JP3331480B2 - Blank loading device for magazine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for loading, for example, a container blank for filling milk into a magazine of a container forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, loading of a blank into a magazine has been performed manually by an operator, and there has been no apparatus for automatically performing the loading.

[0003]

As the blanks in the magazine decrease as the blanks are supplied from the magazine to the container forming apparatus, it is necessary to supply the blanks to the magazine at regular intervals. To do this manually, the operator had to be always present at the magazine, and the work efficiency was poor.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide an efficient blank loading device capable of automatically supplying a blank to a magazine even when an operator does not always attend the magazine.

[0005]

A blank loading apparatus for a magazine according to the present invention is an apparatus for loading blanks in a stacked state from a front end to a rear end of a magazine having an outlet at a front end. A pair of blank receivers at the lower end of the wall, each having a blank passage gate at one end, and a box-shaped blank transport cassette lacking a bottom wall in which blanks are accommodated in a state of being overlapped over both receivers from one end to the other end, A shutter provided on the cassette so as to open and close the gate and urged to be closed;
A blank delivery table on which a cassette is placed so that the gate faces the rear end of the magazine; an opening means for opening a shutter of the cassette on the table; And a carrier having a blank holder that can reciprocate between the cassette and the magazine through the gate.

[0006]

In the apparatus for loading a blank into a magazine according to the present invention, when a cassette containing a blank is placed on a table, the shutter of the cassette is opened, and the blank in the cassette is held by the holder and loaded into the magazine.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the term “front and rear” refers to the left side of FIG. 1 as a reference and the opposite side to the rear with reference to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 1, a container bottom forming mandrel 11 which is stopped at a supply station and is obliquely downwardly directed, and a plurality of flattened and flatly folded, extending in the front-rear direction on the floor obliquely below the mandrel 11 obliquely downward. A magazine 12 containing the cylindrical blanks B of
A loader 13 for taking out blanks B one by one from the magazine 12 and supplying the blanks B to the mandrel 11 and a loading device 14 for loading the blanks B into the magazine 12 are shown.

The magazine 12 includes a rectangular frame 22 surrounding the inner end outlet 21, a pair of left and right inverted L-shaped side guides 23 extending rearward from right and left frame members of the frame 22, and a predetermined frame member from a lower frame member of the frame 22. It has a pair of parallel endless belts 24 extending rearward at intervals and straddling the blank B.

The loading device 14 includes a blank transport cassette 31
And a blank delivery table 32 on which the cassette 31 is placed near the rear end of the magazine 12, and a carrier 33 for transporting the blank B in the cassette 31 placed on the table 32 into the magazine 12.

The cassette 31 has a box shape lacking a front end wall and a bottom wall, and is opposed to each other at a slightly larger interval than the width of the blank B and has a height larger than the length of the blank B. It is composed of side walls 41 and 42 and a rear end wall 44 extending to the rear end of both side walls 41 and 42. Side walls 41, 42
A pair of left and right horizontal band plate-shaped blank receivers 45 and 46 are provided at the lower end of each of them so as to protrude inward. A lower opening gate 47 is provided between the front ends of the side walls 41 and 42 by opening substantially the entirety thereof. A pair of vertical guide grooves 48 are formed so as to face each other in substantially upper halves of the left and right edges of the gate 47, and a horizontal guide groove 49 is formed in the upper edge of the gate 47.
Are formed, and a vertical plate-shaped shutter 51 is fitted therein. A horizontal engaging rod 52 having both ends protruding laterally from the vertical guide groove 48 is fixed to the lower edge of the shutter 51. At the lower left and right edges of the gate 47, a pair of blank lower end stoppers 53 are provided so as to protrude into the gate 47. A lower open cutout 54 is provided in the lower half of the center of the rear end wall 44 to avoid interference with the carrier 33. Notch 54
A pair of spacers 55 are provided on the left and right inner surfaces at a distance from the inner surface.

The blank transfer table 32 has a cassette mounting plate 61 having a top surface substantially flush with the top surface of the belt 24. At the center in the left-right direction of the mounting plate 61, a slit 62 extending in the front-rear direction and having a width substantially equal to the interval between both belts 24 is provided. A pair of vertical shutter release bars 63 are set up near the front ends on both left and right sides of the slit 62 at an interval equal to the interval between the side protruding ends of the engagement bar 52.

The carrier 33 is a horizontal guide rod extending from below between the front ends of both belts 24 to below the rear end of the slit 62.
71, a rodless cylinder 72 for horizontal movement of the holder supported thereon, a hydraulic cylinder 73 for elevating and lowering the holder mounted vertically upward on the cylinder 72, and a holder mounted on the piston rod 74 thereof 75. The holder 75 has a horizontal strip-shaped support plate 81 having a width smaller than the width of the slit 62, a fixed clamp plate 82 rising from the front end of the support plate 81, and a vertical plate rising from the rear end of the support plate 81. Bracket 83, a hydraulic cylinder 84 for clamping mounted forward on the bracket 83, and a movable clamp plate mounted on a piston rod 85 thereof.
It consists of 86.

