JPH10304862A - Stick-shaped article feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable easy setting of a feeding box containing stick-shaped articles (cigarette) to the main body of the measurer. SOLUTION: The feeder 1 is set on the front face and the side face of the housing 10 of the measurer main body. The rotary part 12 is set to the side face of the feeding box 11 and to the side face of the housing 10. At the front face of the housing 10 of the feeder, the feeding boxy 11 is mounted onto the lift bed 15. The lifting bed 15 is allowed to go down along the slide shaft 14 and the side openings 11a which are closed by the shutter 17 are opened from the bottom upward in turn. A cigarette is allowed to roll down by its own weight from the tray in which cigarettes are stacked in inclination and fed to the holder on the side of the housing 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rod-shaped article supply apparatus for supplying rod-shaped articles, and more particularly to a rod-shaped article supply apparatus suitable for use in a quality measuring apparatus such as a cigarette or a filter plug.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an apparatus for measuring the quality of rod-shaped articles such as cigarettes and filter plugs has been disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No.
No. 17688. This device supplies, for example, cigarettes one by one to the quality measuring section, and outputs the weight, thickness, ventilation and ventilation of each cigarette,
Hardness, length, etc. are measured in order, and the cigarette whose measurement has been completed is discharged to a discharge box. Also, for example, even if a plurality of packets (normally one packet is 20 cigarettes) are continuously measured for cigarettes, the quality measurement unit is provided to the cigarette supply unit so that the measured values can be totaled in units of one packet. The cigarettes to be supplied can be classified by each package.

That is, a plurality of trays containing cigarettes are stacked and stored in a supply box using a tray capable of storing cigarettes in an array, and the tray opening side of the supply box is covered with a shutter. do. Next, the supply box is placed on the measuring apparatus main body with the tray therein being vertical, and the cigarette in the tray is dropped from the opening of the shutter to take out the cigarette,
The cigarettes in the tray are supplied one by one to the measuring section. Then, the trays are sequentially shifted to the positions of the openings of the shutters, so that the trays can be separately supplied.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus,
Since the supply box containing cigarettes and the like must be lifted to the top of the measuring apparatus main body, and the work of setting the supply box must be performed at the upper part of the measuring apparatus main body, the work is difficult. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily set a supply box containing a bar-shaped article in a measuring device main body.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rod-shaped article supply apparatus for sequentially storing and arranging rod-shaped articles in a radial direction, and an opening through which the rod-shaped articles can pass on one side. And a supply box having a side opening formed in a side surface, wherein a plurality of trays are opened in the tray with the opening of the tray facing the side opening. A supply box that is stacked at an angle with its side lowered, a shutter that is movably disposed in a side opening of the supply box in the stacking direction of the tray, and that the supply box is detachable and attached. Moving means for intermittently moving the supply box in the vertical direction by a predetermined distance, and a receiving portion capable of storing a single bar-shaped article, the receiving section being provided at the side opening of the supply box attached to the moving means. Faced and the shutter opened In location, characterized in that and a sequentially supplies receiving supply means receives the one rod-shaped articles from the tray of the feedbox by receiving preparative portion.

According to the rod-shaped article supply apparatus of the present invention, the rod-shaped articles are received one by one from the tray of the supply box by the receiving section of the supply means and supplied to, for example, the quality measuring apparatus main body. It is configured so that the bar-shaped article can be received from the side opening of the supply box that moves in the direction, so that the supply box is attached to the vertical surface of the device such as the front, back or side of the measuring device to supply the bar-shaped article. Can be performed.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiment, a cigarette is described as an example of a rod-shaped article, but the present invention can be similarly applied to a filter plug. FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a quality measuring device using a bar-shaped article supply device according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing the same quality measuring device, and FIG. It is a top view which shows an outline.

In the figure, a housing 1 of a measuring device main body is shown.
A supply device (rod-shaped article supply device) 1 for supplying a cigarette whose quality is to be measured is provided on the front and side surfaces (left side of FIG. 1) of the housing 10. Is provided with a supply box 11 which can accommodate and detach cigarettes. In addition, the supply device 1 includes a rotating unit 12 serving as a disk-shaped receiving / supplying unit that approaches the side surface of the supply box 11 and the side surface of the housing 10 in parallel.
The rotating unit 12 holds the cigarettes one by one from the supply box 11 one by one, and
And the holder 10a on the housing 10 side (FIG. 2,
3).

