JPH08258974A - Aligning device for conveyed article - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To mechanize packaging work, which is manually carried out conventionally, for packing three tube containers respectively in a box so as to carry out the work efficiently. CONSTITUTION: A separating device 10 provided with a pair of two separating plates is arranged for separating tube containers W from each other if the tube containers W are excessively close to each other on a conveyor 1 conveying the tube containers W. A partitioning device 11 provided with three partitioning plates matching with the respective tube containers W is arranged for aligning the tube containers W at a fixed pitch if the tube containers W are dispersedly conveyed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an apparatus for aligning articles being conveyed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a jelly-like drug (for example, a hair styling agent) is packed in a tube container for sale, about three tube containers may be packaged in a box and then sold. Conventionally, in order to pack a tube container in a box, an operator manually performs it by the side of a conveyor that continuously conveys the tube container.

[0003]

Needless to say, the conventional boxing work requires a lot of manpower and is inferior in efficiency. Therefore, it has been desired to automate this. However, the mechanization of work has been difficult or impossible due to the following reasons. That is, the tube container has a cylindrical shape or an elliptic cylinder shape from its mouth portion to the center portion of the container, but has a flat shape crushed like a tail fin from the container center portion to the bottom portion. Therefore, because the shape is mainly formed by the cylindrical surface or the spherical surface in this manner, the conveyor is uneven in the position in the width direction due to the conveyance vibration, the posture is not uniform, and the conveyance pitch is uneven (too much sticking or separating. There was a problem that (passage) is likely to occur.
Moreover, in the transport process on the upstream side of the box packing process, a sampling inspection or a defective product extraction may be performed.
In some cases, the transport lines between the tube containers were missing teeth.

However, a work for correcting such a non-uniform posture of the tube container, a variation in the conveyance pitch, etc., and eliminating a missing tooth state (hereinafter collectively referred to as "alignment") is performed by a machine. However, it was difficult to perform the operation in a simple manner due to the complicated shape of the tube container as described above. In addition, tube containers must be packed in the box in close proximity to each other to prevent rattling in the box, but in this case, the flat bottoms are oriented so that the flat bottoms face each other diagonally in the box. Need to be aligned. Therefore,
This made the boxing work even more difficult.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when a tube container or the like (hereinafter simply referred to as "article") is boxed or the like, it is possible to automatically align the articles being conveyed. An object of the present invention is to provide a device for aligning conveyed articles.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following technical means. That is, the present invention has an upstream gate portion arranged on the upstream side relative to the conveyor provided toward the article take-out means and a downstream gate portion arranged on the relative downstream side, and the upstream gate portion is Each of the articles has a pair of separating members that can be lowered to the both sides in the conveying direction at a unique timing each time the article is carried in, and the downstream gate portion has the number of articles taken out by one operation of the article taking-out means. Accordingly, each article is characterized by having a plurality of partition members that can be lowered at least to the downstream side in the carrying direction.

[0007]

When the article is carried into the upstream gate section by the conveyor, the pair of separating members descend to both sides (that is, the upstream side and the downstream side) of the article in the conveying direction. These separation members are
Since each descends at its own timing, even when the posture of the article is distorted, the descending timing is not delayed and the article is not passed. By the lowering of the separating member, the articles are sandwiched on both sides in the conveying direction, the posture is corrected, and the articles that are too close to each other are separated from each other.

When the article is carried into the downstream gate section, the partition member descends at least to the downstream side in the carrying direction. In this partition member, the article take-out means (provided for packing in a box, etc.) provided on the downstream side of the conveyor corresponds to the same number of articles as the number of articles taken out in one operation. . Further, the descending timing of each partition member is adapted to be carried out at the time of carrying in the corresponding article. Therefore, the pitch can be kept constant even in the case where the transport rows for the articles are in a tooth-missing state.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conveyor (hereinafter, referred to as “article conveyor”) 1 for transporting a tube container (hereinafter, referred to as “article”) W.
And a box X that can store the above three articles W in a lump
Conveyor for transporting (hereinafter referred to as "box conveyor") 2
A boxing line is shown in which the boxing work of the articles W can be automated with respect to the portions where and are parallel to each other.

