JPH0699031B2 - Article carrier - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article conveying device, and more particularly, to supplying an article to an elevating conveyor that is vertically movable and discharging the article from the elevating conveyor. The present invention relates to an article transport device.

"Prior Art" Conventionally, as a conveyor for conveying articles, a conveyor whose entire length can be expanded and contracted is well known.

As a conventional palletizer article conveying device, there is known a palletizer in which a large number of conveyors are combined to convey articles from a fixed-position article supply section to a vertically movable article stacking section (JP-A-60-87126). Issue).

Furthermore, there is also known an article conveying device including a horizontal conveyor and an inclined conveyor, which is capable of changing the inclination angle of the inclined conveyor (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-11847).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, as an anchor, for example, among cylindrical articles housed in a large number of rows in a box, the grasping heads are inserted forward into and retained in a single row of tubular articles, and grasping is performed. It is known that articles are taken out one by one from the box by retracting the head.

In this type of caser, when the height of the tubular article is changed, the elevating conveyor for supplying the box containing the tubular article to the position below the gripping head is moved up and down to grip the tubular article. It is desirable that the relative height to the head be a predetermined amount. In this case, the box containing the tubular article is supplied from the conveyor on the inlet side to the elevating conveyor, and the empty box from which the tubular article is taken out by the anchor is ejected from the elevating conveyor to the conveyor on the outlet side. Become so.

In order to easily supply and discharge boxes, the position of the conveyor on the inlet side and the conveyor on the outlet side are always constant even if the elevator conveyor is moved up and down according to the size of the tubular article. However, heretofore, there has been no article conveying apparatus suitable for such a purpose.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides an elevating conveyor that is vertically movable to convey articles, one end pivotally connected to a stationary frame, and the other end is the elevating conveyor. An article-feed-side inclined conveyor pivotally connected to the fixed-side frame, and an article discharge-side inclined conveyor pivotally connected at one end to the fixed-side frame, and the other end pivotally connected to the elevating conveyor. A first telescoping frame and a second telescoping frame which are mutually telescopic, a first rotary shaft pivotally supported by the first telescoping frame, a second rotary shaft pivotally supported by the second telescoping frame, and the first To provide an article transporting device comprising an endless body which is suspended between a rotary shaft and a second rotary shaft to transport an article, and a tension adjusting means which keeps the tension of the endless body substantially constant. is there.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, when the distance between the elevating frame and the fixed frame is changed by elevating the elevating frame, the first telescopic frame and the second elongate frame of each inclined frame are
The telescopic frame expands and contracts to absorb the variation in the distance. At this time, even if the distance between the first rotating shaft and the second rotating shaft provided on each expandable frame changes due to expansion and contraction of the first expandable frame and the second expandable frame, an endless body suspended between the two expands and contracts. Since the tension is maintained substantially constant by the tension adjusting means, it is possible to maintain smooth conveyance of the article from the tilt conveyor on the supply side to the tilt conveyor on the discharge side and the tilt conveyor on the discharge side even when the lifting frame is moved up and down. it can.

Since each end of each tilt frame is pivotally connected to the fixed frame, the end of each fixed frame of each tilt frame is in a fixed position even when the elevator conveyor is moved up and down. Even if a conveyor is connected to the end of each tilting frame, each conveyor is not affected by the lifting of the lifting conveyor, and each conveyor can be installed at a fixed position.

[Embodiment] The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiment. In FIG. 1, an unroller 1 has a space in a horizontal row extending from the inside of a cardboard box 2 having an open upper surface in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the box 2. The cylindrical articles 3 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) can be sequentially taken out.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the empty cylindrical article 3 before being filled with the filling material such as toothpaste has the cap 4 screwed in the mouth portion in advance on the bottom 2a of the box 2. It is stored in the box 2 in the upside down condition. The tubular articles 3 housed in the boxes 2 are manufactured from a soft synthetic resin and are kept in a cylindrical shape by their elasticity.

Further, in this embodiment, the tubular articles 3 are housed in the box 2 by 11 in a row in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the box 2, and the tubular articles for each row adjacent in the transport direction of the box 2 are arranged. Three
Are displaced in the column direction at a pitch half the pitch P between the tubular articles 3, whereby the tubular articles 3 are accommodated in the box 2 in a staggered manner.

