GB2058005A

GB2058005A - Pallet loading apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2058005A
Application number: GB8029086A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: LAESSIG FOERDERTECH HAMBURG
Current assignee: LAESSIG FOERDERTECH HAMBURG
Priority date: 1979-09-14
Filing date: 1980-09-09
Publication date: 1981-04-08
Also published as: FR2473021A1; FR2464903A1; DE2937180A1; GB2058005B; FR2464903B3

Abstract

An apparatus for loading pallets with layers of goods, e.g. parcels, bags or sacks in which the goods are transferred on to a horizontally arranged packing plate (40) and then stripped therefrom to be set down in layers on a pallet or on the uppermost layer of goods already located on the pallet, wherein a horizontal frame (20) is arranged in vertically displaceable manner by means of a drive mechanism (22) in a machine frame (10) with vertical guides (11, 12) and has two supporting arms (31, 32; 36, 37) which are telescopable either manually or by means of a drive mechanism and whose extendable and retractable supporting arm portions (32, 37) carry the packing plate (40) which thus can be moved over the pallet ready to deposit a layer of goods and can be moved out of the pallet area for the stripping of the goods therefrom. The packing plate, (40) when located outside the pallet area also permits pallets loaded or partially loaded with layers of goods to be moved into and out of said area without obstruction. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Pallet loading apparatus The Invention relates to an apparatus for loading pallets with piece goods, particularly parcels, bags, sacks or the like brought together in the form of layers corresponding to the individual pallet dimensions in which the piece goods are transferred by means of a conveyor belt on to a horizontally arranged packing plate as the transfer member and from the latter are set down in layers on a pallet positioned alongside the packing plate or on the uppermost layer of piece goods already located on the pallet.

Automatically operating apparatuses are known for the palleting of piece goods and sacks in which, as a function of the áirnen sions and shape the article is turned and set down in layer form on the pallet. Thus, a palleting apparatus for sacks is known permitting the stacking of sacks on pallets in a fixed union or tie, independently of the selected tie or union form. The sacks are transferred by means of a conveyor belt and a pass-over band movable at right angles to the conveying direction on to a packing plate serving as the transfer member and positioned parallel to the conveyor belt and from there on to a pallet placed on a raisable and lowerable platform.

After depositing each layer of sacks on the pallet or the layers of sacks already located thereon after lowering the pallet platform is raised upwards by the height of a sack against a displaceable pressure plate, whilst the displaceable packing plate is constructed in a pre-curved manner extending from the edges and directed towards the centre thereof. A retaining strip arranged alongside the outer stack edge and directed counter to the removal direction of the packing plate is constructed so that it is pressed against the uppermost layer of sacks during the removal of the packing plate, so that the individual sack layers can be transferred to the pallet without the layer of sacks formed being broken apart (DAS 12 2 75 468B.

However, it is disadvantageous of such apparatuses for loading pallets with piece goods and which work with a packing plate as the transfer member is that the packing plate is arranged in vertically displaceable manner in a machine frame in the vicinity of the movement path of the pallets to be supplied and removed, so that if partially loaded pallets have to be removed from the area of the loading apparatus in order to introduce a new pallet for piece goods having a different shape and type the packing plate must be raised by means of a supporting frame to free the passage for removing the first partially loaded pallet and for supplying the second, possibly partially loaded pallet.Thus, on changing the pallets or partially loaded pallets with different piece goods or sacks having different contents it is always necessary to raise the packing plate and as a result during this process it is not possible to prepare a new layer of piece goods on the packing plate. In addition, in the known pallet loading apparatuses the packing plate can only be moved to the side in the horizontal direction, so that piece goods for forming a layer thereof on the packing plate can only be supplied from one side. In addition, the transfer of a layer of piece goods from the packing plate on to a pallet or on to the uppermost layer of piece goods already on the pallet can only take place on one side.

