JPH08192914A - Goods separator and carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a goods separator and carrier which sucks and retains and separates goods surely one by one and releases the goods on a carry conveyor and carries individual goods. CONSTITUTION: A goods W temporary waiting and placing part 7 is provided between a supply conveyor 4 and a carry conveyor 8, and a carry mechanism, which sucks and retains or releases and delivers the goods W on the waiting and placing part 7 one by one to the carry conveyor 8, is provided above the waiting and placing part 7 and the carry conveyor 8, and this surely separates the goods W supplied onto the waiting and placing part 7 one by one and besides carries them onto the carry conveyor 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a separating and transferring apparatus for individually separating articles, such as disposable chopsticks, which are automatically supplied and conveyed in the next step.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Up to now, articles such as disposable chopsticks (hereinafter,
Regarding the supply of disposable chopsticks)
A supply device such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat.
This feeding device is provided with a crosspiece detecting means in addition to the disposable chopsticks detecting means, and when the crosspiece is detected by the crosspiece detecting means, the split chopsticks detecting means is provided at a position facing the disposable chopsticks, and when the crosspiece is detected by the crosspiece detecting means. The presence or absence of disposable chopsticks is detected, and when the disposable chopsticks are not detected and the disposable chopsticks are not detected, the drive control means continuously drives the inclined belt to the position where the disposable chopsticks are present, thereby causing the leak. Even so, disposable chopsticks can be supplied at almost a predetermined timing. Further, in this supply device, the height of each bar provided on the inclined belt is set to 0.8 to 1.5 times the thickness of the disposable chopsticks conveyed by the inclined belt, so that the inclined belt travels in the disposable chopsticks accommodating portion. The width in the direction is 1 to 1.5 of the width of disposable chopsticks.
It is said that the disposable chopsticks can be reliably supplied because the doubled angle and the inclination angle of the inclined belt are set to 40 to 60 °. Further, according to the applicant of the supply device, the height of the crosspiece provided on the inclined belt, the width of the disposable chopsticks accommodating portion in the traveling direction of the inclined belt, and the inclination angle of the inclined belt are examined. When it is set that the disposable chopsticks are accommodated in most of the disposable chopsticks accommodating portions, the disposable chopsticks can be reliably supplied. Further, if the disposable chopsticks are not accommodated in the disposable chopsticks storage portion, similarly, the drive control means continuously drives the inclined belt to the position where the disposable chopsticks are present, so that the disposable chopsticks supply operation is more reliable. There is.

On the other hand, a pasting device in the next step for automatically pasting disposable chopsticks onto an adherend such as a lunch box (hereinafter referred to as a lunch box) is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-41809.
In this sticking device, the split chopsticks supplied from the split chopsticks throwing means are provided with an adhesive in a further step by the glue applying means, and the bento box is moved to a position facing the split chopsticks sticking means by the bento box transporting means. The above-mentioned disposable chopsticks that have been transported and to which an adhesive has been applied are attached to the disposable chopsticks attachment surface of the lunch box by means of the disposable chopstick attachment means, and the automatic supply of disposable chopsticks and the attachment of the disposable chopsticks to the lunch box are performed. I'm supposed to be. Or, the bento box to which disposable chopsticks are attached,
The lunch box transport means sequentially transports the adhesive application means and the disposable chopstick sticking means to the facing position, and the bento chopstick sticking surface of the lunch box transported to the facing position with the adhesive dispenser means uses the adhesive applying means. The adhesive was applied to the disposable chopsticks sticking surface of the bento box that was conveyed to the position facing the disposable chopsticks sticking means, and was supplied by the disposable chopsticks putting means by the adhesive previously applied to this surface. Assume that the disposable chopsticks are pasted by the disposable chopsticks sticking means, and in this way, the feeding of the disposable chopsticks, the transportation of the disposable chopsticks to the next process, and the further process of sticking the foreign matter product to the lunch box are automatically performed. I am trying. In short, in the next step, the separation and transfer device that individually separates the articles that are automatically supplied and conveyed in the next step, such as the disposable chopsticks, is attached to the disposable chopsticks on the bento chopsticks by applying an adhesive to the disposable chopsticks. Or the adhesive is applied to the disposable chopsticks sticking surface of the lunch box to attach the split chopsticks to the disposable chopsticks sticking surface of the lunch box, 1
The most important thing is to efficiently supply disposable chopsticks for each book.

