US2771202A - Case unloaders - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 20, 1956 G. 1.. N. MEYER 2,771,202

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650,945 4 M Min-1e B Y Y A TrOe/VE Y5 4 United States Patent CASE UNLOADERS George L. N. Meyer, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Geo.

J. Meyer Manufacturing Co., Cudahy, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin Application June 6, 1951, Serial No. 230,110

6 Claims. (Cl. 214309) My invention relates to improvements in case unloaders.

In general, my case unloader includes a special conveyor for cases or cartons having containers such as bottles to be moved to unloading positions and properly spotted and centered for an unloading operation. The unloader further includes a new type of mounting for container gripping heads for transfer of the containers from the centered case to a distributing chain table conveyor having important novel features of inventive combination whereby the containers are conveyed in an array progressively proceeding upon the table to a line of stalls shaped to receive containers in single file for delivery to any form of container handling apparatus, as for instance a bottle washer.

Features of my invention include provision for power operation of my case unloader through power interconnection with the container handling apparatus which it serves; provision of separate case conveyor motor means for that portion of the conveyor used to spot the case for an unloading operation; provision of a special beam mounting for transfer heads and for counterbalance thereof; provision of a new parallelogram mounting for the transfer head beam in combination with special means for elevation of the beam in such a mounting; provision of pick-up grippers or fingers of such shape and arrangement in my transfer head as to allow for inaccuracy of case dimensions or misalignment of containers in a case; provision of a case stripper as a part of the transfer head and so arranged for extension and retraction as to assure that the case or case partitions and the containers are successfully separated for the transfer operation; provision of a grouped chain surface for a container handling table whereby to properly array a multiplicity of container units; provision of a conveyorto-conveyor transfer without an intervening dead plate; and provision of a novel timing arrangement whereby the case conveyor, the transfer heads and beam, and the chain table are coordinated for continuous trouble-free operation.

in the drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevation of my case unloader and showing a case under each of the transfer heads, an empty case being shown at the output end of the case conveyor in readiness for delivery to a gravity output conveyor a portion of which is fragmentarily shown at the right of the view. Portions of the guard housing of the case conveyor are broken away in Fig. l to disclose the conveyor construction and the motorized drives.

Fig. 2 is a planview of the case unloader shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the right-hand end of the case unloader shown in Fig. 2, the transfer head with its bottle grippers being in bottle gripping position in readiness for a bottle lifting and transferring operation; the case and the case stripping apparatus for the transfer head being shown in case and partition holding position.

Fig. 4 is an end elevation showing the left-hand end of the case unloader shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The power 2,771,202 Patented Nov. 20, 1956 Fig. 7 is a section on line 77 of Fig. 6 and showing an opened empty case or carton in position on the conveyor.

Fig. 8 is a front elevation of the structure shown at the right of Fig. 6, portions of the side wall of the case spotting conveyor being broken away to show the conveyor precision stopping mechanism and to show elevational details partially broken away in vertical section of the case centering mechanism shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary detail in front elevation of the transfer beam, of one of the transfer heads and its case stripper mechanism, and of the upper portion of the mounting means for the transfer beam; my adjusting means for raising and lowering the transfer beam with reference to its mounting slide being shown in vertical section.

Fig. 10 is a section on line 10-10 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a front elevation in fragmentary detail of the case spotting conveyor driving arrangements shown at the left in Fig. 2.

Fig. 12 is a perspective of my case stripper and portions of its two yoke rods for support and guidance of the stripper.

Fig. 13 is a section on line 1313 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 14 is a diagrammatic view of the electricalcontrol circuits and devices for control of the spotting conveyor.

Fig. 15 is a fragmentary plan view of the table conveyor showing the output stalls and partitions with agitators to cooperate with the group chains to prevent arching of containers and assist in their distribution.

Fig. 16 is a section on line 16-16 of Fig. 15.

Fig. 17 is a section on line 17-17 of Fig. 16.

Fig. 18 is an enlarged sectional view of a bottle gripper or finger for use with my transfer head.

Fig. 19 is a perspective of a single finger for a bottle gripper in accord with my invention.

Fig. 20 is a diagrammatic perspective showing an alternative construction for the spotting conveyor including special means for centering the cases in a longitudinal direction of the conveyor, under the heads 38 and 39.

Fig. 21 is a schematic and diagrammatic view of the pneumatic system to control and serve the bottle gripping, case stripping, and counterbalancing portions of my unloader.

The principal structural members of my case unloader include a case conveyor 25 extending across the front of the unloader whereby to spot and center cases of bottles or other containers to be picked up by a second principal structural portion of my machine which comprises transfer mechanism, 26 for lifting the bottles from the cases and transferring them to a table-like conveyor 27 which comprises the third principal structural member.

All of these principal structural parts of my case unloader are supported by a main frame which includes side frame plates 28 and 29 spaced apart by heavy tubular frame spacers 3d, 31 and 32. These tubular spacers are joined to the plates 28 and 29 by means of collars 33 welded to the tubes and in turn secured to the plates by means of bolts 34. Each of the tubular spacers 31 and 32 carries and provides bearing support for a heavy shaft upon which important weight supporting levers or arms are carried and coordinated as will hereinafter be dc scribed.

