JPH0761563A - Feeding device for conical article - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the feed of conical articles in their irregular postures in a state that the article are aligned in a constant posture. CONSTITUTION:A feeding device for a conical article comprises a vibration type chute feeder 10 through which charged conical articles are discharged in a vertically erected state; and a first rope conveyor 1 extending from the outlet of the chute feeder 10 and conveying the conical articles in a state to nip the article in a down standing-upright state. Further, a sector groove 42 is arranged to the bottom of the outlet of the chute feeder 10 and causes stable standing-upright of the conical article even when the head of the conical articles is pointed to any direction when the conical article is transferred from the outlet of the chute feeder to the first rope conveyor.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conical article feeding device suitable for a cone-shaped ice cream cartoning system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a cone-shaped ice cream packaging section, the operator manually removes the ice cream from the belt conveyor and stacks it in multiple stages in a box. As shown in FIG. 1, the ice cream C in each stage is turned in the opposite direction.

[0003]

The above-mentioned packaging is not easy because the ice cream itself has a very low temperature. Therefore, automation of packaging is desired. However, the posture of the ice cream conveyed from the previous process through the belt conveyor and the flow rate thereof are not constant, so in automating the packaging of the ice cream, first, the ice cream received from the belt conveyor is placed in a constant posture. It should be aligned and facilitate handling of the ice cream after this.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object thereof is to align a conical article having an irregular posture in a certain posture and supply the conical articles to a conveying system in a subsequent stage. An object of the present invention is to provide a conical article feeding device that can be used.

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION A conical article feeder according to the present invention has a chute that tapers downwardly and sequentially ejects a conical article that has been introduced vertically and a cone from a lower end outlet of the chute. A rope conveyor that has a pair of endless ropes that extend toward the supply side of shaped articles, and that conveys the conical articles by sandwiching them between the ropes, and the conical articles that transfer from the chute to the rope conveyor. At this time, there is provided an aligning means for aligning the conical articles in a downward standing posture.

[0006] Preferably, the aligning means is provided on the bottom surface of the lower end of the chute, and has an escape portion for escaping the pointed end of the conical article downward. It is set to be faster than the exit speed of the conical article discharged from the exit. Further, the chute is equipped with a deflection guide that projects from one side wall toward the center of the bottom surface and inclines downward, and directs the flow of the conical article sliding down to the side. The vibrating means to be combined is combined.

[0007]

The conical article thrown into the chute in an irregular posture is oriented vertically in the chute due to the tapered shape of the chute and goes toward the lower end outlet. When the conical article reaching the bottom end exit is transferred to the rope conveyor,
By the aligning means, it becomes a standing posture with its tip pointed downward, is sandwiched between a pair of ropes of the rope conveyor in a suspended state, and is conveyed as the ropes travel.

When the aligning means has an escape portion on the bottom surface of the lower end of the chute and the conveying speed of the rope conveyor is set to be faster than the exit speed of the conical article from the chute, the conical article has its larger diameter side. When transferring to the rope conveyor from the lower end outlet of the chute with the head of, the cone-shaped article climbs up on the pair of ropes on the large diameter side, is accelerated by these ropes and is separated from the chute side,
At this time, the tip end portion is set in a standing posture so that the tip end portion falls into the escape portion.

On the other hand, when the conical article heads toward the rope conveyor with its tip side as the leading end, the conical article falls from the tip side into a pair of ropes, and its large diameter side portion is sandwiched between the ropes to stand up. It becomes a posture. When the chute is provided with a deflection guide, one of the conical articles sliding down on the chute abuts the deflection guide,
These conical articles are separated in the axial direction of the chute,
The single row is promoted.

Further, when a large amount of conical articles are thrown into the chute, the deflection guide has a function of temporarily retaining these conical articles and adjusting the flow rate of the conical articles from the lower end outlet thereof. . Further, when the chute vibrates in the vertical direction, the trapping of the conical article on the chute is eliminated, and the single row of the conical article is further promoted.

[0011]

EXAMPLE Referring to FIG. 2, a cone-shaped ice cream cartoning system is schematically illustrated. The boxing section is roughly divided into an aligning conveyor section 2, a distributing conveyor section 4, a relay conveyor section 6 and a filling section 8.

