US2828877A - Apparatus for crating or decrating bottles and like operations - Google Patents

Description

April 1, 1958 A. H. WEBSTER APPARATUS FOR CRATING OR DECRATING BOTTLES AND LIKE OPERATIONS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 16, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 neyS Apnl 1, 1958 A. H. WEBSTER APPARATUS FOR CRATING OR DECRATING BOTTLES AND LIKE OPERATIONS Filed Nov. 1a, 1953 i CC Apnl 1, 1958 A. H. WEBSTER 2,828,877

APPARATUS FOR CRATING 0R DECRATING BOTTLES AND LIKE OPERATIONS 8 v Filed Nov. 16, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet gs Atl rneyi April 1958 A. H. WEBSTER I 2,828,877

APPARATUS FOR CRATING DECRATING BOTTLE AND LIKE O E ATIONS Filed Nov. 16, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 dz wa 71 4:524:52?

' A ttorn e y5 April 1, 1958 A. H. APPARATUS FOR CRAT WEBSTER 2,828,877 ING OR DECRATING BOTTLES AND LIKE OPERATIONS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 16, 1955 [mien tori; m,

and T Attorney;

United States Patent APPARATUS FOR CRATING OR DECRATING BOTTLES AND LIKE OPERATIONS Alexander Hyde Webster, London, England Application November 16, 1953, Serial No. 392,424

11 Claims. (Cl. 214-309) This invention relates to apparatus for loading or unloading articles into or from a case, such as crating or decrating bottles, and like operations.

Machines for automatically removing bottles or the like from crates or boxes are well known, and are usually designed to remove bottles from cases in which they are standing upright in pockets formed in the crate in an orderly manner.

In the operation of such machines, it is usual for cases to be conveyed to the machine on a conveyor. The leading case is arrested and positioned, whereafter it cooperates with a gripper head which contains a number of spring loaded or mechanically actuated heads, disposed in a pattern to engage the upstanding necks of the bottles, and adapted to grip the bottle necks so that when the case descends each bottle is firmly held and suspended.

Machines exist in which the case is lifted so that the bottles come into engagement with the gripper head whereafter the case is lowered, or conversely, the gripper head assembly may descend to the pre-positioned case to engage the bottles and thereafter be elevated so that the gripper head raises the bottles from the case to a desired position. i

In either case, the bottles are suspended from the gripper head, and in known machines it is common practice then to transfer the gripper head assembly in a substantially horizontal plane and lower it on to a table so that the dependent bottles are released and remain standing upright on the table. The table may be a moving platform or may be moving conveyor chains.

The defects of such mechanism are that in the horizontal transferring motion of the gripper head, the bottles have to be accelerated from a position of rest and again brought to rest at the dropping point, with the consequence that they are liable to sway and to be unstable. Further, the need to transfer the head horizontally from the lifting position to the dropping position adds greatly to the complication of the machine and its cost, and reduces the speed of operation. Moreover, unless the bottles are discharged on to a stationary table or platform, they are liable to fall over at the moment of contact with the table due to acceleration when they already have a tendency to beiunstable owing to their transfer and descent.

Theobject of the invention-is. to provide a mechanism suitable for the aforesaid purpose which is more simple to construct and which ensures greater stabilityof the bottles during their movement, than the known devices.

With this end in view,the invention consists in a machine for'loading or unloading articles into or from a case, such as crating or de-crating bottles, or like operations, comprising'a flexible supporting surface, extensible to and retractable from a substantially horizontal position where it can support bottles or the like at one stage of an unloading or loading operation. During a bottledecrating operation, for example, thesupporting surface is retracted when the crate ascends to a position allowing a gripper head to grip the bottles, or, conversely, when the gripper head descends to bottle gripping position,

Tic

but as soon as the bottles or the like are suspended, the supporting surface is moved beneath the bottles to .receive them. If the apparatus is used for a bottle crating operation, the supporting surface with bottles in orderly arrangement thereon may be moved beneath the gripper head which then descends to grip the bottles, whereafter the gripper head cooperates with the empty crate beneath it to deposit the bottles therein.

The present invention will be clearly understood from the following description of forms (given, however, merely by way of example) which it may assume, and this description will be more readily followed by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein- Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of a bottle-decrating or crating machine according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the same machine shown in Fig. 1 with the driving levers on one side, and the side plate of the machine removed;

Fig. 3 is a part end-elevational view of the machine shown in .Fig. l in the direction of arrow Z of Fig. 1';

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary planview of the machine shown in Fig. l; a

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side -view, partly in section and on an enlargedscale, of a slotted guide plate incorporated in; the machine of the present invention; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view on an enlarged scale of the slide and roller devices of the present assembly of bottles or like articles.

invention.

