JPH0741178A - Chopstick feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To greatly improve a work to mount a pair of chopsticks to a lunch container by a method wherein chopsticks are reliably fed one by one in a way that an electrostatic zone part to attract the chopsticks to a feed conveyor and a partitioning block adjoined to the electrostatic zone part are alternately arranged. CONSTITUTION:When intermittent rotation of a roller 14a is progressed and an electrostatic zone part 14e electrified to a positive electrode is moved to a position situated facing the extension part 12b of a hopper part 12, half-split chop sticks 10 are attracted and held at the upper surface side thereof by means of an electrified electrostatic power and the half-split chopsticks 10 are supported to the feed conveyor 14 side from the hopper part 12. When a belt 14c is moved to the roller 14b side, since the conveyance part of the conveyor 14 is inclined based on a vertical line, the half-split chopsticks are attracted to the electrostatic zone part 14e against gravity. Thus, surplus half-split chopsticks 10 are separated away from the electrostatic zone part 14e at the moving process of the belt 14c to above. A pair of the half-split chopsticks 10 are attracted and held at the single electrostatic zone part 14e.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a chopstick feeding device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a chopstick feeding device having a device for individually adsorbing and holding chopsticks on a cutout conveyor by using static electricity, or a device for individually taking out from the cutout conveyor by static electricity.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, bento boxes sold at convenience stores and the like are usually provided with disposable chopsticks, and the disposable chopsticks are integrated with a lunch box container with a rubber band or an adhesive tape. By the way, as a means for attaching disposable chopsticks to such a bento container, it has been conventionally performed manually. In this mounting work, the disposable chopsticks were taken out one by one from a place where a large number of disposable chopsticks were piled up, and the disposable chopsticks were brought into contact with the side surface of the lunch box container and fixed with rubber bands or adhesive tape.
However, such a means for supplying disposable chopsticks has the problems described below.

[0003]

That is, with the above-mentioned means for supplying disposable chopsticks, it is very troublesome for the operator to reach out and take out the disposable chopsticks one by one from the piled state. There was a problem of inefficiency, and there was a strong demand for improvement. Further, recently, a device for automatically mounting disposable chopsticks on a bento container with an adhesive tape or the like has been developed, but a device capable of individually supplying disposable chopsticks to such an automatic mounting device has also been desired. .

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems and demands, and an object of the present invention is to provide a device capable of reliably supplying chopsticks individually. is there.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the first invention is a hopper for accommodating chopsticks, a cutting conveyor for holding the chopsticks received from the hopper by electrostatic adsorption, and An individual feeding device for chopsticks, comprising a take-out device for receiving chopsticks held on a cutting conveyor, wherein the cutting conveyor has a conveying surface having a width substantially equal to the length of the chopsticks, and in the conveying direction. An electrostatic band portion formed to have a width substantially equal to the width of the chopsticks so as to be orthogonal to each other and attracting the chopsticks by being charged, and a partition block provided adjacent to the electrostatic band portion. Have,
The electrostatic band portion and the partition block are alternately provided.

The cutting conveyor is installed so as to be inclined at a predetermined angle from a vertical line, and the hopper portion is provided on the back side thereof so that the electrostatic band portion adsorbs and holds the chopsticks against gravity. You can The electrostatic band part may be configured to be charged by a charging device and discharged by the take-out device before receiving the chopsticks from the hopper part.

The second invention is provided with a hopper portion for accommodating the chopsticks, a cutout conveyor for holding the chopsticks received from the hopper portion, and a takeout device for receiving the chopsticks held by the cutout conveyor. A chopstick feeding device, wherein the cutting conveyor has a conveying surface having a width substantially equal to the length of the chopsticks, and a width interval substantially equal to the width of the chopsticks so as to be orthogonal to the conveying direction. A plurality of partition blocks that define the above are provided, and the take-out device has a belt-like electrostatic attraction portion that is provided so as to be vertically movable.

