JPH059354Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] "Industrial Application Field" The present invention relates to a capper, and more particularly to a capper in which containers are intermittently fed to a predetermined position by a star wheel and capping is performed at the stopped position.

"Prior Art" Conventionally, the above-mentioned capper is usually provided with a star wheel that rotates and transfers containers intermittently, and a container that is swingably provided in a horizontal plane and that is supplied to a predetermined position and stopped by the star wheel. a gripper that holds and releases the container; and a capping head that is movable up and down above the container held by the gripper and rotated by a rotational drive mechanism to cap the container held by the gripper. It is equipped with

In this type of capper, it is necessary to operate the star wheel, gripper, and capping head in synchronization, and the gripper holds and opens the container while the star wheel is not rotating. Further, it is necessary to carry out the capping operation using the capping head while the gripper is holding the container.

``Problems to be Solved by the Invention'' However, in conventional cappers of this type, two or more operating sources for the star wheel, gripper, and capping head are provided, and for example, it is difficult to detect when the star wheel has stopped rotating. When detected by a detector, a cylinder device linked to a gripper was operated to hold the container, and multiple actuation sources were synchronized, which had the disadvantage that it was not suitable for high-speed operation.

"Means for Solving the Problem" In view of such circumstances, the present invention is designed to enable the star wheel, gripper and capping head to be operated in synchronization with each other by a common motor. be.

That is, in the above-mentioned capacitor, the present invention interlocks the motor that continuously rotates the rotary indexing mechanism to the input side of the rotary indexing mechanism that converts continuous rotary motion into intermittent rotary motion, and also connects the above-mentioned star to the output side of the rotary indexing mechanism. The wheels are interlocked, and a cylindrical cam rotatably supported by the motor is interlocked, and the axis of this cylindrical cam is arranged in the vertical direction, and the cylindrical cam is arranged in parallel with the capping head at a position above the gripper. A cam follower, which is rotatably provided on the capping head and can be raised and lowered integrally with the capping head, is engaged with a first cam groove formed on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical cam, and the cam follower is rotated according to the rotation of the cylindrical cam. A second cam that moves up and down the chucking head, rotates integrally with the cylindrical cam, and has a cam surface that extends in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical cam, and the gripper is attached to the cam surface of the second cam. A swinging lever provided to be swingable in a horizontal plane at a position above is engaged, and the swinging lever and the gripper swinging in the horizontal plane above and below are connected via a rotating shaft arranged vertically. It is linked.

"Operation" According to such a configuration, the star wheel can be intermittently rotated by the motor via the rotary indexing mechanism, and the gripper is held and released by the rotation of the cylindrical cam by the motor. Since the pin head can be raised and lowered, it is possible to easily cope with high-speed operation by simply determining the synchronization relationship between them in advance.

``Example'' The present invention will be explained below with reference to the illustrated example.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, a container 1 is conveyed continuously or intermittently by a container conveyor 2, and is fed into a pocket 4 of a star wheel 3 that is stopped on the container conveyor 2. be done.

When a container 1 is supplied into the pocket 4 and detected by a detector (not shown), the star wheel 3 is rotated 90 degrees clockwise in FIG. 2, and the container 1 contained in the pocket 4 is moved along the arc-shaped fixed guide 5 to a cap fastening position A which is shifted 90 degrees from the supply position.

When the container 1 is fed to the cap tightening position A and stopped, the gripper 6 is oscillated to grip the container 1 between it and the inner peripheral surface of the pocket 4.
In this state, the capping head 7 descends while rotating.

A screw cap 8 is already fitted into the opening of the container 1 from a chute (not shown) while the container 1 is being conveyed on the container conveyor 3, and when the capping head 7 is lowered, the screw cap 8 is inserted into the opening of the container 1. When the upper part of the cap 8 is relatively inserted into the capping head 7, the capping head 7 holds the screw cap 8, and as the capping head 7 rotates, the screw cap 8 to the mouth of the container 1.

The capping head 7 is equipped with, for example, a conventionally known air clutch (not shown), and when the tightening torque of the screw cap 8 to the container 1 exceeds a predetermined torque, the air clutch slips and the screw cap 8 is not tightened. will be stopped.

In this state, the screw cap 8 is released from being held by the capping head 7 and the capping head 7 is raised. Next, when the gripper 6 is released from holding the container 1, the star wheel 3 is again rotated 90 degrees clockwise in FIG. 2, so the capped container 1 is moved onto the container conveyor 3 and transported to the next process.

