JPH0325377B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a cart feeding device, and more particularly to a device for feeding one cart to a predetermined location.

Conventionally, trolleys are used in supermarkets and product manufacturing factories to transport packaged or sorted individual items into storage boxes along the process line, but feeding the trolleys is not done manually. However, it requires a lot of labor and has poor workability, so automation of the work has been desired.

In view of the conventional circumstances, the present invention aims to mechanically automate the feeding of trolleys to improve work efficiency and speed up the continuous process. A trolley storage section is formed into sections, and the storage section is provided with a carry-in port and a carry-out section, and at least two opposing sides of the storage section are provided with swingable locking claws. A lifter is installed on the floor of the storage section to move up and down the carts larger than the first one, and while the lifter is rising, it reciprocates toward the exit, and when it moves, the side circumference of the bottom cart is A pair of pushers that grip and transfer the inner and outer surfaces of the frame are provided so as to be vertically swingable, and each pusher has two upper and lower transfer surfaces corresponding to each pusher. A guide rail is disposed on the upper transfer surface and clamped by the side frame of the cart, and has a guide surface that lowers each pusher to the lower transfer surface at the end of forward movement, and the lifter can move upward when the lifter is lowered. The feature is that the lowest step of the platform lands on the floor.

It is preferable that the loading inlet and the unloading outlet are provided on opposite sides of the reservoir so that the cart moves in the same direction. However, if the wheels of the truck are casters that can be turned freely, it is not necessary to make the two openings face each other. Rather, it is also possible to provide both openings on each side adjacent to each other.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In Figures to Figures 7, 1 is a machine base, and a floor plate 2' forming a floor surface 2 is laid on this machine base 1, and four pillars 3', 3'... A machine frame 3 is erected, which is composed of a ceiling beam 3'' that is traversed to the upper end of the pillar, and the pillars 3', 3', . . .
A space section defined by the floor surface 2 and the floor surface 2 is referred to as a truck storage section 4.

The floor surface 2 is integrally projected rearward and forward of the reservoir 4 in an extended shape, and a guide floor surface 2a having a floor plate 2' formed as an inclined surface is integrally connected to the rear projecting end thereof.

The truck storage section 4 has a rear end side as a loading port 4a for the truck, a front end side as an loading port 4b, and the guide floor surface 2.
A group of trolleys A, which are manually pushed by a worker on top a, is carried into the reservoir 4 through the carry-in port 4a.

A bar-shaped door 5 attached to the rear supports 3', 3' so as to be openable and closable is provided at the entrance 4a, and the truck group A is carried into the storage section 4 by opening the door 5.

Bogie group A includes a plurality of (for example, 10) bogies a, a...
are stacked, and each trolley a has a cross section 〓
It has a frame shape (Fig. 5), and has a projecting plate a' and a side plate a'' formed on the circumferential side on the inside and outside of the mounting surface, respectively.

A bar-shaped stopper 5' is installed between the front struts 3' and 3' on the front end side of the reservoir 4, and the front end of the bogie group A to be carried in is abutted against the stopper 5' to position the bogie group A. A gap with a height slightly larger than that of one trolley is formed between the lower end of ' and the floor surface 2, and this area is used as an outlet 4b.

In addition, the machine frame 3 has a main shaft 11 on the front struts 3', 3' side.
is rotatably mounted horizontally, and the main shaft 11 is connected to a motor M ₁ ,
Two cranks are provided on each side between the front and rear struts 3', 3' and 3', 3', which are driven via a clutch brake 12 and a speed reducer 13, and which constitute both left and right sides of the reservoir section 4. arms 14, 14' and 16,
16' are rotatably arranged in parallel.

The crank arms 14, 16 are connected to their shafts 1
5, 17 to the main shaft 11 via chains 18, 18'.
The shafts 15 and 17 are linked to the crank arms 14' and 16', respectively, so that both crank arms 14 and 16 rotate in synchronization, and the respective arms are synchronized.

The main shaft 11 is provided with a timing cam 19 and a limit switch _SW1 .

Rollers 20, 20 and 20', 2 are provided at the tips of the crank arms 14, 14' and 16, 16', respectively.
0', and the lifter 6 is mounted and engaged on the rollers 20, 20, and the lifter 6' is mounted on the rollers 20', 20', respectively.

In addition, two chain conveyors 21 and 21' which extend in the front-rear direction under the floor surface 2 and are driven by a motor _M2 are installed horizontally in the machine platform 1, and both conveyors 21 and 21' are A reciprocating rod 23 is horizontally suspended across the chain block on the co-transfer side via a rotor 22, and the reciprocating rod 23 moves back and forth across a predetermined section under the floor 2 by the drive of the conveyors 21, 21'. do it like this.