As shown in FIG. 1, the boxes 2 accommodating the above-mentioned tubular articles 3 in a staggered manner are from a horizontally arranged fixed conveyor 6 which constitutes a box conveyor 5 to an elevator conveyor 8 which is inclined via an inclined conveyor 7. The cylindrical article 3 is conveyed and positioned by the elevating conveyor 8 to the carry-in position A of the cylindrical article 3, and at the carry-in position A, the pitch P'is smaller than the pitch P (see FIG. 3). Are being advanced. When the height of the cylindrical article 3 is changed, the elevating conveyor 8 can be moved up and down diagonally while maintaining a constant inclination state according to the height.

Above the carry-in position A, a movable frame 13 is attached to a rotary shaft 12 which is rotatably supported by a fixed frame 11.
The movable frame 13 includes three branch portions 13A, 13B arranged at equal intervals extending in the radial direction from the center of rotation of the rotary shaft 12.
A delivery mechanism 14A, 14B, 14C that includes 13C and that takes out the tubular article 3 from the box 2 in each of the branch portions 13A to 13C.
Is provided.

The movable frame 13 is intermittently rotated by a rotation drive mechanism 15 (see FIG. 2) in a fixed direction every 1/3 rotation, that is, every 120 degrees. For example, the first delivery mechanism 14A is positioned at the carry-in position A. When this is done, the second delivery mechanism 14B is positioned at the carry-out position B, the third delivery mechanism 14C is positioned at the idle position C, and the first intermittent rotation causes the first
The delivery mechanism 14A of the second delivery mechanism 14B to the play position C.
Can be located at the carry-in position A, and the third delivery mechanism 14C can be located at the carry-out position B.

Each of the delivery mechanisms 14A to 14C has the same configuration, and 11 gripping heads 19 provided in each of the delivery mechanisms 14A to 14C and arranged in a line in the box 2 at the carry-in position A are cylindrical articles 3 in a row.
The tubular articles 3 are inserted into the inside thereof to hold the tubular articles 3 and the tubular articles 3 held by being retracted can be taken out from the box 2.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, each gripping head 19 has
A rod 20 arranged along the above-mentioned advancing / retreating direction, and a flat conical guide member attached to the tip of this rod 20.
21 and an elastic member 22 made of a disc-shaped rubber or the like attached to the rear of the guide member 21. When the gripping head 19 moves forward, the guide member 21 is loosely fitted in the tubular article 3 with a minute gap, and the elastic member 22 is
Is press-fitted into the tubular article 3, and the elastic member 22 and the tubular article 3 are
The tubular article 3 can be held by the frictional force with the.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cylindrical article 3 intermittently conveyed from the carry-in position A to the carry-out position B via the play position C serves as a detaching means provided at the carry-out position B. The tubular articles 3 pulled out from the gripping heads 19 by the comb-shaped members 25 (FIG. 2) and dropped from the respective gripping heads 19 fall horizontally and in parallel on the article transporting conveyors 26, and by the article transporting conveyors 26. It is transported to the next process.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the rod 20 of each gripping head 19 is moved to the carry-out position B by the rotation of each transfer mechanism 14A to 14C.
The cylindrical member 3 inserted into the gap 25a of the comb tooth-shaped member 25 when the gripping head 19 is retracted in that state and the cylindrical member 3 held by each gripping head 19 is The tooth-shaped member 25 is brought into contact with the tooth portion 25b so as to be pulled out from each gripping head 19.

At this time, the elastic member 22 is elastically deformed so as to pass through the gap 25a of the comb tooth-shaped member 25, and the guide member 21 is vertically elongated along the gap 25a so as to be able to pass through the gap 25a. (See FIGS. 5 and 6), which results in a flat conical shape.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the elastic member 22 has an opening 22 formed of a through hole that allows the inside of the tubular article 3 to communicate with the atmosphere.
a is formed, and when the elastic member 22 is pulled out from the inside of the tubular article 3, the inside of the tubular article 3 is prevented from becoming negative pressure, and the soft tubular article 3 made of soft synthetic resin is It prevents deformation due to negative pressure and at the same time enables smooth extraction. As shown in FIG. 8, the opening 22a 'formed in the elastic member 22' does not need to be a through hole, and may be a notch formed in the outer periphery thereof, for example.

Next, referring to FIG. 1, when the preceding delivery mechanism 14A takes out 11 tubular articles 3 in a row from inside the box 2,
The box 2 is intermittently advanced by the elevator conveyor 8 at the pitch P '. Then, when the succeeding delivery mechanism 14B is positioned at the carry-in position A by the rotation of the movable frame 13, the gripping head 19 is moved back and forth to take out the tubular articles 3 of 11 in a horizontal row from the inside of the box 2. Like
At this time, the gripping head 19 of the delivery mechanism 14B is displaced at a half pitch 1 / 2P in the row direction, and the tubular articles 3 are smoothly taken out even if the tubular articles 3 are staggered in the box 2. Is able to.

