JPH10194433A - Articles aligning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the alignment efficiency, and to improve the articles aligning and supplying capacity with a compact device structure, by installing an articles feeding device on an upper edge part of at least one of the alignment plates installed at both sides in a width direction, of a conveyer. SOLUTION: The feed belts 33A, 33B are respectively mounted on the upper edge parts of the both alignment plates 23A, 23B, at both sides of a conveyer 22. Thereby the bottles 1 caught by the upper edge parts of the alignment plates 23A, 23B, and fed out forward, are dropped on the conveyer 22 by the vertical movement of the alignment plates 23A, 23B, so that they are conveyed in a longitudinal direction while aligned in the longitudinal direction of the conveyer 22. Accordingly, an empty area without the bottle 1 on the conveyer 22 can be reduced, and the alignment efficiency can be improved. As mentioned in the above, the articles aligning and supplying capacity can be improved with a compact structure without increasing the conveyer 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a machine for arranging articles such as shampoo containers and rinse containers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an article aligning machine, Japanese Patent Publication No. 46-117
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 29, a conveyor having a width necessary to lay only one article on its lower side, and alternately moving up and down above a conveyor surface provided on both sides in the width direction of the conveyor. There is an apparatus having an alignment plate.

[0003] In this prior art, when a large number of bottles are put into a feeding section of a conveyor, each bottle is thrown down on a conveyor between the aligning plates by a vertically moving aligning plate. At this time, since the conveyor allows only one bottle to be laid down in the longitudinal direction, the bottles blown down on the conveyor are transported with their longitudinal directions aligned with the longitudinal direction of the conveyor.

[0004]

However, the prior art has the following problems. The alignment plate only moves up and down. For this reason, the bottle is caught on the upper edge portion of the alignment plate at the portion where the bottle is put into the conveyor, and accumulates on the alignment plate to form a mountain-shaped mass, and is not necessarily surely dropped onto the conveyor between the alignment plates.

[0005] As described above, the bottles are not necessarily continuously brushed down on the conveyor, and a toothless portion without a bottle is formed on the conveyor, thereby lowering the alignment efficiency on the conveyor.

As described above, it is difficult to increase the bottle alignment and supply capacity of the bottle aligner. To increase the bottle alignment and supply capacity, the number of conveyors must be increased, and the bottle aligner must be increased in size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to improve the alignment efficiency of an article aligning machine and to improve the article aligning and supplying capability with a compact apparatus configuration.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a conveyor having a width necessary to lay only one article on the floor, and the conveyor provided on both sides in the width direction of the conveyor. An aligning plate having an aligning plate that moves alternately up and down above the conveying surface of the conveyor, an article feeding device is provided on the upper edge of at least one of the aligning plates provided on both sides in the width direction of the conveyor. Is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the article feeding device further comprises an endless orbiting feeding belt built in an alignment plate, and the upper half of the feeding belt is rotated. The part is provided on the upper edge of the alignment plate.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the feed belt is provided on both alignment plates provided on both sides in the width direction of the conveyor, and one feed belt is provided. The feeding speed of the belt is set to be higher than the feeding speed of the other feeding belt.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the feed direction of the one feed belt and the feed direction of the other feed belt are set to be opposite to each other. It is like that.

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the following effects are obtained. The alignment plate moves up and down and has a feed belt (article feeder) at the upper edge thereof. For this reason, the articles caught on the upper edge of the alignment plate at the feeding section of the conveyor are sent forward by receiving the feed force of the feed belt, and accumulate on the alignment plate of the feeding section to form a mountain-like mass. There is no. As a result, the article is smoothly sent out to the front of the input section, and is reliably wiped off on the conveyor between the alignment plates by the vertical movement of the alignment plate, and its longitudinal direction is aligned with the longitudinal direction of the conveyor. Conveyed.

[0013] As described above, the articles are continuously and reliably wiped off to the conveyor, and there are few occurrences of toothless portions on the conveyor where there are no articles, and the alignment efficiency on the conveyor can be improved.

As described above, it is possible to improve the article alignment supply capability of the article alignment machine with a compact configuration without increasing the number of conveyors.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the following operations are provided. Provide feed belts on both alignment plates on both sides of the conveyor,
The feeding speed V ₁ of the one feed belt and faster than the feed speed V ₂ of the other feed belt. Thus, an article caught by the upper edge of both the alignment plate receives the rotational force based on the speed difference between them V ₁ and V _2, are given the fall possibility posture onto the conveyor in their alignment plates quickly .

