JPH0772006B2 - Cylindrical article alignment device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an aligning device for aligning cylindrical articles such as round cans and bottles in a staggered manner.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, for example, round cans manufactured at a can manufacturing factory are arranged in a staggered manner on a wide conveyor placed at the end of the can manufacturing line, and then arranged on a pallet. They are stacked and shrink-wrapped before shipping. As a device for arranging the round cans in a zigzag manner, a device as shown in FIG. 7 is conventionally known. The apparatus arranges cans C, which are sent in a chaotic state on a supply conveyor 45, by a distributor 46. And, by the star-shaped rotary arranging tool 49 in which every other magnet 48 is provided in the concave arcuate receiving portion 47 on the downstream end side, the cylindrical article engaged with the receiving portion in which no magnet is arranged is in the straight traveling state. The cylindrical article engaged with the receiving portion in which the magnet is arranged is conveyed to a position where it is engaged with the removing tool 50 by the attraction of the magnet, and the removal tool forcibly disengages the cylindrical article from the receiving portion. Then, the cans are aligned in a zigzag manner on the conveyor by sending out the cans by alternately repeating the straight advancement and the deflection.

The pitch of the aligning members such as the distributor and the rotation arranging tool must be set so as to correspond to the diameter of the can to be handled,
When handling cans having different diameters, it is necessary to change the pitch of the cans each time, so-called remodeling work.
Conventionally, the mold changing work is generally performed by arranging the alignment members in advance at a pitch corresponding to a specific can diameter into a unit, and preparing a plurality of units having different pitches corresponding to the can diameter,
Each time the can diameter to be handled is different, the unit is removed from the conveyor frame and replaced with a corresponding unit.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional cylindrical article aligning apparatus, the aligning unit is removed from the conveyor frame and replaced with a predetermined aligning unit each time the diameter of the aligned cylindrical article is different. Since it must be done, the mold changing work is very troublesome,
Moreover, since it is a heavy item, it requires multiple manpower and a long time,
During that time, there were problems such as having to stop the line.

Further, in the conventional aligning device, every other magnet is arranged in the receiving part to deflect the course, so that the cylindrical article to be handled must be a magnetic material, and the aluminum can that is often used recently. There is a problem that it cannot be applied to non-magnetic cylindrical articles such as. By using a vacuum suction tool in place of the magnet as the suction means to the receiving portion, even in the case of a non-magnetic cylindrical article, a staggered arrangement is possible with the device, but the structure and control are complicated. If the surface of the cylindrical article has ribs or patterns of irregularities, it has a drawback that it does not work effectively. In addition, since the cylindrical article adsorbed on the receiving portion of the rotating arrangement is forcibly removed from the adsorbing means by the removing tool, there is a problem that the cylindrical article is likely to be impacted.

The present invention is intended to solve the above problems of the conventional aligning device for aligning cylindrical articles in a zigzag manner, and a first object thereof is to easily perform a mold changing operation by one person in a short time. An object of the present invention is to provide a cylindrical article aligning device that can do this. Further, another object is to arrange the cylindrical article of any material regardless of whether it is a magnetic material or a non-magnetic material, and to arrange it in a zigzag pattern without any impact even if the surface has irregularities. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cylindrical article aligning device which can be manufactured and which has a simple structure.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A cylindrical article aligning device of the present invention includes an aligning unit having an aligning member for aligning staggeredly arranged cylindrical articles conveyed by a wide conveying conveyor in a staggered manner. A plurality of units having different pitches of the alignment members corresponding to the diameters of the plurality of units, the plurality of alignment units being arranged transversely on the transport conveyor, each of the alignment units being independently of the conveyor transport surface. It is supported on a conveyor frame through a vertical drive device such as a power cylinder so that it can move up and down, and only an alignment unit corresponding to the diameter of a cylindrical article to be aligned can be selected and positioned at an operating position on the cylindrical article to be aligned. The first object can be achieved by having the configuration characterized in that it is possible.