The alignment conveyor section 2 is provided with a pair of vibrating chute feeders 10, and the upper ends of the chute feeders 10 are connected to a belt conveyor 12, respectively. The lower end of each chute feeder 10 is connected to the first rope conveyor 14, respectively.
A rope conveyor 14 is connected to the distribution conveyor section 4.

The distribution conveyor section 4 is provided with a pair of second rope conveyors 16 which are vertically separated for each first rope conveyor 14, and the first rope conveyors 14 corresponding to the respective second rope conveyors 16 of each pair. Sorting devices 18 are respectively arranged between and. Therefore, as apparent from the above description, the distribution conveyor section 4 has a total of four lines of the second rope conveyors 16, which are connected to the relay conveyor section 6, respectively.

The relay conveyor section 6 is a climb conveyor that corresponds to each second rope conveyor 16 of the sorting conveyor section 4, that is, a total of four lines of climb conveyors 22 and a downward extension from each climb conveyor 22. It has a pool conveyor 24 connected to section 8. The filling section 8 includes a cone feeding device 26 provided at the end of each pool conveyor 24 and a total of four cone feeding devices 26.
It is provided with individual filling heads 28 and a head drive device 30 for operating these filling heads 28. In FIG. 2, the filling head 28 is simply indicated by an arrow.

The cone-shaped ice cream obtained in the previous step (hereinafter, simply referred to as a cone unless otherwise required) is supplied to the belt conveyors 12, and the belt conveyors 12 cause the alignment conveyor section 2 to move.
Be transported to. Here, as is clear from FIG. 2, the cone C on each belt conveyor 12 is conveyed in an irregular lying position.

Cone C on these belt conveyors 12
Are respectively fed to the corresponding chute feeders 10 of the alignment conveyor section 2 and are supplied to the first rope conveyor 14 via these chute feeders 10. When the cone C slides down the chute feeder 10, the posture of the cone C becomes vertical, and thereafter, the cone C sequentially transfers from the lower end of the chute feeder 10 to the corresponding first rope conveyor 14. At this time, each cone C
As shown in FIG. 2, the tips of the cones C are aligned in an upright posture, and thus the cones C are thereafter moved in a row while maintaining the upright posture by the traveling of the first rope conveyor 14. And is conveyed toward the sorting section 4.

The sorting section 4, that is, the cone C that has reached the end of each first rope conveyor 14, is used as a sorting device 1.
According to the switching state of No. 8, the second rope conveyor 16 of the pair of upper and lower second rope conveyors 16 is transferred to one of the second rope conveyors 16 to be sorted, and then the second rope conveyor 16 is conveyed while traveling while maintaining its standing posture. To be done. Therefore, the flow of the cones C conveyed in one row by each first rope conveyor 14 is thereafter branched into two streams by the pair of second rope conveyors 16.

The cone C reaching the end of the second rope conveyor 16 transfers to the corresponding climb conveyor 22 of the relay conveyor section 6, and these climb conveyors 2
2. The climb conveyors 2 are conveyed while rising by 2
Transfer from 2 to the corresponding pool conveyor 24. These pool conveyors 24 convey the received cone C toward the filling section 8 while lowering it.

Cone feeding device 2 of filling section 8
6 is 5 cones C from the pool conveyor 24
Are collectively supplied to the corresponding filling heads 28, and each filling head 28 receives and holds five cones C. After this,
Each filling head 28 is swung by the head driving device 30 to change the posture of the five received cones C from the standing posture to the horizontal posture as shown in FIG. Here, the adjacent filling heads 28 are swung in opposite directions, and as a result, the five cones C of the adjacent filling heads 28 have their horizontal postures opposite to each other.

After this, each filling head 28 descends toward the box B located below it and releases the holding of the five cones C. Therefore, the five cones C are collectively filled in the box B from each filling head 28. Here, on the transfer line BL, the box B is intermittently transferred in conjunction with the cone filling operation of the above-described filling head 28, and one box B corresponds to each filling head 28 as shown in FIG. It can be positioned immediately below. Therefore, one cone B is filled with five cones C from each filling head 28, stacked, and finally a total of 20 cones C are packed. Further, as is clear from FIG. 3, the cones C of each stage have the same orientation, but the cones C vertically adjacent to each other have opposite orientations.

