JPH06263238A - Cap arranging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve production efficiency by installing a cap feeding means which sends caps to the first cap selecting means during the normal revolution of a rotary body and sends the caps to the second cap selecting means during the reverse revolution of the rotary body, and allowing the caps having different shapes to be selected and arranged. CONSTITUTION:When a rotary body 5 revolves in the normal direction, caps 30 and 31 are scraped up by a scraping-up block 4b, and when the caps 30 and 31 are sent into the first cap selecting means 10, only the cap 30 having a certaini attitude is selected and driven out by the selecting means 10. Further, when the rotary body revolves in the reverse direction, the caps 30 and 31 are scraped up by the scraping-up block 4b, and sent into the second cap selecting means 20, and only the cap 31 keeping a certain attitude different from that of the selection object cap of the first selecting means 10 is selected and driven out by the selecting means 20. Accordingly, the caps 30 and 31 having different shape can be arranged only by selecting the revolution direction of the rotary body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for aligning a cap in a certain posture for capping bottles, and is used, for example, in a line for filling bottles with contents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A rotating body that rotates in one direction, a sorting means that sorts out only caps in a fixed posture and that rolls out the sorted cap by the rotation of the rotating body, and a cap feeding means that feeds the cap to the sorting means. A cap aligning device is conventionally used.

As the selecting means, there is a guide arranged along the outer peripheral portion of the rotating body, and the setting position of the guide with respect to the outer peripheral portion of the rotating body is set according to the outer dimension of the cap, thereby the rotating body. There is one in which only the cap in a constant posture is held and extended by the outer peripheral portion and the guide (JP-A-62-8914).

Further, as the selection means, there is provided a stopper for preventing the radial movement of the cap placed on the upper surface of the rotating body, and a projection protruding upward from the placement portion of the cap. However, by setting the distance between the stopper and the protrusion in accordance with the position of the center of gravity of the cap, the position of the cap can be changed according to the position of the center of gravity, and air can be removed from parts other than the cap in a fixed position (actual opening shovel). 59-1270
No. 15).

[0005]

In the cap aligning apparatus as described above, when the cap to be aligned is changed to a product having a different shape, the outer dimensions and the position of the center of gravity of the cap change, so that the guide along the outer peripheral portion of the rotating body is changed. When using a sorting means having a cap, it is necessary to replace the guide and adjust the guide set position. Also, when using a sorting means in which the upper surface of the rotator is the cap mounting portion, the rotator Had to be replaced.

However, it takes a long time to replace such guides or rotating bodies, and skill is required to adjust the position of the guide set. Therefore, the production line must be stopped for a long time. Without reducing production efficiency.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cap aligning device which can solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.

[0008]

A cap aligning device of the present invention is a first selecting means for selecting only a rotating body that can be rotated in the normal and reverse directions and a cap having a fixed posture, and feeding out the selected cap by the forward rotation of the rotating body. And a second selecting means for selecting only the caps in a fixed posture and feeding the selected cap by the reverse rotation of the rotating body, and sending the cap to the first cap selecting means during the forward rotation of the rotating body and during the reverse rotation of the rotating body. A cap feeding means for feeding the cap to the second cap selection means may be provided, and the shape of the selection target cap of the first selection means and the shape of the selection target cap of the second selection means may be different from each other. The cap feeding means has a forward / reverse rotatable feeder disc, a rotating body is arranged above the feeder disc, and the first sorting means and the second sorting means face each other along the rotating body. Each of the sorting means has a guide arranged radially outward of the rotating body, and the cap is sent between the rotating body and the guide of the first sorting means by the forward rotation of the feeder disc, so that the feeder disc It is preferable that the cap is fed between the rotating body and the guide of the second selecting means by the reverse rotation.

[0009]

According to the structure of the present invention, the rotating body is rotated forward,
By feeding the caps to the first cap selecting means, only the caps in a fixed posture can be selected and delivered by the first cap selecting means. Further, by rotating the rotating body in the reverse direction and feeding the cap to the second cap selecting means, the second cap selecting means selects only the caps having a constant posture and having a shape different from the cap to be selected by the first selecting means. Then you can get out. That is, caps of different shapes can be aligned simply by switching the rotation direction of the rotating body. By using the feeder disc and feeding the cap between the rotating body and the guide of each sorting means, the cap can be fed into the sorting means only by switching the rotation direction of the feeder disc.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The cap aligning device 1 shown in FIGS.
The main body 3 supported by the pillar 2 is provided. The main body 3 has a cylindrical shape, has a circular bottom wall 3a and a circumferential wall 3b extending in the circumferential direction, and is reinforced by a reinforcing material 3c.
a is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane. Inside the main body 3, a disc-shaped feeder disc 4 and a rotating disc (rotating body) 5 are arranged.

