JPS61287509A - Pusher mechanism of packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a pusher mechanism for a packaging machine that wraps objects to be packaged with a stretch film. This invention relates to a pusher mechanism of a packaging machine that folds the rear end of a film into the bottom of an object to be packaged and discharges the object by pushing the object out with a pusher.

[Prior art]

It has been many years since the practical use of packaging machines that place various items such as foodstuffs into dish-shaped containers (hereinafter referred to as car trays) made of styrofoam and wrap the trays with transparent stretch film. It has passed. During this time, various packaging machines have been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 50-653
(disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 52-134583, etc.). Improvements have also been made. The same applies to the film folding mechanism of a packaging machine, and the present applicant has also previously developed and filed an application for a folding mechanism of a packaging machine (Japanese Patent Application No. 182466/1982).

FIGS. 2(a) to 2(d) are diagrams for explaining the outline of the structure and operation of the film folding mechanism previously filed by the applicant. The folding mechanism includes a pair of left and right folding plates 1 and 2 that slide in the left and right horizontal directions, which are arranged facing each other at a predetermined position of the packaging machine, and the left and right folding plates 1 and 2.
a front folding plate 3 that slides in a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction of the front folding plate 3; a rear folding roller 4 that faces the front folding plate 3 and is provided parallel to the sliding direction of the left and right folding plates 1 and 2; It is comprised of a pusher 6 that slides in a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction of the folding plate 1.degree. 2 and pushes out the tray T containing articles toward the rear folding roller 4. As shown in the cross section of FIG. 3, the pusher 6 has the shape of a flat plate bent at a right angle, and its front end is shaped to push out the object to be packaged. To summarize the operation of the film folding mechanism with the above structure, first, as shown in FIG. 2(a), the elevator head (
(not shown) to fold the tray T containing items into the left and right folding plates 1.
, 2. Stretch film F stretched over the lower part of the opening 5 formed by the front folding plate 3 and the rear folding roller 4
push up to Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, the left and right folding plates 1.2 are moved straight toward the center of the opening 5, and the left and right ends of the trench film F are folded into the lower part of the tray T. Next, as shown in the same figure (c), insert the front folding plate 3 into the opening 5.
, and fold the front end of the stretch film F into the bottom of the tray T. Thereafter, the pusher 6 is pushed out, and the rear end of the stretch film is folded into the lower part of the tray T by the rear folding roller 4.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, in the film folding mechanism of the above structure, in order to fold the back of the stretch and retch film, the push
When 6 is pushed out, since the surface of pusher to 6 that contacts the packaged object is perpendicular and flat as described above, the surface that contacts the packaged object is aligned with the upper edge of the dish-shaped tray T as shown in FIG. It will come into contact with. As a result, the tray T made of thin plastic or styrofoam material is distorted or damaged, as shown by the dotted line in the figure, resulting in poor packaging quality.

In addition, since the tray T is distorted, as will be explained in detail later, its elastic force causes the tray T to pop forward at the moment the folding of the rear end stretch film is completed, making it difficult to position the tray when attaching labels using an automatic labeler. The drawback was that special measures had to be taken.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a pusher mechanism for a packaging machine equipped with a pusher that does not distort the tray T as described above when the pusher pushes out a packaged article.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention stretches the film that has been transferred by the film transfer mechanism to a predetermined part of the packaging machine, and pushes up the packaged items made by storing the items in a tray on the film from the bottom of the film. A packaging method in which the left and right and front end portions of the film are folded into the bottom of the packaged item, and then the packaged item is pushed out by a pusher, so that the rear end of the film is folded into the bottom of the packaged item, and the packaged item is discharged. In the pusher mechanism of the machine, when the pusher pushes out the object to be packaged, the object contacting surface of the pusher comes into contact with at least a rigid part at the bottom of the object (the bottom of the tray containing the object), and the surface of the pusher contacts the object. The shape allows it to be extruded without causing distortion.

[Effect]

