WO2001023299A1

WO2001023299A1 - Plant for filling a bed-tick with feathers

Info

Publication number: WO2001023299A1
Application number: PCT/DK2000/000543
Authority: WO
Inventors: Møller Jørn MADSEN
Original assignee: Madsen Moeller Joern
Priority date: 1999-09-29
Filing date: 2000-09-29
Publication date: 2001-04-05
Also published as: DK199901382A; AU7406000A

Abstract

A plant for filling a box tick (1) for a box duvet with a filler (24), e.g. feathers or down. The plant comprises a blowing (4), a weighing (5), and a supply station (6), respectively. The last-mentioned station (6) has a supply of filler (24) in a sack (23) which is carried in a rotatable sack holder (25). On the supply station (6) is furthermore placed a vertical suction pipe (26) which at an upper opening is connected to the succeeding plant. While the sack (23) is being emptied of filler (24) during operation, the suction pipe (26) is continuously lowered and kept in constant distance above the filler (24). Furthermore, the suction pipe (26) is repeatedly taken crosswise back and forth whereas the sack holder (25) with the sack (23) is rotating. The combination of the rotating motion of the sack (23) and its repeating cross motions ensures that the filler is sucked evenly and uniformly along the entire surface (28). The plant according to the invention can easily and quickly be converted from using one kind of filler to using another kind of filler. The plant is especially well suited for smaller batches with frequent change of filler.

Description

Plant for filling a bed-tick with feathers

The invention relates to a plant for filling a tick for e.g. a duvet with a filler, such as feathers or down, and which comprises a station which during operation is blowing filler into the tick by means of at least one blower, a second station with at least one balance that weighs out the quantity of filler which is desired blown into the tick at a given moment and which is sucked in by the at least one blower via at least one conveyor pipe, and a third station which, from a supply, supplies the second station with filler which is to be weighed and which the second station sucks in via at least one second conveyor pipe.

Such a plant is known from the applicant's utility patent DK 1998 00389 U3. This known plant is used for filling box duvet ticks with feathers or down. In this case, the third station consists of a relatively large silo with three chambers placed above each others .

From a stock or a sack, the feathers or down are sucked into the top chamber. By opening some valves in the chamber floor, the sucked-in feathers or down are made to fall down into the intermediate chamber from which they on a chute are led down into the bottom chamber. In this chamber, the feathers or down are pre-charged by aeration and agitation so that they will form an airy filler material which is well suited for being blown into a bed-tick.

This known plant functions fully automatically with a smaller contribution of labour and faster production rate than the previous known plants for filling feathers or down into a bed- tick.

The known plant is especially suitable for large-scale production where larger or large batches of bed-ticks are filled with the same kind of feathers or down, and it is therefore possible to keep the plant in operation for a, seen from an economic point of view, reasonably long period of time .

At smaller batches, it is however necessary to frequently change between feathers or down or/and between one kind of feathers or down and a different kind. Such a change necessitates the laborious clearing of the three chambers in the relatively large silo of the known plant before the silo again can be filled and production resumed.

Thereby frequent stops in production occur that reduce the total production capacity of the plant, and the clearing operation in itself furthermore requires a great and costly performance which contributes considerably to increasing the production costs .

At smaller batches, the bed-ticks are therefore often filled by hand. Duvets produced in small batches are therefore normally expensive.

Having several of these known plants on hand, it would be possible to use these for smaller batches. However, the investments in these plants would be so large that such a solution in practice can be excluded.

With a view to cope with the problems originating from when the known plant is to be used for filling smaller batches of ticks with varying filler, it is the object of the invention to provide a plant of the kind mentioned in the opening paragraph, which easily and quickly can be changed over from using one kind of filler to using another, and which nevertheless has all the advantages of the known plant. The novel and unique features according to the invention, whereby this is achieved, is the fact that the supply consists of a sack of filler and that the third station comprises a, during operation, rotating sack holder for carrying the sack in open state with an opening facing upward, at least one mainly vertically set suction pipe which at an upper opening is connected to the at least second conveyor pipe, and means for, while the sack is rotating, guiding the at least one suction pipe downwards and always holding a lower suction opening in the suction pipe m such a position above the filler that the at least one blower via the first conveyor pipe, the second station, the second conveyor pipe and the suction pipe can suck the quantity of filler required to fill the tick up of the sack.