As shown in FIG. 3, the feeder disc 4 has a rotary shaft 4a penetrating the bottom wall 3a, and the rotary shaft 4a is coaxially and rotatably supported by the circular bottom wall 3a of the main body 3. ing. In addition, the rotation shaft 4a of the bottom wall 3
Below a, it is connected via a gear 6 and a speed reducer 7 to a motor 8 that can be driven to rotate in the forward and reverse directions, whereby the feeder disk 4 moves in the forward rotation direction indicated by arrow A and the reverse rotation direction indicated by arrow B in FIG. It can be driven to rotate. On the upper surface of the feeder disc 4, two types of caps 30 and 3 having different shapes from the cap loading chute 9 are formed.
1 is input.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, the one cap 30 comprises a base portion 30a screwed into the outer periphery of the opening of the bottle 40, and a top portion 30b for opening and closing a through hole formed in the base portion 30a. , The outer shape is from the top 30b to the base 30
It has a substantially rotating body shape whose diameter increases toward a.
The maximum diameter D1 is larger than the height H1. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, the other cap 31 includes a base portion 31a screwed into the outer periphery of the opening of the bottle 41 and a top portion 31b that opens and closes a through hole formed in the base portion 31a. It has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, its height H2 is larger than its width W2 and smaller than its length L2, and its center of gravity is at the top 3
It is in a position biased to the 1b side. Also, one of the caps 30
The maximum diameter D1 is larger than the height H2 and width W2 of the other cap 31, and the height H1 of one cap 30 is smaller than the height H2 and width W2 of the other cap 31.

A scraping block 4b is attached to the upper surface of the feeder disk 4 so that the caps 30 and 31 can be scraped up by the rotation of the feeder disk 4. The gap between the outer peripheral surface of the feeder disk 4 and the inner peripheral surface of the peripheral wall 3b of the main body 3 is smaller than that of the caps 30 and 31.

The rotating disk 5 is the feeder disk 4
Has a smaller diameter, is arranged above the feeder disc 4 in parallel with the horizontal plane, and has a rotary shaft 5a penetrating the feeder disc 4, and the rotary shaft 5a is rotatably supported by the bottom wall 3a of the main body 3. ing. Further, an interlocking mechanism (not shown) is provided between the rotary shaft 5a of the rotary disc 5 and the rotary shaft 4a of the feeder disc 4, and the rotary disc 5 also rotates forward when the feeder disc 4 rotates forward. At the time of reverse rotation, the rotary disk 5 also reversely rotates. In addition,
A known mechanism can be used for the interlocking mechanism of the rotary shaft 5a of the rotary disc 5 and the rotary shaft 4a of the feeder disc 4.
For example, a gear fitted to one rotating shaft 4a and a gear fitted to the other rotating shaft 5a can be configured to mesh with each other via a bevel gear.

Along the rotating disk 5, the first sorting means 1
0 and the second selection means 20 are provided so as to face each other. A ring member 34 is arranged above the rotary disc 5, and the ring member 34 is connected to an arc-shaped peripheral wall 36 connected to the peripheral wall 3b of the main body 3 via a mounting member 35 via a mounting member 37. There is.

The first selecting means 10 is mainly composed of an outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotary disc 5, a guide 11 arranged along the outer periphery of the rotary disc 5, and an air jet nozzle 12. As shown in FIG. 4, the outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotating disk 5 follows a conical surface whose diameter increases as it goes downward.
As shown in FIG. 2, the guide 11 is formed of a plate-shaped material having an arc shape in a plan view, is arranged radially outward of the rotary disc 5, and is attached to the peripheral wall 3b of the main body 3 via a mounting tool 13. One end is located above the feeder disc 4 (upper side in FIG. 2) and the other end is located below the feeder disc 4. As shown in FIG. 4, the upper surface of the guide 11 has substantially the same height as the lower end of the outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotating disc 5, and the inner peripheral surface of the guide 11 and the lower end of the outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotating disc 5 are separated from each other. The radial distance is one cap 30
Is smaller than the maximum diameter D1, is larger than the height H1 of the one cap 30, and is larger than the height H2 and the width W2 of the other cap 31. The air injection nozzle 12 is supported by a block 38 attached to the ring member 34 via a pipe, is connected to a pressure air source via the block 38, and is opened from an opening 36a formed in the arc-shaped peripheral wall 36. Gush out.

