US3221642A

US3221642A - Mounting for tying machine

Info

Publication number: US3221642A
Application number: US326150A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr Walter D Ayres
Original assignee: Bunn Co B
Current assignee: BH Bunn Co
Priority date: 1963-11-26
Filing date: 1963-11-26
Publication date: 1965-12-07
Anticipated expiration: 1982-12-07
Also published as: DE1274494B; CH425614A; GB1044986A; NL6402862A; BE645838A; SE300582B

Description

Dec. l7, 1965 w. D. AYRES, JR

MOUNTING FOR IYING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 26, 1965 IVENTOR.

WALTER D. AYRES,JR.

Dec. 7, 1965 Filed Nov. 26, 1963 w. D. AYRES, JR 3,221,642

MOUNTING FOR TYING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 l MI r F P uw l mi Q1 i I IIN INVENTOR.

uw |[|I WALTER D. AYRES, JR.

Dec. 7, 1965 w. n. AYREs. JR 3,221,642

MOUNTING FOR TYING MACHINE Filed Nov. 26. 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet :5y

INVEN TOR.

fl WALTER D AYRES,JR.

United States Patent Office 3,221,642 MQUNTING FOR TYING MACHINE Walter D. Ayres, Jr., Oaklawn, Ill., assignor to B. H. Bunn Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Nov. 26, 1963, Ser. No. 326,150 8 Claims. (Cl. 100-27) This invention relates to tying machines and particularly to a mounting therefor.

In my co-pending application Serial No. 278,053, filed May 6, 1963, for Apparatus for Tying Moving Bundles, there is described apparatus for tying a bundle of envelopes while said bundle is moving on a conveyor. Since bundle tying machines heretofore known required that the bundle be held stationary on a table on the machine especially provided for this purpose, the .adaptation of the tying machine to tying moving bundles presented certain problems of supporting the machine in fixed relation to the conveyor while at the same time enabling repairs to be made on the machine without unduly interrupting the operation of the entire system. Y

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a tying machine and a mounting therefor which will support the machine in fixed relation to a conveyor, with the twine arm of the machine overhanging the conveyor, while at the same time enabling the machine to be quickly removed from the conveyor for repairs or adjustment and replaced by a standby machine.

Although the arm of the well known tying machine normally rotates about a horizontal axis, in the machine for the conveyorized system the arm, its associated drive mechanism, `and the knot-tying mechanism, are all turned through 90 so that the arm rotates about a vertical axis disposed over the conveyor. To effect such turning of the arm and its drive mechanism, the heretofore known tying ma-chine was removed from the stand normally made integral with it and was placed upon another stand, but was turned through 90 and mounted in that position on the new stand.

It was found, however, that when the machine was turned in the manner required for use with the conveyorized bundle tying system, access to the knotter of the machine for inspection and repair was rendered difficult. It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide a mounting for the tying machine which will allow the machine to tilt to expose the knot-tying mechanism thereof and to render access thereto more easy.

In the machine for the aforesaid conveyorized system for tying bundles it is essential that the operation of the system remain uninterrupted for a long period of time and that when a shut-down is required, for example for repairing, adjusting, or restringing the tying machine, that such shut-down be of as short duration as possible. The simplest manner in which this may be accomplished is by maintaining a standby machine in good repair and substituting the standby machine for theone at the conveyor when the latter becomes inoperative or its operation becomes unsatisfactory.

It is thus a further object of this invention to provide a mounting for a tying machine which will permit said machine to be fixed to a conveyor for operation therewith but which, nevertheless, will also permit the machine to be quickly disconnected from the conveyor when the machine requires repair or adjustment.

A specific object of this invention is the provision of a tiltable support for a tying machine with means associated with the support for safely, and without destructive shock to the machine, arresting the tilting movement of the machine.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of a pre- 3,221,642 Patented Dec. 7, 1965 ferred embodiment of the invention when taken together with the accompanying drawings in which;

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a modified tying machine and a mounting therefor made in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of the machine and its mounting;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view of the mounting taken along line 3 3 of FIG. 2 and in the direction of the arrows at the end thereof.

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the mounting taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3 and in the direction of the arrows at the ends thereof;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective View of one of the stop means for the tilted machine;

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the mounting of FIG. 4, showing the mounting in a different stage of operation.