This design means the saving of the expensive silo of the known plant. In stead suction is done directly from the sack which if required easily and quickly can be substituted by another. The plant according to the invention is therefore well suited for filling ticks with varying kinds of filler m smaller batches. However, the plant can ]ust as well be used for larger batches .

As it appears, the suction pipe is continuously coming down as the sack is emptied of filler which therefore is sucked out with the same suction force on all levels.

If the suction opening of the suction pipe were to be m the same place in relation to the surface of the feathers during suction, it would practically only be the feathers m a local area under the suction opening that would be sucked up into the suction pipe. Other areas would not be included and the suction would therefore be uneven and inadequate or perhaps eventually stop altogether. This problem is solved by letting the sack rotate during suction so that the filler in a circular area under the suction opening of the suction pipe is sucked up into the suction pipe.

When the suction pipe at the same time is made to describe cross motions, the result is a completely even suction of filler from the entire surface of the filler into the suction pipe, the filler surface thus maintaining a substantially plane form until the sack is emptied.

The filler, e.g. feathers or down, is normally lying closely packed in the sack. In this state, the filler can only be sucked up with difficulty even if it is successively attempted to be sucked out from the entire surface of the filler with the suction opening of the suction pipe located close above this surface.

In a preferred embodiment an annular chamber is therefore placed around the suction opening of the suction pipe with nozzles for sending air jets towards the filler from a compressed-air source which is connected to the annular chamber. The air jets loosen and air the filler so that it now easily can be sucked up into the suction pipe.

Especially in case of smaller batches, the problem often arises that the sack has not been completely emptied and that there still is old filler in the second station when a change to new filler is done.

The plant can therefore according to the invention comprise a third conveyor pipe extending between the second and third station and having an inserted blower for sucking the old filler out of the second station and blowing it back into the sack. This process only takes a few moments after which the sack of the old filler can be removed and substituted by a sack of new filler. The production process can then continue without delay with the new filler. In this way, the old filler does not go to waste but can conveniently be kept in the sack for later use.

In practice, the third station can comprise a stationary frame for carrying the suction pipe on a carriage which by means of mechanical or hydraulic driving means can be taken up and down in the frame in a vertical guide made on the frame.

In order to ensure that the suction opening of the suction pipe is at the optimum distance above the surface of the filler during the emptying of the sack, a probe can be placed on the suction pipe for registering the immediate value of the distance between the surface of the filler and the suction opening of the suction pipe and for via a computer giving a signal to the driving means to keep the carriage in optimum position.

In order for the suction pipe to be able to describe the desired cross motions, it can be placed on the vertically displaceable carriage via a second carriage which by means of mechanical or hydraulic driving means can be displaced in a horizontal second guide placed on the first carriage.

The rotatable sack holder can permanently be placed in the stationary frame of the third station and be arranged in such a way that a sack of filler easily and quickly can be taken in and out of the sack holder.

However in an advantageous embodiment, the sack holder can consist of a separate cart with a mount for carrying the sack and wheels for wheeling the cart in and out of the frame. When several carts are available, the advantage is obtained in that carts can be standing by with sacks containing filler to be used as the previous sacks are emptied. Change of filler can then quite simply take place by wheeling the cart with the used sack out of the frame and wheeling in a new one. The filler can be the same as in the previous sack or of a different kind.

The wheels of the cart can be arranged in such a way that the cart is also permitted to rotate when it has been wheeled into the frame. In order to be able to make the cart rotate in this position, the frame can have a driving roller for driving round a driving collar and with it the cart, and supporting rollers acting on the back of the driving collar for keeping the driving collar in abutment against the driving roller.

