JP3979598B2 - Empty container collection machine - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an empty container collection machine that reduces and collects empty containers such as empty cans and empty plastic bottles.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The empty container recovery machine is one that recovers in a recovery box after compressing or cutting an empty container such as an empty can for beverages or a plastic bottle, and is described in Patent Document 1, for example. FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a conventional empty container collection machine with a main body door opened, and FIG. 15 is a front view showing the inside of the main body in a simplified manner. 14 and 15, particularly FIG. 14, in the main body 1, a loading mechanism unit 2, a sorting mechanism unit 3, a receiving shooter 4, a return shooter 5, a volume reducing mechanism unit 6, a collection box 7, and the like are installed. The main body door 8 is provided with an empty container inlet 9, a return port 10, and the like. When this empty container collecting machine detects that an empty container (empty can or empty plastic bottle) 11 (FIG. 15) has been inserted into the charging mechanism section 2 through the empty container input port 9, a feed wheel (not shown) The empty container 11 is conveyed to the distribution mechanism unit 3 by rotating 2a.
[0003]
The sorting mechanism unit 3 receives the transported empty container 11 on a pair of left and right rotating rollers 12, and rotates the rotating container 12 counterclockwise in FIG. The barcode of the empty container 11 is read. As a result, if it is a registered container, it is determined that it can be accepted, and the empty container 11 is put into the receiving shooter 4 by shaking the portal-shaped distribution plate 14 (FIG. 15) clockwise. If the container is an unregistered container, the rotating roller 12 is rotated in the clockwise direction as being unacceptable, and the emptying container 11 is put into the return shooter 5 by shaking the sorting plate 14 in the counterclockwise direction. This return container is returned to the return port 10 via the return shooter 5. On the other hand, the registered container put into the receiving shooter 4 is reduced in volume by compression, cutting, etc. in the volume reduction mechanism unit 6 and dropped into the collection box 7 below and is collected.
[0004]
FIG. 16 is a front view showing the operation of the volume reducing mechanism 6 for cutting and reducing the volume of a plastic bottle in the order of (1) to (3). In FIG. 16, the volume reduction mechanism unit 6 includes a pair of left and right press shaft teeth 17 driven by a volume reduction motor 15 via a belt mechanism 16 and a reduction gear mechanism (not shown), and a press shaft teeth 17 via a belt mechanism 18. And a pair of left and right paddles 19 interlocking with each other. When the empty container collection machine detects the insertion of the empty container 11, it starts the rotation of the volume reduction motor 15, and accepts the empty container 11 input by the distribution mechanism unit 3 on the press shaft teeth 17 in (1). The empty container 11 is cut between the press shaft teeth 17 while being pressed by the paddle 19 as shown in (2), and is collected in the collection box 7 as shown in (3).
[0005]
The volume reduction mechanism unit 6 in FIG. 16 processes the empty containers (pet bottles) 11 without sorting them. FIG. 17 shows a volume reduction mechanism unit 6 that separates the empty cans into aluminum cans and iron cans and compresses them. An example of In FIG. 17, the volume reduction mechanism 6 is driven by a crank mechanism 20 and reciprocates left and right in FIG. 17 in a vertical state, and is opposed to the press plate 21 and fixed vertically on both front and rear sides. And two backing plates 22 and 23. In the empty container (empty can) 11, the iron can is compressed on either the left or right side of the press plate 21, and the aluminum can is compressed on the other side.
[0006]
The operation of receiving or returning the empty container 11 is the same as in the case of a plastic bottle, but when an empty can is inserted from the insertion port 9, an aluminum sensor (not shown) identifies whether it is an aluminum can or an iron can. For example, when an iron can is compressed between the press plate 21 and the contact plate 22 and an aluminum can is compressed between the press plate 21 and the contact plate 23, when the empty container 11 is determined to be iron, As shown in (1) in FIG. 17, when the press plate 21 reaches the left end (bottom dead center) of the stroke and the left position sensor 24 detects the press plate 21, the distribution plate 14 is rotated clockwise as shown. The empty can 11 is dropped between the press plate 21 and the contact plate 22. This empty can 11 is received by a receiving metal 26.
[0007]
Next, the press plate 21 moves to the right, and compresses the empty can 11 at the right end (top dead center) of the stroke as shown in (2) of FIG. As shown in (3) of FIG. 17, the reduced empty can 11 is dropped and accommodated in the right iron can collection box 7 a by retracting the press plate 21. Although the above is a case of an iron can, when it is determined that it is an aluminum can, the distribution mechanism unit 3 drops the empty can 11 when the right position sensor 25 detects the press plate 21. Thereby, an aluminum can is compressed between the press plate 21 and the contact plate 23, and is accommodated in the aluminum can collection box 7b on the left side.
