JPH101110A - Packaging apparatus for sliced piece of meat - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automate work of placing sliced pieces of meat in a container, which has conventionally been performed by manual work. SOLUTION: A packaging apparatus for sliced pieces of meat comprises at least one of either a laterally folding means 5 for laterally folding both sides of a sliced piece or a longitudinally folding means 8 for longitudinally folding a sliced piece, a main conveyor 1 for transferring the sliced piece, and a container conveyor 11 for transferring a container 22 for receiving the laterally or longitudinally folded sliced pieces. The main conveyor is constituted from a plurality of endlessly rotatable conveyance bodies 4, and the laterally folding means 5 comprises a pair of rotary bodies 6 composed of a plurality of raising plates 62a-62d for successively raising the sliced pieces from the outer side thereof and a pair of auxiliary bars 7 for folding the raised sliced pieces. The longitudinally folding means 8 comprises a group of swing rods 82 which are turned in a reverse direction to return to their original position after raising and folding the sliced piece in two. When the desired number of sliced pieces laterally and longitudinally folded is delivered to the container on standby, the container is discharged by the container conveyor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for bending sliced meat pieces such as beef and pork one by one in the vertical and horizontal directions, and arranging them in a container with their folds (ridges) facing up. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Consumers in Japan often purchase sliced meat, as in the main distribution channel, rather than purchasing blocks in blocks, unlike in the United States and Europe. On the other hand, the selling side packs and sells an amount that can be used up almost once even if the number of families is different.
In order to motivate consumers to make purchases, the products are displayed on the container in a way that looks beautiful and gives a sense of volume. Unfortunately, it is a fact that this arrangement relies on manual labor.

[0003] By the way, various machines for slicing have been sold, but an apparatus for serving meat after slicing in a container has not yet been sold. The biggest reason is that the thin sliced pieces are stuck regardless of the other party. Also, depending on the temperature, there will be no waist at all, or it will be like a sherbet,
The nature of meat, which can become solid or solid,
That is why the device cannot be realized. Further, the irregular size and outer shape of the sliced pieces may be one of the reasons for preventing the realization of the apparatus.

[0004]

The problem to be solved by the present invention is that, despite the tendency of the sliced pieces to stick easily, the sliced pieces are folded horizontally or vertically and arranged in a container in an orderly manner. To do.

[0005]

The features of the present invention are as follows. That is, this apparatus has at least one of a horizontal folding mechanism that folds both sides of a meat slice at a fold parallel to the transport direction, a vertical folding mechanism that folds the slice at a fold perpendicular to the transport direction, and It is composed of a main conveyor to be transported, and a container conveyor for transporting containers containing a desired number of sliced pieces that have been folded horizontally or vertically.

[0006] The main conveyor is formed by hanging a plurality of conveyors around front and rear driving wheels.

[0007] The horizontal folding mechanism is configured to rotate a pair of rotating bodies composed of a plurality of lifting plates that rotate on both sides of a slice conveyed by the main conveyor without interfering with the conveyer, and sequentially lift from the outside. It consists of a pair of auxiliary rods that bend in contact with the conveyed slice.

The vertical folding mechanism has a swinging rod group that rotates without interfering with the transporting body, lifts the slices transported by the main conveyor, folds the sliced pieces in two, and then rotates in the opposite direction to return. doing.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a main conveyor, and a plurality of driving wheels 2, 3 and
Narrow transport body 4 wrapped endlessly at equal intervals
It is composed of The main conveyor 1 is connected to a supply conveyor connected to a slicing machine (not shown). In the illustrated example, sprockets are used for the driving wheels 2 and 3, and a chain is used for the carrier 4. However, known means such as using a pulley for the driving wheels 2 and 3 and a belt for the carrier 4 can be adopted. .
The interval between the transport bodies 4 is about 15 mm.

The horizontal folding mechanism 5 folds both sides of the sliced piece 21 into a horizontal folded sliced piece 21a as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 at a fold parallel to the transport direction A. And an auxiliary rod 7. Reference numeral 61 denotes a rotating shaft for rotating the rotating body 6, which is orthogonal to the transport direction A of the main conveyor 1 and is supported by a side frame (not shown) and located above the main conveyor 1. One set of 62a, 6
2b, 62c, 62d are all lifting plates,
One set is mounted on each side of the rotating shaft 61 symmetrically and in accordance with the folding width of the slice piece 21 so that the interval between them can be adjusted.

