JPH024442B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a deflection transfer device that synchronously conveys a packaging member and an article to be packaged, deflects and moves one toward the other, unites them, and moves to the next packaging process. It is related to.

Conventionally, this type of deflection transfer device includes a device that separates the packaged item and the packaging member vertically and transports the item while lowering the packaged item at a predetermined position and places it on the packaging member. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A device is provided which temporarily stops the conveyance of a packaged article and a packaging member while transporting the packaged article by separating it left and right, and then deflects and places the packaged article on the packaging member.

In recent highly developed packaging equipment, when the packaged item and the packaging member, such as a folding packaging sheet, are being conveyed synchronously, for some reason the packaging sheet is not being conveyed. Or, if the conveyance state of this packaging sheet piece, for example, the direction of conveyance deviates from the predetermined state, these abnormal situations are detected and the selected specific item to be packaged is transferred to this packaging sheet. It is desired to prevent the occurrence of defective packaging in advance by removing the packaged items from the conveyance line so that they are not placed on top of the package.

In response to such demands, the former known deflection transfer device is designed to exclude selected objects from the conveyance line, since the objects to be packaged and the packaging sheet pieces move on the same conveyance line. It is difficult to do so. On the other hand, the latter known deflection transfer device moves the object to be packaged and the packaging member on a conveyance line that is separated into left and right sides, so it is more suitable than the former for removing the selected object to be packaged from this conveyance line. However, since this latter device is driven intermittently, its work efficiency is poor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to separate packaging members and items to be packaged left and right and continuously transport them, while transporting only selected items to be packaged. The object of the present invention is to provide a deflection transfer device capable of continuous operation for removing items from a line and combining other items to be packaged with a packaging member.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 and 2 show a video cassette packaging apparatus employing the deflection transfer apparatus of the present invention. This packaging device is for packaging video cassettes in a bookcase-like box, and first an outline of this packaging device will be explained.

The packaging member is a packaging sheet piece 1 that has been cut into a predetermined shape and has predetermined fold lines formed thereon, and a large number of these sheet pieces 1 are stacked and stored vertically in a pair of left and right holders 2-2. The two sheet pieces are sequentially taken out from the pair of holders 2-2 by a vacuum suction means, and are conveyed while being held by a conveyor belt 3-3. A conveyance chain 4 having fingers erected at predetermined intervals is provided perpendicularly to this conveyance belt 3-3, and the two sheet pieces 1-1 are carried over by the fingers of this conveyance chain 4 in a row in front and back. It is transferred as follows. In front of and above the conveyance chain 4, holders 7 and 8 are arranged which are shifted back and forth and store video cassette manuals and other accompanying documents 5 and 6 that should be packaged together with the video cassette in a vertical arrangement. When each sheet piece 1 passes under these holders 7 and 8, it is taken out one by one from each holder by vacuum suction means and placed on this sheet piece 1.

A conveyor 10 for conveying video cassettes 9, which are objects to be packaged, is disposed parallel to the conveyance chain 4 on the left and right sides, and the cassettes 9 are supplied onto this conveyor 10 from a cassette supply device 11 at predetermined intervals. These cassettes are conveyed with their rear end surfaces pressed by lateral protrusions 10a mounted on the conveyor 10 at predetermined intervals. A first phototube device 12 is provided at the end of the conveyor 10 close to the cassette supply device 11, and when this phototube device 12 confirms and detects that the cassettes 9 are being supplied onto the conveyor 10, it is activated by an electrical signal. The vacuum suction means for taking out the packaging sheet piece 1 is activated, and the conveyance of the sheet piece 1-1 by the conveyor belt 3-3 is started. In this way, the conveyance of the cassettes 9 by the conveyor 10 and the conveyance of the sheet pieces 1 by the conveyor belt 3 and the conveyor chain 4 are synchronized. When the cassette 9 is deflected and transferred above the conveyance chain 4 by the conveyance device 13, the sheet pieces 1, which have been synchronously taken out and conveyed as described above, are located below the cassette 9, and are moved by the fingers of the conveyance chain. The cassette 9 is transported together with the sheet piece 1, and the cassette 9 is placed on the sheet piece 1, and thereafter they are conveyed together. Next, the sheet piece 1 is bent by a folding device 14 along a pre-formed folding line, and is glued into a predetermined shape by a bonding device 15.
Dry and drain.

