US3762581A - Loading and unloading equipment of tiles or the like in baking plants - Google Patents

Abstract

A plant to move boxes or equivalent containers for tiles or the like, which are to be baked and/or enamelled, and to load and unload such pieces on and from the boxes or equivalent containers. The plant includes: a boxing machine with transverse conveyors for tiles, spacing means for the same, thrust means for the simultaneous boxing of the tiles in two or more boxes and lifting means for the boxes (or similar containers). A conveyor feeds two or more empty boxes to the boxing machine. A hanging conveyor moves the full boxes away from the boxing machine and forwards them to a furnace. The plant also includes an unboxing or box withdrawing machine with transverse conveyors for the picking up of the tiles, thrust means for the simultaneous withdrawal of tiles from two or more boxes or the like and vertical movement means for the boxes. A hanging conveyor sends the boxes coming from the furnace to the boxing equipment. A horizontal conveyor is provided to receive from the box extraction machine the empty boxes, and to accumulate and supply the boxing machine with the same.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Gabbrielli 14 1 Oct. 2, 1973 LOADING AND UNLOADING EQUIPMENT 0F TILES OR THE LIKE IN BAKING PLANTS [76] Inventor: Guglielmo Gabbrielli, Viale G. B.

. Morgagni ll, Firenze, Italy [22] Filed: July 19, 1972 [21] Appl. No.1 273,269

[52] US. Cl. 214/l6.4 R, 2l4/3l0 Primary Examiner- Robert G sheridan Assistant Exqmirzer- -R. B. Johnson Attorney-Eric H. Waters et al.

57 1 ABSTRACT A plant to move boxes or equivalentcontainers for tiles or the like, which are to be baked and/or enamelled, and to load and unload such pieces on and from the boxes or equivalent containers. The plant includes: a

boxing machine with transverse conveyors for tiles,

spacing means for the same, thrust means for the simultaneous boxing of the tiles in two or more boxes and lifting means for the boxes (or similar containers). A conveyor feeds two or more empty boxes to the boxing machine. A hanging conveyor moves the full boxes away from the boxing machine and forwards them to a furnace. The plant also includes an unboxing or box withdrawing machine with transverse conveyors for the picking up of the tiles, thrust means for the simultaneous withdrawal of tiles from two or more boxes or the like and vertical movement means for the boxes. A hanging conveyor sends the boxes coming from the furnace to the boxing equipment. A horizontal conveyor is provided to receive from the box extraction machine boxing machine with the same.

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BJQZJSBI LOADING AND UNLOADING EQUIPMENT OF TILES OR THE LIKE IN BAKING PLANTS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to apparatus for moving boxes or equivalent containers for pieces, such as tiles or the like which are to be baked and/or enamelled, and for loading or unloading said pieces on or from boxes or equivalent containers.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION According to the invention, the apparatus may include a boxing machine with transverse conveyors for tiles, spacing means for the same, thrust means for the simultaneous boxing of tiles in two or more boxes and lifting means for the boxes (or similar containers); a feeding conveyor for feeding one or more empty boxes to the boxing machine; and a hanging conveyor for the moving away of full boxes from the boxing machine. The apparatus may further include a horizontal conveyor for the full boxes and a means for starting the same towards a furnace; an unboxing or box withdrawing machine with transverse conveyors for the picking up of the tiles, thrust means for the simultaneous withdrawal of tiles from two or more boxes and vertical movement means for the boxes. Also included may be a hanging conveyor to send boxes coming from the furnace to the boxing equipment, and conveying means for conveying the emptied boxes to said hanging conveyor or to a receiver for the boxes.

An object of the invention, thus, is to provide for improved means for moving of containers, for instance, containing a plurality of tiles or other such articles, evenually to be provided with an enamel layer towards and away from a baking furnace.

Said operation is completely automatized and begins with the introduction of biscuit tiles with or without enamel, or raw ties with or without enamel thereon, into the boxing machine. Then, simultaneous insertion into two or more boxes follows and then follows transfer by means of a hanging conveyor to a carriage or other conveying means for forwarding of the tiles towards the furnace.

After the baking, movement is resumed on the opposite side of the assembly or unit with the introduction of two boxes or the like into a boxing extraction or unboxing machine, after treatment in the furnace has taken place. The movement of the first hanging conveyor to the furnace and the return from the furnace can be obtained with operational carriages or.with other conveying means. Provision can be made for the introduction of two boxes or cells containing the baked tiles, by means of a similar hanging conveyor, into the box extraction machine," effecting a reversed cycle (that is, the box extractionand removal of the finished product from the machine). The empty boxes, by means of a chain or belt conveyor or the like connecting the two boxing and box extraction machines, are then returned to the boxing machine. The latter conveyor is operated by the boxing machine.