Stated generally, the operation of my case unloader includes the passage of cases 35 of containers such as bottles 36 from an input conveyor 37 (see Fig. 2) to their spotted positions under transfer heads 38 and 39 supported by beam 40. This beam, forming part of and operated by the transfer mechanism 26, lifts and transfers the bottles 36 which are gripped by the heads 38 and 39 so that the bottles may be deposited upon the table conveyor 27. It may be said in a preliminary way that the large arms and beams and the large cam gear at the side of the machine as shown in Fig. 3 are involved in the lifting and transfer operation referred to. When the bottles have been deposited upon the chain table 27, they are formed in an array and they advance with the chain table in conveyor operation toward the output end of my case unloader which is shown in general at 41 in Fig. 2. It is of importance that the bottles 36 be so disposed in an array as they approach the output end 41 of my case unloader that a succession of bottles will be passed in single files in stalls between the many partitions 42 and, although it forms no part of my present invention, the successive bottles in each stall between two partitions 42 are received by a bottle tipping apparatus shown at the right at Fig. whereby the bottles are passed into any machine to which my case unloader is connected. At the right in Fig. 5 by way of illustration, I have shown the pockets of a bottle washer conveyor 43.

It will clarify the following description if it be noted here, preliminarily, that the timing and control of my unloader is largely centered in the parts mounted on shaft 45 at one end of which is large cam gear 46 and at the other end is control cam disc 47.

It will become apparent in the following description of my case unloader that the motivation of its general operation is derived from the machine which the case unloader serves. For instance, if, as suggested above, my case unloader is serving to pass bottles to a bottle washer, the case unloader may derive its power from one of the power shafts of the bottle washer. However, one of the features of my case unloader is the special motivation of the spotting conveyor at the front of the unloader. This conveyor spots the cases or cartons under the transfer heads and this conveyor is individually motorized and is under the timed control of the transfer mechanism as will now be described.

Case spotting conveyor Across the front of my case unloader is the spotting conveyor 25. The cases 35 slidably progress upon a fixed conveyor bed 50. At each end of the spotting conveyor is a sprocket shaft 51 and 52 respectively, each with its conveyor chain sprockets 53 disposed at either, side of the bed plate 50 so as to carry bar chains 54. These move parallel with the sides of the bed plate and the sprockets are supported at such a level that the upper reaches of the chains 54 are somewhat above the bed plate 50. At spaced points the bar chains 54 are provided with case pusher bars 55 which extend across between the chains 54, and in their movement along the upper reaches of the chains the bars 55 pass over the bed plate 50 in position to bear against the cases 35 and push them forwardly in proper spacing from one another so that when the chains stop, the cases are spotted directly under the transfer heads 38 and 39 in readiness for a pick-up operation as the heads are brought down by the transfer mechanism. Thus in my case unloader as equipped to pick up containers from two cases at a time the bars 55 are on centers identical with the spacing of the centers of the two transfer heads as shown in Fig. 1.

To supply cases to the spotting conveyor, I provide for input conveyor 37 a separate motorized drive shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 11 and including a motor 56 with suitable gear reduction means 57 for the operation through chain 58 of a sprocket 59 for input conveyor chain 60. This chain 60 may be used in conjunction with any form of input conveyor 37 for frictionally pushing forward the cases full of containers to the spotting conveyor 25. Somewhat schematically I have indicated at 61 a dead plate of the input conveyor over which cases may pass in moving from the input conveyor powered by the chain 60 to the bed plate 59 of the spotting conveyor.

At either side of the input end of the spotting conveyor 25, I provide a speed up chain 62 carried by sprockets 63. One set of these sprockets is mounted as idlers on shaft 52, and the other set of these sprockets is carried by shaft 64 having a drive sprocket 65. It will be noted that this drive sprocket is driven by chain 66 extending over a large sprocket 67. This larger sprocket 67 is mounted upon shaft 52. Since this shaft 52 carries the sprockets for the spotting conveyor, it will thus be obvious that the conveyor chains 62 move faster than the chains 54 for the spotting conveyor, and it will also be noted, especially in Fig. 1, that the level of the top ranges of the chain 62 is just slightly above the bed plate 50 of the spotting conveyor. Thus as the cases come off the input conveyor 37, the faster maving conveyor 62 urges a particular case forwardly against a bar 55. Before the next succeeding case has been pushed forwardly by the relatively slow moving input conveyor 57, another bar 55 will be brought around into the position shown at the left in Fig. l, and if my case unloader be stopped for any reason, a bar 55 will prevent cases from crowding in upon the spotting conveyor. Of course, when the spotting conveyor operates there is only one case ahead of any particular bar 55 and this case is pushed forward to a spot position as will now be described.

The spotting conveyor chains 54 with their crossbars 55 are driven by an individual motor 70. This is a well known type of motor provided with an automatic brake upon its armature shaft, A diagrammatic and schematic view at Fig. 14 shows the wiring diagram for the control of motor 70 and in this view I have schematically shown the brake 71 for the armature shaft. Means such as a solenoid simultaneously energized with the motor through connections 74 will relieve the braking action. This motor has a gear reducer 75 and an output sprocket 76 connected by spotting conveyor chain drive 77 to sprocket 78 secured to shaft 51.

As indicated above, cam plate 47 upon the left end of shaft 45 (see Fig. 4) has a cam lug 79. This cam lug is inposition to strike a roller on the operating arm 80 of normally open switch 81 which is in the control circuit 82 for motor 70. When the switch 81 is momentarily closed by the passing of the lug 79 against arm 80, the control circuit 82 is completed through coil 83 of automatic switch 84. The switch is thus closed and this energizes the motor and relieves the brake 71. At the same time that the automatic switch 84 with its coil 83 is energized, a holding circuit 85 is completed through a normally closed switch 86. Thus, even though the switch 81 is only momentarily closed to energize the motor 70, the motor will continue to run because of the holding circuit 85 until the switch 36 is opened. This means that the spotting conveyor will advance the cases 35 until the switch 86 is opened.