The box 2 thus emptied by taking out all the tubular articles 3 is carried out to the outside from the elevating conveyor 8 through the inclined conveyor 9 and the horizontally arranged fixed conveyor 10 and further elevating and lowering. A new box 2 is carried into the carry-in position A on the conveyor 8 and the above-described operation is repeated.

However, as shown in FIG. 9, the raising / lowering mechanism 31 for supporting and raising / lowering the raising / lowering conveyor 8 includes the inclined portion 11a of the fixed frame 11.
And the holding head 19 at the carry-in position A in a direction perpendicular to the inclined surface of the inclined portion 11a while keeping the inclined state of the elevator conveyor 8 constant by the elevator mechanism 31.
It can be moved up and down.

The elevating mechanism 31 includes guide shafts 33 standing upright toward the inclined portions 11a at four corners of the bottom surface of the elevating frame 32 that constitutes the elevating conveyor 8, and these guide shafts 33 are provided on the inclined portions 11a.
Each of them is slidably fitted to a cylindrical guide 34 that is vertically attached to the.

Then, two adjacent guide shafts 33 are provided on the inclined portion 11a.
Screw shaft arranged parallel to the guide shaft 33 at the intermediate position of
35 is rotatably supported and each screw shaft 35 is connected to the lifting frame.
A screw member (not shown) fixed to 32 is screwed together, and each screw shaft 35 is interlocked with a motor 37 via a worm gear (not shown) and a drive shaft 36 interlocked with the worm of each worm gear.

Therefore, the motor 37 drives the screw shafts 35 through the drive shaft 36 and the worm gear to synchronously rotate the screw shafts 35 in the forward and reverse directions, thereby causing the elevator conveyor 8 to rotate.
Can be raised and lowered in the direction perpendicular to.

Next, a rotary shaft is attached to both longitudinal ends of the elevating frame 32.
Each sprocket 39 is rotatably supported. Two sprockets 39 are attached to both ends of each rotary shaft 38, and two chains 40 are hung between the sprockets 39 in parallel. A pressure bar 41 is attached which engages with the box 2 at intervals and transfers it in the direction of the arrow. A servo motor 42 is connected to the one rotating shaft 38 so that the chain 40 can be moved in the arrow direction by the servo motor 42.

An introduction conveyor 45 is provided between the two chains 40 on the carry-in side of the box 2, that is, the inclined conveyor 7 side, and the carry-out side of the box 2 is connected to the introduction conveyor 45 to support the bottom surface of the box 2. A slide plate 46 is provided. The introduction conveyor 45 is provided with a rotating shaft 47 arranged at both ends thereof and an endless belt 48 hung between the rotating shafts 47. The box 2 can be introduced from the inclined conveyor 7 onto the introduction conveyor 45 by being driven together with the inclined conveyor 7 when introducing the box 2.

As shown in FIG. 10, the width of the introducing conveyor 45 is set narrower than the width of the elevating conveyor 8, and the boxes 2 provided on both sides of the introducing conveyor 45 on both sides of the elevating frame 32.
A slide rail 50 that supports the bottom surface of the box 2 is provided inside the position-adjustable guide member 49 that guides the. As shown in FIG. 9, each slide rail 50 is interlocked with an air cylinder 51 provided on the lifting frame 32,
By the air cylinder 51, the slide rail 50 can be moved up and down to a lowered position which is lower than the upper surface of the belt 48 of the introduction conveyor 45 and an elevated position which slightly protrudes from the upper surface and supports the bottom surface of the box 2. I am trying.

Therefore, when the box 2 is delivered from the tilt conveyor 7 to the introduction conveyor 45, the tilt conveyor 7 and the introduction conveyor 45 are simultaneously driven to move the box 2 from the tilt conveyor 7 onto the introduction conveyor 45 as described above. When the box 2 is carried in and the box 2 is carried in to a predetermined position on the introduction conveyor 45, a sensor (not shown) detects it and the operation of the introduction conveyor 45 and the inclined conveyor 7 is stopped. And in this state,
The slide rail 50 is raised by the air cylinder 51, and the box 2 on the introduction conveyor 45 is supported by the slide rail 50.

When the box 2 is supported by the slide rail 50, the pressing bar 41 provided on the chain 40 is moved forward by the servo motor 42 and abuts against the rear surface of the box 2 so that the box 2 is mounted on the slide rail 50. Slide forward on slide plate 46 from. When the frontmost tubular article 3 in the box 2 is located at the carry-in position A, this is detected by a sensor (not shown), and the advance of the box 2 is stopped. On the other hand, the box 2 moves from above the slide rail 50 to the slide plate 46.
When the slide rail 50 is carried out to, the slide rail 50 is lowered to the original lower end position by the air cylinder 51.

