US2592642A

US2592642A - Device for filling receptacles with cylindrical articles

Info

Publication number: US2592642A
Application number: US605669A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bardet Gerard
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1943-12-07
Filing date: 1945-07-18
Publication date: 1952-04-15
Anticipated expiration: 1969-04-15

Description

Apnl 15, 1952 G. BARDET 2,592,642

DEVICE FOR FILLING RECEPTACLES WITH CYLINDRICAL. ARTICLES Filed July 18, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheefl'l 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 1952' G. BARDET DEVICE FOR FILLING RECEPTACLES WITH CYLINDRICAL ARTICLES Flled July 18, 1945 Aprll 15, 1952 G. BARDET 2,592,642

DEVICE FOR FILLING RECEPTACLES WITH CYLINDRICAL. ARTICLES Filed July 18, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Apr. 15, 1952 DEVICE FOR FILLING RECEPTACLES WITH CYLINDRICAL ARTICLES Grard Bartlet, Paris, France Application July 18, 1945, Serial No. 605,669 In France December 7, 1943 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires December 7, 1963 Claims.

The present invention has for its object a device for filling receptacles with articles identical to each other, for instance spherical, cylindrical or tubular articles, without leaving empty spaces, and whilst avoiding damaging said articles in any way whatever.

Numerous filling up devices already exist suitable for all kinds, of articles or products to be stored in receptacles. Many give satisfaction; but when fragile products are contemplated, as for instance small glass flasks, cigarettes, etc., a difficulty is encountered owing to the fact that itis impossible to allow said articles to fall, even from a small height, into the receptacle. Moreover, in particular if cylindrical products are under consideration, and for certain relative dimensions of the articles and receptacle, during a falling operation, the articles'would risk be coming placed crosswise and, consequently, the filling would be incorrect.

The present invention is intended to obtain a distribution and filling without dropping the articles.

For that purpose the device according to the invention in which the articles are admitted through a channel in the receptacle tob e filled, is characterised in particular by the fact that said receptacle comprises a movable bottom, having an automatic movement, and that suitable means determine the displacement or said bottom and space it away from the zone in which the articles issuing from the channel, are admitted, under the thrust of saidarticles, as soon as they accumulate at the outlet of said channel.

Said channel is preferably constituted by one or more endless bands drawing along the articles, with a uniform movement of translation, towards the receptacle to be filled.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the excessive rush of the articles produces the displacement of a movable guide which controls the mechanical engagement or the electric circuit determining the forward movement of the movable bottom.

According to another embodiment of the invention the endless band constituting the upper Wall of the channel admitting the articles is extended above the receptacle to be filled; it is formed of several parallel strips between which passthe teeth of a plate pivoting about a fixed axis'and provided with a tail-piecewhich can come incontact with a catch carried by a rod capable of actuating the clutch ble bottom in motion.

The invention is more particularly sppiibie setting the mova spring [2a.

to the case in which the receptacle has the form of a magazine or of a recess having a rectangular cross section, but it can also be applied to receptacles of various other arrangements.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, three embodiments of the new device have been illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawing.

Fig. 1 shows a device the control of which is purely mechanical.

- Fig. 2 shows a modified device with an electromechanical control.

Fig. 3 illustrates a device for laterally ejecting the articles from the receptacle after filling. Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively an elevation and a side. view showing another embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-section through the axis. of the pusher member. Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that i denotes the receptacle .to be filled. Said receptable is open on the side which, in the position illustrated in the drawing, is located at the upper part. It is also open on the rear side, that is to say on the side located in rear-of the plane of the drawing.-

The articles 2, which are to be housed in said receptacle, are admitted on an endless band 3, passing on hearing members 4, 5 suitably profiled so that in the vicinity of the receptacle, the endless band 3 has a certain inclination. In the inclined Ypart, opposite the endless band 3, an auxiliary endless band 6 is provided, having the same linear speed as the endless band 3. The articles 2 are therefore, in their final path tightly pressed between the endless band 3, on the one hand, and the endless band 6 and a guide 1, on the other hand.

