JPH059289Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a flap opener for opening the flap of a box such as a cardboard box.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, an inclined guide is placed on the conveyor that transports the box, and as the box moves, the tip of the guide is inserted into the underside of the flap, and the flap is closed while the box is being transported. A flap opener is known which is configured to gradually open using an inclined guide.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

All of the above-mentioned conventional flap openers open the flap during the process of transporting the box by a conveyor, and have the disadvantage of increasing the size of the device.

The present invention has been devised to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and provides a flap opener that can open the flap while the box remains in the stopped position.

[Means for solving problems]

The flap opener according to the present invention includes a pair of swingable suction mechanisms, and a flap opening rod that is longer than the distance between the bases of the flaps on both sides of the box body and is movable up and down and rotatable. The flaps are preliminarily opened by suctioning and swinging the flaps on both sides of the box, and the flap opening rod, which is arranged parallel to the ends of both flaps, rotates between the preliminarily opened flaps. The flaps of the box body are further opened by pressing the inner surfaces of both flaps and then lowering the flaps.

[Effect]

In the flap opener according to the present invention, the flap opening rod is rotated within the pre-opened flap to press the inner surface of the flap, and from this state the opening rod is lowered to forcibly open the flap of the box body in a fixed position. Open.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below with reference to illustrated embodiments. 1st
The figure is a front view of a flap opener according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view, and FIG. 3 is the same as in FIG. 2.
It is a sectional view along a line. A base 6 of the device is screwed into four screw shafts 4 that are rotatably supported on the machine frame 2. Therefore, when the screw shaft 4 is rotated by the handle 5 provided on one of the screw shafts 4, the rotation is transmitted to each screw shaft 4 via the chain 7, and the base 6 is rotated by the screw shaft 4. Go up and down against. A cylinder 8 is vertically fixed on the base 6, and a rotary actuator 14 is attached to a piston rod 10 that projects below the cylinder 8 via a bracket 12. Furthermore, a flap opening rod 16 is horizontally attached to the shaft 15 of the rotary actuator 14. A slide shaft 17 is attached to the bracket 12 to prevent rotation when the cylinder 8 moves up and down.

The flap opening rod 16 includes two sleeves 20 fixed to a bracket 18 attached to the shaft 15 of the rotary actuator 14, and two rods 22 slidably fitted into the sleeves 20. and a flap holding member 24 attached to the tip of each rod 22. As shown in FIG. 4, the flap holding member 24 includes a cylindrical portion 24a fitted to the tip of the rod 22, and
It has an enlarged portion 24b on the outer side thereof. The flap opening rod 16 having the above structure is designed so that the overall length can be adjusted by sliding both rods 22 within the sleeve 20.
The distance between the stepped portions 24c of the presser members 24 is adjusted so as to be approximately equal to or slightly longer than the distance between the bases of the flaps of the box that are opened. Note that instead of making the length of the flap opening rod 16 adjustable, opening rods of various lengths may be exchanged.

On the other hand, a frame 26 is provided on one side of the base 6.
A fixed slide shaft 28 and a rotatable screw shaft 30 are supported in parallel between the frames. The screw shaft 30 is provided with threads running in opposite directions, and a pair of brackets 32 are respectively screwed onto these threads. Both brackets 32 are slidably fitted to the slide shaft 28, and by rotating the screw shaft 30 with a handle 33, both brackets 32 are fitted onto the slide shaft 28.
8 and move toward or away from each other. A rotary advancing/retracting mechanism 34 is fixed below both brackets 32, respectively. These rotating forward/backward mechanisms 34 are made by integrating a cylinder and an actuator, and are capable of forward/backward movement and rotational movement.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the rotary forward/backward movement mechanism 34 includes a suction mechanism 42 having a suction cup 40 at its tip via an arm 38 fixed to a piston rod 36 that moves forward/backward and rotates during operation. is installed. The suction mechanism 42 is attached to be rotatable relative to the arm 38, is biased by a tension spring 44 provided at the end, and is stopped against a stopper 46 when not in operation. Also, sucker 4
0 is the main body 4 of the suction mechanism 42 so that it can follow the movement of the flap when opening the flap of the box.
It is designed so that it can be displaced relative to 8.