The lifting plates 62a to 62d lift the outside of the slice pieces 21 conveyed by the main conveyor 1, and sequentially lift the lifting plates 62a to 62d from the outside.
Slice 2 so that can lift slice 21
1 by shifting the contact edge 62 'to the rotating shaft 61 by a certain angle.
Mounted on Further, the contact edge 62 'is formed in an outwardly convex arc shape so that the contact area with the slice piece 21 which is conveyed and moved is reduced so as not to hinder the movement, and so as to be smoothly separated from the slice piece 21 with the rotation. Is formed. Further, the lifting plates 62a to 62d are disposed so as to rotate around the center of the interval between the adjacent conveyance members 4 in order to avoid interference with the conveyance member 4. The number of lifting plates is arbitrary.

A pair of auxiliary rods 7 are provided above the main conveyor 1 and inside the innermost lifting plate 62d in the transport direction A.
Are provided in parallel with each other, and the distance and height between them can be adjusted to side frames (not shown) via mounting brackets.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a vertical folding mechanism, which is provided on the downstream side of the horizontal folding mechanism 5, and as shown in FIGS.
The slice piece 21 is folded in two at a fold perpendicular to the transport direction A to form a vertically folded slice piece 21b. Reference numeral 81 denotes a swing shaft, which is attached to a side frame below the conveying surface of the main conveyor 1 in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction A. Reference numeral 82 denotes a swinging rod, which extends from the short base 82a at right angles to the leg 8.
2b is extended. The oscillating rods 82 are attached to the oscillating shaft 81 in a comb shape, and each oscillating rod 82 oscillates at the center of the interval between the adjacent conveyance bodies 4 so as not to interfere with the main conveyor 1.

Reference numeral 9 denotes an inlet sensor for detecting the slice pieces 21 supplied from the supply conveyor. An exit sensor 10 detects a horizontally folded slice 21a or a vertically folded slice 21b. In each case, a phototube device is used.

Numeral 11 denotes a container conveyor using a chain (or belt), which is installed below the main conveyor 1 and discharged from the main conveyor 1 to containers 22 supplied one by one from a container supply device 12. The horizontal folded slice pieces 21a or the vertical folded slice pieces 21b are received and discharged to the carry-out conveyor 23 when a predetermined number is reached.

In FIG. 9, reference numeral 13 denotes a delivery disk, which is provided between the driving wheels 3 on the downstream side. This sending disc 13 is formed to have a larger diameter than the driving wheel 3 on the downstream side,
The outer peripheral edge is sharpened like a blade, and the laterally-folded slice piece 21a or the vertically-folded slice piece 21b that is adhered to and conveyed to the carrier 4 of the main conveyor 1 is sent away from the carrier 4.

Here, a control function for independently operating the horizontal folding mechanism 5 and the vertical folding mechanism 8 is provided in the control device. Further, the main conveyor 1 is controlled by the control device so that the transport speed becomes slower when performing horizontal folding or vertical folding. When the entrance sensor 9 detects the slice piece 21, the movement amount of the main conveyor 1 is measured based on the output pulse of the motor (not shown), and the instruction for executing the horizontal folding or the vertical folding inputted in advance to the control device is provided. Accordingly, when the slice piece 21 reaches a predetermined position, for example, a horizontal folding execution position, the horizontal folding is performed.

In the case of executing the horizontal folding by the horizontal folding mechanism 5,
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, first, the lifting plate 62 a located on the outermost side of the rotating body 6 rotates from below the main conveyor 1 to the upstream side in the transport direction, and lifts both ends of the slice 21. Next, the lifting plates 62b, 62c inside the
Sequentially lift the inside of the slice 21. And
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the lifted slice 2
When 1 is finally scooped up by the innermost lifting plate 62d, it is bent around the auxiliary rod 7 to complete the horizontal folding.