Said guide 1 is constituted by an endless belt, the linear speed of which is the same as that of the endless bands 3 and 6; it is so arranged as to be moved under the thrust produced by the articles entering the channel between the endless bands 3 and 6. For that purpose, said belt is carried by three pulleys 8, 9, I0, pulley 8 being a driving pulley and also actuating endless band 6. Pulley 9 which supports the belt at the inlet of receptacle I, is carried by a bent lever l l, pivotally mounted on a fixed spindle l2 and subjected to the action of a returning Pulley H), .which supports the belt at its upper part, is carried by an arm [3, pivot ally mounted about a fixed spindle l4 and constantlyurged byfa spring I5.

In the receptacle I to be filled is arrangedamiovablebdttom, l6... The latter can be raised and lowered by a suitable mechanism. For instance, the bottom is rigid with a rack l'l, meshing with a pinion I8, fast on a shaft I9, carrying a clutch member with which can come in engagement a member 2|, forming the counterpart of the clutch, rigid with a pulley 22, continuously rotating. The unit formed by the pulley 22 and the clutch member 2| can slide on shaft [9, under the action of a bent lever 23 to which is attached a rod 24 pivoted, on the other hand, on the end of one .of the .arms of bent lever II.

The operation is as follows:

The bottom 16 is first of all placed iin its uppermost position. At this moment it is located 7 against the orifice admitting the articles and at the level of the upper part of the receptacle.

The endless bands 3, 6 and (are setin'inotion and the articles 2 rush towards the filling orifice. As they cannot issue forth owing to the obstacle created by the movable bottom 16, the guide 7 moves away until the lever 23 engages together

members

29 and 2|. :The bottom l6 then lowers and allows the articles to 'enter the receptacle. 7

If the respective speeds of the endless bands and bottom It are exactly adjusted, the filling up orifice is rapidly cleared. Guidel, restored by spring 2a, then resumes "its starting position. The two members 2!] and 2| of the clutch separate and the bottom If ceases to lower. Then the cycle begins over again without there ever being a miss in the filling, nor, consequently, any appreciable space between the articles 'becoming packed above the bottom 16.

'When bottom IS has reached its lower position, which is adjusted in accordance with the lower part of receptacle I, the latteris completely :full and its charge can be transferred, for :instance by lateral pushing 'or ramming, into a box, "tank, or any suitable chamber. In Fig. 3 has been shown byway of example -a ramming device 25 which can be actuated by hand or mechanically.

'In the modification of Fig.2, the control of the clutch '202I is an elec'tromagnetical control. The endless belt I constituting the movable guide passes over a set of pulleys 2'6, 27, 28, 29, 30. Pulley 26 is the driving pulley which actuates'the belt '1 at the same speed as endless bands '3 and 6, 'aspreviously stated. The lower pulleys '21 and 28 are carried by two

arms

31, 32 .completinga kind of parallelmotion. Said armspivot on fixed

pivot pins

35, 34 and are subjected to the action of a spring 35 maintaining the belt under tension. The reversingpulleys 29 and '30 are mounted concentrically with the axes'of rotation of arms 34, '32. The movable unit 3|, 32 is'restored by a spring 31a. Arm 3! carries a contact 36 which can come in contact with a fixedcontact 31 establishing the circuit of an electroma'gnet 38 the armature or which controls, by means of a bent'lever 39, the clutching of the two

members

20, 21,

similar to. those shown in Fig. 1.

The-operation of this device is as follows:

When t-he guide 1 moves away under the rush ol'the articles, contact 36, '37 is closed; the electromagne't 38 operates and causes the bottom IE to lower, until guide resumes its initial position and'so on. r

'As will be "seen, the filling takes place automatically, without leavin empty spaces in the receptacle, and while avoiding any shock or pressure liable to damage the articles stored. a

In the device shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the articles "2 which are to be housed in said receptacle I are led, as previously; through a passage formed by the two endless bands 3 and 6 which advance at the same speed. The upper endless band 6 is extended beyond the receptacle by passing over pulleys 40, 4|, 42, the first being a driving pulley and the others acting as reversing pulleys. The endless band figis formed of several parallel strips 6a, 5b,;6c, passing over as-many pulleys 40a, 40b, 40c, as'seen in Fig. 5. Between said strips pass the teeth or branches of a plate 50, constituting a kind of rake or .fork, against which press the articles 2 which advance in the passage formed by the two endless bands 3 and 6; said plate rotates at 54 and is extended by a tail-piece 52 which can .come in engagement with a catch 43 carried by a rod 44, pivoted with a lever 45, pivotally mounted about the spindle 46. Said lever, which is-siibjected to the action of a returning spring 41, is connected by a connecting-rod 48 to the lever 23 controlling the clutch.