The invention will be explained in greater detail below, describing only an example of a plant with reference to the drawing, in which

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a box tick for a box duvet,

Fig. 2 is a view in diagrammatic form of a first embodiment of a plant according to the invention for filling the box tick in fig. 1 with feathers from a supply station,

Fig. 3 is a view in diagrammatic form of a second embodiment of a plant according to the invention for filling the box tick in fig. 1 with feathers from a supply station,

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of a supply station for the filling plants in figs. 1 and 2,

Fig. 5 is on a larger scale a sectional fractional view of the supply station in fig. 4, Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an expedient embodiment of the supply station in figs. 4 and 5,

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a sack holder in form of a cart for the supply station in fig. 6,

Fig. 8 is on a larger scale a perspective fractional view of a detail of the supply station in fig. 6 with a driving roller for driving round a driving collar and with it the cart and two supporting rollers for during this keeping the driving collar in abutment against the driving roller,

Fig. 9 is a side elevational view partly in section of the supply station in fig. 6 with a cover for closing the opening of the sack during return suction of feathers, and

Fig. 10 is a plan view of the supply station in fig. 9.

In the following the invention is described by way of example on the assumption that the tick is a box tick for a box duvet, and that the filler is feathers, though it must be noted that the invention just as well can operate with another kind of filler, e.g. down, and can fill other kinds of tick with filler.

Fig. 1 shows a box tick 1 for a box duvet. The box tick is in this case divided into four rows each having six boxes 2. Two supply ducts 3 are furthermore extending lengthwise of the box tick. Each of these ducts serve for guiding the supplied feathers into the boxes on either side of the respective duct.

The box tick is filled with feathers in the plant shown in fig. 2 or alternatively in the plant shown in fig. 3. The two plants have identical main components, namely a blowing station 4, a weighing station 5, and a supply station 6, and they function mainly in the same way. In the blowing station 4 the feathers are blown into the box tick 1 by means of a blower 7 with a blowing nozzle 8. As shown, a part of the box tick is folded up around this nozzle in a number of folds 9 whereas the other part is lying on a table 10 and is held by fingers 11 which during the blowing process are led gradually forward in the direction of the arrow by means of an underlying chain drive 12.

At first the entire box tick is folded up around the blowing nozzle 8. In figs. 2 and 3, two boxes have now been filled with feathers, and a third box is being filled. During this the box tick is secured on the blowing nozzle by jaws 13 while a bar 14 is pinning the box tick against the table 10 and bars the supply ducts 3 at the already filled previous box so that this box cannot filled any further.

Each time a box has been filled with feathers in this way, the fingers pull the box tick a box length forward along the table in the direction of the arrow after which the process is repeated until all boxes have been filled.

Above the filling process is demonstrated on the basis of figs. 2 and 3 which only show a single row of boxes 2. When it is the box tick shown in fig. 1 that is to be filled, the blower 7 will of course fill two rows at the same time through their joint supply duct 3 and there will normally also be a similar blower (not shown) for filling the other two rows through their joint supply duct 3.

As shown in fig. 2, the blower 7 is via a conveyor pipe 15 connected to the weighing station 5 which in its turn is connected to the supply station 6 via a second conveyor pipe 16 having an inserted gate 17. A third conveyor pipe 18 with a second gate 19 and a second blower 20 is furthermore extending between the weighing station 5 and the supply station 6.

When the plant is in operation, the first blower 7 sucks the quantity of feathers which at a given moment is to be blown into the box tick in from the weighing station 5 where said quantity is weighed out in a well-known manner.

The negative pressure from the suction side of the blower 7 is transmitted via the first conveyor pipe 15, the weighing station 5 and the second conveyor pipe 16 to the supply station 6 where a sucking-up of feathers therefore takes place. The sucked-up feathers are sucked to the weighing station 5 via the second conveyor pipe 16.

The same process takes place in the plant shown in fig. 3, the only difference is that a pre-dosing buffer 21 is inserted in the second conveyor pipe 16 with an agitator 22 for keeping the feathers in loose and airy state.

