JPH08175651A - Recovering device for objects to be conveyed and sorting and recovering device therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To accumulate the objects taken in from a line as much as possible, and prevent the objects from having excessive impact at the time of the accumulation. CONSTITUTION: A taken-in video cassette (object to be conveyed) is received by a positioning stage 80 and dropped by the first butterfly mechanism 82. The dropped video cassettes are stacked one after another by an accumulation stage 84. When the number of the video cassettes in the accumulation stage 84 has reached a specific one, the video cassettes are dropped onto a recovery stage 88 through the second butterfly mechanism 86.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article of the same shape that has been conveyed along a line, is taken in based on sorting information, accumulates it, and makes it possible to collect the accumulated article at any time. The present invention relates to a collecting device and a sorting / collecting device including the collecting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various automatic sorting systems have been commercialized and put into practical use. If you classify this, as a large model, the conveyed goods are conveyed by the connecting tray cart, and when the sorting branch point is reached, the tray cart tilts, and the articles that have been placed until then are slid toward the sorting chute side by gravity. There is a method of sorting and sorting, and a method of combining with a sorting apparatus at a branching point of a conveyor type to sort and sort conveyed articles from a main conveyor by a sorting apparatus.

In the case of using the tray cart, the tray cart is guided on the rail under the tray by at least two or more side rollers, and is conveyed in a horizontal state, and after reaching the sorting branch point, it corresponds to the branch point. At the chute port, the rail is level-changed to the lower surface with air or an electromagnet. As a result, the tray cart horizontally guided by the upper rail is tilted to the left or right, and the articles fall from the chute opening by gravity, so that sorting is realized.

On the other hand, in the type in which the main conveyor is branched by a sorting device, a large number of drive rollers are arranged with a slight gap in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, and sorting is performed at a position corresponding to the time of branching. Immediately before the article to be delivered arrives, a plurality of guides are projected from the lower side of the gap between the plurality of rollers, and the articles conveyed by the projected guides are redirected to a chute port prepared beside the main conveyor. It is configured as follows.

By the way, conventionally, the conveyed articles sorted in this manner are sequentially accumulated in one line on a long slanted chute, and when the conveyed articles are full on the chute, the conveyed articles are full. This is detected by, for example, turning on a full distribution lamp installed above the chute, and the gate of the chute is opened to collect the chute.

[0006]

However, when the articles sorted by such a method are collected, if the number of articles that can be accumulated on the chute is small, the chute mouth frequently collects the articles. Since it is necessary to store as many articles as possible, it is necessary to increase the length of the chute as the number of articles that can be stored increases. There is a problem that the equipment becomes large and requires a large installation area.

Regarding such a problem, as shown in FIG. 10, for example, the sorted articles A are dropped downward so that the articles A are stacked (stored) in the vertical direction Z. It is also possible that you have However, this method naturally requires a large drop height in order to increase the accumulated amount, so that it is difficult to use when the conveyed article is an article that is not very strong against impact such as a debio cassette. There is. Also, if the height of fall is high, the article will rotate slightly during the fall,
There is also a problem that it may land in a so-called standing state, and it may not be possible to stack it in a clean horizontal state.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and it is possible to satisfactorily store the sorted articles in the vertical direction and further reduce the size of the sorting system. Moreover, an object of the present invention is to provide a device for collecting conveyed articles which can be stacked in a properly intended state (for example, a horizontal state) without giving a large impact to the articles. Another object of the present invention is to provide a rational sorting / collecting device incorporating this collecting device.

[0009]

According to the present invention, articles of the same shape that have been conveyed along a line are taken in based on sorting information and accumulated, and the accumulated articles can be collected at any time. In the article collecting apparatus, positioning means for receiving the taken-in article at a predetermined position, first dropping means for dropping the positioned article directly below,
Storage means for sequentially stacking the articles dropped by the first dropping means in the vertical direction, and when the number of articles stored in the storage means reaches a predetermined number, the stored articles are further dropped directly below. The above-mentioned problem is solved by providing the second dropping means and the recovery stage capable of receiving the plurality of articles dropped from the second dropping means and capable of taking out the plurality of articles received. is there.

