JPH0977241A - Article distributing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic article distributing device capable of preventing an article from being damaged during the distribution, miniaturizing the whole device, saving the space, and greatly reducing the required time for distribution. SOLUTION: An article distributing device is provided with a first carrying means 1, an article delivering means 2, and a second carrying means 3, the first carrying means 1 feeds products A to the article delivering means 2 in one row condition keeping the constant pitch. The article delivering means 2 is provided with an article holder 210 having a partition corresponding to the pitch of the first carrying means 1 and a driving mechanism to drive the article holder, and the second carrying means 3 is provided with a loading face in which a section corresponding to the partition pitch of the article holder 210 of the article delivering means 2 is formed, and transfers the arranged products A.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article distributing apparatus for distributing articles, such as bottles, which are lined up in a row and delivered to a plurality of succeeding conveyance paths and carried in.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, the following techniques are known as a technique for distributing articles. The first (1) is a natural method in which articles are randomly supplied on a conveyor belt having branch guide walls in a plurality of rows, and the articles are distributed in the guide by using the conveyer force of the conveyor while pressing the articles against each other. It is a distribution system.

(2) is a method of pushing articles fed in a single row onto a conveyor belt branched into a plurality of rows from the side by a pusher to insert the articles into a branching section, and a rotating force using a rotating brush. Is a pusher method for distributing articles in a single row into branching compartments (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 52-5150 and 63-189319). (3) is an endless drive chain. The grip system is configured to selectively pass a branched guide rail in a state where an article is gripped by a grip provided via a rod and distribute the article in a plurality of rows (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-
See Japanese Patent No. 17722. (4) In (4), the articles sent in a single line state are once gathered in a vertical drive type guide before being fed to the branch guide rail, and are fed into the guide rail to branch into a fixed number. A guide method (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-172)
See Japanese Patent No. 324. )

[0004]

However, in the above (1), it is impossible to avoid damage caused by collision and rubbing of articles with each other, and there is a great drawback in processing speed and quality. Become. In addition, in the cases (2) and (3), each of them can send only one article to each guide rail, and it is necessary to separate articles of the same arrangement, and the conveyor itself Since the length of the device is extended, the space occupied by the device is increased and the processing time of the article is prolonged.

Further, in (4) above, (2) above
As in (3) and (3), the guide rail becomes long, and the article is assembled in the vertically driven guide,
Similar to the above (1), there is a problem that there is a high risk of damage occurring due to collision or rubbing between articles. The present invention is proposed in view of the above-mentioned problems in the related art, and an object thereof is to prevent the articles from being damaged at the time of the dispensing operation, to make the entire apparatus compact, and to achieve space saving while achieving the dispensing. An object of the present invention is to provide an effective automatic article dispensing apparatus that can reduce the processing time required.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a first conveying means for conveying a plurality of articles in a row at regular intervals in the traveling direction, and a predetermined number of articles from the article downstream in the conveying direction. Of articles at one time out of the first transport path, and the article delivery means having at least the same number of second transport paths as the articles sent out of the first transport path, and the transport start end The article delivering means is aligned with the article delivering means so as to receive the article delivered, and the conveying speed is set to a speed required for separating the front and rear articles on the second conveying path in the article delivering cycle by the article delivering means. And a second transporting means, wherein the article sending-out means swings the article holder that comes into lateral contact with a predetermined number of articles located downstream of the first transporting path. A holder swinging unit that guides the article that abuts against it to the transport start end of the second transport unit in a state where the space between the products is maintained, and an article holder that slides the article holder when the guide of the article to the second transport unit is finished. It is characterized in that it is provided with a holder retreating means for retreating from the delivery path.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An article distributing apparatus according to the present invention will be described based on an embodiment of the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic overall configuration of the apparatus, which is roughly composed of a first conveying means 1, an article delivering means 2 and a second conveying means 3. In this device, the articles are targeted at, for example, milk bottles that are easily damaged by collision.

