JPS5815287Y2 - Cardboard box flap opening device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a flap opening device for a cardboard box.

For example, in an automatic boxing process for detergents, etc., it is necessary to send empty cardboard boxes fed by a conveyor or the like to a boxing position with a flap covering the opening thereof open.

Conventionally, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 51-17894, four flaps that can be mechanically opened are pivoted to the base piece of a cross-shaped support member. A cardboard box lid expansion device is known in which the arms are expanded by lowering the support member with a cylinder, resisting the biasing force of a spring stretched between opposing arms. The upper end of the arm, whose position is pivoted to the support member, is inserted into the elongated hole of the guide member, and the arm is expanded by using the edge of the elongated hole as the point of force application by pushing down the support member with a cylinder. This requires a large installation space and a large driving force to overcome the biasing force of the spring.

(b) Since the arm, that is, the pressing member opens while descending, there is a risk that the pressing member may hit the side wall of the cardboard box and damage it.

C. Since the expanded flap cannot be maintained in the expanded state, the flap tends to return to its original state.

There were drawbacks such as.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a flap opening device for a cardboard box that eliminates the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks. An endless chain conveyor, which forms part of the above-mentioned feeding path, is placed between the flaps of the frame at the open position, and
A stopper is provided to clamp or release the cardboard boxes that are intermittently fed by the conveyor, and a tacker base and a guide base that are independently raised and lowered by cylinders are provided on the machine frame, and on the tacker base, A pair of front and rear inner flap tackers whose upper ends are each fixed to the rotating shafts of two gears meshing with each other, and whose spherical pressing portions at the lower ends open and close in the direction of the feed path as the gears rotate.
and a pair of left and right outer flap tackers whose upper ends are fixed to the rotating shafts of two gears that similarly mesh with each other, and whose spherical pressing portions at the lower ends open and close in a direction perpendicular to the feed path as the gears rotate.
are installed vertically, and cylinders for reciprocating the gears are respectively connected to the two sets of gears, and the flap tacker is installed vertically.
A control means is provided to operate the lifting cylinder and the flap tacker opening/closing cylinder so that the flap tacker is opened and raised, and the inner flap and outer flap opened by the two sets of flap tackers are mounted on the guide base. The box is characterized by a vertical flap guide that is pressed down and folded in along the outer surface of the cardboard box.

Therefore, in the present invention, when the cardboard box is fed on the conveying path to the stopper position, the inner flap tacker and the outer flap tacker close the spherical pressing part at the lower end due to the lowering of the tacker base. After the insertion, the tacker base moves up while opening the two sets of inner and outer flap tackers, and the spherical pressing portion causes the flaps of the cardboard box to expand outward.

Simultaneously with the expansion, the guide base also descends, and the expanded flap guide folds the cardboard box along the outside surface.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

In Figures 1 and 2, 1 is the transport path A of the cardboard box.
2 is an endless chain conveyor for feeding the cardboard box to the flap opening position of the machine frame 1, and the chain conveyor 2 has sprockets 3a and 3b. Wrapped around and driven intermittently,
At its periphery, an attachment 2a that engages with the cardboard box and moves it is provided.

On both sides of the chain conveyor 2 in the machine frame 1, light emitters and receivers 4a and 4b are provided for detecting cardboard boxes on the conveyor 2, and are driven back and forth by a stopper cylinder 7.8 to detect the cardboard boxes on the conveyor 2. Stoppers 5 and 6 are provided oppositely to hold the cardboard box from both sides, and the stopper 5 on the negative side is provided with a claw portion 5a that engages with the cardboard box. A limit switch 9 is attached which is pressed and operated by a pusher provided on the chain conveyor 2 when the chain conveyor 2 is moved to a position where it engages with the claw portion 5a of the chain conveyor 2.

As shown in detail in FIGS. 2 to 4, the tacker base 10 is attached to the machine frame 1 so as to be able to rise and fall freely, and the guide 11
While being guided by the flap tacker lift cylinder 12
It is raised and lowered by the rod 12a of
The tucker base 10 has left and right side plates 13, 13.
Between them, two rotating shafts 14a and 14b equipped with gears 15a and 15b that mesh with each other are installed in a direction perpendicular to the feed path, and these rotating shafts 14a.