[0008]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-105191
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described conventional empty container collection machine, the collection box becomes full in a short time depending on the installation location, and it is desired to increase its storage capacity. In particular, when separately collecting empty containers, the collection boxes are classified according to the types of empty containers, so that one of the collection boxes tends to become full first due to the bias of collection by type.
[0010]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily increase the storage capacity of the collection box of the empty container collection machine.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention reduces the volume of an empty container introduced from the container insertion port on the front surface of the main body, and then drops it into a collection box below the volume reduction mechanism. In the empty container recovery machine to be recovered, a side cabinet having a preliminary recovery box is installed adjacent to the main body, and a common through window is opened on the side walls of the side cabinet and the empty container recovery machine main body facing each other. A shooter is provided for guiding the empty container dropped from the volume reduction mechanism to the preliminary collection box through the through window, and the empty container after volume reduction can be recovered also in the preliminary collection box via the shooter. (Claim 1).
[0012]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a spare collection box can be added outside the empty container collection machine, and the empty container after volume reduction processing can be collected also in this spare container via the shooter. The storage capacity of the recovery box can be greatly increased.
[0013]
In the invention of claim 1, the shooter is attached to the empty container collection machine so as to be able to advance and retreat, the empty container is dropped directly onto the collection box in a state where the shooter is retracted from the volume reducing mechanism, and the shooter is It is preferable that the empty container is dropped into the preliminary collection box through the shooter in a state where the volume reducing mechanism is advanced (Claim 2). As a result, when one of the collection box and the preliminary collection box is full, the collection of empty containers can be easily shifted to the other simply by moving the shooter back and forth. In that case, if an auxiliary shooter that is continuous with the advanced shooter is provided, the length of the main shooter can be shortened accordingly and handling can be simplified.
[0014]
In a third aspect of the present invention, it is preferable to provide a guard shooter that prevents the empty container from jumping into the auxiliary shooter when the shooter is retracted. The empty container after the volume reduction process does not necessarily fall directly from the volume reduction mechanism, and may adhere to the press shaft teeth and be blown to the side. In that case, when the volume-reducing container falls onto the auxiliary shooter, the empty container scheduled to be collected in the collection box is collected in the preliminary collection box. Therefore, if the guard shooter described above is provided, the empty container can be reliably collected in the planned collection box.
[0015]
In the invention of claim 4, the shooter and the guard shooter are preferably integrally formed in a mountain shape, whereby the shooter and the guard shooter can be advanced and retracted simultaneously by a simple mechanism (invention 5).
[0016]
In the case of an empty container collecting machine that sorts empty containers by type and drops the empty containers after volume reduction processing by type from different outlets of the volume reduction mechanism, the shooter according to claim 1 is used. Is connected to one of the discharge ports, and the empty container dropped from the discharge port is collected in the preliminary collection box via the shooter (Claim 6).
[0017]
In the invention of claim 6, the shooter is coupled to the empty container collection machine so as to be pivotable in the vertical direction, the side cabinet side of the shooter is lifted, and the collection box is moved forward from the empty container collection machine body. It is preferable to pull it out (Claim 7).
[0018]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment when the present invention is applied to the empty container collection machine shown in the prior art will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, the same code | symbol shall be used for the part corresponding to a prior art example. First, FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of the inside of a main body showing an embodiment of an empty container collecting machine that collects empty containers, for example, empty PET bottles without sorting them. In FIG. 1, a side cabinet 30 is installed adjacent to the main body 1 of the container recovery machine. The side cabinet 30 has a preliminary recovery box 32 in the lower part of the main body 31, and the upper space of the preliminary recovery box 32 is a storage space for supplies such as cleaning tools.
[0019]
A common through window 33 is opened in the mutually opposite side walls 31a, 1a of the main body 31 of the side cabinet 30 and the empty container recovery machine main body 1, and the empty container 11 dropped from the volume reducing mechanism 6 is preliminarily recovered through the through window 33. A shooter 34 that leads to the box 32 is provided. As will be described later, the shooter 34 is attached to the main body 1 so as to be able to advance and retract between an illustrated advance position and a retracted position drawn into the frame body 35. An auxiliary shooter 36 is supported by the collection box 7 so as to be continuous with the shooter 34 in the illustrated advance position. Reference numeral 37 denotes an auxiliary shooter that is continuous with the tip of the auxiliary shooter 35, and is supported by the preliminary collection box 32. In FIG. 1, the empty container 11 dropped from the volume reducing mechanism 6 is received by the shooter 34 and is collected in the preliminary collection box 32 via the auxiliary shooters 36 and 37.
