JPH06156439A - Device for transferring container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a device for transferring a container which obviates the switching work in the production process. CONSTITUTION:The subject relates to a device comprising a cartridge guide 3 which holds any of various cartridges 1, for which a standardized mounting- dismounting member 2 is provided, in a dismountable manner by making use of the mounting-dismounting member 2, a belt 4 to which cartridge guides 3 are attached at specified intervals and which is movable in the direction in which the cartridge 1 is transferred, and a driving pulley 6 for driving the belt 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a container transporting device for transporting a container such as a toner cartridge containing a toner to each process such as toner filling and cap mounting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, in a production line in which toner used in a copying machine or the like is filled in a cartridge 100, the cartridge 100 is conveyed by placing the cartridge 100 on a retainer 51 and conveying the retainer 51 together. 50 (guide rails 52 are provided on both sides). The cartridge 100 is transported in the direction of the arrow, and the empty retainer 51
An empty cartridge 100 is placed on the tray, and is conveyed below the filling nozzle 20 of the filling hopper 21 to fill the toner, stopped by a stopper (not shown) at that position, and a chuck hand (not shown) for positioning. Fixed by. Next, after the toner is filled from the filling nozzle 20, the cartridge 100 is conveyed to below the capper 23 to cap the filling port, stopped at that position by a stopper (not shown), and chucked for positioning. It is fixed by (not shown). After the cap is attached to the cartridge 100 by the capper 23, the cartridge 100 is further conveyed and stopped by a stopper (not shown), and the cartridge 100 is taken out from the retainer 51 by the cartridge take-out hand 14 and conveyed to the packing process. Mounted on 53. The emptied retainer 51 is a conveyor (not shown, the conveyor 5 is provided in parallel with the conveyor 50.
(In the back of 0), it is returned to the front of the transport conveyor 50 again.

[0003]

However, in the above method, the size and shape of the cartridge are
Since each type of copying machine and the like differs, in the production of various toner cartridges, switching work such as replacement of the retainer and replacement of the chuck hand is necessary according to the type of the cartridge. Therefore, there is a problem that the switching work takes time and labor, and the production efficiency is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the conventional container transporting device, and an object thereof is to provide a container transporting device which does not require a switching operation.

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides at least one type of container holder for holding a container provided with a standardized detachable member at a predetermined portion so as to be detachably attached using the detachable member. A container transporting device comprising: a unit, a container holding unit attached at a predetermined interval, and a holding unit moving unit that is movable in a direction in which a container is transported, and a driving unit that drives the holding unit moving unit.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the container holding portion holds the container having the attaching / detaching member in a detachable manner, the driving means drives the holding portion moving means, and the holding portion moving means moves the container in the conveying direction. Therefore, by standardizing the detachable member, it is not necessary to replace the retainer even with various toner cartridges.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing its embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a container carrying device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof. That is, on the base 60, the driving motor 5 and the arm shaft 15 are provided.
The mounting members 16 and 19 for supporting the motor 5 are fixed, the drive shaft 6 is connected to the rotary shaft of the motor 5, and the arm shaft 1
A pulley 7 is rotatably connected to 5 and a belt 4 (details of which will be described later) is stretched around the drive / driving pulley 6 and the pulley 7 (here, the belt 4 is rotated in the direction of the arrow).

On the other hand, above the vicinity of the center of the belt 4, toner hoppers 21 and 22 for filling the toner into the cartridge 1 and a filling nozzle 20 are provided, and a cartridge is mounted on a base 60 below the filling nozzle 20. A pusher 17 for pushing up 1 is provided. Filling nozzle 2
A capper (not shown) for attaching the cap 18 to the cartridge 1 is provided above the downstream side of 0.
Similarly, the pusher 1 is attached to the base 60 below the capper.
7 is provided. A cartridge take-out hand 14 for taking out the cartridge 1 from the cartridge guide 3 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) and sending it to the packing process is provided near the motor 5, and the cartridge take-out hand 14 is attached to the belt 4. Cartridge 1 in the installed state
A pusher 17 is provided on the base 60 below the position where the user grips. The cartridge take-out hand 14 includes a support 14 a fixed to a base 60, a hand arm 14 b rotatably connected to the support 14 a, and a hand arm 1.
It is composed of a chuck portion 14c which is connected to the end portion of 4b and holds the cartridge 1.

Here, the belt 4 is used in a vertical manner,
Since the cartridge 1 is attached, it is necessary to use a belt made of a material that is difficult to bend in the width direction. As shown in FIG. 3, a large number of cartridge guides 3 as an example of a container holding unit are fixed to the surface of the belt 4 at predetermined intervals (for example,
The cartridges 1 can be arranged on a line at a pitch corresponding to the width of the cartridge 1, and the line length can be shortened.) The cartridge 1 is attached to the belt 4 via the cartridge guide 3. . That is, this is performed by inserting a rail-shaped detachable member 2 as an example of an attachable / detachable member formed on one surface of the cartridge 1 into an attach / detach groove 31 provided in the cartridge guide 3. Since the attachment / detachment groove 31 is formed only partway through the cartridge guide 3, the attachment / detachment member 2 stops midway and the cartridge 1 does not fall out downward.

Further, although not shown in the drawing, a marker for position detection is provided on the cartridge guide 3, and a position sensor for detecting the position of the cartridge 1 using the marker is arranged near the belt 4, Further, a cartridge sensor for detecting whether or not the cartridge 1 is mounted on the cartridge guide 3 is arranged near the cartridge insertion position, and a control means for controlling the operation / stop of the motor 5 based on the sensor signals is provided. There is.

Next, the operation of the container carrying device of the above embodiment will be described.