A connecting shaft 24 is installed in the center of the reciprocating rod 23, and a guide hole 2 is provided through which the shaft 24 can be drilled into the floor plate 2'.
A pusher 8 is provided on the floor 2 and is driven by the connecting shaft 24.
9 will be provided.

The lifters 6 and 6' are installed on the left and right sides of the reservoir 4, but since they have the same configuration and operate in the same way except for being symmetrical, only 6' will be explained for convenience of explanation. , and the other 6 are shown with the same reference numerals.

The lifter 6' is installed so as to be movable up and down along vertical guide rods 31, 31' attached to the front and rear columns 3', 3', and its lower surface is placed above the rollers 20', 20' of the crank arms 16, 16'. It will be published on.

The lifter 6' is provided with a rocking plate 33 parallel to the lower part of the lifter 6' through two rocking rods 32, 32, and two locking claws 7 are provided on the rocking plate 33 at a distance from each other. , 7 are installed.

The swinging rods 32, 32 are swingably attached to the sides of the reservoir 4 below the lifter 6', thereby causing the locking claws 7, 7 to approach and separate from the truck group A via the swinging plate 33.

The swing plate 33 has its front and back ends bent at right angles, and a guide 34 is rotatably attached to each end, and the guide 34 is engaged with a guide plate 35.

The guide plate 35 is a flat plate installed on each of the front and rear columns 3', 3', and is composed of an upper plate 35a and a lower plate 35b, and the upper plate 35a has a shape in which a vertical surface and an inclined surface are integrated. However, the lower plate 35b is the upper plate 35
It is a vertical plate connected below the vertical plane of a.

The upper plate 35a is fixedly installed, and the lower plate 35b
is attached so that it can swing only inward, and its installation can be done either by using the lower plate 35b as a spring plate and fixing only the lower end of the plate, or by pivoting the lower plate 35b so that it can swing freely, and holding it vertically with a spring. The structure is such that it is biased to do so.

The lifter 6' is connected to the crank arm 16,1.
When the lifter 6' is rotated, it moves up and down, and when the lifter 6' descends, the guide 34 of the swing plate 33 moves down along the vertical plane of the upper plate 35a and the lower plate 35b of the guide plate 35, and the latch claw 7 , 7 are lowered while being held in the protruding position, and when the guide 34 comes off the lower plate 35b, the rocking plate 33 swings outward due to its own weight (a spring may be applied). The latching claws 7, 7 are held in the retracted position (dotted line in FIG. 4).

Further, when the lifter 6' is raised, the guide 34 passes outside the lower plate 35b and the swing plate 33 moves upward.
As the guide 34 moves upward along the slope of the upper plate 35a, the latching pawls 7, 7 protrude from the swing plate 3.
3 swings and the guide 34 pushes the upper end of the lower plate 35b and rides on the vertical surface of the upper plate 35a, where the latching claws 7, 7 are held at the protruding position and are moved upward to the upper limit position in that state. do.

At the lower limit position of the guide 34, the latching claws 7, 7 are located below the side plate _a2 ' of the lowermost truck a of the truck group A,
The position is set so that the latching claws 7, 7 are located near the lower side of the side plate a'' of the second-stage truck a at the position where the guide 34 rides on the vertical surface from the slope of the upper plate 35a.

The pushers 8 and 9 are installed on the floor 2,
A guide rod 40 extending in the front-rear direction is installed in the center on the floor surface 2, and a slider 10 is slidably provided on the rod 40, and pushers 8, 9 are attached to the slider 10.
This slider 10 is connected to the reciprocating rod 23 via a connecting shaft 24, and the pushers 8 and 9 are caused to reciprocate in conjunction with the drive of the reciprocating rod 23.

Furthermore, guide rails 41 and 42 are laid on the floor surface 2 on both the left and right sides of the guide rod 40.

The slider 10 has support shafts 10', 10' protruding coaxially on both left and right sides, and left and right arms 8a, 8a', 9a, 9a' of pushers 8, 9 are attached to both support shafts 10', 10'. Each is installed so that it can swing up and down.

The side arms 8a, 8a' of the pusher 8 have a substantially inverted triangular shape, and their rear parts are pivotally connected to the support shafts 10', 10', and the pusher rolls 8b extend across the left and right ends of the side arms 8a, 8a'.
are rotatably connected, and the side arms 9a of the pusher 9,
The rear ends of 9a' are pivotally connected to support shafts 10', 10', and pads 9b, 9b' are rotatably attached to the inside of each tip.