At properly spaced points in the chain 54 I provide lug links 87 which move in such relation to the roller upon an arm 88 for actuation of switch 86 that at the precise moment for stoppage of the spotting conveyor the lug link 37 will move the arm 88 to open switch 86 and break the hold circuit through electrical connections 35. The motor 70 will lose its energization through switch 84 by reason of the opening of this automatic switch and the brake 71 will automatically be applied to stop the spotting conveyor. It will be noted that switch 86 is mounted for adjustment upon its support at 89 and I am therefore able to so adjust the timing of the opening of switch 86 for the particular stopping position of the spotting con- 'veyor that the spotting of cases 35 under the transfer heads 33 and 39 is extremely accurate. The spotting conveyor chain 54 will remain in the spotted position until cam plate 47 brings lug 79 again in contact with a roller for arm St) and the switch 81 will then energize the coil 83 of automatic switch 84 to start the motor and move the conveyor chains 54 for the next cyclic operation of the spotting conveyor. This will advance cases 35 which are now emptied and will convey them to an output conveyor 90 shown schematically at the right in Fig. 1.

While the apparatus just described will spot cases 35 so far as their forward progress upon the bed plate 50 is concerned, I provide centering means for spotting the cases 35 laterally of the spotting conveyor as will now be described and as is shown most clearly in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. At either side of the forward path of movement of the cases 35 and just above the bed plate 50, I provide centering rails 95 and 96. Of course, I provide a set of these centering rails under each of the transfer heads. The centering rails are mounted for equal and opposite movement at right angles to the longitudinal center line of the spotting conveyor. Each rail is carried by a pair of levers 97 or 98, and the levers are in turn carried by rock shafts 99 supported by brackets 100 secured to the frame of the conveyor (see Fig. 7). The portion of each lever from the center of its rock shaft 99 to the point of attachment of the lever with its respective rail 95 or 96 is the same length for each of the types of levers 97 or 98. As to levers 97, the point of attachment for adjustable interconnecting link 101 is upon a moment arm at an acute angle with respect to the rail supporting portion of its lever, whereas the point of attachment of link 101 to lever 98 is upon a moment arm at an obtuse angle to the portion of the lever 98 supporting its rail. It will be understood therefore that with the link 101 connecting the levers of the shapes and on the centers shown particularly in Fig. 7, the outward and inward swinging movement of rails 95 and 96 will be equal and oposite. Stops 97 and 98' prevent the rails being moved inward too far.

Since the rails are shaped as shown in Fig. 6 with converging portions to receive the cases as they move along the conveyor, parallel sections at the point where the cases are 'to be spotted, and the diverging trailing ends to release the cases as they progress along the conveyor, it will be clear that with the spring 102 constantly pulling the rails 95 and 96 toward one another, the cases 35 moving between the rails must necessarily be centered in the direction at right angles to the center line of the spotting conveyor.

As an alternative or additional spotting means for cases where rapid changes from size to size of the cases is expected or desirable. I so adjust the switch 86 as to stop a case somewhat short of the desired spotting position and I provide longitudinal centering equipment including spotter arms 950 and 951 mounted on cross shafts 952 and 953. These shafts are located below the bed 50 and the spotter arms with their case centering pads 954 at their upper ends extend upwardly so as to be swingable through slots in the bed. The interconnection of these spotter arms is much like that arranged for the rails 95 and 96 since here too I use a link 955 to equally and oppositely swing the pads 954 against the particular case being spotted. However, the link 955 is attached to a spotter actuator 956 operated by linkage 957 shown in Fig. 20 and extending to a drum cam 958 mounted on shaft 45 between the cam disk 47 and the frame plate 28. It will be noted that the drum cam 958 is so shaped, and of course, is so timed in conjunction with the operation of cam shaft 45 that the centering pads 954 are brought by spring 959 equally and oppositely against a case to center it immediately after the spotting conveyor has stopped and before the transfer heads descend to the case. The spotter arms 950 and 951 with their pads are then retracted by the drum cam and the linkage above referred to before the lug 79 strikes arm 80 of 6 switch 81 to start up the conveyor for the next case spotting operation.

From the above description, it will be seen that cases presented by the input conveyor 37 are picked up by the fast moving short conveyor chain 62 and introduced upon the bed 50 in such a way that a crossbar 55 will advance a particular case until the cam lug 79 trips the switch 81 to stop the conveyor. The point of stoppage will be such as to place the case between the rails and 96 and between the longitudinal spotter arms 951) and 951 under one of the transfer heads 38 and 39 and the case will be accurately centered longitudinally and laterally of the conveyor in readiness for the pick up of the contents of the case.

Transfer mechanism To grip, pick up, lift, swing and release the bottles or other containers of cases 35 so as to deposit them upon the table-like conveyor 27, I provide the following transfer mechanism.

The larger structural elements of the transfer mechanism are, the two swing frames 11!) and 111 shown most clearly in Figs. 3 and 4; parallelogram bars 112 and 113 to support and guide the swing frame 110, and parallelogram bars 114 and 115 to support and guide the swing frame 111; a transfer head beam 116 extending between the swing frames and provided with slidable mountings in guide ways 117 formed in the swing frames; vertical motion lever 118 with vertical motion link 119 to support and reciprocate beam 116 in the ways 117; transfer heads 38 and 39 mounted to the beam 116; and the large cam gear 46 with its cam mechanism for the cyclic control and operation of the transfer mechanism; all of which will now be described in greater detail.