Then, as described above, when the 11 tubular articles 3 in the horizontal row in the front row are taken out by the single transfer mechanism 14A provided on the movable frame 13, the box 2 is moved by the servo motor 42 by the pitch P'described above. The cylindrical article 3 in the second row is taken out by the next delivery mechanism 14B only intermittently.

In this way, the box 2 is intermittently advanced by a predetermined pitch P ', and the tubular articles 3 are taken out by the respective transfer mechanisms 14A to 14C of the movable frame 13 to remove all the tubular articles 3 in the box 2. Is removed, the pressing bar 41 is
The box 2 that has been advanced by 42 and emptied is moved to the tilt conveyor 9
To discharge.

In addition, the delivery mechanisms 14A to 14C allow the tubular article 3 to be transferred from the inside of the box 2.
The following boxes 2 are introduced from the inclined conveyor 7 onto the introduction conveyor 45 while the slide rails are being taken out.
It is supported by 50, and the pressing bar 41 discharges the empty box 2 to the inclined conveyor 9, and at the same time, the succeeding pressing bar 41 loads a new box 2 into the loading position A. .

Next, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the tilt conveyor 7 is provided with a first telescopic frame 56 and a second telescopic frame 57 that are connected to each other in a telescopic manner. That is, a pair of left and right guide shafts 58 are fixed to both sides of the first telescopic frame 56 along the carrying direction of the box 2, and a tube fixed to both sides of the second telescopic frame 57 is attached to each of the guide shafts 58. Shape guide
59 is slidably fitted so that the first telescopic frame 56 and the second telescopic frame 57 can be telescopically moved in the carrying direction of the box 2.

Then, a column 11b that constitutes a part of the fixed frame 11
The first connecting shaft 60 is horizontally arranged and fixed to the elevating frame 32, the second connecting shaft 61 is horizontally arranged and fixed to the elevating frame 32, and is provided at the right end portion of the first telescopic frame 56. bearing
The shaft 62 is supported by the first connecting shaft 60 on the fixed frame 11 side, and the bearing 63 provided at the left end of the second telescopic frame 57 is also supported by the second connecting shaft 61 provided on the elevating frame 32.

Therefore, the lifting conveyor 8 described above is used as the lifting mechanism 31.
When it is lifted up and down by the second lifting and lowering frame 8 of the lifting and lowering conveyor 8, it is pivotally supported by a bearing 63 and a second connecting shaft 61.
The left end of the telescopic frame 57 is also lifted up integrally, so that the telescopic frames 56, 57 swing about the first connecting shaft 60 on the fixed frame 11 side. And at this time,
The distance between the connecting shafts 60 and 61 changes as the lifting frame 32 moves up and down.
Can be absorbed by expansion and contraction.

Further, rotating shafts 66 and 67 are rotatably attached to the first connecting shaft 60 and the second connecting shaft 61, respectively.
An endless belt 68 is stretched between 67. That belt
68 is a rotary shaft 69 provided on the second telescopic frame 57,
The first stretchable frame 56 is provided around two rotating shafts 70 and 71 provided at both lower end positions, and particularly, the second stretchable frame 56.
By the two rotary shafts 67, 69 provided on the 57 and the two rotary shafts 66, 70 provided on the first telescopic frame 56, both frames 56,
A tension adjusting means 72 that keeps the tension of the belt 68 substantially constant even when 57 is expanded and contracted is configured.

That is, the four rotary shafts that constitute the tension adjusting means 72.
66, 67, 69 and 70 are a belt 68a between the rotary shaft 66 of the first telescopic frame 56 and the rotary shaft 67 of the second telescopic frame 57 and between the two rotary shafts 67 and 69 provided on the second telescopic frame 57. Belt 68
b and the belt 68c between the rotary shaft 69 of the second telescopic frame 57 and the rotary shaft 70 of the first telescopic frame 56 are arranged in such a relational position that they are parallel to the respective telescopic directions of the frames 56 and 57. There is.

According to this arrangement, when the second telescopic frame 57 is displaced rightward with respect to the first telescopic frame 56, the two rotary shafts 67 and 69 of the second telescopic frame 57 are also displaced rightward. As a result, the overall length of the belt 68a is shortened by the displacement amount, but the belt 68c is lengthened by the same amount, so that the overall tension of the belt 68 can be kept substantially constant.