The pusher 9 has its side arms 9a, 9a' attached to the inner sides of the side arms 8a, 8a' of the pusher 8, and its pads 9b, 9b' are attached so as to be positioned below the front of the pusher roll 8b.

Guide rollers 43, 43' and 44, 44' are rotatably attached to the inner sides of the lower and rear ends of the side arms 8a, 8a' of the pusher 8.
The guide rollers 43, 4 are attached to the side arms 9a, 9a'.
Guide rollers 45, 45' are rotatably installed inside the same position as 3', and these rollers 43, 44, 4
5 runs on the guide rail 41, rollers 43', 4
4' and 45' are made to roll on the guide rail 42, respectively.

The guide rails 41, 42 have two entrances 41a, 41b, 42a, 42b at the rear end of the floor surface, respectively.
The entry portions 41a and 42a are sloped rear obliquely downward slopes formed at the rear ends of the rails 41 and 42, and the entry portions 41b and 42b are provided with entry portions 41a and 42.
It is located in front and inside a predetermined distance from a.

The entry portions 41a, 42a are located on the transfer path of the guide rollers 43, 44, 43', 44' of the pusher 8, and the entry portions 41b, 42b are located on the transfer path of the guide rollers 45, 45' of the pusher 9.

The entry parts 41a, 41b, 42a, and 42b are all pivotably attached to a flat surface so that they can be opened and closed up and down.

Thus, the pushers 8 and 9 reciprocate in conjunction with the reciprocating rod 23, which reciprocates due to the drive of the motor _M2 .
During the reciprocation, the guide roller 43 of the pusher 8,
43' is the entrance part 41a of the guide rails 41, 42;
42a, the tip roll 8b of the pusher 8 moves upward, and a little later the guide rollers 45, 45' of the pusher 9 and the guide rollers 44, 44' of the pusher 8 enter the entry parts 41b, 42b and 41a, 42a. , when all the rollers reach the flat parts of the guide rails 41 and 42,
As shown in FIG. 5, the push roll 8b of the pusher 8
is in contact with the rear surface of the side plate a'' of the lowermost truck a, and the pads 9b, 9b' of the pusher 9 are in contact with the inner surface of the protruding plate a' of the truck a, so that the truck a is held between the two 8b, 9a, and 9b. Become.

Thereafter, as the forward movement of the reciprocating rod 23 progresses, the pushers 8 and 9 push the cart a while maintaining the state shown in FIG. At that time, the cart a is moved onto the platform 50 for the next process.

When the reciprocating rod 23 reaches the front end position, the guide rollers 43, 43', 45,
45' falls from the guide rails 41, 42, and the ends of the pushers 8, 9 move downward and away from the truck a. After that, when the reciprocating rod 23 moves back, the guide rollers 43, 45, 45, 43', 44', 4
5' retreats by passing under the guide rails 41 and 42,
After pushing open the entry parts 41a, 42b, 42a, and 42b and escaping from under the guide rail, the robot returns to the original position.

In addition, SW ₂ in FIG. 1 is a limit switch that detects when the reciprocating rod 23 reaches the front end position, and SW ₃ is a limit switch that detects when the reciprocating rod 23 reaches the front end position.
Limit switch that detects return to origin in step 3, SW ₄
is a sensor that detects that the remaining number of bogies in group A has been reduced to a predetermined number.

Next, the stroke operation of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 8 to 15.

The worker moves the trolley group A from the guide floor 2a to the entrance 4.
Carry it to the vicinity of a, open the door 5, carry the group A of carts into the reservoir 4, and set it in the state shown in FIG.

When the operator closes the door 5, a detector (not shown) detecting the closing operation activates the clutch brake 12, causing the main shaft 11 to rotate.

As the main shaft 11 rotates, the crank arms 14, 14',
16, 16' rotate at the same time, the lifters 6, 6' start to rise, and the guide 34 of the rocking plate 33, which rises together with the lifters 6, 6', moves to the lower plate 3 of the guide plate 35.
Move the outside of 5b upward to push open the plate 35b, and when it comes out to the lower end of the upper plate 35a, the latching claws 7, 7, 7, 7
protrudes, and at this time, the latching claws 7, 7... are positioned below the second stage truck side plate a'' (Fig. 9).

The lifters 6, 6' further rise and the latch claws 7,
7... is hooked to the lower edge of the side plate a'' of the trolley a, and the second and higher stage trolleys a are moved upward, leaving only the lowest stage trolley a on the floor 2 in the reservoir 4, When the switch SW ₁ detects by the timing cam 19 that the lifters 6, 6' have reached the upper limit position, the main shaft 1
1 stops, and the lifting of the lifters 6, 6' is stopped (Fig. 10). The motor _M2 is activated by a supply command signal from the next process device, and the pushers 8 and 9, which are interlocked with the reciprocating rod 23, start forward movement.