Through two large tubes 126 and 121 and extending completely across the case unloader and through the frame plates 28 and 29 are shafts 120 and 121. They extend sufficiently beyond the outside surface of these frame plates to provide mounts for the parallelogram arms, the lower portions of which are bored to receive these shafts. Large flanges welded to the ends of the shafts are bolted to the respective arms to rigidly and positively secure the arms to their respective shafts. Thus parallelogram arm 112 and parallelogram arm 115 secured to shaft 120' move together as a unit. Parallelogram arm 113 and parallelogram arm 114 secured in the same manner to shaft 121 comprise a unit. The upper ends of these parallelogram arms are secured to the swing frames 110 and 111 at spaced points where shafts 122 and 122' to connect them with the swing frames are on such centers relative to the centers of the tubes 120 and 121 that the parallelogram arms are actually in parallelism in their swinging movement in a vertical plane as described below. Shaft 122 extends across from swing frame to swing frame but shafts 122' are stub shafts as shown in Fig. 9. Therefore, the swing frames are so supported that the ways 117 formed in them remain in vertical position throughout the relatively limited swinging movement of the swing frames and transfer heads. This swinging movement is under control of cam gear 46 upon the inner face of which is a cam track 123 (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3). Between the flanges which form the cam track 123, I provide a swing frame cam roller 124 mounted upon a stub shaft 125 rigidly secured to parallelogram arm 113.

The shape of the cam track 123 is such that as the cam gear 46 is rotated with shaft 45 the swing frame cam roller forces the parallelogram arm 113 and the swing frames connected therewith to swing from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. 4. In the first of these positions as in Fig. 3, the beam 116 and the transfer heads upon it are properly positioned over any case which may be on the conveyor 25 and when the cam track 123 has forced the swing frame cam roller 124 to the other extreme, the beam 116 is over the table conveyor 27 in such a position that the transfer heads may release containers upon the table conveyor. The cam track 123 is generally circular and eccentric to the shaft 45 upon which the cam gear 46 is mounted, but there is a portion 123 of this cam which is concentric with shaft 45 so as to provide a dwell of the beam 116 over the conveyor 25 of sufiicient duration to pen mit of the reciprocation of the beam during the pick up portion of the cycle of operations.

The support and reciprocation of beam 116 is taken care of by means of the vertical motion levers 118 and the links 119 which are duplicated at either side of the unloader. Vertical motion levers 118 are secured to saddles 130 at either end of a large diameter torque tube which, in combination with vertical motion lever shaft 132, forms an exceedingly strong rock shaft mechanism. The center about which the rock shaft mechanism operates is the center of the shaft 132. This is supported in a tubular bearing 31 and, at a point exterior of the frame plates, shaft 132 is provided with a fixed saddle 133 which provides a counterpart for saddle 130 to bind the shaft 132 to the torque tube 131. Since these saddles are duplicated at either end of the shaft 132, the shaft and the tube taken together provide a strong mounting for the vertical motion levers 118.

Mounted for free rotation at the right-hand end of shaft 132 is a safety cam roller sector 135, the outer portion of which is extended radially of shaft 132 at 136 to provide a mounting for a cam roller 137. Upon spindle 138 which carries the cam roller 137 is a safety roller arm 139 to overlie a safety roller flange 141) forming part of drive plate 141 which is securely fastened to saddle 130 so as to rock therewith. The free end 142 of safety roller arm 139 is held against a roller 143 disposed between flange 144) and arm 139 by a compression spring 144. This spring 144 is held in compression by a bolt 145 extending into safety cam roller sector 135. Because the exterior surface of the flange 146 is provided with a slight cup and the inside surface of arm 139 is similarly cupped, the roller 143 normally remains in the respective cups as a safety release key to force the plate 141 to move with the sector 135. Only in the event of an unusual blockade of moving parts in the transfer mechanism is the roller 143 kicked out of its position so as to break the drive connection between drive plate 141 and sector 135. Thus as cam roller 137 moves in a cam track 150 in the exterior face of cam gear 46, the entire assembly 130145 rocks in response to the motion dictated by the shape of the cam track 150, and as this assembly rocks or oscillates about the center determined by shaft 132, the vertical motion levers 118 raise and lower links 119 connected to beam 116 and the beam is raised and lowered accordingly.

The upper end of each of the links 119 terminates in an adjustable thimble 1199 bored to receive a stub shaft 1191 forming part of a beam slide 1192 (see Figs. 3 and 9). The beam slides are fitted to ways 117 and it is to these slides that beam 116 is adjustably mounted as will now be described.

On the inner face of each slide 1132 is a vertical dovetail projection 1193 to which a complementary, dovetail beam mounting bracket 1194 is fitted for vertical adjustment. The bracket is somewhat box shaped and itoifers flanges at 1195 to which flanges 1196 at the ends of beam 116 are secured. Heavy lugs 1197 at the upper and lower ends of brackets 1194 carry the weight of the beam 116 and its associated parts since a screw adjustment rod 1198 collared at 119? and 1260 in weight carrying relation to the bracket is in screw threaded engagement with bushing 1291 carried by lug 1197 as seen clearly in Fig. 9. The lower end of an adjustment rod 1198 is squared for wrench or crank rotation so therefor is duplicated at each endof the beam and I couple the two adjustments together by means of miter gears 1202 and 1203 and a long shaft 1204 extending through the length of the beam 116.

As the cam gear 46 revolves with its shaft 45 the cam roller 137 follows cam track shaped as shown in Fig. 3 where the roller appears in a position close to the hub. In this position the vertical motion lever arm is in its lowest position, the beam 116 is near the lower end of the ways 117, and the transfer heads 38 and 39 are in position to receive bottles into their gripping fingers for a case unloading operation. The curve of cam track 150 then extends radially outwardly on a steep rise" away from the hub of gear 46 and the roller 137 will force the plate 141 to oscillate the torque tube 131 about the center of shaft 132. Vertical motion arm 118 will thus be swung upwardly to elevate the link 119 and beam 116 to a height suificient to elevate the bottles higher than the chain table 27. In this range of movement the parallelogram arms will commence their rearward oscillation to move the swing frames and beam 116' back over the table.