Further, the present invention is a conveyed article which is arranged at a specific branching position on the main conveyor and sorts and collects articles conveyed on the main conveyor from the main conveyor based on predetermined sorting information. In the sorting / collecting device, a slide rail disposed above the branch position of the main conveyor so as to intersect with the main conveyor, and a direction along the slide rail that intersects with the transport direction of the main conveyor. A movable slide base, a guide bar attached to the slide base so as to extend in the vertical direction, a guide base movable in the vertical direction along the guide bar, and attached to the guide base, Along the guide bar, it descends from the height not contacting the conveyed article to the height contacting it, and along the slide rail. By pressing the conveyed article in a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the main conveyor, and a sorting device including a pressing member for branching and sorting the conveyed article, and the collecting device, the above problems can be solved. It has been resolved.

[0011]

The taken-in article is received at a predetermined position, and is directly dropped by the first dropping means. The dropped articles are sequentially stacked in the vertical direction by the accumulating means, and when the number of articles accumulated in the accumulating means reaches a predetermined number, the second dropping means further drops the articles. The plurality of articles dropped by the second dropping means are received by the collection stage and collected from there.

As described above, according to the present invention, the taken-in articles are not directly dropped onto the recovery stage, but are first accumulated once in the accumulating means, and after being piled up by a predetermined number here, they are further dropped onto the recovery stage. Therefore, it is not necessary to drop the taken-in article directly from a high height. Therefore, the impact received can be reduced significantly,
Also, the articles do not rotate during the fall and cannot be properly stacked (for example, in a horizontal state) on the recovery stage.

In a preferred embodiment, the first or second dropping means is provided with two opening / closing doors which rotate in synchronization with a downward state from a horizontal state. As a result, it is possible to drop the article directly under the article with a simple structure and without giving unnecessary rotation.

A preferred embodiment is to provide a plurality of pairs of the accumulating means and the second dropping means. As a result, the height of one drop can be reduced even when the final collecting stage has a considerable height with respect to the taken-in position, and the first dropping means and the collecting stage are combined. A predetermined number of articles can be stored in each of a plurality of storage means provided therebetween. Therefore, the accumulated amount can be increased without causing a large impact or a problem such as rotation during falling.

A preferred embodiment is that the vertical position of the bottom surface of the accumulating means is variable. Thus, the bottom surface of the accumulating means should be kept relatively upward when receiving falling articles, and moved downward when the accumulated articles are dropped onto the collection stage (or other accumulating means provided in plural). As a result, it is possible to achieve both reduction of drop impact and increase of accumulated amount.

The collecting apparatus for the conveyed articles according to the present invention (Claims 1 to 4) is not particularly limited as to how the articles conveyed along the line are branched and sorted. Therefore, various conventionally known sorting devices may be used as they are.

However, it is desirable that the articles are always taken in at a predetermined angle so that the apparatus for collecting conveyed articles according to the present invention can more reliably perform its function. Therefore, in the case of the conventional sorting apparatus, it is possible to change the loading angle by, for example, tilting the tray carriage rather than the sorting apparatus of the type in which the loading angle of the articles changes at the time of branching / sorting. It would be desirable to have a type of sorting device that can be taken in without any effort.

However, in the sorting device using the tray cart, it is necessary to prepare the cart for each article, and the sorting mechanism needs to be incorporated in the lower part of the transfer line, so that the cost is high. There is a problem that inspection and maintenance work is difficult. Therefore, the present invention (claim 5)
The invention described in 1) newly proposes an optimal sorting device to be used in combination with the above-mentioned recovery device.

In this sorting apparatus, a slide rail is arranged above the branching position of the main conveyor so as to intersect with the main conveyor, and the slide base can be moved along the slide rail. By attaching a guide bar extending vertically to the slide base, the guide base can be moved vertically along the guide bar.

