EP0460134B1 - Orientation and loading device for vials in general and syringe vials in particular - Google Patents

Orientation and loading device for vials in general and syringe vials in particular Download PDF

Info

Publication number: EP0460134B1
Authority: EP; European Patent Office
Prior art keywords: vials; vial; orientatable; cells; conveyor
Prior art date: 1989-12-14
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.): Expired - Lifetime

Application number

EP90917663A

Other languages

German (de)

English (en)

French (fr)

Other versions

EP0460134A1 (en

Inventor

Claudio Mini

Rodolfo Scacco

Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)

Italfarmaco SpA

Original Assignee

Italfarmaco SpA

Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)

1989-12-14

Filing date

1990-12-05

Publication date

1993-09-08

1990-12-05 Application filed by Italfarmaco SpA filed Critical Italfarmaco SpA

1990-12-05 Priority to AT90917663T priority Critical patent/ATE94132T1/de

1991-12-11 Publication of EP0460134A1 publication Critical patent/EP0460134A1/en

1993-09-08 Application granted granted Critical

1993-09-08 Publication of EP0460134B1 publication Critical patent/EP0460134B1/en

2010-12-05 Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

Status Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

Links

230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 claims 1
238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 claims 1
238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 2
238000004806 packaging method and process Methods 0.000 description 2
239000003814 drug Substances 0.000 description 1
230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 1
230000005484 gravity Effects 0.000 description 1
239000007788 liquid Substances 0.000 description 1
230000014759 maintenance of location Effects 0.000 description 1
239000002184 metal Substances 0.000 description 1
230000000284 resting effect Effects 0.000 description 1
230000000452 restraining effect Effects 0.000 description 1
230000000717 retained effect Effects 0.000 description 1
238000011144 upstream manufacturing Methods 0.000 description 1

Images

Classifications

- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
- B65B19/00—Packaging rod-shaped or tubular articles susceptible to damage by abrasion or pressure, e.g. cigarettes, cigars, macaroni, spaghetti, drinking straws or welding electrodes
- B65B19/34—Packaging other rod-shaped articles, e.g. sausages, macaroni, spaghetti, drinking straws, welding electrodes
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
- B65B23/00—Packaging fragile or shock-sensitive articles other than bottles; Unpacking eggs
- B65B23/22—Packaging glass ampoules, lamp bulbs, radio valves or tubes, or the like
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
- B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
- B65B35/56—Orientating, i.e. changing the attitude of, articles, e.g. of non-uniform cross-section
- B65B35/58—Turning articles by positively-acting means, e.g. to present labelled portions in uppermost position