In the preferred form of the present invention illustrated and described herein, a supporting surface com: prises an endless belt 1. of sufiicient width to support the This belt 1 passes over-a movable end-pulley A set in a frame or slide head 20 slidable in a substantially horizontal plane, and each run of the belt 1 which extends substantially horizontally, passes over a roller or sprocket C, D, respectively, and turns downwards at right angles to complete the belt loop round a bottom sprocket B or roller assembly set in a slide head 21 disposed and slidable in a vertical plane. The outgoing and return runscf the endless belt 1 are thus parallel to one another and the horizontal portions are onebeneath the other. The two terminal rollers A and B, slidable one in a horizontal plane and the other in a" vertical plane, beingmounted in corresponding slide heads 20, 21, as described above, are connected together by linkage (described more fully below) so that the two roller or sprocket shafts remain parallel to one another and at all times are disposed at a prearranged distance from one another along the length of the belt 1, and thus said belt is kept at constant tension.

The horizontally slidable roller A is adapted to be moved by suitable means (one form of which is de: scribed below), to and away from a position in which the belt extends over a case or crate S.

The upper roller C over which the belt turns through 90 and passes vertically downwards, is fitted with a ratchet 22 which prevents motion of the belt 1 in the forward direction, that is, towards the case or crate 5. The lower roller D round which the return belt 1 turns through 90 from vertical to horizontal, is provided with a ratchet 23 to prevent motion of said belt in the reverse direction, that is away from the case.

An air piston 24 drives by link-rod 26 a pivoted bellcrank lever of which one arm 25 is connected to the slide 21, and the other arm 28 is connected to the slide 20, sothat rocking of this bell-crank effects the down- Ward'motion of the slide head 21 and thus eifects a corratchet. 23 is locked, and thus in the downward motion of the vertical slide head 21, the return belt is unable to move in a direction away from the case and, therefore, the upper surface of the belt 1 (forming the supporting surface) moves in a direction away from the case 5 at a speed equal to twice the speed of the horizontal slide head 20. During an upward movement of the vertical slide head 21 the ratchet 23 of the roller D bearing the return belt is free, but the ratchet 22 on the other roller C is locked, so that as the horizontal slide 20 moves towards the case 5, the upper surface of the belt 1 does. not move but is lengthened by the belt fed to it round the roller A of the horizontal slide 20, until, when the slide comes to rest, it extends over the case 5.

The bottles are deposited on the stationary uppersurface of the belt 1 by the gripper head mechanism of known form (shown diagrammatically at 4 in Figs. 1 and 2), and are thus conveyed away at twice the speed of motion of the horizontal slide head 20 and may, for example, be passed by means of this motion, from the endless belt 1 on to conveyor bands 2 which convey them away for the next operation, such as the in-feed of a bottle-washing machine.

The form of construction and path of the belt 1 may be altered and adapted to requirements within wide limits.

Referring in greater detail to the form of the inventionshown in the accompanying drawings, apparatus for deinterconnected. by a suitable mechanical linkage (described more fully below) for simultaneous sliding move-- ments. The belt 1 passes over the rollers C and D each equipped with ratchet means 22, 23, respectively, which, when the machine is used for de-crating, allow rotation only in the direction of the arrows (Fig. 2). Thus when the belt 1 is in position to receive bottles, the vertical slide head B may be driven downwards preferably by the air cylinder 24 or other suitable means (not shown). Roller C is fitted with ratchet means 22 which leave it free to move in this sense, but roller D is prevented from rotation by its ratchet means 23. Consequently, as B descends, the horizontal slide head 20 is withdrawn from A to A.1 and the upper surface of the belt 1, forming the bottle supportng surface, moves in the direction shown by-the arrow in Fig. 2, in which the horizontal belt is moving at twice the speed of the slide. The bottles are thus moved towards and delivered on to an adjacent bottle conveyor system 2 which conveys them away for the next operation. I p