The first conveying means 1 is composed of a conveyor line 1a for conveying the articles A in a line, and the screw conveyor 1b is inserted into the conveying path of the conveyor line 1a to convey the articles A being conveyed. The intervals are adjusted to a fixed pitch. The article sending-out means 2 is a slide table 5 arranged on one side of the conveyor line 1a from the downstream side of the conveyance of the first conveying means 1, for example, five articles A .. A rotating chain 4d that is composed of a structure that is sent upward and is wound between three pulleys 4a to 4c.
A proper number of them are attached to (4e). Details of the article delivery means 2 will be described later.

The second conveying means 3 has the same number of partition lanes 3a, 3b ... 3 as the number of articles partitioned at the same pitch as the intervals of the articles A sent onto the slide 5 by the article sending means 2.
It is composed of a wide belt conveyor 3f having e. The conveyance speed of the belt conveyor 3f is determined by the cycle in which the article delivery means 2 delivers the article (from the nth article delivery to n
+1 time before delivery of the article), the previously delivered article and the following article are the same partition lane 3a,
3b ... The speed is set so as not to collide above. The end of the belt conveyor 3f (3g in the figure) is a gathering place for packing the articles in a box. The starting end side of the belt conveyor 3f, the downstream side of the first conveying means 1 and the slide 5 are all at the same height, and the article A is from the conveyor line of the first conveying means 1 to the belt conveyor 3f of the second conveying means 3. It is designed so that it can be smoothly moved horizontally.

As shown in FIG. 2, the article feeding means 2 is a base plate 2 fixed between a pair of upper and lower chains 4d and 4e.
01 built in. That is, on the base plate 201, a pair of base shafts 202, 202 are installed in parallel with the rotating direction R of the upper and lower chains 4d, 4e, and a pair of guide shafts 203, 203 are installed in a direction orthogonal to the rotating direction R, respectively. Base axes 202, 2
On 02, a spline shaft 205 is provided via ball bushes 204, 204 so as to be movable in parallel in the chain rotation direction R. A spline nut 206 is slidably fitted on the spline shaft 205 so as to be slidable. The spline nut 206 is housed in a nut housing formed at the base end of an arm rod 207 having an appropriate length.
The nut housing of the arm rod 207 is fitted onto the spline shaft 205 via a bearing so as to be rotatable and slidable. A slide bearing member 222 that is slidable along the connecting shaft 221 is attached to the nut housing, and the connecting shaft 221 and the slide bearing member 222 are attached.
Both of them hold the arm rod 207 in a posture of standing upright from the base plate 201 as shown in the figure.

A pulley 208 is pivotally attached to the end of the arm rod 207, and a belt 209 is hung between the spline nut 206 in the nut housing at the base end of the arm rod 207. An article holder 210 is fixed to the pulley 208 via a mounting bracket 211. Article holder 21
0 conveys five articles A ... from the conveyor line 1a of the first conveying means 1 through the slide 5 to the belt conveyor 3f of the second conveying means 3 in an orderly manner without colliding with each other and without dropping. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 5, both ends 212 of the holder are bent inward, and triangular columnar projections 213, which prevent the movement of the article A, are attached to holder portions corresponding to the articles A adjacent to each other. .

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, one end of the spline shaft 205 extends through the ball bush 204, and a lever 215 having a first cam body 214 is attached to the extended end. ing. The first cam body 214 is fitted in a first cam groove 4g formed in a cam plate 4f provided along the lower rotary chain 4e. The first cam groove 4g is formed over the entire circumference of the lower turning chain 4e so as to translate with the lower turning chain 4e, but the portion closest to the downstream end of the conveyor line 1a of the first conveying means 1 and the pulley. In the vicinity of 4b, it is formed obliquely with respect to the traveling direction of the rotary chain 4e. FIG. 2 shows a skewed state of the first cam groove 4g near the pulley 4b. When the first cam groove 4g is skewed as shown in the drawing, the lever 2 is moved along with the rotation of the rotation chain 4d (4e).
15 is gradually swung in the direction of arrow S from the state shown. By the way, when the lever 215 swings, the spline shaft 205 is rotated, and the rotational force is transmitted to the belt 209 and the pulley 208 via the spline nut 206 fitted to the spline shaft 205, and as a result, the article holder 210 is shaken. Move. Article holder 21
0 swing direction, the swing amount is the oblique direction of the first cam groove 4g,
It is determined by the offset amount from the skew start position to the skew end position. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the article A is slid on the slide 5 from the end of the conveyor line of the first conveying means 1.
When the article holder 210 is sent upward, the article holder 210 is in a lying posture (the longitudinal direction of the article holder is parallel to the rotation chains 4d and 4e) to a standing posture (the longitudinal direction of the article holder is orthogonal to the rotation chains 4d and 4e). The swinging direction and the swinging amount are selected so that the article holder 210 swings from the standing posture to the lying posture when swinging around the pulley 4b.