While the rearward movement of the beam is being accomplished by the parallelogram arms, the roller 137 is travelling in that portion 151 of cam track 150 which is substantially concentric with the center of the gear 46 and the beam will travel at the height of its trajectory. As the beam reaches its rearmost position, it is lowered slightly by the parallelogram bars to bring the bottles close to the table 27. Then the curve at 152 in cam track 150 forces the roller 137 outward to raise the heads clear from the bottles. Then there is a dwell as the parallelogram arms return the beam to the position above the spotting conveyor and the sharp fall of the cam track at 153 toward the hub of the cam gear returns the beam to its lowermost position once more to complete the cycle.

As indicated above, the drive of the case unloader may be initiated by power take-off from the machine which it serves. In the illustrated hookup, a bottlewasher at 43 supplies the drive for chain to drive a sprocket 161 on shaft 162. This shaft extends from side to side across the unloader and is provided on the right side with a pinion 163 meshed with cam gear 46, however, the power requirement is modest since the heavy parts of the transfer mechanism are in balance by reason of the following counterbalance:

Much of the operation of the transfer heads described below is pneumatic in its motivation and there is maintained at 165 beneath the table 27 a constant pressure of air in an accumulator tank. Also beneath the table 27 and partly beneath the spotting conveyor 25 and just inside the frame plates at either side of the unloader, I provide pneumatic balancing equipment for the beam 116 and the many and heavy parts connected therewith. This balancing equipment includes cylinder and piston assemblies 166 and 167. The lower or closed end of each cylinder is pivotally mounted to a convenient bolt which also holds the flange of frame tube 30 to the side frame plate. Piston rod 168 of each assembly is pivotally connected to the extended end of balancing arm 169 connected rigidly to a saddle 170 comparable to saddle 133 and secured to the same parts, namely the torque tube 131 and the tube 31. It will be obvious that the weight of the transfer mechanism parts carried by vertical motion arm 118 will constantly tend to force the piston rod and its associated piston (not shown) down toward the closed end of the cylinder but ap propriate, constantly open pipe connections between the tank 165 and each of the cylinders maintain adequate pressure of air for accurate counterbalance of these heavy parts. (See Fig. 21.)

Transfer heads 38 and 39 and their control and operational devices and accessories complete the transfer mechanism. It will be noted especially in Figs. 9 and 10 .that spaced side plates 175 and 176 and two spaced horizontal plates 177 and 178 form a head frame secured clamplingly to the beam 116 in a desired location. Each of the side plates is cut away to receive the beam and a clamp plate 180 is drawn down to clamp the beam by the use of conventional yoke studs 181 as clearly seen in Figs. 9 and 10.

Through hexagonal openings in the horizontal plates 177 and 178 are slidably extended the desired number of bottle gripper units 185. These are tubular and are hexagonal exteriorly. They are held by gravity in the position shown in Figs. 9 and 10 and are provided interiorly with a pneumatically operable wedge plunger 186 to act upon the fingers 187 and 188 with which each unit is equipped. As shown in Fig. 18, the plunger is equipped with an operating finger wedge 189 to be thrust between the upper ends of the fingers at '190 and since the fingers are pivotally mounted on finger pins 191 parallel with fiat, chisel-edged finger jaws 192, the jaws are clamped upon a bottle neck whenever air under pressure is introduced into the unit against the plunger 186. Upon release of such air pressure, the plunger and the finger wedge are returned to their upper position by spring 193 and the finger jaws are opened by a contractile spring 194 extending around the upper ends of the fingers.

A manifold 195 connected to a controlled supply of air under pressure supplies air through individual flexible pipes for each of the units 135 as shown in Figs. 10 and 21.

It will be noted that the chisel-edged jaws of the fingers 187 and 188 are so disposed that they lie longitudinally of the spotting conveyor 25. This makes it possible for the jaws to grip bottle necks even though there be some inaccuracy in the spotting of a bottle in the centerline direction of the conveyor.

As the transfer head thus described is lowered to a case of bottles on the conveyor, it is only necessary for a supply of air under pressure to be fed against plunger 136 in order that all bottle necks between the jaws 192 maybe firmly gripped in readiness for a transfer operation in response to the movement of the beam 116, and when the beam is lowered over the table 27 the release of the air pressure will permit the transfer head to release the bottles for deposit on the table.

if a bottle happens to be taller than usual or is held in an unusually elevated position by foreign matter in the case under it, a unit 185 may be slidably elevated momentarily during a pick-up operation. Many bottle cases have tight fitting bottle compartments or have sticky substances in them so that the bottles may not be easily retracted from their positions in the case. Therefore, to prevent the lifting of a case, or of partitions used in some cases, I provide a stripper mechanism as will now be described.

A stripper frame 200 to fit the outside margins of a case (see Figs. 1, 9 and 12) is provided with a grid of partition stripper holders 201 and is carried for actuation by stripper rods 202 and 203. These are guided by bosses 204 extending laterally from the sides of the side plates 175 and 176. At the upper ends of the rods, I secure a yoke 205 the center of which is connected to stripper plunger rod 206. This rod 206 extends into pneumatically operated cylinder and piston assembly 207 mounted to beam 116 as shown most clearly in Fig. 9. The cylinder assembly 207 is double acting and is under control of a dual air valve 208 mounted to the beam 116 in position so that the valve actuating arm 209 with its roller may bear against cam rib 210 extending along the side of the ways 117 on the inside of swing frames 110. When the beam 116 descends, the arm 209 rides onto the cam rib 210 and air is passed to the cylinder 207 so as to force the stripper frame down upon the case to hold it while the transfer head is pulling the bottles from the case. Then as the beam returns to its upper position, the valve a safety release mechanism 224.

arm 209 rides off of the cam rib and air is released from cylinder 207. Simultaneously a fresh supply enters the cylinder below the piston and forces the yoke 205 upward to retract the stripper from the case, thus permitting the case to be moved out of the unloader, and to place the stripper in a position where it will not tip over-the bottles on the table 27. The air pressure provided to cylinder 207 is moderate and acts to provide resilient pressure on the case.