[0008]

According to the chopstick feeding device of the first invention having the above structure,
The cutting conveyor has a conveyance surface having a width substantially equal to the length of the chopsticks and is formed to have a width substantially equal to the width of the chopsticks so that the chopsticks are adsorbed by being charged. Since the electrostatic band section and the partition block provided adjacent to the electrostatic band section are provided, and the electrostatic band section and the partition block are alternately provided, the chopsticks are individually provided on the electrostatic band section. The chopsticks that are sucked and held and held on the electrostatic band by the take-out device can be taken out individually.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the slicing conveyor is installed so as to be inclined at a predetermined angle from the vertical line, and the hopper portion is provided on the back side of the slicing conveyor so that the chopsticks can be gravitated by the electrostatic strip portion. Since they are held by suction against each other, the number of chopsticks held on the electrostatic band can be surely one. Further, claim 3
According to the configuration, the electrostatic band portion is charged by the charging device and discharged by the take-out device before receiving the chopsticks from the hopper part, so that the take-out device can easily take out the chopsticks.

Further, according to the chopstick feeding device of the second aspect of the present invention, in the cutting conveyor, the conveying surface has a width substantially equal to the length of the chopsticks and is orthogonal to the conveying direction. , A plurality of partition blocks defining a width interval approximately equal to the width of the chopsticks are provided, and the take-out device has a strip-shaped electrostatic attraction section that is vertically movable, so that the partition of the cutting conveyor is The chopsticks held between the blocks can be individually taken out by the electrostatic attraction unit.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 and 2 show a first embodiment of a chopstick feeding device according to the present invention. The chopstick feeding device shown in the figure has a hopper section 12 for accommodating the disposable chopsticks 10.
A cutting conveyor 14 for holding the disposable chopsticks 10 received from the hopper 12 by electrostatic attraction, and a take-out device 16 for receiving the disposable chopsticks 10 held by the cutting conveyor 14.

The disposable chopsticks 10 have a predetermined width and length, and are not packaged or stored in a paper bag or a synthetic resin bag, and the hopper section 12 is used.
The longitudinal direction is accommodated inside and accommodated in the direction orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG. One end of the hopper portion 12 on the side (cutout conveyor 14 side) is opened, and the surface facing the opening side is an inclined surface 12a inclined downward, and the lower end of the inclined surface 12a extends. The protruding portion 12b is continuously formed.

The extending portion 12b and the cutting conveyor 14
The space between the disposable chopsticks is set to be slightly larger than the thickness of the disposable chopsticks 10, and one disposable chopstick 10 drops between the extending portion 12b and the cutting conveyor 14 on the inclined surface 12a. It will be supplied sequentially. Further, a scraping paddle 18 that can be continuously rotated is provided on the upper side of the hopper portion 12.
Rotates in a direction opposite to the rotation direction of the cutting conveyor 14 and removes the excess disposable chopsticks 10 when a plurality of disposable chopsticks 10 are suction-held on the cutting conveyor 14.

In this embodiment, the cutting conveyor 1
In FIG. 4, a scraping paddle 18 is provided for more surely sucking and holding the disposable chopsticks 10 one by one and transferring them to the take-out device 16 side, but the paddle 18 is not always necessary. The slicing conveyor 14 includes a pair of rollers 14a and 14b arranged at both ends and the rollers 14a and 14b.
The belt 14c is wound between a and 14b. The belt 14 forms the conveying surface of the conveyor 14, and its width (direction orthogonal to the paper surface in FIG. 1) is set to be substantially the same as the length of the disposable chopsticks 10. Further, the belt 14c has a partition block 14d.
However, the belt 14c and the partitioning block 14d are formed integrally with each other along the width direction over the entire length, and the belt 14c and the partition block 14d are formed of non-chargeable members.

In this embodiment, the partition block 14d is
A large number of the chopsticks 10 are formed along the longitudinal direction of the belt 14c at substantially the same intervals as the width of the chopsticks 10. An electrostatic strip portion 14e lower than the height of the partition block 14d is mounted between the partition blocks 14d. The electrostatic band portion 14e is formed of a chargeable member. On the transport surface of the cutout conveyor 14 configured in this way,
An electrostatic strip portion 14e having a width substantially equal to the length of the disposable chopsticks 10 and formed to have a width substantially equal to the width of the disposable chopsticks 10 so as to be orthogonal to the conveying direction, and adjacent to the electrostatic strip portion 14e. The partition blocks 14d that are provided are alternately provided.

