JPH05201405A - Cylindrical body transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatize transfer of cylindrical bodies by a method wherein transferring the cylindrical bodies such as collapsible tubes to a number of tube-housing chambers formed in gratings with partitions in a case is operated with a structure of turret that turns while supporting lines of tube-holding heads. CONSTITUTION:A transfer device 6 provided in an encasing machine for encasing collapsible tubes 1 delivered from a production line into a case 2 in which a number of tube-housing chambers are arranged in gratings with partitions is equipped with a number of heads 15 for carrying the tubes 1 arranged in a line on a tube delivery conveyer toward the case in a case carrying system and is made up in a structure of turret that turns the heads 15 on a horizontal plane. Each of the heads 15 is equipped with a rod member 18 in the diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the tube 1. The heads 15 are so arranged in lines that each of the lines has several heads, and the lines are arranged at intervals of angles of 90 degrees each. The heads in each of the lines are mounted on stays 23 and 24 through head pitch-changing devices 25.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cylindrical delivery device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A tube, which is a cylindrical body filled with toothpaste or the like, is discharged from a production line in a state where its spout is closed with a cap and the rear part is opened. This tube is
Next, it is supplied to a filling line, filled with contents from an opening, sealed, and then shipped.

In order to transport the tubes from the production line to the filling line, a box in which a large number of tube storage chambers are formed by grid-like partitions is used. That is, the tubes coming out from the manufacturing line are inserted into the tube storage chambers one by one with their directions aligned. The tube storage chamber of the box is extremely narrow, and the partition can move with respect to the box body, so the tubes are packed manually and the tubes, dividers, and box body are inserted when inserting the tubes into each tube storage chamber. Avoid scratching. Once the tube has been inserted, it is capped and then transported to the filling line.

[0004]

However, the work of manually transferring the tubes from the tube manufacturing line to the box as described above is time-consuming and inefficient, and both the manufacturing line and the filling line are hindered. Have the problem of coming.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem by automating the delivery work of a cylindrical body such as a tube.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention holds each cylinder by entering it into each cylinder which is erected with the opening on the upper side and arranged at a constant pitch. A row of heads, a turret that rotates while supporting the row of heads to move the cylindrical body to a predetermined location, and the turret that converts the pitch of the head between the constant pitch and another constant pitch. The configuration of a cylindrical body delivery device including a head pitch variable mechanism interposed between the head and the head is adopted.

[0007]

The turret pivots between the standing position of the cylinder and other positions, moving the head between them.

During its movement, the head holds the cylinder,
Release at another predetermined location. Further, the head pitch varying mechanism works to convert the row of heads between two kinds of pitches.
Therefore, the cylindrical body can be delivered to a predetermined place at desired intervals.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the cylindrical body transferring device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First of all, the tube which is a cylindrical body will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, each tube 1 has a cylindrical body 1a.
And a cap 1b for closing one end of the cylindrical body 1a. The other end of the cylindrical body 1a has an opening 1c, through which contents can be filled.

The box in which the tube 1 is to be housed is a box body 2 and a grid-like partition 3 inserted into the box body 2.
And a lid 4 that covers the box body 2. A large number of tube storage chambers 5 are formed in a box shape in the box body 2 by partitions 3.

This cylindrical body delivery device delivers the tube 1, which is a cylindrical body coming from the tube production line, into the box body 2, and is provided in the box 1 packaging machine. The tube packing machine is an empty box transport system for transporting an empty box from a position indicated by reference numeral A to a position indicated by reference numeral B in FIG. And a box for carrying the box main body 2 from which the lid 4 has been removed at position B to a position indicated by reference sign F via position E. It has a main body transport system.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cylindrical body transfer device 6 is provided at a position in parallel with the tube transfer conveyor 7 and the box transfer system in the middle of the box transfer system. Every time the box body 2 is intermittently fed, the tube 1 is inserted into the empty tube storage chamber 5,
As shown in FIG. 3, it is provided above the roller conveyor 8 that receives the box body 2. The roller conveyor 8 is incorporated in the box main body transport system and driven.