It is also disadvantageous with the known pallet loading apparatuses that the individual piece good layers must be formed on the packing plate or a supply path located in front of the latter in order then to be transferred from the packing plate on to the pallet to be loaded. Thus, a high output of the loading apparatus is not possible, because a further layer of piece goods can only be placed on the packing plate when the previous layer of piece goods has been transferred from the packing plate to the pallet.

The problem of the present invention is to provide a pallet loading apparatus with a packing plate transferable into the pallet loading position and which is retractable into the vertical movement path of the packing plate for a transverse movement of the pallet with a stack of piece goods already arranged thereon without there being any need to lower the pallet with the stack of piece goods or to raise the packing plate, so that the pallet can be moved past the projecting horizontal guide arms provided on the known loading apparatuses for guiding the packing plate.

According to the invention this problem is solved by an apparatus of the type described hereinbefore, wherein a horizontal supporting frame is arranged in vertically displaceable manner by means of a drive mechanism in a machine frame with vertical guides and has two supporting arms which are telescopable either manually or by means of a drive mechanism and whose extendable and retractable supporting arm portions carry the packing plate which, by means of the extendable and retractable supporting arm portions can be moved over the pallet for depositing a layer of piece goods thereon or on the uppermost layer of piece goods already positioned on the pallet and can be moved out of the pallet area for directing past pal lets loaded or partially loaded with layers of piece goods.

As a result of such a construction of a pallet loading apparatus with horizontally extendable and retractable packing plate there is a possibility of the transverse displacement of loaded pallets on the loading apparatus, so that for said transverse movement of loaded pallets the pallet does not have to be lowered and the packing plate does not have to be raised.

If a pallet already partially loaded with piece goods has to be moved out of the loading area in order to be able to supply to the latter a pallet partially loaded with piece goods of another type the packing plate is merely retracted into the machine frame, i.e. into the vertical path of movement of the packing plate, so that the partially or fully loaded pallets can be moved past the loading apparatus in an unimpeded manner. As the packing plate does not have to be raised for interchanging partially loaded pallets it is possible during the displacement of the partially loaded pallet to prepare a layer of piece goods on the packing plate, so that the thus constructed pallet loading apparatus has a high output.If the packing plate is constructed in an extendable and retractable manner on both sides the additional possibility is provided of successively preparing on the packing plate layers of different piece goods which can be supplied to the corresponding pallet on one or other side of the apparatus. This permits the loading of pallets with in each case the correct type of piece goods, which is particularly advantageous if it is necessary to form piece goods of different sizes into individual layers or in the case e.g. of sacks with different contents, so that sacks with the same content are always supplied to one pallet, whereas sacks with another content are supplied to another pallet.

In order to be able to charge with piece goods in an appropriate manner a pallet loading apparatus with such a high output the invention also offers the possibility of a spacesaving storage of a large number of prepared layers of piece goods which can be removed at any time. Therefore the invention relates to an apparatus for loading pallets with a possibility of storing layers of piece goods which can be removed at any time, wherein a horizontal supporting frame is arranged in vertically displaceable manner by means of a drive mechanism in a machine frame with vertical guides and has two supporting arms which are telescopable either manually or by means of a drive mechanism and whose extendable and retractable supporting arm portions carry the packing plate which, by means of the extendable and retractable supporting arm portions can be moved over the pallet for depositing a layer of piece goods thereon or on the uppermost layer of piece goods already positioned on the pallet and can be moved out of the pallet area for directing past pallets loaded or partially loaded with layers of piece goods, and an apparatus for storing the formed layers of piece goods prior to their transfer to the packing plate, which comprises an article supply belt and at least two superimposed storage belts which are spaced therefrom and a transfer mechanism located between the latter and the article supply belt constructed as a roller train with rollers driven in a circulating manner or as a conveyor belt driven in a circulating manner and which with its charging side end in the vicinity of the article supply belt provided with a pass-over band transferring the piece goods on to the transfer mechanism is pivotable about a horizontal axis, whilst the discharge side end of the transfer mechanism is pivotable by means of a drive mechanism in the vicinity of the individual storage belts.