Pneumatic timing of the gripper fingers in the transfer head is under control of an air valve 215 located adjacent cam 47 on shaft 45. (See Fig. 4.) It will be noted that the periphery of this cam'has one-half devoted to a high land and the other half to a low land so that the cam follower 216 to actuate valve 215 is in position to open the valve during half of the rotation of the cam and to close it during the other half. When the valve is open, it passes air under pressure through appropriate air pipe connections from the tank to the manifolds of the transfer heads and the gripper fingers will then be closed to engage bottles to be transferred. When the valve is closed, the air in the manifolds is released and the jaws open. The transferred bottles are then released to settle onto table 27. The valve remains closed until the transfer heads are again in position to grip another set of bottles in a newly advanced case on the spotting conveyor 25.

The table conveyor Containers transferred from a case 35 to the table conveyor 27 are, of course, arranged on the table in the same spacing and grouping which they had in the case. If two transfer heads are mounted to the beam and two cases are spotted by the conveyor 25 for each cyclic operation of the transfer mechanism there will be two groups of containers on the table with any number of containers, usually from 12 to 28 in each group. These bottles must not only be moved rearwardly to the delivery end of the case unloader, but they must be spread in an array such that they may be distributed evenly to each of the many stalls at the delivery end of the table. This involves not only a problem of distribution but also involves the prevention of crowding and arching of the container units between the plates forming the sides of the conveyor, and I have also provided a novel terminal construction for the delivery end of a conveyor for this purpose to avoid the difficulties that prevail when the usual dead plate is used at that location.

I have shown at the delivery end of the table conveyor 27 not only my new stalls into which the array of bottles is to be distributed and fed, but also by way of illustration the particular mechanism for handling bottles in readiness for delivery to the bottle washer 43 which my case unloader may serve. Fig. 3 shows two reciprocatory links 220 and 221 extending to my case unloader from the bottle washer. The reciprocatory link 220 is connected to a rocker arm 222 connected to a rock shaft 223 through As shown in Fig, 5, the rock shaft 223 which extends through the side frame plates, is equipped below each stall with an ejector plate 225 fixed upon the shaft to rock with it. Extending upwardly from the ejector plate 225 is an ejector finger unit 226 and the oscillatory movement of the ejector plate upon its shaft 223 is such that the ejector finger unit moves through a slot 227 to push a bottle into the bottle washer cups at 43. At the time when the ejector finger 226 accomplishes this pushing operation, the bottle is in a reclining position as shown at 227 in Fig. 5. The bottle is moved to this reclining position by a tipping cradle 228 shaped as shown most clearly in Fig. 5 and mounted upon oscillatory cradle shaft 229 connected to link 221 referred to above. Thus as each bottle is pushed into the cradle by the table conveyor, it is placed by the cradle 228 in reclining position and finally delivered to the bottle washer by the finger unit 226.

A stop finger 230 mounted on stop finger arm 231 pivoted at 232 constantly oscillates in timed relation to the movement of the ejector finger 226 to stop the progress of a file of bottles moving in a particular stall so that no bottles may crowd forward toward the cradle during a cradle tipping operation. After the cradle has been relieved of its bottle and has resumed erect position to receive the next bottle, the stop finger is drawn downwardly by its arm 231 and another bottle may be pushed forwardly into the cradle. Thus it is that bottles handled by my table conveyor 27 are ultimately taken care of and it will be understood that the purpose of the table conveyor and its various parts is to deliver and urge the files of bottles into the stalls as will now be described.

The table conveyor 27 is made up of groups of chains. The groups as shown in the drawings each consist of three chains 240, 241 and 242. Chains 240 and 242 are of equal length and they operate over sprockets on shafts 243 and 244, shaft 244 and its sprockets being driven by chain 245 extending from a sprocket 246 on shaft 162. The shafts 243 and 244 extend clear across the table and are journaled in and supported by the side frame plates 28 and 29. The center chain 241 in each group is longer than the other chains, as shown in Fig. 5. It is carried upon idler sprockets on shaft 243 as are the other chains in each group, but at the trailing end of the table these longer chains are carried upon and driven by sprockets on shaft 247. This shaft likewise extends clear across the table and is journaled at either end in the side frame plates 28 and 29. At 248 shaft 247 is provided with a sprocket and chain in alignment with a larger sprocket 250 mounted upon and secured to shaft 244. Thus as indicated in Fig. 4, shaft 247 is driven at a higher speed than shaft 244 and therefore chains 240 and 242- move at a slower rate of speed than the center chain 241.

To keep the chain table conveyor surface in a plane, supporting tray beds are supported beneath the chains by angle bed irons 255, 256 and 257. There is a separate tray bed 258 for each group of chains and it consists of a tray bottom 259 with side flanges 260. These flanges are spaced apart sufficiently and are of suflicient height to partially embrace the three chains as seen in vertical section in Fig. 16. At the front end of each tray bed, the bottom 259 is folded around the margin of angle bed iron 255 (see Fig. 5). At the trailing end of the table, the tray bed 259 is shaped as seen at the right in Fig. 15 where the portion of the bed to support chains 240 and 242 is foreshortened and folded under angle bed iron 256 at 261, but the center portion of the bed extends onwardly at 262 so that it is supported by angle bed iron 257 (see Figs. 5 and 15). This extended trailing end 262 of the bed supports the extended portion of central chain 241.