After that, the box B packed with 20 cones C is supplied to a lid closing device (not shown) through the transfer line BL, and this lid closing device closes the lid of the box B and adheres the lid. It is sealed with tape. The above is a schematic description of the entire boxing system, and the details of the aligning conveyor section 2 that constitutes the conical article feeding device of one embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a chute feeder 10 which is paired with one belt conveyor 12.
The chute feeder 10 has a belt conveyor 1 at its upper edge.
It is located at the end of 2 and extends downward. The belt conveyor 12 has a pair of guide plates 32.
The guide plates 32 prevent the cone C conveyed on the belt conveyor 12 from falling off from the belt conveyor 12.

The chute feeder 10 is composed of a wide-angle V-shaped bottom wall 34 and a pair of side walls 36 extending along both sides of the bottom wall 34. The width of the bottom wall 34 tapers downward. It is in a state. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the upper edge of the bottom wall 34 has a width substantially equal to the distance between the guide plates 32 of the belt conveyor 12, but the width gradually decreases downward ( (See FIG. 6), and the width of the lower end edge thereof is slightly wider than the diameter of the cone C as shown in FIG. 7.

On one side wall 36 of the chute feeder 10, a pair of plate-shaped deflection guides 38 and 4 are provided.
0 is attached to these deflection guides 38, 40.
Are vertically spaced apart from each other in the central region of the side wall 36 as viewed in the longitudinal direction. The deflection guides 38 and 40 are
From the side wall 36 toward the center of the bottom wall 34 of the chute feeder 10, they extend parallel to each other and obliquely downward, and their intervals are set sufficiently longer than the length of the cone C.

At the lower end of the chute feeder 10, that is, the bottom wall 34 of the chute feeder, a sector groove 42 is formed, which widens downward as an escape portion. The sector groove 42 has a V-shaped cross section, and the groove depth thereof gradually increases toward the lower end edge of the bottom wall 34. Further, the lower ends of the side walls 36 of the chute feeder 10 are formed as triangular bent pieces 36a that are bent outward, and therefore, the lower end of the chute feeder 10 is in a wide open state.

The chute feeder 10 described above is attached to the vibrating frame 44, and the vibrating frame 4
4 is supported by a pair of slanting bases 50 via a plurality of rubber springs 46. A vibrator 53 is attached to the vibrating frame 44.
Causes the chute feeder 10 to vibrate up and down via the vibrating frame 44 as indicated by arrow F in FIG. The vibration that is about to be transmitted from the vibrating frame 44 to the base 48 side is absorbed by each rubber spring 46,
Vibration is not transmitted to the base 48.

The first rope conveyor 14 described above extends from the lower end of the chute feeder 10. The first rope conveyor 14 is composed of two endless ropes 56, and each of these ropes 56 is vertically wound around a pair of pulleys 58 and 60. Therefore, in this case, the pulleys 58 and 60 are rotatably supported in a vertically oriented state.

One pulley of each rope 56, that is, the pulley 58 on the side of the chute feeder 10 is located immediately below the lower end portion of the chute feeder 10 as is apparent from FIG. It is attached to a common pulley shaft 62 as shown in FIG. The other pulleys 60 are independently rotatably supported via their own pulley shafts, and the pulleys 60 are open.

Further, although not clear from FIG. 4, the pulley 60 is located at a higher level position than the pulley 58, so that the first rope conveyor 54 is inclined so as to rise toward the end side thereof. Has been done. As shown in FIG. 8, a toothed pulley 64 is attached to one end of the pulley shaft 62.
A toothed belt 70 is wound around the electric motor 66 side, that is, the toothed pulley 68 attached to the output shaft of the electric motor 66. Therefore, when the electric motor 66 is driven, the driving force is applied to the toothed pulley 68 and the toothed belt 70.
And transmitted to the pulley shaft 62 via the toothed pulley 64, and each pulley 58 is rotated at a constant speed in the same direction. As a result, the upper portion of each rope 56, that is, the forward path portion thereof, travels at a constant speed in the direction indicated by arrow E in FIG.

Here, the traveling speed of each rope 58 is V1,
That is, if the exit speed of the cone C at the lower end of the chute feeder 10 is V0, these traveling speed V1 and exit speed V
0 has the relationship shown in the following equation. V1> V0 Each rope 56 extends in parallel from the lower end of the chute feeder 10, and a conveying path for the cone C is formed between the ropes 56, that is, between the forward path side portions. The distance between the transport passages is set according to the size of the cone C. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, the center of gravity G of the cone C is near the diameter D smaller than the maximum diameter of the cone C. If present, the spacing of the ropes 56, i.e. the transport passages, is also set equal to the diameter D.

