JP7703280B2 - Article alignment device and combination weigher equipped with same - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an article alignment device suitable for aligning elongated objects, and a combination weigher equipped with the same.

As an apparatus for aligning long and thin objects, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a combination weighing machine is known in which long and thin objects that are collected in a funnel-shaped collecting chute and flow down are stored in a vertical position between a guide tube whose lower end can be opened and closed with a shutter and a swinging guide tube arranged above it, and the swinging guide tube is caused to swing by a crank-type swinging mechanism driven by a motor, thereby aligning the objects stored in the vertical position.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-271327

However, in a crank-type rocking mechanism using a motor as a drive source as in Patent Document 1, depending on the properties of the items, particularly long and thin items that are somewhat sticky and tend to clump together, multiple long and thin items may clump together in an irregular manner and may not be able to be separated even by the rocking action, resulting in insufficient alignment.

The present invention was made with this in mind, and aims to provide an article alignment device and a combination weigher equipped with the same that can properly align even items that tend to clump together.

In order to achieve the above objective, the present invention is configured as follows:

(1) An article alignment device of the present invention comprises a cylindrical hopper into which articles are supplied from an upper opening and whose lower opening is opened and closed by a shutter, a vibration cylinder having a piston rod connected to the hopper, and a forced return mechanism that forcibly presses and moves the piston rod from the outside to return the hopper to an origin position,
The vibrating cylinder moves back and forth by simultaneously supplying air to both the air ports on the rod side and the head side, and the origin position is a position where the shutter is closed to accept the item supplied from the upper end opening, and where, after the vibrating cylinder has moved back and forth, the shutter is opened to discharge the item from the lower end opening.

According to the article alignment device of the present invention, the articles are stored in a cylindrical hopper, and the hopper can be horizontally vibrated at high speed by a vibrating cylinder that moves back and forth at high speed by simultaneously supplying air to both the air ports on the rod side and the head side. This high-speed horizontal vibration applies an impact to the articles, promoting separation and aligning even articles that tend to form clumps.

When the vibrating cylinder stops its high-speed reciprocating motion, the piston rod's stopping position is indefinite due to its characteristics. However, the forced return mechanism forcibly moves the hopper to the origin position by applying pressure from the outside, so that the items aligned by the high-speed reciprocating motion can be discharged at the origin position, and the following items can be received at the origin position.

(2) In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the forced return mechanism returns the hopper to the origin position while supplying air to only one of the two air ports of the vibration cylinder.

In this embodiment, air is supplied to both the air ports on the rod side and the head side of the vibrating cylinder, and after the articles are aligned by the reciprocating motion, the reciprocating motion of the vibrating cylinder can be stopped by cutting off the air supply.

In this case, the reciprocating movement of the vibrating cylinder can also be stopped by stopping the air supply to both the rod side and head side air ports, but the piston rod can be stopped by maintaining the air supply to one air port while cutting off the air supply to the other air port. In this way, with air supplied to only one air port to stop the piston rod, the forced return mechanism can forcibly push and move the piston rod, quickly returning the hopper to its original position.

(3) In another embodiment of the present invention, the one air port is an air port on the rod side.

According to this embodiment, by supplying air only to the air port on the rod side of the vibration cylinder, the piston rod can be moved to the head side to stop the vibration cylinder. Therefore, by setting the position of the hopper when the piston rod is on the head side to the origin position, when the vibration cylinder is stopped by supplying air only to the air port on the rod side, the forced return mechanism can forcibly press and move the piston rod on the head side, and the hopper can be quickly returned to the origin position on the head side.

(4) In one embodiment of the present invention, the vibration cylinder performs the reciprocating forward and backward movement for a set time, and the forced return mechanism returns the hopper to the origin position each time the reciprocating forward and backward movement of the vibration cylinder for the set time ends.

In this embodiment, the reciprocating movement of the vibration cylinder for a set period of time allows the item to be accurately discharged from the origin position and the subsequent items to be received each time the alignment process of the items is completed.

(5) In another embodiment of the present invention, the forced return mechanism includes a single-acting air cylinder.

In this embodiment, it is easier to obtain a large pressing force with a simple configuration compared to using an electric motor, etc., and it is possible to realize a reliable forced return operation.

