JPH0318512A - Intermittent supply device for spacer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent obstruction of a spacer in a long size article transport device in the title by combining a loader repeatedly transporting one unit of spacer in stand-by state to an intermediary position, a lifter between the intermediary position and a transfer position, an accumulating conveyor, and an escape device, all together. CONSTITUTION:Many lines and many steps of spacers S are loaded on a carriage 50 in stand-by state at a prescribed position. Nextly, a loader main body 11 is moved above the spacers S with a horizontal cylinder 16, and an elevator frame 12 is brought down. One unit of spacer is held with a finger member 13. Nextly the spacer S is delivered to a lifter 20, by reverse movement of the elevator frame 12 and the loader main body 11. Nextly, the spacer is further transferred to an accumulating conveyor 30, and temporarily stored. The spacer S is discharged with an escape device 40 from the extreme end spacer in order and intermittently.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an intermittent spacer supply device for arranging a plurality of spacers supporting a long product from below at predetermined intervals when transporting a long product.

Prior Art When transporting long products such as shapes (hereinafter simply referred to as "products") laterally in factories, for example, if wires, etc. are directly wrapped around the products to support them, there is a risk of damaging the products. In addition, if only both ends of the product are supported, the middle part will flex significantly due to its own weight, and in some cases,
There is also a risk of plastic deformation.

In order to effectively prevent such damage, bending, plastic deformation, etc., the product is sometimes supported via a prismatic spacer whose outside is covered with a suitable protective material such as felt.

Several spacers are arranged in parallel according to the length of the product, and the product is placed on top of them.
When transporting a product, these spacers are supported all at once to indirectly support the product from below.

At this time, the spacers are arranged by an intermittent spacer supply device. This is a spacer SSS.
..., a cassette box B disposed above the conveyor A, and a separation cylinder C (Fig. 6).

Cassette box B has many spacers S inside it.
1S... in the direction of movement of conveyor A.
It is possible to stock in multiple stages at right angles to
A discharge port B1 and an extrusion port B2 are formed on the front side and rear side of the lower portion, respectively. The separation cylinder C is disposed further rearward of the extrusion cylinder B2, and a separator C2 is attached to the tip of a telescopic rod C1.

Now, when the rod C1 is shortened and the separator C2 is retracted to the receding eye via the extrusion port B2, the two-dot chain line in the same figure)
, spacer S. ．． The whole spacer S... can be lowered by -stage, and the spacer S at the lowest stage can be located on the conveyor A. Next, when the rod C1 is extended, the separator C
2 connects the lowermost spacer S to the discharge port B with its front end.
While pushing forward from 1, the upper surface receives the following spacer S1S..., so one spacer S is separated from the following spacer SSS... and transferred to the conveyor A.
can be discharged downstream. At this time, by appropriately adjusting the discharge timing of the spacer S and the conveyance speed of the spacer S by the conveyor A, the spacer S1
S... can be arranged in required number on the downstream side of the conveyor A at predetermined intervals.

Problem to be Solved by the Invention The problem to be solved by the present invention is that when using such prior art, the lowest spacer supporting the weight of a large number of succeeding spacers is forcibly ejected laterally by the separation cylinder, so that the spacer cannot be ejected. Unnecessary frictional force acts between the spacer in operation and the spacer immediately following it, causing the postures of both to become disordered, which may cause the problem that the spacer is more easily dislocated near the outlet of the cassette box. there were. Also, spacers are stocked in multiple stages in the cassette box, so once a spacer becomes clogged near the discharge port, all subsequent spacers in the cassette box must be removed to remove this spacer. There was also the problem that a large number of man-hours were required to restore the entire device and return it to normal transfer. Furthermore, since the spacers in the cassette box are stacked high in a row, the number of spacers that can be accommodated is small, requiring frequent replenishment, and the unavoidable drawback that replenishment is difficult. Ta.