A trip bar 3 is pivoted on the slide frame or head 20 of roller A, upstanding behind the assembly of bottles, and is so arranged that in the event of obstruction to the, free passage of the bottles, the trip bar 3 is depressed, thus reducing or cutting elf entirely the operating supply of air to the cylinder 24, or otherwise slowing down or arresting operation of the machine. As the obstructing bottles clear on to the bottle conveyor system 2, the bar 3 resumes its upright position under the action of spring tension of the type to be hereinafter described permitting further forward motion until the slide head 20 has reached position Al, where the slide head 20 trips a valve or mechanism (not shown) operating the bottle gripper-head 4 so that either the head descends to pick up a charge of bottles from a crate 5 positioned beneath it or, conversely, the crate 5 is lifted so that the bottles are gripped by the gripping head 4. The crate 5 re-descends or, conversely, the head 4 ascends, after the supply of bottles has been gripped by said head, to a position where the punts of the pack of bottles are just clear of the level of the upper surface of the belt 1. The construction of the gripper operating means and the manner of operation thereof (or alternatively the means and manner of open.

ation of raising and lowering a crate to cooperate with the gripper head) may be of any known or convenient construction and do not per se form part of the present invention.

When this portion of the cycle is complete, automatic means (e. g. trip means, not shown) effect the reversal of the air cylinder 24 or other means operating the vertical slide head 21, causing this to rise from position B1 to position which, by means of the interconnecting linkage, moves the horizontal slide head 20 from A.1 to A.

During the passageof the horizontal slide head from Al to A, the trip bar 3 may be conveniently moved to a position clear of the bottles by a mechanical cam arrangement described below, and in this position is in advance of the roller A. If this trip bar 3 should meet any obstruction which would prevent the forward movement of A, it would again act as asensitive trip and stop the movement, thus preventing damage to the mechamsm.

When the horizontal slide head 20 has reached its ultimate position A, this trips a valve (not shown) causing either the delivery of the bottles on to the belt from the gripper head 4 by mechanical or pneumatic means which may,-if desired, be accompanied by a preliminary slight depression of said gripping head so that the punts of the bottles are resting firmly on the stationary belt'at the moment of disengagement. It will be noted that during and upon completion of the forward movement of the horizontal slide from A.l to A, the upper'surface of the belt is always at rest relative to the bottles because roller C cannot, due'to its ratchet 22, rotate in the sense necessary to allow the upper run of the, belt to move in the direction from position A.l to position A. Roller D is, however, free to turn in the sense permitting the underside of the belt to move. As soon as the bottles are disengaged from the gripping head 4 reversal of the air cylinder 24 is elfected and the cycle recommences as previously described.

A form of linkage which may be used to advantage to interconnect the horizontal and vertical slides 20 and 21 comprises a bell-crank lever 25 having one arm con= nected to the driving rod 26 of an air cylinder 24. The

1 two arms of the crank lever 25 are connected one each,

i individual elements, such as the slide heads, crateand bottle conveyors, and the bottle-gripping means, may be of any known kind, while alternative driving means may be employed for hydraulic, electric or other actuation, and may incorporate means for ensuring automatic sequence of the different cyclic operations of any known or convenient form.

One form of trip mechanism referred to above which may be embodied in the invention is illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings. The trip bar 3 is supported by arms 9 pivoted at 10 to a plate or frame 11 which is mounted at the side of the horizontal slide head 20 and capable of pivotal movement in relation thereto about the point 10. The arm 9 is centralised on plate 11 by oppositely acting tension springs 12, and has a side-projection or lug 13 radiussed about pivot-point 10, with a notch or recess 14 on its edge. The spring-loaded plunger 15 of an air control valve or switch mounted on the plate or frame 11 rides against the edge of lug 13, and when the arm 9 is centralised, rests in the notch or recess 14, in which case the valve or switch is inoperative. An extension of the frame or plate 11 carries a roller 16 which runs in a path 17 (Figure 5) formed, for example, in or on a metal plate secured to a rigid support forming part of the machine. This path 17 is a closed circuit, and at two points is provided with non-return stops 18, 19 normally held, e. g. by springs, in the positions shown in dotted lines, but displaceable to the positions shown in full lines when passed by the roller 16. When the roller 16 traverses the lower part of path 17, the plate 11 is in the position shown in full lines in Figure 5 with the arm 9 upstanding as shown in full lines; while during the time roller 16 runs in the upper part of path 17, the plate 11 is thrown about its pivot and the arm 9 occupies the position partially shown in dotted lines in Figure 5. Under normal conditions in each positin,'the plunger 15 remains seated in notch 14 of lug 13, and the control device remains inoperative.