Since the pusher mechanism is configured as described above, even if the pusher pushes the packaged object to fold and eject the rear end film, the packaged object contacting surface of the pusher will come into contact with the rigid part at the bottom of the packaged object. Therefore, even if the tray for storing the goods is made of thin plastic or styrofoam material, it will not be distorted or damaged as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 4, and the packaging will be neatly finished. can get. In addition, since the tray does not become distorted, the elasticity of the material forming the tray prevents the tray from popping out as mentioned above, and there is no need to use special positioning means for positioning for label pasting with a label printer. Accurate positioning becomes possible.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are diagrams showing the shape of the pusher of the discharge mechanism of the packaging machine according to the present invention, in which the figure (a> is a sectional view and the figure (b) is a partially cutaway front view. As shown in the figure, the pusher 6 bends the plate-shaped body by at least 90 degrees to form a packaged object contacting surface 6a that is a surface for pushing the tray T containing the articles, and furthermore, The upper part of the contact surface 6a is bent in an inverted dogleg shape to form a packaged object rising prevention surface 6b that prevents the tray T from rising. A surface that has approximately the same inclination angle as the side surface of the tray T so as to come into contact with the side surface of the tray T, and in particular, it is an inclined surface that pushes the position near the bottom of the T of the tray harder than other parts because it has a large rigidity and is less distorted even when pushed strongly. In addition, when the pusher 6 puts the article into the tray T and pushes back the article wrapped in a stretch film, the object contacting surface 6a is formed so that the stretch film touches the object. In order to prevent it from sticking to the contact surface 6a and coming back, Teflon Tf, felt, etc. are stretched, or a stretch film is provided as a separate part to prevent it from sticking.Packaged object rising prevention surface 6b In order to prevent the tray T containing the goods from standing up when the pusher 6 pushes the goods to be packaged, the stretch film is coated with a non-slip chrome plated Cr or the like. Providing the surface 6b for preventing the packaged objects from standing up, which is plated with Cr, is effective in preventing the tray T from overturning, especially when the center of gravity of the tray T containing the articles is shifted to one side.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a schematic structure of a packaging machine equipped with the above pusher mechanism. In this figure, parts given the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2 indicate the same or equivalent parts. 6 is the first
It is a pusher having the shape shown in figures (a) and (b), and 1
3 is a holding plate that prevents the tray T containing articles from falling over. The presser plate 13 is made of two pieces of resin wood arranged parallel to each other at a predetermined interval, and its end is connected to a support member 16 fixed to the machine frame 15 of the packaging machine by another hinge mechanism 14. It is rotatably pivoted to. The other end protrudes into the opening 5 through the notch of the pusher 6. The holding plate 13 maintains its state substantially horizontally. Reference numeral 7 denotes an elevator mechanism for pushing up objects to be packaged, 8 a pusher conveyor for carrying in objects to be packaged, 9 a belt conveyor for conveying objects to be packaged following the pusher conveyor 8, and 10
．． 10' is a gripper 112 that grips both ends of the stretch film F transferred by a film transfer mechanism (not shown); 112 is a heat belt that fuses the folded stretch film to the bottom of the object to be packaged; 11 is a wrapping a belt conveyor that transports the packaged items to the heat belt 12;
17 is a slider plate for positioning the package pushed out onto the belt conveyor 11, and 18 is a label printer that issues a label to be attached to the package.

A weighing section 30 for weighing the articles placed in the tray T is arranged at the carry-in end of the pusher conveyor 8.

In the packaging machine configured as described above, when the tray T containing the articles is placed on the weighing section 30, it is carried by the pusher conveyor 8 through push-8a, and the belt conveyor 9 following the pusher conveyor 8 transports the tray T to the elevator. The tray T carried to the upper part is moved by the elevator head 7a.
The grippers 10, 10' push up the stretch film F, which is fully gripped at both ends, and the left and right ends of the stretch film are folded into the bottom of the tray T by left and right folding plates (not shown) constituting a film folding mechanism. Next, the front folding plate 3 is advanced to fold the front end of the stretch film into the bottom of the tray T, and then the pusher 6 is allowed to move forward, and the folding roller 4 folds the rear end of the stretch film into the bottom of the tray T, and the belt conveyor 11 onto the slide plate 17. The packaged article, in which the extruded article and the tray T are wrapped with a stretch film, is
As will be described in detail later, the label that can be issued from the automatic labeler is positioned to be attached to a predetermined position on the packaged object, and after the label is attached, the belt conveyor 11 transfers it to the heat belt 12, and the heat belt 12, the stretch film folded into the lower part of the tray T is fused to complete the packaging, and the tray T is transported out of the packaging machine.

FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b) show the belt conveyor 11 in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a top view of the slide plate 17. FIG. A side plate 19 is arranged on the side of the belt conveyor 11, and the side plate 1
Slide plate 1 that can be moved freely from 9 to belt conveyor 11
7 will be provided. As shown in FIG. 6(a), the tray τ has been completely pushed out onto the slide plate 17 on the belt conveyor by the pusher 6, as well as the packaged object M wrapped in a stretch film.
When the slide plate 17 is pulled in the direction perpendicular to the belt conveyor 11, it moves in the same direction and the side plate 1
9 prevents the movement, and the packaged object M is placed at the position of the side plate 19.
One side (the side of the tray T) can be completely positioned. Therefore,
Two sides of the packaged object M are positioned by the pusher 6 and the side plate 19.