The blanks B are inserted into the cassette 31 from the front end wall 43 toward the rear end wall 44 by a predetermined amount. When the blank B is inserted close to the rear end wall 44 and the last blank B to be brought into contact with the spacer 55,
By inserting the hand holding the blank B, the blank B can be easily inserted until the end.

The cassettes 31 containing the blanks B are stored in a dedicated pallet (not shown), for example, four cassettes in a row.
Stored in stacks.

Further, a plurality of types of blanks B having a common width but different lengths can be stored in one type of common cassette 31, so that the blanks B can be stored easily.

When the blank B in the magazine 12 decreases to a certain amount, this is detected by a detector (not shown). Based on the detection signal, one of the cassettes 31 in the storage location is moved to a position above the blank transfer table 32. Are transported by a ceiling monorail (not shown) or the like.

Next, the loading operation will be described with reference to FIGS.

Referring to FIG. 3a, the holder 75 is located at the retreat limit of its longitudinal movement stroke and at the upper limit of the elevating stroke. In this state, the upper surface of the support plate 81 of the holder 75 is at a higher level than the top surface of the mounting plate 61 of the transfer table 32. The level difference is slightly larger than the height of the blank lower end stopper 53. Further, the movable clamp plate 86 is at the retreat limit of its longitudinal movement stroke.

The cassette 31 transported to above the blank delivery table 32 is lowered from there. When descending, the cassette 31 is positioned and guided so that the side protruding end of the engaging bar 52 is positioned directly above the shutter opening bar 63.

Eventually, the engaging rod is
The side protruding end of 52 is brought into contact with the
Is lowered, the shutter 51 is relatively pushed up by the shutter release rod 63, and the cassette 31 is placed on the table 32 while the gate 47 is opened (FIG. 3).
b). At this time, immediately before the cassette 31 is placed on the table 32, the blank B is received by the holder 75, and the blank B is lifted from the bottom surface of the cassette 31 to a position higher than the stopper 53. When the movable clamp plate 86 is advanced, the blank B is sandwiched between the fixed clamp plate 82 and the movable clamp plate 86 on the support plate 81.

When the holder 75 holds the blank B as described above, the holder 75 is advanced. As shown in FIG. 4C, when the fixed clamp plate 82 of the holder 75 abuts on the remaining blank B in the magazine 12, this is detected by a detector (not shown), and the forward movement of the holder 75 is performed based on the detection signal. Is stopped. Next, the movable clamp plate 86 is retracted, and the clamp of the blank B is released.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4D, the holder 75 is lowered. When the holder 75 reaches the lower limit, the fixed clamp plate 82 is pulled out from between the blank B in the magazine 12 and the blank B on the holder 75. When the holder 75 is returned to the retreat limit, one cycle of the blank loading operation is completed.

[0024]

According to the present invention, when the cassette containing the blank is placed on the table, the shutter of the cassette is opened and the blank in the cassette is held by the holder and loaded into the magazine. Blanks can be automatically supplied to the magazine even when staff members are not always present.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a blank loading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the same device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a blank loading operation by the apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the blank loading operation following FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 Magazine 21 Exit 31 Cassette 32 units 33 Carrier 41 Cassette left side wall 42 Cassette right side wall 45 Blank holder 46 Blank holder 47 Gate 51 Shutter 63 Shutter release bar 75 Holder

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-58-193229 (JP, A) JP-A-3-61226 (JP, A) JP-A-53-128497 (JP, A) 68326 (JP, U) JP-A 5-26805 (JP, U) JP-A 5-20181 (JP, U) JP-A 57-24206 (JP, U) (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 57/00-57/32 B65G 60/00-61/00 B65G 47/88 B65B 35/54 B65H 1/00-3/68

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A magazine 12 having an outlet 21 at a front end,
A device for stacking blanks B in an overlapping state from the front end to the rear end thereof, wherein a pair of blank receivers 45, 46 are provided at lower ends of both side walls 41, 42, a blank passage gate 47 is provided at one end, and another is provided from one end. A box-shaped blank transport cassette 31 lacking a bottom wall in which a blank B is accommodated in a state of being overlapped over both receivers 45 and 46 toward the end, and a cassette 31 provided so that the gate 47 can be opened and closed and closed. Cassette 51 so that the shutter 47 and the gate 47 face the rear end of the magazine 12
A blank delivery table 32 on which the base 31 is placed; opening means for opening a shutter 51 of the cassette 31 on the base 32; a gate 47 of the cassette 31 which can be raised and lowered by passing between both receivers 45 and 46 of the cassette 31; And a carrier 33 having a blank holder 75 that can reciprocate between the cassette 31 and the magazine 12 through the cassette 31.