The cycle of movement of the trip device is as follows:

When the horizontal slide head 2% is in its outermost extended position, roller 16 occupies the extreme end of the upper portion of the path 17, i. e. to the left of stop 18 as seen in Figure 5, and the arm 9 thus occupies a forwardly sloping position (Figure 5). Upon withdrawal movement of the slide head 2.9, i. e. to the right as seen in Fig. 5, the roller l6 guided by stop 18 runs down the inclined portion of path 17 to the lower level, and plate 11 is rocked to bring arm 9 to an upright position (Figure 5), in which attitude it moves behind the bottles being discharged from the upper run of the belt conveyor f. If the bottles should be jammed, the belt 1 travels beneath them, and trip bar 3 upon encountering the bottles is displaced, thereby actuating plunger 15 and its control device to arrest operation of the machine. When the obstruction is removed, the arm 9 with trip bar 3 is again centralised by its springs 12 and the control device re-actuated allowing the machine to continue operation.

At the end of the slide-head stroke, roller 15 runs past stop 19, and upon the next outward motion of the slide head 29, rides up the inclined portion of the path 17 to the upper level of the path, thus rocking plate 11 and arm 9 to a forwardly-sloping position (Figure 5), which it continues to occupy throughout the outward stroke of the slide head 2t). In this position the trip bar 3 is at the level of the upper run of the belt conveyor 1, and is not actuated unless it encounters an obstruction, e. g. a bottle supported by the gripper head at two low a level, or too long for accommodation beside other bottles, in which case it is again displaced to actuate the control device through plunger 15, and to hold the machine arrested until the obstruction is removed. Upon completion of the outward stroke of the slide head 26 the roller 16 reaches theextreme position of the upper portion of path 17, beyond stop 18, and the same cycle as acove described is repeated.

From the above description it will be clear that the main feature of the invention comprises a supporting surface movable to and away from a position between a crate or container for bottles, and a gripping device whereby the bottles can be engaged and supported. When beneath the gripping device, the supporting surface is preferably stationary, but during withdrawal it preferably operates as a conveyor surface (in addition to its bodily movement of retraction), to transfer bottles to receiving means.

It will be appreciated that while the invention has been described as of use for bottles, it may he employed for handling any articles, packed or intended for packing in a crate or container of any kind, and which can be gripped and suspended in the same way as bottles, and such articles are to be understood as included in the term bottles used herein.

While the driving means for the invention may be of any convenient kind, it is preferred that they should be pneumatic in nature, as the use of such means facilitates or arresting motion, and is conveniently in accordance with the known practice of using air operated mechanisms, often interlinked, so that each of a series of motions is consequent upon the completion of a preceding motion, and allows substantially infinite flexibility or control of speed in accordance with the imposed load.

While the invention has been described above when used for a de-crating operation, it will be apparent that it may be employed for other purposes, and more especially for the crating of bottles. For this purpose the ratchet means of both rollers C and'D should be reversed (being preferably reversible at the will of an operator) so that in outward movement of the supporting surface towards the position beneath the gripper head, the upper run of the belt moves forward in conveyor fashion to bring bottles, appropriately marshalled and aligned, beneath the gripper head, which then engages and supports the bottles during withdrawal of the belt, whereafter the bottles are released .by the gripper head into a crate in cooperative relation with the head. Such an arrangement is within the scope of the invention.

It should be understood that the invention is not re stricted solely to the details of the forms described above which may be modified, in order to meet various conditions and requirements encountered, without departing in any way from the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

l. A machine for loading articles into, or unloading articles from, a case, such as crating or de-crating bottles, comprising a main supporting framework, end rollers movably mounted in said framework, an endless conveyor extending between and mounted on said end rollers, means for reciprocating said end rollers between positions in which said endless conveyor extends as a substantially horizontal surface at a supporting point for said articles, and positions in which said endless conveyor is retracted from said supporting point, means for causing said endless conveyor to run round said end rollers during and only during movement of said end rollers etween said positions, and means to ensure unidirectional movement of said endless conveyor round said end rollers irrespective of the direction of reciprocatorymovement of said end rollers. p

2. A machine for loading articles into, or unloading articles from, a case, such as crating or de-crating bottles, comprising a main supporting framework, a gripper head, means for locating a case beneath said gripper head, end rollers movably mounted in said framework, an endless conveyor extending between and mounted on said end rollers, means for reciprocating said end rollers between positions in which said endless conveyor extends as a substantially horizontal surface beneath said gripper head and over said case located beneath saidgripper head, and positions in which said endless conveyor is retracted from beneath said gripper head, means for causing said endless conveyor to run around said end rollers during and only during movement of said end rollers between said positions, and means to ensure unidirectional movement of said endless conveyor round said end rollers irrespective of the direction of reciprocatory movement of said end rollers.