[0020]
2 is a perspective view showing an advance / retreat mechanism of the shooter 34 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2 and 3, a pair of right and left U-shaped rails 38 are fixed to the inside of a rectangular frame 35, and reverse gate-shaped slide fittings 39 are attached to the rails 38 via wheels 40 on the left and right side surfaces. 1 is supported so that it can reciprocate in the left-right direction. The slide fitting 39 is connected to a chain 43 hung between a pair of front and rear sprockets 41, 42 outside the frame 35 via a connection fitting 44, and the sprocket 41 is driven to rotate by a motor 45. . Limit switches 46 are respectively installed at the end of the reciprocating stroke of the slide fitting 39. The upper end of the shooter 34 is pivotally connected to a slide fitting 39 via a shaft 47, and the lower surface is slidably supported by a support bar 48 fixed at both ends to the frame 35.
[0021]
In FIG. 2, the shooter 34 has advanced to the state shown in FIG. 1, and the empty container 11 discharged from the volume reducing mechanism 6 is received by the shooter 34 as already described. When the motor 45 is started from this state, the slide fitting 39 is driven in the direction of the arrow in FIG. As a result, the shooter 34 is drawn into the frame 35 while sliding on the support bar 48, and retreats from below the volume reducing mechanism 6. The slide fitting 39 stops when it reaches the limit switch 46.
[0022]
4A and 4B again show the advancing / retreating position of the shooter 34. FIG. 4A shows the shooter advanced state, and FIG. 4B shows the shooter retracted state. In the state of FIG. 4B in which the shooter 34 is retracted from the volume reduction mechanism unit 6, the empty container 11 dropped from the volume reduction mechanism unit 6 is directly dropped into the collection box 7 and collected. The evacuation of the shooter 34 is performed so that the shooter 34 is not obstructed not only when the empty container 11 is collected in the collection box 7 but also when the collection box 7 is pulled forward.
[0023]
When the motor 45 is reversely driven from the retracted state of the shooter 34, the shooter 34 advances below the volume reducing mechanism 6 and stops in the state shown in FIG. The motor 45 is automatically activated when the number of empty containers 11 counted by a counter (not shown) reaches a certain number. Note that the chain mechanisms 41 to 43 and the motor 45 may be omitted, and the shooter 34 may be moved back and forth manually. Alternatively, the support rod 48 may be omitted, and the shooter 34 may be held on the slide fitting 39, and when the slide fitting 39 is moved, the shooter 34 may be translated while being tilted. In that case, when the collection box 7 is pulled out, the shooter 34 is lifted by hand and retracted from the collection box 7.
[0024]
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the auxiliary shooter 36 attached to the collection box 7 in FIG. In FIG. 5, a rectangular cutout 49 opened upward is formed on the side wall of the collection box 7 so as to face the through window 33 of the empty container collection machine body 1, and an inverted portal shape that is abutted against the cutout 49. One end of the auxiliary shooter 36 is rotatably connected to the collection box 7 via a pin 50. The auxiliary shooter 36 is held in the illustrated inclined posture when a U-shaped stay 51 made of a wire rod is hooked on a latch 52 inside the collection box 7. The auxiliary shooter 36 can be hung down as shown by a chain line in FIG. 1 by removing the stay 51 from the latch 52. Note that the auxiliary shooter 36 can be omitted if the shooter 34 is made telescopic, for example, and its total length is increased so that the tip reaches the notch 49.
[0025]
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the auxiliary shooter 37 attached to the preliminary collection box 32 in FIG. In FIG. 6, a cutout 53 is formed in the preliminary collection box 32 so as to be opposed to the cutout 49 of the collection box 7, and an insertion groove 55 is formed at the bottom of the cutout 53 by a metal receiver 54. The reverse gate-shaped auxiliary shooter 37 is detachably mounted by inserting the mounting piece 56 into the insertion groove 55, and is pulled out when not in use. The auxiliary shooter 37 may be omitted, and an empty container from the shooter 34 may be jumped into the preliminary collection box 32 by sliding.
