GB2056394A - Conveyor with pivotable article-engaging members - Google Patents

Abstract

A conveyor device is provided for the intermittent movement of articles between various operating stages. The conveyor (2) carries pivotally mounted members (19) which incorporate lugs (7) able to engage articles (14) to be moved by the conveyor along a support table (1). At one end the member (19) carries a roller (24) which runs along a rail (26). Steps (29) in the rail allow the roller (24) to drop to a new level or to be raised to a higher level thus causing the attitude of the lug (7) to be changed from an article engaging attitude to an article non-engaging attitude. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements relating to article cycling apparatus This invention is concerned with apparatus for cycling of articles, such as in a process lihe where they may be subjected to different manufacturing operations. Thus the invention is particularly, though not exclusively, concerned with apparatus for conveying semi-formed cartons and performing operations thereon to complete the closing and sealing of the cartons such as to incorporate a product.

In some conventional carton handling machines the flaps which have to be stuck down are folded down by a shaped guide as the carton progresses along a conveyor. Each flap folding operation requires a guide of significant length. In order to reduce the length of the equipment it has been proposed to move the carton to a final station where it is brought to rest and arms act on the flaps to close them onto the rest of the carton. The carton is then raised to leave space for the next carton and as the cartons rise up a tower a handling mechanism has to be provided to eject the uppermost carton sideways to a loading bay.

It is an object of this invention to simplify the procedures of cycling of articles such as cartons utilising equipment which is of relatively short length and complexity.

Accordingly this invention provides apparatus for intermittent cycling of articles comprising a conveyor member carrying lugs which are pivotally mounted thereon between article engaging and non-engaging attitudes, and attitude changing means for moving lugs to the engaging attitude in regions where the article is to be moved by the conveyor, and for changing the lugs to the non-engaging attitude when the article is to be brought to a rest condition.

The apparatus may of course include operation stations for performing manufacturing steps on the articles whilst the articles are at rest. In particular an operating station may be constructed to perform the operation of gluing of flaps onto a carton type article. In the preferred embodiment the said operating station will include a rotating drum with a closing edge for pressing down a protruding flap on the article and an opening in the drum surface for receipt of the flap prior to pressing down. If the other edge of the opening is angled towards the closing edge in the flap insertion direction, then the strength of the drum is kept to a maximum whilst it is enabled to accept cartons carrying flaps of various lengths.

The advantage of providing intermittent cycling of the articles is that operations may be carried out upon them whilst they are at rest at operation stations and the overall length of this equipment for performing the operations may be kept to a minimum as the article is not moving.

In the preferred embodiment the attitude changing means comprises a slide projecting from the lug and slideably mounted on a rail, the rail being terminated or stepped to allow the slide to drop as the lug rotates about its pivot between attitudes. Thus the rail may terminate so as to allow the lug to fall back out of engagement with an article. As another possibility the rail may be stepped to allow the lug to rise into an article engaging attitude as the slide drops. The slide itself ideally comprises a roller for rotational movement along the rail, in order to keep the frictional resistance low. Whilst the lug may be biased in various ways to achieve movement between the two attitudes, it is preferred that the lug should be situated about its pivot so that the slide is weight-biased downwardly by gravity.

An advantageous construction has the lug mounted between the conveyor and a mounted plate on a pivot pin, the other end of the plate being pinned to the conveyor via a sleeve which acts as a limit stop for rotation of the lug about the pivot pin.

The apparatus may be provided with a separate conveyor running at an angle to the conveyor member for moving the article in a new direction when brought to rest by the conveyor member.

Also the conveyor can carry separate sets of lugs for engaging the article over different regions of travel path of the article at different times. If two conveyors are provided, carrying aligned pairs of lugs for mutual engagement of the article, a better pushing action onto the article will be achieved as there will be a two point contact rather than a single point contact onto the article. Whilst the or each conveyor may take many forms, in a preferred embodiment it will comprise an endless chain.

The invention may be performed in various ways and one preferred embodiment thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a carton handling apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 illustrates operation of carton engaging lugs used in the apparatus of Figure 1: Figure 3 shows a carton to be handled; and Figures 4 and 5 are side and end views respectively of a flap closing drum used in the apparatus of Figure 1.

The apparatus shown in Figure 1 comprises a carton flap closing machine incorporating a support table 1 below which are carried endless chain conveyors 2, 3, 4 and 5. Chains 2 and 3 carry respective pairs of lugs 6 and 7 which act on a carton to move it through the machine from a loading area 9 through to an end flap closing station 10 and subsequently on to the end 11 of this conveyor section. Pairs of lugs 12 carried by the chains 4 and 5 will then move the carton on at right angles to a further closing station 13 which closes down a side flap on the carton. The carton 14 is shown in Figure 3 with the end flaps 1 5 and the side flaps 1 6 still projecting. Guide rails 17 and 18 contact the edges of the carton to prevent it from moving out of the required path.