By setting V ₁ and V ₂ in the same direction (forward feeding direction), it is possible to speed up the sending of articles forward from the article input unit. These can improve the alignment efficiency.

According to the present invention, there is provided the following operation. Provide feed belts on both alignment plates on both sides of the conveyor,
The feed direction of one feed belt (forward feed direction) and the feed direction of the other feed belt (anti-forward feed direction) were set to opposite directions (V ₁ > 0, V ₂ <0). Therefore, it is possible to increase the speed difference between V ₁ and V _2, article caught by the upper edge of both the alignment plate receives rotational force based on the large speed differences, falling onto the conveyor of those alignment plates Possible postures are given more quickly.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a bottle supply facility, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a bottle alignment unit, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a bottle reversing device, and FIG. 4 shows details of the bottle alignment unit. FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing details of the alignment plate.

As shown in FIG.
It has a bottle feeder 11 and a bottle aligner 21. The bottle supply device 11 supplies the empty bottle 1 to the bottle alignment device 21. The bottle aligning machine 21 aligns the postures of the bottles 1 supplied from the bottle supply device 11 in a random direction in the longitudinal direction, and evenly supplies the bottles 1 to a plurality of lanes. The bottle aligning machine 21 is provided with a bottle reversing device 41 on the output side of each lane, and corrects the posture of the bottle 1 aligned in the longitudinal direction so that the bottom side thereof is positioned vertically below, and Is carried out to the chute 51 and the carrying-out device 52.

Hereinafter, the bottle aligner 21 and the bottle reversing device 41 will be described. (Bottle Aligner 21) (FIGS. 2, 4 and 5) As shown in FIG. 2A, the bottle aligner 21 assigns one bottle 1 to each of a plurality of lanes aligned with each other.
Only one of them is provided with an upwardly sloping conveyor 22 having a width W necessary for laying down in the longitudinal direction. Conveyor 22
A cover 101 (FIG. 4) is provided on the entry side of the cover 101, and the front surface of the cover 101 is a portion into which a bottle is fed from the bottle feeder 11. When the bottle 1 has a flat shape, the width W of the conveyor 22 is set to a size that does not fit in a wide (horizontal) state (FIG. 2C) but fits only in a narrow (vertical) state (FIG. 2C). (FIG. 2 (B)). The conveyor 22 is provided with projections 22B at regular intervals in the longitudinal direction of the transport surface 22A, and transports the bottle 1 put on the transport surface 22A upward while supporting the bottle 1 on the transport 22A.

The bottle aligning machine 21 includes a conveyor 22.
2 are provided on both sides in the width direction of the bottle input section and alternately move up and down above the conveying surface 22A of the conveyor 22 (FIG. 2).
(A)). That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the alignment plate 23A (the same applies to 23B) is provided with a drive shaft 2 provided below the conveyor 22.
It is swingably supported around five turns. A chain 29 is wound around a sprocket 26 fixed to the drive shaft 25 and a sprocket 28 fixed to the cam shaft 27 below the conveyor 22, and a cam follower 32 provided on the rear surface of the alignment plate 23A.
Is mounted so as to be deposited on a swing cam 31 fixed to the cam shaft 27. As a result, when the cam 31 is rotated by the rotation of the drive shaft 25, the cam follower 32 of the alignment plate 23A follows the cam surface of the cam 31, and as a result, the alignment plate 23A moves up and down. A cam 31 (31A) for the alignment plate 23A and a cam 31 (31A) for the alignment plate 23B
4B, their phases are shifted by 120 degrees as shown in FIG. 4, and as a result, the alignment plates 23A and 23B on both sides of the conveyor 22 move up and down alternately.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the bottle aligning machine 21 has alignment plates 23A and 23B on both sides of the conveyor 22.
Feed belts 33A and 33B made of round belts constituting a bottle feeder are provided on both upper edges of the feed belts. That is,
The feed belt 33A has an endless orbital shape built into the alignment plate 23A, and is fixed to the drive shaft 25 described above.
A, a plurality of belt wheels 35 provided along the upper edge of the aligning plate 23A, a plurality of belt wheels 36 provided inside the aligning plate 23A, and the like, and the upper half of the orbit is aligned with the aligning plate 23A.
Is provided so as to form a ridge at the upper edge portion of the rim. The feed belt 33B has an endless circular shape built in the alignment plate 23B,
The small belt wheel 34B fixed to the drive shaft 25 and the alignment plate 2
A plurality of belt wheels 35 provided along the upper edge of 3B;
It is wound around a plurality of belt wheels 36 and the like provided inside the alignment plate 23B, and the upper half of the circumference is provided so as to form a ridge at the upper edge of the alignment plate 23B. At this time, the feed belt 3
3A feed speed V ₁ and feed belt 33B feed speed V
₂ and is adapted to V _1> V ₂ (same direction) from the outer diameter of the large belt pulley 34A is larger than the outer diameter of the small pulley 34B.