In the housing 10, a weight measuring section A for measuring the weight of a cigarette supplied via the holder 10a by the supply device 1, a circumference measuring section B for measuring the circumference,
An inversion holder C that inverts the sample after measuring the circumference and sends the sample to the next step.
Various quality measuring units such as a venturation measuring unit D, a hardness measuring unit E for measuring hardness, and a length measuring unit F for measuring length are provided.

Below the length measuring section F, there is a collecting section G for collecting the measured cigarettes. The collecting section G has a guide section 2 for guiding the cigarettes discharged from the length measuring section F, An alignment section 3 for aligning and holding the cigarettes from the guide section 2 and an alignment section driving means 4 for driving the alignment section 3 are provided. The supply device 1, the recovery unit G, and the measurement units A to F are driven by a power supply unit and a control unit (not shown).

FIGS. 4 to 7 are views showing each part of the supply device 1. FIG. 4 is a side view, FIG. 5 is a front view, and FIG.
FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the rotating unit 12. The supply device 1 includes an upper frame 13b at an upper end of a side base 13a fixed to the housing 10, a bottom plate 13c at a lower end, and a pair of vertical slide shafts 14 between the upper frame 13b and the bottom plate 13c. . A lift 15 is supported on the slide shaft 14 so as to be able to move up and down freely, and the supply box 11 is mounted on the lift 15.

A linear drive motor 16 is disposed on an upper surface of the bottom plate 13c. An upper end of a vertical drive shaft 16a of the linear drive motor 16 is fixed to a lower surface of the lift 15 and a lower end of the drive shaft 16a is fixed. It penetrates the bottom plate 13c. Then, by driving the linear drive motor 16,
The elevating table 15 moves up and down along the slide shaft 14, and at the same time, the supply box 11 also moves up and down. When the supply box 11 is mounted on the elevator 15 when supplying cigarettes, the elevator 15 is at the rising end. By lowering the supply box 11 together with the elevator 15, the cigarette is supplied. Is done.
The linear drive motor 16 has a limit switch, and the limit switch detects the rising end and the falling end.

In the supply box 11, a side opening 11a is formed on the side facing the rotating portion 12 and covers substantially the entire side surface, and both edges of the side opening 11a have guide grooves 11b extending vertically. (FIG. 4) is formed. A flat shutter 17 is slidably fitted into the guide groove 11b.
Can be opened and closed. A stopper 17a is attached to the upper end of the shutter 17, and when the stopper 17a contacts the upper frame 13b,
The shutter 17 is fixed. Therefore, the supply box 11
Is lowered, the supply box 11 is positioned at the lower end of the shutter 17.
Are sequentially opened from below.

In the supply box 11, a side opening 11 is provided.
An inclined table 11c that is inclined with the a side lowered is provided, and a plurality of trays 18 are stacked on the inclined table 11c. As a result, the tray 18 is aligned with the opening 18a side facing the side opening 11a.
The layers are stacked while being inclined with the a side lowered. Therefore, when the shutter 17 is opened at the opening 18a of the tray 18, the cigarette T in the tray 18 rolls from the opening 18a by its own weight.

The rotating unit 12 includes a fixed disk 12a and a rotating disk 1
2b and a motor 12c that rotates the rotating disk 12b. The fixed disk 12a and the motor 12c are fixed to the side base 13a, and the rotating disk 12b is fixed to the fixed disk 12a.
It is in close contact with the outside of "a" with a slight clearance. In the horizontal diametric direction of the fixed disk 12a, at a position 180 degrees apart on the same circumference, a winding inlet 12a-1 and a winding outlet 12a through which one cigarette can pass respectively.
-2 are formed. Further, on the fixed disk 12a side of the rotating disk 12b, a winding inlet 12a-1 and a winding outlet 12a are provided.
On the same circumference facing a-2, a roll receiving portion 12b-1 capable of accommodating one cigarette is formed. When the rotating disk 12b is rotated, an arbitrary winding receiving portion 12b-1 of the rotating disk 12b is fixed to the fixed disk 12b.
a corresponds to the position of the winding entrance 12a-1, and further the winding exit 1
It can correspond to the position of 2a-2.