[0004]

However, according to the above-mentioned prior art, even if the structural leakage and the supply leakage of articles such as small bags can be improved, two disposable chopsticks are overlapped with the accommodation portion of the disposable chopsticks as an article. Inevitably contained and supplied,
After the supply of the disposable chopsticks, which is an item, the transportation to the next process is hindered and the transportation efficiency is adversely affected. Further, the deterioration of the transportation efficiency of the articles may result in the interruption of the line process.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problems, and a first object thereof is to securely suck and hold the articles one by one in the process of supplying the articles to separate them. By releasing each article and supplying each article to the conveyor, it is possible to improve the efficiency of conveying articles to the next process and provide a separation and transfer device for articles that does not interrupt the line process. It is what

A second object of the present invention is to provide an article separating / transferring device capable of improving the supply / conveyance efficiency of articles by ejecting and separating nonconforming articles on the temporary standby placement section of the articles. Is what you are trying to do.

[0007]

The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and its gist is to intermittently transfer an article from a storage section accommodating the article through a supply conveyor that is intermittently driven. In the separation and transfer device of the articles to be individually supplied to the transfer conveyor of the process, a temporary standby placement section for the articles is provided between the supply conveyor and the transport conveyor, and above the standby placement section and the transport conveyor. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article separation and transfer apparatus characterized in that a transfer mechanism for adsorbing and holding or releasing each of the articles on the standby placement section to the transfer conveyor and delivering the articles is provided. Further, in the transfer mechanism, one end is pivotally attached to the drive shaft of the rotary actuator and the other end is pivotally attached to the support member so that the support member provided with the suction tool can be moved horizontally or vertically. And a drive arm connected to each other and a driven arm whose one end is pivotally supported on the vertical lower part of the rotary actuator drive shaft and the other end is pivotally attached to and connected to the support member to form a parallel link. A horizontal shaft is provided above the member, a slider slidable in the horizontal direction is provided on the horizontal shaft, a vertical shaft slidable in the vertical direction is provided on the slider, and the support member is connected to the vertical shaft. The article separating and transferring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein Further, below the temporary standby placement part of the article, the incompatible article supplied onto the standby placement part is connected to the standby placement part so as to open and close so as to be discharged from the standby placement part. Cylinder with piston part
The article separation and transfer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a recovery hopper that recovers the article discharged from the standby placement section by reciprocating movement of the piston section.

[0008]

According to the article separating / transferring apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, the articles supplied by the intermittently driven supply conveyor are temporarily held on the stand-by placing section, and at the same time, the transfer mechanism adsorbs the article on the stand-by placing section. The transfer mechanism transfers the adsorbed articles to the transfer conveyor and releases them, so that the articles supplied onto the standby placement section are reliably separated one by one and transferred to the transfer conveyor. Further, according to the separating and transferring apparatus of the second aspect, the supporting member provided with the suction tool that pivotally reciprocates between the temporary standby placement section and the article transport supply conveyor by the pivotal actuator via the parallel link and the slider. Efficiently suck and hold each article between the temporary standby placement section and the transport conveyor to ensure the transfer. Further, according to the separating and transferring apparatus of the third aspect, since the nonconforming article supplied to the standby placement section is discharged to the storage hopper, the article supply and conveyance efficiency is improved and the article is further conveyed to the next step. To further improve work.

[0009]

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 to 7 show an embodiment of a separating and transferring apparatus for articles such as disposable chopsticks (hereinafter referred to as disposable chopsticks) according to the present invention. 1 is a front view showing the entire structure of the separating and transferring apparatus, FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a cassette type disposable chopsticks hopper, and FIG. 4 is a main part of the separating and transferring apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an enlarged front view showing the same, FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view showing a main part of the separating and transferring apparatus, FIG. 6 is a side view showing an article conveying conveyor, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of FIG. In the example, the disposable chopsticks W in which the disposable chopsticks are contained in a bag are used, and the disposable chopsticks W are transferred to and supplied to the disposable chopsticks transfer conveyor, which is the next step, which is directed to the pasting target object supply and transfer conveyor such as a lunch box.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an accumulating portion for accommodating and accommodating disposable chopsticks W, that is, an accumulating hopper portion. In the accumulating hopper portion 1, a large number of disposable chopsticks W each wrapped in a paper bag or the like are provided. , Are housed with both ends substantially aligned in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. The storage hopper unit 1 is a cassette type disposable chopsticks hopper 2 as shown in FIG. 3, and the type of disposable chopsticks can be changed with one touch to the detachable transfer device main body 3 according to the type of disposable chopsticks. , According to this hopper 2,
If multiple hoppers 2 are prepared, even a small lot and many types can be handled smoothly.