A pressing member for branching and sorting the conveyed articles is attached to the guide base. The pressing member descends along the guide bar from a height at which it does not contact the conveyed articles to a height at which it makes contact with the slide rail. Along the line, the conveyed article is pressed in a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the main conveyor.

As a result, the sorting device can be arranged in the "upper part" of the main conveyor, and the inspection / maintenance work is much easier than the conventional type in which the sorting device is provided under the main conveyor.

Further, according to this sorting apparatus, a component force is generated by the guide or the like on the articles conveyed by the conveyor, and the articles are not sorted by the component force, but a force in the sorting direction is directly applied to the conveyed articles. Therefore, basically, the conveyed article can be taken out to the chute opening at the mounting angle in the conveyed state without rotating the conveyed article. Therefore, it is optimal as a sorting device to be combined with the recovery device according to the present invention (the invention according to claims 1 to 4).

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a sorting system incorporating a sorting / collecting device for conveyed articles according to the present invention. In this sorting system, chute ports 4a, 4b, 4c ... (Represented by reference numeral 4 hereinafter) are provided on both sides of the main conveyor 2 arranged in a straight line at right angles to the conveying direction of the main conveyor 2. It is a thing.

The video cassette 6, which is a conveyed article loaded on the mounting table 11, is aligned by the guide 12 substantially on the center line of the main conveyor 2, and the next introduction conveyor 14 is provided.
The conveyance is started at equal pitch intervals. Therefore, on the main conveyor 2, the video cassettes 6 to be sorted at equal intervals are transported to the downstream side.

As a basic system configuration, the label attached to the video cassette 6 is read in advance by the optical label reader 8 and the sorting information is automatically sorted by the control computer 10.
To enter. In the automatic sorting control computer 10, from the loading order of the video cassette 6 and the information of the detection sensor 13 set in each chute port 4 (or from the transport speed of the main conveyor 2 and the transport time from the introduction conveyor 14). ), Tracing the current position of each video cassette 6 and determining that the corresponding video cassette 6 has reached the chute port 4 corresponding to the position to be branched / sorted, and drives the sorting device at the branching / sorting position. .

The reading of the optical label reader 8, the tracing of the current position of the video cassette 6, and the series of control until the trigger for starting the driving of the sorting device at the corresponding branching / sorting position is generated are publicly known and publicly known. Since the method is the same as the method, detailed description is omitted here.

Sorting device 2 at each branching / sorting position
Details of 0a, 20b, 20c, ... (Hereinafter represented by reference numeral 20) are shown in FIG.

This sorting device 20 is composed of the main conveyor 2
Slide rail 22 arranged so as to intersect with
And a slide base 24 movable along the slide rails 22 in a direction Y intersecting the conveyance direction X of the main conveyor 2, and a pair of guide bars attached to the slide base 24 so as to extend in the vertical direction Z. 26a, 26b, a guide base 28 movable in the vertical direction Z along the guide bars 26a, 26b, and a paddle bar (pressing member) 30 attached to the guide base 28 for branching and sorting the video cassettes 6. The slide base 24 and the guide base 28 are provided with a chain mechanism 32 and a motor 34 as driving means.

The slide rail 22 has a rectangular cross section, and is fixed to the fixed plate 40 in a state of intersecting the conveying direction X of the main conveyor 2 at a right angle.

The slide base 24 is shaped so as to surround the outer periphery of the slide rail 22.
It can slide along 2. A tongue portion 24a is provided on the slide base 24, and one ends of the guide bars 26a and 26b are fixed thereto.

The guide bars 26a and 26b are assembled vertically below the tongue portion 24a of the slide base 24,
The other end is connected by a connecting bar 44.

The guide base 28 comprises a cylindrical portion 46 surrounding the two guide bars 26a and 26b and a plate portion 48 connecting the cylindrical portions 46,
It is configured to be slidable in the vertical direction Z along the guide bars 26a and 26b.