By means of such an apparatus it is possible to poperate means for loading pallets with piece goods and sacks at a high capacity, because the layers of piece goods prepared on the storage belts can be taken up or removed at any time by the charging apparatus. During the transfer of a layer of piece goods from the packing plate to the pallet the storage belt which has become free can again be filled with a layer of piece goods, so that it is possible to have an alternating removal by the packing plate of piece good layers from the storage belts. Through the use of such a storage station a high output can be achieved with the pallet loading apparatus.If the storage belts are also constructed as packing plates which are horizontally displaceable the possibility is provided of the pallet loading apparatuses using these packing plates constructed as storage paths for transferring layers of piece goods on to the pallet. The pallet loading apparatus then has no packing plate.

The individual packing plates with the layers of piece goods located thereon are then taken up by the pallet loading apparatus and moved into the vicinity of the pallets to be loaded.

Further advantageous developments of the invention can be gathered from the Subclaims.

The invention is described in greater detail hereinafter relative to non-limitative embodiments and the attached drawings, wherein show: Figure 1 a pallet loading apparatus with telescopable packing plate in a view from the front.

Figure 2 the pallet loading apparatus with the packing plate in the loading position in a side view.

Figure 3 a side view of the pallet loading apparatus during the lateral extension of the packing plate.

Figure 4 a plan view of the pallet loading apparatus with the packing plate extended.

Figure 5 a plan view of the pallet loading apparatus with retracted packing plate and laterally positioned pallet.

Figure 6 a storage mechanism for the pallet loading apparatus in a plan view.

Figure 7 a side view of the apparatus of Fig. 1.

The apparatus for loading pallets with piece goods shown in Figs. 1 to 3 comprises a machine frame 10 with four vertical guides 11, 12, 1 3 and 14 arranged in the corner areas of a square or rectangular base surface of machine frame 10. The horizontal supporting frame 20 is displaceably held and guided in the direction of arrow X in guides 11 to 14 which are provided with profiles. Supporting frame 20 is laterally provided with guide rollers 21 which are guided in guides 11 to 14. For vertical displacement in the direction of arrow X in machine frame 10 supporting frame 20 is connected to a drive mechanism 22 which operates a cable line 23 connected to frame 20 (Fig. 1).

Supporting frame 20 is provided with two spaced, lateral, horizontal supporting arms 30 and 35, which have telescopable portions. In the embodiment of Fig. 4 each supporting arm 30 or 35 of supporting frame 20 comprises a fixed supporting arm portion 31 or 36 and an extendable and retractable, i.e.

movable supporting arm portion 32 or 37.

The two supporting arm portions 32, 37 are extendable and retractable in the direction of arrows X1. For guiding supporting arm portions 32, 37 on supporting arm portions 31, 36 extendable guides 33, 38 are provided which connect portion 31, 36 with portions 32, 37 in such a way that on extending portions 32, 37 guides 33, 38 are also extended and have a stabilizing action on the overall arrangement (Fig. 3 and 4).

The construction of the telescopable supporting arms 30, 35 shown in Figs. 3 and 4 permits a free displacement of the movable supporting arm portion 32, 37 in both directions. As a result portions 32, 37 can be moved to the left or right of machine frame 10, as desired.

The extension and retraction of supporting arm portions 32, 37 can take place nnanuaAly or by means of a drive mechanism 50. In the case of the manual operation of portions 32, 37 operating handles, not shown in the drawing, are laterally provided on the free ends of said portions 32, 37, so that they can be effortlessly extended and retracted or alternately moved.

However, if a drive mechanism 50 for the extension and retraction of supporting arm portions 32, 37 is provided, according to the embodiment of Fig. 2 it comprises an endless cable line 53 driven by said drive mechanism guided by guide pulleys 51, 52 mounted on the fixed supporting arm portions 31, 36. The lower strand 53a of the endless cable line 53 is connected via a cable line 54 with the two supporting arm portions 32, 37 in such a way that when the cable line moves in the direction of arrow X2 the two portions 32, 37 are laterally extended (Fig. 2). The retraction of supporting arm portions 32, 37 into the initial position can be brought about by tension springs, not shown in the drawing, or by reversing the direction of travel of cable line 53 in the case of a corresponding connection of supporting arm portions 32, 37 to the lower strand 53a of cable line 53.