In addition, by configuring the alignment unit with a combination of an alignment path guide, an alignment tool, a star-shaped rotary feed tool, and a distribution lever, it is possible to reliably stagger any cylindrical article regardless of whether it is a magnetic material or a non-magnetic material. It was possible to arrange in a shape. Further, the vertical drive device can employ any drive means such as a cylinder device arranged so as to vertically move the alignment unit with respect to the conveyor frame.

(Operation) By arranging in advance a plurality of cylindrical article aligning units having different pitches of aligning tools corresponding to the diameters of the plurality of types of cylindrical articles along the conveyor conveying direction,
The mold changing operation can be performed by operating the alignment unit that has been used up to the inactive position by operating the vertical driving device, selecting the alignment unit corresponding to the newly handled cylindrical article, and lowering it to the operating position. Therefore, it can be done in a very short time as compared with the conventional one, and it does not require troublesome adjustment and the like, and can be easily performed independently without requiring skill. By adopting a power unit such as a cylinder unit or a motor as the vertical drive unit, remote control is possible.

On the other hand, according to the structures of claims 3 to 5, the cylindrical articles conveyed in a dense state on the wide conveyance conveyor are arranged in a plurality of rows of alignment paths arranged at predetermined intervals in the conveyor width direction by the swinging of the aligning tool. It is guided and goes straight. When the rotary delivery tool at the downstream end of the alignment path is reached, the cylindrical article fits into the receiving portion of the rotary delivery tool and is sequentially delivered at regular intervals. The distribution lever swings each time the rotary delivery tool delivers one article, and the center distance between the articles in the width direction of the conveyor becomes smaller. The cylindrical articles are distributed such that (D is the diameter of the cylindrical article) is alternately shifted. As a result, the cylindrical articles delivered from the respective alignment paths are alternately delivered so as to form the two rows spaced apart by the distance, and when blocked at the downstream end of the conveyor, they are aligned and accumulated in a staggered manner on the conveyor.

As described above, in the present invention, the rotary delivery tool delivers the cylindrical article only by engaging the concave portion, and the distribution lever performs the distribution for the staggered arrangement, so that the cylindrical article can be held by suction. It is not necessary, and even a non-magnetic material or an article having surface irregularities can be satisfactorily aligned in a staggered manner.

(Example) Hereinafter, the Example of this invention is described in detail based on drawing.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment when applied to a round can aligning device,
In the figure, 1 is an alignment unit frame provided across a wide conveyor 2, and 3 is an alignment path guide suspended and supported by the frame, by which the cans are arranged in a plurality of rows along the conveyor. An alignment path 4 for aligning and transporting is configured. Reference numeral 5 denotes an aligning tool, which is swingably provided by pivotally attaching a base end portion 6 to a tip between the alignment paths 2, and a pin 7 is erected at an intermediate portion thereof, and an upper end of each pin swings. The aligning tools 5 are pivotally attached to the moving rods 8 and the respective aligning tools 5 are simultaneously swung by an appropriate swing rod driving device 9.

10 is a rotary delivery tool provided at the downstream end of the alignment path,
It has a concave arc-shaped receiving portion 11 on its peripheral surface, and engages the aligning path 4 with a can sent in a close contact state, and separates the cans and sends them out. The rotary delivery tool 10 of this embodiment has four receiving parts,
Two are arranged adjacent to each other between the alignment paths (see FIG. 3),
One rotary delivery tool is fixed to a rotary shaft 21 that rotates via a bevel gear 15 that meshes with a bevel gear 14 that is axially fixed to a transmission shaft 13 that rotates by the same delivery tool drive device, and the other rotary delivery tool is Driven through transmission gears provided on the rotary shaft 21, they are arranged so as to rotate in opposite directions.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a distribution lever which is provided on the downstream side of the rotary delivery tool 10 so as to be swingable and whose horizontal section is fan-shaped. The upper part thereof is reciprocally moved from the delivery tool drive device 12 through a swing mechanism 17. The round cans that are pivotally attached to the rocking rod 18 and are delivered by the rotary delivery tool 10 have front and rear round cans centered in the conveyor width direction. (D is the diameter of the round can) In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the distribution lever 16 is arranged to distribute the round cans conveyed from the two-row alignment paths by one distribution lever except for the end rows. And is located at the downstream end of the alignment path guide. That is, the rotary delivery tool 10 swings every time a round can is sent out, and the left and right sides are inclined with respect to the conveying direction of the round can so that the round can is distributed in two directions.
In this embodiment, the rotary feeding device delivers four cans in one rotation, so that the dispensing device swings twice during that time. Reference numeral 20 denotes a can sensor which is arranged in each of the alignment paths 4 and detects that four or more cans are lined up in the alignment path, and outputs a signal when the number of cans is less than 4 to drive the rotary delivery tool and the distribution lever. The delivery tool driving device 12 is stopped.