Next, the functions of the chute feeder 10 and the first rope conveyor 14 described above will be described. First, the cone C, which is conveyed on the belt conveyor 12 in an irregular recumbent posture, has the shoot feeder 1 from the end thereof.
It is thrown in 0. In addition to the shape of the inserted cone C, the bottom wall 34 of the chute feeder 10 has a wide-angle V-shape, and therefore the cone C is vertically oriented at the center of the bottom wall 34 as shown in FIG. It will be collected in a posture. That is, even if the cone C is thrown sideways from the belt conveyor 12, the cone C rolls freely on the bottom wall 34 of the chute feeder 10, becomes vertically oriented, and is collected in the center of the bottom wall 34.

Therefore, the corn C is added to the shoot feeder 10.
, The cones C1 and C2 will slide down on the bottom wall 34 of the chute feeder 10 as shown in FIG. 10, but the cones C1 and C2 will overlap. Is the deflection guides 38 and 4 described above.
It is canceled by the action of 0. That is, when the overlapping cones C1 and C2 slide down, one of the cones C1 first comes into contact with the upper deflection guide 38 to reduce the slide-down speed, and at the same time, the deflection direction of the deflection guide 3 decreases.
By 8, it is swung to the cone C2 side. Therefore, since the cone C1 pushes the cone C2 laterally, the cone C2 slides down by temporarily climbing up the inclined surface on one side of the bottom wall 34 as indicated by the solid arrow K in FIG. As a result, the cone C2 precedes the cone C1 as shown by the broken line in FIG. 10, and the single row of the cone C is realized.

Further, the upper deflection guide 38 temporarily retains the cones C and adjusts the flow rate of the cone C flowing toward the lower end when the amount of the cones C to be input to the chute feeder 10 is large. Even if the single deflection of the cone C by the upper deflection guide 38 is insufficient, the cone C1,
By subjecting C2 to the single-row processing again by the lower deflection guide 40, the cone C2 is further ahead of the cone C1, and the cone C reaches the lower end of the chute feeder 10 before the cone C reaches the lower end. Will be fully singulated.

Furthermore, since the chute feeder 10 is vibrated as described above, even if a plurality of cones C are caught in the chute feeder 10, the catches are eliminated by the vibration, and Single rowing will be performed smoothly. When the single-row processed cone C reaches the lower end of the chute feeder 10, if the tip of the cone C is at the top, the cone C is
From the lower end of the chute feeder 10 to the first rope conveyor 1
4 It jumps out from the tip toward each rope 56 and is received between these ropes 56. That is, rope 5
Since the interval between 6 is smaller than the maximum diameter of the cone C as described above, the cone C jumping from the tip of the rope 56 between the ropes 56 is reliably sandwiched between the ropes 56.

Since the distance between the ropes 56 is approximately equal to the diameter D where the center of gravity G of the cone C exists, the cone C is suspended near the center of gravity G between the ropes 56. It becomes a state. That is, the cone C between the ropes 56 oscillates due to its own weight and takes a standing posture with its tip facing downward, and while maintaining this standing posture, the traveling path of each rope 56 causes the cone C to move along the transport passage. Will be transported.

As shown in FIG. 9, the traveling of each rope 56 used to convey the cone C, that is, the forward path side portion thereof, is guided by the guide 72. As a result, the cone C is reliably sandwiched between the ropes 56 and conveyed. On the other hand, when the cone C reaches the lower end of the chute feeder 10, the cone C
If the end surface of the cone C is at the top, as shown in FIG. 11, the cone C is arranged so that the end surface side portion of the cone C rides on each rope 56 of the first rope conveyor 14 from the chute feeder 10. It jumps out and is conveyed while being dragged as each rope 56 travels.

At this time, since the above-mentioned sector groove 42 is formed at the lower end portion of the chute feeder 10, the cone C is dragged as each rope 56 travels.
The cone C has its tip pointed by the sector groove 42 due to its own weight.
While intruding into, it rotates downward as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. Therefore, even in this case, the cone C
As soon as it jumps out of the chute feeder 10, it is sandwiched between the ropes 56 in the vicinity of its center of gravity G. As a result, the cone C takes an upright posture with its tip facing downward at an early stage, and each rope 56 travels. As a result, the paper is transported through the transport passage.