Fig. 4 shows the fundamental arrangement of the supply station 6 which in its plain configuration consists of a sack 23 of feathers 24, a sack holder 25, and a suction pipe 26 which is connected to the second conveyor pipe 16 of the plant.

The lower opening or suction opening 27 of the suction pipe is located at a suitable distance above the surface of the feathers 28 so that the blower 7 via the first conveyor pipe 15, the weighing station 5, the second conveyor pipe 16 and the suction pipe 23 can suck the quantity of feathers necessary for filling the box tick up from the sack.

During this, the suction pipe 26 is lowered in the direction of the arrow at the same rate as the sack is emptied so that the suction opening 27 of the suction pipe always is kept at the same distance above the surface of the feathers 28.

At the same time, the sack holder 25 and with it the sack 23 is made to rotate and the suction pipe to describe cross motions as indicated with the arrows. These motions ensure in combination that suction takes place evenly along the entire feather surface. Otherwise, the suction would be uneven at the risk of stopping completely.

Fig. 5 is on a larger scale a fractional view of the supply station shown diagrammatically in fig. 4. The sack 23 is at the top kept distended by a sack holder ring 29 which is part of the sack holder and around which an upper part 30 of the sack 23 is rolled. Thereby the entire surface 28 of the feathers is made completely accessible to suction via the suction opening 27 of the suction pipe 26.

A probe 31 continuously registers the distance to the surface of the feathers and signals the driving mechanism (not shown) that serves for lowering the suction pipe to adjust the distance if this distance does not correspond to the desired distance .

At the bottom the suction pipe 26 ends in an annular chamber

32 having slightly smaller inside diameter than the inside diameter of the suction pipe. Feathers having passed the opening of the chamber will therefore not tend to pack up and get stuck in the succeeding larger opening of the suction pipe.

Generally, the feathers are packed together rather solidly in the sack. In this state, they can however not or only with difficulty and irregularly be sucked up through the opening of the suction pipe by the airflow generated by the blower 7. This problem is solved according to the invention by making a number of evenly distributed nozzle apertures 33 along the underside of the annular chamber and connecting the chamber to a compressed-air source (not shown) which is indicated by the arrow, said source is send via the nozzle apertures 33 sending air jets 34 down towards the feathers.

These air jets effectively loosen and air the packed feathers so that they now easily and evenly can be sucked up into the suction pipe and from this further through the plant to the blower 7.

In the case shown, a number of other nozzle apertures 35 are also made along the interior wall of the annular chamber. Cross air jets 36 are discharged via these other nozzle apertures for preventing the feathers from packing up in the opening of the annular chamber during passage of this opening.

As it appears, the supply station according to the invention has a far simpler structure and is much quicker to operate than hitherto known. A sack of feathers merely has to be put in the sack holder, after which the plant is immediately ready for production.

The plant is very well suited for smaller batches where changes between one kind of feathers to another or to down or another kind of filler have to be done rather often. Old filler will then often be left in the weighing station 5. This old filler must first be removed before the filling process with the new filler can begin.

When the old filler is to be removed, the gate 17 in the second conveyor pipe 16 is closed and the second gate 19 in the third conveyor pipe is opened, after which the second blower 20 is activated. Now, the second blower 20 quickly and effectively blows the remaining old feathers in the weighing station back to the sack 23, the opening of which is kept closed during this by a cover (not shown) .

Then the old sack is taken out of the sack holder and substituted by a new sack of new feathers. The gate 17 is reopened whereas the gate 19 is closed and the second blower 20 deactivated. A new batch of ticks can now be filled with the new feathers without risk of mixing with remains of old feathers whereby it is ensured that all duvets in the new batch obtain the specified quality.

Fig. 6 shows in more detail how the supply station 6 is constructed around a stationary frame 37 and a sack holder in form of a separate cart 38.

On the frame 37 is mounted a vertical guide 39 for a vertical carriage 40 which can be pushed up and down in the vertical guide by means of driving means (not shown) which can be of any suitable kind, e.g. mechanical and/or hydraulic.