When the pushers 8 and 9 are started, the push roll 8b of the pusher 8 and the pads 9b and 9 of the pusher 9 are activated.
The side plate a'' and the protruding plate a' of the lowermost trolley a are clamped between the lowermost trolley a and the lowermost trolley a, and the trolley a is carried out from the storage section 4 through the carrying-out port 4b (FIGS. 11 and 12).

When the pushers 8, 9 reach the front end position and the guide rolls 43, 43', 44, 44', 45, 45' come off the guide rails 41, 42, the pushers 8, 9 release the grip on the carriage a and move the carriage a. At the same time, the switch SW ₂ detects that the reciprocating rod 23 has reached the front end (FIG. 13).

The clutch brake 12 is activated by the detection signal of the switch SW ₂ , the main shaft 11 is rotated, the lifters 6, 6' are lowered, and the second and higher stage carts a... which have been moved upward are held in the latching claws 7, 7. The lowermost cart a lands on the floor 2 (FIG. 14).

During the above process, the pushers 8 and 9 pass under the truck a and move back.

When the pushers 8 and 9 return to their home positions and switch SW ₃ detects that the reciprocating rod 23 has returned to their home positions, the detection signal stops the motor M ₂ to stop the pushers 8 and 9 at their home positions, and The guide element 34 of the descending lifters 6, 6' is connected to the guide plate 3.
At the point where the lower end of the lower plate 35b of No. 5 is removed, the latching claws 7, 7 are separated from the cart a (FIG. 15).

After that, the lifters 6 and 6' rise to the eighth position.
The process moves as shown in FIG. 10, stops at the position shown in FIG. 10, waits for the next supply command signal from the next process device, and repeats the same operation.

After the sensor SW ₄ detects that the number of carts in the reservoir 4 has been reduced to a predetermined number (for example, 2), the above-mentioned process continues until the last cart a is moved up by the lifters 6 and 6'. The same operation is repeated, and after the last cart a is lowered by the lifters 6, 6' and lands on the floor 2, the lifters 6, 6' move the latching claws 7,
7 is stopped at the position shown in FIG. 15 or 8, thereby making it possible to carry the next new truck group A into the reservoir section 4.

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the lifter and the pusher work together to supply one vehicle to a predetermined location from a group of multi-tiered trucks mounted and held in the truck storage section when necessary. Therefore, it is possible to mechanically automate the trolley feeding work, significantly improving work efficiency compared to the past, and it can be incorporated into a continuous process line such as transporting and sorting products, and the process can be easily automated. The speed can be increased.

In addition, since the pushers transfer the carts while holding the inner and outer surfaces of the side frames of the carts during forward movement, it is easier to carry out the carts from the cart storage area than when the carts are simply pushed by a single pusher. The cart can be positioned at a predetermined position and supplied without overshooting due to inertia.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device of the present invention seen from the rear side;
Figure 2 is a side view, Figure 3 is a plan view, Figure 4 is a rear view, Figure 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view showing the forward movement of the pusher, and Figure 6 is the rear view of the pusher. FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view, FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional rear view of FIG. 6, and FIGS. 8 to 15 are side views and rear views for explaining the stroke operation. In the figure, 2 is the floor, 4 is the trolley storage area, 4a is the loading entrance, 4b is the loading exit, 6, 6' are the lifters, 7 is the latch claw, 8, 9 are the pushers, A is the truck group, and a is the It's a trolley.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A trolley storage section on which a plurality of carts with wheels are loaded in a stacked manner is formed into sections, and the storage section is provided with an entrance and an unloading section, and at least two opposing sides of the storage section are provided with swingable hooks. A lifter with a pawl that moves the carts of the second and higher stages up is provided on the floor of the reservoir section, and while the lifter is rising, it reciprocates toward the exit, and the forward movement At the same time, a pair of pushers are provided which are vertically swingable to clamp and transfer the inner and outer surfaces of the side peripheral frame of the lowermost cart, and each pusher has two upper and lower transfer surfaces corresponding to the pushers. A guide rail is provided having a guide surface that allows each pusher to enter the upper transfer surface at the start end of the movement and to be clamped by the side frame of the cart, and lowers each pusher to the lower transfer surface at the end of the forward movement, and the lifter A trolley supply device that allows the lowest stage of the trolley that can be moved upward to land on the floor when descending.