[0010] This line runs on the article conveyor 1 on the article W.
Aligning device 3 for aligning the articles, and the articles W on the article conveyor 1.
And a box lid closing device 5 for closing the lid of the box X after the article W is loaded. First, the alignment device 3 will be described.

The aligning device 3 corrects the unevenness of the postures of the articles W on the article conveyor 1 and the variation of the conveying pitch, and eliminates the missing tooth condition, and the upstream gate portion 10 and the downstream side. It has a gate portion 11 and a biasing means 12. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the upstream gate unit 10 is located above the article conveyor 1 and has a pair of separating members 15 provided at predetermined intervals in the conveying direction.
It has 16. These separating members 15 and 16 are made of a metal plate, a resin plate, a rubber plate or the like as a material,
The plate surface is set upright and is orthogonal to the conveying direction of the article conveyor 1. Also, the separating member 1
The mutual distance between the parts 5 and 16 is slightly larger than the outer dimension of the article W in the carrying direction (the dimension in the left-right direction in FIG. 2), and the article W can be sandwiched (not clamped) between the two. .

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the separating members 15 and 16 has a separate vertical movement driving unit 18, which can move up and down at its own timing. Each vertical movement drive unit 18 is provided with an upper base 19 protruding from the article conveyor 1, a guide rod 20 vertically movable with respect to the upper base 19, and the guide rod 2.
The belt drive means 22 is endlessly extended in the up-and-down direction in order to transmit the vertical movement to the connection piece 21 provided on the upper part of 0, and the drive tool 23 for driving the belt drive means 22. .

In this embodiment, a stepping motor having a quick response is used as the driving tool 23, but a general type motor, a rotary solenoid or the like may be used. In addition,
It is also possible to replace the vertical movement drive unit 18 itself with a linear fluid pressure cylinder, a solenoid, or the like. The separating members 15 and 16 are attached to the lower portion of the guide rod 20 via a bracket 25, and their positions can be adjusted along the conveying direction of the article conveyor W. This makes it possible to cope with the case where the size of the article W and the conveyance pitch are different.

Above the article conveyor 1, as shown in FIG. 3, two sensors S1 and S2 are provided on the upstream side (on the left side of the drawing) of the separating member 15 along the separating member 15.
Is provided, and one sensor S3 is provided between the separating members 15 and 16, and the separating member 1 on the downstream side (right side in the drawing) is provided.
One sensor S4 is provided on the downstream side of 6.
Although not shown, the article conveyor 1 is provided with a rotary encoder for measuring the amount of conveyance. Then, the vertical movement timing of the separating members 15 and 16 is controlled as follows based on the signals from these detection devices.

That is, the separating member 15 on the upstream side is lowered from the time when either one of the sensors S1 and S2 detects the article W or from the beginning. When both the sensors S1 and S2 output an article detection signal, that is, when the article W reaches the upstream side of the separating member 15, the separating member 15 moves up. When the sensor S3 detects the article W, both separating members 1
5 and 16 descend. As a result, both separating members 15, 1
The article W is sandwiched between the six members. Therefore, the article W
Even if the posture is distorted, it will be corrected (in a state orthogonal to the conveying direction). Further, even if the plurality of articles W are in the sticking state, they are separated one by one.

With reference to the time when the sensor S3 detects the article W, the separating member 16 on the downstream side rises after a lapse of a predetermined time or when the above rotary encoder reaches a set value. Therefore, the article W that was in the above-mentioned sandwiched state is carried out, and the sensor S4 outputs a detection signal. The detection signal of the sensor S4 is transmitted to the downstream gate unit 11 described later as an interlockable signal (delivery confirmation signal of the article W).

The separating member 15 on the upstream side rises at the above timing when the next article W is carried in, and thereafter, these operations are repeated. As described above with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG.
0 is provided in parallel with each other, and has a flip roller 28 and a floating prevention rail 29. The flipping roller 28 is located on the side of the upper part of the article conveyor 1 and adjacent to the separating member 15 on the upstream side.
It is provided so as to be horizontally rotatable so as to be exposed upward. As a result, one end (bottom as a tube container) of the article W that is about to be sandwiched by the separating members 15 and 16 is pushed to make the positioning in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction uniform.