Therefore, in view of the actual state of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to use a loader that conveys one unit of spacers waiting at a predetermined position at a time, and to combine this with an accumulation conveyor and an escape device. To provide an intermittent spacer supply device which does not have the problem of spacer clogging during discharge and solves a series of inconveniences related to restoration work and replenishment work at once.

Means for Solving the Problems The structure of the present invention to achieve the object is as follows: one unit of spacers waiting at a predetermined position (referring to a plurality of spacers transported by one transport operation of the loader; the same shall apply hereinafter). ) to the relay position repeatedly, a lifter equipped with a lifting plate that reciprocates between the relay position and the transfer position, an accumulation conveyor that conveys the spacers transferred from the lifting plate, and a The gist thereof is to include an escape device that temporarily stops and discharges the first spacer and sequentially and intermittently discharges the first spacer.

In addition, the loader has a loader body that repeatedly moves between above a predetermined position and above a relay position, an elevating frame mounted on the loader main body, and a lifting frame that is slidably supported. and a pair of finger members for gripping the spacer.

Further, the finger member may include a plurality of locking pins that are biased towards the recessed portion of the end face of the spacer and can move forward and backward.

In addition, the escape device includes a retaining plate disposed above the accumulation conveyor, a retaining rod disposed below the retaining plate, and a locking rod disposed in front of the retaining rod. The locking rod and the locking rod may be moved up and down alternately, and an unloading conveyor for conveying the discharged spacers is provided downstream of the escape device, and the locking rod and the retaining rod are It can also be moved up and down via a single core cam synchronized with the conveyor.

In this configuration, the loader transports one unit of waiting spacers to the relay position at a time, and the lifter raises the elevating plate to lift the spacers transported by the loader. , can be received from the loader at the relay position and transferred to the accumulation conveyor at the transfer position by lowering the elevating plate. The escape device temporarily stops the spacers conveyed by the accumulation conveyor, and sequentially and intermittently discharges the spacers from the top, so that the spacers can be placed on the accumulation conveyor or on the discharge conveyor located downstream of the escape device. , spacers can be arranged at predetermined intervals.

Further, when the loader includes a loader main body, an elevating frame, and a finger member, the finger member moves via the loader main body to a predetermined position where the spacer is waiting, and also moves via the elevating frame. Therefore, by gripping the spacer with a pair of finger members, raising the lift frame, moving the loader body, etc., the spacer can be transferred to the lift plate waiting at the relay position. I can do it.

When the finger member has a plurality of biased locking pins, for example, when gripping a spacer having recesses on both end surfaces, the locking pins corresponding to the recesses enter into the recesses and engage the end surfaces of the spacer. Since the interfering locking pin retreats, the locking pin that has entered the recess engages with the end of the spacer, allowing the finger members to reliably grip the spacer.

If the escape device is equipped with a restraining plate, a stop rod, and a locking rod arranged above the accumulation conveyor, and the stop rod and the locking rod move up and down alternately, the escape device will be able to transport the accumulation conveyor. For the spacer
By raising the locking rod and lowering the locking rod, the entire spacer is temporarily stopped.Conversely, the locking rod moves upward and the locking rod descends, so that only the leading spacer is stopped. After being ejected from the escape device, the subsequent spacer can be held between the retaining rod and the holding plate.Then, by repeating the same operation, the spacer can be placed, for example, in the escape device. It can be discharged at predetermined intervals onto a discharge conveyor disposed on the downstream side. At this time, if the locking rod and the retaining rod are moved up and down mechanically via an eccentric cam that is synchronized with the discharge conveyor, this discharge operation can be carried out more accurately.

It works as described above.

Example Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The spacer intermittent supply device includes a loader 10 and a lifter 20.
This device includes an accumulation conveyor 30, and an escape device 40 (Fig. 1), and spacers S1S for supporting products from below are arranged at predetermined intervals.

The spacer S is formed into a prismatic shape with a rectangular cross section.