(6) In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a guide block is provided through which a guide shaft is inserted, the piston rod of the vibration cylinder is connected to one end of the guide shaft, the hopper is supported on the other end of the guide shaft, and the air cylinder of the forced return mechanism is incorporated in the guide block.

In this embodiment, the guide block through which the guide shaft for guiding the hopper horizontally passes is used as the casing for the air cylinder of the forced return mechanism, allowing the forced return mechanism to be constructed compactly.

(7) A combination weigher of the present invention is a combination weigher including a dispersion feeder that radially disperses and conveys supplied articles, a plurality of linear feeders that convey the dispersed and conveyed articles outward, a plurality of supply hoppers that hold and discharge the articles conveyed by each linear feeder, a plurality of weighing hoppers that weigh the articles discharged from each supply hopper, a collection chute that collects and discharges the articles discharged from the weighing hoppers, and a collection hopper to which the articles are supplied via the collection chute,
The article alignment device according to any one of (1) to (6) above is provided, and the collecting hopper is the hopper of the article alignment device.

According to the combination weigher of the present invention, by vibrating the collection hopper of the combination weigher horizontally at high speed, it is possible to apply impact to the items stored in the collection hopper, which can promote separation and smoothly align even items that tend to form lumps, and to discharge and receive the items at the origin position. Moreover, since the items are aligned using only horizontal vibration without any up and down rocking, it is possible to suppress adverse effects on weighing in the weighing hopper. Therefore, it is possible to accurately align and discharge the items without reducing the weighing accuracy.

In this way, the article alignment device of the present invention supplies air to both the air ports on the rod side and the head side at the same time, and the vibration cylinder moves back and forth at high speed to horizontally vibrate the hopper at high speed. This applies impact to the articles stored in the hopper, promoting separation of even articles that tend to form clumps, and smoothly aligning them, allowing accurate ejection of articles from and receipt of articles at the origin position.

Furthermore, the combination weigher of the present invention can accurately align and discharge items without compromising weighing accuracy.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a combination weigher according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an overall front view of the combination weigher of FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the shutter mechanism in an open state. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the shutter mechanism in a closed state. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the article alignment device with the collecting hopper in the original position. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the article alignment device with the collecting hopper in the advanced position. FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional side view of the article alignment device in which the collecting hopper has been forcibly returned to its original position. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional plan view of a main portion of the article alignment device with the collecting hopper in the advanced position. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional plan view of the essential parts of the article alignment device when the reciprocating movement is stopped. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional plan view of a main portion of the article alignment device in which the forced return mechanism is activated.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention in detail with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 is an overall perspective view of a combination weigher according to one embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 is its front view.

The combination weigher of this embodiment is primarily used in weighing and packaging lines where elongated items, such as jerky, are weighed to a specified weight, fed into a packaging machine, and bagged.

This combination weigher has a hollow base 1 with a large vertical opening in the center that is placed on the floor surface F, and a hollow center base 2 is supported above the base 1 via multiple legs 3.

A dispersion feeder 4 is mounted in the upper center of the center base 2, which uses vibration to radially disperse and transport items dropped from a supply conveyor (not shown), and multiple linear feeders 5 are radially arranged around the dispersion feeder 4, which uses vibration to transport the dispersed and transported items in a straight line outward. In addition, the outer peripheral wall of the center base 2 is equipped with multiple supply hoppers 6 that temporarily store and discharge items from each linear feeder 5, and multiple weighing hoppers 7 that weigh the items discharged from each supply hopper 6.

The combination of items is weighed and discharged by a series of multiple weighing units consisting of a linear feeder 5, a supply hopper 6, and a weighing hopper 7.

Below each weighing hopper 7, a gutter-shaped collection chute 8 is provided to guide the sliding of items discharged from the multiple weighing hoppers 7 selected by combination calculation so that the items fall within a specified weight range. At the lower end of this collection chute 8, circular funnel-shaped collection funnels 9, 10 are provided to collect the items that have slid down from the collection chute 8 below the center of the center base 2, and further below the collection funnels 9, 10, a collection hopper 11 is disposed to temporarily receive and store the items within the specified weight range collected by the collection funnel 9.