The alignment operation by the bottle aligner 21 is performed as follows. (1) A large number of bottles 1 are charged into the charging section of the conveyor 22.

(2) Alignment plate 2
The bottle 1 hooked on the upper edges of the bottles 3A and 23B is sent forward by receiving the feed force of the feed belts 33A and 33B, and does not stay in a mountain-like lump around the feeding portion. Feed rate V ₁ and the feed belt 33B feed speed V ₂ of the feed belt 33A are the same direction, it can accelerate the delivery of above giving the bottle 1.

(3) According to the above (2), the alignment plates 23A and 23B
The bottle 1 caught on the upper edge of the bottle and sent forward is
The vertical movement of the alignment plates 23A and 23B causes their alignment plates 2 to move.
3A and 23B, it is dropped on the conveyor 22, and its longitudinal direction is conveyed while being aligned with the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 22.

(4) The alignment plates 23A and 23 in the above (3)
In the course of flicked by B, the alignment plate 23A, the bottle 1 caught by the upper edge of the 23B, the speed difference between the feed speed V ₂ of the feed speed V ₁ and the feed belt 33B of the feed belt 33A (V _1> V ₂ ), A dropping posture to the conveyor 22 between the alignment plates 23A and 23B is quickly given (FIG. 2D).

(Bottle reversing device 41) (FIG. 3) The bottles 1 aligned by the bottle aligner 21 can be aligned on the conveyor 22 with the longitudinal direction thereof in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 22, but the bottom side thereof is positioned forward. And what lies behind. Bottle reversing device 4
1 corrects the posture of the bottle 1 whose longitudinal direction has been aligned by the bottle aligning machine 21 so that the bottom side thereof is positioned vertically downward during the discharging process to the chute 51.

The bottle reversing device 41 includes a bottle aligning machine 21
In each of the plurality of lanes, as shown in FIG.
A bottle shape detection sensor S is provided near the exit side of each lane.
₁ is provided with a S _2. The sensors S ₁ and S ₂ are provided at the timing at which the leading ends of the bottles 1 conveyed by the conveyors 22 in the respective lanes reach the detection areas of the sensors S ₁ and S _2. Detect the shape of the part. That is, the sensors S ₁ and S ₂ are, for example, reflection type optical sensors. (1) When the sensor S _{1 is} off and the sensor S _{2 is} on, it is determined that the top side of the bottle 1 is at the leading end in the transport direction (reverse orientation). , can detect (2) sensor S ₁ oN, when the sensor S ₂ on, the bottom of the bottle 1 is in the conveying direction leading end side (forward orientation).

The bottle reversing device 41 includes a bottle aligning machine 21
In each of the plurality of lanes, as shown in FIG.
A rotating box 42 is provided on the exit side of each lane, and the sensor S
_In accordance with the detection results of S ₁ and S ₂ , the air box 43 rotates the rotating box 42 forward 90 degrees in the opposite direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 3) from a horizontal position facing the outlet end of the conveyor 22, or The horizontal orientation is reversed 90 degrees in the forward direction (clockwise in FIG. 3), and the bottles 1 aligned by the bottle aligner 21 are subjected to the following attitude correction operations (1) and (2).

(1) Reverse operation When the sensors S ₁ and S ₂ detect that the alignment posture applied to the bottle 1 by the bottle alignment machine 21 is in the reverse direction (the top side is the front end side in the transport direction), the rotating box 42 Is rotated 90 degrees by the air cylinder 43. Thereby, bottle 1
, With the bottom side positioned vertically below,
2 is supplied to the chute 51.