On one side of the roller conveyor 8, a tube unloading conveyor 7 coming from a tube manufacturing line (not shown) is arranged. The tube unloading conveyor 7 comprises a large number of pedestals 10 slidably mounted on a groove rail 9 in a row, and each pedestal 10 is provided with a hole into which the tube 1 can be inserted from the cap 1b side. ..

The tubes 1 are inserted into the respective pedestals 10 in the tube manufacturing line upstream of the groove rails 9, and the respective tubes 1 arrive at the cylindrical body transfer device 6 while standing upright on the respective pedestals 10. ..

A pair of stoppers 11 and 12 are provided on the side of the groove rail 9 opposite to the roller conveyor 8.
One stopper 11 is located upstream of the groove rail 9 and can be retracted onto the groove rail 9 by the air cylinder 13, and the other stopper 12 is located downstream of the groove rail 9 and above the groove rail 9 by the air cylinder 14. It is possible to appear in. A predetermined number of stoppers 11 and 12 are provided between them, that is, the same number as the one row of tube storage chambers (in this case, 10
The individual pedestals 10 are arranged at a predetermined interval so that they can be taken in.

Both stoppers 11 and 12 operate as follows. That is, the upstream stopper 11 is initially in a state of escaping from the groove rail 9 and the pedestal 10 holding the tube 1 is held.
Flows on the groove rail 9 and is blocked by the downstream stopper 12. When a sensor (not shown) detects that a predetermined number of pedestals 10 have flowed in between the stoppers 11 and 12, the upstream stopper 11 projects onto the groove rail 9 and the succeeding pedestal 1
Stop 0. As a result, a predetermined number of tubes 1 are taken in between the stoppers 11 and 12, and this is carried out by the head 15 described below. When the tube 1 is carried out, the stoppers 11 and 12 release the vacant pedestal 10, and the pedestal 1 holding the next tube 1 in the same manner as above.
Take 0.

A pusher 1 is provided between the stoppers 11 and 12.
6 is provided. The pusher 16 is the air cylinder 1.
The groove rail 9 is reciprocated from one side of the groove rail 9 to the other side by driving 7
The entire pedestal 10 between the two is pressed against the other side of the groove rail 9. By pressing with the pusher 16, the pedestals 10 are correctly aligned on a straight line.

The cylindrical body transfer device 6 is arranged above the roller conveyor 8 and conveys the row of tubes 1 arranged on the tube discharge conveyor 7 toward the box body 2 in the box body conveying system. A large number of heads 15 and a turret for turning the heads 15 are shown in FIGS. 5 to 8.

Each head 15 is, as shown in FIG.
A rod member 18 having a diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the tube 1 is provided. The rod member 18 is oriented vertically, and a nozzle hole 19 for blowing out air is provided at the lower end of the rod member 18.
The upper peripheral wall of the rod member 18 is covered with a flexible rubber sleeve 20, and the upper and lower ends of the sleeve 20 are bonded to the wall surface of the rod member 18. Therefore, the rod member 1
A cavity 21 is formed between the wall surface of 8 and the sleeve 20,
The wall surface of the rod member 18 has an air supply / exhaust hole 22 communicating with the cavity 21.
Is open.

The head 15 is, as shown in FIG.
0 lines are arranged in a line, and each line is 9 in the turret.
It is installed at 0 ° intervals. Turret is 90
Upper and lower disks are connected by stays 23 and 24 arranged at intervals, and are suspended above the roller conveyor 8 via a rotary drive shaft and a lifting cylinder (not shown).

Each row of heads 15 is attached to stays 23 and 24 and a disk through a head pitch varying mechanism 25 as shown in FIGS. That is, the upper and lower two guide rails 2 are provided on each stay 52 of the turret.
6 are horizontally fixed, and each upper and lower guide rail 2
A support member 27 of the head 15 is slidably engaged with the slider 6. The support member 27 of the head 15 is substantially U-shaped and is arranged so that its concave portion faces the outer circumference of the disk 28, and the head 15 has a rod 29 at an intermediate position of the lower arm portion 27b. Is hung through.
The rod 29 penetrates the lower disk 28 downward,
5 hangs from the lower disk 28.