In FIG. 3, the star wheel 3, gripper 6 and capping head 7 are operated synchronously by a common motor 10, and a sprocket attached to the rotating shaft 11 of the motor 10 An endless chain 15 is stretched between the sprocket 12 and the sprocket 14 attached to the cylindrical cam 13.

The cylindrical cam 13 is provided to synchronize the opening/closing operation of the gripper 6 and the lifting/lowering operation of the capping head 7. As shown in FIG. 1, the cylindrical cam 13 is rotatably supported vertically on a machine frame 18, and the sprocket 14 is attached to the upper part of the rotating shaft 19. A cam groove 20 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical cam 13, and a cam follower 21 of the capping head 7 is engaged with this cam groove 20.

The capping head 7 is connected to a lifting rod 22 which is vertically disposed on the machine frame 18 and is movable up and down.
and a chuck 23 for gripping the screw cap 8 provided at the lower end of the lifting rod 22, and the cam follower 21 is attached to a bracket 24 rotatably attached to the outer periphery of the lifting rod 22. .

The bracket 24, as shown in FIG.
It is attached to a guide rod 25 arranged parallel to the lifting rod 22 and fixed to the machine frame 18 so as to be able to rise and fall freely, and the bracket 24 is prevented from rotating relative to the machine frame 18 by the lifting rod 22 and the guide rod 25. This prevents the cam follower 21 from falling out of the cam groove 20.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the cylindrical cam 13
A cam plate 28 for opening and closing the gripper 6 is attached to the lower end surface of the cam plate 28, and a cam follower 30 attached to the tip of a swing lever 29 is brought into elastic contact with the outer peripheral surface of the cam plate 28, as shown in FIG. There is.

The swing lever 29 can swing around a rotating shaft 31 that is vertically disposed and supported on the machine frame 18, and the gripper 6 is attached to the rotating shaft 31.
is installed (see Figure 2). The swing lever 29 is biased counterclockwise in FIG. 5 by the tension spring 32, thereby keeping the cam follower 30 in elastic contact with the outer peripheral surface of the cam plate 28 at all times.

Further, a limit switch 33 is provided at the end of the swing lever 29, and the swing position of the swing lever 29, that is, the operating state of the gripper 6 can be detected by the limit switch 33.

Next, in FIG. 3, another sprocket 36 is attached to the upper part of the sprocket 14 attached to the rotating shaft 19 of the cylindrical cam 13, and an endless chain 37 extending over this sprocket 36 is connected to two more sprockets 38. , 39, and the endless chain 37 is connected by a chain tensioner 40.
A certain tension is applied to the

Of the two sprockets 38, 39 on which the endless chain 37 is hung, one sprocket 38
is attached to the input shaft 42 of a rotary indexing mechanism 41, which converts continuous rotary motion into intermittent rotary motion, such as a conventionally known index cam mechanism or Geneva gear mechanism.
As shown in FIG. 4, the sprocket 44 is attached to the star wheel 3, and the sprockets 44 and 45 are attached to the star wheel 3.
It is linked to the star wheel 3 via an endless chain 46 stretched across it.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the other sprocket 39 is adapted to rotate in conjunction with a gear 48, and this gear 48 is connected to a The gears 49 are engaged with each other. And the gear 48 is
Even when the elevating rod 22 is raised or lowered by the cylindrical cam 13, it has teeth of a required length in the vertical direction so that it can always remain in mesh with the gear 49. However, the capping head 7 can always be rotated.

In the above configuration, as described above, when the detector (not shown) detects that the container 1 is supplied into the pocket 4 of the star wheel 3, the motor 10
is activated to rotate the cylindrical cam 13, rotation indexing mechanism 41, and gear 48 all at once.

When the rotary indexing mechanism 41 is driven by the motor 10, the star wheel 3 interlocked therewith is intermittently rotated 90 degrees to move the container 1 housed in the pocket 4 to the cap tightening position A, When this occurs, even though the sprocket 38 on the input side of the rotary indexing mechanism 41 is continuously rotating, the star wheel 3 on the output side stops rotating and the container 1 is stopped at the cap tightening position A.

On the other hand, when the gear 48 is rotationally driven by the activation of the motor 10, the capping head 7 is rotationally driven via the gear 49 meshing with the gear 48, and the cylindrical cam is rotated by the activation of the motor 10. 13 and the cam plate 18 are rotated together, the swing lever 29 engaged with the cam plate 28 via the cam follower 30 is moved by the tension spring 3.
2 in the clockwise direction in FIG.

When the swing lever 29 is rotated, the gripper 6 is integrally swung clockwise in FIG. When the container 1 is supplied to the attached position A and stopped, the container 1 is immediately pressed and held between the inner circumferential surface of the pocket 4 in synchronization with this.