In this embodiment, the supporting arm 32 of the flipping roller 28 is held so as to be horizontally swingable, and the supporting arm 32 is swingable by a driving tool 33 such as a fluid pressure cylinder. It was made possible to adjust the degree of exposure to or to the presence or absence of that exposure. Further, in adopting such a structure, since the rotational drive to the flip roller 28 can be always transmitted, a plurality of belt transmission means 34,
35 is combined to transmit the rotational force.

The levitation prevention rail 29 has one end (as a tube container) so that the article W does not jump up even when the article W is pushed out by the flipping roller 28 or pushed down by the separating members 15 and 16. Bottom)
It is designed to project to the upper part in the conveyance direction.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the article W is gradually lowered in the process of being loaded into the upstream gate section 10.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the downstream gate portion 11 is provided above the article conveyor 1 at a predetermined interval in the conveying direction (three sheets in this embodiment). It has a partition member 37. This partition member 37
The number of items is matched with the number of articles that can be taken out from the article conveyor 1 in one operation by the article take-out means 43 (see FIG. 8) described later.

Each partition member 37 is formed of a metal plate, a resin plate, a rubber plate, or the like as a material, and the plate surface thereof is set upright and perpendicular to the conveying direction of the article conveyor 1. Further, the mutual spacing of the partition members 37 is slightly larger than the outer dimension of the article W in the carrying direction (the dimension in the left-right direction in FIG. 5), and the article W can be sandwiched between them (not clamped). ing.

As shown in FIG. 5, the partition member 37 is suspended by separate vertical drive members 38, and each partition member 37 can be vertically moved at its own timing. Vertical drive 3
A linear type or rotary type fluid pressure cylinder, a solenoid, or the like can be used for 8. In addition, 39 is a frame fixed to the article conveyor 1 side, and each vertical drive tool 38
The vertical drive tool 38 can be adjusted in vertical and horizontal positions as needed (their position adjustment structures are not shown).

Although not shown in the figure, a sensor is provided on the article conveyor 1 so as to face the upstream side of each partition member 37, and the partition member 37 arranged in the upstream side (left side in FIG. 5) is arranged in order from 3 to 3. When two articles W are detected, the same two articles W are detected.
Is detected, and when the same article W is detected, it is controlled so as to descend. Therefore, when all the partition members 37 descend, one article W is dammed on the upstream side of each partition member 37.

From the above, the downstream gate unit 1
In No. 1, the mutual interval in each article W can be corrected to be constant. Further, in this downstream gate section 11, since each partition member 37 waits for the articles W to be carried in and then descends, even if the article transfer row on the article conveyor 1 is missing a tooth. , This can be resolved.

The above is the configuration and operation of the aligning device 3. Next, the transfer device 4 (see FIG. 1) will be described. As shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of transfer devices 4 (three) are held by the downstream gate section 11 of the aligning device 3.
The article W is taken out at a time, transferred to the box conveyor 2, and then loaded into the box X that has been waiting on the box conveyor 2. The article take-out means 43 is in charge of handling, the article delivery means 44 is in charge of the latter half work from the transfer middle board to the box loading, and the delivery table 45 provided in the work relay section of these both means 43, 44. There is.

The delivery table 45 has a vertical hole 4 having a diameter slightly larger than that of the article W so that the article W can be held in an upright state (the mouth of the tube container is oriented downward).
Reference numeral 6 is a block body provided with a required number (three). The mutual intervals of the holes 46 are the same as the mutual intervals of the partition members 37 in the downstream gate portion 11. As shown in FIG. 8, the article take-out means 43 includes an up-and-down support body 48 that is vertically movable with respect to the apparatus frame 47, and an advancing and retracting body 49 that is provided below the up-and-down support body 48 so as to be movable back and forth. , A plurality of (3
Of the suction unit 50 and the suction unit 50.
7, and an elevating drive means 51 for activating the erecting motion.

The lift support 48 is guided by lift guide means 53 such as a vertical linear guide, and the lift drive is transmitted by ball screw means 54. Reference numeral 55 is a driving tool such as a motor with a brake that operates the ball screw means 54. The advancing / retreating body 49 is guided by the advancing / retreating guide means 56 such as a horizontal linear guide,
The belt drive means 57 is adapted to transmit forward / backward drive. Reference numeral 58 designates a belt driving means 57 and a forward / backward moving body 4.
9 is a connecting piece for connecting with 9.