The storage hopper unit 1 is further provided with a feed conveyor for disposable chopsticks, as indicated by reference numeral 4, that is, an inclined conveyor with crosspieces. This inclined conveyor 4 with crosspieces
A crosspiece 5 and a crosspiece 5 provided in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the belts 4a and 4b at appropriate intervals in the longitudinal direction of the belts 4a and 4b provided in parallel so as to have a width corresponding to the length of the disposable chopsticks W. Engage the disposable chopsticks W between the'and these bars 5, 5 '
The disposable chopsticks W are intermittently conveyed from the bottom to the top by a motor 6 which can be intermittently rotated via a space.
In the vicinity of the top of the inclined conveyor 4 with a crosspiece as a supply conveyor, a temporary standby placing portion 7 for disposable chopsticks W and a transfer conveyor 8 as the next step of the disposable chopsticks are provided facing each other in the width direction of the inclined conveyor 4. A disposable chopstick introduction gutter 9 is provided between the inclined conveyor 4 with a crosspiece and the temporary standby placement section 7. Code S
1 is a crosspiece chopstick W carried by an inclined conveyor 4,
This is a reflection type optical sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the disposable chopsticks W between the crosspieces 5 and 5'when the disposable chopsticks are discharged from the gap 5'to the disposable chopstick introduction gutter 9.

The temporary standby mounting section 7 has a mounting table 7a corresponding to the width and length of the disposable chopsticks W, and the mounting table 7a is connected to a piston portion 10a of a cylinder 10 provided below the mounting table 7a. It is adapted to follow the reciprocating movement of the portion 10a. Therefore, the mounting table 7a is mounted on the temporary standby mounting portion 7
The disposable chopsticks W introduced from the disposable chopsticks introduction gutter 9 are received and removed by the mounting table 7a. Incompatible chopsticks W, the piston part 10a of the cylinder 10 is moved back, the mounting table 7a is retracted from the temporary standby mounting part 7, is removed from the mounting table 7a, and is passed through the drain gutter 11 provided below the cylinder 10. Are accommodated in the storage hopper 12. Reference numeral S2 is a reflective optical sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the disposable chopsticks W on the placing table 7a which is introduced from the disposable chopstick introducing trough 9 to the placing table 7a.

A transfer mechanism 13 is provided above the temporary standby placement section 7 and the transfer conveyor 8 above them.
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the transfer mechanism 13 is installed on the main body 3 of the separation transfer device above the temporary standby placement section 7 and the transfer conveyor 8 so as to be orthogonal to the temporary standby placement section 7 and the transfer conveyor 8. A slide guide 14 fixedly mounted, a slider 15 slidably provided on the slide guide 14, and a vertical shaft 16 vertically movably inserted in the slider 15.
In the vertical middle of the suction tool support member 17 integrally fixed to the lower end of the vertical shaft 16 and the temporary standby platform 7, the conveyor 8 and the slide guide 14, the rotary drive shaft 18a is provided. A rotary actuator 18 fixed to the main body 3 of the separation and transfer device so as to be positioned between the temporary standby placement section 7 and the conveyor 8 and one end of which is pivotally attached to the rotary drive shaft 18a of the rotary actuator 18. The other end of the drive arm 19 is pivotally connected to the side surface of the suction tool support member 17 on the side of the separation / transfer device main body 3 and the drive arm 19.
A driven arm having one end pivotally supported on the vertical lower part of the drive shaft 18a of the rotary actuator 18 and the other end pivotally attached to the lower end of the suction tool support member 17 so as to form a parallel link structure parallel to the. 20 and a pair of suction tools 17b, 1 projectingly provided through the angle 17a of the support member 17 along the forming direction of the temporary standby placement section 7 or the conveyor 8.
7c. Reference numeral S3 is the suction tool 17b,
It is a disposable chopsticks passage sensor that detects the presence or absence of disposable chopsticks W adsorbed between 17c.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the conveyor 8 is constructed such that a belt 8a extends toward a sticking object supply conveyor such as a lunch box (not shown) and is laid along the laying direction of the belt 8a. The widthwise direction of the disposable chopsticks W is regulated to form a wall surface 8b matching the width dimension of the disposable chopsticks W so that the disposable chopsticks W can be conveyed vertically. Upper and lower rollers 8d and 8e are provided at the downstream end of the conveyer conveyor 8 at right angles to the groove 8c, and the upper roller 8d pulls out the drive motor 22 for driving the belt 8a provided at the bottom of the conveyer 8. The lower roller 8e is configured to rotate in contact with the bottom of the disposable chopsticks W fed on the belt 8a with high friction and to idle. The upper roller 8d has a diameter larger than that of the lower roller 8e, presses the disposable chopsticks W by its own weight, and has a rotational driving force to contact the upper surface of the disposable chopsticks W with high friction to make the disposable chopsticks between the lower roller 8d. W is pinched, and the chopsticks W are pressed toward the chopstick pressing mechanism 30 above the sticking object supply / transport conveyor such as a lunch box.
Is configured to extrude. Incidentally, reference numeral 2 in FIG.
Denoted at 3 is an air nozzle, which blows off the disposable chopsticks W in which two or more pieces are unstablely accommodated between the crosspieces 5 and 5 ′ by the air jetted from the air nozzle 23, and the disposable chopsticks W are separated between the crosspieces 5 and 5 ′. Are arranged and housed.