The present embodiment is configured as described above, and its operation will be described with reference to FIG.

Can C sent out from the can manufacturing line onto the conveyor
Becomes dense and reaches the position of the aligning tool 5 as the conveyor rotates slowly. Since the rocking rod 8 of the aligning tool 5 is rocking, the can that hits the tip of the aligning tool 5 is naturally distributed and enters the aligning path 4, and along the aligning path guide 3 that divides the aligning path. And go straight. When the can reaches the rotary delivery tool 10 at the downstream end of the alignment path, the can is fitted into the receiving portion 11 of the continuously rotating rotary delivery tool and is sequentially delivered. At that time, for example, when the distribution lever 16 is tilted to the right (the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 3), the cans fed from the aligned roads in the odd numbered rows have the distribution levers 16 located in the path of the cans. Engage the sorting lever to move the course to the right Only the course is deflected and it is conveyed. On the other hand, the round cans delivered from the even-numbered alignment paths are conveyed straight as they are, because the sorting levers do not obstruct the path. Then, when the rotary delivery tool 10 delivers the next round can, the distribution lever 16
Is tilted to the left, the cans in the odd numbered rows go straight, and the ones in the even numbered rows engage the sorting lever to the left. Only is deflected and goes straight.

By repeating the same process thereafter, four cans are delivered while the rotary delivery tool 10 makes one rotation, and the distribution lever 16 swings to the right and left twice during that time. The cans sent out by the rotary delivery tool are conveyed along with the progress of the conveyor, but there is a stop rod 21 at the downstream part of the conveyor, and the progress is blocked by the stop rods so that the cans are sequentially accumulated in a staggered manner. When one stacking stack is accumulated, the stop rod 21 moves up and sends one stacking stack to the stacking position.

Although the above embodiments have been described in the case of a can manufacturing line, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to round cans and can be applied to staggering any cylindrical article such as round bottles. Further, the drive mechanism for the rotary delivery tool and the distribution lever is not limited to the above-mentioned structure, and any appropriate mechanism can be adopted. In the above embodiment, the distribution lever is used to distribute the cans delivered from the rotary delivery device into the straight traveling state and the deflected state.
The cans delivered from the rotary delivery tool may be distributed so as to be shifted to the left and right alternately by the same pitch, and in short, the cans may be delivered in a staggered arrangement.

4 to 6 show an embodiment of a cylindrical article aligning device which facilitates the mold changing work.

Numerals 30 ₁ and 30 ₂ are alignment units provided across the wide conveyor 31, and each alignment unit has an alignment path guide (not shown) that defines an alignment path as shown in FIGS. An alignment tool 33 swingably provided at the upstream end of each alignment path guide, and a star-shaped rotary delivery tool having a concave arc-shaped receiving portion formed on the peripheral surface provided at the downstream end of the guide (not shown). No),
Provided on the downstream side of the star-shaped rotary delivery tool, and capable of swinging the cylindrical articles alternately delivered so that the cylindrical articles delivered by the delivery tool form a staggered arrangement along the traveling direction of the conveyor. An alignment member such as a distribution lever (not shown) provided is attached to the alignment unit frame 32. Each of the alignment members is attached with its pitch adjusted in advance so as to match the diameter of the cylindrical article to be handled. In the illustrated embodiment, two types of alignment units having different pitches are provided to provide two types of cylindrical articles. It is ready to respond. Each of the aligning units is supported on the conveyor frame via a cylinder device (power cylinder) 34 so that the aligning unit can move up and down with respect to the conveyor. In the illustrated example, the cylinder 35 is fixed to the conveyor frame, and the tip of the cylinder rod 36 is aligned with the unit frame.
By supporting and fixing 32, by operating the cylinder device, the alignment unit can be moved up and down with respect to the conveyor surface so that it can be moved to two positions, a lower position (operating position) and an upper position (inactive position). It has become. Reference numeral 37 denotes a guide rod that hangs from the lower surface of the alignment unit, and is guided by a sleeve 38 fixed to the conveyor frame to move up and down, so that the alignment unit vertically moves up and down.