In order to make the belt driving means 57 always operable regardless of the vertical movement position of the lifting support 48, one wheel of the belt driving means 57 is used in this embodiment. 60 (on the far right side in FIG. 8)
This wheel 60 has a spline nut structure.
In addition, the spline shaft 61, which is upright so as to be parallel to the ball screw means 54, is passed through. And
The spline shaft 61 can be rotated by a driving tool 62 such as a motor with a brake.

The suction portions 50 are held at predetermined intervals with respect to a rotary support shaft 65 projecting from the advancing / retreating body 49 along the conveying direction of the article conveyor 1. The rotation support shaft 65 is non-rotatably fixed. As shown in FIG. 5, the mutual spacing of the suction portions 50 is set to be the same as the mutual spacing of the partition members 37 in the downstream gate portion 11. Further, with respect to each of the partition members 37, they are placed in a relationship of adjoining to each upstream side, and are positioned so as not to interfere with each other.

Each suction unit 50 has a suction head 68 having a plurality (three in the illustrated example) of suction cups 67 as shown in FIG.
And a guide means 70 for holding the suction head 68 vertically movable with respect to the shaft base 69, and a vertical drive tool 71 for transmitting vertical drive to the suction head 68. 72
Is a spring that constitutes a shock absorber. As the vertical drive tool 71, a fluid pressure cylinder, a solenoid, a drive mechanism with a motor, or the like can be used.

As shown in FIG. 8, the elevating drive means 51 is provided with a transmission arm 75 having a plurality of joint shaft portions 51a, 51b, 51c so as to be swingable with respect to the apparatus frame 47. In the transmission arm 75, the joint shaft 51 a
And 51b, and between 51b and 51c, separate belt transmission means (not shown) are provided. And
A rotation driving tool (not shown) such as a stepping motor is connected to the uppermost joint shaft portion 51a, and the lowermost joint shaft portion 51a is connected.
The above-mentioned rotation support shaft 65 is connected to c.

Therefore, the elevating drive means 51 can rotate the rotary support shaft 65 by rotating the rotary drive tool by a predetermined angle, that is, all the suction portions 50 can be simultaneously lifted and activated. The suction unit 50 is configured so that the suction cup 67 can be selectively switched between a downward posture and a rearward posture (right side in FIG. 7). Of course, with a servo motor,
It can turn.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 6, the transfer device 4 is provided with an article holding means 77 above the side portion of the article conveyor 1. The article pressing means 77 is used when the article take-out means 4 takes out a plurality of (three) articles W held by the downstream gate section 11 of the aligning device 3, particularly when the suction cup 67 contacts the article W. Therefore, it is intended to prevent the positional displacement and rotation of each article W from occurring.

The article pressing means 77 is a pressing strip 78 having an L-shaped cross section which is long along the conveying direction of the article conveyor 1.
Is made to swing up and down by the belt drive means 79, and 80 is a rotary drive tool such as a motor. The operation sequence of the article take-out means 43 having such a configuration will be described with reference to the time chart shown in FIG.

When a predetermined number of articles W have been carried into the downstream gate portion 11 of the aligning device 3 and all partition members 37 (see FIG. 5) are lowered, the article holding means 77 (see FIG. 6) is first pressed. The strip 78 is swung downward and each article W is pressed immovably. Next, in the suction unit 50, at the beginning, suction is started for each suction cup 67, and the suction head 68 is lowered to press the suction cup 67 against the article W. Then, immediately thereafter, the suction head 68 is raised. Therefore, each article W is lifted from the article conveyor 1 while being sucked by the suction cup 67. The article pressing means 77 raises the pressing strip 78 at the same time or slightly earlier when the suction head 68 rises, and prevents the pressing strip 78 from colliding and interfering with the article W.

Next, the elevating / lowering support 48 (see FIG. 8) starts to move up and reaches the uppermost set position of the suction unit 50 (article W).
Lift up. Then, after the suction unit 50 reaches the uppermost setting position, the elevating drive unit 51 operates to turn the suction unit 50 backward. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the article W sucked and held by the suction unit 50 is in an upright state (with the mouth of the tube container facing downward).