The spacer S only needs to have recesses formed on both end faces thereof and be supported by using the recesses, so the spacer S may have a hollow space SL formed throughout the interior thereof (FIG. 2).

The material of the spacer S may be, for example, aluminum, and the intermediate portion that supports the product is covered with an insulating material such as felt to prevent damage to the product.

In order to make the spacers S1S... wait at a predetermined position set within the operating range of the loader 10, a cart 50 is used (
Figure 1). The trolley 50 includes a base plate 51 with casters,
It consists of frame members 52, 52 installed upright on the upper surface, and on the base plate 51 between the frame members 52, 52, spacers S1S for one stage arranged in multiple rows are arranged in multiple stages as one unit. Can be loaded.

In addition, since the combination vehicle 50 can freely move on the floor via casters, by providing a guide member to guide it and a stopper to stop it at an appropriate position, the spacer The SSS... can be easily placed on standby at a predetermined position.

The loader 10 includes a loader main body 11, an elevating frame 12, and a pair of finger members 13, ]3. The loader main body 11 can repeatedly move on a guide rail 15 horizontally supported by two supports 14, 14 in accordance with the expansion and contraction of the rod 16a of the horizontal cylinder 16. However, the base end 16b of the horizontal cylinder 16 is connected to one end of the guide rail 15, and the tip of the rod 16a is connected to the loader main body 11 via the bracket 11a. Note that the guide rail 15 is connected to the spacer SSS.
. . is placed between the upper part of the lifter 20 and the upper part of the lifter 20. As a result, the loader main body 11 can be repeatedly moved between the two (solid line and dashed-dotted line in FIG. 3).

The lifting frame 12 is connected to the loader main body 11 via a vertical cylinder Ilb mounted downward (FIG. 1),
In addition, idle rods 12a, 12a are vertically installed on the upper surface of the elevating frame 12, and slideably pass through the loader main body 11. Therefore, the elevating frame 12 is
It can be moved up and down with respect to the loader body ↓1.

The pair of finger members 13, 13 are members disposed on the left and right sides of the elevating frame 12 so as to face each other, and from the grip plate 13a on the opposing side, a large number of locking bins 13b, 13b, ... are protruding at equal intervals (
Figure 2). Each of the locking pins 13b, which pass through the grip plate 13a so as to move forward and backward, has a stopper 13d at its rear end, and is equipped with a compression spring 13c, which urges it toward the projecting side. Finger members 13, 1
3 is slidably supported from side to side with respect to the elevating frame 12 via horizontal rods 12b, 12b, . By expanding and contracting the gripping cylinder 12c, the horizontal distance between the two finger members 13, 13 can be expanded and contracted.

When the finger members 13, 13 approach each other, they can simultaneously grip one unit of spacers S, S, . . . between them (FIG. 2). That is, each finger member 1
The gripping plates 13a of No. 3 hold the spacers S, S... on the cart 50.
・If you approach both Ok+i parts of the -41st position of the top row and come into contact with a part of them, the locking pins 13b, 13
b... is one in which the compression springs 13C, 13c... are compressed and retreated by the end face of the spacer SSS..., and one in which the spacer SSS remains protruding from the grip plate 13a
There is one that enters the hollow space Sl131..., and the latter locking bottle 13b, 13b...
When the finger members 13, 13 are raised via the R descending flares l.12, they engage with the ends of the spacers S, S..., so one unit of the spacers S, S... is lifted all at once. It can be carried in two directions by supporting it. However, the locking pins 13b, 13b... are connected to the hollow space St of each spacer S.
It is preferable to stabilize the posture of the spacer SSS while it is being supported by allowing at least two or more objects to enter into one end surface of the spacer.

The lifter 20 includes a pair of lifting plates 21, 21 arranged in parallel.
, upward cylinders 22 , 22 connected to the lower surface of the elevating plates 21 , 21 , guide rods 23 , 23 vertically installed on the lower surface of each elevating plate 21 , and guide rods 23 , 23 slidably guided up and down. (FIG. 1). One set of elevating plates 21, 21 is the cylinder 2
2 and 22, the loader 10 reciprocates up and down between the upper relay position (double-dashed line in Figure 3) and the lower transfer position (solid line in the figure), and at the relay position, the loader 10 One unit of spacer SSS... that has been transported can be received.