Alignment unit 30 with different pitch configured as above
₁ , 30 ₂ are provided along the conveyer conveying direction so that they are located at the working position and the non-working position independently of each other by the power cylinder device. Thus, for example, an alignment unit
If the pitch is set for 30 ₂ for 250 g can and 30 ₁ for 350 g can, if making 250 g can, lower the alignment unit 30 ₂ for 250 g to the working position and The alignment unit actuates the power cylinder to raise it and hold it in the inoperative position. Thus, the cylindrical article group conveyed in an irregular state by the conveyor in the same manner as in the above-mentioned embodiment is aligned in a zigzag pattern by passing through the alignment unit section, and is regulated by the stopper arranged downstream. Then, the stacked one-stage parts are gathered and arranged in a staggered manner.

When the cans to be handled are changed from 250 g cans to 350 g cans, the aligning unit 30 ₁ is lowered and the aligning unit 30 ₂ is raised to the inoperative position, contrary to the above. As described above, according to the present embodiment, the mold can be changed by simply operating the cylinder, so that it can be performed in a very short time as compared with the conventional one, and it does not require troublesome adjustment and requires skill. Without it, you can easily do it alone. Since the power cylinder can be remotely controlled from the control panel, it does not need to be directly handled on site.

Although the cylinder device is used as a drive device for vertically moving the alignment unit in the above-described embodiment, a motor may be used as a drive device to move the alignment unit up and down by a rack and pinion mechanism or the like. Further, it goes without saying that the alignment mechanism of the alignment unit is not necessarily limited to that of the first embodiment, but can be applied to a conventional alignment device as shown in FIG. 7, for example.

(Effect) The present invention is configured as described above and has the following special effects.

According to the present invention, the mold changing work is performed by simply moving the aligning unit up and down between the inactive position and the operating position by the drive device, which can be performed in a very short time as compared with the conventional one, and also requires troublesome adjustment. Not only that, it can be easily done by one person without requiring any skill, and it can be automatically changed by remote control or unmanned operation.

Further, by forming the alignment unit from a combination of an alignment path guide, an alignment tool, a star-shaped rotary feed tool, and a distribution lever, a cylindrical article of any material or a cylindrical article having an uneven pattern on the surface can be used. It has less impact and can be distributed reliably and smoothly, and its structure is very simple.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an alignment apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a first view.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of its operation, FIG. 4 is a plan view of an alignment apparatus of another embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is its side view, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of a conventional aligning device. 2, 31: Conveyor, 3: Alignment path guide 4: Alignment path, 5, 33: Alignment tool, 10: Rotary delivery tool, 16: Sorting lever, 30: Alignment unit, 32: Alignment unit frame 34: Cylinder device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An aligning unit having an aligning member for aligning staggeredly arranged cylindrical articles conveyed by a wide conveyer in a staggered manner, wherein the pitch of the aligning elements is different according to the diameter of the cylindrical article to be aligned. With multiple units,
The plurality of alignment units are arranged across the conveyor, and each of the alignment units is supported on a conveyor frame through a vertical drive device so that it can be vertically moved independently of the conveyor transfer surface, and is aligned. A cylindrical article aligning device, characterized in that only an aligning unit corresponding to a diameter of a cylindrical article can be selected to be positioned at an operating position for a cylindrical article to be aligned. 2. The cylindrical article aligning device according to claim 1, wherein the aligning unit comprises a combination of an aligning path guide, an aligning tool, a star-shaped rotary feeding tool, and a sorting lever. 3. The cylindrical article aligning device according to claim 1, wherein the vertical driving device is a cylinder device arranged so as to vertically move the aligning unit with respect to the conveyor frame.