The cut-out conveyor 14 thus constructed is installed in a state of being inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to a vertical line (shown by a virtual line in FIG. 1),
A hopper section 12 is provided on the back side (on the left side in FIG. 1), and the back side serves as a transport section for the disposable chopsticks 10. Then, the charging device 2 is provided below the cutting conveyor 14.
0 is set. The charging device 20 includes a lead wire 2
It has the needle electrode 20b connected by 0a, and this needle electrode 20b contacts the electrostatic strip part 14e in the vicinity of the roller 14a, and charges the electrostatic strip part 14e to the positive electrode.

On the other hand, the take-out device 16 is installed near the upper roller 14b of the cutting conveyor 14,
In this embodiment, a hand portion 16a that sucks the disposable chopsticks 10 by vacuum suction, a cylinder 16b for extending and contracting the hand portion 16a, and a hand portion 16a are supported, and when the hand portion 16a is extended by driving the cylinder 16b. , A needle electrode 16c that contacts the electrostatic band portion 14e to discharge the charged electric charge.

The take-out device 16 may be installed not only at the position shown in FIG. 1 but also at the positions shown in A and B of FIG. 1, for example. In addition, the needle electrode 16c
Is grounded via a lead wire 16d, not shown. Next, the operation of the supply device having the above configuration will be described. In operation of the device, the roller 1 of the cutting conveyor 14
4a is intermittently rotated by a motor (not shown). By the rotational driving of the roller 14a, the belt 14c rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1, and the electrostatic band portion 14e is charged to the positive electrode by the needle electrode 20b of the charging device 20 before reaching the hopper portion 12.

Then, when the intermittent rotation of the roller 14a progresses and the electrostatic band portion 14e charged to the positive electrode reaches the position facing the extending portion 12b of the hopper portion 12, the charged chopsticks 10 are charged by the electrostatic force. Adsorbs and holds the
The disposable chopsticks 10 are received from the hopper section 12 on the side of the cutout conveyor 14. Next, when the roller 14a is rotated intermittently, the next chopstick 1 is placed on the extension 12b from the upper side.
0 is dropped and supplied, and the next electrostatic band portion 14e extends to the extension portion 12b.
When reaching, the disposable chopsticks 10 are similarly adsorbed and held on the electrostatic band portion 14e.

In this way, the disposable chopsticks 10 are sequentially attracted to and held by the electrostatic band portion 14e by the intermittent rotation of the roller 14a,
When the belt 14c moves to the roller 14b side, since the conveyor section of the conveyor 14 is inclined with respect to the vertical line, the disposable chopsticks 10 are attracted to the electrostatic band section 14e against gravity. For example, even if a plurality of disposable chopsticks 10 are attached to each other, the excessive disposable chopsticks 10 are separated from the electrostatic band portion 14e by the action of gravity during the upward movement process of the belt 14c, and are separated into one electrostatic band portion 14e. For one chopstick 10
Can be adsorbed and held.

When the disposable chopsticks 10 adsorbed and held on the electrostatic band 14e reach the portion of the scraping paddle 18, even if there is an excessive disposable chopstick 10 that does not separate due to the action of gravity, the paddles 18 are rotated. After being scraped off, one piece of disposable chopsticks 10 is surely adsorbed and held by the electrostatic band portion 14e and transferred to the take-out device 16 side. Roller 12a
When the disposable chopsticks 10 sucked and held by the electrostatic strip portion 14e reach the installation position of the take-out device 16 by intermittent rotation,
The hand portion 16a is extended by the cylinder 16b, and the disposable chopstick 10 is suction-held by the hand portion 16a. At this time, the needle electrode 16c contacts the electrostatic band portion 14e, and the electric charge charged in the positive electrode is discharged. Then, when the disposable chopstick 10 is received by the hand portion 16a, the cylinder 16b is reduced and supplied to the automatic disposable chopstick mounting device or the mounting operator, and thereafter, the above-described operation is sequentially repeated.

