JPS634A - Vessel-cover supply mechanism - 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 [Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a packaging machine, and more particularly to a packaging machine for removing container lids from a hopper and subsequently attaching the lids to filled containers on a conveyor. Regarding the lid supply mechanism. The invention is particularly applicable to aseptic packaging of consumer goods.

[Prior art and its problems]

The applicant of this application has filed US Pat. No. 4,152,464 (19
May 1, 1979) and U.S. Patent No. 4.409,77
No. 5 (October 18, 1983), a sterile packaging machine and method thereof were disclosed. In this patent, a container lid is provided in a suitable manner and brought into contact with the filled container. Also, U.S. Patent No. 3.908.340 (1
September 30, 975) also concerns the supply of container lids.

[Summary of the invention]

In one embodiment of the invention, the lid of the container is removed from the hopper, the lid is placed on the conveyor, and the lid is subsequently attached to the container.

This container has already been filled by a filling machine.

The filling machine includes a vibrating support member rotatably mounted to move back and forth relative to the hopper;
a suction device movably mounted to the vibrating support member and engaged with the lid for withdrawing the lid from the hopper along with a control device, the control device movably attaching the suction device to the vibrating support member; The structure positions the suction device to facilitate placing the lid on the conveyor.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 show a frame F of a sterile packaging device fitted with a container closure feeding mechanism according to the invention and a horizontal shaft 1.2 attached to this frame F. The end of this horizontal shaft 1.2 is rotatably supported by the frame F. Two container lid supply mechanisms are attached to the shafts 1 and 2. The container lid supply mechanism is used to supply container lids and is substantially conformal and spaced apart. Since these container lid supply mechanisms have substantially the same shape as described above, one of the container lid supply mechanisms will be described below, for example, by saying that the container lid supply mechanism includes the shaft 1.

The shaft 3 is rotatably mounted to the frame F, as detailed in FIGS. 2 and 3. The driving gear 4 is firmly fixed to the shaft 3 and cooperates with the driving chino 5.

This driving chino 5 is driven by a suitable known mechanism (not shown). An electromagnetically actuated semicircular member 6 is firmly held at the outer end of the shaft 3 and cooperates with a detection mechanism 7, which is connected to the frame F.
is maintained to control the suction pressure inside the suction device. The suction device is used to engage the container lid and pull the lid out of the hopper. The semicircular member 6 and the detection mechanism 7 have conventional structures. The spacer 8 is the gear 4 mentioned above.
and the semicircular member 6 are separated. On the other hand, the bearing 9.10 is located between the gear 4 and the cam 11,
The cam 11 is fixedly held on the shaft 3 and includes a cam groove 12, which forms the outer surface of the cam 11.

As shown in detail in FIG. 5, a cam follower 13 is attached to the vibrating arm 14 in order to enable the pincher jaws Jl, J2 to receive and grip the MC of the container.

This arm 14 rotates and vibrates around a fixed shaft 15, and this shaft 15 is held by the frame F. The arm 14 rotates to cause the turnbuckle 16 to reciprocate. This turnbuckle 16 rotates relative to the arm 14 at a position indicated by 17 and relative to the crank 19 at a position indicated by 18.

This crank 19 is firmly held on a shaft 20 and rotates a crank 20 which moves the gripper actuating arms 21, 22 back and forth. gripper
FIG. 5 shows the process in which the gripper operating arm 22 engages the gripper J2 to open the jaws JL, J2.

The internal structure of the frame F, which is shown in its entirety in FIG.
3 rotates within a range of 8 to 20 degrees. The cam 23 has a groove, which groove is provided on the far side of the cam 23, as shown in FIG. A cam follower 24 fits into this groove, and the cam follower 24 rotates the arm 25 when the shaft 3 rotates. This arm 25 rotates around the shaft 15,
This rotating arm 25 causes the connector 26 to reciprocate. This connector 26 has one end connected to the rotating arm 25 by a pin 27, and this connector 26
The other end of is connected by a pin 28 to the rotating support arm 29, which rotates about the shaft 1 by 8 to 20 degrees. The rotating support arm 29 has a corresponding rotating support arm 33
are connected by a cross member 30.31. In this way, the rotation of the shaft 3 is controlled by the cam 23, the cam groove provided on the far side of the cam 23 shown in FIG.
Cam follower 24, arm 25, connector 26, pin 2
7.28, the action of the structures 29 to 31.33 and the shaft S is transmitted to the support structure shown in its entirety in FIG. be done.

The suction cup 34 is centered around a shaft S rotatably supported in a suitable bearing of the rotating arm 29.33.
A control device is provided for rotating the to 39. This control device includes a groove 40. The said control device is a third
As shown, it is attached to the near side of the cam 23. Cam follower 41 enters groove 40 and is attached to upright arm 42. This upright arm 42 is
It is attached so that it can rotate within a limited range around the fixed shaft 15. Connector 43 has one end coupled to the upper end of arm 42 by pin 44 and the opposite end of connector 43 coupled to pin 45.
is coupled to the crank arm 46 by. This crank arm 46 is firmly held at one end of the shaft 1.