The operation is as follows: Owing to its weight,

plate 50 tends to occupy the position illustrated in run lines in the. drawing. When the articles admitted by the passage .356 have filled the space comprised between the walls of the receptacle, thejmovable bottom l6 and plate '50, they push back the plate by causing it .to pivo't'abou't'spindle 5-! until it assumes the position indicated in dot and dash lines. At'this moment,'tail-piece .52 encounters catch -43, which sets the clutch in action; so that the movable bottom lowers. The .ar- 'ticles cease pressing against the inlet of the receptacle, and the plate tends to bear against the catch, the clutch is uncoupled and the bottom stops. The articles again accumulate, the clutch is recoupled, the bottom lowers and so on until the receptacle is completely full. At this moment the .ram or pusher member 25 (Fig. '6) is actuatedibyhand or mechanically as in the case-already described with reference to Fig. -1 whereby the cigarettes or the like objects are urged laterally out of the stationary receiver 1 as a bulk and enter a removable container 53 which is then carried away. The lateral displacement of the ram .25' .is preferably ensured mechanically through an arrangement which is not and .need noti-be illustrated. i

It 'is to "be understood that the above arrangements have been given only by way or examples and that numerous modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: r

1. An arrangement for the filling of containers withe. large number of similar articles in superposed .layers, comprising a packing chamber assuming throughout its height an unvarying-cro'sssectional shape, a horizontal platform slidingly fitted inside said chamberand forming a vertically adjustable bottom for the latter, means forcontrolling the lowering movement-of the platform, means for .feeding the articles independently of one another into the chamber to allow said articles to drop in succession with their axes .13;- mg horizontally over the inlet .end of the platform, to roll over the latter .and to form a horizontal layer thereon, said feeding means including'aconveyor beltcarrying the articles and feed-- ing'them to the corresponding end .of the chamber, an endless belt covering the articles lying over a section of the first belt leading to the inlet of the packing chamber and extending beyond same over the upper .end of the packing chambar," and means for constraining the two belts to advance at a uniform speed, the speed or .the two belts being always equal and of same direction, a feeler adapted to pivot around a horizontal stationary axis parallel to the direction of the axes of the articles lying on the platform and engaging the foremost article of a layer moving under the pressure of the succeeding articles and submitted to the horizontal thrust of said foremost article, and means whereby said feeler controls the platform-lowering means to lower said platform each time the feeler has receded to the end of its allowed path corresponding to the arrival of said foremost article at the end of the chamber opposed to the inlet point of the platform thereof.

2. An arrangement for the filling of containers with a large number of similar articles in superposed layers, comprising a packing chamber assuming throughout its height an unvarying crosssectional shape, a horizontal platform slidingly fitted inside said chamber and forming a vertically adjustable bottom for the latter, means for controlling the lowering movement of the platform, means for feeding the articles independently of one another into the chamber to allow said articles to drop in succession with their axes lying horizontally over the inlet end of the platform, to roll over the latter and to form a horizontal layer thereon, said feeding means including a conveyor belt carrying the articles and feeding them to the corresponding end of the chamber, an endless belt covering the articles lying over a section of the first belt leading to the inlet of the packing chamber and extending beyond same over the. upper end of the packing chamber and means for constraining the two belts to advance at a uniform speed, the speed of the two belts being always equal and of same direction, a feeler adapted to pivot round a horizontal stationary axis parallel to the direction of the axes of the articles lying on the platform, said feeler enga ing the foremost article of a layer moving under the pressure of the succeeding articles and submitted to the horizontal thrust of said foremost article, and means whereby said feeler controls the platform-lowering means to lower said platform each time the feeler has receded to the end of its allowed path corresponding to the arrival of said foremost article at the end of the chamber opposed to the inlet point of the platform thereof.