The disposable chopsticks separating / transferring device thus constructed has a structure in which the disposable chopsticks W are attached to a pasting target such as a lunch box (not shown) when the pasting target supply conveyor 21 such as a lunch box is operating. When sticking, the inclined conveyor 4 with crosspieces of the accumulating hopper section 1 is intermittently operated to store approximately one disposable chopstick W between the crosspieces 5 and 5 ', and the disposable chopsticks introduction gutter is introduced from the downstream end of the top of the same inclined conveyor 4. Discharge disposable chopsticks W to 9. At this time, the disposable chopsticks W are
The presence or absence of the disposable chopsticks W is determined by the sensor S1 that detects the disposable chopsticks W between 5 ', and the inclined conveyor 4 is stopped when the disposable chopsticks W are detected, and the inclined conveyor 4 is intermittently driven to operate when the disposable chopsticks W are not detected. . The disposable chopsticks W introduced from the disposable chopsticks introduction gutter 9 reach the temporary standby placing section 7 and are accommodated in the placing table 7a. At this time, the presence or absence of the disposable chopsticks W is determined by the sensor S2 that detects the disposable chopsticks W on the mounting table 7a. If the disposable chopsticks W are detected, the suction tools 17a and 17b of the transfer mechanism 13 are operated. That is, the rotation actuator 18 is rotated to rotate the drive arm 19 pivotally attached to the suction tool support member 17, and at the same time, the parallel link structure driven arm 20 that is driven by the drive arm 19 via the slider 15 is also rotated. And adsorption tool 1
7a and 17b are pressed against the disposable chopsticks w on the mounting table 7a to adsorb them. At this time, the presence or absence of the disposable chopsticks W is determined by the sensor S3 that detects the disposable chopsticks W between the suction tools 17a and 17b. If the disposable chopsticks W are detected, the rotary actuator 18 is rotated in the opposite direction to drive arm 19. Also, the driven arm 20 is turned upside down to the conveyor 8 side so that the suction tool support member 17 does not change its posture and is in a vertical state, that is, the suction tools 17a and 17b keep the disposable chopsticks W downward in the suction state and convey the disposable chopsticks W. 8 Transfer to above. Then, the suction tools 17a, 17
b releases the disposable chopsticks W to the conveyor 8.

The disposable chopsticks W released on the conveyor 8 are fed to the downstream end by the conveyor 8 and are pinched by the upper and lower rollers 8d and 8e at the downstream end to supply and convey the object to be stuck such as a lunch box. It is pushed toward 21. If there is an incompatible chopstick chopstick W drawn out on the temporary standby placement section 7c, the cylinder 10 is moved back by manual operation, and the incompatible chopstick chopstick w is discharged and separated from the placing table 7a. The conveyor 4 stops. Therefore, the separating trouble of the disposable chopsticks W in the separating and transferring device can be easily avoided to improve the supply efficiency, and the efficiency of the sticking work of the disposable chopsticks W to the pasting target such as a lunch box can be further improved.