By rotating the shaft 3 in this way,
The cam 23 can be rotated, the arm 42 can be rotated, the connector 43 can be reciprocated, and the crank 46 can be rotated, which rotates the shaft 1. By rotating the shaft 1, the crank 47 can be rotated and the connector 48 can be reciprocated. This connector 48 is pin-coupled to the crank 47 with a bolt 49 and pin-coupled to the crank 50 with a bolt 51, thereby rotating the suction cups 34 to 39. The suction cups 34 to 39 are supported on the shaft S by cranks 34a, 36a, and 38a at approximately every 120 degrees. The suction cups 34 to 39 are sucked by flexible tubes 34a to 39a, respectively.

The rotational movement of the suction cup is shown in detail in FIG. In FIG. 5, solid lines are used to show the state when the suction cup 39 is in the vicinity of the hopper H, and broken lines are used to show the gripper jaw J1 of the gripper device G. The state of the suction cup 39 when the lid C of the container is inserted into J2 is shown. The gripper device G is a fly par 55. 55. ...
can be attached to. This flight par 55. 55.・
. . are held to the chino 54 by known devices, such as bolts 56, 57, etc., as shown in detail in FIG.

”1 Gripper Jaw J1. When the lid C of the container is inserted into J2, the chino 54, the fly par 55, and the gripper device G are stationary.

The lid of the container is, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13,
Contains tabs. This tab is indicated by the symbol T in FIG. 12, and a pair of tabs provided on the lid C are indicated by symbols TI and T2 in FIG. 13.

The structure of the hopper is shown in detail in FIGS. 6 and 7. This hopper is provided with a structure A, which has an inclined cross section, and has bolts B, B.

... and the corresponding bracket to connect the plate member P.
This plate-shaped member P has a hole 63 and is provided with a pair of upright rods 59.60, which are attached to both sides of the lid C and to the plate-shaped member 61. 62 into a C-shaped opening.

As shown in FIG. 7, the lid is preferably bent into a C-shape.

This deformation is mainly performed using the rigidity of the lid,
The tabs, designated by T and the like, are used to ensure that the lid is brought into the proper position between the gripper jaws Jl, J2.

As shown in FIG. 8, the gripper jaw J1. J2
are arranged in pairs, each member of the gripper device G is held on the flight parr 55 by a bracket 65, this bracket 65 is on the flight parr 55,
It is held on the fly par 5 with screws 66. The gripper jaw Jl is attached to a cylindrical post 68 by a pin 67. This support column 68 is held by the above-mentioned flight par 55, and this holding is performed by a method such as press-fitting. compression spring 69
The upper end of the compression spring 69 is attached to a four part 70 provided on the flight parr 55, and the lower end of the compression spring 69 is attached to a four part 71 provided on a part of the gripper jaw J2. The engagement of this spring with the gripper jaw J2 takes place at the downwardly projecting portion 72 of the gripper jaw 32, as shown in detail in FIG.

Since the present invention is particularly suitable for aseptic packaging machines, the gripper jaw J1. It is preferable that the contact between J2 and the lid of the container, denoted by symbol C, etc., be made in a minimum area. It is therefore clear that the gripper jaw J2 is preferably shaped to make line contact with the tab T of the lid C at a limited portion of the gripper jaw J2. In order to effect such contact, a knife-like shape is preferably used, and an example of this shape is shown in FIG. 10 as No. 71E.

In order to minimize the mechanical strain applied to each part, the first
71 No. 16.26.43.48 is provided so that said connector flexes in response to applied tension or compression forces.

FIG. 11 shows the eye bolt 75.7e:. The eye bolts 75, 76 are mutually deflectable.

A pin 77 provided on the eye bolt 76 engages a cup-shaped member 78 and presses this member with a compression spring 79,
Apply compressive force to the eye bolts 75, 76. When tension is applied to the eyebolt, the nut 80 of the eyebolt pushes against the cup-shaped member 81, which compresses the spring 79, and the compressive deflection of the spring 79 causes the eyebolt 75 to Absorbs tension applied to .76.

The bending deformation of the lid C of the container as shown in FIG. 7 can be caused by a temperature change, and can also be caused by the initial stress of the lid C. For this purpose, it is indicated by the symbol T in FIG. 12, and by the symbol Tl in FIG.