On the vertical carriage 40 is mounted a horizontal guide 41 for a horizontal carriage 42 which can be pushed back and forth in this guide by means of different driving means (not shown) which also can be of any suitable kind, e.g. mechanical and/or hydraulic.

The suction pipe 26 is placed on the horizontal carriage 42 which again is mounted on the vertically displaceable carriage 40. The suction pipe can therefore, as mentioned with reference to figs. 4 and 5, continuously be lowered so that the suction pipe is kept at a desired distance above the surface of the feathers during emptying of the sack.

This process takes place by letting the driving means push the vertical carriage 40 downwards in the vertical guide 39 until the desired distance has been reached on any level that the surface of the feathers might have during the emptying process .

The probe 31 detects all the time during the lowering of the suction pipe the immediate distance of this pipe above the surface of the feathers and gives a representative signal corresponding to this distance to a computer (not shown) or similar device which compares the signal to a set of values representing the desired distance. In case of variations, the computer commands the driving means to change the position of the carriage 40 in the vertical guide 39 until the signal corresponds to the set of values .

In fig. 6 a sack 23 of feathers is placed in the cart 38. In fig. 7 the cart is seen without sack. The cart is composed of a base frame 43 with a mount 44 in form of three vertical bars 45 which at the top are connected to the sack holder ring 29 shown in fig . 5.

When the cart is in use, the sack is led, as shown in fig. 6, in between the bars 45, and the upper part 30 of the sack is rolled around the sack holder ring 29. In order to further secure the sack from collapsing as a result of the negative pressure in the sack during the filling operation, the sack can furthermore be secured on the bars 45 by means of clamps or claws (not shown) .

The base frame 43 of the cart is composed of a bottom sack holder ring 46 with three crossbars 47 and a driving collar 48. On the base frame are furthermore mounted six wheels 49 of the kind that can turn about a displaced vertical axis and which therefore automatically position themselves in the direction of motion. Fig. 8 is a perspective fractional view of the cart 38 wheeled into the stationary frame 37 with a sack 23 placed in the mount 44 of the cart.

In the figure are seen two supporting rollers 50 each journaled on a swinging arm 51 which in its turn is pivotally journaled on a bracket 52 on the stationary frame 37.

The right supporting roller 50 shown in fig. 8 is swung up over the top edge of the driving collar 48 whereas the left supporting roller 50 is swung down behind the back of the driving collar 48.

In swung-up position the supporting rollers 50 thus allow the cart to be wheeled in and out of the stationary frame whereas they in swung-down position keep the driving collar 48 and with it the cart 38 with the sack 23 in towards a driving roller 53 driven by a motor 54. In the case shown, the driving roller 53 is provided with a rubber tyre 55 having good friction in relation to the driving collar 48.

When the motor 54 is turned on, the driving roller 53 with the rubber tyre 55 rotates the driving collar 48 and with it the cart 38 with the sack 23 with a rotational speed of typically about 4 - 6 rpm.

This rotational motion is allowed because the wheels 49 of the cart are of the kind that, as mentioned above, can turn about a displaced vertical axis and that therefore position themselves in the direction of motion.

The sack thus rotates during operation and at the same time, the horizontal carriage 42 with the suction pipe 26 is displaced back and forth in the horizontal guide 41 by means of the other driving means (not shown) . The suction pipe 26 thereby describes, during emptying of the sack in relation to the surface 28 of the feathers, a combined rotational and reciprocating motion. Thereby, it is ensured that the feathers are sucked out evenly and uniformly along their entire surface.

As mentioned above, the sack is closed by a cover during the blowing back of old feathers from the weighing station. This cover 56, which is seen in figs. 9 and 10, can be raised so that the opening of the sack 23 is clear, and be lowered so that the opening of the sack is closed by means of four hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders 57.

In figs. 9 and 10, the cover has been lowered and is closing the opening of the sack. The suction pipe is pulled up over the cover and a flap 58 is pushed in over a leading-in opening 59 for leading in the suction pipe when this pipe during production is to be in its sucking position.

