JPH0597240A - Opening plug feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To install a part feeder at a low position on a floor by discharging opening plugs attached to liquid filling cartons onto the discharging shoot of the part feeder in the state of their arrangement, and drawing the opening plugs into an pneumatic feed pipe through an air stream flowing inside the pneumatic feed pipe for their transfer. CONSTITUTION:A large quantity of opening plugs 4 are charged in a part feeder 21 and a hopper 41, and a blower motor 300 is actuated with a closed container 26 and the hopper 41 kept in a closed state to fill the closed container 26 with a high pressure air for blowing it into a pneumatic feed pipe 25. The part feeder 21 is simultaneously actuated, and the opening plugs 4 are thereby aligned in the posture of the plug suspended by an attaching flange 5, and taken out one by one in order for discharging them through a discharging shoot 27. The opening plugs 4 discharged through the discharging shoot 27 are drawn in by an air flow flowing in the pneumatic feed pipe 25 as they are, and after trnsfered to the end of the pneumatic feed pipe, taken out from the pneumatic feed pipe 25 by a manipulator or the like, and attached to cartons on a carrying conveyor 13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a molding and filling machine that automatically forms a liquid filling carton, fills the liquid, and seals the carton. The present invention relates to a mouth plug supply device that sucks and conveys the material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A liquid filling carton (hereinafter simply referred to as a carton) (1) is, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, a thin plate having a multi-layer film structure formed into a rectangular tube shape, and a bottom portion (2) is welded. After molding and sealing and filling with liquid, the top (3) is bent and molded into a predetermined shape and sealed. The top (3) of the carton (1) is fitted with a spout (4) for pouring a liquid.

As shown in FIG. 6, the spigot body (4) has a structure in which a cap (7) is fastened to a spigot body (6) having a mounting flange (5). ) Project from the inside of the carton (1) and the mounting flange (5)
Is attached by welding to the inner surface of the carton (1).
The inside of the spout body (6) is sealed in an unused state, and is opened at the first use to pour liquid.

As shown in FIG. 7, the molding and filling machine for the carton (1) has a bottom molding unit (12) using a carton magazine (10) and a mandrel (11) for accommodating a large number of the cartons (1) in a folded state. ), A conveyor (13) for transporting the carton (1) whose bottom is molded, a spout mounting unit (14), a liquid filling unit (15), a top molding unit (16), and the like.

This molding and filling machine is equipped with a carton magazine (1
The carton (1) is taken out one by one by the loading mechanism (17) installed below it from 0), and it is loaded in the mandrel (11) of the bottom molding unit (12) in a square tube state. The bottom forming unit (12) intermittently rotates the mandrel (11) in the order of steps to bend and seal the bottom of the carton (1). The carton (1) whose bottom is sealed is transferred from the mandrel (11) onto the transfer conveyor (13) at the lowest position, and is intermittently fed forward. Next, the carton (1) is intermittently fed by the transfer conveyor (13), and at a predetermined position, the carton (1) is supplied with a spigot by the spigot mounting unit (14) to mount the carton (1). 15) is filled with a predetermined amount of liquid, and finally the top of the carton (1) is sealed by the top molding unit (16).

As shown in FIG. 8, the plug mounting unit (14) for mounting the plug (4) on the carton (1) is installed from the parts feeder (21) installed on the frame (20) as shown in FIG. 4) Align and take out the guide chute (22)
Manipulator (not shown)
Etc. are taken out one by one from the guide chute (22) and supplied to the carton (1) on the conveyor (13), and are welded to the carton (1) in the next step. The spout (4) is taken out from the parts feeder (21) in a suspended state supported by a mounting flange (5). Also, when the plug (4) in the parts feeder (21) is reduced,
The hopper (23) installed above it is opened and dropped and supplied. An operator climbs on the pedestal (20) to the hopper (23) to periodically replenish it.

[0007]

As described above, conventionally, in order to easily feed the spouts (4) aligned and taken out from the parts feeder (21) to the upper part of the carton (1) as they are, The parts feeder (21) was installed at a very high position, and the plug (4) taken out from the parts feeder (21) was dropped and supplied by its own weight. Therefore, the hopper (23) is also installed at a high position, and when replenishing the mouth plugs (4), the operator holds a large amount of the mouth plugs (4) and mounts the pedestal (2).
I had to climb to the high position of 0), and the work was troublesome.