In the nut housing at the base end of the arm rod 207, a second cam groove 2 is formed so as to penetrate the base plate 201 in an oblique manner.
A second cam 232 engaging with 31 is provided in a protruding manner. Since the spline nut 206 is slidable along the spline shaft 205 and the ball bush 204 is slidable along the base shaft 202, the arm rod 207 is movable in two dimensions on the base plate 201. However, due to the engagement structure of the second cam 232 and the second cam groove 231, the movement direction is restricted to the longitudinal direction of the cam groove 231. The driving force of the arm rod 207 in the direction along the second cam groove 231 is received by the mechanism described below.

Both ends of the connecting shaft 221 are guide shafts 203,
A slide member 22 slidably inserted in 203
It is fixed to 3, 223. And the slide member 2
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a part of the rods 23 and 223 is extended from the outside of the base plate 201 to the back face of the base plate 201, and a bar rod provided across the back face of the base plate 201 at the extended portion. 22
4 is suspended. A third cam 225 is provided at the center of the rod 224 and on the back side thereof. This cam 2
25 is a third provided between the vertical rotation chains 4d and 4e.
Is engaged with the cam groove 4h (see FIG. 2). The third cam groove 4h is formed in parallel with the rotating chain 4d on the side closer to the lower rotating chain 4e over substantially the entire circumference of the rotating chain 4d (4e), but in the vicinity of the pulley 4b. As can be seen from the above, the tilting is performed such that it once rises in the direction approaching the upper turning chain 4d and then descends in the direction approaching the lower turning chain 4e again. The cam groove inclination angle in the portion where the third cam groove 4h is inclined in the direction approaching the upper rotation chain 4d is opposite to the second cam groove 231, and the angle formed by the rotation chain is the same. . The behavior of the article holder 210 when the third cam groove 4h is skewed in this manner will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in the region where the third cam groove 4h is translated near the lower rotary chain 4e, the third cam 225 maintains the same height without moving up and down. At this time, the height of the article holder 210 is the height at which the article holder 210 comes into contact with the position corresponding to the center of gravity of the article A as shown by the solid line mixed with the broken line in FIG. Therefore, at this height, the article holder 210 can smoothly push the article A without tipping over.

Next, when the third cam 225 enters the area S2 as the rotation chains 4d and 4e rotate, it rises as the third cam groove 4h inclines upward. Due to this rise, the slide member 223 and the connecting shaft 221 move to the base plate 20.
1, and the article holder 210 also tries to rise in conjunction with this. By the way, the movement direction of the article holder 210 is regulated by the engagement structure of the second cam 232 and the second cam groove 231, and the third cam groove 4h
Since the inclination direction of the second cam groove 231 is opposite and the inclination angle from the horizontal is the same, the movement of the article holder 210 in the chain rotation direction R is the inclination of the second and third cam grooves 231 and 4h. It will be offset by the direction. Therefore, S2
In the area, the article holder 210 rises vertically as shown by the phantom line L. The fully raised position is higher than the upper end of the article A as shown by the phantom line in FIG. Since the S2 area is formed at a related position such that the third cam 225 starts to enter at the timing when the article holder 210 has finished loading the article A into the second transport means 3, the article holder 210 is placed in the S2 area. When the article has been loaded into the second transport means 3, the article holder 210 suddenly rises above the article A. Therefore, the article holder 210 promptly retracts without pushing down the article A that has been completely loaded and pressing it against the partition plate.