(2) Forward rotation operation When the sensors S ₁ and S ₂ detect that the alignment posture applied to the bottle 1 by the bottle alignment machine 21 is in the forward direction (the bottom side is the leading end in the transport direction), the rotating box 42 is rotated 90 degrees forward by the air cylinder 43. Thereby, bottle 1
, With the bottom side positioned vertically below,
2 is supplied to the chute 51.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the following operations are provided. The alignment plates 23A and 23B move up and down, and are provided with feed belts 33A and 33B (article feeders) at their upper edges. For this reason, the aligning plate 23
The bottle 1 caught on the upper edges of the bottles A and 23B is fed forward by receiving the feed force of the feed belts 33A and 33B, and accumulates on the aligning plates 23A and 23B of the feeding portions to form a mountain-like mass. Absent. As a result, the bottle 1 is smoothly sent out to the front of the charging section, and the
The alignment plates 23A, 23A are moved by the vertical movement of A, 23B.
The conveyor 22 is reliably dropped on the conveyor 22 between B and is transported with its longitudinal direction aligned with the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 22.

As described above, the bottles 1 are continuously and reliably wiped off to the conveyor 22, and there is little occurrence of toothless portions without the bottle 1 on the conveyor 22, and the alignment efficiency in the conveyor 22 can be improved.

As described above, the article alignment and supply capability of the bottle aligner 21 can be improved with a compact configuration without increasing the number of conveyors.

Feed belts 33A and 33B are provided on both alignment plates on both sides of the conveyor 22, and one feed belt 33 is provided.
It was faster than the feed speed V ₂ of the feed speed V ₁ of the A other feed belt 33B. Therefore, both alignment plates 23A, 23B
Bottle 1 caught by the upper edge of their V ₁ and V ₂
Receiving the rotational force based on the speed difference of
The posture which can be dropped on the conveyor 22 between A and 23B is quickly given.

Further, by setting V ₁ and V ₂ in the same direction (forward feeding direction), it is possible to speed up the feeding of the bottle from the bottle input section to the front. These can improve the alignment efficiency.

In the bottle aligner 21, the feed belts 33A and 33B provided on the aligning plates 23A and 23B on both sides of the conveyor 22 may have feed directions opposite to each other. That is, feed belts 33A, 33B are provided on both of the alignment plates 23A, 23B on both sides of the conveyor 22, and the feed direction of one feed belt 33A (forward feed direction) and the feed direction of the other feed belt 33B (anti-forward feed direction). ) In the opposite direction (V ₁ > 0, V ₂ <0). Therefore, it is possible to increase the speed difference between V ₁ and V _2, both the alignment plate 23A, the bottle 1 caught by the upper edge of the 23B receives a rotational force based on the large speed difference between them V ₁ and V ₂ Thus, the posture in which they can be dropped onto the conveyor 22 between the alignment plates 23A and 23B is provided more quickly.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and the design can be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention. The present invention is also included in the present invention. For example, the article feeder may be provided only on the upper edge of one of the alignment plates on both sides of the conveyor. The article feeder is not limited to the feed belt, but may be a feed roller or the like.

Also, on the exit side of the conveyor in the article aligning machine, there is provided an article laying device (such as an impeller 61 in FIG. 1) for laying down articles laid on the conveyor and still standing without laying down. It may be provided.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, the alignment efficiency of the article aligner can be improved, and the article alignment and supply capability can be improved with a compact apparatus configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a bottle supply facility.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a bottle alignment unit.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a bottle reversing device.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing details of a bottle alignment unit.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing details of an alignment plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 bottle (article) 21 bottle aligner (article aligner) 22 conveyor 22A transport surface 23A, 23B aligning plate 33A, 33B feed belt (article feeder)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A conveyor having a width required to lay only one article on its side, and an alignment plate provided on both sides in the width direction of the conveyor and alternately moving up and down above a conveying surface of the conveyor. An article aligning machine comprising: an article feeding device provided at an upper edge of at least one of the two aligning plates provided on both sides in the width direction of the conveyor. 2. The article according to claim 1, wherein said article feeder comprises an endless feed belt built in the alignment plate, and an upper half turn of the feed belt is provided on an upper edge of the alignment plate. Alignment machine. 3. The feed belt is provided on both alignment plates provided on both sides in the width direction of the conveyor, and the feed speed of one feed belt is higher than the feed speed of the other feed belt. An article alignment machine as described in the above. 4. The article aligner according to claim 3, wherein a feed direction of the one feed belt and a feed direction of the other feed belt are set to be opposite to each other.