The accumulation conveyor 30 includes a pair of endless belts 31 and 3l, a drive pulley (not shown) for driving each belt 31 in the direction of arrow K1 in FIG. 1, and a driven pulley 32. A tension pulley 33 is provided. The belts 31, 31 are arranged parallel to the elevating plates 21, 21 and on the outside thereof.
When the spacer S is placed across the belts 1 and 31, both ends of the spacer S protrude to the outside of the belts 31 and 31 to some extent. The height of the upper surface of the belts 31, 31 is set slightly higher than the transfer position of the elevating plates 21, 21, so that the elevating plates 21, 21,
21 can receive one unit of spacer SSS... from the loader 10 at the relay position from the elevator plates 21, 21 before the elevator plates 21, 21 descend to the transfer position. (Figure 3).

The S'7'-bu device 40 includes a pair of holding plates 41, 41 disposed above the accumulation conveyor 30, and a holding plate 41.
, 41, and the locking rods 43, 43 and the locking rods 42, 42 are connected via the L rods 42, 42 and the link plates 44, 44. The main components are eccentric cams 45, 45 that alternately move up and down (FIGS. 1 and 4).

The length L41 of each presser plate 41 is sufficient to cover the upper end surface of the retaining rod 43, but it should be set so that L41≧232 with respect to the width S2 of the end surface of the spacer S, and its installation position should be set from the upper surface of the belt 31. , by slightly larger than the height S3 of the spacer S, each presser plate 41 can minimize unnecessary movement in the vertical direction of the spacer S1S that stays below or passes below it. can. The presser plate 41 has chamfers 41a, 41 on both front and rear ends of the lower side.
A has been applied.

Each of the locking rods 42 and the retaining rods 43 passes through a guide member 46 fixed below the presser plate 41 so as to be slidable up and down. The upper end of the locking rod 42 forms a notch 42a for locking the spacer S from the front thereof, and the upper end of the locking rod 43 has a flat surface for sandwiching the spacer S between it and the holding plate 41. It is formed in

The lower ends of the locking rod 42 and the retaining rod 43 are attached to two of the substantially triangular link plates 44 that swing around the shaft 44a.
It is rotatably connected to the top.

A cam roller 44 is mounted on the other top of the link plate 44.
b arrives at Nakayama, and this cam roller 44b is connected to the eccentric cam 45.
is in contact with the outer periphery of the Therefore, when the eccentric cam 45 rotates, the link plate 44 swings about the shaft 44a via the cam roller 44b.
2 and the retaining rod 43 can alternately move up and down.

The upper ends of the locking rod 42 and the retaining rod 43 descend lower than the −L plane of the belt 31, and the distance between them is such that the locking rod 42 locks the leading spacer S. In some cases, it is preferable to set the retaining rod 43 to be located below the spacer S immediately after it. Note that the cam roller 44b is always biased so as to come into contact with the outer periphery of the eccentric cam 45, and the eccentric cam 45 is
Assume that it is rotationally driven via a 5a1 chain 45b.

The operation of such an intermittent spacer supply device is as follows. First, a large number of spacers S. ．． S...
Move the trolley 50 loaded with spacers S1S-...
is placed on standby at a predetermined position (Fig. 3).

Next, the horizontal cylinder 16 is driven to move the loader main body 11 upward to a predetermined position, and then the vertical cylinder 1l is moved upward.
When the elevating frame 12 is moved to the vicinity of the spacer S1S through Can be located at the corresponding level. Therefore, the finger members 13, 13 are brought close to each other, and the unit spacer S1S... is gripped from both end faces (solid line in FIG. 3), and then the movement of the lifting frame 12 and the opening body 11 is controlled. By combining them, the loader 10 can transport one unit of spacers SSS... to the relay position at one time (double-dashed line in the figure).