Further, due to the rotation of the cylindrical cam 13, the capping head 7 is lowered via the cam groove 20 and the cam follower 21, and the gripper 6 is moved downwardly toward the container.
When the container 1 is pressed and clamped, the screw cap 8 fitted into the mouth of the container 1 is relatively inserted into the capping head 7.

When the gripper 6 presses and clamps the container 1, the limit switch 33 detects the state from the swing position of the swing lever 29 and screws the cap 8 into the chuck 23 of the capping head 7.
, thereby holding the screw cap 8.
is screwed onto the mouth of the container 1.

As mentioned above, the capping head 7 is equipped with an air clutch (not shown), and when the tightening torque of the screw cap 8 to the container 1 exceeds a predetermined torque, the lifting rod 22 of the capping head 7 is moved to the gear 48. , 49, the chuck 23 holding the screw cap 8 is stopped from rotating by the slipping of the air clutch.

Next, the rotation of the cylindrical cam 13 and the cam plate 28 progresses, and the swing lever 29 is brought to a predetermined swing angle position by the limit switch 33, so that the cylindrical cam 13 and the cam plate 28 are brought to a predetermined rotation angle position. When this is detected, the holding of the screw cap 8 by the chuck 23 is released.

Thereafter, the capping head 7 is raised by the rotation of the cylindrical cam 13 and the cam plate 28, and the holding of the container 1 by the gripper 6 is released. By this time, a new container 1 has been supplied into the pocket 4 of the star wheel 3,
Therefore, the motor 10 is continuously moved to again rotate the star wheel 3 by 90 degrees clockwise in FIG. 2, thereby discharging the capped containers 1 onto the container transport conveyor 3. Place the new container 1 above at cap tightening position A.
supply to.

In the above embodiment, the motor 10 and gears 48, 49 are used as a rotational drive mechanism for rotating the capping head 7, but the rotation of the capping head 7 is controlled by the operation of the star wheel 3 and the gripper 6 and the capping head 7. Since it is not necessary to operate in synchronization with the raising and lowering of the pin head 7, a dedicated torque motor or the like can be used.

"Effects of the Invention" As described above, in the present invention, a common motor is used to drive the star wheel intermittently, hold and release the gripper, and lift and lower the capping head. The effect is that it is possible to maintain accurate synchronization and easily perform high-speed operation.

A cylindrical cam and a rotating shaft are arranged parallel to the axis of the capping head, and the capping head is raised and lowered by a first cam groove provided on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical cam, and the rotating shaft is used to raise and lower the capping head. The swinging levers and grippers arranged above and below are linked and are swung by a second cam that is integrally provided with the cylindrical cam, so that the lifting mechanism of the capping head and the gripper are The effect is that the swing mechanism can be configured rationally and compactly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a plan view of the 3rd part of the star wheel in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a schematic plan view showing the drive system, and Figure 4 is a plan view of the 3rd part of the star wheel in Figure 1.
FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing the drive system in a plane different from that shown in the figure, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the cam plate 28 portion of FIG. 1. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Container, 3...Star wheel, 6...Gripper, 7...Capping head, 10...Motor, 8...Screw cap, 13...Cylindrical cam, 20...Cam groove (first cam groove), 41...
Rotation indexing mechanism, 28... cam plate (second cam).

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A star wheel that rotates and transfers containers intermittently, and a gripper that is swingably provided in a horizontal plane and that holds and releases containers that are fed to a predetermined position and stopped by the star wheel. and a capping head that is movable up and down above the container held by the gripper and rotated by a rotational drive mechanism to cap the container held by the gripper, A motor for continuously rotating the rotary indexing mechanism that converts continuous rotary motion into intermittent rotary motion is interlocked with the input side of the rotary indexing mechanism, and the star wheel is interlocked with the output side of the rotary indexing mechanism; A rotatably supported cylindrical cam is interlocked with the cylindrical cam, and the axis of the cylindrical cam is arranged in the vertical direction, and the cylindrical cam is arranged in parallel with the capping head at a position above the gripper, and is rotatably attached to the capping head. and a cam follower integrally provided so as to be movable up and down is engaged with a first cam groove formed on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical cam to raise and lower the capping head in accordance with the rotation of the cylindrical cam; A second cam is provided that rotates together with the cam and whose cam surface is the circumferential surface of the cylindrical cam, and the cam surface of the second cam is provided with a second cam that swings in a horizontal plane at a position above the gripper. A capper characterized in that a freely provided swinging lever is engaged with the gripper, and the swinging lever and the gripper, which swing in upper and lower horizontal planes, are interlocked via a rotating shaft disposed in a vertical direction.