In the preferred embodiment selected to illustrate this invention and shown in the drawings, a typical environment for the tying machine comprises a conveyor, the frame of which is shown at 10 in FIG. l, said frame having spaced

vertical supports

11 and 12 which may be made from structural steel having any desired section. The present embodiment of conveyor is shown constructed from angle irons. Supported for horizontal movement along the frame 10 is a moving endless conveyor 13, shown in dotted outline, on which are mounted and carried bundles of envelopes or the like, which are to be tied together by the tying machine hereinafter to be described. As set forth in greater detail in the aforesaid co-pending application, the bundles to be tied are not removed from the conveyor for this purpose, but remain thereon and are tied while they are in motion. To effect this operation, a tying machine, shown generally at 14, is placed adjacent the conveyor frame, the tying machine being of a well known type, insofar as its twinetying operations. are concerned, but is modified so that its twine arm 15, by which a reach of twine is wrapped around a bundle on conveyor 13, rotates about a vertical axis 16 instead of about a horizontal axis. The stand which is generally used to support the well known tying machine has therefore been discarded and a new stand, particularly adapted to support the tying machine in its turned position, has been substituted.

The new stand is shown generally :at 17 and is comprised yof a frame 18 which may be conveniently constructed of

angle irons

19, 20, 21 and 22 (FIG. 2), disposed to form upright corner supports for the stand, and spaced horizontal, rectangular, upper and lower frame members 23 and 24, which may be similarly madeA of angle irons. Said frame 17 is mounted on pairs of wheels 25 and 26, one of said pairs (as for example, 26) being of the caster type to allow the stand 17 to be wheeled in `any desired direction.

It is necessary, for the successful operation of the conveyorized system, that tying machine 14 have a fixed location relative to conveyor frame 10. This location is determined by upper and

lower pads

28 and 29 secured to vertical conveyor support 12 against which angle irons- 20 and 21 are adapted to bear. Said

angle irons

20 and 21 are firmly held against said pads by

cam lock devices

30 and 31, each cam lock device comprising an outwardly extending pin 32 on an upright corner support, such as 20, and a hook 33 fitted on a vertical conveyor support 12 and provided with a handle 34 by which the hook may be pressed down over pin 32 after the characteristic fashion of a cam lock device to exert continuons lateral pressure upon pin 32 in the direction of conveyor frame 10 and thus to lock stand 17 to said conveyor 10. Said stand 17 may be released quickly, however, merely by rotating hook 33 in a counter-clockwise direction to free said hook from pin 32, whereupon said stand 17 may be wheeled away from conveyor 10.

On the upper surfaces of the rectangular frame member 23 are secured journals 35 and 36 (FIG. 2) which support a transverse shaft 37 to which the lower frame 39 of tying machine 14 is rotatably secured through split bearings 38. If desired,

journals

35 and 36 may be split rather than bearings 38, it being material only that one set of rotatable supports be separable to facilitate removal f the machine from the stand 17. Frame 39 extends to the left of shaft 37, as viewed in FIG. 1, and normally rests upon the upper horizontal frame member 49 of the conveyor frame though to illustrate the function of an adjustable secondary support hereinafter to be described it is shown resting on said secondary support. The center of gravity of the machine 14 is disposed between frame 10 and shaft 37, thereby creating a turning moment in the tying machine in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 1, to cause said frame 39 to bear against horizontal frame member 40. To avoid any accidental tilting of the machine while the machine is in operation, a lock 47 is secured by screws 68 (FIG. 4) to upper frame member 23 said lock having a cam operated tongue 48 slidable over a horizontal extension 49 (FIG. 3) on frame member 39 to hold the tying machine against clockwise rotation or tilting as viewed in FIG. 1. Said lock 47 is of known construction and its details are shown more clearly in FIG. 6. It may be seen from FIG. 6 that tongue 48 is slidable in guides 62 and is activated by a link 63 eccentrically pivoted on a disc 64, rigidly secured to a handle 65 and pivoted in the main supporting stamping 66. The latter is rigidly secured to the upper frame member 23 of the stand 17. Link 63 has its other end 67 pivotally mounted in tongue 48. When handle 65 is turned, link 63 slides tongue 4S in the guides 62 to project or retract tongue 48 relative to stamping 66.

When tying machine 14 is to be removed from conveyor frame 10, the support for frame member 39 on tying machine 14 normally provided by horizontal frame member 40 of the conveyor frame 10 is, of course, removed, Its place, however, is taken by one or more posts 41 secured to the upper frame member 23 of the stand 17 and adapted to support tying machine 14 in a slightly lower position than frame 10, while stand 17 is removed from the conveyor. Said posts are preferably adjustable in height to accommodate differences in floor level and height of conveyor relative to height of stand 17.