After the suction portion 50 is turned backward, the advancing / retreating body 49 subsequently starts retreating. As a result, the article W sucked and held by the suction unit 50 reaches the position above the delivery table 45 in the standing state. next,
The elevating / lowering support 48 descends to the middle one stage, and the suction unit 50
Stops the suction of each suction cup 67 and releases the article W. Therefore, each article W is dropped into each hole 46 of the delivery table 45. Of course, the standing state is maintained in each hole 46.

After that, the forward movement by the forward / backward moving body 49 and the downward movement to the middle two stages by the elevation support 48 are performed in parallel. Moreover, after the advancing / retreating body 49 (adsorption part 50) returns to the foremost position, the elevating drive means 51 operates to make the adsorption part 50 face downward. At this point, each suction unit 50 has the article conveyor 1
Positioning is directly above and between the downstream gate portions 11 (see FIG. 5) of the aligning device 3. Finally, the elevating / lowering support 48 lowers the suction portion 50 to the lowermost setting position, and returns to the initial setting state of the article take-out means 43 as a whole.

As shown in FIG. 10, the article transfer means 44, which is one of the remaining parts of the transfer device 4, is capable of changing the three clamp parts 83, 84, 85 and their mutual intervals and rotational postures. And the posture changing means 87. Further, the standing base body 88 which is a substrate of the posture changing means 87, although not shown, is the above-mentioned article taking-out means 43.
(Refer to FIG. 8) The forward / backward moving body 49 is attached to a forward / backward moving mechanism (49A) having the same structure as that of the forward / backward moving body 49, and this forward / backward moving mechanism (49A) also has the same structure as the lifting / lowering support body 48. It is attached to the device frame 47 via a moving mechanism (48A). Therefore, the above-mentioned clamp portions 83, 84, 85 and the posture changing means 87 can be moved back and forth and up and down as a whole.

The clamp parts 83, 84, 85 are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the pair of clamping pieces 20 is driven by the driving tool 90 such as a fluid pressure cylinder, a solenoid, or a motor driving mechanism.
0a and 200b are provided so that they can approach and separate from each other. With such a configuration, both clamping pieces 200a,
When the one end portion (flat bottom portion as the tube container) of the article W is clamped by the 200b, the clamping action acts so as to automatically align the rotational posture of the article W,
It is advantageous for posture correction.

The sandwiching pieces 200a and 200b can be replaced with a suction cup that does not exert an air suction action or an adsorbent having an air suction action. The posture changing means 87 enables the left and right clamp parts 83 and 85 to approach and separate from the centrally arranged clamp part 84, and all the clamp parts 83, 84 and 85 are synchronously and in the same direction. It is designed to rotate its posture.

First, the centrally arranged clamp portion 84 will be described. The clamp portion 84 is attached to the lower end portion of the central suspension shaft 94. , And is held in a state where only rotation is allowed without moving to either the left or right (detailed structure for holding is not shown). A central standing interlocking rod 96 is connected to the upper end of the central suspension shaft 94 via an eccentric arm 95. This central standing interlocking rod 96
An upper cam follower 97 is attached to the upper end of the.

On the other hand, the left and right clamp parts 83,
85 is attached to the lower end of the side suspension shaft 100. The side suspension shaft 100 does not move up and down and forward and backward with respect to the standing base body 88, and is held in a state where rotation and left and right movements are allowed. Has been done. Reference numeral 101 denotes a horizontal guide means such as a linear guide that guides the lateral movement. The eccentric arm 103 is provided at the upper end of the one side suspension shaft 100 (right side in FIG. 10).
A side stand-up interlocking rod 104 is connected via a lower cam follower 105, which is rotatable around the side stand-up interlocking rod 104, on the eccentric arm 103.

The other side suspension shaft 100 (left side in FIG. 10)
At the upper end of the rod, a side standing interlocking rod 1 is provided via an eccentric arm 107.
08 is connected, and a lower cam follower 109 is provided on the eccentric arm 107 so as to be rotatable around the side stand-up interlocking rod 108. An upper cam follower 11 is provided at the upper end of each of the side upright interlocking rods 104 and 108.
0,111 are attached.

Upper cam followers 97, 110, 111 attached to the respective standing interlocking rods 96, 104, 108.
Are long holes 115a, 115 into which these are individually fitted.
It is aligned and held in a horizontal row by a connecting frame 115 having b and 115c. The long hole 1 of the connecting frame 115
As for 15a, 115b, and 115c, the centrally arranged one is short and the left and right arranged ones are long.