The paddle bar 30 has a guide base 28.
Upper frame 49 fixed and connected to the plate portion 48 of
A pair of side frames 50, 50 extending downward from the end of the upper frame 49, and the side frame 5
It is composed of a lower frame 52 connecting the lowermost parts of 0 and 50. The lower frame 52 is formed of rubber, soft synthetic resin, or the like so as not to damage the video cassette 6 when it comes into contact with or presses the video cassette 6, or has a structure in which some sort of cushioning mechanism is incorporated. Has been done. The side frames 50, 50 are also formed of flexible members.

The chain mechanism 32 is wound around a drive sprocket 64 to which power is transmitted by a motor 34 via pulleys 60 and 62, a driven sprocket 66 having the same size as the drive sprocket 64, and both sprockets 64 and 66. And a chain 68. Chain 68 1
The location is connected (integrated) with a pin 70 protruding from the guide base 28. Specifically, this pin 70 is used as one of the rollers forming the chain 68. Note that the reference numeral 70 in the figure accurately indicates a cap for preventing the chain 68 from coming out from this pin.

Next, in order to facilitate understanding, the operation of this sorting apparatus will be described before the description of the structure of the recovery apparatus.

As described above, when the video cassette 6 is conveyed on the main conveyor 2 and reaches the branching / sorting position, the sorting function of the corresponding sorting device is triggered, which is particularly different from the conventional sorting system. There is no place.

When this trigger is applied, the motor 34 is rotated in a predetermined direction, and as a result, the driving sprocket 64 is rotated in a predetermined direction (for example, a direction indicated by an arrow). By this rotation, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the chain 6
8 is driven and the guide base 2 is driven through the pin 70.
8 moves. This movement is realized by sliding the slide base 24 on the slide rail 22.

When the pin 70 eventually moves to the lower side of the chain 68 along the outer periphery of the driven sprocket 66, as shown in FIGS. 3 (b) to 3 (c), the guide is accompanied. The base 28 also slides downward along the guide bars 26a and 26b. The downward movement of the guide base 28 realizes the downward movement of the paddle bar 30, and thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3D, the paddle bar 30 moves along with the movement of the chain 68 in the Y direction. While pressing the video cassette 6 without changing the mounting angle, the video cassette 6 is branched and sorted into the chute port 4 arranged in the direction (Y direction) perpendicular to the main conveyor 2. After that, the guide base 28 moves upward again with the movement of the chain 68, and is stopped at a substantially central position of the main conveyor 2 by a limit switch (not shown), an optical position detecting sensor, or the like.

When the video cassette 6 is branched / sorted to the chute opening on the opposite side, the motor 34 may be rotated in the reverse direction to obtain a completely symmetrical operation.

As is clear from the above description, the paddle bar 30 can be moved in the width direction of the main conveyor 2 by a distance corresponding to at least the center W between the sprockets 64 and 66. The pald bar 30 has a height in the vertical direction of the chain 68, that is, both sprockets 64,
The side end portion of the main conveyor 2 moves up and down by an amount corresponding to the diameter D of 66.

Therefore, the diameter D of both sprockets 64 and 66 is such that at least the lowermost end of the paddle bar 30 can be lowered from a height at which it does not contact the uppermost portion of the video cassette 6 to a height sufficient for reliable pressing. Is set to. Preferably, when the diameter of both sprockets 64 and 66 is D and the thickness of the video cassette 6 is α, the lowermost end of the paddle bar 30 moves within the range of (D−α / 2) to (D + α / 2). Setting to allows the smoothest and most reliable branching / sorting.

In this embodiment, the chain mechanism 32
Shafts 64a and 66a of both sprockets 64 and 66
Since the position of the paddle bar 30 can be moved in the vertical direction, the paddle bar 30 when the paddle bar 30 comes to the lowermost side.
It is possible to adjust the distance between the lowermost end of the and the upper surface of the main conveyor 2. Therefore, even when the heights (thicknesses) of the conveyed objects are different and the sprockets 64, 66 and the chain 68 are exchanged, it is possible to properly cope with them.

