GB2229986A

GB2229986A - Apparatus and method for continuously separating and changing the orientation of articles

Info

Publication number: GB2229986A
Application number: GB8907542A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter John Ling; John Arscott
Original assignee: LING SYST Ltd; LING SYSTEMS Ltd
Current assignee: LING SYST Ltd; LING SYSTEMS Ltd
Priority date: 1989-04-04
Filing date: 1989-04-04
Publication date: 1990-10-10
Also published as: GB8907542D0

Abstract

A conveyor (1) has spaced carriers (6) attached thereto. Packets (13) in a first orientation are fed by conveyor (8) to the carriers (6) and are carried upwardly along the run (1'). When the packets (13) reach the turning area (1'') of the conveyor (1) they are turned through 90 DEG and slide away along stripping bars (12). By matching the horizontal components of the speed of the conveyor (1) to the speed of the speed conveyor (8), a continuous feed may be achieved. This allows the use of faster feed speeds without damage to the packets (13). <IMAGE>

Description

Apparatus and method for continuously separating and changing the orientation of articles The present invention relates to apparatus for continuously separating and changing the orientation of articles, such as packets or boxes, e.g. in order to perform a process step thereon.

It is known to turn packets using starwheels. Normally, different starwheels have to be provided for different sized packets and generally not more than 200 packets a minute can be handled involving packet speeds of about 70 metres/minute. The starwheel has pockets into which packets are successively fed and turned thereby. The packets are fed to the starwheel continuously but the motion of the packets entering the wheel is intermittent and if it rises above about 200 packets/minute, the packets tend to become damaged by the starwheels, due to the high accelecation and deceleration forces involved in the interinittent motion.

An object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for continuously separating and changing the orientation of articles which can handle articles faster than previously, and without damaging the articles.

The invention provides apparatus for the separation and reorientation of articles as claimed in claim 1.

The invention further provides a method of changing the orientation of articles as claimed in claim 11.

Preferably, the speed component of the separating conveyor in the direction of feed of the feeding means is equal to or marginally less than the feed speed of the feeding means.

Thus, the articles may be processed continuously, and therefore at a faster rate than previously, e.g. 400 packets/minute.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view of apparatus for changing the orientation of articles according to the invention, and Figure 2 is an end view taken in the direction of the arrow A in Figure 1.

In the drawings, a driven separating conveyor 1 comprises a belt 2 driven around an upper sprocket 3 and lower sprockets 3' and 3" mounted on respective shafts 4, 4' and 4". The conveyor has slats 5 to which carriers in the form of chairs 6 are attached. Each chair has two surfaces 7 substantially at right angles to each other forming a back and a seat. The conveyor 1 is arranged in a vertical plane, and has a conveying surface inclined at an angle a to the horizontal.

Feeding means are in the form of a driven conveyor 8 comprising spaced strands or belts 9 (e.g. V-belts) engaging pairs of end pulleys 10, 10'.

Receiving means 11 are in the form of two spaced bars 12, although a driven or gravity conveyor could be used.

In operation, articles a boxes or packets 13, are fed at a continuous rate by the feed conveyor 8 in the feed direction shown by arrow 14 in Figure 1 towards the conveyor 1. A packet 13 will enter an adjacent chair 6 rising up the conveyor 1. The packet 13 will be carried upwardly and forward until its end face 13' has risen above the end face 13" of the succeeding chair 6. The chairs 6 are spaced on the conveyor 1 so that the horizontal distance is subsequentially equal to (or marginally less than a as shown in Figure 1) the length of the package being reoriented.

If the speed of the conveyor 1 is such that the speed component thereof in the direction of feed of the feed conveyor 8 (here, the horizontal component) is equal to the speed of the feed conveyor 8, the feed is continuous. and not intermittent. In practice, the horizontal speed component (which equals the speed of conveyor 1 x cos a) should be marginally less than the speed of the feed conveyor 8, so as to reduce the risk of the continuous feed being broken. It will be seen that the angle of inclination of the conveyor 1 to the horizontal is the same as that of the diagonal of the packets 13.