A tab such as T2 may become substantially dislodged from the surface of the body of the lid. In order to prevent such undesirable movement of the tab of the lid in the direction away from the hot spring H, a structure as shown in FIGS. 14 to 16 can be adopted. In the structure shown in FIG. 14, the bracket 90 is attached to the shaft 3 of the suction cup 39.
The plunger 9 is held around the bracket 9a by a pair of bolts 91 and 92, and the plunger 9 is held in a hole provided in this bracket 90.
3 reciprocates vertically. A compression spring 94 engages with a pin 95 provided in the plunger 93 due to the action of this spring, moves the plunger 93 to the upper limit, and inserts the plunger 93 into the elongated hole 97 provided in the bracket 90. make it slide.

This is shown in detail in FIG. The upper limit is formed by a pin 96 held in the plunger 93. In this way, the tab T is attached to the gripper jaw Jl.
, J2.

In order to limit the range of rotational movement of the rank, indicated by 50, about a shaft, indicated by S, a pair of stop members 98,99 are provided.
．． 99 is attached to a rotating arm such as 29 using bolts 100.101. This is shown in detail in FIG.

Adjustable screws 102, 103 are attached to the stop member, and these screws 102, 103 are used to limit the range of rotation of the ranks as shown at 50 and the ranks as shown at 47 to about 120 degrees. .

〔effect〕

The present invention provides for the aseptic packaging of flanged containers, the efficient removal of lids for such containers from a hopper, and the placement of the lids on a conveying device, e.g., a conveyor that sequentially wraps and finishes said containers. It can be applied to general purpose or specialized packaging machines for the purpose of operation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an aseptic packaging machine equipped with a container lid supply mechanism according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the aseptic packaging machine shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a rotating support on which a suction cup is rotatably mounted according to the invention; FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the mechanism of FIG. 4 including the hopper that supplies the lid; FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the mechanism of FIG. 5 taken along line 6--6; FIG. 7 is a sectional view along line 7; FIG. 8 is a partial enlarged view of the conveyor with suitable devices for conveying and gripping container lids; FIG. 9 is a partial perspective view from below of the mechanism of FIG. 8. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 10--10 of the mechanism of FIG. 8; FIG. 11 is an enlarged partially broken-away cross-sectional view of a deflectable connector with special construction for absorbing tension and compression forces; FIG. 12 is a plan view of a lid of a container to which the present invention can be applied, FIG. 13 is a plan view of an improved lid of the lid shown in FIG. 12, and FIG.
4 is a side view of a special mechanism for positioning container lids gripped by gripper jaws attached to a conveyor; FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the mechanism of FIG. 14 along line 15--15; FIG. 16 is a left side view of the mechanism of FIG. 14. 1.2...Shaft, 13...Cam follower, 14
... Vibrating arm, 16... Turnbuckle, 19
゜20...Crank, 21.22...Gripper operation arm, 23...Cam, 24...Cam follower,
25... Arm, 26... Connector, 29... Support arm, 33... Rotation support arm, 34 to 39
...Suction cup, C...Container lid, E...Knife grip, G...Gripper device, H...Hopper, Jl
, J2...Gripper jaw, T, tl, T2...
tab.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A container lid supply mechanism that places the lid on a conveyor in order to remove the container lid from the hopper and subsequently attach the lid to the filled container, wherein the container lid supply mechanism is attached to the hopper. a vibrating support member mounted to be movable back and forth and rotatable relative to the hopper; and a vibrating support member rotatably mounted to the vibrating support member to engage the lid to pull the lid out of the hopper. a suction cup, a flexible tube for applying suction pressure to the suction cup, and positioning of the suction cup such that the suction cup is moved relative to the vibrating support member and the lid is placed on the conveyor. a control device coupled to the suction cup for actuation; and a control device coupled to the vibrating support member and the suction cup to move the vibrating support member and the suction cup for actuation; a drive mechanism common to the mold support member and the suction cup, and receiving the lid;
A container lid supply mechanism comprising: a gripper device attached to the conveyor so as to hold the lid during conveyance of the lid. 2. The container lid feeding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the vibrating support member is arranged to rotate within a range of 8 degrees to 20 degrees. 3. The container lid feeding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the suction cup is arranged to rotate about 120 degrees. 4. a pair of spaced deformation devices are adapted to engage opposite edges of the lid to bow the lid;
The container lid supply mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the container lid supply mechanism is disposed in the hopper. 5. The container lid as set forth in claim 1, wherein the control device moves the suction cup after the vibrating support member has almost finished moving toward the hopper. supply mechanism. 6. The container lid according to claim 1, wherein the gripper device has a gripper jaw, and a portion of the gripper jaw that contacts the lid has a generally knife-edge shape. supply mechanism. 7. The container lid supply mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor is stopped while the lid is being transferred to the conveyor. 8. A lid-engaging probe is attached to the suction cup so as to engage with a position portion of the lid for controlling the shape of the lid. Container lid feeding mechanism as described. 9. The container lid supply mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the gripper device is operated by a cam device, and the cam device is operated by the common drive mechanism.