First, when one of the cartridges 1 is not attached to the cartridge guide 3 and the start button on the operation panel is pushed, the motor 5 is operated and the belt 4 is moved.
Rotate in the direction of the arrow. This is for mounting the cartridge 1. When the first cartridge guide 3 is conveyed to the insertion position of the cartridge 1, the position sensor detects it and the control means stops the motor 5 based on the detection result. Let When the motor 5 is stopped, the cartridge supplying device 101 causes the cartridge 1 (here, the hand portion of the cartridge supplying device 101, for example, if the detachable member 2 of the cartridge 1 is grasped, the shape and size of the detachable member 2). Etc. are standardized irrespective of the type of the cartridge, so that they can be applied to other cartridges) to a position above the cartridge guide 3 and then the cartridge 1 is moved downward to attach and detach the cartridge 1. The member 2 is inserted into the attachment / detachment groove 31 of the cartridge guide 3.

When the cartridge 1 is installed, the cartridge sensor detects it, and the control means operates the motor 5 to rotate the belt 4 according to the signal. When the cartridge 1 is conveyed below the filling nozzle 20,
The position sensor detects it, and the control means stops the motor 5 based on the sensor signal to stop the rotation of the belt 4. Subsequently, the pusher 17 pushes up the cartridge 1 from the lower side to bring the filling port 11 of the cartridge 1 close to the filling nozzle 20, and then the filling of the toner is started.

When the toner filling is completed, the pusher 1
7, the control means drives the motor 5 to rotate the belt 4, and the cartridge 1 is conveyed to the bottom of the capper. The position sensor detects this, which stops the motor 5 and the rotation of the belt 4. Therefore, the chuck hand is not required unlike the conventional case. When the belt 4 is stopped, the pusher 17 pushes the cartridge 1 upward, and the capper attaches the cap 18 to the filling port 11 of the cartridge 1. Cap 18 is cartridge 1
, The pusher 17 is lowered, the motor 5 is operated, and the belt 4 is rotated.

Next, the cartridge 1 is conveyed to the cartridge take-out position, the position sensor detects it, and the motor 5 is stopped based on the detection result.
After the motor 5 is stopped, the pusher 17 under the motor 5 pushes the cartridge 1 upward, while the hand arm 14b of the cartridge take-out hand 14 is rotated, and the chuck portion 14c with the grasping portion opened opens the cartridge portion 14c of the cartridge 1. Bring it up. Next, the chuck portion 14c once moves downward together with the hand arm 14b, holds the cartridge 1 by the holding portion, and then lifts it up again to move the cartridge guide 3
The cartridge 1 is taken out from the cartridge, and the hand arm 14b is rotated to send it to the packing process.

After the cartridge 1 is taken out, the motor 5 is operated and the next cartridge 1 is conveyed.
This is the same in the toner filling step and the cap attaching step, and the cartridge guide 3 that has been emptied by removing the cartridge 1 is rotated once and returned to the original cartridge insertion position.

In the cartridge 1 used in the above embodiment, for example, as shown in FIGS. 4 (a), 4 (b) and 4 (c), assuming that the thickness of the cartridge guide 3 is the same, from the detachable member 2 to the filling port 11. As long as the distance a to the center is standardized, various cartridges 1 having different thicknesses, widths, lengths, etc. can be used as they are without switching and adjusting the retainer, chuck hand, and filling hopper. You can

Since the belt 4 and the cartridge guide 3 are integrated as described above, there is no line pressure due to the retainer, there is little shaking in the carrying direction, the toner does not easily scatter, and the positioning is accurate. No chuck hand is required.
Further, the detachable member 2 of the cartridge 1 can also be applied as a mounting member on the apparatus main body side such as a copying machine.

In the above-described embodiment, the detaching portion formed by the detaching member 2 of the cartridge 1 and the detaching groove 31 of the cartridge guide 3 is constituted by one kind, but the present invention is not limited to this, and plural kinds of detaching portions having different shapes are formed. It may be fixed to 4. In this case, it is possible to use a cartridge in which the shape of the detachable member 2 is different.

Further, in the above embodiment, the belt 4 was used as the holding portion moving means, but the holding means moving means is not limited to this, and it is sufficient if it has the strength to hold the cartridge and the flexibility to rotate by the pulley. A caterpillar, a chain or the like may be used. Alternatively, using a disk-shaped member,
The holding member may be laid sideways and rotated in a plane parallel to the horizontal plane.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the belt 4 is vertically arranged and is configured to rotate in the horizontal plane, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be configured to rotate in the vertical plane as in the conventional case.

[0023]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, at least one kind of container holding portion that holds the container detachably and the container holding portion are attached at a predetermined interval to convey the container. Since the holding unit moving means that can move in any direction is provided, there is an advantage that switching work in the production process is not required.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a container transporting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a method of mounting the cartridge according to the embodiment.

4A, 4B, and 4C are partial plan views illustrating holding states of cartridges having different shapes according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a toner cartridge filling step using a conventional container transport device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cartridge 2 Desorption member 3 Cartridge guide (container holding part) 4 Belt (holding part moving means) 5 Motor (driving means) 6 Driving pulley 7 Pulley 11 Filling port 17 Pusher

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. At least one type of container holding portion for holding a container, in which a standardized detachable member is provided at a predetermined portion, detachably using the detachable member, and the container holding portion. A container transporting device, comprising: a holder moving unit that is attached at a predetermined interval and is movable in a direction in which the container is transported; and a driving unit that drives the holding unit moving unit. 2. The container transporting device according to claim 1, wherein the container is transported with its substance filling port kept at a predetermined distance from the holding unit moving means. 3. The container carrying device according to claim 1, wherein the holding unit moving means has a belt shape, and the rotation of the belt is substantially in a horizontal plane.