[0026]
7 to 9 show different embodiments of the empty container collecting machine for collecting empty containers without sorting, FIG. 7 is a schematic front view of the inside of the main body, and FIG. 8 is a diagram of the shooter advance / retreat mechanism in FIG. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the auxiliary shooter. In the previous embodiment of FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 4 (B), the volume reduction container 11 is directly collected in the collection box 7 in the retracted state of the shooter 34, but the volume reduction container 11 is dropped directly below. First, for example, when it is bitten into the press shaft teeth (see FIG. 16) and left to the left as indicated by the broken line arrow or to the right as indicated by the chain line arrow, the auxiliary shooter 36 is bounced by the shooter 34. It is also possible to jump into. In this case, the volume reduction container 11 that has fallen to the auxiliary shooter 36 is collected in the preliminary collection box 32 contrary to the schedule, and the switching timing of the collection boxes 7 and 32 is affected.
[0027]
Therefore, in the embodiment of FIGS. 7 to 9, the volume reduction container 11 is prevented from jumping into the auxiliary shooter 36 when the shooter 34 is retracted. That is, in FIG.7 and FIG.8, the guard shooter 60 which forms a mountain shape with the shooter 34 is provided, and these are supported by the rail 38 via the wheel 40 so that reciprocation is possible in the left-right direction of FIG. The shooter 34 and the guard shooter 60 are integrally bent from a steel plate, and triangular side walls are raised on both sides. The drive mechanism of the shooter 34 and the guard shooter 60 is the same as that of the previous embodiment, and the shooters 34, 60 are connected to the chain 43 via the connecting bracket 44, and between the solid line position and the chain line position in FIG. Is driven back and forth. On the other hand, the auxiliary shooter 36 shown in FIG. 9 is formed by bending a steel plate into a shape shown in the figure, and upper and lower mounting plates 61 and 62 are joined to each other by welding. 1a is tightened with a screw (not shown).
[0028]
In FIG. 7, the shooter 34 indicated by a solid line is in a position where the shooter 34 has advanced with respect to the volume reducing mechanism 6, and the auxiliary shooter 36 is continuous with the shooter 34. The volume reduction container 11 dropped from the volume reduction mechanism unit 6 is received by the shooter 34 and collected in the auxiliary collection box 32 as indicated by the solid line arrow. On the other hand, the shooter 34 indicated by a chain line is in a position retracted from the volume reduction mechanism unit 6, and the guard shooter 60 that descends from the left to the right in FIG. 7 in this state from the center of the volume reduction mechanism unit 6. It is in a position slightly off to the left and covers the right end of the auxiliary shooter 36. In this state, as indicated by a broken line arrow, the volume reduction container 11 dropped from the volume reduction mechanism 6 is recovered in the recovery box 7, but in this case, even if the volume reduction container 11 is skipped leftward in FIG. The volume reduction container 11 hits the guard shooter 60 and bounces to the right and is collected in the collection box 7. In the case of flying rightward in FIG. 7, there is no problem because it is collected in the collection box 7 as it is. That is, according to the embodiment of FIG. 7, even if the volume reduction container 11 is blown in the direction of the auxiliary shooter 36, it is not recovered in the auxiliary recovery box 32. The auxiliary shooter 36 may be supported by the collection box 7.
[0029]
Next, FIG. 10 is a schematic front view of the inside of the main body showing an embodiment of an empty container collecting machine that separates and collects two types of empty containers, for example, empty cans by type, for example, iron cans and aluminum cans. In FIG. 10, the volume reduction mechanism 6 has two discharge ports 6a and 6b. After volume reduction processing of an empty container (empty can) 11, for example, an iron can is dropped from the discharge port 6a, and aluminum is discharged from the discharge port 6b. Drop the can. A shooter 34 for guiding the empty container 11 dropped from the volume reducing mechanism 6 to the preliminary collection box 32 is connected to the discharge port 6b. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the collection box 7, the preliminary collection box 32, and the shooter 34 in FIG. The base end portion of the shooter 34 is rotatably supported by the main body 1 via a shaft 57, and the tip end is placed on the side walls of the recovery box 7 and the preliminary recovery box 32 in the notches 49 and 53.
[0030]
In FIG. 10, the empty container (aluminum can) 11 dropped from the discharge port 6b is collected in the preliminary collection box 32 via the shooter 34, and the empty container (iron can) 11 discharged from the discharge port 6a is collected in the collection box 7. To be recovered. When the recovery box 7 or the preliminary recovery box 32 is pulled out, the shooter 34 is lifted up to the chain line position with the shaft 57 as a fulcrum. The shooter 34 may be detachably attached to the empty container collection machine main body 1 or the collection box 7.