Further, in the above embodiment, the drive of the slide base 24 along the slide rail 22 and the drive of the guide base 28 along the guide bars 26a and 26b are carried out at once by the chain mechanism 32. In the present invention, the drive of the slide base 24 and the guide base 28 is not limited to such a chain mechanism 32. For example, two slide base motors and two guide base motors may be arranged and conveyed. The drive range and the like may be independently set according to the shape of the object.

In this case, a known rack and pinion drive structure or a rack and worm drive structure can be adopted. In this way, if it is possible to drive the slide base and the guide base independently,
For example, it is possible to set the movement distance of the slide base and guide base to the shortest according to the size of the transported object, and to set each to move at the optimum speed, so that efficient sorting is achieved. This makes it possible to increase the transport speed of the main conveyor.

Further, in the above embodiment, the slide rails are installed in the direction Y perpendicular to the conveying direction X of the main conveyor so that the right and left chute openings can be branched and sorted. As shown in FIG. 4, it is of course possible to install the slide rail 122 at an angle θ other than the right angle with the main conveyor 102. In this case, when sliding the slide base 124 along the slide rail 122, the main conveyor 10
Since the component X1 in the transport direction X of 2 can be generated, if the component X1 is made to coincide with the transport speed V of the main conveyor 2, the paddle bar 130 is moved to the transport object 10.
It also becomes possible to press against 6 without slipping.

It should be noted that, in the above-mentioned embodiment, in view of the fact that the conveyed product is a video cassette and is not so heavy, only one set of chain mechanism is provided and the paddle bar (pressing means) is fixed to a single guide base. However, for example, when the conveyed article 206 is long or heavy in the conveying direction, as shown in FIG. 5, the chain mechanism 232 and the corresponding guide base 228 are arranged in parallel. If the paddle bar 230 is assembled by using a pair of guide bases 228, it is possible to perform very stable branching / sorting.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, each reference numeral is the same as the corresponding embodiment described above in the last two digits.

Next, in order to efficiently collect the video cassette 6 thus taken into the chute opening 4, it is possible to automatically store the "cassette collecting device". An example of the part will be described.

As shown in FIG. 6, this recovery device is
A positioning stage (positioning means) 80 for receiving the taken-in video cassette 6 at a predetermined position, a first butterfly mechanism (first dropping means) 82 for dropping the positioned video cassette 6 directly below, and the first butterfly mechanism 82. An accumulator stage (accumulation means) 84 for sequentially stacking the video cassettes 6 that have fallen by the vertical direction Z, and a further downward drop when the number of accumulated video cassettes 6 on the accumulator stage 84 reaches a predetermined number. A butterfly mechanism (second dropping means) 86 and a recovery stage 88 capable of receiving the plurality of video cassettes 6 dropped from the second butterfly mechanism 86 and capable of taking out the plurality of received video cassettes 6 are mainly included. Is configured.

The positioning stage 80 has a first
A stopper 80 provided upright on the outer peripheral edge of the butterfly mechanism 82.
The video cassette 6 is positioned by a. A buffer rubber or urethane is attached to the inside of the stopper 80a.

The first butterfly mechanism 82 and the second butterfly mechanism 86 have the same structure, and two opening / closing doors 82 that rotate in synchronization with each other from the horizontal state to the downward state.
a, 82b or 86a, 86b, respectively. The synchronization of this opening and closing is linked to links 82c and 86, respectively.
It is realized by c. The links 82c and 86c are driven by the coil devices 82d and 86d.

In this embodiment, the opening / closing doors 82a and 82b of the first butterfly mechanism 82 and the second butterfly mechanism 8 are also provided.
The opening / closing doors 86a and 86b of 6 are the bottom surfaces 80b and 8 of the positioning stage 80 and the accumulator stage 84, respectively.
It is configured to also serve as 4b.