In this state, a label issued from a label issuing port (not shown) of the label printer 18 is automatically affixed to the packaged article M at a predetermined position, and the article is transferred to the heat belt 12.

Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the conventional pusher 6 has a perpendicular and flat object contacting surface, so when pushing the object, the tray T moves as shown by the dotted line in FIG. The upper part of the side surface is distorted. At the moment when the gripper 10' releases the rear end of the stretch film, the tray T jumps forward due to its elasticity, and slides into the slide plate 1 as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 6(a).
7 is placed on one side. In this state, slide 17
Even if , it will be located off-centered with respect to the side plate 19, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. In order to correct the position as shown by the solid line, additional correction means is required, but in the pusher-6 of this embodiment, the object contacting surface 6a is on the tray T of the object M. Since the rigid part near the bottom is tilted so as to push, the sides of the tray T do not become distorted as in the conventional case, and the tray T is placed on the slide plate 17 from the beginning as shown by the solid line in FIG. Since the side part of the tray T is placed parallel to the side plate 19, when the slide plate 17 is pulled, the side part of the tray T comes to be in contact with the side plate 19 as shown by the solid line in FIG. It is possible to position the packaged object with a simple positioning means consisting of a bush 7 shear 6, a slide plate 17 and a side plate 19, without requiring special correction means for positioning as in the past. become.

FIGS. 7(a) to 7(e) are diagrams showing the flow of operation of the pusher mechanism of the packaging machine. As shown in Figure (a), a tray T containing articles pushed up from below onto a stretch film F by an elevator head (not shown)
First, the left and right ends of the stretch film F are folded into the bottom of the tray T using left and right folding plates (not shown).

Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the front folding plate 3 is advanced to fold the front end of the stretch film F into the bottom of the tray T. At this time, the gripper 10 opens the front end of the stretch film F at an appropriate timing so as to apply appropriate tension to the stretch film F. Also, at this time, the tray T flips upward as shown in the figure, but
The weight of the holding plate 13 can prevent the tray T from falling over even if it is lightweight.

As shown in FIG.
a comes into contact with the side surface of the tray T. In this case pusher 6
Ideally, the packaged object abutting surface 6a should abut the entire side surface of the tray T, but as described above, the shape is such that it can abut at least the vicinity of the bottom of the tray T, which has greater rigidity.

As the Push-V-6 is further advanced as shown in FIG. 2D, the rear end of the stretch film F is folded into the bottom of the tray T. At this time, the gripper 10' opens the rear end of the stretch film F at an appropriate timing so as to apply appropriate tension to the stretch film F.

Finally, as shown in FIG. After extruding onto the plate 17 and positioning the packaged article M, which was wrapped together with the tray T with the stretch film F as described above, the packaged article M is
The label is attached and transferred onto the heat belt 12. The heat belt 12 fuses the stretch film F folded into the lower part of the tray T as described above to complete packaging of the packaged item.

In the above-mentioned packaging process of the object to be packaged, after the side surface of the tray T contacts the object contacting surface 6a of the pusher 6, when the pusher 6 is further advanced, the object to be packaged tries to stand up together with the tray T, but the pusher 6 surface to prevent the packaged object from rising 6
Since the stretch film F is plated with chrome to prevent the stretch film F from slipping, the packaged items will no longer stand up. In addition, even if the pusher -6 is pulled after wrapping, the surface 6a of the pusher 6 that contacts the packaged object is coated with Teflon or the like to prevent the stretch film F from sticking as described above. Film F
There is no possibility that the packaged items will stick to the object contacting surface 6a of the pusher 6 and be returned.

In the above configuration, the presser plate 13 is made of a resin material, is rotatably attached to the machine frame 15 of the packaging machine, and is configured to press the packaged items using its own weight. Naturally, the biasing may be performed using elastic force.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the shape of another pusher of the pusher mechanism according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the pusher 6 is a member 6 in the shape of a plate-shaped body bent by 90 degrees or more.
1' and a member 62 bent in an inverted dogleg shape,
The upper end of the member 61 and the lower end of the member 62 are connected to a connecting member 63.
can be combined integrally. By loosening the adjustment screw 63a of the connecting member 63, the bending point of the member 61 and the member 62 are adjusted.
It has a structure in which the interval P between the bending points can be freely adjusted, and the interval! By adjusting the height, it is possible to freely deal with trays T having different height dimensions. The point that a packaged object abutting surface 61a is formed on the front surface of the bent portion of the member 61, and a packaged object rising prevention surface 62a is formed on the front surface of the bent portion of the member 62.
This is similar to the pusher 6 shown in FIGS. 1(a) and 9(b).