Vertical plates 30 are fixed to the outer positions of the upper and lower arms 27a and 27b, and a guide rod 31 fixed horizontally to the stay 23 penetrates the vertical plates 30. The guide rod 31 is provided with a spacer 32 for regulating the distance between the adjacent support members 27. The length of the spacer 32 is set so that the distance between the heads 15 can be matched with the distance between the tube storage chambers 5 of the box body 2. A compression coil spring 33 is provided outside the spacer 32, and a stopper rod 34 is provided between adjacent vertical plates 30. For this reason, the support members 27 of the head 15 are separated from each other by the compression coil spring 33, and are always separated at a constant interval. This distance corresponds to the distance between the pedestal 10 and the tube 1 on the tube discharge conveyor 7.

An air cylinder 35 is laterally interposed between the outermost head support member 27 and the stay 23. When the air cylinder 35 is in the extended state, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, the head supporting members 27 are separated from each other by the force of the compression coil spring 33, and the air cylinder 35 is in the contracted state. At the time, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the head support member 27 approaches.

The above-mentioned cylindrical body transfer device operates as follows. The turret intermittently rotates counterclockwise or clockwise by 90 ° with the position shown in FIG. 1 as the intermittent stop position. The first row of the heads 15 faces the row of the tubes 1 sandwiched between the stoppers 11 and 12 on the tube unloading conveyor 7, and the pitch thereof is adjusted by the operation of the head pitch varying mechanism 25 on the tube unloading conveyor 7. It has the same pitch as 1.

Next, the first row of heads 15 is lowered together with the turret by the operation of the turret lifting cylinder, and is inserted into each tube 1 through its opening 1c.
Then, air is injected into the cavity 21 of the head 15 and the sleeve 20 swells to grip the tube 1 from the inside.

The turret rises again and repeats intermittent rotation of 90 ° twice, during which the head pitch varying mechanism 25 operates to change the distance between the heads 15 to the distance between the tube storage chambers 5 of the box body 2. Turret head 15
It moves down when the first row of is moved over the box body 2. At this time, the relative positions of the box body 2 and the partition 3 are regulated in the box body transport system, and the tubes 1 held by the heads 15 are smoothly stored in the tube storage chambers 5 in one row. Get in. When the tube 1 enters the tube storage chamber 5, air is discharged from the cavity 21 of the head 15 and air is jetted from the nozzle hole 19. This allows the tube 1
Moves away from the head 15 and reaches the bottom of the tube storage chamber 5.

After that, the turret is raised and the intermittent rotation is repeated twice to move the first row of the heads 15 onto the tube unloading conveyor 7 again. Further, during the movement, the head pitch varying mechanism 25 operates to change the interval between the heads 15 to the interval between the tubes 1 in the tube unloading conveyor 7.

The second to fourth rows of the head 15 are also
During the intermittent rotation of the turret, the tubes 1 are sequentially adsorbed in the same manner as the first row of the head 15 and sequentially inserted into the tube storage chamber 5 of the box body 2.

By repeating such operations, the tubes 1 are accommodated in all the tube accommodating chambers 5 of the box main body 2 and the full box main body 2 faces the discharge side in the box main body transport system. Be carried out.

[0031]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to quickly transfer a cylindrical body from one place to another while changing the pitch of the arrangement of the cylindrical bodies. In addition, the cylindrical body can be automatically inserted into a small storage room or the like without being damaged during delivery.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a tube packing machine provided with a cylindrical body transfer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a box used in the tube packaging machine.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion where the tube is delivered.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway elevation view of one head in the cylindrical body delivery device.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway plan view showing a variable head pitch mechanism of the turret of the cylindrical body delivery device in a state where the pitch is widened.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway plan view showing a variable head pitch mechanism of the turret of the cylindrical body delivery device in a state where the pitch is narrowed.

7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII in FIG.

8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Tube 1c ... Opening part 6 ... Cylindrical body delivery device 15 ... Head 25 ... Head pitch variable mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A row of heads that stand upright with their openings facing upwards and are arranged at a constant pitch to enter through the openings to hold the respective cylinders, and rotate while supporting the rows of the heads. A turret for moving the cylindrical body to a predetermined position, and a head pitch variable mechanism interposed between the turret and the head for converting the pitch of the head between the constant pitch and another constant pitch. A cylindrical body delivery device characterized by being included.