Next, the deflection transfer device 13 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 9. This deflection transfer device 13 has a machine frame 16 that extends from near the front end of the cassette conveyor 10 over the conveyance chain 4 in a forward-slanted plane. It is held slightly separated upward from 4. Inside this machine frame 16, a pair of endless chains 17 and 18 are provided in parallel along the longitudinal direction, and each endless chain has a finger member 19 as shown in FIG.
are attached at predetermined intervals. That is, the finger member 19 consists of a block 20 attached to the chains 17, 18 and a finger pawl 21,
As shown in FIG.
A roller 25 is rotatably attached to the blocks 7 and 18 and protrudes inward from the other end of the block 20, and is fastened by a screw 24 and rotatably supported. Further, the middle lower part of the block 20 has a concave notch 26, into which a pin 27 protruding from the chains 17 and 18 is fitted, and the block 20 is moved downward around the pin 23 by its own weight. This prevents rotation and tilting. The finger pawl 21 is bent into an L-shape from the lower part of the pin 23 toward the center of the block 20, and is further bent vertically downward. The finger member 19 is configured as described above, and the endless chain 1
When the finger members 19 reach the lower running portions of the chains 17 and 18 by driving the fingers 7 and 18, the finger claws 21 normally project downward from the lower openings of the machine frame 16 and move.

One endless chain 18, that is, the endless chain 18 on the front side in the conveying direction of the conveyor 10
A guide device 28 for the finger member 19 is located near the
is provided. As shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, this guide device 28 is roughly divided into a swingable guide frame 29, an endless cylinder 30 that drives this guide frame 29, and a fixed guide rail 31. There is. This guide frame 29 is formed into a tapered U-shaped cross section, and a support shaft 32 implanted on the back side of the guide frame 29 is attached to a bracket 33 which is appropriately fixed to the machine frame 16.
It is rotatably supported. Further, a lever 34 is integrally welded to the back surface of the guide frame 29, and an air cylinder 3 is attached to the upper end of this lever 34.
A joint member 36 attached to the piston rod 35 of 0 is pivotally mounted. The air cylinder 30 is attached to one end of the bracket 33,
Therefore, by driving the air cylinder 30 to extend and retract the piston rod 35, the guide frame 29 can be swung about the support shaft 32. A fixed guide rail 31 is provided in front of the guide frame 29 and is fixed to the machine frame 16. The end portion forms a tapered surface 31a and is close to the front end of the guide frame 29.

The lower bent surface 29a of the guide frame 29, which is bent into a U-shape in cross section, is arranged laterally adjacent to the lower running path of the endless chain 18, and the finger member 19 attached to the chain 18 is attached to the guide frame. The roller 25 protrudes inside the finger member 19 when running close to the finger member 21.
is configured to run guided by this bending surface 29a. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, in the position shown by the solid line where the piston rod 35 of the air cylinder 30 is retracted, the extension surface of the lower bent surface 29a of the guide frame 29 is the rear end tapered surface of the fixed guide rail 31. The roller 25 of the finger member 19 located below the chain 18 and therefore attached to the chain 18 is attached to this guide frame 29.
The fixed guide rail 3 passes through the lower bent surface 29a of
1, this roller 25 is on the same plane as the chain 18, and the finger pawl 21 runs in a state protruding downward from the machine frame 16. on the other hand,
At the position shown by the dashed line where the piston rod 35 of the air cylinder 30 is extended, the guide frame 2
9 swings in the direction of the arrow around its support shaft 32, and the extended surface of its lower bent surface 29a is located on the same plane as the upwardly inclined surface of the rear end tapered surface 31a of the fixed guide rail 31. The roller 25 of the finger member 19 attached to the chain 18 is guided by the lower bent surface 29a of the guide frame 29 and reaches the upper surface of the fixed guide rail 31, so that the finger member 19 is moved as shown by the dashed line in FIG. It occupies an inclined position with the roller 25 upward, and its finger pawl 21 has a shape as if it were pulled up into the machine frame 16.