Next, the operation of the embodiment device having the above configuration will be explained. First, the screw shaft 4 on which the base 6 is supported is rotated by the handle 5, and the base 6 is positioned at a predetermined height relative to the box C from which the flap is opened. As shown in FIG. 7, the height is such that when the flaps F of the box C are preliminarily opened by the suction mechanism 42, the flap opening rod 16 does not interfere with these flaps F, and is set at a predetermined height. Angle (approximately
60°) is the height at which the axis of the flap opening rod 16 is located below the tip of the opened flap F. Further, the flap opening rod 16 is oriented in a direction parallel to the seam of both flaps F of the box body C to be opened.

On the other hand, a suction mechanism 42 is attached to a rotating forward/backward moving mechanism 34 supported on one side of the base 6.
is in a position where the suction cup 40 can be attracted to the flap F when the flap is moved forward, and does not interfere with the opened flap F when the flap is moved backward. By doing so, they are positioned so that the distance between them almost matches the width of the box C. Incidentally, the distance between the two does not necessarily have to match the width of the box C, and it goes without saying that it is sufficient as long as the suction cup 40 can be attached to the flap F and opened.

After the above arrangement, the box C is introduced from the left side in FIG. 1 by the case conveyor 50 and is supplied to a predetermined position.

First, the suction mechanism 42 is moved by the rotating forward/backward movement mechanism 34.
is moved forward, and the suction cup 40 is attracted to the flap F by a vacuum from a vacuum source (not shown) (the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 5). Next, the arm 38 of the rotary advancing/retracting mechanism 34 is swung approximately 60 degrees to preliminarily open the flap F (the state shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 5).

Thereafter, the flap opening rod 16, which is in the position shown in FIG. 7, is rotated 90 degrees. The length of this flap opening rod 16 is greater than the width of the box C, that is, the distance between the bases of the flaps F to be opened.
Both flaps F are expanded by more than 90° (see Figure 8). Note that once the flap pressing member 24 at the tip of the flap opening rod 16 comes into contact with the inner surface of the flap F, the flap F will not return to its original position. The suction mechanism 42 is made not to interfere with the opened flap F.

Next, the flap opening rod 16 is lowered to the upper surface of the box body C. Since both flap holding members 24 have enlarged portions 24b on the outer side of the cylindrical portions 24a, the step portion 24c between them forcibly opens the flap F below the horizontal (see FIG. 9).

As described above, in the device of this embodiment, the flap F can be opened reliably by the simple mechanism of rotating and lowering the flap opening rod 16, which has a length longer than the interval between the bases of the flap F to be opened. Moreover, since the flap F is bent more than horizontally, there is little risk that the flap F will return to its original position, and a flap guide for transporting the flap to the next process is not required. In addition, unlike in the past, in order to open the flap F while the box C is stopped, the device is further configured to rotate the rod. The operating range of the mechanism can be narrowed.

The device of this embodiment has an L-shaped layout in which the box is brought in from the left side in Figure 1 and discharged toward the back of the page, but the flap is not opened at the stop position of the box. Since this is done, any layout, such as a linear layout, is possible.

[Effect of idea]

As described above, according to the present invention, with an extremely simple structure, the flap can be opened reliably while the box is stopped.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a partially sectional front view of a flap opener according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially sectional side view, Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the - line in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a flap opening rod. Figure 5 showing an example of
FIG. 6 is a side view of the suction mechanism, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the suction mechanism, and FIGS. 7 to 9 are explanatory diagrams schematically showing the state in which the flap is opened. C...Box body, F...Flap, 16...Flap opening rod, 42...Adsorption mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] It is equipped with a pair of swingable suction mechanisms and a flap opening rod that is longer than the distance between the bases of the flaps on both sides of the box body and that can be raised and lowered as well as rotated. The flaps are pre-opened by attracting each other and swinging, and between the pre-opened flaps,
A flap opener characterized in that the flap opening rod arranged parallel to the ends of both flaps rotates to press the inner surfaces of both flaps, and then descends to further open the flaps of the box body.