Definitions

This invention relates to a device for firstly orientating vials in general and syringe vials in particular, and then loading them into their sales packages, in particular into thermoformed containers, comprising a seat for each vial, and which are then themselves boxed.
the invented device pertains to the category of devices recited in the preamble of the main claim.
FR-A-2 479 142 discloses indeed a device of the category of the preamble. However it is inapt to satisfy the requirements of filling contemporarily a plurality of parallely disposed vials in a container.
the receiving seats are alternatively differently inclined in their lower portions so that the bulbs in the seats assume correspondent orientations.
the bulbs fall one at a time into a separate cell of an underlying conveyor which feds the differently oriented bulbs to a packaging machine.
the main object of the present invention therefore being to provide a device which is able to totally satisfy the requirements of speed, precision and vial intactness during the said operations.
vial also and in particular includes syringe vials (as already implicitly stated).
the reference numeral 1 indicates overall a feed section which feeds the vials A with vertical orientation along two parallel lines 2, 3 to an endless conveyor indicated overall by 5, and specifically into orientatable cells 6 with which the conveyor in question is formed.
the cells change their orientation so as to move the vials A from the vertical position in which they are received in the cells, to a horizontal position.
the feed section 1 comprises two parallel feed lines 2, 3. Each of these lines is bounded by active confronting portions 11, 12 of a pair of endless belts or bands 13, 14 situated at such a distance apart as not to exert any conveying action on the vials A which via their flange A1 rest on a pair of support parallel bars 15, 16 positioned at a height greater than that of the belts 13, 14.
a presser 17 operated by for example an hydraulic, a pneumatic or electromagnetic actuator 90 against the action of spring 71.
each presser formed by a metal plate is connected with two parallel guide rods 72 axially slidable in fixed guides 73 and provided with an head 74 at their free ends.
a spring 71 is mounted between head and guide.
the actuator 90 located between the guide rods comprises a cylinder wherein a piston connected with the presser is located.
the cylinder of each actuator is hydraulically connected with an electromagnetic three-way valve 100.
valve 103 In its unenergized status the valve maintains the connection between the cylinder and a liquid reservoir 101 and in its energized status it closes said connection and connects the cylinder with a pump 102 which intakes from the reservoir 101.
a valve 103 will exhaust the delivery of the pump to the reservoir 101 when the connection between pump and actuator is closed.
the presser acts on the active portion 11, 12 in front of it, and which is thus urged against the vials A, which are located along the line 2, 3 and applied also against the other belt; this causes a rapid motion to be transmitted to the vials in the direction of the arrow K, i.e. towards the conveyor 5 comprising orientatable cells 6, so that the first vial of the row enters a cell, which is in an aligned position to receive it.
the conveyor 5 comprises a plurality of identical orientatable cells 6.
the cells 6 comprise a rear part 20 rigid with drive chains 21 and having a constant orientation, i.e. vertical.
In the top and bottom of the rear part 20 there are provided grooves 22 into which stationary guide bars 23 penetrate to oppose the thrusts which are exerted on the cells 6 and which are explained hereinafter.
the effectively orientatable part 25 of the cell 6 is hinged to the lower end of the rear part 20 at 24.
Said orientatable part 25 comprises a groove of rounded base 26, its axis being perpendicular to the direction of movement of the conveyor 5. As can be seen from Figure 2 this groove receives the syringe A when it is fed by the feed section 1, as stated heretofore.
the orientatable part 25 thereof is provided with a clamp 27 comprising a slot 28 and mounted on a pair of pins 29.
pins are slidingly mounted against the action of a spring 30 in the orientatable part 25 and terminate in a common crosspiece 31 carrying an idle roller 32.
a cam or guide 33 extending within the region in which the feed section 1 is provided and arranged to move the clamp 27 upwards, enables the vial A to enter the groove 26 with its flange A1 resting on the face 34 below the raised clamp 27, which is then lowered to lock the flange A1 and hence the vial A on leaving the vial loading region where said guide is provided.
the orientatable part 25 On the same side as the clamp 27 but to the rear thereof the orientatable part 25 also comprises an appendix 35 carrying an idle roller 36, the axis of rotation of which is parallel to the axis of the groove 26.
the purpose of this idle roller is to cooperate with fixed guides 40, 41 shown schematically on the drawing and distributed along the extension of the conveyor 5, their orientation and purpose being to control the orientation of the orientatable part 6 in such a manner that it passes gradually from vertical ( Figure 2) to horizontal ( Figure 3) at the point at which that section of the conveyor 5 within which the vials A are to be discharged from the relative cells and fall into the underlying container 7 begins.
the orientation then returns to vertical at the exit from the discharge section R so that the cells again present themselves as in Figure 2 before the feeding section 1, ready for receiving new vials.
the conveyor 5 moves along a substantially triangular path.
idle deviation sprockets 40 one for each chain 21 which are coaxial but are mounted conventionally to be able to adjust the tension of the chains 21, idle coaxial fixed-position sprockets 41, and coaxial drive sprockets 42 mounted at the exit of a reduction gear unit driven by an electric stepping motor 44.
the discharge means 9 which comprises at least one thrust member 50 in the form of a crosspiece mounted slidingly in guides 51 in the direction of the arrows X ( Figure 1) and rigid with the ends of two rods 52 guided in a fixed support 52A and joined together by a second crosspiece 53 on which for example a double-acting electromagnetic or pneumatic actuator 54 acts.
a pulse provided by this actuator 54 moves the crosspiece 50 against the rollers 32 and these move the clamps 27 in the direction to release the flanges A1 of the vials A within the discharge section R, the vials then falling into the cavities 8 of the underlying container 7, such as a thermoformed container.
the guide 40 is extended to 40A ( Figure 3) within the discharge section R of the device so to counteract the torque.
the device of the invention can be used with traditional vials and not only with the syringe vials shown.
the cells or rather their orientatable part can have the shape shown in Figure 4, in which the vial is indicated by 3, the groove 26a has a constriction at its top, at 26b, to support the vial at its constricted part 70, and the clamp 27a has an inclined-edge slot 28a to adapt to the conical shape of the end 70A of the vial B.
the device 9 When for example by processing the number of steps undergone by the stepping motor it is determined that a given number of loaded cells lie within the discharge region R, the device 9 is operated so that the appropriate clamps 27 open by the effect of the thrust exerted by the crosspiece 50, with the result that the corresponding vials fall into the underlying container 7, each into the corresponding cavity 8.
the device of the invention is applicable in the packaging industry.