The connecting frame 115 is held so that it can freely move back and forth (close to and away from the upright base body 88) along a guide bar 118 extending horizontally toward the upright base body 88. Further, a spring 119 provided between the upright base body 88 and the upright base body 88 constantly pulls and biases the upright base body 88. Therefore, each standing interlocking rod 96, 1
04 and 108 come to be pulled toward the standing base body 88 side, and the standing base body 88 contacts the lower cam followers 105 and 109 which are rotatable around the side standing interlocking rods 104 and 108 on both sides. Cam plates 122, 1
23 are provided.

When the lower cam followers 105 and 109 approach each other along the left-right direction, these cam plates 122 and 123 gradually approach the standing base body 88, and conversely, the lower cam followers 105 and 109.
9 have a symmetrical cam shape that gradually separates them from the upstanding base body 88 as they tend to move away from each other.

It is preferable that the cam plates 122 and 123 are capable of adjusting their positions in the left-right direction with respect to the standing base body 88. Such position adjustment is extremely useful in changing the mutual interval, the rotation timing, and the like when the clamp portions 83 and 85, which will be described later, are brought close to or away from each other. The side standing interlocking rod 10
The eccentric arm on one side (the left eccentric arm 107 in the drawing) of the four and 108 is provided with a left-right movement driving tool 125.
Is connected. Although the fluid pressure cylinder is used as the left-right movement driving tool 125 in this embodiment, a motor-driven belt driving means, a ball screw mechanism, or the like may be used.

The horizontal guide means 101 provided on the side suspension shafts 100 on both sides are fixed to the upper tension side, one of which is the left side in the drawing with respect to the belt transmission means 127 which is horizontally stretched. The other side (right side in the drawing) is fixed to the lower tension side. Therefore, when the left-right movement driving tool 125 is operated, the left-right movement is transmitted to the one side suspension shaft 100 (left side in the drawing) via the eccentric arm 107, and the left-right movement is transmitted via the belt transmission means 127 to the other side. It is transmitted to the side suspension shaft 100 (on the right side of the drawing), and the side suspension shaft 100 is caused to move left and right in the direction opposite to the above.

The operation status of the article delivery means 44 thus constructed is as follows. That is, the delivery table 45 is provided by the article take-out means 43 (see FIG. 7).
After the articles W have been loaded into the container, the standing base body 88 is moved by the forward movement of the forward / backward moving mechanism 49A (see the forward / backward moving body 49 in FIG. 8), and the clamp portions 83, 8 are moved to directly above the delivery table 45.
4,85 will be positioned.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 10, the left-right movement driving tool 125 of the posture changing means 87 is in a state in which the eccentric arm 107 is pushed outward in the left-right direction (left side in FIG. 10), and the other side accordingly. The eccentric arm 103 is pushed outward in the opposite direction to the left and right (to the right in FIG. 10). Therefore, the respective clamp portions 83, 84, 85 are in a state of being separated from each other at an interval corresponding to the mutual interval of the holes 46 in the delivery table 45, and a state in which the clamping operation direction is parallel to the front-back direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 7). Stopped at.

Vertical movement mechanism 48A (elevation support 48 of FIG. 8)
7), the clamping operation of the article W by each of the clamp portions 83, 84, 85, and the ascending operation by the vertical movement mechanism 48A are performed, and then the forward / backward movement mechanism 49A starts retreating to the right in FIG. However, in the middle of this retreat, the left-right movement driving tool 125 moves the eccentric arm 107 inward in the left-right direction (right in FIG. 10).
Try to pull in. Therefore, the belt transmission means 12
7, the other eccentric arm 103 is also inward in the left-right direction (see FIG.
To the left).

At this time, the lower cam follower 109 on the eccentric arm 107 is in contact with the cam plate 122 and the spring 119
As a result, it is drawn in the direction of the standing base body 88 via the connecting frame 115, the upper cam follower 111, and the side standing interlocking rod 108, and as a result, the side suspension shaft 100 in connection with the eccentric arm 107 is connected. Rotates.