In the deflection transfer device 13 of the present invention, the piston rod 35 of the air cylinder 30 normally occupies a retracted position, so that the guide frame 29 is in the solid line position in FIG.
The finger members 19 attached to the cassettes 7 and 18 protrude downward from the machine frame 16, run diagonally across the cassette conveyor 10, and pick up the cassettes 9, which are the objects to be packaged, conveyed onto the conveyor 10. The two finger claws 21a and 21b are brought into contact with the rear end surface and the left side surface in the direction of movement, and the sheet is transferred onto the transport chain 4 adjacent in the lateral direction. The running speed V ₀ of the endless chains 17 and 18 is the transport speed of the conveyor 10, as shown in
V ₁ , and when the angle of the endless chains 17 and 18 with respect to the conveyor 10 is θ, V ₀ cosθ≧V ₁
It becomes as. Therefore, two finger claws 21
When the fingers 21a and 21b project and deflect the cassette 9 in the lateral direction, the finger claws 21a that come into contact with the rear end surface of the cassette do not act as a pressing force on the cassette 9, but simply come into contact with the cassette 9. The other finger pawl 21b acts on the left side surface of the cassette 9 in the direction of travel and presses and deflects it to the right in the direction of travel, that is, toward the conveyance chain 4.

Air cylinder 3 of deflection transfer device 13 of the present invention
0 is configured to operate in response to a phototube device (not shown) disposed in front of a holder 8 that collects and stores the aforementioned manuals 5, 6, etc., and is activated by this phototube device. When it is detected that the parts 1, manuals, etc. 5, 6 are not being supplied normally, compressed air is supplied to the air cylinder 30 in response to this detection signal, and the piston rod 35
As described above, the guide frame 29
swings, and the finger claw 21 of the finger member 19 attached to the front endless chain 18
, rotates into the machine frame 16 and rises as shown by the dashed line in FIG. Therefore, since there is no longer a finger claw 21b that presses the cassette 9, which is the object to be packaged, from the conveyor 10 in the lateral direction, the cassette is sent forward by the conveyor 10 as it is, is ejected from the front end discharge port 37 of the conveyor, and is then reloaded. It can be used as is as a packaging cassette.

As described above, according to the present invention, while the packaging member and the item to be packaged are separated to the left and right and are continuously conveyed, the item to be packaged is usually deflected and transferred in order to combine with the packaging member, and in the event of an abnormality, the selected item is transferred. Since it is possible to continuously discharge only the packaged items that have been packaged separately, it is possible not only to perform packaging operations efficiently, but also to prevent defective packaging in advance and recirculate the discharged packaged items. It is then possible to supply the desired packaging.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an automatic packaging machine using the device of the present invention, with a partially inserted perspective view for explanation, Fig. 2 is a side view of the packaging machine, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of an automatic packaging machine according to the present invention. 4 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the device according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the finger member used in the device of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram of the finger member shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a partially sectional front view showing the mutual positional relationship between the guide frame and fixed guide rail of the device of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is the right side of the device part shown in FIG. 7. The sectional view, FIG. 9, is a plan view of the device portion of FIG. 7. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Packaging sheet piece, 4... Conveyance chain, 9... Item to be packaged (video cassette), 10...
... Conveyor, 13 ... Deflection transfer device, 16 ... Machine frame, 17, 18 ... Endless chain, 19 ...
...Finger member, 21...Finger claw, 25
... Roller, 28 ... Guide device, 29 ... Guide frame, 30 ... Air cylinder, 31 ...
Fixed guide rail.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A first transport line for transporting packaging members and a second transport line for transporting objects to be packaged are arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction, and the transport path for the objects to be packaged is connected to the second transport line. A deflection and transfer device for deflecting the article from above to the first conveyance line to unite the object with the packaging member, the device diagonally crossing the second conveyance line and deflecting the object to the first conveyance line. Each chain has a pair of parallel endless chains extending to the conveyance line, each of which has a roller protruding from one end and a finger claw for pushing the article at the lower end.The other end of the chain is oscillated at predetermined intervals. A fixed guide rail and a swingable guide frame are provided adjacent to the chain that is movably mounted and located on the front side of the conveyance line among the pair of chains, and the guide frame is connected to a driving means. guide the roller of the finger member below the fixed guide rail to move the finger pawl to the second
The roller is guided above the fixed guide rail, the finger member is inclined, and the finger claw is moved upward from the second conveyance path. Second
The drive means is selectively excited by a detection signal from a device that detects the conveyance state of the packaging member on the first conveyance line, and moves the guide frame to a position of the guide frame is displaced from the first position to the second position;
When the finger member of the chain protrudes into the second conveyance path and travels, and reaches the lower part of the chain along the second conveyance line, the rear end face and side end face of the packaged object reach the lower part of the chain. the finger of the finger member attached to the chain on the front side when the guide frame occupies the second position; An object to be packaged in an automatic packaging machine, characterized in that a claw is located above the second conveyance line so that the object to be packaged is discharged on an extension of the second conveyance line without being deflected. deflection transfer device.