The collection hopper 11 constitutes part of the article alignment device 20 according to this embodiment, and is configured as a vertical cylinder so that it can store articles in a vertical position, with its lower opening opened and closed by a horizontally rotating shutter mechanism 12. After the article alignment device 20 aligns the articles stored in the collection hopper 11 as described below, the shutter mechanism 12 opens based on a discharge request command from a packaging machine (not shown) installed below, and discharges and feeds the aligned articles into the packaging machine.

A hanging frame 13 with vertical frames at the four corners, front, back, left and right, is connected to the bottom of the base 1, and a shutter case 15 equipped with a shutter mechanism 12 is connected to a horizontal support frame 14 connected to the bottom of this hanging frame 13. The above-mentioned article alignment device 20 is attached to the outer end of the horizontal support frame 14, which vibrates the collecting hopper 11 horizontally at high speed to align the articles stored in the collecting hopper 11 in a vertical position.

Figure 3 is an oblique view of the shutter mechanism 12 in an open state, and Figure 4 is a plan view of the shutter mechanism 12 in a closed state.

A circular article discharge port 16 with a diameter slightly larger than that of the collecting hopper 11 is formed penetrating vertically in the center of the shutter case 15 connected to the horizontal support frame 14. Three shutter plates 17 constituting the shutter are arranged on the upper surface of the shutter case 15 so as to be horizontally rotatable at the same horizontal level around a vertical fulcrum a. Each shutter plate 17 is interlockingly connected to an air cylinder 19 via a link mechanism 18 inside the shutter case 15. When the air cylinder 19 is extended, the shutter plates 17 rotate inwardly toward each other, and the butt-jointed shutter plates 17 horizontally close the circular article discharge port 16 in plan view. Conversely, when the air cylinder 19 is contracted, the shutter plates 17 rotate outwardly and apart, opening the article discharge port 16.

The detailed structure of the article alignment device 20 that aligns the articles supplied to the collection hopper 11 is shown in the perspective views of Figures 5 and 6 and the vertical side view of Figure 7.

The article alignment device 20 moves the piston rod 23 of the vibration cylinder 22 mounted on the base plate 21 back and forth at high speed, vibrating the collection hopper 11 connected to the piston rod 23 horizontally at high speed with a predetermined stroke. The base plate 21 is detachably connected and supported by a bracket 24 fixed to a horizontal support frame 14 connected to the lower part of the hanging frame 13.

In the following explanation, the direction in which the piston rod 23 advances is referred to as the forward direction, the opposite direction as the rearward direction, and the horizontal direction perpendicular to the forward-rearward direction as the left-right direction.

In this embodiment, a "cycle cylinder" manufactured by Nissei Kogyo Co., Ltd. is used as the vibration cylinder 22. This vibration cylinder 22 is equipped with a rear head side air port Pa that advances the piston rod 23, and a front rod side air port Pb that retreats the piston rod 23. The vibration cylinder 22 is configured so that the piston rod 23 reciprocates at a predetermined stroke at high speed by simultaneously supplying air to both the head side and rod side air ports Pa and Pb.

The vibration cylinder 22 preferably has a stroke (amplitude) of, for example, about 30 mm to 50 mm, and in this embodiment, for example, it is 50 mm, with a reciprocation of 100 mm. This reciprocation is performed at a high speed, for example, of about 0.2 seconds. The maximum speed of the piston rod 23 of this vibration cylinder 22 is preferably about 500 mm/sec to about 1000 mm/sec. The acceleration time from a stop to reaching the maximum speed and the deceleration time from the maximum speed to a stop of this vibration cylinder 22 are short, for example, 20 msec or less.

In this way, the piston rod 23 of the vibration cylinder 22 reciprocates back and forth at high speed, so that the high-speed horizontal vibration smoothly aligns the items stored in the collection hopper 11 connected to this piston rod 23. Furthermore, even if the items are somewhat sticky and tend to clump together, the impact caused by the high-speed horizontal vibration promotes separation of the items, aligning their posture and allowing them to be smoothly aligned.

This vibration cylinder 22 moves back and forth at high speed for a set period of time, aligning the items stored in the collection hopper 11 during this set period of time.

This set time can be set according to the properties of the items and the weight of the items stored in the collection hopper 11, and is preferably controlled by a timer or the like.

A rectangular guide block 25 is mounted and connected to the front of the base plate 21, and a pair of left and right guide shafts 26 are inserted into this guide block 25 so that they can slide horizontally back and forth. The rear ends of both guide shafts 26 are integrally connected to each other by a connecting member 27, which is also connected to the forward protruding portion of the piston rod 23 in the vibration cylinder 22.