14b, the upper ends of a pair of front and rear inner flap tackers 16a, 16b, whose rotation causes the lower end pressing part 16C to open and close in the direction of the feed path, are fixed with a slight phase shift to the left and right, and Between the support plates 17 and 17 vertically installed between the rotating shafts 14a and 14b, there are gears 19a and 17 that mesh with each other, as in the case of the inner flap tacker described above.
Two rotating shafts 18 a and 18 b each having a diameter of 19 b are installed in the direction of the feed path, and these rotating shafts 18 a and 18
b, the upper ends of a pair of left and right outer flap tackers 20a and 20b, whose rotation causes the lower end pressing portion 20C to open and close in a direction perpendicular to the feed path, are fixed with a slight phase shift, and the above-mentioned inner flap On one of the rotating shafts 14a and 14b to which the tacker is fixed, there is a rod 2 of an inner flap tacker opening/closing cylinder 21 for reciprocating the tacker.
A rod 22a of a cylinder 22 for opening and closing the outer flap tacker is connected to one of rotating shafts 18a and 18b to which the outer flap tacker is similarly fixed.

Further, a rectangular frame-shaped guide base 23 surrounding the tacker base 10 is disposed on the machine frame 1 so as to be movable up and down independently of the tacker base 10, and a guide rod supports and guides the guide base 23. Connect the mouth rad 26a of the flap guide lifting cylinder 26 to the connecting plate 25 at the upper end of the flap guide 24,
A plurality of flap guides 27 are vertically provided on the lower surface of the guide base 23 and are curved in a U-shape and have a flap push-down portion 27a at the lower end, and are connected to the flap tackers 16a, 16b, 20a. , 20b is pushed down by the flap guide 27, and is folded in along the outer surface of the cardboard box.

Furthermore, a limit switch 28.2 is provided on the machine frame 1 to detect the completion of lowering of the tacker base 10 and guide base 23.
9, a limit switch 30 which is switched during the upward movement of the guide base 23, and a limit switch 31 which is activated by the retreat of the stopper 5 in the cylinder 7 are provided.

In addition, in the figure, 32 a and 32 b are light emitting/receiving devices for detecting the cardboard boxes fed onto the chain conveyor 2.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned flap opening device will be explained with reference to the sequence control diagram illustrated in FIG.

Now, a cardboard box is being fed onto the chain conveyor 2 along the feeding path A, and when it is detected by the light emitters and receivers 32a and 32b, the chain conveyor 2 is operated and engaged with the attachment 2a. The cardboard box is machine frame 1.
is sent to the flap open position.

When this cardboard box blocks the light from the light emitters and receivers 4a and 4b, the stopper cylinder 7 is activated and the stopper 5 moves forward.

When the attachment 2a of the chain conveyor 2 transports the cardboard box to a position where it comes into contact with the claw 5a of the stopper 5, the limit switch 9 is pressed and turned on, which causes the chain conveyor 2 to stop and the stopper The cylinder 8 operates, the stopper 6 moves forward, and the cardboard box is held between both the stoppers 5 and 6.Furthermore, the cinder base 10 is lowered by the operation of the hopper lift cylinder 12, as shown by the chain line A in Fig. 3. As shown, two sets of inner flap tackers 162, 16b
The outer flap tackers 20a and 20b are inserted into the cardboard box with the lower end pressing portions 16C and 20C closed.

When the lowering of the tacker base 10 is completed, the guide 1
1, the limit switch 28 is switched on and turned on, and the inner flap opening/closing cylinder 21 and the outer flap opening/closing cylinder 22 are activated to open the rotating shafts 14a, 14b.
, 18a, 18b rotate, inner flap tackers 16a, 16b and outer flap tacker 20a.

20b rotates in the feed path direction and in the direction perpendicular thereto, and the pressing portions 16C and 20C begin to open.

At the same time, the timer TR-2 starts counting, and after a short time, the flap tacker lifting cylinder 12 operates, and the tacker base 10 rises slightly while the flap tacker is still opening. , and as a result, the third
As shown by the dashed line in the figure, an inner flap F1 connected to the edge of the cardboard box in the length direction and an outer flap F2 connected to the edge of the cardboard box in the width direction are connected to each flap tacker 16.
Pressing part 16 at the lower end of a, 16 b, 20a, 20b
C, 20C to expand outward.