At the relay position, one unit of spacer S is removed from the loader 10.
, S...]
By descending to the transfer position (solid line in Figure 3),
One unit of spacer SSS... is transferred to the accumulation conveyor 3
It can be transferred onto the belts 31, 31 of 0. The transferred spacers S, S... move toward the downstream side on the accumulation conveyor 30 while maintaining a posture in which many spacers are horizontally arranged in parallel (Fig. 4), and the leading end is the belt 31, Locking rods 42, 42 protruding from the upper surface of 31
By coming into contact with this, the entire structure is temporarily stopped.

On the other hand, the eccentric cam 45 is continuously driven to rotate.
Through the link plate 44, the retaining rod 42 is lowered and the retaining rod 43 is raised, and the holding plate 41 is lowered.
A subsequent spacer S can be sandwiched between the two.

As a result, only the leading spacer S is separated from the following spacers S, is discharged from the escape device 40, and is conveyed downstream by the accumulation conveyor 30.

By repeating the above operations, the escape device 40
The spacers S, S, etc. can be sequentially and intermittently discharged onto the accumulation conveyor 30 on the downstream side thereof, and arranged at predetermined intervals on the accumulation conveyor 30. Note that the interval at this time can be appropriately selected by adjusting the moving speed of the belts 31, 31 of the accumulation conveyor 30 and the rotational speed of the eccentric cam 45.

Another embodiment: A discharge conveyor 60 is disposed downstream of the escape device 40, and the spacers S, S are discharged from the escape device 40.
... may be transported (Fig. 5). The carry-out conveyor 60 is made up of a drive pulley 61, a driven pulley 62, and a belt 63 that is stretched around these.The drive pulley 61 has a drive shaft that is rotationally driven by a drive source (not shown) via a chain 64. 70. However, here, the drive pulley 3 of the accumulation conveyor 30
4 is shown coaxially with the drive shaft 61, and the tension pulley 33 for the belt 31 is connected to the drive shaft 70.
shall be fitted so as to be freely rotatable, and furthermore,
It is also used as a tension pulley for bells 1 and 63. Furthermore, a relay member 65 is provided at the tip of the carry-out conveyor 60 for temporarily placing the spacer S conveyed by the carry-out conveyor 60, and on the downstream side thereof, an L-shaped attachment 81, A chain conveyor 80 having 81... is disposed.

The chain conveyor 80 is driven by the drive 1[1170 via the chain brocket 82, and the eccentric cam 45 mentioned above is also connected to the drive lPIIl70 via the chain 45b. That is, here, the accumulation conveyor 30, the escape device 40, the carry-out conveyor 60, and the chain conveyor 80 are all driven by a common drive shaft 70.

The spacers S, S, etc., separated one by one by the escape device 40 and discharged onto the carry-out conveyor 60-H, are conveyed by the carry-out conveyor 60 in the direction of the arrow K2 in the figure, and then placed on the relay member 65. Temporarily stopped, then the L-shaped attachments 81, 81, etc. of the chain conveyor 80.
・The chains are conveyed one by one onto the chain conveyor 80. That is, on the chain conveyor 80,
A predetermined number of spacers S, S... are placed at predetermined intervals determined by the spacing between the L-shaped attachments 81, 81...
can be placed. One unit of spacer S1S...
- An accumulation conveyor 3o that conveys the items all at once, an unloading conveyor 60 that separates and conveys the items one by one, and a chain conveyor 8 that arranges them at predetermined intervals.
0 and 0 individually, each drive speed can be set arbitrarily and optimally.

In the above explanation, the mechanism for vertically moving the locking rods 42 and the retaining rods 43 of the escape device 40 alternately is due to the combination of the link plate 44 and the eccentric force l\45, as well as independent drive cylinders. It goes without saying that it is also possible to provide a plurality of controllers and drive and control them alternately.