According to the chopstick feeding device constructed as described above, the disposable chopsticks 10 are individually attracted to and held by the electrostatic strip portion 14e, and the pickup device 16 holds the disposable chopsticks 10 on the electrostatic strip portion 14e. Can be taken out individually. Further, the cutting conveyor 14 is installed at a predetermined angle from a vertical line, the hopper section 12 is provided on the back side thereof, and the electrostatic band section 14e attracts and holds the disposable chopsticks 10 against gravity. The disposable chopsticks 10 held on the electrostatic band portion 10 can be surely made into one piece.

Further, the electrostatic band portion 14e is the hopper portion 12
Since the disposable chopsticks 10 are charged by the charging device 20 and discharged by the take-out device 16 before receiving the disposable chopsticks 10 from the device, it becomes easy to take out the disposable chopsticks 10 by the take-out device 16. Furthermore, when the inclined surface 12a and the extending portion 12b are provided in the hopper portion 12 and the distance between the extending portion 12b and the cutting conveyor 14 is set to be substantially the same as the thickness of the disposable chopsticks 10,
The disposable chopsticks 10 can be supplied to the electrostatic strip portion 14e one by one.

FIG. 3 shows a second chopstick feeder according to the present invention.
An example is shown. The chopstick feeding device shown in FIG.
A hopper unit 22 for storing 0, a cutting conveyor 24 for holding the disposable chopsticks 10 received from the hopper unit 22, and a take-out device 26 for receiving the disposable chopsticks 10 held by the cutting conveyor 24 are provided. Disposable chopsticks 10
The same one as in the first embodiment is used. Hopper part 2
2 has an upright surface at one end and an inclined surface at the other end opposite to the upright surface, and has a discharge port 22a opened at the lower end.

The slicing conveyor 24 is installed below the discharge port 22a of the hopper 22 and is wound between a pair of rollers 24a and 24b arranged at a predetermined interval and between these rollers 24a and 24b. The belt 24c is provided, and the transport surface is arranged substantially horizontally. The width of the belt 24 is set to be substantially equal to the length of the disposable chopsticks 10, and a partition block 24d orthogonal to the transport direction is formed over the entire length in the width direction. The interval between the partition blocks 24d is set to be approximately the same as the width of the disposable chopsticks 10. Further, the discharge port 22a of the hopper portion 22 is located at a position close to the tip of the partition block 24d.

Further, a scraping paddle 28 is provided on the side of the hopper portion 22 at the rear side of the discharge port 22a in the carrying direction, and is always rotated in the direction opposite to the carrying direction of the cutout conveyor 24. This bare paddle 28
Are not necessarily required as in the above embodiment. on the other hand,
The take-out device 26 is installed on the side of the scraping paddle 28 and includes a front-rear moving cylinder 26a, a vertical moving cylinder 26b supported by the front-rear moving cylinder 26a, and an electrostatic attraction portion 26c supported by the vertical moving cylinder 26b. have.

In this embodiment, the electrostatic attraction portion 26c is formed in a strip shape and has substantially the same width and length as the disposable chopsticks 10 for attraction and holding, and a high voltage (not shown) is generated via the lead wire 26d. Connected to a container and charged to, for example, a positive electrode.
Next, the operation of the supply device having the above configuration will be described. In the operation of the apparatus, the roller 24a of the cutout conveyor 24 is intermittently rotated by a motor (not shown). Laura 2
By the rotational drive of 4a, the belt 24c rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3, and the disposable chopsticks 10 are dropped and supplied onto the belt 24c from the outlet 22a of the hopper 22. At this time, since the partition blocks 24d are provided on the belt 24c at intervals substantially equal to the width of the disposable chopsticks 10, the disposable chopsticks 10 are received in a state that one disposable chopstick 10 is fitted between the partition blocks 24d.

