GB2153769A

GB2153769A - Handling items to be wrapped

Info

Publication number: GB2153769A
Application number: GB08403146A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Kenneth Spencer; Donald James Warner
Original assignee: Baker Perkins Ltd
Current assignee: Baker Perkins Ltd
Priority date: 1984-02-07
Filing date: 1984-02-07
Publication date: 1985-08-29
Also published as: GB8403146D0; GB2153769B

Abstract

Items (11) in pockets (12) on a horizontal feed wheel (13) are transferred by a pusher (17) at a transfer station (18) in succession upwardly into pockets (14) around the periphery of a wrapping wheel (16) which rotates step-wise around a horizontal axis. Increased rates of item transfer are obtained by arranging for the feed wheel to be driven so as to advance continuously through the transfer station and for the pusher to be driven such that it follows (U,D) the movement of the feed wheel when it projects through a pocket of the feed wheel. In one embodiment, this pusher movement is effected by connecting it to one cam disc (27) which controls its vertical movement and another (36) which controls its horizontal movement. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Handling items to be wrapped This invention relates to apparatus for handling a succession of product items to be wrapped in a wrapping wheel (known per se) which rotates in step-wise fashion about a horizontal rotational axis, the apparatus comprising a feed conveyor which has a plurality of pockets to be advanced through a transfer station beneath the wrapping wheel, and a reciprocatory item-pushing member which moves upwardly through each pocket in turn at the transfer station to lift and transfer an item within the pocket into registry with one of a succession of pockets around the periphery of the wrapping wheel, and downwardly out of the pocket before moving upwardly again through the next following pocket.

The invention has particular application to wrapping machines for sweets, tablets, or other product items, the machines being of the kind in which the items are removed in succession from pockets in the feed conveyor, e.g. a pocketed feed disc, by the reciprocatory pusher, moving up and down in timed relationship with the feeding of a wrapper transversely of the movement of the pusher, and with the movement of a wrapper-nipping member arranged to trap the wrapper against the leading face of the product item, to cause the article and wrapper to move together into an item-receiving formation of the wrapping wheel.

It has been usual in the past to feed the items to the pockets of an intermittently rotating feed wheel so that the speed of operation of the machine was limited to the rate at which the articles could be properly positioned in the successive pockets by an operator. More recently, however, automatic feeding systems have been produced enabling higher rates of feeding to be achieved. In the field of the present invention, speeds up to 800 pieces per minute are now attainable.

Such higher rates of feeding, with consequent higher speeds of operation of the machines, however, have resulted in a tendency for the jerky action of the feed wheel to dislodge the articles from the pockets. Although this may be alleviated to some extent by reducing the dwell of the feed wheel to the minimum necessary to permit the required reciprocatory movement of the pusher, thus allowing maximum time (within a given time cycle) for the movement of the pockets from one position to another, the tendency persists with such higher speeds and becomes more serious as the speed increases.

An object of the invention is further to alleviate this difficulty.

According to the present invention, the above identified product item handling apparatus is characterised in that the feed conveyor has a drive which causes the conveyor to advance continuously through the transfer station and the pusher member has a drive which imposes on both the upward and downward movement of the pusher member during periods when the pusher extends into or through the pocket a component of movement in the direction of advance of the conveyor.

In the apparatus according to the invention, the pusher "follows" each successive pocket of the conveyor as it moves continuously through the transfer station. The pusher will normally be narrower than the pocket and the clearance utilised for permitting the velocity of the pusher, in the direction of advance of the conveyor, to differ from that of the conveyor, but always with the pusher and the conveyor co-operating freely.

It is convenient to provide the feed conveyor as a feed wheel which rotates about a vertical axis and has the pockets evenly spaced around its circumference. Feed wheels have been used hitherto with a drive which causes them to stop momentarily as each pocket reaches the transfer station.

With the present invention such stopping is eliminated. Preferably, the rotation of the feed wheel is at a constant angular velocity.

Thus, the stated object is accomplished by utilising a continuously travelling feed conveyor in conjunction with an intermittently rotating wrapping wheel.

One embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing which shows, in elevation, a mechanism for conveying a succession of sweets to the item-receiving elements of a wrapping wheel. The embodiment will now be described with reference to the drawing.