Further, maintenance and inspection of the parts feeder (21) and the hopper (23) must be carried out on the frame (20), which is dangerous.

Therefore, the spout (4) taken out from the parts feeder (21) is pneumatically conveyed by using an appropriate transportation means such as air, so that the parts feeder (21) and its associated hopper (23). Etc. can be installed in a low place on the floor, and the work of replenishing the mouth plug (4) can be facilitated.

However, when the stopper (4) is fed by air, in order to throw the stopper (4) aligned and taken out from the parts feeder (21) into the feeding means without disturbing the aligned state. A dedicated charging means was required, and the device was complicated.

The present invention is intended to provide a plug supply device which directly takes in a plug from a parts feeder and conveys it without using a special charging means.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a parts feeder for accommodating a large number of plugs each having a mounting flange, and aligning the plugs with the mounting flange supported by a guide and discharging the plugs from a discharge chute. A long air feed pipe having a cross-sectional space slightly larger than the mouth plug and having a guide projection for supporting and guiding the attachment flange of the mouth plug, and air for blowing compressed air into the air feed pipe. A blower, the end of the plug discharge chute of the parts feeder is connected to the idle pipe by butting them so that the guide of the discharge chute and the guide protrusion of the idle pipe are substantially flush with each other. Is.

[0013]

In the mouth plug supply device having the above structure, the mouth plugs aligned and discharged from the discharge chute of the parts feeder are sucked into the idle feed pipe by the air flow flowing in the idle feed pipe and the attachment flange of the mouth plug is discharged. The guide portion of the chute is transferred to the guide convex portion of the empty pipe for conveyance.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. However, the same members as those of the conventional technique are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the spigot emptying device is a spigot (4) that is aligned and taken out from a parts feeder (21).
Is passed through the air feed pipe (25) as it is, and compressed air flowing in the air feed pipe (25) is sent to a predetermined position.

As shown in FIG. 2, the parts feeder (21) is installed in the closed container (26), and the starting end of the empty pipe (25) is connected to the discharge chute (27) provided on the upper side surface. I am doing it. An air blower, for example, a blower motor (30) is installed beside the parts feeder (21) in the closed container (26).
At (0), the air is sucked into the closed container (26) from the intake pipe (32) attached to the closed container (26), the pressure is increased to a predetermined pressure, and the air is blown into the closed container (26) to form the closed container (26). Is blown into the empty pipe (25).

As shown in FIG. 1, the empty pipe (25) has a transparent lid plate (33) and a bottom plate (34) fitted on the upper and lower sides of a pair of side plates (31) (31), and is fitted inside. A structure in which the mouth plug (4) forms a space through which the air flow can pass and is held by a plurality of support brackets (35) having a U-shaped cross section mounted at appropriate positions, and a pair of side plates (31) (31) 2) is formed integrally with guide convex portions (36) (36) for supporting and guiding the mounting flange (5) of the spout (4). The upper end surface of the guide protrusions (36) (36) contacting the mounting flange (5) of the spout (4) is coated with a low friction member such as Teflon to reduce the frictional resistance, and the low friction surface is formed. To do.

As shown in FIG. 1, the empty pipe (25) is bent into an appropriate shape so as to be piped from inside the closed container (26) to a position above the transfer conveyor (13), and a support bracket (35). ) Is used to attach via a connecting member (40) to a column (37) standing upright on the side of the conveyor (13) to support the idle pipe (25). See also FIG.
As shown in Fig. 4, the starting end of the empty pipe (25) is linearly arranged at the end of the discharge chute (27) of the parts feeder (21) and supports the mounting flange (5) of the spout (4). Guide (28) for the discharge chute (27) and the empty pipe (2)
The guide protrusions (36) of 5) are butted so as to be substantially flush with each other. Further, the bottom plate (3
A part of 4) is opened so that the compressed air in the closed container (26) can enter the empty pipe (25) without changing the supporting state of the mouth plug (4). Then, only the air is discharged into the atmosphere without dropping the mouth plug (4).