However, supporting frame 20 can also be provided with differently constructed telescopable supporting arms 30, 35. The essential point is that arms 30, 35 are provided with extandable and retractable portions, so that the latter can be retracted in the vicinity of machine frame 10 (Fig. 5).

The two extendable and retractable portions 32, 35 of supporting arms 30, 35 of supporting frame 20 carry a packing plate 40 by means of which the two portions 32, 37 are interconnected. If the two supporting arm portions 32, 37 are formed from square or rectangular profiles packing plate 40 is fixed to the base side surfaces of the supporting arm portion profiles. The size of packing plate 40 corresponds to the size of the layers of piece goods to be formed by adapting to the size of the loading surface of the pallets used, so that in the case of a corresponding operation of the loading apparatus the individual layers of piece goods formed on the packing plate 40 can be transferred to a pallet indi cated at P in Figs. 4 and 5.

If the supporting frame 20 with packing plate 40 is in the form shown in Fig. 3 the packing plate 40 can be extended laterally in both directions out of machine frame 10 by means of the supporting arm portions 32, 37 and specifically in the direction of arrows X3 and X4. However, if the telescopable supporting arms 30, 35 are constructed differently it is possible to arrange the packing plate 40 on the two arms 32, 37 in such a way that the plate 40 is fixed to the front free ends of the extendable and retractable supporting arm portions 32, 37, whilst the other end area of plate 40 is slidingly held and guided on the fixed supporting arm portions 31, 36. Thus, on retracting portions 32, 37 with packing plate 40 the latter can roll on the fixed portions 31, 36 by means of rollers not shown in the drawing.However, in this embodiment the two supporting arms 30, 35 are then positioned so far apart that after packing plate 40 has been laterally extended it can be lowered on to the pallet or the uppermost layer of piece goods and the supporting arm portions 32, 37 positioned laterally of plate 40 come to rest laterally of the pallet or the piece good layers already located thereon, so ithat in no way is the transfer process of the piece good layer from packing plate 40 to the pallet impeded.

A retaining strip or member 45 is provided in machine frame 10 for transferring a layer of piece goods from packing plate 40 to pallet P and is lowered in such a way in the vicinity of the layer located on plate 40 that on removing the plate from the piece good layer in the direction of arrow X5 the layer cannot be broken apart and is instead set down on the pallet in a completely closed and complete form (Fig. 4). This retaining member 45 can be raised and lowered by means of drive mechanisms not shown in the drawing. Thus, for transferring a layer of piece goods from packing plate 40 onto the pallet the retaining member 45 can be lowered and then raised again if the packing plate is moved back into the loading position in machine frame 10 and is then moved with a further layer of piece goods into the transfer position.

The supply of the individual piece goods for producing individual layers thereof on the packing plate can take place by means of an article supply path 220 with or without the intermediate connection of a subsequently described storage mechanism 200 (Fig. 6).

The machine frame with the supporting frame 20, the telescopable supporting arms 30, 35 and packing plate 40 together form the pallet loading apparatus designated by 100 in Fig. 1 and which functions in the following manner.