The recovery stage 88 is a cushion 88.
The bottom surface 88b with a is provided, and the bottom surface 88b is slidable in the transport direction X and the direction Y at right angles.

Reference numeral 90 is a recovery request lamp which is turned on when there is an uncollected video cassette 6 on the recovery stage 88.

Next, the operation of this recovery device will be described.

As schematically shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B,
The video cassette 6 branched and sorted from the main conveyor 2 by the sorter described above and taken in is first slid into the positioning stage 80, received and positioned there. When the video cassette 6 is positioned on the positioning stage 80, an optical detection sensor (not shown) detects its presence and drives the coil device 82d of the first butterfly mechanism 82, and the opening / closing doors 82a, 82b via the link 82c. Is rotated synchronously from the horizontal state to the downward state. As a result, the opening / closing doors 82a, 82b
Simultaneously rotates downward, and the video cassette 6 drops onto the accumulator stage 84 immediately below.

The accumulator stage 84 accumulates and holds the video cassettes 6 until the number of the video cassettes 6 reaches a predetermined number. When it is detected by an optical detection sensor or a weight sensor (not shown) that the number of video cassettes 6 on the accumulator stage 84 has reached a predetermined number, the second butterfly mechanism 8
The coil device 86d of No. 6 is driven, the opening / closing doors 86a and 86b are rotated in synchronization from the horizontal state to the lower state via the link 86c, and the plurality of video cassettes 6 accumulated are transferred to the recovery stage 88 at once. Can be dropped. or,
At the same time, the recovery request lamp 90 provided above the chute opening is turned on.

At the recovery stage 88, the shocks of the plurality of dropped video cassettes 6 are absorbed by the cushion 88a. The video cassettes 6 that have been newly sorted after the accumulated video cassettes 6 are dropped onto the collection stage 88 start to be newly accumulated on the accumulation stage 84. It is possible to collect the video cassettes 6 on the accum stage 84, which have started to be newly accumulated (with a margin), until the number of the video cassettes 6 reaches a predetermined number.

The video cassette 6 on the recovery stage 88 can be easily recovered by pulling out the bottom surface 88b including the cushion 88a toward the front side (Y direction). The recovery request lamp 90 is turned off by returning the bottom surface 88b once pulled out again to immediately below the accumulator stage 84.

In the above embodiment, a pair (1
Set) accumulator stage 84 and the second butterfly mechanism 8
Although only 6 is provided, the accumulator stage 384 and the second butterfly mechanism 386 may be provided with a plurality of pairs (a plurality of sets), as schematically shown in FIG. With this configuration, the number of video cassettes 6 accumulated between the positioning stage 380 and the recovery stage 388 can be increased while further reducing the drop distance h per stage.

Further, in the above embodiment, the accumulator stage 8
4 bottom surface (opening / closing doors 86a, 8 of the second butterfly mechanism 86)
Although the position of 6b) is fixed, if it can be moved vertically as shown in FIG. 9, when the video cassette 6 is received from the positioning stage 480, this bottom surface 484a is positioned above and the recovery stage Since it can be moved to the lower part when it is dropped to 488, it is possible to increase the accumulated amount and reduce the drop height (reduce impact) at the same time. In this case, this movement may be performed by a positive moving means such as a motor, or for example, the bottom surface 484a of the accum stage 484 is supported by a coil spring 485 or the like, and the video cassette 6 is accumulated on the accum stage 484. A configuration may be adopted in which the coil spring 485 expands and the bottom surface 484a lowers as it goes.

In any case, by adopting such a collecting device, the video cassette 6 can be stored horizontally in a large amount in the vertical direction Z, and a large amount of shock is not applied to the video cassette 6 during the storage. The effect of saving is obtained.

When this collecting device is combined with the above-described sorting device, the video cassette loaded from the sorting device side is always loaded into the positioning stage at the same angle as it was placed on the main conveyor.
Even if there is some variation in the frictional force at the time of loading, the video cassette can be reliably positioned on the positioning stage in the intended state.