The piston rod 23 is inserted through the left-right central portion of the connecting member 27, and as shown in FIG. 7, the connecting member 27 is clamped and positioned front-to-rear by front and rear collars 28 fitted onto the piston rod 23, and then a pair of nuts 29 attached to the front threaded portion 23a of the piston rod 23 are tightened. In this way, the guide shaft 26 is integrally connected to the piston rod 23 via the connecting member 27.

A lever-operable mounting bracket 30 is attached to the front end of the guide shaft 26, and the collecting hopper 11 is positioned and supported in a vertical position via this mounting bracket 30 so that it can be detached.

As described above, in the article alignment device 20 of this embodiment, air is simultaneously supplied to both air ports Pa, Pb on the head side and rod side of the vibration cylinder 22, causing the piston rod 23 to move back and forth at high speed for a set period of time, and vibrating the collecting hopper 11 connected to the piston rod 23 horizontally back and forth at high speed. This allows for smooth alignment of long and thin articles stored in the collecting hopper 11 in a vertical position. Furthermore, even for articles that tend to stick together and form clumps, the impact associated with the high-speed horizontal vibration promotes separation of the articles, allowing for smooth alignment.

As described above, the vibration cylinder 22 can move the piston rod 23 back and forth at high speed by simultaneously supplying air to both the head-side and rod-side air ports Pa and Pb. However, if the air supply is stopped to stop the operation of the vibration cylinder 22, the stopping position of the piston rod 23 is not stable, which makes it difficult to vibrate an object that needs to be stopped in a fixed position.

When the object to be vibrated is the collection hopper 11 of a combination weigher, as in this embodiment, the collection hopper 11 that has stopped vibrating must be in a fixed position to discharge and drop aligned items into a packaging machine or the like, and must be correctly positioned directly below the collection funnel 10 to receive subsequent items after discharge.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the operation of the vibration cylinder 22, which has been reciprocating back and forth at high speed for a set time, is stopped, even if the collecting hopper 11 is out of a fixed position (origin position) G for receiving and discharging goods, a forced return mechanism A is provided for returning the collecting hopper 11 to the origin position G. As shown in FIG. 7, this origin position G is a position on a virtual vertical line passing through the center of the circular goods discharge port 16 exposed when the shutter plate 17 is opened, and this origin position G is a position directly below the center of the collecting funnel 10.

The detailed structure of the forced return mechanism A is explained below.

As shown in FIG. 7, the guide block 25 incorporates a single-acting air cylinder 31 that moves back and forth as a forced return mechanism A. The air cylinder 31 has a structure in which a plunger 33 is inserted from the rear into a cylinder hole 32 drilled in the guide block 25. The plunger 33 is moved to protrude rearward by supplying air to a flow path 34 formed in the guide block 25, and the plunger 33 can be pushed forward by an external force by releasing the air supply and opening the flow path 34.

The plunger 33 in the air cylinder 31 is concentrically butted against the front end of the piston rod 23. The outer diameter of the plunger 33 is set to be larger than the nut 29 attached to the piston rod 23, and an interference avoidance port 35 is formed facing backward at the rear end of the plunger 33. The diameter of the interference avoidance port 35 is larger than the threaded portion 23a of the piston rod 23 and smaller than the outer diameter of the nut 29.

The forced return mechanism A is configured as described above, and its forced return operation will be explained next.

Figure 8 shows the article alignment device 20 with the collection hopper 11 in the advanced position, Figure 9 shows the article alignment device 20 that has stopped after completing high-speed reciprocating forward and backward movement for a set period of time, and Figure 10 is a cross-sectional plan view of the main parts of the article alignment device 20 with the forced return mechanism activated.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, air is supplied simultaneously to both the head-side and rod-side air ports Pa and Pb, causing the vibration cylinder 22 to move back and forth at high speed as described above. In addition, the vibration cylinder 22 is stopped by closing an on-off valve (not shown) to cut off the air supply only to the head-side air port Pa.

The reciprocating movement of the vibration cylinder 22 can also be stopped by cutting off the air supply to both air ports Pa and Pb. However, if the air supply is cut off only to the head side air port Pa while the air supply is continued to the rod side air port Pb, the internal pressure balance is lost, and the piston rod 23 tends to move backward and stop, and the collecting hopper 11 tends to approach the origin position G and stop.

As shown in FIG. 7, the origin position G of the collecting hopper 11 is set directly below the center of the collecting funnel 10 and directly above the center of the item discharge outlet 16 in the shutter mechanism 12. When the vibration cylinder 22 starts its reciprocating movement, the collecting hopper 11 is vibrated horizontally at high speed with a constant stroke (e.g., the above 50 mm) between the origin position G and a specified position in front of it.

Figure 8 shows the state in which the piston rod 23 of the vibration cylinder 22 has advanced to its maximum extent and the collection hopper 11 has been moved significantly forward from the origin position G.

When the vibration cylinder 22 is reciprocated for a set time, the air supply to the rod side air port Pb is maintained while the on-off valve (not shown) is closed to cut off the air supply only to the head side air port Pa, stopping the reciprocating vibration operation. In this case, as described above, the piston rod 23 is retracted, but it does not necessarily reach the retraction end, and as shown in Figure 9, it may stop just before the retraction end corresponding to the origin position G.

When the vibration of the collecting hopper 11 is stopped, the air cylinder 31 of the forced return mechanism A is activated and the plunger 33 protrudes backward. At this time, even if the collecting hopper 11 is stopped at a position forward of the origin position G as shown in FIG. 9, the rearward-facing tip of the plunger 33 moving backward comes into contact with the nut 29 of the piston rod 23, and as the plunger 33 continues to move backward, the piston rod 23 is forcibly moved backward until the collecting hopper 11 reaches the origin position G as shown in FIG. 10.

A magnetic metal piece 37 is connected to one end of the connecting member 27, which moves back and forth together with the piston rod 23. By detecting the magnetic metal piece 37 with a proximity sensor 38 attached to a predetermined position on the base plate 21, it is detected that the piston rod 23 has returned to the retracted end corresponding to the origin position, and based on this detection, the air supply to the air cylinder 31 of the forced return mechanism A is stopped.

After it is detected that the collecting hopper 11 is at the origin position G, the shutter mechanism 12 opens based on a discharge request command from the packaging machine, and the aligned items are discharged. After the items have been discharged, the shutter mechanism 12 closes again, and the following items are dropped and supplied to the collecting hopper 11 at the origin position G, and the above operations are then repeated in sequence.

When the air supply to the head-side air port Pa, which had been shut off, is resumed and the next alignment process is started, first the piston rod 23 of the vibration cylinder 22, which had been retracted to the retracted end corresponding to the origin position G, moves forward, and the plunger 33 of the air cylinder 31 of the forced return mechanism A, which is in a free state with the air supply stopped, is pushed to the back of the cylinder hole 32 as the nut 29 moves forward.

Then, when the piston rod 23 is retracted backward, the plunger 33 is left in the pressed-in position, and thereafter, when the piston rod 23 repeatedly advances forward, it does not come into contact with or interfere with the plunger 33.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the piston rod 23 of the vibration cylinder 22 is reciprocated at high speed, and the collecting hopper 11 connected to the piston rod 23 is vibrated horizontally back and forth at high speed, so that the long and thin items stored in the collecting hopper 11 can be smoothly aligned. Furthermore, even if the items are somewhat sticky and tend to clump, the impact caused by the high-speed horizontal vibration can promote separation of the items and allow them to be smoothly aligned.

In addition, the piston rod 23 of the vibration cylinder 22, which has stopped its high-speed reciprocating movement, is pressed and moved by the air cylinder 31 of the forced return mechanism A, forcing the collection hopper 11 to move to the origin position, so that the aligned items can be discharged at the origin position and subsequent items can be accurately received at the origin position.

Furthermore, since the items are aligned using only horizontal vibrations, without any vertical shaking, it is possible to suppress any adverse effects on weighing in the weighing hopper. This makes it possible to accurately align and discharge items without compromising weighing accuracy.

[Other embodiments]
The present invention can also be implemented in the following forms.

(1) In the above embodiment, the forced return mechanism A is operated each time the alignment process using high-speed horizontal vibration for the set time is completed, regardless of the position of the piston rod 23, i.e., the position of the collecting hopper 11. However, it is also possible to implement the embodiment in such a way that the forced return mechanism A is operated only if the position of the piston rod 23 or the collecting hopper 11 is detected and deviates from the origin position G by more than an allowable amount at the time when the alignment process using high-speed horizontal vibration for the set time is completed.

(2) In the above embodiment, the air cylinder 31 constituting the forced return mechanism A is incorporated in the guide block 25, but it is also possible to arrange the forced return mechanism A outside the guide block 25.

For example, a pin can be erected on the upper surface of the connecting member 27 that connects the pair of guide shafts 26, and the pin can be pressed against by an operating member driven by any actuator such as an air cylinder, a motor, or an electromagnetic solenoid, to forcibly move the piston rod 23 to the origin position.

(3) In the above embodiment, the collecting hopper 11 is set to be located at the origin position G when the piston rod 23 of the vibration cylinder 22 is at the retracted end, but it is also possible to set the collecting hopper 11 to be located at the origin position G when the piston rod 23 is at the advanced end. In this case, the forced return by the forced return mechanism A is performed in the forward direction.

(4) When the piston rod 23 is in the middle of its forward/backward stroke, the collecting hopper 11 can be set to be at the origin position G, and the collecting hopper 11 can be horizontally vibrated back and forth around the origin position G.

In this case, the forced return mechanism A must be structured to forcibly move the piston rod 23 to a point in the middle of the stroke, regardless of whether the collecting hopper 11 is deviated forward or backward from the origin position G. For example, a possible structure would be one in which a pin erected on the upper surface of a connecting member 27 that connects a pair of guide shafts 26 is driven by an actuator such as an air cylinder, a motor, or an electromagnetic solenoid, and a pair of operating members that operate in opposite directions press the pin from both the front and rear, forcibly moving the piston rod 23 to a point equivalent to the origin position.

(5) The single-acting air cylinder 31 that constitutes the forced return mechanism A can also be equipped with a spring that biases the plunger 33 in the return direction (forward in this example).

In this case, the plunger 33 is protruded against the spring by supplying air to the air cylinder 31, and the piston rod 23 is forced to retract to a position corresponding to the hopper origin position. Then, the air supply to the air cylinder 31 is released, so that the plunger 33 can be returned to a position where it does not interfere with the piston rod 23. Therefore, the piston rod 23 can start reciprocating with the forced return mechanism A completely insulated from the piston rod 23.

(6) The article alignment device according to the present invention can be used not only in combination weighers, but also in processing steps in which an appropriate amount of articles are vibrated to align them, or in processing steps in which slightly sticky articles are vibrated to separate and align them.

Reference Signs List 7 Weighing hopper 11 Collecting hopper 12 Shutter mechanism 20 Article alignment device 22 Vibrating cylinder 23 Piston rod 25 Guide block 26 Guide shaft 31 Air cylinder A Forced return mechanism G Home position Pa Head side air port Pb Rod side air port

Claims (2)

The present invention comprises a cylindrical hopper into which articles are supplied from an upper end opening and whose lower end opening is opened and closed by a shutter, a vibration cylinder having a piston rod connected to the hopper, and a forced return mechanism which forcibly presses and moves the piston rod from the outside to return the hopper to an origin position,
The vibration cylinder reciprocates by simultaneously supplying air to both the air ports on the rod side and the head side.
the original position is a position where the shutter is closed to receive the article supplied from the upper end opening, and where the shutter is opened to discharge the article from the lower end opening after the reciprocating movement of the vibration cylinder ;
The forced return mechanism includes a single-acting air cylinder and a guide block through which a guide shaft is inserted.
The piston rod of the vibration cylinder is connected to one end of the guide shaft, and the hopper is supported on the other end of the guide shaft.
The single-acting air cylinder of the forced return mechanism is incorporated in the guide block.
An article alignment device comprising: A combination weigher comprising: a dispersion feeder that radially disperses and conveys supplied articles; a plurality of linear feeders that convey the dispersed and conveyed articles outward; a plurality of supply hoppers that hold and discharge the articles conveyed by each linear feeder; a plurality of weighing hoppers that weigh the articles discharged from each supply hopper; a collection chute that collects and discharges the articles discharged from the weighing hoppers; and a collection hopper to which the articles are supplied via the collection chute,
The article alignment device according to claim 1 ,
The collecting hopper is the hopper of the article alignment device.
A combination weigher characterized by the above.

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