By means of the article supply belt 220 articles such as parcels or sacks are supplied to the loading apparatus 100, the individual layers thereof either being formed at the end of belt 220 or said layers are prepared on the packing plate 40, whereby in the latter case it is layered to such an extent in machine frame 10 that the piece goods can be transferred in the direction of arrow Y1 by means of a passover member 221 (Fig. 6). If a layer of piece goods is prepared on packing plate 40 or has been transferred thereto supporting frame 20 with plate 40 and the layer of piece goods located thereon are raised to such an extent that plate 40 is positioned above the pallet to be loaded and positioned alongside the machine frame 10 or above the uppermost layer of piece goods already on the pallet.In this position of supporting frame 20 with packing plate 40 the latter is laterally telescoped out of the machine frame over pallet P, so that the plate 40 is positioned very slightly above pallet P or the uppermost layer of piece goods located thereon. When plate 40 has assumed this position the retaining member 45 is lowered. Retaining member 45 comes to rest on the lateral edge of the layer of piece goods on packing plate 40, the latter then being retracted by means of telescopable supporting arms 30, 35 into machine frame 10 in the direction of arrow X5 (Fig. 4). During this retraction of packing plate 40 the layer of piece goods on the plate is deposited on pallet P. When the transfer process is at an end packing plate 40 assumes the position shown in Fig. 5 and can again be charged with a layer of piece goods.

If the piece goods already on the pallet are parcels and if now a pallet is to be loaded with sacks, then the pallet P loaded with parcels is moved laterally of the vertical path of movement of packing plate 40 in machine frame 10 in the direction of arrow X6 and another pallet can be brought into the transfer area. If a layer of sacks is now prepared on the packing plate the latter is brought over the pallet in the manner described hereinbefore and after lowering the retaining member 45 plate 40 is retracted into machine frame 10 in the direction of arrow X5 and simultaneously the layer of sacks is deposited on the pallet.

In this way it is possible to transport into the loading area pallets for different piece goods and to deposit those piece good types in the form of piece good layers intended for the individual pallets. Thus, the individual pallets can be loaded with the correct article types.

In order to have available the necessary quantity of piece good layers to obtain a high output of the loading apparatus 100, according to another embodiment of the invention between loading apparatus 100 and the article supply web 220 there is a storage mechanism 200. Mechanism 200 is arranged in machine frame 10 receiving the horizontally moving article supply belt 220, which can be constructed as a roller train with rollers driven in circulating manner or as an endless conveyor belt driven in circulating manner. The supply direction of the piece goods formed into layers is in accordance with arrow Y. A stop bar 222 is provided at the end of belt 220.In the terminal area of belt 220 there is also a pass-over member 221 displaceable in the direction of arrow Y1 by a drive not shown in the drawing and serving to transfer the layer of piece goods formed on belt 220 on to a transfer mechanism 240 following on said belt. Pass-over member 221 moves at right angles to the piece good supply direction (Fig. 6).

The charging side end 241 of transfer mechanism 240 following on to the article supply belt 220 is mounted in machine frame 10 so as to be pivotable about a horizontal axis or swivel 245, so that the discharge side end 242 of transfer mechanism 240 is pivotable in the direction of arrow Y2. The pivoting of transfer mechanism 240 about pivot axis 245 is performed by a drive mechanism 246.

The transfer mechanism 240 is constructed as a roller train with rollers 243 driven in circulating manner or as andendless conveyor belt driven in circulating manner, so that the layer of piece goods formed at the end of article supply belt 220 can be supplied in the direction of arrow Y3 to storage belts following on to the transfer mechanism 240.

In the embodiment of Fig. 7 there are two spaced, superimposed storage belts 230, 330 in machine frame 10, the spacing of the two belts 230, 330 corresponding at least to the height of a layer of piece goods. Each of these two storage belts 230, 330 is vertically adjustable in the direction of arrow Y4 or Y5 in machine frame 10, so that layers of piece goods of different heights can be positioned on the lower storage belt 230. The pivoting movement of transfer mechanism 240 is then adapted to the particular position of storage belts 230, 330 in machine frame 10.