A filling pipe 60 which is connected to the third conveyor pipe 18 is placed on the cover 56 and serves for blowing return feathers down into the sack 23. The cover prevents the return feathers from blowing out of the opening of the sack. The air which is blown into the sack will instead escape through the air permeable material of the sack.

Claims

Patent claims

1. A plant for filling a tick (1) for e.g. a duvet with a filler (24), such as feathers or down, and comprising: - a first station (4) which during operation is blowing filler into the tick by means of at least one blower (7 ) , a second station (5) with at least one balance that weighs out the quantity of filler which is desired blown into the tick at a given moment and which is sucked in by the at least one blower via at least one conveyor pipe (15) , and a third station (6) which, from a supply (23), supplies the second station with filler which is to be weighed and which the second station sucks in via at least one second conveyor pipe (16) characterised in that the supply consists of a sack (23) containing filler (24), and - that the third station (6) comprises: a during operation rotating sack holder (25) for carrying the sack (23) in open state with an opening facing upward, at least one mainly vertically set suction pipe (26) which at an upper opening is connected to the second conveyor pipe (16) , and means (39,40) for, while the sack (23) is rotating, guiding the at least one suction pipe

(26) downwards and always holding a lower suction opening (27) in the suction pipe (26) in such a position above the filler (24) that the at least one blower (7) via the first conveyor pipe (15), the second station (5), the second conveyor pipe (16) and the suction pipe (26) can suck the quantity of filler (24) required to fill the tick (1) up of the sack (23) .

2. A plant according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises other means (41,42) for during operation making the suction pipe (26) describe cross motions between two predetermined position.

3. A plant according to claim 1 or 2 , characterised in that around the suction opening (27) of the suction pipe (26) is an annular chamber (32) with nozzles (33) for sending air jets (34) down towards the filler (24) from a compressed-air source connected to the annular chamber (32) .

4. A plant according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the plant comprises a third conveyor pipe (18) between the second and third station (5; 6) and a second blower (20) inserted in this conveyor pipe (18) for sucking filler (24) from the second station (5) and blowing it back to the sack in the third station (6) .

5. A plant according to any of the claims 1 - 4, characterised in that the third station (6) comprises a stationary frame (37) .

6. A plant according to any of the claims 1 - 5, characterised in that the means (39,40) for guiding the suction pipe (26) downwards comprise a mainly vertically set guide (39) mounted on the stationary frame (37), a first carriage (40) carried in the guide (39), and driving means for displacing the first carriage in the guide (39) .

7. A plant according to any of the claims 1 - 6, characterised in that the plant comprises at least one probe (31) placed on the suction pipe (26) and serving for registering the immediate value of the distance between the surface (28) of the filler (24) and the suction opening (27) of the suction pipe (26), a computer or similar device for comparing the registered value with a set of values for the desired distance and for in case of variations giving a signal to the driving means to displace the first carriage (40) in the mainly vertical guide (39) until the registered value corresponds to the set of values.

8. A plant according to any of the claims 1 - 7, characterised in that the means (41,42) for making the at least one suction pipe (26) describe cross motions consist of a mainly horizontally set second guide (41) mounted on the first carriage (40), a second carriage

(42) carried in the second guide (41) and carrying the suction pipe (26), and other driving means for displacing the second carriage (42) back and forth in the second guide (41) .

9. A plant according to any of the claims 1 - 8, characterised in that the sack holder (25) is a cart (25) having a mount (44) for carrying the sack (23) and a number of wheels (49) arranged to allow the cart (25) to both drive and rotate.

10. A plant according to claim 9, characterised in that the cart (25) has a preferably vertically set driving collar (48) with a radial inner side and radial outer side, and that on the stationary frame (37) of the third station (6) is placed at least one driving roller (53) for during operation rotating the cart (25), and at least one supporting roller (50) for during this running on the radial inner side of the driving collar (48) and keeping the radial outer side of this collar in abutment against the driving roller (53).