Further, a hopper (41) for accommodating a large number of spigots (4) is arranged above the parts feeder (21), and the hopper (41) is accommodated in a closed container (26). A space is provided between the periphery of 41) and the periphery of the closed container (26) to prevent air from leaking. Also,
The hopper (41) itself has a closed structure so that it cannot be exposed to the atmosphere unless the lower gate (42) and the upper opening / closing lid (43) are simultaneously opened.

Further, in the vicinity of the end portion of the empty pipe (25),
Sensors including, for example, a light projector (44) and a light receiver (45) are provided on both sides of the lid plate (33) and the bottom plate (34) so as to sandwich the lid plate (33) and the bottom plate (34), and a cap (4) in the empty pipe (25) is provided. The presence or absence of can be automatically monitored. Although not shown in the drawings, the parts feeder (21) and the hopper (41) are each provided with a sensor for detecting the amount of the spout (4) accommodated therein at a constant level. When (4) drops below a certain level, the hopper (41)
To the hopper (41) when the gate (42) is opened to replenish the spout (4) and the spout (4) in the hopper (41) falls below a certain level. (4)
It is designed to instruct the replenishment of.

The above-mentioned mouth plug supply device is equipped with a parts feeder (2
1) and a large amount of spigots (4) are put into the hopper (41), and the blower motor (30) is operated in a state in which the closed container (26) and the hopper (41) are closed to make a closed container. (26) is filled with high-pressure air, and the empty pipe (2
Blow into 5). At the same time, the parts feeder (21) is operated to align the spouts (4) in a state of being suspended by the mounting flange (5), and the spouts (4) are sequentially taken out one by one and discharged from the discharge chute (27). The spout (4) discharged from the discharge chute (27) is sucked in by the air flow flowing through the empty pipe (25) as it is, and the mounting flange (5).
Are supported on the upper surfaces of the guide protrusions (36) (36) of the side plates (31) (31).

The mouth plug (4) in the empty pipe (25) is
It is carried to the terminal end by the air flow flowing in the idle pipe (25). Then, with a manipulator, etc.,
5) and is supplied to the carton (1) on the conveyor (13).

When the plug (4) in the parts feeder (21) is low, the gate (42) of the hopper is opened to allow the plug (4) from the hopper (41) to the parts feeder (21).
Is replenished. When the spout (4) in the hopper (41) is low, the open / close lid (4) is closed with the gate (42) closed.
Open 3) and refill the spout (4).

The side plates (31) (3) of the empty pipe (25)
1) may be transparent instead of the cover plate (33) and the bottom plate (34). In this case, the projector (44) and the light receiver (45)
The sensors consisting of and are arranged so as to sandwich the side plates (31) (31). Alternatively, the entire empty pipe (25) may be transparent.

The side plates (31) (3) of the empty pipe (25)
Also in 1), the whole may be formed of a material having a small frictional resistance.

[0026]

According to the present invention, since the spouts aligned and taken out from the parts feeder are positively conveyed to a predetermined position by the air flow in the air transport pipe, the parts feeder can be placed at a low position on the floor. It can be installed, facilitating the refilling work and maintenance / inspection work of the spout, and also increasing the safety.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a mouth plug supply device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the closed container.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional front view of the empty pipe of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of the vicinity of the starting end of the empty pipe.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a finished product of a liquid filling carton.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a spout

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a carton forming and filling machine.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a conventional spout supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Mouth plug 21 Parts feeder 25 Empty pipe 27 Discharge chute 28 Guide 36 Guide convex part

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] November 11, 1991

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 1

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A parts feeder for accommodating a large number of plugs having mounting flanges, aligning the plugs with the mounting flanges supported by guides, and discharging from a discharging chute; and a partly larger than the cap. A long empty pipe having a cross-sectional space and formed with a guide convex portion for supporting and guiding the mounting flange of the spigot, and an air blower for blowing compressed air to the empty pipe, An end cap emptying device, wherein an end part of a mouth plug discharge chute of a feeder is connected to the empty tube.