Each storage belt 230, 330 is constructed as a roller train. However, it is possible for each storage belt to be constructed in platelike manner or as a packing plate which is horizontally displaceable. The dimensions of storage belts 230, 330 are constructed in accordance with the size of the layers of piece goods to be deposited. If the storage belts 230, 330 are constructed as roller trains or in plate-like manner transfer mechanisms 231, 331 are provided for the transfer of the piece good layers from the storage belts on to the packing plate 40 of the pallet loading apparatus 400, said transfer mechanisms being displaceable in the direction of arrows Y6 and Y7 by means of drive means not shown in the drawing, so that layers of piece goods arranged on belts 230, 330 can be transferred on to plate 40 of pallet loading apparatus 100.However, if the storage belts 230, 330 are themselves constructed as horizontally displaceable packing plates the supporting frame 20 of pallet loading apparatus 100 has means for picking up said plates which are then drawn out of mountings provided in machine frame 10 and transferred into the area of the pallet P to be loaded by means of supporting frame 20. The pivot axis 245 of transfer mechanism 240 is preferably arranged in the plane located between the two storage belts 230, 330, so that the transfer mechanism does not have to perform large pivoting movements.

The number of storage belts need not be limited to two. It is also possible to have a larger number of superimposed storage belts.

The transfer mechanism 240 is then correspondingly constructed, so that a satisfactory transfer of the layer of piece goods prepared on the article supply belt 220 to the individual storage belts is possible.

Claims

1. An apparatus for loading pallets with piece goods, particularly parcels, bags, sacks or the like brought together in the form of layers corresponding to the individual pallet dimensions in which the piece goods are transferred by means of a conveyor belt on to a horizontally arranged packing plate as the transfer member and from the latter are set down in layers on a pallet positioned alongside the packing plate or on the uppermost layer of piece goods already located on the pallet, wherein a horizontal supporting frame is arranged in vertically displaceable manner by means of a drive mechanism in a machine frame with vertical guides and has two supporting arms which are telescopable either manually or by means of a drive mechanism and whose extendable and retractable supporting arm portions carry the packing plate which, by means of the extendable and retractable supporting arm portions can be moved over the pallet for depositing a layer of piece goods thereon or on the uppermost layer of piece goods already positioned on the pallet and can be moved out of the pallet area for directing past pellets loaded or partially loaded with layers of piece goods.

2. An apparatus for loading pallets with piece goods, particularly parcels, bags, sacks or the like brought together in the form of layers corresponding to the individual pallet dimensions in which the piece goods are transferred by means of a conveyor belt on to a horizontally arranged packing plate as the transfer member and from the latter are set down in layers on a pallet positioned alongside the packing plate or on the uppermost layer of piece goods already located on the pallet, wherein a horizontal supporting frame is arranged in vertically displaceable manner by means of a drive mechanism in a machine frame with vertical guides and has two supporting arms which are telescopable either manually or by means of a drive mechanism and whose extendable and retractable supporting arm portions carry the packing plate which, by means of the extendable and retractable supporting arm portions can be moved over the pallet for depositing a layer of piece goods thereon or on the uppermost layer of piece goods already positioned on the pallet and can be moved out of the pallet area for directing past pellets loaded or partially loaded with layers of piece goods, and an apparatus for storing the formed layers of piece goods prior to their transfer to the packing plate, which comprises an article supply belt and at least two superimposed storage belts which are spaced therefrom and a transfer mechanism located between the latter and the article supply belt constructed as a roller train with rollers driven in a circulating manner or as a conveyor belt driven in a circulating manner and which with its charging side end in the vicinity of the article supply belt provided with a pass-over band transferring the piece goods on to the transfer mechanism is pivotable about a horizontal axis, whilst the discharge side end of the transfer mechanism is pivotable by means of a drive mechanism in the vicinity of the individ ual storage belts.

3. An apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein each of the storage belts is construeted as e roller train.

4. An apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein each of the storage belts is constructed as 2 horizontally displaceable packing plate.

5. An apparatus according to Claim 4, wherein each roller train or packing plate forming the storage belt is given a size corresponding to that of a layer of piece goods.

6. An apparatus according to any one of the Claims 2 to 5, wherein the reciprocal spacing of the two storage belts in the machine frame can be varied.

7. An apparatus according to any one of the Claims 1 to 6, wherein the extendable and retractable supporting arm portions of the supporting arms carrying the packing plate can be alternately extended from the machine frame.

8. An apparatus for loading pallets with piece goods substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.