[0065]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since articles to be conveyed can be accumulated in the vertical direction without increasing the length of the chute, the sorting system can be downsized, and the installation area can be reduced to that extent.

Further, while the conveyed articles are configured to accumulate a large amount in the vertical direction, the height at which the articles fall can be suppressed to a very small level, and the impact on the articles can be suppressed to a small level. It becomes possible to suppress the damage of the article that occurs at about zero.

Further, since the conveyed articles, which are newly sorted after the conveyed articles are dropped on the collecting stage, are accumulated on the accumulating means, the conveyed articles dropped on the collecting stage are stored on the accumulating means. It will suffice if there is a margin before the storage due to is full, and it will be possible to achieve leveling of the recovery work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic plan view of a sorting system to which a sorting / collecting device for conveyed articles according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a sorting device in the above system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view for explaining the operation of the sorting device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing another embodiment of the sorting device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing still another embodiment of the sorting device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a recovery device in the system.

FIG. 7 is a schematic front view for explaining the operation of the recovery device.

FIG. 8 is a schematic front view showing another embodiment of the recovery device.

FIG. 9 is a schematic front view showing still another embodiment of the recovery device.

FIG. 10 is a schematic oblique view showing an example of a recovery device that serves as a reference in developing the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ... Main conveyors 4a, 4b, 4c ...... Chute opening 6 ... Video cassette (conveyed article) 8 ... Optical label reader 10 ... Automatic sorting control computer 11 ... Placement table 12 ... Guide 14 ... Introduction conveyor 16 ... Detection sensor 20 ... Sorting device 22 ... Slide rail 24 ... Slide base 26a, 26b ... Guide bar 28 ... Guide base 30 ... Paddle bar 32 ... Chain mechanism 34 ... Motor 80 ... Positioning stage (positioning means) 82 ... First butterfly mechanism (first drop) Means) 84 ... Accumulation stage (accumulation means) 86 ... Second butterfly mechanism (second dropping means) 88 ... Recovery stage

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location B65G 57/11

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A conveying article collecting apparatus for collecting articles of the same shape conveyed along a line based on sorting information, accumulating the same, and collecting the accumulated articles as needed. A positioning means for receiving the articles at a predetermined position, a first dropping means for dropping the positioned articles directly below, a storage means for sequentially stacking the articles dropped by the first dropping means in the vertical direction, and the storage means. Second dropping means for dropping the accumulated articles further directly below when the number of articles accumulated in the means reaches a predetermined number, and a plurality of articles dropped from the second dropping means can be received. A conveyor article recovery apparatus, comprising: a recovery stage capable of taking out a plurality of received articles. 2. The apparatus for collecting conveyed articles according to claim 1, wherein the first and second dropping means are provided with two opening / closing doors that rotate in synchronization with each other from a horizontal state to a downward state. 3. The apparatus for collecting conveyed articles according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of pairs of the accumulating means and the second dropping means. 4. The apparatus for collecting conveyed articles according to claim 1, wherein a vertical position of a bottom surface of the accumulating means is variable. 5. Sorting / recovering of conveyed articles, which are arranged at a specific branch position on the main conveyor and sort / recover articles conveyed on the main conveyor from the main conveyor based on predetermined sorting information. In the device, a slide rail disposed above the branch position of the main conveyor so as to intersect with the main conveyor, and movable along the slide rail in a direction intersecting with the transport direction of the main conveyor. A slide base; a guide bar extending vertically attached to the slide base; a guide base vertically movable along the guide bar; and a guide bar attached to the guide base and attached to the guide bar. Along the slide rail, while descending from a height not in contact with the conveyed article to a height in contact with the conveyed article. And a collecting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising: a pressing member that presses in a direction that intersects with a conveying direction of the main conveyor to branch and sort the conveyed articles; A sorting / collecting device for conveyed articles, which is characterized in that