As shown in FIG. 2, the first cap introducing member 14 adjacent to one end of the guide 11 of the first selecting means 10.
Is connected to the peripheral wall 3 b of the main body 3 via a mounting tool 15. The cap introducing member 14 has a large distance between the upper surface 14a which is closer to the upper surface of the feeder disk 4 as it goes from the substantially same height as the upper surface of the guide 11 toward the tip, and the outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotating disk 5 as it goes toward the tip. The inner peripheral surface 14b is formed as a cap rake surface that is closer to the rotating disk 5 as it goes downward.

The second selecting means 20 is mainly constituted by an outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotary disc 5 and a guide 21 arranged along the outer periphery of the rotary disc 5. Further, the air injection nozzle 22 is provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the guide 21 is formed of a plate-shaped material having an arc shape in a plan view, is arranged radially outward of the rotary disc 5, and is attached to the peripheral wall 3b of the main body 3 via a mounting tool 23. Connected, one end is feeder disk 4
Is located on the upper side (upper side in FIG. 2) and the other end is located on the lower side of the feeder disc 4. The lower surface of the guide 21 is located above the lower end of the outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotating disk 5, and the lower end of the inner peripheral surface of the guide 21 and the rotating disk 5 are positioned.
The distance from the outer peripheral surface 5b is the height H of the other cap 31.
Greater than 2, the height H2 and width W of the other cap 31
It is smaller than the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle having 2 and 2 as its two sides. In addition, the air injection nozzle 22 is provided with the ring member 3
It is supported by a block 39 attached to the No. 4 through a pipe, and is connected to the pressurized air source through the block 39.

As shown in FIG. 2, the second selection means 20 thereof.
Second cap introducing member 2 adjacent to one end of the guide 21 of
4 is connected to the peripheral wall 3 b of the main body 3 via a fixture 25. The cap introducing member 24 has a cap rake face 24 that is closer to the upper surface of the feeder disc 4 as it goes from the same height as the lower end of the inner peripheral surface of the guide 21 toward the tip.
The cap rake surface 24a has a larger distance from the outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotating disk 5 as it goes toward the tip.

According to the above configuration, the feeder disc 4
When the rotating disk 5 and the rotating disk 5 rotate forward in the direction of arrow A, the caps 30 and 31 are scraped up by the scraping block 4b, and the first cap is introduced between the guide 11 of the first sorting means 10 and the rotating disk 5. Is fed through the member 14, and
When the feeder disk 4 and the rotating disk 5 rotate in the opposite direction of arrow B, the caps 30 and 31 move up to the scraping block 4.
The guide 21 of the second sorting means 20 is scraped up by b.
And the rotary disk 5 are fed through the second cap introducing member 24.

One of the caps 30 fed through the first cap introducing member 14 between the guide 11 of the first selecting means 10 and the rotary disc 5 has the maximum diameter portion at the upper end as shown by the solid line in FIG. Or the posture in which the maximum diameter portion is the lower end as shown by the one-dot chain line is supported by the upper surface of the guide 11 and the outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotating disk 5, and the other postures are broken lines. Guide 11 as shown in
And between the rotating disk 5 and the rotary disk 5, it falls on the upper surface of the feeder disk 4. One of the caps 30 in a posture in which the maximum diameter portion is the lower end is blown off by the air flow ejected from the air ejection nozzle 12 and drops onto the upper surface of the feeder disc 4. Further, the other cap 31 fed between the guide 11 and the rotating disk 5 via the first cap introducing member 14 has a longitudinal direction along the circumferential direction and a height H.
Since the width 2 and the width W2 are smaller than the radial distance between the inner peripheral surface of the guide 11 and the lower end of the outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotating disk 5, they fall from between the guide 11 and the rotating disk 5. This allows
One cap 3 in a fixed posture with the maximum diameter part at the top
Only 0 is paid out from the other end of the guide 11 by the normal rotation of the rotating disk 5. Guide 1 of this first sorting means 10
One cap 3 in a fixed posture, which is extended from the other end of 1
0 is guided to the outside of the main body 3 via the chute 40.