FIG. 7A shows a winding inlet 12a of a fixed disk 12a.
-1 shows a state in which the winding receiving portion 12b-1 of the rotating disk 12b coincides with that of the rotating disk 12b, and FIG. 7B shows the winding receiving portion 12b- of the rotating disk 12b at the position of the winding outlet 12a-2 of the fixed disk 12a.
1 indicates a state in which they match. In addition, FIG.
7B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line Q-Q in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 7A, the fixed disk 12a
Of the rotating disk 12 from the supply box 11 side.
b is an open groove inclined to descend to the side b.
When the winding receiving portion 12b-1 is located at the position of the winding entrance 12a-1, the bottom surface drilled downward from the winding entrance 12a-1 is a groove having an arc-shaped cross section. Thereby, when the cigarette T rolls out of the tray in which the shutter 17 is opened in the supply box 11, the cigarette T passes through the winding inlet 12a-1, is housed in the winding receiver 12b-1, and is received. .

As shown in FIG. 7 (B), the winding outlet 12a-2 of the fixed disk 12a is an open groove inclined so as to descend from the fixed disk 12b to the holder 10a (see FIG. 2). , The rotating disk 12b rotates, and the winding receiving portion 12b
Comes to the position of the winding outlet 12a-2 of the fixed disk 12a,
The winding receiving portion 12b is a groove which descends to the winding outlet 12a-2. Thereby, the cigarette T accommodated in the winding receiving portion 12b passes through the winding outlet 12a-2 and rolls on the holder 10a.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a method of storing the tray 18 in the supply box 11, using a jig 20 for holding the supply box 11 at an angle. The cigarettes T are sequentially arranged and stored in the tray 18 in the radial direction, and the tray 18 storing the cigarettes T is stacked in the supply box 11 held by the jig 20. At this time, the inclination angle of the supply box 11 is set such that the tray 18 to be stored is arranged with the opening 18a side slightly higher. A predetermined number of trays 18
When the storage is completed, the shutter 17 is used to open the side opening 11a.
Close. This prevents the cigarette T from falling even when the supply box 11 is set upright. Then, the supply box 11 containing the tray 18 is mounted on the elevating table 15 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) of the supply device 1, and the stopper 17a of the shutter 17 is engaged with the upper surface of the upper frame 13b.

When the above preparations are completed, quality measurement is started, and the supply of cigarettes is started by a predetermined control operation. First, in the initial state, the winding receiving portion 12b-1 of the rotating disk 12b
Is set at the position of the winding inlet 12a-1 of the fixed disk 12a, and the supply box 11 is moved by the linear drive motor 16 together with the elevating table 15 by the height of the opening 18a of the tray 18 (approximately one tray). Descend. At this time, shutter 1
Since 7 is fixed to the upper frame 13b, the lower part of the side opening 11a of the supply box 11 is opened by one tray (the state of FIGS. 4 and 5). Thus, the cigarette T rolls out of the lowermost tray 18 and is stored in the winding receiving portion 12b-1 of the rotating disk 12b as described above. At this time, since the roll receiving portion 12b-1 can accommodate only one cigarette T, the next cigarette T stops at the position of the winding entrance 12a-1 of the fixed disk 12a.

When the rotating disk 12b is rotated in this state,
The cigarette T accommodated in the winding receiver 12b-1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the winding receiving portion 12b-1 and the fixed disk 1
2a and the fixed disk 1
It moves toward the winding outlet 12a-2 of 2a. And
When the next winding receiving section 12b-1 comes to the position of the winding entrance 12a-1, the next cigarette T enters the winding receiving section 12b-1 from the winding entrance 12a-1 and is accommodated therein. In addition, winding exit 1
In the position 2a-2, as described above, the winding receiving portion 12b-1
Is supplied to the holder 10a through the winding outlet 12a-2.

When the cigarette T in the lowermost tray 18 is dispensed toward the rotating disk 12, the linear drive motor 16 is driven to lower the supply box 11, and the next tray 1
8, the opening 18a is opened, and the same operation as above is repeated. In this manner, the cigarettes T in the tray 18 are supplied to the holder 10a one by one simply by intermittently lowering the supply box 11 while rotating the rotary disk 12.