The construction of the lugs 6, 7 and 12 can be seen more clearly from Figure 2 of the drawings which illustrates two possible attitudes of one of the lugs 7. Each lug has an extending portion 19 to form an L-shape and the elbow of the L is mounted about a pivot pin 20 passing through an outer plate 21 and through to a link of the chain 2 (illustrated by dashed lines). The plate 21 is also connected to another link of the chain 2 by a pin 22, a sleeve 23 being interposed between the plate 21 and the chain. The rear end of the extension 19 carries a roller type slide member 24 rotating about a pin 25 and engaging a rail 26. As can be seen the rail 26 has an upper run 27 and a lower run 28 interconnected by an angled section 29.Engagement of the roller 24 on the upper run 27 of the rail causes the lug 7 to be tilted so that its tip lies below the surface 1 along which a carton 14 is to be moved. However when the lug moves into the region of the lower run 28 of the rail the weight of the extension 19 and the roller 24 are such that the lug 7 is brought into an upright attitude where it projects above the surface 1 and will engage the carton 14. Figure 2 also shows an overhead rail 30 which holds down the carton 14 as it passes through the machine.

Referring again to Figure 1 it will be clear that the lugs 7 cannot engage cartons until they have passed the angled section 29 of the rail 26.

However the lugs 6 also carry wheels 24 which act on rails 31 which are at the same level as the lower run 28 of the rail 26. Thus these lugs 6 will engage a carton which has been moved into their path from the loading platform 9 and will then carry this carton to the station 10. However, at this point the lugs 6 will fall away by rotation anti clockwise about the pivot pins 20 as the rollers 24 fall off the end of the rail 31. The carton will therefore remain at the station 10 for a short period of time until the lugs 7 engage the carton and move it on to the termination point 11 whereat the lugs 7 will also fall away as the rollers 24 fall off the end of the rail 26. The carton will now be positioned across the support surface 32 and against the guide rail 18A. Thus the carton will in time be engaged by lugs 12 carried by the chains 4 and 5.Again these lugs 12 are held in a carton engaging attitude by means of the rollers 24 moving along the rails 33. When the lugs 12 fall away as the rollers 24 drop off the ends of the rails 33 the carton will be brought to rest at a further station 13 where the final flap closing operation takes place. The next carton to move along the support surface 32 will nudge the previous carton along towards the unloading point 34.

The operation station 10 employs a pair of rotating drums 35 immediately beyond the guns 36 which eject molten heated glue (from a hot melt tank 37) onto the two ends 38 of the carton 14 in synchronisation with the movement thereof.

The drums 35 are illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 and comprise end members 39 carried by a driven shaft 40 and themselves carrying the drum surface 41. A portion of the drum surface is cut away so as to form a closing edge 42 and an angled edge 43. As a carton flap 15 approaches the drum it will enter the opening formed between the edges 42 and 43 from the end 44 of this opening. As the carton moves forward the drum rotates so that the angled edge 43 always moves clear of the approaching flap 1 5. When the carton comes to a halt at the station 10 further rotation of the drum 35 will cause the closing edge 42 to engage the flap 1 5 and close it down onto the glued surface 38. Closure of the side flap 16 onto the carton surface 45 is similarly achieved by means of the glue gun 46 and a further drum 35.

The invention is not of course limited to its use in connection with carton forming machines but is generally applicable to all situations where it is desired to move articles between stations where particular operations are to be performed whilst the article is in a rest condition. The separate sets of lugs 6 and 7 ensure movement of the article at different times from different positions along the total path and it would of course be possible to provide, for instance, that the lugs 7 could reappear at a new position to move the article on again from a further operation station.

The apparatus of this invention has several advantages compared with prior machines. Thus the use of a tower and associated handling mechanism is avoided. Also the machine does not employ a shaped guide which requires a significant length of travel and can also distort the flaps. With the present apparatus the flaps are folded down square onto the sides of the carton by the rotating drums.

Claims (14)

1. Apparatus for intermittent cycling of articles comprising a conveyor member carrying lugs which are pivotally mounted thereon between article-engaging and article-non-engaging attitudes, and attitude changing means for moving lugs to the engaging attitude in regions where the article is to be moved by the conveyor member, and for changing the lugs to the non-engaging attitude when the article is to be brought to a rest condition.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the attitude changing means comprises a slide projecting from the lug and slideably mounted on a rail, the rail being terminated or stepped to allow the slide to move under a bias to rotate the lug about its pivot to a new attitude.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the rail terminates so as to allow the lug to move back out of engagement with an article.

4. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the rail is stepped to allow the lug to rise into an article engaging attitude as the slide enters the step.

5. Apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the slide comprises a roller for rotational movement along the rail.

6. Apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the lug is situated about its pivot so that the slide is weight-biased downwardly by gravity.

7. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein each lug is mounted on a pivot pin between the conveyor and a plate, the other end of the plate being pinned to the conveyor via a pin or sleeve which acts as a limit stop for rotation of the lug about the pivot pin.

8. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, including an additional separate conveyor member running at an angle to the main conveyor member for moving the article in a new direction when brought to rest by the main conveyor member.

9. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the conveyor member carries separate sets of lugs for engaging the article over different regions of the travel path for the article at different times.

10. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, including two adjacent conveyor members carrying aligned pairs of lugs for mutual engagement of the article.

11. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the or each conveyor member comprises an endless chain or belt.

12. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11, including operation stations for performing manufacturing steps on the articles whilst the articles are at rest.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein an operating station is constructed to perform the operation of gluing of flaps onto a carton type article.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said operating station includes a rotating drum with a closing edge for pressing down a protruding flap on the article and an opening in the drum surface for receipt of the falp prior to pressing down.

1 5. Apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the edge of the opening other than the closing edge is angled towards the closing edge in the flap insertion direction.

1 6. Apparatus for the intermittent cycling of articles substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.