The other cap 31 fed through the second cap introducing member 24 between the guide 21 of the second selecting means 20 and the rotating disk 5 has its longitudinal direction along the circumferential direction, and its center of gravity is on the top 31b side. Therefore, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 5, only the posture in which the base portion 31a is located above the top portion 31b is supported by the inner peripheral surface of the guide 21 and the outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotating disc 5, The base portion 31a as shown by the broken line
When the position is below the apex 31b, the apex 31b is displaced downward and falls on the upper surface of the feeder disc 4. Further, the height H1 of one cap 30 fed through the second cap introducing member 24 between the guide 21 and the rotary disk 5 is smaller than the height H2 and the width W2 of the other cap 31. So
It falls onto the upper surface of the feeder disk 4 without being supported by the inner peripheral surface of the guide 21 and the outer peripheral surface 5b of the rotating disk 5. As a result, the longitudinal direction is along the circumferential direction, and the base portion 31a
Only the other cap 31, which is positioned above the apex portion 31b and has a constant posture, is fed out from the other end of the guide 21 by the reverse rotation of the rotating disc 5. This second sorting means 20
The other cap 31 having a fixed posture and extended from the other end of the guide 21 is guided to the outside of the main body 3 via the chute 41. When the capping line of the bottle 41, which is the delivery destination of the other cap 31, is stopped, the other cap is prevented by the air flow injected from the air injection nozzle 22 so that the cap 31 is not clogged in the chute 41. Blowing out 31 and feeder disc 4
Although it is possible to drop the air injection nozzle 22 on the upper surface, the air injection nozzle 22 is not essential.

According to the cap aligning apparatus 1 described above, one of the caps 30 can be extended and aligned in a fixed posture by rotating the feeder disc 4 and the rotating disc 5 in the forward direction, and the feeder disc 4 and the rotating disc 5 can be aligned. By rotating in the reverse direction, the other cap 31 can be extended and aligned in a fixed posture. With this, by repeating switching between the forward rotation and the reverse rotation of the feeder disk 4 and the rotating disk 5, it is possible to perform a cap of a different shape without the need for guide replacement work and delicate adjustment of the guide setting position. Alignment can be performed and production efficiency can be improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the two kinds of caps 30 and 31 having different shapes are simultaneously supplied to the feeder disk 4, but when the switching interval between the forward rotation and the reverse rotation of the feeder disk 4 and the rotating disk 5 is long, Only one cap 30 may be supplied at the time of forward rotation, and only the other cap 31 may be supplied at the time of reverse rotation. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the caps are fed to the first and second sorting means 10 and 20 by the single feeder disc 4. However, a dedicated cap feeding means is provided for each sorting means, and One cap 30 may be sent only to the first selecting means 10 during the forward rotation, and the other cap 31 may be sent only to the second selecting means 20 during the reverse rotation of the rotating disk 5. Moreover, the caps to be sorted are not limited to the caps 30 and 31 of the above-described embodiment. Also,
The configurations of the rotating disk 5 and the sorting means 10 and 20 are not limited to those in the above embodiment, and for example, the rotating body or the sorting means of the conventional example may be used.

[0026]

According to the cap aligning device of the present invention, it is possible to align caps of different shapes by simply switching the rotating direction of the rotating body and improve the production efficiency. Further, the present invention can be put to practical use without complicating the structure by sending the cap to the selecting means only by switching the rotation direction of the feeder disc.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cap alignment device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the cap alignment device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the cap alignment device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the operation of the first selection means according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the operation of the second selection means according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the cap to be aligned according to the embodiment of the present invention when the bottle is attached.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the cap to be aligned according to the embodiment of the present invention when the bottle is attached.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Feeder Disk 5 Rotating Disc 10 First Sorting Means 20 Second Sorting Means 30, 31 Cap

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rotating body that can rotate forward and backward and a cap having a fixed posture, and a first sorting means for feeding the sorted cap by forward rotation of the rotating body, and a cap having a fixed posture and sorting. Second sorting means for feeding out the formed cap by the reverse rotation of the rotating body, and cap feeding means for sending the cap to the first cap sorting means when the rotating body rotates forward and also sending the cap to the second cap sorting means when the rotating body rotates in the reverse direction. And a cap aligning device capable of making the shape of the selection target cap of the first selection means different from the shape of the selection target cap of the second selection means. 2. The cap feeding means has a forward / reverse rotatable feeder disc, a rotating body is disposed above the feeder disc, and the first sorting means and the second sorting means are arranged along the rotating body. The sorting means are provided so as to face each other, and each of the sorting means has a guide arranged radially outward of the rotating body, and the cap is sent between the rotating body and the guide of the first sorting means by the forward rotation of the feeder disk. ,
The cap aligning device according to claim 1, wherein the cap is fed between the rotating body and the guide of the second selecting means by the reverse rotation of the feeder disk.