plant such as a long green onion, which has one end relatively hard and the other end relatively soft, and the other end is wider than the one end. , a plurality of finger claws that run at predetermined intervals in the same direction as the conveyance means, a means for forming a bag-like opening in a packaging film disposed on the front end side in the traveling direction of the conveyance means, and a bag-like opening formation means for the packaging film. In a packaging device comprising vertical sealing and lateral sealing means for the packaging film provided in the forward direction of the traveling direction of the means, and cutter means for cutting the lateral seal portion of the packaging film, the conveying means is located at one side of the elongated plant. It is conveyed with the end facing forward, and consists of a series of rollers rotatably mounted between a pair of endless chains. Near the discharge side of the conveyance means, there is an upper or lower part of the roller group. Providing an accelerating means consisting of a rotational force imparting member that contacts and rotates the roller group forward in the transport direction, the accelerating means rotates the roller group to increase the moving speed of the elongated plant, A packaging device for a slender plant, characterized in that the front end of the slender plant can be pressed against the finger in front of the bag-shaped opening forming means in the rear direction in the traveling direction.