[0017]

As described above, the present invention is an apparatus for separating and transferring articles which are intermittently transferred from an accumulating section accommodating articles via a supply conveyor which is intermittently driven and individually supplied to a conveyor for the next process. In, providing a temporary standby placement section of the article between the supply conveyor and the transfer conveyor,
Since there is provided a transfer mechanism above the standby placement section and the transfer conveyor to transfer the articles on the standby placement section to the transfer conveyor by adsorbing and holding or releasing the articles one by one, It is possible to reliably separate the articles supplied onto the standby placement section one by one and transfer them to the conveyor. Furthermore, according to claim 2,
The transfer mechanism has one end pivotally attached to the drive shaft of the rotary actuator and the other end pivotally attached to the support member so that the support member provided with the suction tool can be moved horizontally or vertically. And a driven arm, one end of which is pivotally supported on a vertical lower portion of the rotary actuator drive shaft and the other end of which is pivotally connected to the support member to form a parallel link. A horizontal shaft is provided above the slider, a slider slidable in the horizontal direction is provided on the horizontal shaft, a vertical shaft slidable in the vertical direction is provided on the slider, and the support member is connected to the vertical shaft. Therefore, the transfer of the articles between the temporary standby placement section and the transfer conveyor can be efficiently sucked and held for each piece and ensured. According to claim 3, below the temporary standby placement unit for articles, the standby placement unit is configured to open and close so that an incompatible article supplied onto the standby placement unit can be discharged from the standby placement unit. A cylinder having a piston portion connected to the cylinder and a recovery hopper that recovers the article discharged from the standby placement section by the reciprocating movement of the piston section are provided, thereby improving the supply efficiency of the article. At the same time, the work of transporting the article to the next process can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the overall configuration of an article separation and transfer device.

FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a cassette type disposable chopsticks hopper.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view showing a main part of the article separating and transferring apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view showing a main part of the separation transfer device.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing an article conveying / supplying conveyor.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 W Article (split chopsticks) 1 Storage section (accumulation hopper section) for articles (split chopsticks) 2 Cassette type disposable chopsticks hopper 3 Separation transfer device main body 4 Supply conveyor (tilt conveyor with crosspiece) 5, 5'Shape 8 Conveyor conveyor for articles (split chopsticks) 7 Temporary Standby Placement Part 7a Placement Table 10 Cylinder 12 Storage Hopper for Discharged Incompatible Articles 13 Transfer Mechanism 14 Horizontal Axis (Slide Guide) 15 Slider 16 Vertical Axis 17 Adsorption Tool Support Member 18 Rotation Actuator 18a Drive of Rotation Actuator Axis 19 Drive arm 20 Driven arm

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An article separating and transferring apparatus for intermittently transferring an article from a storage unit accommodating the article through a supply conveyor which is intermittently driven and individually supplying the article to a transfer conveyor in the next step, wherein the supply conveyor and the transfer conveyor are provided. A temporary standby placement section for articles between the standby placement section and the conveyor, and the articles on the standby placement section are suction-held or held one by one on the conveyor. An apparatus for separating and transferring articles, comprising a transfer mechanism for releasing and transferring. 2. The transfer mechanism has one end pivotally attached to the drive shaft of the rotary actuator and the other end attached to the support member so that the support member provided with the suction tool can be moved horizontally or vertically. A parallel link is formed by a drive arm pivotally connected to the driven arm, and a driven arm having one end pivotally supported on a vertical lower portion of the rotary actuator drive shaft and the other end pivotally connected to the support member. A horizontal shaft is provided above the support member, a slider slidable in the horizontal direction is provided on the horizontal shaft, and a vertical shaft slidable in the vertical direction is provided on the slider, and the support member is provided on the vertical shaft. The separation and transfer device for articles according to claim 1, wherein 3. Below the temporary standby placement unit for articles, the standby placement unit is configured to open and close the incompatible article supplied onto the standby placement unit so as to be discharged from the standby placement unit. 2. A cylinder having a connected piston part, and a recovery hopper for recovering the article discharged from the standby mounting part by the reciprocating movement of the piston part.
The separation and transfer device for articles according to.