Thus at the trailing end of the conveyor table the portion of the conveyor represented by the faster moving central chains 241 in each group extends beyond chains 240 and 242. At either side of the chain 241 I provide, slightly below the level of the top of the chain, motionless conveyor plates 263 so that bottles passing through this zone are supported principally by the faster moving chain 241 to the point where the bottles are moved into a cradle 228. It will be noted upon examination of Fig. 5 that the cradle is so shaped with a bottle bottom support 228' at either side of the faster moving chain 241, that there is no conventional dead plate necessary at the delivery end of my table conveyor.

Above the flanges 269 which abut one another along the edges of contiguous trays, 1 provide partitions 265 secured to a partition supporting angle iron 266. These partitions rest upon the upper edges of the flanges 260 and they demark the stalls into which bottles are fed by reason of their progress on the respective groups of chains forming the table conveyor (see Fig. 16).

I have tried many forms of distributing devices for the purpose of distributing bottles over a feed table 27,

but the many baffles, agitators and pushers which have been resorted-to have presented more problems than they have solved, and it has only been upon use of the table 27 with its groups of chains as above described that I have been able to distribute bottles at the delivery end of the table 27 after the bottles have been deposited in the orderly grouping shown at 270 in Fig. 2. I have found that the chain groupings with chains operating at differing speeds as above described will distribute the bottles in an array which remarkably supplies files of bottles entering all the respective stalls between the partitions 265. The constant progress of the bottles as they leave their orderly grouping at 270 and move toward the end of the conveyor is marked only by an occasional arching of the bottles between the side walls of the conveyor. To avoid this arching, I provide agitators 271 shown most clearly in Figs. 5, 15 and 16. These are narrow folded sheet metal devices shaped to embrace the forward edges of certain of the partitions 265 and they are mounted slightly above the chains 240 and 241 upon oscillatory agitator arms 272 secured to an agitator shaft 273 extending across the table 27. The agitator shaft is rocked by a pitrnan 274 and arm 275. The pitman 274 is reciprocated by an eccentric 276 mounted on the end of shaft 247. The total movement of the agitator 271 in approximately a horizontal direction is only on the order of onehalf inch but it serves to rearrange bottles crowding toward partitions 265 so that in combination with the chains of the conveyor table 27, the arching and blockading of bottles is successfully prevented. The movement of bottles in the zone just ahead of the stalls is a combination of forward crowding and rotation of the bottles about their own vertical axes so that slight agitation is all that is needed to assure steady progress of the array of bottles. I have found in the operation of this conveyor table, that as groups of 48 bottles from two cases of 24 each are deposited by the transfer mechanism in rapid succession upon the conveyor table, they spread in an array to supply 24 stalls at the delivery end of the conveyor, and the machine will handle 300 bottles per min ute with never an empty stall across the entire table.

The cyclic operation of my case unloader and the timing of the operations is as follows:

Assuming that there are no cases on the conveyor 25 but that the motor 56 has been operating to bring a succession of cases of bottles on the input conveyor, the first case will bear against bar 55 forming part of the spotting conveyor, and because conveyor 25 is not yet operating, the input cases will be held there against the frictional urge of the input conveyor chain beneath them.

Now, as the bottle washer served by my case unloader starts its operations, chain 160 causes shaft 162 to rotate and my case unloader is started. No cases will be advanced onto the conveyor 25 until cam lug 79 on cam disc 47 strikes the rollered arm 80 of switch 81. Then the motor 70 will be energized in accord with the circuits and equipment shown in Fig. 14 and will continue to operate until two cases 35 have been advanced by two bars 55 and spotted. The motor 70 will stop to spot the cases when a lug link 87 strikes arm 88 of the holding circuit switch 86. These lug links are so spaced in this unloader that two cases are advanced and spotted for each cyclic operation.

, The speed of operation of conveyor 25 is ample to spot two cases while the transfer mechanism is completing its cycle and, of course, this means that empty cases are forced off of the conveyor onto the gravity conveyor at the right side of the unloader (see Fig. 1). However the spotted cases will remain in position until the lug 79 again closes switch 81, and in the meantime the cam gear 46 secured to the same shaft 45 as is cam plate 47 will have caused the transfer mechanism to complete its cycle to unload the spotted cases.

In the particular situation now being assumed, the spotting conveyor brought in its first set of two cases just after the cam plate 46 opened air valve215. This caused the fingers 187 and 188 in transfer heads 38 and 39 to close and the big cam gear had started to lift the beam. Therefore, the transfer mechanism will travel unloaded for this first cycle; but when the big cam gear commences to lower the beam 116 and transfer heads 38 and 39 to pick up the first case loads of bottles the following sequence of operations will take place:

1. Valve arm 209 will ride onto cam rib 210 to open valve 208. This lowers case stripper frame 200 into position against the top of the case.

2. Beam 116 will bring fingers 187 and 188 to their lowest position (adjusted by rod 1198).

3. Cam follower 216 now drops off the high land of cam plate 47 and valve 215 opens to permit air to enter the units 185 which close their fingers 187 and 188 upon the necks of the bottles.

4. The beam now is elevated by the operation of cam roller 137 in the portion of the track 150 at 153. Vertical motion lever 118 is oscillated upwardly to force the links 119 to raise the beam.