When the part where the disposable chopstick 10 is fitted reaches the discharge port 22a of the hopper 22, the intermittent rotation of the roller 24a progresses, and the space between the discharge port 22a and the partition block 24d approaches. Therefore, when the movement of the other disposable chopsticks 10 placed on the disposable chopsticks 10 fitted between the partition blocks 24d is restricted by the outlet 22a, and the disposable chopsticks 10 are not fitted between the partition blocks 24d. The disposable chopsticks 10 are fitted between the partition blocks 24d due to the movement restriction of the discharge port 22a.

Next, when the portion where the disposable chopstick 10 is fitted passes through the discharge port 22a and reaches the portion of the scraping paddle 28, even if there is the disposable chopstick 10 that has not been excluded due to the movement restriction of the discharge port 22a. , The paddle 28 is scraped off by the rotation of the paddle 28, and one disposable chopstick 10 is securely fitted and held between the partition blocks 24d and transferred to the take-out device 26 side.

When the disposable chopsticks 10 reach the installation position of the take-out device 26 by the intermittent rotation of the roller 22a, the cylinder 2
The electrostatic attraction portion 26c is extended downward by 6b, and the disposable chopstick 10 is attracted and held by the electrostatic force of the attraction portion 26c. Then, when the disposable chopsticks 10 are received by the electrostatic attraction portion 26c, the cylinder 26b is contracted and moved upward, and then the forward / backward moving cylinder 26a is driven to supply the disposable chopsticks mounting device or the mounting operator. After that, the above-mentioned operation is sequentially repeated.

Now, according to the chopstick feeding device configured as described above, the partition block 24 of the cutout conveyor 24 is provided.
The disposable chopsticks 10 are individually fitted and held between the d and the take-out device 2
The disposable chopsticks 10 can be individually taken out by the electrostatic adsorption portion 26c of 6.

[0032]

As described above in detail in the embodiments,
According to the chopstick feeding device of the present invention, the chopsticks can be reliably fed one by one, and the workability when mounting the chopsticks on the bento container can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a first embodiment of a chopstick feeding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a second embodiment of the chopstick feeding device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 disposable chopsticks 12, 22 hopper section 14, 24 cutting conveyor 16, 26 take-out device 18, 28 scraping paddle 20 charging device 14d partition block 14e electrostatic band section 16a hand section 20b needle electrode 22a discharge port 26c electrostatic adsorption section

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location B65G 47/90 A 8010-3F 65/42 A 7339-3F

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A chopstick comprising: a hopper unit for accommodating chopsticks; a cutout conveyor for holding the chopsticks received from the hopper unit by electrostatic attraction; and a takeout device for receiving the chopsticks held by the cutout conveyor. In the supply device, the slicing conveyor has a conveying surface having a width substantially equal to the length of the chopsticks, and is orthogonal to the conveying direction.
A width substantially equal to the width of the chopsticks, having an electrostatic band portion that attracts the chopsticks by being charged, and a partition block provided adjacent to the electrostatic band portion, A chopstick feeding device characterized in that a band portion and a partition block are alternately provided. 2. The cutting conveyor is installed at a predetermined angle from a vertical line, the hopper is provided on the back side of the cutting conveyor, and the electrostatic band section sucks and holds the chopsticks against gravity. The chopstick feeding device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The electrostatic band part is charged by a charging device and discharged by the take-out device before receiving the chopsticks from the hopper part. Chopstick feeding device. 4. A chopstick feeding device comprising: a hopper portion for accommodating chopsticks; a cutout conveyor for holding the chopsticks received from the hopper portion; and a takeout device for receiving the chopsticks held by the cutout conveyor. There, the cutting conveyor has a plurality of conveyance surfaces having a width substantially equal to the length of the chopsticks, and a plurality of width intervals substantially equal to the width of the chopsticks so as to be orthogonal to the conveyance direction. A chopstick feeding device, characterized in that a partition block is provided, and the take-out device has a belt-shaped electrostatic adsorption portion provided so as to be vertically movable.