The same thing occurs on the side of the other eccentric arm 103, and as a result, the side suspension shaft 100 connected to the eccentric arm 103 also rotates. Further, as the connecting frame 115 is pulled toward the standing base body 88 as described above, the central suspension shaft 94 also rotates. For this reason, the left and right clamp portions 83, 85 rotate about the centrally arranged clamp portion 84 so as to be in close proximity to each other and take an oblique posture. Therefore, these clamp parts 83, 84,
As shown in FIG. 11, the article W held by the member 85 is rotated diagonally in the diagonal direction of the box X while being transferred from the delivery table 45 to the box X, and the mutual pitch is narrowed. Done

After that, the vertical movement mechanism 48A descends, the clamp portions 83, 84, 85 are released, and the vertical movement mechanism 4 is moved.
The ascending by 8A and the returning operation by the posture changing means 87 (returning rotation of the clamp portions 83, 84, 85 and mutual separation) are performed in this order to return to the original state. The above is the configuration and operation of the transfer device 4.

Next, the box lid closing device 5 will be described.
This box lid closing device 5 is for performing a lid closing operation at one station on the box X after the articles W have been loaded, as shown in FIG. 12, and is provided with the side flaps f1 and f2 in the box X. Left and right pair of lateral swing pieces 13 to be folded
0, 131, a pair of left and right back swing pieces 132 for folding the lid flap f3 of the box X, and a front surface for guiding the insertion flap f4 provided in the lid flap f3 into the box X when the lid flap f3 is folded. The swing piece 133 and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a swing drive unit 1 for swinging each swing piece is shown.
And 37.

The box lid closing device 5 is provided on the box conveyor 2 at a position where the articles W are packed in the box or downstream thereof. The lateral rocking pieces 130 and 131 rock in the left-right direction above the side portion of the box X about a pivot 140 that faces the front-rear direction. Back swing piece 132
Is oscillated in the front-rear direction above the rear part of the box X about a pivot 141 that faces the left-right direction.

The front swing piece 133 is located above the front of the box X,
It swings in the front-rear direction about a pivot 142 that faces the left-right direction. The tip of each rocking piece jumps up to a position higher than the height of the box X so that the rocking piece does not collide with and interfere with the box X conveyed on the box conveyor 2 in the standby state. And wait.

On the other hand, the swing drive section 137 has cam discs 147, 148, which are attached to one rotary shaft 145.
149 and 150, separate belt transmission means 152 and 1
A predetermined motion required for each rocking piece is taken out via 53, 154 and 155. Note that, in FIG. 13, the pivot 14 of each rocking piece is located at the rotation center of the wheel on one end side of each belt transmission means 152, 153, 154, 155.
Although the numbers 0, 141 and 142 are shown, other belt transmission means, a crank mechanism, a link mechanism and the like may be provided.

The operation timing of each rocking piece is such that the horizontal rocking pieces 130 and 131 first rock in the directions of mutual proximity, and the lateral rocking pieces 130 and 131 return to the back rocking piece. It is adjusted so that 132 and the front rocking piece 133 rock in the direction of mutual proximity. The rotation shaft 145 is configured to repeat operation and stop each time a box-completion completion signal is sent from the transfer device 4 with one cycle as one cycle by a stepping motor (not shown) or the like.

In this embodiment, the back rocking pieces 132 are provided as a pair of left and right, and these are separate cam disks 147, 14 respectively.
It is designed to be driven by the 9. Therefore, the swing timings of them can be shifted. That is,
As a result, a twist in the surface direction can be applied to the lid flap f3 and the insertion flap f4 during folding, and by doing so, the insertion flap f
4 can be adjusted so that it can be easily and surely inserted into the box X.

Further, in this embodiment, the back swing piece 132 is used.
Is a socket-shaped main body 132a and the main body 132a
And a tip shaft portion 132b which is held so as to be adjustable in and out. As a result, the box X can be adapted to cover flaps f3 and insertion flaps f4 having different sizes. Lateral swing pieces 130, 1
31, the back swing piece 132 and the front swing piece 133.
It is preferable that the positions such as the mutual distance between and can be adjusted according to the outer dimensions of the box X.

The configuration and operation of the box lid closing device 5 have been described above. The overall flow of the line including the aligning device 3, the transfer device 4, and the box lid closing device 5 will be outlined below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 7. That is, the articles W continuously conveyed by the article conveyor 1.
However, the upstream gate unit 10 and the downstream gate unit 1 of the aligning device 3
1 is sequentially aligned.