As described above, since the supply box 11 containing the tray 18 may be set on the side surface (in this case, the front surface) of the housing 10 of the measuring apparatus main body, it can be easily set.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the guide section 2 in the collecting section G, and the cigarette T discharged from the length measuring section F is dropped and supplied to the guide section 2 substantially vertically.
The guide portion 2 includes a guide block 21 in which a guide hole 21a is vertically formed in a block member.
The upper inner surface of 1a is an inverted frustoconical tapered surface 21a-1, and the lower inner surface is an inner cylindrical surface 21a-2 slightly larger than the outer diameter of the cigarette T. In addition, below the guide part 2, an alignment part 3, which will be described in detail later, is provided.

At the lower end opening of the guide hole 21a, a stopper 22 for closing the opening is provided. The stopper 22 is attached to a drive shaft 23a of an air cylinder 23 fixed to the lower side of the guide block 21. . A pair of coaxial lateral holes 21b communicating with the cylindrical surface 21a-2 of the guide hole 21a is formed on the side surface of the guide block 21, and the light emitting element 24 and the light receiving element 25 are disposed in the lateral hole 21b. I have. The light emitting element 24 and the light receiving element 25 constitute a winding detector for detecting the presence or absence of a cigarette T in the cylindrical surface 21a-2.

With the above configuration, with the stopper 22 closing the lower end opening of the guide hole 21a, the cigarette T dropped from the length measuring section F is received. That is, the cigarette T is formed by the tapered surface 21a of the guide hole 21a.
-1 passes through the inside of the cylindrical surface 21a-2, the lower end of the cigarette T abuts against the stopper 22, and the cigarette T
Are held in the guide holes 21a. Next, the guide hole 21
When a coincides with an opening 31a of the alignment portion 3 described later, the air cylinder 23 is driven to move the stopper 22, the lower end opening of the guide hole 21a is opened, and the cigarette T falls vertically downward. Let it. As a result, the cigarette T falls vertically to the alignment section 3, and the cigarette T is aligned and held by the alignment section 3 as described below.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the alignment section 3 and the alignment section driving means 4. The alignment unit 3 includes a holder plate 31, an adjuster 32, and a base 33 each having a donut shape. The holder plate 31 and the base 33 are fixed to each other in parallel with a support column 34 at a constant interval. The adjuster 32 has a structure in which a cushion board 32a and a pedestal board 32b are integrated, and a column 34 is penetrated therethrough, and the adjuster 32 is disposed slidably up and down with respect to the column 34. The adjuster 32 can be fixed at an arbitrary height within the range of the column 34, and the cushion board 3
The height from the upper surface of 2a to the holder board 31 can be adjusted.

The holder board 31 includes the holder board 31
In the circumference of a plurality of concentric circles having the same center, a large number of circular openings 31a aligned along each circumference are formed. The diameter of the opening 31a is slightly larger than the diameter of the cigarette T. The cigarette T dropped from the guide portion 2 is inserted into the opening 31a, and the lower end thereof is applied to the cushion board 32a of the adjuster 32. The opening 31a is held in contact with the cushion board 32a.

The aligning unit driving means 4 is a storage plate 10b which can be pulled out and stored in the lower part of the measuring device main body (see FIG. 2).
Two parallel slide rails 41 disposed above and fixed on the storage board 10b;
Slide base 42 slidably disposed on top, storage board 1
0b and the slide base 42 is
A cylinder 43 for reciprocating in a direction parallel to the above, a turntable 44 rotatably disposed on the slide base 42, and a pulse motor 45 mounted on the slide base 42 for rotating the turntable 44. Have.

On the upper surface of the turntable 44, a center boss 44a is formed at the center thereof to be inserted into the center hole 33a of the base 33 of the alignment portion 3, and the center of the base 33 is eccentric from the center boss 44a. An engagement protrusion 44b is formed to engage with a hole (not shown) formed on the back surface. That is, when the base 33 is placed on the turntable 44, the base 33 is held coaxially with the turntable 44 by the center boss 44 and the engagement protrusion 44b. Rotates together with the turntable 44.

Further, by driving the cylinder 43 of the aligning section driving means 4, the aligning section 3 together with the slide base 42 can reciprocate in the moving direction of the storage board 10b. Further, at this time, the position of each part is set such that the diametrical direction (line L in FIG. 10) of the holder board 31 corresponding to the moving direction of the alignment part 3 is directly below the guide hole 21a of the guide part 2. I have.