As long as the loader 10 can transport the spacers S, S, . For example, instead of moving on the guide rail 15, the port main body 11 is mounted on an arm member that moves in an arc shape in a horizontal plane, and moves in an arc shape between the upper part of the predetermined position and the upper part of the intermediate position. It may be moved repeatedly.

The lifter 20 can use a receiving plate formed on the body instead of the elevating plates 2l and 21. In other words, lifter 20
The shape of the receiving plate and the mechanism for raising and lowering the receiving plate may be arbitrary as long as the spacers S13... carried by the loader 10 can be received, relayed once, and transferred to the accumulation conveyor 30. can do. therefore,
Furthermore, the lifter 20 can be used as a general relay for loading other arbitrary members and products from the conveyor to the conveyor in addition to the spacers S, s, etc. by appropriately selecting the shape of the receiving plate and its elevating mechanism. It can also be widely applied to devices.

In addition to the trolley 50, a belt conveyor, a forklift, or the like may be used to carry the spacers S, S, . . . to predetermined positions and wait therefor. In either case, spacers S, S...
・It is sufficient if the devices can be arranged in multiple rows and stages and made to stand by. Also, the spacer SSS waiting in this way...
The transport unit of the loader 1o can be defined as an arbitrary number of 2 or more. For example, the spacers SSS . . . that are arranged in multiple rows and multiple stages and are on standby may be transported by dividing the spacers SSS in the uppermost stage into multiple times.

Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the present invention, by combining a loader, an accumulation conveyor, and an escape device that transport one unit of spacers waiting at a predetermined position at a time, the spacers at the standby position can be transported by the loader. It is sufficient to arrange the cassette boxes in a form that is convenient for transportation by the cassette box, and there is no need to use a cassette box that can cause clogging of spacers or unduly complicate recovery and replenishment operations. This has the excellent effect of easily realizing an efficient system.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 4 show examples, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the overall configuration, Figure 2 is an enlarged explanatory view of main parts, and Figure 3 is an X of Figure 1.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged explanatory diagram in the direction of arrows, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of main part operation. FIG. 5 is a main part explanatory diagram corresponding to FIG. 4 showing another embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 4 showing a conventional example. S... Spacer 10... Loader 11... Loader main body 12... Elevating frame 13... Finger member 13b... Locking pin 20... Lifter 21... Elevating plate 30... Accumulation conveyor 40... Escape device 41... Holding plate 42... Locking rod 43... Retaining rod 45... Eccentric cam 60... Carrying out conveyor

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A loader that repeatedly transports a unit of spacers waiting at a predetermined position to a relay position, a lifter that includes a lift plate that reciprocates between the relay position and the transfer position, and the lift plate that moves back and forth between the relay position and the transfer position. An accumulation conveyor that conveys the spacers transferred from the
An intermittent supply device for spacers, comprising an escape device that intermittently discharges spacers in sequence starting from the first spacer. 2) The loader includes a loader main body that repeatedly moves between above a predetermined position and above a relay position, an elevating frame mounted on the loader main body, and an elevating frame that is slidably supported by the elevating frame and facing each other. 2. The spacer intermittent supply device according to claim 1, further comprising a pair of finger members for gripping the spacer. 3) The spacer intermittent supply device according to claim 2, wherein the finger member has a plurality of locking pins that are urged toward the recessed portion of the end face of the spacer and can move forward and backward. 4) The escape device includes a holding plate disposed above the accumulation conveyor, a retaining rod disposed below the holding plate, and a locking rod disposed in front of the retaining rod, and the retaining rod 4. The spacer intermittent supply device according to claim 1, wherein the locking rod and the locking rod move up and down alternately. 5) A carry-out conveyor for conveying the discharged spacers is disposed downstream of the escape device, and the locking rod and the stop rod are moved up and down via an eccentric cam synchronized with the carry-out conveyor. An intermittent supply device for spacers according to claim 4, characterized in that: