JP6737501B2 - Article aligning apparatus and article aligning method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an article alignment device and an article alignment method for aligning the orientation of flat bottomed cylindrical articles.

For example, Patent Documents 1 to 3 disclose a preform supply device that supplies a preform (an example of an article) to a supply destination device such as a blow molding device. It is necessary to align the preforms in a predetermined direction and supply them to the blow molding device of the supply destination. However, when the preforms are put in a storage part such as a hopper, the preforms are in an irregular state where the directions are inconsistent. Equipment is required.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a preform aligning device having an elongated test tubular preform orientation. The preform aligning device is provided with two parallel rollers, and the gap between the rollers is larger than the diameter of the tubular portion of the preform and smaller than the diameter of the flange portion. The preforms to be conveyed are aligned so that the tubular portion faces downward in the direction of gravity and the flange portion faces upward.

Further, in Patent Document 2, the preforms are aligned while being conveyed while vibrating in a spiral path, and a preform that assists in aligning the directions by blowing air from the nozzle to the edge of the preforms. A supply device is disclosed.

Further, Patent Document 3 discloses an image processing unit that performs image processing of an image of a preform captured by a camera, and a preform supply device that discharges a preform in an abnormal direction detected by the image processing at a chuck unit. .. The shapes of the preforms to be aligned in Patent Documents 1 to 3 were all in the shape of a bottomed cylinder elongated in the axial direction.

JP, 2015-112840, A JP, 2005-77705, A JP, 2013-234010, A

By the way, the preform is not a slender bottomed tubular shape (for example, a test tubular shape), but a flat bottomed tubular shape whose length (for example, diameter) in the radial direction orthogonal to the axial line is longer than height in the axial direction ( Some have a dish shape). The flat bottomed cylindrical preform of this type cannot be aligned in the direction even if the aligning devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are used. For example, in the case of the configuration of conveying between two rollers described in Patent Document 1, a flat bottomed tubular preform falls from a gap between the two rollers when it is in a vertical posture. .. Further, even in the vibration-type preform supply device described in Patent Document 2, it is difficult to align the directions when the preform has a flat bottomed cylindrical shape.

For example, with the preform supply device described in Patent Document 3, the directions can be aligned regardless of the shape of the preform, but the preform is photographed by a camera, image processing of a photographed image, orientation determination, and chuck drive control. Etc. are required, the apparatus is complicated and a large amount of processing is required. Therefore, there is a demand for a preform aligning device that can align the directions of flat bottomed tubular preforms with a relatively simple configuration. Note that the articles are not limited to preforms, and this kind of problem is generally common to article alignment devices that align the orientation of flat bottomed tubular articles.

An object of the present invention is to provide an article aligning device and an article aligning method capable of aligning the direction of a bottomed cylindrical article having a shorter axial length than a radial length with a relatively simple structure. It is in.

Hereinafter, the means for solving the above problems and the operation effects thereof will be described.
An article aligning device for solving the above-mentioned problem is an article aligning device for aligning the orientation of a bottomed cylindrical article having a length in the axial direction shorter than the length in the radial direction. The transport unit has a climbing transport unit for transporting, and a reversing unit for selectively reversing the article that has been transported on the climbing path, and the reversing unit is configured to climb the article that has been transported on the climbing path. The first support part serving as a fulcrum in the process of tilting from the posture to the front side, and the second support part arranged at a position downstream of the first support part on the downstream side and lower than the first support part. Among the finished articles, when the article in the upright posture with the opening arranged on the upper side tilts forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum, the front end portion of the bottom portion of the article serves as the second support portion. The front end of the opening side of the article when the article in the inverted posture in which the article is maintained in the upright posture by placing the article is tilted forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum. Is hooked on the second support portion to reverse the article to the upright posture.

According to this configuration, the articles, which have been conveyed on the ascending path and have a non-uniform orientation, are tilted forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum. At this time, the article in the upright posture is not inverted because the bottom portion of the article rests on the second support portion, and the upright posture is maintained. On the other hand, in an inverted posture, the article in the upright position is erected by the front end portion on the opening side (the front end portion in the traveling direction of the transport path of the transport portion) being caught by the second support portion in the process of tilting forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum. Turn over to posture. Therefore, with a relatively simple configuration, it is possible to align the orientation of a bottomed tubular article (for example, a preform) having a shorter axial length than a radial length.

In the above-mentioned article alignment device, further comprising a storage section capable of storing a large number of the articles in an irregular state with a non-uniform orientation, and the transport section transports the articles on the climbing path partially passing through the storage section. The transport unit includes a transport unit and a second transport unit that is disposed on the downstream side of the transport route of the first transport unit and transports the article on a down route, and the reversing unit is the upper end of the climbing route or the upper end thereof. It is preferable that the first support portion is arranged at a position downstream of the second support portion, and the second support portion is arranged in the middle of the down path of the second transport portion.

According to this configuration, the article in an irregular state inside the accommodation section is conveyed against the gravity on the ascending path of the first conveyance section, so that the article can be taken out from the accommodation section while suppressing overlapping. Since the frequency with which the articles are stacked and conveyed to the reversing unit is reduced, the frequency of failure in reversing the articles and the occurrence of clogging can be reduced.

In the above-described article aligning apparatus, both the first transport section and the second transport section are provided with transport belts, and the coefficient of static friction of the transport belt of the first transport section with the article is the same as that of the second transport section. It is preferably larger than the coefficient of static friction of the conveyor belt with the article.

According to this configuration, the article in the storage unit adheres to the surface of the transport belt of the first transport unit due to the large frictional force, and is transported on the climbing path against gravity. On the other hand, an article that overlaps the article attached to the surface of the conveyor belt has a relatively small or no contact area with the conveyor belt, and thus falls due to its own weight in the middle of the climbing path. Therefore, since the articles are conveyed in a non-overlapping state, it is possible to more effectively reduce the frequency of failure of reversing the articles and occurrence of clogging.

It is preferable that the article aligning device further includes a reversing device for reversing the articles, which are aligned in orientation through the reversing unit, from the upright posture to the inverted posture.
According to this configuration, the articles in the erect posture, which are aligned in the same direction through the reversing unit, are inverted by the reversing device from the upright posture to the inverted posture. Therefore, the article can be supplied to the supply destination device (for example, the blow molding machine) in the inverted posture.

In the article aligning device, the article has a bottomed cylindrical dish portion, and a collar portion extending outward from a peripheral portion of the opening,
The second support portion has an engagement end surface provided at an upstream end portion of the transport path so that the collar portion can be caught when the article in the inverted posture tilts forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum. A placement provided on the downstream side of the engagement end surface so that the front end of the bottom of the dish can be placed when the upright-positioned article tilts forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum. And a surface.

According to this configuration, when the article in the inverted posture tilts forward with the first support portion as the fulcrum, the collar portion is hooked on the engaging end surface of the second support portion to be inverted to the upright posture. Further, the article in the upright posture is maintained in the upright posture by the front end portion of the bottom portion resting on the mounting surface of the second support portion when tilted forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum. Therefore, the orientation of the articles can be more surely aligned.

An article aligning method for solving the above-mentioned problem is an article aligning method for aligning the orientation of a bottomed cylindrical article having a length in the axial direction shorter than the length in the radial direction, wherein the orientation is not uniform on the climbing path. A climbing transport step of transporting, and a reversing step of selectively reversing the article that has been transported on the climbing path by a reversing section, wherein the reversing section is a climbing posture of the article that has finished transporting on the climbing path. Has a first supporting portion serving as a fulcrum in the process of tilting from the front side to the front side, and a second supporting portion arranged at a position downstream and lower than the first supporting portion in the transport path, and the opening is performed in the reversing step. When the article in the upright posture with the upper side of the article tilted forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum, the front end portion of the bottom of the article rests on the second support portion, and thereby the article is in the upright posture. And the opening-side front end of the article is caught by the second support portion when the article in the inverted posture in which the opening is arranged on the lower side is tilted with the first support portion as a fulcrum. Invert to an upright position. According to this method, the same effect as that of the above-described article aligning device can be obtained.

According to the present invention, it is possible to align the orientation of bottomed cylindrical articles having a shorter axial length than a radial length with a relatively simple configuration.

1 is a schematic side view of an article alignment device that supplies articles in an inverted posture in one embodiment. FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of an article alignment device that supplies articles in an upright posture. The schematic side view which shows an article. The schematic side view which shows an inversion part. The schematic side view explaining the effect|action of the inversion part which inverts the article of an inverted posture. The schematic side view explaining the effect|action of the reversing part which does not reverse the article of the upright posture. The schematic side view explaining the effect|action of the inversion part which inverts the article of an inverted posture. The schematic side view explaining the effect|action of the reversing part which does not reverse the article of the upright posture. The schematic plan view which shows an alignment part. 1A is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIGS. 1 and 2 showing a conveyance guide section for conveying an article in an upright posture, and FIG. 1B is a sectional view showing a conveyance guide section for conveying an article in an upright posture. 2 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. (A), (b) is a partial schematic plan view which shows the example of a change of the conveyance belt which comprises a climbing belt conveyor.

Hereinafter, an article alignment device (preform alignment device) according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
The article alignment device 11 shown in FIG. 1 is an apparatus for aligning the orientations of bottomed cylindrical (eg, dish-shaped) articles P whose axial length is shorter than their radial length. The article aligning device 11 aligns a dish-shaped article P (preform in this example), which is a raw material for molding, in a desired direction and supplies it to a blow molding machine, which is an example of a supply destination apparatus (not shown). It is equipped with 10.

The article aligning device 11 supplies a hopper 12, which is an example of a storage unit capable of storing a large number of articles P in an irregular state (random state) with different orientations, and supplies the articles P in the hopper 12 to a blow molding machine (not shown). And a transfer unit 20 that transfers the transfer unit 15 to the transfer unit 15. Further, the article aligning device 11 includes a reversing section 30 that selectively reverses the articles P at a position on the conveyance path of the conveyance section 20 to align the front and back sides. The transporting unit 20 selectively reverses the first transporting unit 40 that transports the articles P whose orientations are not uniform from the hopper 12 along a climbing path having a predetermined angle, and the article P that has finished transporting the climbing path in the reversing unit 30. The second conveyance unit 50 mainly conveys the articles P whose orientations are aligned with each other on the down path until they are delivered to the final-stage supply conveyance unit 15. The reversing unit 30 of the present example is arranged near the boundary where the climbing route of the first transport unit 40 is switched to the down route of the second transport unit 50. The reversing unit 30 has a function of reversing the article P in an upright posture in which the opening side is the upper side without reversing the upright posture, while reversing the article P in the inverted posture in which the opening side is the lower side to the upright posture. doing. In addition, in FIG. 1, a direction along the transport path of the transport unit 20 is referred to as a traveling direction X.

Further, the article aligning device 11 selectively holds only the aligning section 60 that aligns the articles P whose orientations are aligned by the reversing section 30 and the article P that is in the upright posture among the articles P that are aligned in a row. And a transport guide unit 70 for transporting. The article aligning apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 1 is an apparatus that supplies articles P in an inverted posture to the blow molding machine in one row. Therefore, a reversing device 80 that reverses the upside-down posture of the article P by reversing the front and back directions of the article P is connected to the downstream side of the transport guide unit 70. The reversing device 80 includes a reversing guide 81 having a U-shaped conveyance path. The article P in the erect posture from the conveyance guide unit 70 is conveyed along the U-shaped reversing path of the reversing guide 81, so that the article P is inverted from the upright posture to the inverted posture, and the final stage in the inverted posture. It is delivered to the supply transport unit 15. In the supply transport unit 15, the transport belt 18 wound around the outer circumferences of the pair of rollers 16 and 17 is driven by the power of the electric motor 19 so that one row of articles is placed on the transport belt 18. Supply P to the blow molding machine in the inverted posture.

On the other hand, the article aligning apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 2 is an apparatus that supplies the articles P in an upright posture to the blow molding machine in one row. The article aligning device 11 does not include the reversing device 80 shown in FIG. Therefore, the article P in the upright posture transported by the transport guide unit 70 is delivered to the final stage transporting unit for feeding while maintaining the upright posture, and is supplied to the blow molding machine.

As described above, the article alignment device 11 that supplies the articles P in the inverted posture shown in FIG. 1 and the article alignment device 11 that supplies the articles P in the upright posture shown in FIG. However, other configurations are basically the same. Therefore, in the following, the configuration of the article alignment apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail, and the description of the article alignment apparatus shown in FIG. 2 will be omitted. 1 and 2, the direction (climbing direction) along the ascending path shown by the arrow in the first carrying section 40 is the traveling direction X, and the second carrying section 50 is the descending path shown by the arrow in the figure. The direction along the route (downward direction) is the traveling direction X.

Next, the configuration of the article P will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the article P has a bottomed tubular shape in which the height H, which is the axial length, is shorter than the diameter DF, which is the radial length orthogonal to the axial direction O. The article P of this example has a dish shape that is a flat bottomed tubular shape having a diameter DF that is sufficiently longer than the height H (for example, twice or more). The article P has a bottomed tubular dish portion Pa having an opening Po, and an annular flange portion Pb extending outward in the radial direction from the peripheral edge portion of the opening Po. Therefore, in the article P, the diameter DF of the flange portion Pb is larger than the diameter D of the dish portion Pa (DF>D). The diameters D and DF of the article P of this example are both within the range of 10 to 100 mm, for example, but may be other dimensions as long as they can be inverted by the inversion unit 30.

Hereinafter, the first transport unit 40, the reversing unit 30, the second transport unit 50, the aligning unit 60, the transport guide unit 70, and the reversing device 80 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
The first transport unit 40 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a climbing belt conveyor 41 as an example of a climbing transport unit that transports the article P from the hopper 12 to a reversing unit 30 along a climbing path having a predetermined inclination angle. The endless conveyor belt 42 constituting the climbing belt conveyor 41 is wound around a pair of rollers 43, 44 arranged at both upper and lower ends of the climbing path. A part of the lower side of the conveyor belt 42 passes through the inside of the hopper 12. When the one roller 44 is rotationally driven by the power of the electric motor 45, the conveyor belt 42 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 1, and the article P placed on the conveyor belt 42 in the hopper 12 is sent out from the hopper 12. The controller 100 controls the electric motor 45 to drive the transport belt 42 at a predetermined transport speed within a range of 12 to 17 m/min as an example. In the present example, since the reversing unit 30 applies force to the article P that tilts to the front side to invert the article P in the inverted posture, it is preferable to convey the article P at a conveyance speed of 7 m/min or more on the climbing path. In addition, as long as the inverted posture of the article P in the reversing unit 30 can be reversed, a conveyance speed of less than 7 m/min or more than 17 m/min may be set.

The inclination angle of the conveyor belt 42 is set to a predetermined angle within the range of 40 to 80 degrees, for example. A large number of articles P are accommodated in the hopper 12 in a space above the lower part of the conveyor belt 42 in an irregular state in which the directions are not uniform. The conveyance surface 42A of the conveyance belt 42 has a coefficient of static friction with the article P relatively higher than that of a member forming another conveyance path. The article P that has contacted the conveyor belt 42 in the hopper 12 adheres to the conveyor surface 42A due to a high frictional force, so that the article P is conveyed to the upper end without falling even on a climbing path having a predetermined angle. Further, even when a plurality of articles are conveyed on the conveyance surface 42A in an overlapped state, the article P overlapped on the upper side falls due to its own weight. Therefore, the articles P are conveyed by the conveyor belt 42 to the reversing unit 30 at a density without overlapping (the number of articles per unit area of the belt).

Here, the coefficient of static friction between the conveyor belt 42 and the article P is set to a value within the range of, for example, 0.8 or more and 1.7 or less. Therefore, the static friction coefficient between the conveyor belt 42 and the article P is larger than the static friction coefficient between the sliding surface 51A of the chute portion 51 and the article P. Further, in this example, the coefficient of static friction between the conveyor belt 42 of the climbing belt conveyor 41 and the article P is larger than the coefficient of static friction between the conveyor belt 53 of the descending belt conveyor 52 and the article P. That is, the coefficient of static friction between the first conveyor 40 and the article P is larger than the coefficient of static friction between the second conveyor 50 and the article P.

The reversing unit 30 is arranged at a location slightly downstream of the upper end of the climbing belt conveyor 41. In other words, when the article P is conveyed on the ascending path of the ascending belt conveyor 41, the axis line when the article P is conveyed on the descending path of the second conveying section 50 is inclined forward from the climbing posture in which the axis line of the article P is conveyed backward. The reversing unit 30 is arranged at a position in the middle of the process in which the article P tilts in the descending posture. The reversing unit 30 has a function of aligning the front and back of the articles P by selectively reversing only the articles P in the inverted posture to bring them into the upright posture.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the reversing unit 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8. As shown in FIG. 4, the reversing portion 30 is located on the first support portion 31 that serves as a fulcrum when the article P tilts forward due to its own weight, and on the downstream side of the first support portion 31 in the traveling direction X and. The second support portion 32 is provided at a position lower than the first support portion 31. The first support portion 31 and the second support portion 32 are both rod-shaped extending along a width direction (direction orthogonal to the paper surface in FIG. 1) orthogonal to the traveling direction X of the transport belt 42, and are substantially the same as the width of the transport belt 42. Have a length. A plate-like chute portion 51 inclined at a predetermined inclination angle is arranged at a position downstream (left side in FIG. 4) from the upper end of the arc-shaped surface around which the conveyor belt 42 is wound around the roller 44. There is. The first support portion 31 and the second support portion 32 are fixed to the upper surface of the chute portion 51 with a predetermined gap in the traveling direction X. Specifically, the first support portion 31 is arranged at a position slightly downstream of the upper end portion of the ascending path in the traveling direction X, and the second support portion 32 is arranged at a position in the middle of the down path. The first support portion 31 may be arranged at the upper end of the climbing path. Also in this case, the article P, which has been transported on the ascending path, can be tilted about the first supporting portion 31 as a fulcrum while tilting forward from the climbing attitude to the descending attitude.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first support portion 31 is adjacent to the flat mounting surface 31A whose top is cut substantially horizontally in the side view shown in FIG. It has a sliding surface 51A of the portion 51 and an inclined surface 31B which is substantially parallel to the sliding surface 51A. Further, the first support portion 31 has an obtuse angled corner portion 31C formed at the boundary between the mounting surface 31A and the sloped surface 31B and a substantially right angled corner portion 31D located at the downstream end of the sloped surface 31B. There is. The corner portions 31C and 31D serve as fulcrums when the article P tilts in the process of getting over the first support portion 31.

The first support portion 31 and the second support portion 32 are elongated and have a rectangular cross section, and one surface thereof is fixed to the sliding surface 51A. The mounting surface 31A of the first support portion 31 is located slightly downstream of the upper end of the conveyor belt 42 and is substantially at the same height as the upper end of the conveyor belt 42. An end surface 31E on the downstream side (the second support portion 32 side) in the traveling direction X of the first support portion 31 is a surface substantially perpendicular to the sliding surface 51A. Further, the second support portion 32 has an engagement end surface 32A formed of an end surface on the upstream side in the traveling direction X facing the end surface 31E of the first support portion 31, a substantially horizontal mounting surface 32B, and a downstream end surface 32C. And have. The two end surfaces 32A and 32C are surfaces that are substantially perpendicular to the sliding surface 51A, and the boundary between the upstream engaging end surface 32A and the mounting surface 32B is an obtuse corner portion 32D.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the first support portion 31 and the second support portion 32, the heights H1 and H2 of the downstream end surfaces 31E and 32C from the sliding surface 51A have a relationship of H1>H2. This means that when H1≦H2, the length of the article P in the movement direction on the placement surface 32B of the second support portion 32 becomes relatively long, and the article P in the upright posture placed on the placement surface 32B becomes relatively long. This is because it is difficult for the chute portion 51 to fall onto the sliding surface 51A. Therefore, by setting H1>H2 and making the height H2 relatively small, the length of the placing surface 32B in the article movement direction is made relatively short, and the article P in the upright posture is placed on the placing surface 32B. However, it does not stay there and easily falls on the sliding surface 51A. Further, in the second support portion 32, the height H3 of the upstream engaging end surface 32A from the sliding surface 51A is shorter than the height H2 of the downstream end surface 32C from the sliding surface 51A (H3. <H2<H1). Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the distance C between the first support portion 31 and the second support portion 32 in the traveling direction X is smaller than the diameter D of the dish P of the article P. In the examples of FIGS. 5 and 7, the height H3 of the engagement end surface 32A is set to be shorter than the radial extension length (=(DF-D)/2) of the collar portion Pb of the article P. However, the present invention is not limited to this as long as the article P in the inverted posture can be inverted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the article P in the inverted posture has its front end portion (downstream end portion of the collar portion Pb) in front of the second support portion 32 (upstream) when tilted forward with the first support portion 31 as a fulcrum. Side), the fallen front end portion is caught by the second support portion 32, and the caught front end portion is turned upside down. That is, the article P in the inverted posture is inverted from the inverted posture to the upright posture while passing through the reversing unit 30.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, the article P in the upright posture tilts forward with the first support portion 31 as a fulcrum, but thereafter, the downstream end portion of the bottom of the dish portion Pa of the article P is the second support portion. By mounting on the mounting surface 32B of 32, it does not invert and maintains an upright posture.

As shown in FIG. 7, the article P in the inverted posture is tilted from the climbing posture when it is on the climbing belt conveyor 41 to the descending posture when it is on the second transport unit 50, and the article P of the first supporting unit 31 is in the middle. The two corners 31C and 31D are sequentially tilted as fulcrums. In this tilting process, the front end portion on the opening side of the article P in the inverted posture (downstream end portion of the flange portion Pb) falls to the front side (upstream side) of the second support portion 32, and the upstream side of the second support portion 32. Is hooked on the engaging end surface 32A of the above, and the front end of the hook is reversed. At this time, since the tilted movement of the inverted posture of the article P from the climbing posture to the horizontal posture and the tilting posture to the descending posture is performed almost all at once, the front end portion is caught by the second support portion 32 by the momentum at that time. Is reversed. In addition, in FIG. 7, (1) to (8) indicate that one article P is conveyed on the climbing route in an inverted posture, and is erected by the reversing unit 30 in the process of finishing the conveyance on the climbing route and tilting from the climbing posture to the front side. It shows how to reverse the posture.

Here, as compared with the case where the article P is tilted from the horizontal posture to the front side by being placed on the horizontal transport surface LH of the horizontal transport belt shown in FIG. 7 in FIG. 7, the article P is tilted to the front side from the climbing posture shown in the solid line in FIG. In this case, the momentum is increased when tilting with the first support portion 31 as the fulcrum. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the transport path immediately upstream to the reversing unit 30 is set as the climb path, and the climb path is set to be larger than the angle θh formed by the horizontal transport surface LH and the sliding surface 51A which is the down path. The angle θ between the transport surface 42A to be formed and the sliding surface 51A to form the down path is made small (θ<θh), and the tilting of the article P with the first supporting portion 31 as a fulcrum to the front side is encouraged. By the momentum of the tilting of the article P with the first support portion 31 as the fulcrum toward the front side, the article P in the inverted posture is reliably inverted about the front end portion caught by the second support portion 32.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, the article P in the upright posture tilts with the corners 31C and 31D of the first support portion 31 sequentially as fulcrums while the article P tilts from the climbing posture to the descending posture. In this tilting process, the article P in the upright posture does not turn upside down because the downstream end portion (front end portion) of the bottom of the dish portion Pa is placed on the placement surface 32B of the second support portion 32, and the upright posture is maintained. (See also FIG. 6). In addition, in (1) to (7) in FIG. 8, one article P is conveyed up the climbing path in an upright posture, and is inverted by the reversing unit 30 even when the conveyance of the climbing path is completed and the article P is tilted forward from the climbing attitude. Without standing, it shows how to maintain the upright posture.

Further, when the article P in the upright posture tilts forward with the corner 31D as the center (FIGS. 5 and 7), and when the article P in the upright posture tilts forward with the corner 31D as the center (FIG. 6, FIG. 8), the front end portion of the collar portion Pb in the inverted posture when the tilt angle with the corner portion 31D of the article P as the fulcrum is the same is in the upright posture. It descends earlier than the front end of the part Pb. Also due to the difference in the lowering timing of the front end of the collar Pb, the front end of the collar Pb of the article P when in the inverted posture falls to the upstream side of the second support portion 32 and catches on it, and becomes in the upright posture. Since the descending timing of the front end of the collar portion Pb at a certain time is delayed as compared with that in the inverted posture, the bottom front end portion of the dish portion Pa of the article P in the upright posture is placed on the placing surface 32B. In this way, the difference in the descending timing of the front end of the collar Pb when the article P tilts forward between the upright posture and the upright posture and the climb path is set to start the tilting of the article P from the climbing posture. Depending on the tilting momentum caused by the movement, the inverted article P is inverted and the upright article P is not inverted.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the second transport unit 50 is inclined in a direction opposite to the direction in which the first transport unit 40 is inclined (the direction of the ascending route), and forms a down route for transporting the article P. doing. The second transport section 50 has a chute section 51 having a sliding surface 51A for sliding down an article P in an upright posture in which the articles P are in the same orientation by the selective reversal by the reversing section 30, and an upright posture in which the chute section 51 slides down. The downward belt conveyor 52 having a conveyor belt 53 that receives and conveys the article P.

The sliding surface 51A of the chute portion 51 is arranged at a predetermined inclination angle that allows the article P in an upright posture to slide down. The plurality of articles P that have passed through the reversing unit 30 slide down in the traveling direction X from the discrete positions in the width direction of the chute unit 51, and are placed on the upstream end of the conveyor belt 53 of the down belt conveyor 52. In the example shown in FIGS. 4, 7 and 8, the chute portion 51 of this example has an upright posture in which the plate portion 51B to which the first support portion 31 and the second support portion 32 are fixed and the reversing portion 30 are passed. The article P is divided into two parts, namely, a plate part 51C for sliding down the article P on the downstream side of the plate part 51B, but it may be one plate part. In addition, the inclination angle of the chute portion 51 is larger than, for example, the inclination angle of the transport surface 53A of the down belt conveyor 52 so that the article P in an upright posture can quickly slide down the sliding surface 51A of the chute portion 51.

The down belt conveyor 52 shown in FIG. 1 is supported by a plurality of leg portions 57 and forms a down path having a predetermined inclination angle that becomes lower toward the downstream side in the traveling direction X. The down belt conveyor 52 includes a pair of rollers 54 and 55 arranged at respective positions of the upstream end and the downstream end of the transport path, and a transport belt 53 wound around the pair of rollers 54 and 55. When one roller 55 is rotationally driven by the power of the electric motor 56, the transport belt 53 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 1 and transports the article P on the transport surface 53A to the downstream side of the transport path. The electric motor 56 is driven by the controller 100 at a predetermined driving speed.

The arranging unit 60 has the configuration shown in FIG. 9 and has a function of arranging the articles P in a line in the course of being conveyed by the down belt conveyor 52. As shown in FIG. 9, on the upper side of the transport surface 53A of the down belt conveyor 52, a plurality of (three in the example of FIG. 9) that are not in contact with the transport surface 53A and can contact the article P on the transport surface 53A. ) Guide plates 61 to 63. The plurality of guide plates 61 to 63 are arranged in a direction that diagonally intersects the traveling direction X of the conveyor belt 53, the diagonal directions are alternately switched from the upstream side, and the downstream end of the upstream side is replaced. The gap with the downstream side becomes narrower toward the downstream side. The articles P guided by the plurality of guide plates 61 to 63 are gradually arranged in one row. The articles P arranged in one row reach the conveyance guide unit 70.

The conveyance guide unit 70 has the configuration shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, and selectively guides only the articles P in the upright posture among the articles P on the down belt conveyor 52 that are conveyed in one row. It has the function of transporting to. The transport guide unit 70 extends long along the transport path as shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 10( a) and 10 (b ), the widthwise direction orthogonal to the traveling direction X of the conveyor belt 53 is opposed to the widthwise direction with an interval slightly shorter than the diameter DF on the opening side of the article P. It has a pair of guide members 71. The pair of guide members 71 has a bilaterally symmetrical shape, and has a pair of recesses 72 at positions where the collar Pb of the article P in an upright posture placed on the transport surface 53A can be guided. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10A, the article P in the upright posture on the conveyor belt 53 has the flange portions Pb engaged with the recesses 72 of the pair of guide members 71 from both sides, and thus the conveyor guide portion. It is conveyed to the downstream side along the guide route 70.

In the article aligning apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 1, the articles P in the upright posture are inverted along the U-shaped inversion path of the inversion guide 81 of the inversion apparatus 80 to be inverted from the upright orientation to the inverted orientation. It One row of articles P are fed to the blow molding machine in the inverted posture by the feeding unit 15 at the final stage. On the other hand, in the article aligning device 11 shown in FIG. 2, the articles P in the upright posture are supplied to the blow molding machine in one row in the same orientation by the final-stage supply transport section.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10B, since the article P in the inverted posture placed on the conveyor belt 53 is located on the lower side where the collar portion Pb contacts the conveyor belt 53, the pair of guide members 71. Does not engage with the concave portion 72. Therefore, the article P in the inverted posture is transported to the downstream side by the transport belt 53 while being placed on the transport surface 53A. Then, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the article P in the inverted posture, which is conveyed by the conveyor belt 53, falls at the downstream end of the down belt conveyor 52, and as shown by the two-dot chain line arrow in FIG. It is returned to the hopper 12 by the illustrated return conveyor. Note that, in the case of FIG. 1 only, the article P in the inverted posture transported by the transport belt 53 is transported from the downstream end of the down belt conveyor 52 by a transport unit (not shown) while maintaining the inverted posture, and the supply transport unit is provided. It may be configured to be inserted between the articles P on the fifteen.

Next, the operation of the article alignment device 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. When the articles P are supplied to the blow molding machine, which is an example of the supply destination apparatus, in the inverted posture, the article alignment apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 1 is used. On the other hand, when the articles P are supplied to the blow molding machine in the upright posture, the article alignment device 11 shown in FIG. 2 is used. 1 and FIG. 2 is different only in whether or not the final inverting device 80 inverts the articles. Therefore, the article arranging apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 1 will be described below as an example. ..

In the article alignment device 11 shown in FIG. 1, when a worker turns on a power switch and an operation switch (not shown), the controller 100 drives the electric motors 19, 45, 56. As a result, the ascending belt conveyor 41, the descending belt conveyor 52, and the supply transport unit 15 are driven.

The article P that has come into contact with the transport surface 42A out of the numerous articles P that are stored in the hopper 12 adheres to the transport surface 42A due to a high frictional force, and the plurality of articles P that have different directions are transported by the transport belt 42. It is transported along the climbing route. At this time, the article P is transported along the climbing path by the transport belt 42 at a predetermined transport speed within the range of, for example, 12 to 17 m/min. It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the process of transporting the articles P whose orientations are not uniform on the climbing route corresponds to an example of the climbing transporting step.

The article P reaching the upper end of the climbing belt conveyor 41 passes through the reversing unit 30. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7, the article P in the inverted posture, which has been transported along the climbing path, is sequentially tilted from the climbing posture to the descending posture with the corners 31C and 31D of the first support portion 31 as fulcrums. Tilt forward. In the inverted posture of the article P tilted forward with the first support portion 31 as a fulcrum, the front end portion (downstream end portion of the collar portion Pb) falls to the front side (upstream side) of the second support portion 32, and the second It catches on the support part 32, and it inverts to the front side around the hooked front end part. At this time, since the article P in the inverted posture gains momentum when tilting from the climbing posture to the horizontal posture and then to the descending posture, the front end portion is caught by the second support portion 32, and the article P is reversed with the momentum. In this way, the article P in the inverted posture is inverted from the inverted posture to the upright posture while passing through the reversing unit 30 (see also FIG. 5).

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, the article P in the upright posture is in the middle of tilting from the climbing posture of the climbing belt conveyor 41 to the descending posture, and the corners 31C and 31D of the first supporting portion 31 are sequentially used as fulcrums to move forward. Tilt. Although the article P in an upright posture tilts forward with the first support portion 31 as a fulcrum, the downstream end portion of the bottom of the dish Pa of the article P is placed on the placement surface 32B of the second support portion 32. It does not turn over and is maintained in an upright posture (see also Fig. 6).

In this way, in the process of passing through the reversing unit 30, the article P in the inverted posture is inverted to the upright posture, and the article P in the upright posture is not inverted and is maintained in the upright posture. As a result, all the articles P that have passed through the reversing unit 30 are in the upright posture, except for the article P that failed in reversal, which is extremely rare. In the present embodiment, the process of reversing the article P in the inverted posture and not reversing the article in the upright posture by the reversing unit 30 corresponds to an example of the reversing step.

Thereafter, the article P slides down on the chute portion 51, is placed on the conveyor belt 53 of the downward belt conveyor 52, and is conveyed by the conveyor belt 53 in an upright posture. As shown in FIG. 9, the plurality of articles P on the conveyor surface 53A of the conveyor belt 53 are guided along the plurality of guide plates 61 to 63 and gradually aligned in one row. The articles P arranged in one row reach the conveyance guide unit 70.

As shown in FIG. 10A, the article P in the upright posture on the conveyor belt 53 has the flange portions Pb engaged with the recesses 72 of the pair of guide members 71 from both sides, and is guided by the conveyor guide portion 70 to be downstream. Is transported to the side. The article P in the upright posture conveyed by the conveyance guide unit 70 is then guided by the reversing guide 81 of the reversing device 80 and is conveyed along the U-shaped reversing path, thereby changing from the upright posture to the inverted posture. Flip to. The articles P in the inverted posture are supplied to the blow molding machine in a single row by the final-stage supply conveyor 15 for supply. On the other hand, in the article aligning apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 2, the articles P in the upright posture that has passed through the reversing unit 30 pass through the aligning unit 60 and the transport guide unit 70, and then are conveyed in the final stage while being in the upright posture. Section supplies the blow molding machine in a single row.

As shown in FIG. 10B, since the collar Pb does not engage with the recesses 72 of the pair of guide members 71 in the inverted posture of the article P that has failed to be inverted, the conveyor belt remains mounted on the conveyor surface 53A. It is conveyed to the downstream side by 53. Then, as shown in FIG. 1, the inverted article P conveyed by the conveyor belt 53 falls downward at the downstream end of the downward belt conveyor 52 and is returned to the hopper 12 by a return conveyor (not shown).

As described in detail above, according to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The article aligning device 11 finishes the transportation of the transportation section 20 having the climbing belt conveyor 41 that transports the flat bottomed cylindrical article P along the climbing path in a state where the orientation is not uniform and the climbing path. And a reversing unit 30 for selectively reversing the article P. The reversing unit 30 includes a first supporting unit 31 that serves as a fulcrum in the process of tilting the article P to the front side, and a second supporting unit 32 that is located downstream and lower than the first supporting unit 31 in the transport path. Have. The reversing unit 30 is a bottom part of the article P when the article P in the upright posture with the opening Po arranged on the upper side of the articles P that have been conveyed along the climbing path tilts forward with the first support portion 31 as a fulcrum. The article P is maintained in the upright posture by mounting the front end portion of the article P on the second support portion 32. On the other hand, in the reversing unit 30, the front end portion of the article P on the opening Po side is the second support portion 32 when the article P in an inverted posture in which the opening Po is arranged on the lower side is tilted forward with the first support portion 31 as a fulcrum. The article P is inverted to the upright posture by being caught by. Therefore, the orientation of the flat bottomed tubular article P (for example, preform) can be aligned with a relatively simple configuration.

(2) The article aligning device 11 includes a hopper 12 as an example of a storage unit capable of storing a large number of articles P in an irregular state where the orientations are not uniform. The transport unit 20 is arranged on a first transport unit 40 that transports the article P on an ascending route that partially passes through the hopper 12, and on the downstream side of the transport route of the first transport unit 40, and transports the item P on the down route. And a second transport unit 50 that allows the transport. The reversing unit 30 arranges the first supporting unit 31 at the upper end of the ascending path or at a position downstream of the upper end of the ascending path, and arranges the second supporting unit 32 in the middle of the descending path of the second conveying unit 50. Therefore, the article P in the irregular state in the hopper 12 is transported against the gravity along the ascending path of the first transport unit 40, so that the article P can be taken out from the hopper 12 while suppressing the overlap. For example, if the articles are conveyed while being piled up, it may cause the failure of reversal or the clogging of the articles on the conveyance path. However, the frequency of conveyance of the articles P to the reversing unit 30 in a state of being piled up is reduced. The frequency of failures and clogging can be reduced.

(3) The first conveyor 40 and the second conveyor 50 both include conveyor belts 42 and 53. The coefficient of static friction of the conveyor belt 42 of the first conveyor 40 (climbing belt conveyor 41) with the article P is higher than the coefficient of static friction of the conveyor belt 53 of the second conveyor 50 (down belt conveyor 52) with the article P. large. Therefore, the article P in the hopper 12 adheres to the surface of the conveyor belt 42 of the first conveyor 40 due to its large frictional force, and is conveyed on the ascending path against gravity. On the other hand, the article P that overlaps the article P attached to the surface of the conveyor belt 42 falls due to its own weight in the middle of the climbing path. Therefore, since the articles P are conveyed in a state where they do not overlap each other, it is possible to more effectively reduce the frequency of failure of reversal and clogging.

(4) The article aligning apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 1 further includes a reversing apparatus 80 that reverses the articles P that have been aligned through the reversing unit 30 from the upright posture to the inverted posture. Therefore, by further inverting the upright postured articles P that have passed through the inverting section 30 to the inverted posture by the inverting device 80, the articles P can be supplied to the blow molding machine in the inverted posture.

(5) According to the article aligning apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 2 that does not include the reversing device 80, the articles P that are aligned in the orientation through the reversing unit 30 can be supplied to the blow molding machine in the upright posture.
(6) The article P has a bottomed cylindrical dish portion Pa and a flange portion Pb extending outward from the peripheral edge portion of the opening Po. The second support portion 32 has an engagement end surface 32A provided at the upstream end portion so that the collar portion Pb can be caught when the inverted posture of the article P tilts forward with the first support portion 31 as a fulcrum, and an upright position. When the article P in the posture is tilted forward with the first support portion 31 as a fulcrum, the front end portion of the bottom portion of the dish portion Pa can be placed, and the placement surface 32B provided downstream of the engagement end surface 32A. Have. Therefore, when the article P has the collar portion Pb, it is possible to more reliably prevent the article P in the inverted posture from being inverted and not the article P in the upright posture by the reversing unit 30.

(7) The article aligning device 11 shown in FIG. 1 engages with the collar portion Pb which is the peripheral portion of the article P in the upright posture among the articles P and guides the article P along the U-shaped inversion path. In addition, a conveyance guide portion 70 that does not engage with the collar portion Pb of the article P in the inverted posture is provided. Therefore, it is possible to remove the article P in the inverted posture that failed to be inverted by the reversing unit 30 and to prevent the article P having the wrong orientation from being supplied to the blow molding machine.

(8) Since the alignment section 60 is provided on the upper side of the second transport section 50, it is possible to align the articles P in the upright posture by the selective reversal of the reversing section 30. Therefore, the articles P oriented in the same direction can be supplied to the blow molding machine of the supply destination while being aligned in a line.

(9) The distance C between the first support portion 31 and the second support portion 32 is smaller than the diameter D of the dish portion Pa of the article P. Further, when the article P tilts forward with the final corner portion 31D of the first support portion 31 as a fulcrum, the collar portion Pb of the article P in the inverted posture engages with the engagement end surface 32A, and the article in the upright posture. The interval C is set so that the flange portion Pb of P does not engage with the engagement end surface 32A and the bottom front end of the article P rests on the mounting surface 32B. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent the inverted article 30 from being inverted and the inverted article P from being inverted by the inversion unit 30.

(10) The coefficient of static friction between the conveyor belt 42 of the climbing belt conveyor 41 and the article P is set to a value within the range of 0.8 or more and 1.7 or less. Therefore, only the articles P attached to the surface of the conveyor belt 42 by the frictional force can be sent out at an appropriate density (the number of articles per belt unit area) along the ascending path from the hopper 12 to the reversing unit 30. As a result, it becomes easier to avoid clogging of the article P on the downstream side of the reversing unit 30 in the traveling direction X, for example.

The embodiment is not limited to the above, and may be modified as follows.
As shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the high friction layer 46 may be provided on a part of the surface of the conveyor belt 42 of the climbing belt conveyor 41. The high friction layer 46 is formed on the surface of the belt material 47 that forms the conveyor belt 42. The belt material 47 is made of rubber, for example, and the high friction layer 46 is made of a material having a larger friction coefficient with the article P than the belt material 47. In the example shown in FIG. 11A, a plurality of belt-shaped high friction layers 46 extending along the width direction intersecting the traveling direction X are formed on the surface of the belt material 47 at predetermined intervals in the traveling direction X. There is. Further, in the example shown in FIG. 11B, a lattice-shaped high friction layer 46 extending in the traveling direction X and the width direction is formed on the surface of the belt material 47. According to these configurations, as compared with a configuration in which the belt material 47 itself is formed of a material having a high friction coefficient (for example, a rubber material) or a high friction layer is formed on the entire surface of the belt material 47, the conveyor belt 42 It is possible to keep the manufacturing cost of the conveyor belt 42 low by relatively reducing the area where the high friction layer 46 is formed while ensuring the necessary adhesive force between the article P and the article P.

-In the said embodiment, the 2nd conveyance part 50 may be only one of the chute part 51 and the descending belt conveyor 52. When the chute part 51 is omitted, the first support part 31 and the second support part 32 may be fixed to or installed on a plate material.

The reversing device is not limited to a device that conveys an article along a U-shaped reversing path, and may be another device that mechanically reverses. For example, it may be a device that grips and reverses an article.
The article may have a bottomed cylindrical shape without a flange Pb on the peripheral edge of the opening. Even if the article P does not have the collar Pb, for example, if the diameter of the opening side is larger than the diameter D of the bottom side, when the article in the inverted posture tilts forward with the first support portion 31 as the fulcrum, The front end portion can be hooked on the second support portion 32 to turn the article upright.

The first conveyor 40 may be a belt conveyor that conveys the article P in the horizontal direction, and a portion of the climbing path may be provided at the downstream end portion of the belt conveyor to use the portion as the climbing conveyor. Even with this configuration, since the tilting to the front side can be started from the climbing posture, the tilting of the article P is more motivated than in the case of starting from the horizontal posture, and the article in the inverted posture can be easily inverted, and the frequency of failure of inversion is reduced. it can.

-Instead of the supply system in which the articles P are sent out from the hopper 12 by the conveyor belt 42, a supply mechanism that can supply an appropriate amount of articles P to the conveyor belt (conveying section) may be used. In this case, the surface of the conveyor belt does not have to have a particularly large coefficient of static friction. For example, the conveyor belts 42 and 53 and the article P may have substantially the same static friction coefficient, or the conveyor belt 42 may have a smaller static friction coefficient with the article P than the conveyor belt 53.

-The 1st conveyance part 40 may hook the article P on a hook part, and may make it the method of conveying along an uphill path. For example, a plurality of hooks are fixed to the surface of the conveyor belt 42, or a movable hook is provided that is driven by, for example, a chain or a timing belt to move along an ascending path and to catch an article. You can do it.

The shape and the interval C between the first support portion 31 and the second support portion 32 may be appropriately changed as long as the article in the upright posture is not inverted and the article in the inverted posture is inverted. For example, the fulcrum of the first support portion 31 may be replaced with a corner portion to form an arc surface. Further, the mounting surface 31A of the first support portion 31 may be an inclined surface of the down path. Further, the slope 31B of the first support portion 31 may be eliminated and the corner portion 31C serving as a fulcrum may be one. Further, the mounting surface 32B of the second support portion 32 may be a surface parallel to the sliding surface 51A. Further, the second support portion 32 may be a protrusion with which the collar portion Pb is caught when the article P in the inverted posture tilts to the front side. Further, when the first support portion and the second support portion are changed to the above-described shapes, the space C is such that the bottom front end of the dish portion Pa is the second support portion when the article P in the upright posture tilts to the front side. It may be appropriately changed within a range in which the collar portion Pb or the front end portion on the opening side is caught by the second support portion 32 when the article P placed on the mounting surface 32B of 32 is tilted forward. Further, the first support portion may serve as the upper end portion of the conveyor belt 42 by adjusting the diameter of the roller on the upper side of the conveyor belt 42. In short, the first support portion may be a fulcrum when the article tilts from the climbing posture to the front side.

The article P may have an oval opening. In this case, for example, the article may be conveyed to the reversing unit 30 while guiding the article in the direction in which the major axis direction or the minor axis direction matches the traveling direction X. At this time, the length of the interval C may be set to a value corresponding to the major axis or the minor axis depending on whether the traveling direction X of the article is the major axis direction or the minor axis direction.

The article is not limited to a preform, and may be any article that has a flat bottomed cylindrical shape and needs to be oriented in either an inverted posture or an upright posture.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Article supply apparatus, 11... Article alignment apparatus, 12... Hopper as an example of a storage section, 20... Conveying section, 30... Reversing section, 31... First supporting section, 32... Second supporting section, 32A... Engagement End surface, 32B... Placement surface, 40... First transport section, 41... Climbing belt conveyor as an example of climbing transport section, 42... Transport belt, 42A... Transport surface, 46... High friction layer, 50... Second transport section , 51... Chute section, 51A... Sliding surface, 52... Down belt conveyor, 53... Conveying belt, 60... Aligning section, 61-63... Guide plate, 70... Conveying guide section, 71... Guide member, 72... Recessed section, 80 ... Reversing device, 81... Reversing guide, 100... Controller, P... Preform as an example of article, Pa... Plate part, Pb... Collar part, Po... Opening, O... Axial direction, H... Height, DF... Tsuba Diameter of part, D... Diameter of dish, C... Interval, θ... Angle, X... Direction of travel.

Claims (6)

An article aligning device for aligning the orientation of bottomed tubular articles whose axial length is shorter than their radial length,
A transport unit having a climbing transport unit that transports the articles in different directions on a climbing path,
And a reversing unit for selectively reversing the article that has been conveyed on the climbing path,
The reversing unit is located at a lower position on the downstream side of the transport route than the first support unit, which serves as a fulcrum in a process in which the article that has been transported on the climbing route is tilted from the climbing posture to the front side. Among the articles having the second support portion arranged and having finished the conveyance along the climbing path, the article in the upright posture with the opening arranged on the upper side is tilted forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum. When the front end portion of the bottom portion of the article is placed on the second support portion, the article is maintained in the upright posture, and the article in the inverted posture in which the opening is arranged on the lower side is the first support portion. An article aligning device that reverses the article to an upright posture by the front end portion of the article on the opening side being caught by the second support portion when tilted forward with the fulcrum as a fulcrum. Further comprising a storage unit capable of storing a large number of the articles in a non-uniform orientation
The transport section is
A first transport unit that transports the article on the climbing path, a part of which passes through the storage unit;
A second transport unit that is disposed on the downstream side of the transport route of the first transport unit and transports the article on a down route,
The reversing unit arranges the first supporting unit at an upper end of the ascending path or at a position downstream of the upper end, and disposes the second supporting unit in the middle of the descending path of the second transport unit. The article aligning device according to claim 1, wherein Both the first transport unit and the second transport unit include a transport belt,
The coefficient of static friction of the conveyor belt of the first conveyor with the article is larger than the coefficient of static friction of the conveyor belt of the second conveyor with the article. Article alignment device. 4. The article aligning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a reversing device that reverses the articles, which are oriented in the same direction through the reversing unit, from the upright posture to the inverted posture. apparatus. The article has a bottomed cylindrical dish portion and a flange portion that extends outward from a peripheral portion of the opening,
The second support portion has an engagement end surface provided at an upstream end portion of the transport path so that the collar portion can be caught when the article in the inverted posture tilts forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum. A placement provided on the downstream side of the engagement end surface so that the front end of the bottom of the dish can be placed when the upright-positioned article tilts forward with the first support portion as a fulcrum. The article aligning device according to claim 1, further comprising a surface. An article aligning method for aligning the orientation of bottomed tubular articles having a length in the axial direction shorter than the length in the radial direction,
A climbing transporting step of transporting the articles in different directions on a climbing path,
A reversing step of selectively reversing the article that has been conveyed on the climbing path in a reversing unit,
The reversing unit is located at a lower position on the downstream side of the transport route than the first support unit, which serves as a fulcrum in a process in which the article that has been transported on the climbing route is tilted from the climbing posture to the front side. And a second support portion arranged,
In the reversing step, when the article in an upright posture in which the opening is arranged on the upper side is tilted forward with the first supporting portion as a fulcrum, the front end portion of the bottom portion of the article is placed on the second supporting portion. When the article is maintained in the upright posture and the article in the inverted posture in which the opening is arranged on the lower side is tilted with the first support portion as a fulcrum, the front end portion on the opening side of the article is the second support portion. An article aligning method, wherein the article is reversed to an upright posture by being caught on the.

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