In addition, the first elastic frame 56 and the second elastic frame
As shown in FIG. 11, support plates 76 and 77 for supporting the belt 68a are attached to the lower part of the belt 68a, that is, to the lower part of the belt 68a that conveys the box 2, to the 57. These support plates 76, 77 are provided with comb-teeth-shaped portions that mesh with each other at mutually opposing portions, which allows both frames 56, 57 to expand and contract, and at the same time expands and contracts both frames 56, 57. Is always able to support the belt 68a.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the inclined conveyor 9 connected to the box discharge side of the elevating conveyor 8 is the inclined conveyor 7
The tilt conveyor 7 has substantially the same structure as that of the inclined conveyor 7 except that the direction is reversed. Therefore, the description of the specific configuration is omitted.

According to the above configuration, when the elevating conveyor 8 is moved up and down when the height of the tubular article 3 is changed, the inclined conveyors 7 and 9 on both sides incline accordingly, and the elevating frame 32 has the same structure. Although the distance between the connecting shafts 60 and 61 described above fluctuates as the elevator moves up and down, the fluctuation can be absorbed by the expansion and contraction of the telescopic frames 56 and 57 of the inclined conveyors 7 and 9, and the telescopic frame 56 and Even if 57 expands and contracts, the tension of the belt 68 is kept substantially constant by the tension adjusting means 72.

Therefore, when changing the height of the tubular article 3, it is only necessary to raise and lower the elevating conveyor 8, so that the work becomes extremely easy, and the height of the fixed conveyor 6 on the inlet side and the fixed conveyor 10 on the outlet side is increased. Does not fluctuate, which makes it easy to supply and discharge the box 2.

Although the fixed conveyors 6 and 10 are connected to both the inclined conveyors 7 and 9 in the above embodiment, the conveyors 6 and 10 may be omitted and the box 2 may be manually loaded and unloaded. Further, the tension adjusting means 72 for the belt 68 as an endless body is not limited to the above embodiment, but a mechanism such as a chain tensioner can be used.

[Advantages of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the inclination conveyors connected to the inlet side and the outlet side of the elevating and lowering frame are caused by the variation in the distance between the elevating and lowering frame and the fixed frame caused by elevating and lowering the elevating and lowering frame. Can be absorbed by expansion and contraction of the first expandable frame and the second expandable frame, and even if the distance between the first rotary shaft and the second rotary shaft provided on each expandable frame varies, the tension adjusting means. Since the tension of the endless body that is hung between both rotary shafts can be kept substantially constant, the tilting conveyor on the supply side always moves to the lifting conveyor and the tilting conveyor on the discharge side regardless of the lifting of the lifting frame. It is possible to maintain smooth conveyance of the article.

Since each of the tilted frames is pivotally connected to the fixed side frame, the end of the fixed side frame of each tilted frame is always in a fixed position even when the elevator conveyor is moved up and down. Even if the elevating frame is moved up and down, it is possible to always supply or discharge the article from the same position to each inclined frame.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The right side view of the figure, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the box and the tubular article,
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the main part of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a gripping head 19.
FIG. 6 is a right side view of FIG. 5, FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 2, FIG. 8 is a front view showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an enlarged front view of the main part of FIG. 1, FIG. 10 is a plan view of the main part of FIG. 9, FIG. 11 is a plan view of the inclined conveyor 7, and FIG. 12 is a front view of FIG. 2 ... Box, 3 ... Cylindrical article 5 ... Box conveyor, 6, 10 ... Fixed conveyor 7, 9 ... Inclined conveyor, 8 ... Lifting conveyor 11 ... Fixed frame, 11a ... Pillar 31 ... … Elevating mechanism, 32 …… Elevating frame 56 …… First telescopic frame, 57 …… Second telescopic frame 58 …… Guide shaft, 59 …… Cylindrical guide 66, 67 …… Rotating shaft, 72 …… Tension adjusting means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An elevating conveyor which is provided to move up and down and conveys an article; an inclined conveyor on the article supply side, one end of which is pivotally connected to a stationary frame and the other end is pivotally connected to the elevating conveyor; And a tilt conveyor on the article discharge side, the other end of which is pivotally connected to the fixed frame and the other end of which is pivotally connected to the lifting conveyor. A frame, a first rotating shaft pivotally supported by the first telescoping frame, a second rotating shaft pivotally supported by the second telescoping frame, and a spanning between the first rotating shaft and the second rotating shaft. An article conveying apparatus comprising: an endless body that conveys an article by means of an endless body; and tension adjusting means that keeps the tension of the endless body substantially constant.