Sweets 11 are contained one in each of a plurality of pockets 12 around the periphery of a continuously rotating feed conveyor disc 13. The sweets 11 are transferred in succession from the pockets 12 to successive pockets 14 of an intermittently rotating wrapping wheel 16, operable in timed relationship with the feed disc 13, by a pusher 17 reciprocating in timed relationship with the feed disc 13. The pusher 17 is mounted below the feed disc 13 and at a transfer station 18, being secured to a block 19 itself pivotally mounted at 21 on one arm 22 of a two-armed lever 22,23 pivotally mounted on a shaft 24. The other arm 23 of the lever carries a roller 26 arranged to run in a cam track 30 of a disc cam 27 secured to a driven shaft 28.Also attached to the block 19 at 25 is one end of a link 29, the other end of the link 29 being attached to one arm 31 of a two-armed lever 31,32 pivotally mounted on a shaft 33, the other arm 32 carrying a roller 34 arranged to run in the cam track 35 of a disc cam 36 secured to a driven shaft 37.

In one cycle of operation of the machine, one of the pockets 12 containing a sweet 11 approaches the transfer station 18, the pusher 17 commences its upward movement, under the influence of the cam 27, to engage the lower face of the sweet 11 and, substantially at the same time, a wrapper-nipping member 38 is caused in known manner to trap a previously fed wrapper 39 on to the upper surface of the sweet 11, so that the sweet 11 and wrapper 39 are transferred together into the pocket 14 of the wrapping wheel 16.

To compensate for the continuous rotation of the feed disc 13 in relation to the upward movement of the pusher 17 during the transferring operation, the pusher 17 is moved laterally by the action of the cam 36 and link 29 in the same direction as that of rotation of the feed disc 13. Upon completion of the transferring movement of the sweet 11 into the wrapping wheel 16, the pusher 17 is retracted and returns through the pocket 12 of the feed disc 13, whereupon it is moved laterally, under the influence of the cam 36, in the opposite direction to that of rotation of the feed disc 13 to be positioned in readiness for transferring the next succeeding sweet 11 to the wrapping wheel 16.

Thus, in the stated one cycle, the wrapping wheel advances by one step to bring the next pocket 14 into the transfer station 18, and the conveyor disc rotates smoothly by an angle which brings the next pocket 12 to the transfer station. At the same time, each cam disc 27,36 rotates by one complete revolution, causing the pusher 17 to move through one complete loop of movement.

In common with previously proposed apparatus, the illustrated embodiment includes an under-rim 40 which prevents individual items 11 from falling downwardly out of the pockets 12 before they reach the transfer station. The head of the pusher 17 has a recess (not shown), into which the underrim 40 extends, to provide an overlap between the support given to the item 11 by the under-rim and that given by the pusher 17.

In contrast to previous apparatus, however, the present under-rim terminates well short of the point at which it terminates in the previous apparatus, and by an amount which corresponds to the gradient of the locus U of upward movement of the pusher 17, shown chain-dotted on the drawing.

The shallower the gradient, the further upstream of the transfer station 18 will the under-rim terminate.

In the previous apparatus, it will be appreciated, the gradient of the locus of upward movement is infinitely large, that is to say, the pusher ascends vertically.

In the drawing, the return downward movement of the pusher is represented by chain-dotted locus D and the return upstream movement of the pusher, against the rotation of the feed disc 13, by locus R.

Claims

1. Apparatus for handling a succession of product items to be wrapped in a wrapping wheel which rotates in step-wise fashion about a horizontal rotational axis, the apparatus comprising a feed conveyor which has a plurality of pockets to be advanced through a transfer station beneath the wrapping wheel, and a reciprocatory item-pushing member which moves upwardly through each pocket in turn at the transfer station to lift and transfer an item within the pocket into registry with one of a succession of pockets around the periphery of the wrapping wheel and downwardly out of the pocket before moving upwardly again through the next following pocket, the apparatus being characterised by drive means for the feed conveyor which causes the conveyor to advance continuously through the transfer station and drive means for the pusher member which imposes on both the upward and downward movement of the pusher member during periods when the pusher extends into or through the pocket a component of movement in the direction of advance of the pusher.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the feed conveyor is a feed wheel in which said feed conveyor pockets are evenly spaced around the periphery of the wheel and wherein the said drive for the feed wheel causes the periphery of the wheel to advance at a constant angular velocity.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the item-pushing member is pivotally mounted to one arm of a first shaft-mounted, two-armed lever, the other arm of said lever being arranged to follow a first cam cycle for moving the item-pushing member in a cycle up and down through the pocket of the feed conveyor, and also to one arm of a second shaft-mounted, two armed lever, the other arm of the second lever being arranged to follow a second cam cycle for moving the itempushing member in the said cycle in and against the direction of advancement of the feed conveyor.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein the said other arms of the first and second levers each run in a respective cam track around the circumference of separate cam discs, each said disc making one complete revolution in the said cycle of movement of the item-pushing member.

5. Apparatus for handling product items substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.