A predetermined number (three in this embodiment) of the articles W on the most downstream side among the aligned pieces are taken out by the article take-out means 43 of the transfer device 4 and are placed in an upright state, and then delivered. It is held on the table 45. And the transfer device 4
The article transferring means 44 takes out the article W from the delivery table 45 in an alternating manner with the article taking out means 43, and waits the article W at a predetermined position on the box conveyor 2 (a box flap f).
3, the insertion flaps f4 are each held horizontally).

The box X in which the articles W are loaded in this way
All flaps are folded by the box lid closing device 5 and are carried out to the downstream side by the box conveyor 2.
By the way, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the conveyors (the article conveyor 1 and the box conveyor 2) may have a conveyor surface composed of a large number of rotatable rollers or balls or a chute.

In the present embodiment, the belt driving means and the belt transmission means are used in various places, but they can be replaced with a fluid pressure cylinder, a motor driven ball screw mechanism, or the like. The outer shape of the article W, the number of boxes, and the like are not limited in any way. It should be noted that the partition member 37 in the aligning device 3 is arranged according to the number of articles W to be packed in a box.
, The suction unit 50 in the transfer device 4, and the delivery table 4
It goes without saying that the number of the holes 46 of 5, the clamp portions 83, 84, 85, etc. used increases or decreases.

The transfer device 4 is not limited in that the transferred articles W are packed in a box, and other work (the posture and position of the articles W need to be accurately aligned in advance). The article W may be transferred for the purpose of (a certain work).

[0068]

The present invention has the above-mentioned structure, and when an article is carried into the upstream gate section by the conveyor, a pair of articles are provided on both sides (that is, the upstream side and the downstream side) in the conveying direction of the article. Since the separating member descends so that the articles are sandwiched, the postures are corrected and the articles that are too close to each other are separated from each other.

In the downstream gate section, the article take-out means provided on the downstream side of the conveyor waits until the same number of articles as the number of articles taken out in one operation are carried in, and then the articles are partitioned to the downstream side in the conveying direction. The member descends so that the pitch can be kept constant even in the case where the transport rows for articles are in a tooth-missing state.

From the above, even for an article such as a tube container formed mainly of a cylindrical surface or a spherical surface,
Since reliable alignment can be performed, for example, the box packing operation can be automated. Therefore, it is possible to perform work that is dramatically more efficient than the conventional manual work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a boxing line capable of automating a boxing operation of articles in a portion where an article conveyor and a box conveyor are parallel to each other.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged arrow view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 3;

5 is a magnified view taken along the line DD of FIG.

6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line EE of FIG.

7 is an operation explanatory diagram showing an enlarged view of a portion corresponding to line FF in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an article take-out means of the transfer device.

FIG. 9 is a time chart showing the operation procedure of the article take-out means of the transfer device.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view schematically showing a main configuration of an article delivery unit of the transfer device.

FIG. 11 is a plan enlarged plan view showing a state where an article is transferred from the delivery table to the box by the article transfer means of the transfer device.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view schematically showing a main part of a box lid closing device.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view schematically showing a swing drive unit in the box lid closing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Item Conveyor 2 Box Conveyor 3 Aligning Device 4 Transfer Device 5 Box Lid Closing Device 10 Upstream Gate Section 11 Downstream Gate Section 43 Article Retrieval Means 44 Article Delivery Means 45 Delivery Stands W Articles X Boxes

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor ▲ Sugi ▼ Moto Ken City 8 Shiroyama Town, Ayabe City, Kyoto Prefecture Gunze Stock Company Machinery Works

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An upstream gate part (10) arranged relatively upstream and a downstream gate part (relatively downstream) with respect to a conveyor (1) provided toward an article take-out means (43). 11), and the upstream gate portion (10) is capable of descending to both sides in the transport direction at unique timing each time one article (W) is loaded, at a unique timing.
6), and the downstream gate section (11) descends at least downstream of the articles (W) in the carrying direction according to the number of articles taken out by one operation of the article taking-out means (43) when the articles (W) are carried in. An apparatus for aligning conveyed articles, which has a plurality of partition members (37) that are enabled.