[0031]
12 and 13 show different embodiments of an empty container collecting machine that separates and collects two types of empty containers, FIG. 12 is a schematic front view of the inside of the main body, and FIG. 13 is a perspective view of an auxiliary shooter. is there. In this embodiment, substantially the same auxiliary shooter 34 as that in the embodiment of FIG. 7 is used, and the auxiliary shooter 34 is supported on the side wall 1 a of the recovery machine body 1. The auxiliary shooter 34 may be supported by the collection box 7. Since the recovery operation of the volume reduction container is the same as that of the embodiment of FIG. 10, the description thereof is omitted.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the side cabinet having the preliminary collection box is installed adjacent to the main body of the empty container collection machine, and the empty container volume-reduced by the volume reduction mechanism of the empty container collection machine is attached to the shooter. Thus, the storage capacity of the empty container recovery box can be greatly increased by enabling recovery to the preliminary recovery box.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an internal front view of an empty container collection machine showing an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view showing a mechanism for advancing and retracting the shooter in FIG. 1. FIG.
3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.
4 shows the advance / retreat position of the shooter of FIG. 2, wherein (A) is the shooter advanced state, and (B) is the shooter retracted state.
5 is a perspective view of the collection box in FIG. 1. FIG.
6 is a perspective view of a preliminary collection box in FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 7 is an internal front view of an empty container collection machine showing a different embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a perspective view showing a shooter advance / retreat mechanism in FIG. 7; FIG.
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the auxiliary shooter in FIG.
FIG. 10 is an internal front view of an empty container collection machine showing still another embodiment of the present invention.
11 is a perspective view showing a recovery box, a preliminary recovery box, and a shooter in FIG.
FIG. 12 is an internal front view of an empty container collection machine showing still another embodiment of the present invention.
13 is a perspective view showing the shooter in FIG. 12. FIG.
FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing a state in which a front door of an empty container collecting machine showing a conventional example is opened.
15 is an internal front view of the empty container collection machine of FIG. 14;
16 is a diagram showing the operation of the volume reducing mechanism in FIG.
FIG. 17 is a view showing the operation of different volume reducing mechanism portions in FIG. 14;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Empty container collection machine body 6 Volume reduction mechanism part 7 Collection box 11 Empty container 30 Side cabinet 31 Side cabinet body 32 Preliminary collection box 33 Through window 34 Shutter 36 Auxiliary shooter 37 Auxiliary shooter 60 Guard shooter

Claims (7)

In the empty container recovery machine for recovering by dropping into the recovery box below the volume reduction mechanism section after volume reduction processing by the volume reduction mechanism section of the empty container input from the container insertion port on the front of the main body,
A side cabinet having a pre-recovery box is installed adjacent to the main body, and a common through window is opened on opposite side walls of the main body of the side cabinet and the empty container recovery machine main body, and dropped from the volume reducing mechanism section. A shooter is provided for guiding the empty container to the preliminary recovery box through the through window, and the empty container after volume reduction processing can be recovered also in the preliminary recovery box via the shooter. Empty container collection machine. The shooter is removably attached to the empty container collection machine, the empty container is dropped into the collection box with the shooter retracted from the volume reduction mechanism section, and the shooter is moved with respect to the volume reduction mechanism section. 2. The empty container collection machine according to claim 1, wherein the empty container is dropped into the preliminary collection box through the shooter in the advanced state. 3. The empty container collecting machine according to claim 2, further comprising an auxiliary shooter continuous with the shooter in the advanced state. 4. The empty container collecting machine according to claim 3, further comprising a guard shooter that prevents the empty container from jumping into the auxiliary shooter when the shooter is retracted. 5. The empty container collection machine according to claim 4, wherein the shooter and the guard shooter are integrally formed in a mountain shape. The empty container collecting machine according to claim 1, wherein the empty containers are classified by type, and the empty containers after volume reduction processing are dropped by type from different outlets of the volume reducing mechanism.
An empty container collection machine, wherein the shooter is connected to any one of the discharge ports, and the empty container dropped from the discharge port is collected in the preliminary collection box via the shooter. The shooter is coupled to the empty container collection machine so as to be pivotable in the vertical direction, the side cabinet side of the shooter is lifted, and the collection box is pulled out from the empty container collection machine main body. The empty container collection machine according to claim 6.

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