GB734413A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for transferring articles to or from crates and containers - Google Patents

Abstract

734,413. Filling and emptying bottles &c. crates. U.D. ENGINEERING CO.; Ltd., TAYLOR, J. C., and ARBER, R. S. P. May 29, 1953 [March 12, 1952], No. 6472/52. Class 94 (1). [Also in Group XXX] Apparatus for transferring articles such as bottles to and from crates or containers is operated by fluid pressure and comprises a rising and lowering crate support 122 and a laterally traversing gripping head 115 with grippers 116 actuated to grip and release the bottles &c. at or near the limits of the lateral travel of the head, the fluid pressure means being controlled by valves either directly mechanically operated or operated by fluid relays mechanically controlled. An endless chain conveyer, running in guides 117, 119 feeds the filled crates on to the support 122, the crates being guided by adjustable plates 165, and a stop 164 pivoted on the platform being raised by a pneumatic cylinder 17a. Another stop associated with the conveyer holds back oncoming crates. A gripping roller 129 also mounted on the platform 122 is operated by a cylinder 16 to grip the crate as the platform rises. The platform 122 is raised by a pneumatic cylinder 121 until the bottle necks enter the open grippers 16 which then close, the platform is lowered with the crate and the gripper head 115 traversed to drop the bottles on to a transfer conveyer (not shown). Each gripper 116 comprises a cylinder 15, Fig. 4, with a piston 134 slotted at 137 to take the tails 147 of pivoted gripper jaws 146 which are closed as the piston descends. The travel of the piston and thus of the jaws is adjustable by a screw stop 141. The grippers are fixed to a plate adjustable in the gripper head 115 by four screw posts at the corners simultaneously rotated by a knob 116 to alter the height of the grippers. The gripper head 115 is traversed on guides 114 by a pneumatic cylinder and the various pneumatic devices are operated by valves controlled in sequence, a cycle being initiated by a crate arriving on the platform or by the operator. The bottles &c. are deposited on a conveyer 117a, Fig. 7, which may carry them to a washing machine. If the bottles build up on the conveyer a cam 160 causes the bottles to actuate through an arm 163 a valve 162 to stop the machine. By reversing the cycle bottles, marshalled on the conveyer 117a so that their positions correspond to the spacings in the crates,.can be loaded into the crates. Specification 704,575 is referred to.