It becomes necessary, on occasion, to examine portions of the tying machine which are disposed in the lower regions thereof in proximity to the shaft 37. Furthermore, it may be necessary to make such examination or pos sibly to adjust or re-string the machine without removing stand 17 from frame 10. Such inspection or re-stringing would be most diliicult if the machine 14 were rigidly secured to stand 17. The presence of shaft 37 and journals 35, however, provide a means for swinging machine 14 around a horizontal axis passing through the shaft, but since the swinging of the machine about said shaft also shifts the center of 4gravity of the machine, it may occur that the said center of gravity passes to the rear of the axis of shaft 37, which then creates an unbalanced condition, tending to continue the rotation or swinging of machine 14 about its shaft. A stop, therefore, is provided for the swinging movement of tying machine 14 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1, said stop being shown at 42 and comprising a strip of flat stock bent at 43 to an acute angle. The material of which the stop is made may be spring steel so that said stop will have some resilience in the event tying machine 14 is dropped upon it.

Tying machine 14, as shown in FIG. 2, is narower than the upper frame member 23 and hence would normally be free to swing into said frame. Such swinging movement, however, is prevented by a cross-bar 45 which may be in the form of an angle iron welded or otherwise secured to the frame portion 46 of tying machine 14. Said bar 45 extends across the frame member 23 and is so disposed on tying machine 14 as to strike stop 42 as shown in FIG. 1 in dotted outline. Said cross bar may normally be used as one of two supports for an electric motor (not shown), the other of said supports being shown at 50.

To further reduce the shock imposed upon tying machine 14 by an acidental dropping of the machine upon stop 42, the upper surface of the bent portion actually contacted by bar 45 is covered with a pad 44 of rubber or similar relatively soft material. The need for reducing shocks upon the machine is brought about, not only because of possible damage to the mechanism of the tying machine, but in large measure, because of the fact that the frame of the machine is made of cast iron and hence is not suitable for bearing bending stresses, such as would be imposed upon it by said stop.

A 4greater distribution of shock loads is achieved by the use of a xed transverse bar supported by the sides of upper frame member 23. Said bar is designed to support the botom frame members 39 of the machine when said machine is tilted to its highest elevation, and has a sleeve 52 of elastomeric material which also functions to reduce shock loads upon the cast iron frame members of the machine. Bar 51 and stop 42 are designed to support the tying machine at the same time so that transverse shock loads on the tying machine frame are distributed and hence reduced to safe quantities.

Tying machine 14 is supplied with twine from a ball or spool 53 placed in a covered can 54, the cover of which has a central opening through which the twine 55 passes. The twine is threaded through a fixed guide 56 on stand 1'7, a fixed guide 57 on tying machine 14, a twine tensioner 58, a fixed guide 59, and then passes through twine arm 15. It is contacted by the arm 60 of a control switch 61 used in the system of my aforesaid application to stop conveyor 10 if there should be no twine under tension in twine arm 15.

It may be observed from the dotted position of tying machine 14 in FIG. 1 that tilting of the machine does not require that the twine be cut and re-strung with each tilting movement of the machine and that the tilting movement does not interfere with the twine in any material way.

When it is desired to tilt a machine on its stand 17, the lock 47 is released and the machine is rotated from the conveyor side by pushing against any convenient portion of the frame of the machine, such as the bearing for the twine arm 15, until the center of gravity of the machine passes over shaft 37. The machine will then tend to fall away from the conveyor 10 and such movement should be restrained until the frame of the machine strikes stop 4Z and bar 51. Should it fall without control, its fall will be arrested by these stops 42 and 51, but since both stops are resilient, or covered with resilient material, the shock to the machine frame will be `greatly reduced.

When it is desired to repair the tying machine, or the tying machine suddenly stops functioning, but the conveyor cannot be stopped long enough to repair or determine the cause of the stoppage, clamps 30 and 31 are released and the stand 17, together with its machine 14 are wheeled away from the conveyor and another tying machine mounted on a stand, such as 17, is wheeled against, and clamped to conveyor 10. During the movement of the machine and the stand, the machine rests against post 41, and lock 47 is in engaged position. It may be desirable to have a number of standby tying machines in readiness for use. All but one of the standby machines may be stored on a bench, and may be interchanged with the one on the stand by separating the split bearings 38 with which each machine is equipped to remove the one on the stand and replace it with another machine.