3. An arrangement for the filling of containers with a, large number of similar articles in superposed layers, comprising a packing chamber assuming throughout its height an unvarying crosssectional shape, a horizontal platform slidingly fitted inside said chamber and forming a vertically adjustable bottom for the latter, means for controlling the lowering movement of the platform, means for feeding the articles independently of one another into the chamber to allow said articles to drop in succession with their axes lying horizontally over the inlet end of the platform, to roll over the latter and to form a horizontal layer thereon, said feeding means including a conveyor belt carrying the articles and feeding them to the corresponding end of the chamber, a

seriesof parallel endless strands covering the articles, lying over a section of the first belt leadpivot round'an axis parallel with the axis of the articles on the platform and to engage the'intervals between the endless strands and projecting into engagement with the foremostarticles of a layer moving under the'pressure of the succeed ing articles and submitted to the horizontal thrust of said foremost article andmeans whereby said blades control the platform-lowering means to lower said platform each time the blades have receded to the end of their allowed path corresponding to the arrival of said foremost article at the end of the chamber opposed to the feeding means.

4. A device designed to fill receptacles with articles, including a loading chamber, a travelling band driven by a uniform movement support ing the articles and bringing them toward the loading chamber along a, slight slope, said travelling band offering upon arrival above the loading chamber a region vertically inflected toward the lower part to permit the articles to leave said travelling band and to align themselves by gravity in the loading chamber, an endless belt driven by a uniform movement of the same speed and in the same direction as the movement of the travelling band, said endless belt being placed above the travelling band and parallel to the travelling band in the region in which the travelling band has a slight slope in order to cover these articles placed side by side in a single layer on the travelling band, up to the region vertically inflected toward the lower part of the travelling band, a platform mounted in a sliding fashion vertically to the bottom of the loading chamber to support the articles which are aligned by gravity in the loading chamber, an arm mounted to pivot about a horizontal axis above the loading chamber, a pulley mounted at the lower end of this arm with respect to the region vertically inflected toward the lower part of the travelling band, a belt passing over the pulley to form with the region inflected toward the lower part of the travelling band a vertical corridor by which the articles are aligned by gravity in the loading chamber, and means driven by said arm to control the descending movement of the platform when the articles which arrive in the vertical corridor delimited by the region vertically inflected toward the lower part of the travelling band and the region of the second mentioned belt which passes around the pulley find the loading chamber filled, and occur in several layers in this vertical corridor, pushing back the second mentioned belt and the pulley and causing the arm to pivot about its horizontal axis.

5. A device designed to fill receptacles with articles, including a loading chamber, a travelling band driven by a uniform movement supporting the articles and bringing them toward the loading chamber along a slight slope, said travelling band having, upon arrival above the loading chamber, a region vertically inflected toward the lower part to permit the articles to leave the travelling band and to align themselves by gravity in the loading chamber, an endless belt driven by a uniform movement of the same speed and in the same direction as the movement of the travelling band, the endless belt being placed above the travelling band and parallel to the travelling ing to the inlet of the packing chamber and exv tending beyond same over the upper end of the packing chamber and means for constraining said band in the region in which the travelling band has a slight slope to cover these articles placed side by side in a single layer on the travelling band, up to the region vertically inflected toward the lower part of the travelling band, a platform j -mounted so as to slide vertically to the bottom of the loading chamber to support the articles ward :the'lower partof the travelling band a ver- 7 tical corridor by which the articles are aligned by gravityin the loading chamber, and electromagnetic xneans driven by this arm to control theadescendi-ng movement of the platform when the articles which arrive in the vertical corridor delimited by the region vertically inflected toward the .lowerl rart of the travelling band and the region of the :second mentioned belt which passes around the pulley find the loading chamber filled andoccur in :several layers in this vertical corr-idozt, pushing back the second mentioned belt lit) and the pulley and causing thearm to pivot about 20 itshorizontalaxts, v GERARD BARDET.

, REFERENQES CITED The following references are of record in the file o'f this patent:

l UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 7168.,104 Wieda A-ug.]23, 19-04 1 8 173715 Keyes Apr. 10, 1906 $924,012 Matthews et a1. Apr. 23, 1912 1,105,322 :Cox July 28, .1914 1,208,803 Lienau -et :al. v :Dec.'.19, 1-916 1,433,328 Wright Oct. 24, :1922 1,661,969 Semashko Mar. 6, 1928 1,831,130 Mudd Nov. 1-0, 1931 2,065,674 Fay Dec. 29, 1936 2,173,860.

Reynolds -l Sept. 26, 1939