Further, when the cone C is transferred from the chute feeder 10 to the first rope conveyor 14, the traveling speed V1 of each rope 56 is faster than the exit speed V0 of the cone C from the lower end of the chute feeder 10. The cone C transferred onto each rope 56 is accelerated by the traveling of each rope 56 and can be quickly separated from the chute feeder 10. Therefore, the cone C protruding from the chute feeder 10 and the subsequent cone C on the chute feeder 10 side do not interfere with each other at the lower end of the chute feeder 10, that is, at the exit thereof, and the cone C is blocked at the exit. It can be surely prevented.

Here, the ice cream C is manufactured by filling a conical container with cream dough and then sealing the opening of the container, and the sealing portion is a Y seal CY as shown in FIG. It is called. This Y seal CY
Has a substantially Y shape, but is not constant. Therefore, as described above, if the bent pieces 36a are formed at the lower ends of the both side walls 36 of the chute feeder 10 and the exit of the chute feeder 10 is wide, the ice cream C will be discharged from the exit of the chute feeder 10. When jumping out, the Y-seal CY does not get caught on the side wall 36.

The standing cone C conveyed by the first rope conveyor 14 is continuously conveyed toward the filling section 8 as described above, and is then packed in the filling section 8. . The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, the chute feeder 10 is provided with two deflection guides 38 and 40, but the deflection guides may be three or more, and the sector groove 42 at the lower end of the chute feeder 10 has a triangular shape. It may be replaced with a notch. Further, although the pair of ropes 56 is vertically wound around the first rope conveyor 14, it may be a horizontal rope conveyor in which the pair of ropes is horizontally wound.

Further, it is needless to say that the supply device of the present invention can be applied to cone-shaped ice cream and various conical articles regardless of the presence or absence of the Y-seal.

[0042]

As described above, according to the conical article feeding apparatus of the present invention, the cone which is thrown into the chute in an irregular posture has a simple structure in which the chute and the rope conveyor are simply combined. First, the shaped article is oriented vertically, and when the conical article is transferred from the chute to the rope conveyor, the conical article is received in a downward standing posture between a pair of ropes of the rope conveyor, and the conveyor system of the subsequent stage is used by the rope conveyor. Can be transported to. Therefore, in the latter-stage conveyance system, since the conical articles have a constant posture, they can be easily handled, which greatly contributes to the automation of box packaging.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a packed state of ice cream.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an entire ice cream cartoning machine.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing intermittent transportation of boxes on a transportation line.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an alignment conveyor section of a cartoning machine.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the top of the chute feeder of the alignment conveyor section.

FIG. 6 is a transverse cross-sectional view of an intermediate portion of a chute feeder.

FIG. 7 is a cross section of the lower end of the chute feeder.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a starting end of a first rope conveyor extending from a lower end of a chute feeder.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the first rope conveyor.

FIG. 10 is a view for explaining the action of the chute feeder.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state in which a cone transfers from a chute feeder to a first rope conveyor.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of ice cream.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of the ice cream.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Chute Feeder 34 Bottom Wall 36 Side Wall 36a Bending Pieces 38, 40 Deflection Guide 42 Sector Groove 44 Vibration Frame 53 Vibrator 54 First Rope Conveyor

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Etsushio Shimomura 1-17-7 Yokogawa, Sumida-ku, Tokyo Japan Tobacco Inc. Tokyo Plant

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A chute that tapers downwardly and sequentially discharges a thrown-in conical article in a vertical direction, and a pair of endless shapes extending from a lower end outlet of the chute toward the supply side of the conical article. A rope conveyor that has ropes, and sandwiches and conveys conical articles between these ropes in a suspended state, and when the conical articles transfer from the chute to the rope conveyor, align the conical articles in a downward standing posture. An apparatus for feeding a conical article, comprising: an aligning means. 2. The aligning means is provided on the bottom surface of the lower end of the chute, and has an escape portion for letting the pointed end of the conical article escape downward, and a conical shape discharged from the lower end outlet of the chute to the rope conveyor. The conical article feeding device according to claim 1, wherein a conveying speed higher than an exit speed of the article is applied. 3. The chute is provided with a deflection guide which projects from one side wall toward the center of the bottom surface and inclines downward, and laterally directs the flow of the sliding conical article. 1. Conical article feeder. 4. The conical article feeding device according to claim 2, further comprising a vibrating means for vibrating the chute up and down.