Next, the article distributing operation of the above construction will be described.
First, the articles A supplied to the first conveying means 1 from a feeder outside the drawing at irregular intervals are arranged on the conveyor belt 1a at a constant pitch while moving downstream on the conveyor belt 1a. Then, when the articles A arranged at a constant pitch reach the downstream end, the article holders 21 are synchronized with it.
0 is five articles A from the downstream end of the conveyor belt 1a ...
6 is contacted from the side (state of FIG. 6A), and is slid onto the slide 5 as it is. At this time, the article holder 2
Since the triangular columnar protrusions 213 are provided at regular intervals in the article 10, the articles A ... Are kept at a distance even after being collected by the article holder 210 and do not collide with each other.

When the article holder 210 pushes the articles A ... From the first conveying means 1 onto the slide 5, the second article in the vicinity thereof is pushed.
Since the cam groove 4g of the article is curved as described above, the article holder 210 is gradually moved from the lying posture to the standing posture by 90 degrees.
Rotate (the state of FIG. 6B), and carry in the articles one by one to the lanes 3a to 3e of the second transporting means 3 (FIG. 6C).
State).

When the loading of the article is completed, the article holder 2
Since the third cam groove 4h enters the curved region of the third cam groove 4h as shown in FIG. 2, it sharply rises above the upper portion of the article A and moves to the outside of the path of the second conveying means 3 as it is. On the other hand, the articles A transported by the second transporting means 3 ...
It is conveyed to the downstream side every 3e. Since this conveying speed is set to be higher than 1/5 of that of the first conveying means 1, when the succeeding article A is carried in by the article holder, the succeeding article A has already been conveyed to a certain amount downstream, and the collision with the succeeding article is also caused. can avoid. All the articles are densely gathered downstream of the second conveying means 3, but damage or the like due to collision can be avoided by forming a roller conveyor or the like on the downstream side of the second conveying means 3 to decelerate the articles.

In the above embodiment, the article holder 210 is configured to collect five articles at one time, but this is an example, and a finite number of two or more is sufficient, and the number is not limited to five. Of course. Further, the article holder 210 may have a gripping mechanism for gripping an article in addition to the configuration shown in the drawing.

Further, the slide 5 may be of any type as long as it does not hinder the conveyance of articles, and for example, the belts existing in the lanes 3a to 3e can be extended and used as slides. Further, although the screw conveyor 1b is used in order to space the articles at a constant pitch, it is needless to say that the structure is not limited as long as it is a means that can space the articles at a constant pitch.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to distribute a fixed number of articles supplied in a row at the same time and at a constant pitch while changing the alignment direction. You can eliminate the damage,
Since a configuration is adopted in which the article holder is retracted from the article delivery path when the article is completely transported to the second transport means.
The first transporting means, the article sending-out means, and the second transporting means are provided with the respective means for exhibiting the required functions, but a compact structure can be achieved, space can be saved, and the time required for distribution can be reduced. It has the effect of being able to significantly shorten and to perform efficient distribution work.

[0023]

[Brief description of drawings]

[0024]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the overall configuration.

[0025]

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part in FIG.

[0026]

FIG. 3 is a front view of the article delivery means.

[0027]

FIG. 4 is a side view of the article delivery means.

[0028]

FIG. 5 is a top view of the article delivery means.

[0029]

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a main operation of collecting and distributing an article.

[0030]

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration for performing a retracting operation of the article delivery means.

[0031]

[Description of sign]

 1 1st conveyance means 2 article sending-out means 3 2nd conveyance means A article

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first transporting means for transporting a plurality of articles in a row at a constant interval in the traveling direction, and an article for delivering a predetermined number of articles out of the first transport path at a time from articles downstream in the transport direction. The delivery means and the article delivery means have at least the same number of second delivery paths as the articles delivered to the outside of the first delivery path, and the article delivery is performed so that the transport start end receives the article delivered by the article delivery means. Second transporting means that is aligned with the means and has a transporting speed set to a speed required for separating the front and rear articles on the second transporting path in the article sending-out cycle by the article sending-out means, The delivery means includes an article holder that laterally abuts a predetermined number of articles existing downstream of the first transport path, and an article holder that swings the article holder and abuts the article holder with a space between the articles. And a holder retracting means for retracting the article holder from the article delivery path when the guide of the article to the second conveying means is completed. Article distribution device.