On the other hand, when the limit switch 28 is turned on, the timer TR-1 also starts timing, and when the timing is finished, the flap guide lifting cylinder 26 is activated and the guide base 23 is lowered, as shown by the chain line C in FIG. The expanded flaps F□ and F2 are pushed down by the flap guide 27 and folded along the outer surface of the cardboard box.

The lowering of the flap guide 27 is controlled by the limit switch 29.
When the limit switch 29 is turned on, the guide base 23 immediately begins to rise, and after turning on the limit switch 30 during the rise, returns to the upper limit position.

When the limit switch 30 is turned on, the stopper cylinder 7 is operated and the stopper 5 is moved back and returned, and this return causes the limit switch 31 to be switched, so that the stopper cylinder 8 is operated and the stopper is moved back. The cardboard box is released, and the flap tacker opening/closing cylinders 21 and 22 and the flap tacker lifting/lowering cylinder 12 operate, and the inner flap tacker 161
, 16b and the outer flap tackers 20a, 20b close, the tacker base 10 rises and returns to its initial position.

Then, the chain conveyor 2 is driven, and the cardboard box with the flap opened is sent along the feeding route to the next process.

The above-mentioned sequence circuit is just an example, and the timing of raising and lowering the flap tacker and flap guide,
It goes without saying that control may be performed using other circuits that vary the timing of opening and closing the flap tacker.

As described in detail above, the flap opening device according to the present invention includes two sets of flap tackers that open and close in the direction of the feed path and in a direction perpendicular thereto to expand the inner flap and outer flap of the cardboard box. In combination with a flap guide that pushes down the expanded flaps and folds them along the outside surface of the cardboard box, the flaps of the cardboard box can be opened reliably and easily. Since the flap tacker is configured to rise while opening forward and backward and left and right,
Even if the flap is folded downward inside the cardboard box, it can be opened reliably, and since the lower end of each flap tacker is a spherical pressing part, the flap can be folded downward into the cardboard box. Inserting the flap tacker into the box is very smooth and easy, and at the same time
The pressing part makes soft contact with the flap, so there is no damage to the flap due to friction.Furthermore, the flap tacker is attached to the rotating shaft of gears that mesh with each other, and is opened and closed by the rotation of these gears. Therefore, it has excellent features such as being able to open and close evenly with a small driving force and requiring only a very small installation space.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a plan view of the flap opening device according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a plan view of the flap opening device according to the present invention;
The figure is a side view, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the main parts explaining the configuration of the flap tacker and flap guide, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view of the same, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the sequence control circuit. be. A...Transmission path, D...Cardboard box, F
,,F2...Flap, 1...Machine frame,
2...Chain conveyor, 5゜6...
Stopper, 10...Tucker base, 12...
...Flap tacker - lifting cylinder, 14 a
, 14 b, 18a, 18b...-rotation shaft, 15
a , 15 b , 19 a , 19 b ---
... Gears, 16 a, 16 b ... Inner flap tacker - 116C920C ... Pressing part, 20
a, 20 b...Outer flap tacker-12
1... Inner flap tacker - cylinder for opening and closing, 2
2...Outer flap tacker - cylinder for opening and closing, 2
3... Guide base, 26... Flap guide lifting cylinder, 27... Flap guide.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An endless chain conveyor, which forms part of the above-mentioned conveyance path, is sandwiched between the flaps of the machine frame provided along the conveyance path of the cardboard boxes, and the cardboard boxes that are intermittently fed by the conveyor are held or In addition to providing a stopper for release, a tacker base and a guide base are provided on the machine frame, which can be raised and lowered independently by cylinders,
A pair of front and rear inner flap tackers whose upper ends are each fixed to the rotating shafts of two gears that mesh with each other on the tacker base, and whose spherical pressing portions at the lower ends open and close in the direction of the feed path as the gears rotate; A pair of left and right outer flap tackers are installed vertically, the upper ends of which are fixed to the rotating shafts of two similarly meshing gears, and the spherical pressing portions of the lower ends open and close in a direction perpendicular to the feed path as the gears rotate. , a control means that connects cylinders for reciprocally rotating the two sets of gears, and operates the flap tacker lifting cylinder and the flap tacker opening/closing cylinder so that the flap tacker rises while opening; The present invention is characterized in that a flap guide for pushing down the inner flap and outer flap expanded by the two sets of flap tackers and folding them along the outer surface of the cardboard box is vertically disposed on the guide base. Cardboard box flap opening device.