There may be a tendency for the friction component of the end face 13' to cause the end of the succeeding packet to rise. In order to avoid this. retaining means may be provided to keep packet on the feed conveyor 8 until the preceding packet has been lifted completely clear, i.e. until the end face 13' is above the end face 13". The retaining means could be in the form of a further conveyor arranged above the feed conveyor 8, e.g. in the form of transverse bars suspended between two belts or chains. The retaining conveyor would move at substantially the same speed as the feed conveyor 1, and would turn, i.e., the bars would rise, from above the end face 13" just as the end face 13' was clear of the end face 13".

In this way, the continuous feed of packets has been separated into individual components but still moving continuously.

The packets 13 in the chairs 6 are carried by the straight run 1' of the conveyor 1 in their original orientation, here horizontal. When the packets reach the turning area 1" of the conveyor 1 the chairs 6, and hence the packets 13, start to rotate clockwise until a position is reached in which the previous seat and back 7 of each chair now become the back and seat 7, respectively, i.e. the chair 6, and hence the packet 13, has turned through 900. At that position the packet 13 is lifted off the chair 6 by the stripping bars 12, or rather. the packet is prevented by the bars 12 from following the chair 6, which passes between the bars 12 to continue downwardly on the return run 1"', which is at 900 to the separating run 1' thus ensuring that the chairs remain vertical thereby avoiding damage by the back to the packets 13.The back or seat of each chair may be provided with a support link (not shown) by means of which it is articulated to the conveyor 1.

In order to stop packets 13 toppling forwards as the chairs 6 move round the turning area 1", a retaining device, e.g. a retaining arm, may be provided. which releases each packet as it is caught by the stripping bars 13.

The present invention may be used to turn articles through angles other than 900. For example, if the stripping bars 12 were lowered to the bottom of sprocket 3", the packets 13 could be turned through 1800.

Alternatively. the separating conveyor 1 could have only a single lower sprocket 3', so that the return run 1"' is parallel to the run 1'. However, in this case the chairs would no longer remain vertical on the return run 1"' as in Figure 1, but would rotate through a further 900. A further conveyor similar to conveyor 1 could be arranged downstream of the stripping bars 12 to provide further reorientation of the packets, e.g. after treatment, such as printing or sealing.

In practice. since the feed is continuous. much higher speeds may be obtained than previously without damaginq the packets.

Claims

Claims:

1. Apparatus for continuously separating and changing the orientation of a continuous supply of articles comprising a conveyor with spaced carriers attached thereto, means for feeding articles in a first orientation sequentially to the carriers. and means for receiving the articles in a second orientation sequentially from the carriers, the change in orientation of the articles carried by the carriers being determined by the change of orientation of the carriers as a result of a change in direction of the conveyor.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conveyor has a turning area between two runs, the receiving means being arranged adjacent to the turning area.

3. Apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims.

wherein the receiving means are arranged to receive the articles after a change in orientation of the carriers of substantially 90 .

4. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the carriers comprise chairs having a seat and back at substantially right angles to each other.

5. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the conveyor is arranged in a vertical plane and inclined to the horizontal.

6. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the receiving means is a receiving conveyor.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the feeding means is a feeding conveyor.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the feeding conveyor comprises a pair of spaced strands between which the carriers of the conveyor are free to space.

9. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein retaining means are provided preventing upward movement of an article from the feeding means until the preceding article has been lifted clear by the respective chair.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the retaining means comprises a conveyor above the feeding means arranged to move at substantially the same speed as the articles on the feeding means.

11. Apparatus for separating and changing the orientation of articles substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

12. A method of separating and changing the orientation of articles using the apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the relative speeds of the means for feeding articles and the conveyor are such that the carrier is fed with an article, the articles being fed with a continuous motion.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the speed component of the conveyor in the direction of feed of the feeding means is equal to or marginally less than the feed speed of the feeding means.

15. A method as claimed in claim 12, 13 or 14, wherein the spacing between the carriers in the direction of feed of the feeding means is substantially equal to, or marginally less than, the length of the articles being reorientated.

16. A method of separating and changing the orientation of articles substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.