The movements of the several members of the unit may be mechanical, pneumatic or hydraulic, actuated by cams or by simple microswitches or bistables devices upon the determination of a program. The movements of the single machines or conveyors are independent of one another and one machine may work while the others may be momentarily inactive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING The invention will be better understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings, which illustrates a non-limitative embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIGS. 1 and 2 diagrammatically illustrate a lateral view and a plan view of the unit;

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagrammatic section of the unit, showing box motion, taken along line III--III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the boxing machine, taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3, on the entrance conveyor side;

FIG. 5 is a lateral section taken along line V-V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view taken along line VI-VI of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the boxing machine taken on the side of the control panel, along line VII-VII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a section of the tiles positioning plane taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. 5;

.sociated row of tiles already covered by enamel to be baked, in position for boxing;

FIGS. 12, 13 and 14 are details according to the section XIIXII of FIG. 8, which illustrate respectively the feeding of loose tiles on moving belts, the lifting of the tiles positioning plane, and a. tile being urged towards the box;

FIG. 15 is a vertical section of the box extraction machine along the longitudinal axis of the assembly;

FIG. 16 shows a detail in cross-sectional view taken along line XVIXVI of FIG. 18;

FIG. 17 is a plan view taken along line XVII-XVII of FIG. 15;

FIG. 18 is a horizontal section taken XVIIIXVIII of FIG. 15;

FIG. 19 is a front view of the box extraction machine" on the side of the control panel, taken along line XIX-XIX of FIG. 15;

FIG. 20 is a front view of the box extraction machine on the conveyors side, taken along line XX-XX of FIG. 15; 7

FIGS. 21 and'22 are views of the supporting bridge for the hanging conveyor for the boxes, on the side of the boxing machine and on the side of the box extraction machine, respectively;

FIG. 23 is a side view of the boxes conveying hanging along line carriage;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The machine of the assembly which begins the handling cycle of the tiles in the biscuit or raw state, with

Claims (14)

1. Apparatus for moving boxes or the like having vertically spaced receptacles for pieces such as tiles or the like, to be baked and/or enamelled and to load and unload said pieces in and from boxes, said apparatus comprising a boxing machine including tile transverse conveyors, tile spacing means cooperating with said conveyors, thrust means for the simultaneous boxing of the tiles in at least two boxes and lifting means for lifting the box to make the receptacles sequentially available; a feed conveyor for conveying at least two empty boxes to the boxing machine; a hanging conveyor for moving away filled boxes from the boxing machine, a horizontal conveyor for filled boxes, and means for starting the latter towards the furnace; a box extraction unit including transverse conveyors for the picking up of tiles, thrust means for the simultaneous extraction of tiles from the boxes and vertical movement means for the boxes to permit the sequential extraction of tiles from the receptacles; a hanging conveyor to forward boxes coming from the furnace to the extraction unit; and transfer means for transferring of the emptied boxes to the latter said conveyor.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the boxing machine includes: a quick transverse conveyor to space the tiles; feelers which signal the presence of a tile against a positioning stop, and operate respective front stops; filting planes for lifting tiles from the level of the lateral conveyor to the level of an empty seat in a box and resilient pushers for the lifted tiles including a cam return, to obtain the transfer of the tiles to the boxes while said planes are lowered.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 comprising a system including a lever, a spring and a cam, the spring pressing the lever against the cam, the cam determining the return stroke and the spring the active stroke; said spring yielding in case of resistance to the movement of the tiles; and a microswitch on the lever to determine the stopping of the machine with the moving away of the lever from the cam.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the boxing unit includes chain means for the simultaneous lifting of at least two boxes, angles and retaining lateral pressing members on the chain means, resting means for the boxes to assure stability during the boxing operations, said resting means including movable vertical rods to allow the advance of the boxes on the chains and to reach the resting position.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the boxing machine includes fluid thrust means to transfer the boxes to a pick up bracket.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein the boxing unit includes control means for lifting the boxes, and means connected to the chain lifting means and including a perforated disc cam and a cooperating photocell to control the stopping of the boxes at different levels.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the extraction unit includeS transverse belt conveyors and lowerable planes associated with the latter and adapted to receive extracted tiles and lay them on said transverse conveyors and extraction resilient pushers including a cam control for return.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein the pushers are actuated by a system including a lever, a spring, and a cam, the spring pushing the lever against said cam, the cam determining the return stroke and the spring the active stroke; said spring yielding in case of resistance to movement of the tiles; and a microswitch on the lever to control stopping of the extraction unit with the moving away of the lever from the cam.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein the extraction unit includes a tile lowering system provided with an alternate motion and including chains bearing a resting frame; said lowering system being adapted to receive boxes from the latter said hanging conveyor, to center and lay the same on the tiles conveyor for the forwarding to the boxing unit.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 wherein the box extraction unit includes intermittent lowering control means, including a cam and perforated disc system and a cooperating photocell connected to the lowering system to control the stopping of the boxes at the different levels.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 wherein the box extraction unit includes a movalbe resting and contrast system to avoid movements of a box during an extraction operation.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein the latter said hanging conveyor includes a hanging carriage structure, lowering and lifting means, a pick up structure connected to said hanging carriage structure by said lowering and lifting means, bars, and bars pick up means angularly movable to engage the boxes; and feeler means for signalling for the stopping and movement of the bars.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12 wherein the latter said hanging conveyor includes control stops for speed reduction and the stopping of the pick up structure, stopping means for the carriage and means to adjust the transfer speed and determine the stopping of the carriage in different positions for the subsequent movement of a plurality of boxes.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13 comprising parallel hanging conveyors to pick up and return boxes orthogonally to the boxing and extraction direction, and parallel to the movements of the tiles upon arrival and in exit of the latter; and wherein the conveyor of empty boxes is oriented in alignment with the boxing and extraction directions; the hanging conveyors unloading and picking up carriages movable orthogonally thereto.

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