3. A machine for loading articles into, or unloading articles from, a case such as crating or de-crating bottles, comprising a main supporting framework, slides reciprocable in slideways in said framework, end rollers mounted in said slides, an endless conveyor extending between and mounted on said end rollers, means for reciprocating said, slides to move said end rollers between positions in which said endless conveyor extends as a substantially horizontal surface at a supporting point for said articles, and positions in which said endless conveyor is retracted from said supporting point, means for causing said endless conveyor to run round said end rollers during and only during movement of said end the provision of sensitive trip devices for slowing down 76 rollers between said positions, and means to ensure uniassess":

7 directional movement of said endless conveyor round said end rollers irrespective of the direction of, reciprocatory movement of said end rollers.

4. A machine according to claim 3 comprising intermediate rollers over which said endless conveyor runs, wherein one of said slides reciprocates in a substantially vertical direction, and another in a substantially horizontal direction.

5. A machine for loading articles into, or unloading articles from, a case, such as crating or dc-crating bottles, comprising a main supporting framework, rollers mounted in said framework and including end rollers movably mounted in said framework, an endless conveyor extending between and mounted on said end rollers, means for reciprocating said end rollers between positions in which said endless conveyor extends as a substantially horizontal surface at a supporting point for said articles, and positions in which said endless conveyor is retracted from said supporting point, means for causing said endless conveyor to run round said end rollers during and only during movement of said end rollers between said positions, and pawl means associated with at least one of said rollers adapted to ensure unidirectional rotation thereof and thus to ensure unidirectional movement of said endless conveyor round said rollers irrespective of the direction of reciprocatory movement of said end rollers.

6. A machine for loading articles into, or unloading articles from, a case, such as crating or de-crating bottles, comprising a main supporting framework, end rollers movably mounted in said framework, an endless conveyor extending between and mounted on said end rollers, means for reciprocating said end rollers between positions in which the upper run of said endless conveyor extends as a substantially horizontal surface at a supporting point for said articles, and positions in which said upper run of said endless conveyor is retracted from said supporting point, means for causing said endless conveyor to run round said end rollers during and only during movement of said end rollers between said positions, means to prevent linear movement of said upper run of said conveyor during movement of said end rollers to extend said conveyor to said supporting point, and a receiving surface adjacent to said upper run of said conveyor for receiving articles from said upper run of said conveyor as the result of linear movement of the latter during retracting movement of said end rollers.

7. A machine according to claim 6 wherein said receiving surface comprises another movable endless conveyor.

8. A machine for loading articles into, or unloding articles from, a case, such as crating or de-crating bottles, comprising a main supporting framework, end rollers movably mounted in said framework, an endless conveyor extending between and mounted on said end rollers, means for reciprocating said end rollers between positions in which said endless conveyor extends as a substantially horizontal surface at a supporting point for said articles and positions in which said endless conveyor is retracted from said supporting point, means for causing said endless conveyor to run round said end rollers during and only during movement of said end rollers between said positions, means to ensure unidirectional move ment of said endless conveyor round said end rollers irrespective of the direction of reciprocatory movement of said end rollers, and trip means operable by a displaced article on said conveyor, adapted, when operated, to initiate arrest of the machine.

9. A machine according to claim 8 comprising means for automatically moving said trip means to dilierent operative portions during movements of said end rollers, respectively, to extend and retract said endless conveyor.

10. A machine according to claim 8 wherein said endless rollers are mounted on slides reciprocally slidable in ways in said framework, one of said slides being reciprocable in a substantially horizontal direction, and said trip means being carried by said horizontally reciprocable slide.

11. A machine for loading articles into, or unloading articles from, a case, such as crating or de-crating bottles, comprising a main supporting framework, two rollers in constant spatial relationship simultaneously reciprocable between two positions of rest, said rollers rotating'only during said reciprocable movement, an endless belt mounted on and extending between said rollers, and adapted to be stationary on said rollers when said rollers are at rest, means for reciprocating said rollers between said positions of rest and for simultaneously causing said conveyor to run round said rollers, and means to prevent movement of one run of said conveyor in relation to said framework during movement of said rollers in one direction of reciprocation and means to prevent movement of the other run of said conveyor in relation to said framework during movement of said rollers in the other direction of reciprocation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 509,976 Van Stavoren Dec. 5, 1893 887,242 Frank May 12, 1908 1,904,720 Douglass Apr. 18, 1933 1,923,836 Manierre Aug. 22, 1933 1,965,745 Luce et al. July 10, 1934 2,634,874 Rideout et a1. Apr. 14, 1953 2,696,927 Copping Dec. 14, 1954 2,707,572 Rothman May 3, 1955

Images