FIG. 9 is a side view showing the shape of another pusher of the pusher mechanism according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the pusher 6 includes a member 7 in the shape of a plate-shaped body bent by 90 degrees or more.
1 and a flat member 72, the upper end of the member 71 and the lower end of the member 72 are connected by a hinge mechanism 74 such as a hinge.

The tip of a member 75 is pivotally attached to the rear of the member 72 by a pin 77, and the rear end is connected to the member 71 by a connecting member 76.
The support member 73 is fixed to the support member 73. By loosening the adjustment screw of the coupling member 76 and sliding the member 75 left and right, the angle θ formed by the member 71 and the member 72 can be freely adjusted. Thereby, the degree of inclination of the packaged object rising prevention surface 71b of the pusher 6 can be freely adjusted.

Note that the shape of the pusher is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but may be structured so that the degree of inclination α (see FIG. 1) of the surface that contacts the packaged object changes depending on the inclination angle of the side surface of the tray T, for example. It's good as well. In addition, if the pusher is made of an elastic material for the part 16 forming the object contacting surface of the pusher, the entire object contacting surface of the pusher will be on the side of the tray T. It is also possible to have a shape that makes contact with the surface.

In addition, the pusher mechanism of the packaging machine having the above structure is used as shown in FIG. The present invention is not limited to packaging machines having a film folding mechanism consisting of folding rollers 4, etc., but can also be applied to, for example, the packaging apparatus described in JP-A-50-65384.

By configuring the pusher mechanism of the packaging machine as described above, there is no need for a large-scale relaxation and unloading device as in the packaging machine disclosed in JP-A-52-134583, and the packaging can be neatly finished and packaged. Since it can be carried out, the cost of the packaging machine can be kept low. In addition, since the simple structure of the pusher 6 and presser plate 13 are only provided, and no equipment is placed above the packaging section of the packaging machine, it is possible to prevent abnormalities in the tray T containing the items to be packaged on the top surface of the elevator head. It is possible to check for defects in the stretch film, and since the stretch film F can be easily removed at this time, the wrapping machine can be easily operated.

[Effect of idea]

As explained above, according to the present invention, in order to fold and eject the rear end film, even if the object to be packaged is pushed by the pusher, the surface of the pusher that contacts the object to be packaged comes into contact with the rigid part at the bottom of the object to be packaged. Since the trays are in contact with each other, even if the tray for storing the packaged items is made of thin plastic or styrofoam, it will not be distorted or damaged. As a result, the product value is increased and the packaging is cleanly finished without leakage of contents due to damage. In addition, since the tray does not warp, the elasticity of the material that forms the tray prevents the tray from popping out after wrapping, so when the packaged item is pushed with a pusher, it moves reliably to the specified position, ensuring that the packaged item is in the specified position. It is possible to paste a label on the Furthermore, excellent effects such as positioning for label pasting by an automatic labeler can be achieved without using any special positioning means such as a position detector.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are diagrams showing the shape of the pusher of the packaging machine according to the present invention, where (a) is a sectional view and FIG. 1(b) is a cross-sectional view.
2(a) to 2(a) are diagrams for explaining the outline of the structure and operation of the film folding mechanism previously filed by the applicant, and FIG. 3 is a diagram of the conventional film folding mechanism. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the shape of the pusher, FIG. 4 is a view showing how a conventional pusher pushes out a tray, FIG. 5 is a view showing the schematic structure of a packaging machine equipped with a pusher mechanism according to the present invention, and FIG. a) and (b) are diagrams showing the state of the belt conveyor 11 and slide plate 17 portion of FIG. 5 viewed from above, and FIGS. 7(a) to (e) show the flow of operation of the pusher mechanism of the packaging machine. 8 and 9 are side views showing the shape of pushers of other packaging machines according to the present invention, respectively. In the figure, 1, 2... Left and right folding plates, 3... Front folding plates, 4... Rear folding rollers, 5... Openings, 6... Pushers 57...・Elevator mechanism, 8...putshiro conveyor, 9...belt conveyor, 10.10'...gripper 111...
... Beltokon Bear, 12 ... Heat Belt, 13
...Press plate, 14...Hinge mechanism, 15...
・Machine frame.

Claims (1)

[Claims] The film transferred by the film transfer mechanism is stretched over a predetermined part of the packaging machine, the object to be packaged is pushed up onto the film from the bottom of the film, and the left, right and front ends of the film are folded into the bottom of the object to be packaged. In a pusher mechanism of a packaging machine that folds the rear end of the film into the bottom of the object to be packaged by pushing out the object with a pusher and discharges the object to be packaged, the pusher pushes the surface of the pusher that comes into contact with the object to be packaged. A pusher mechanism for a packaging machine, characterized in that the pusher mechanism is shaped so as to come into contact with at least the vicinity of the bottom surface of the object to be packaged when pushing out the object to be packaged.