The tiltable tying machine and its stand as described above provide a means for ensuring the maximum utilization of a conveyorized system for tying bundles by reducing down time due to a malfunctioning tying machine to the time required to release two quick-release clamps, move a wheeled stand out of the way, move a wheeled stand into the position previously occupied by the malfunctioning machine and engaging two clamps. Inspection of the knotter mechanism and minor repairs or adjustments of a tying machine can be made in situ by releasing one lock and tilting the machine back against a prepared stop, all from the conveyor side of the machine. Accidental free movement of the machine against its stop is arrested by resilient means, thus protecting the frangible cast iron frame of the tying machine from excessive tensile or shearing stresses.

It is understood that the foregoing description is merely illustrative of a preferred embodiment of this invention and that the scope of the invention, therefore, is not limited thereto, but is determined by the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a tying machine and a stand therefor, said machine comprising a rotatable twine arm,

` means on the machine supporting the twine arm for rotation about a vertical axis in cantilever relation to the stand, such that articles to be tied .are disposed adjacent said stand, and means on the stand mounting said machine thereon for tilting movement relative to the stand.

2. The combination described in claim 1, and releas- -able means on the stand and cooperating with the tying machine for locking said tying machine against tilting movement about said last mentioned means.

3. In combination, a tying machine and a movable stand therefor, a lower frame on said tying machine, upper frame members on said stand, a transverse shaft extending under said lower frame on the tying machine and over the upper frame members on the stand, means mounting the lower frame on said shaft and means mounting said shaft on the uper frame members, at least one of said mounting means comprising a journal bear ing, whereby said tying machine is mounted on said stand for tilting movement relative to the stand.

4. The combination described in claim 3, and means on the tying machine frame and stand for releasably locking said machine to said stand against tilting movement of the machine relative to said stand.

S. The combination described in claim 3, `a source of twine on the stand, a rotatable twine arm on the tying machine, sai-d twine extending from the source of twine on the stand to the twine arm on the machine, and iguide means for the twine on the stand and on the machine adapting the twine to accommodate tilting movement of the machine relative to the stand, said guide means on the machine including a twine tightener.

6. The combination described in claim 3, the center of gravity of the tying machine normally being on one side of a line passing through the axis of the shaft, said machine being tiltable about said shaft such that its center of gravity crosses said line, and means for limiting tilting movement of the machine after its center of gravity crosses said line.

7. The combination described in claim 6, said means for limiting tilting movement of the machine comprising a rst stop on the stand, means secured to one portion of the said lower frame on said tying machine and adapted to engage said first stop, and a second stop on the stand adapted to engage another portion of the tying machine frame.

8. The combination described in claim 6, said means for limiting tilting movement of the machine comprising a rst stop on the stand, means secured to one portion of the tying machine frame Iand adapted to engage said iirst stop and a second stop on the stand adapted to engage another portion of the tying machine frame at substantially the same time as the rst stop is engaged by said means secured to one portion of the tying machine, said second stop comprising a bar, means on the stand supporting said bar in the path of tilting movement of the frame of said tying machine, and resilient padding on both said stop means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 162,826 5/1875 Judson 10G-228 1,354,517 10/1920 Sollazzo 10G-228 X 1,454,545 5/ 1923 La Bombard et al. 100 -4 X 1,522,194 1/ 1925 Labombarde 100-27 X 2,148,132 2/ 1931 Plassmeyer. 2,317,934 4/ 1943 Mourey 248-19 2,792,231 5/ 1957 Compton 248--22 X 2,972,843 2/ 1961 DuBrofE. 3,109,363 11/ 1963 Collins 100-228 FOREIGN PATENTS 449,019 6/ 1936 Great Britain.

WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. IN COMBINATION, A TYING MACHINE AND A STAND THEREFOR, SAID MACHINE COMPRISING A ROTATABLE TWINE ARM, MEANS ON THE MACHINE SUPPORTING THE TWINE ARM FOR ROTATION ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS IN CANTILEVER RELATION TO THE STAND, SUCH THAT ARTICLES TO BE TIED ARE DISPOSED ADJACENT SAID STAND, AND MEANS ON THE STAND MOUNTING SAID MACHINE THEREON FOR TILTING MOVEMENT RELATIVE TO THE STAND.