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Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
Specific Conveyance Elements (AREA)

EP90917663A 1989-12-14 1990-12-05 Orientation and loading device for vials in general and syringe vials in particular Expired - Lifetime EP0460134B1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number	Priority Date	Filing Date	Title
AT90917663T ATE94132T1 (de)	1989-12-14	1990-12-05	Orientierungs- und verpackungsvorrichtung fuer ampullen, insbesondere fuer ampullen fuer injektionsspritzen.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number	Priority Date	Filing Date	Title
IT2269389		1989-12-14
IT02269889A IT1237907B (it)	1989-12-14	1989-12-14	Dispositivo orientatore e caricatore di fiale in genere, e di fiale-siringa in particolare

Publications (2)

Publication Number	Publication Date
EP0460134A1 EP0460134A1 (en)	1991-12-11
EP0460134B1 true EP0460134B1 (en)	1993-09-08

Family

ID=11199394

Family Applications (1)

Application Number	Title	Priority Date	Filing Date
EP90917663A Expired - Lifetime EP0460134B1 (en)	1989-12-14	1990-12-05	Orientation and loading device for vials in general and syringe vials in particular

Country Status (3)

Country	Link
EP (1)	EP0460134B1 (it)
IT (1)	IT1237907B (it)
WO (1)	WO1991006475A1 (it)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number	Priority date	Publication date	Assignee	Title
US20120093618A1 (en) *	2010-10-14	2012-04-19	Marchesini Group S.P.A.	Method And An Apparatus For Transferring Fragile Receptacles From A Container To A Packing Machine

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number	Priority date	Publication date	Assignee	Title
ATE156451T1 (de) *	1992-12-18	1997-08-15	Procter & Gamble	Verfahren und vorrichtung zum fördern,gruppieren und ausrichten von gegenständen
DE29503391U1 (de) *	1994-12-03	1995-04-27	Ostma Maschinenbau GmbH, 53909 Zülpich	Assembly-System für das Verpacken von Gegenständen, insbesondere von Vial-Gegenständen
DE102005047268B4 (de) *	2005-10-01	2008-03-27	Uhlmann Pac-Systeme Gmbh & Co. Kg	Vorrichtung zum Übergeben von Spritzen, Ampullen oder dergl.
CN101508354B (zh) *	2009-03-19	2010-08-11	常熟乙星包装机械有限公司	一次性塑料针筒输送装置
WO2013005221A1 (en) *	2011-07-06	2013-01-10	Karmarkar Umesh Prabhakar	System and equipment for aligning and placing syringes in pre-formed pockets

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number	Priority date	Publication date	Assignee	Title
AU534332B2 (en) *	1979-04-27	1984-01-19	Nippon Elanco K.K.	Capsule orientation
DE3011398A1 (de) *	1980-03-25	1981-10-01	Robert Bosch Gmbh, 7000 Stuttgart	Verfahren und vorrichtung zum vereinzeln und uebergeben von gegenstaenden, vorzugsweise gluehlampen
US4509309A (en) *	1983-08-08	1985-04-09	H. J. Langen & Sons Limited	Load orienting receptacles for carton loading machines
FR2624094B1 (fr) *	1987-12-07	1990-04-13	Rhone Poulenc Sante Propharm	Distributeur de seringues dans une encartonneuse a godets

1989
- 1989-12-14 IT IT02269889A patent/IT1237907B/it active IP Right Grant
1990
- 1990-12-05 WO PCT/EP1990/002103 patent/WO1991006475A1/en active IP Right Grant
- 1990-12-05 EP EP90917663A patent/EP0460134B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number	Priority date	Publication date	Assignee	Title
US20120093618A1 (en) *	2010-10-14	2012-04-19	Marchesini Group S.P.A.	Method And An Apparatus For Transferring Fragile Receptacles From A Container To A Packing Machine
US8769913B2 (en) *	2010-10-14	2014-07-08	Marchesini Group S.P.A.	Method and an apparatus for transferring fragile receptacles from a container to a packing machine

Also Published As

Publication number	Publication date
IT8922698A0 (it)	1989-12-14
IT1237907B (it)	1993-06-18
WO1991006475A1 (en)	1991-05-16
EP0460134A1 (en)	1991-12-11

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