5. Even though beam 116 rises and the transfer heads lift the bottles, the stripper frames continue to bear upon the cases until the beam approaches its topmost position then the valve arm 209 leaves the rib 210 and the valve 298 passes air to the double acting units 207 so as to raise the strippers.

6. Cam roller 124 has been moving in a dwell portion 123 of cam track 123 on the inside of the big cam gear While the beam 116 was lowered and raised, but now the rise of this track swings the parallelogram arms in their vertical plane to force the beam back to the position shown in Fig. 4.

7. The parallelogram arms go over center, and the links 119 are over center as the beam swings rearwardly, therefore the heads swing down somewhat as they arrive at their rearward position.

8. Cam follower 216 now rides up on the high periphery of cam plate 47 and valve 215 closes. Air pressure in units 185 is relieved and springs 193 open the fingers to drop the bottles onto the conveyor 27.

9. Then the short rapid rise of the cam track 150 at 152 raises the beam to lift the heads above the deposited bottles.

10. Shortly after these bottles are dropped, the lug 79 once more strikes arm 80 and the spotter conveyor 25 again initiates its cycle of operations to spot another pair of cases 35.

11. Cam roller 137 continues in its dwell in the track 150 so the beam remains in its high position until it is returned to its forward position.

12. While the beam is in its high position, cam roller 12- 2- returns toward the hub of gear 46 and the parallelogram arms return the beam to its forward position.

13. The beam is over the conveyor 25 and the cycle is complete.

In the meantime, the groups of chains have distributed the bottles on the table conveyor. Each group tends to go straight rearward, and if groups of bottles concentrate in front of certain stalls, the unequal forward pressures on the various bottles due to differing speeds of chains under them cause them to seek lesser concentrations at one side or the other to even up the array.

It will be noted that by reason of the combination of parallelogram arm and vertical movement arm support and movement of the beam 116 there is a dwell-less extreme of movement of the beam in the delivery direction over the table. The result is an extremely easy and shockless release of bottles and no perceptible jarring of the entire mechanism.

It will be understood that the valve 209 is so constructed that when it is closed the pressure in the units 185 is immediately relieved. Furthermore, as indicated in Fig. 21 there is a needle valve in the pneumatic connections to the double acting cylinder and piston assembly as indicated in Fig. 21 so that the speed of descent of the stripper onto the case margins is moderate, but the air pressure is sufficient to push the partition holding grid deep into the case. By reason of the shape of the partition holding grid ends the case will be squared up to assure approximate alignment of the bottles therein with the gripper fingers.

I claim:

1. In a case unloader for pick up, elevation and transfer of case contents from a case to a table conveyor, a pick-up head beam having a beam swinging mounting including a beam support and a beam swing frame comprising spaced frame members each having a guideway, said swing frame being mounted for oscillation of the beam in said guideways over the case and the support being mounted for movement of the beam in a separate path of movement provided by said guideways in said swing frame.

2. A case unloader including a case conveyor positioned to present successive container filled cases to unloading positions, and a table for output of containers to be unloaded, a swing frame provided with swingable arms for movement of the swing frame between a position adjacent the conveyor and a position adjacent the table, said swing frame having a guideway; a head beam for reciprocation in the guideway and having a beam support, a transfer head for the beam for engagement with containers in the case or release of containers on the table, and a master control member connected to an arm and to said support for cyclic operation of the swing frame and beam whereby to move the transfer head from a pick-up position over a case to a releasing position over the table.

3. In a case unloader having spaced swing frames, each having a guide for a transfer beam; a transfer beam extending between the swing frames and guided thereby, said beam having a supporting link beside each swing frame, adjustable connections between each link and the beam to position the beam in the guide, and connections between the adjustable connections for simultaneous adjustment thereof.

4. In a case unloader, a transfer mechanism mounted for movement to and from a case to be unloaded, the transfer mechanism having a beam and a reciprocab'le beam support, a swing frame having a beam guide and separate swing frame arms for swing frame movement, a case stripper mounted to the transfer mechanism for projection against the case as the mechanism moves toward the case, adjustable connections between the stripper and mechanism to keep the stripper in contact with the case for a predetermined portion of the movement of the mechanism from the case, and control apparatus interconnected with the beam and swing frame for adjustment of said connections in timed sequence according to relative position of the beam and swing frame.

5. In a case unloader for pickup, elevation and transfer of case contents from a case to a delivery table, a pickup head beam provided with means to grasp and release case contents, a beam swing frame having spaced swing frame members each provided with a guideway for said beam, said swing frame being mounted for swinging movement to align the guideways with a case or table, and support means connected to the beam for reciprocation of the beam in said guideways.

6. A case unloader for removing contents of a case positioned at one location and placing said contents on a delivery table at another location; said unloader including a pair of swing frame members having guideways, the swing frame members being mounted to supports upon which the members are swingable to position the guideways in alignment with the table or the case; a beam extending between the members and positioned in the guideways for reciprocation toward or away from table or case respectively; operating members connected to the swing frame members and to the beam to swing and reciprocate each respectively, and means carried by the beam for engaging or releasing said contents.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Fuller Sept. 20, 1927 Winkler et a1 Apr. 22, 1930 Dieter June 16, 1931 Ingle Feb. 2, 1932 Rowe Aug. 2, 1932 16 Olson Nov. 6,1934 Stecher June 7, 1938 Kimball et a1. Dec. 27, 1938 Cattonar et a1. Oct. 19, 1943 Davis May 21, 1946 Woody et a1. Oct. 10, 1950 Waters Dec. 18, 1951 Hyatt May 15, 1951 Seidel et a1 May 20, 1952 Ardell Sept. 2, 1952 Rideout et a1. Apr. 14, 1953 Fischer et a1. Oct. 20, 1953

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