With the arrangement described above, the storage board 10b is stored in the main body of the measuring apparatus in a state where the alignment section 3 is mounted on the turntable 44 of the alignment section driving means 4, and the quality measurement is started. At this time, in a state where the storage board 10b is housed, any one of the openings 31a on the outer circumference (or a predetermined one of the openings 31a of the holder board 31 of the alignment section 3).
The position of the slide base 42 and the rotational position of the turntable 44 are controlled so that the position of the slide base 42 is directly below the guide hole 21 a of the guide portion 2.

Then, in this state, a quality measurement is performed.
The cigarette T is discharged from the length measuring section F and the guide section 2
When the cigarette T falls and passes through the opening 31a of the holder board 31 of the alignment section 3 and is held, the turntable is rotated by the pitch of the opening 31a (in this case, the pitch angle), and the next opening is opened. At 31a, a cigarette to be dropped next from the guide section 2 can be held. When the storage of the cigarette in the opening 31a on one circumference is completed, the holder board 31 is moved in parallel with the slide base 42, and the cigarette is sequentially inserted into and held by the opening 31a on the next circumference.

In this embodiment, when the quality measurement is completed, the measured cigarettes are held in a state of being aligned in the aligning section 3, so that the cigarettes can be easily sorted and arranged. For example, when cigarettes of the same package are continuously stored in the tray 18, the cigarettes of the same package are continuously arranged in the alignment unit 3, so that cigarettes of each package can be easily sorted. can do.

In the above embodiment, the openings 31a for inserting and holding the cigarettes are formed on the circumference in the aligning section 3, and the openings 31a are rotated by the turntable. However, the alignment unit is not limited to this. For example, using a rectangular holder board, openings for inserting and holding cigarettes are formed vertically and horizontally aligned, and this holder board is moved by an XY table to form a horizontal opening or a vertical opening. Cigarettes may be sequentially arranged in rows.

In the above embodiments, cigarettes have been described, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to other rod-shaped articles such as filter plugs.

[0037]

As described above, according to the rod-shaped article supply apparatus of the present invention, a tray is used in which rod-shaped articles are sequentially arranged and stored in a radial direction. With the openings facing the side opening of the supply box and aligned, a plurality of trays are stacked with the opening side lowered and inclined, and the side opening is closed with a shutter, allowing the supply box to be attached and detached. The supply box is intermittently moved by a predetermined distance in the vertical direction by the movable means for moving the unit so that the receiving and supplying means sequentially receives one bar-shaped article from the position of the opening of the tray with the shutter opened. Therefore, by attaching the supply box to the vertical surface of the device such as the front, back or side of the measuring device, it is possible to supply the bar-shaped articles,
The supply box can be easily set on the measuring device main body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a quality measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing the quality measuring device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing the quality measuring device.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the supply device in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the supply device.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of a rotating unit of the supply device.

FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of a rotating unit of the supply device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a method of storing a tray in a supply box in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a guide section in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing an alignment unit and alignment unit driving means in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 supply device 11 supply box 11a side opening 12 rotating part 12a fixed disk 12b rotating disk 12a-1 winding entrance 12a-2 winding exit 12b-1 winding receiving part 15 elevator 16 linear drive motor 17 shutter 18 tray 18a opening

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tray in which rod-shaped articles are sequentially arranged and stored in the radial direction and which has an opening on one side through which the rod-shaped articles can pass, and a supply box having a side opening formed on a side surface, A supply box in which a plurality of trays are inclined and stacked with the opening side of the tray lowered so that the openings are aligned to face the side opening, and the tray is provided in the side opening of the supply box. A shutter movably disposed in the stacking direction of the trays, a moving means for detachably mounting the supply box, and intermittently moving the mounted supply box by a predetermined distance in the vertical direction; It has a receiving part capable of storing articles, and faces the side opening of the supply box mounted on the moving means and at a predetermined position where the shutter is opened, the receiving part causes the supply box to move from the tray of the supply box. Receiving one bar-shaped article and sequentially The rod-shaped article supplying apparatus being characterized in that and a receiving feed means for feeding. 2. The supply box is attached to the moving means, and the shutter is fixed to the rod-shaped article supply device. By moving the supply box, the supply box is moved from the end of the shutter to the supply box. The bar-shaped article supply device according to claim 1, wherein the side opening is opened.