The execution of the vertical folding by the vertical folding mechanism 8 is shown in FIG.
As described above, the swinging rod 82 pivots from below the main conveyor 1 to the upstream side in the transport direction A to lift the rear end (the upstream end in the transport direction) of the sliced piece 21. As shown in FIG. 8, the swinging rod 82 is further rotated to push up the second half of the slice piece 21 to be folded, and then is rotated in the opposite direction to return to the original position (the position in FIG. 7).

The horizontally-folded slice 21a or the vertically-folded slice 21b is released from the main conveyor 1, falls down, and is discharged to the container 22 waiting on the container conveyor 11.

The container conveyor 11 is composed of the horizontally folded slice pieces 2.
1a or the vertically folded slice 21b, the controller intermittently advances in the same direction as the transport direction A by the control device. However, the input position of the first transversely folded slice 21a or the vertically folded slice 21b and the final The vehicle advances intermittently at a pitch obtained by dividing the interval from the insertion position of the number of sheets by the desired number of insertions minus one. After the desired number of containers 22 have been charged, the container conveyor 23 rotates in the reverse direction and the discharge conveyor 2
It is discharged to 3. The container 22 supplied from the container supply device 12 is transported to the first sheet input position by the container conveyor 23 which is re-inverted.

The intermittent control of the container conveyor 11 and the counting of the number of sheets to be inserted are performed by the outlet sensor 10 provided at the outlet side of the main conveyor 1, and the container 22 in which the desired number of sheets have been inserted is discharged by the unloading conveyor 23. In the next step, for example, lapping is performed.

In this embodiment, the horizontal folding mechanism 5
And the vertical folding mechanism 8, but only one of them may be provided.

[0024]

By automating the packaging of meat slices, which has conventionally been performed manually, labor savings can be achieved, and inexpensive meat can be provided to consumers.

By automating the packaging, human contact with meat is minimized, which also benefits consumers from a hygienic standpoint.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of the device.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the device.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state in which a rotator lifts an outer end of a slice piece to start horizontal folding.

FIG. 4 is a front view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state in which a rotating body horizontally folds a slice piece.

FIG. 6 is a front view of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a state in which a swinging rod raises a rear end of a slice to start vertical folding.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a state in which a swinging rod vertically folds a slice piece.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing an attached state of a delivery disk.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a state in which a horizontally-folded slice piece is placed on a container.

FIG. 11 is a front view of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a state in which vertically folded slice pieces are placed on a container.

FIG. 13 is a side view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main conveyor 4 Conveyor 5 Horizontal folding mechanism 6 Rotating body 7 Auxiliary rod 8 Vertical folding mechanism 82 Oscillating rod 9 Inlet sensor 10 Exit sensor 11 Container conveyor 21 Slice piece 21a Horizontally folded sliced piece 21b Vertically folded sliced piece 22 Container

Claims (4)

[Claims] At least one of a horizontal folding mechanism for folding both sides of a meat slice at a fold parallel to the transport direction, a vertical folding mechanism for folding the slice at a fold perpendicular to the transport direction, and transporting the slice. Main conveyor, and a container conveyor for conveying containers that accommodate the desired number of slices that have been folded horizontally or vertically, and the main conveyor is formed by hanging a plurality of conveyors around front and rear driving wheels. The horizontal folding mechanism rotates the two sides of the slice piece conveyed by the main conveyor without interfering with the carrier, and a pair of rotating bodies composed of a plurality of lifting plates that sequentially lift from the outside, The vertical folding mechanism rotates without interfering with the conveyor and slides on the main conveyor. An apparatus for packaging meat slices having a swinging rod group that lifts, folds, and rotates in the opposite direction after returning to the original position. 2. The packaging apparatus for meat slices according to claim 1, wherein the main conveyor is provided with an inlet sensor for detecting the supplied slices in order to reduce the transport speed during horizontal folding or vertical folding. 3. The main conveyor is provided with an outlet sensor for detecting the number of sheets to be put into the container and controlling the intermittent advance of the container conveyor to detect and count the released horizontal or vertical folded slices. The meat slice packaging apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein 4. The packaging apparatus for meat sliced pieces according to claim 1, wherein a delivery disk having a diameter larger than that of the driving wheel and having a sharp outer peripheral edge is mounted between the driving wheels on the downstream side of the main conveyor.