JP7705129B2 - Cap winding machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cap tightening machine.

A cap tightening machine that attaches caps to containers is known, for example from Patent Document 1.

JP 2018-193087 A

The cap winding machine of Patent Document 1 includes a fastening chuck that rotates the dispenser when attaching the dispenser-equipped cap to a container. In the device of Patent Document 1, a rotating shaft portion that transmits the rotational force of a rotary drive source provided at the top to the fastening chuck provided at the bottom extends from the top to the bottom of the device.
To provide a cap tightener suitable for tightening a dispenser-equipped cap to a container by rotating only the cap without rotating the dispenser.

The cap winding machine according to the present invention comprises:
The mainframe and
a pair of clamping arms supported by the main frame so as to be capable of swinging and having clamping rollers for clamping the dispenser cap to the container;
a rotating shaft portion extending in a vertical direction and rotatably supported by the main frame;
a guide shaft portion supported below the rotating shaft portion so as not to be rotatable with respect to the main frame;
a slider that moves vertically relative to the main frame along the guide shaft portion and has a cam surface on an outer circumferential surface;
an air chamber formed between the main frame and the slider;
a pressure source capable of introducing high pressure air into the air chamber;
a coil spring provided between the slider and a flange portion provided on the guide shaft portion, the coil spring constantly biasing the slider upward,
Each of the clamping arms comprises:
A cam provided on an upper portion of the fastening arm;
an arm swing shaft portion that is provided below the cam, extends in a horizontal direction, and is swingably supported by the main frame;
the clamping roller is provided below the arm swing shaft portion and contacts the cap portion of the dispenser cap to clamp the cap portion to the container;
a rotation transmission mechanism that transmits a rotational force of the rotation shaft portion to the fastening roller,
the cam moves along the cam surface of the slider, whereby the clamping roller provided on the lower part of the clamping arm can take a closed state in which it contacts the cap portion and an open state in which it is separated from the cap portion;
When high pressure air is not being introduced into the air chamber from the pressure source, the slider is pushed upward by the coil spring, and the clamping roller is in an open state.
When high pressure air is introduced from the pressure source into the air chamber, the slider is pushed downward against the coil spring, and the clamping roller is brought into a closed state.
At least a portion of the coil spring is provided around the guide shaft portion on the inner side of the cam surface.

The present invention provides a cap tightening machine suitable for tightening a cap with a dispenser to a container by rotating only the cap without rotating the dispenser.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a cap winding device in an open state according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 of the cap winding machine in a closed state. 5 is a view taken along the line VV in FIG. 4. A diagram showing the open state of a cap winding device according to a modified example of the present invention. A diagram showing the closed state of a cap winding device according to a modified example of the present invention.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings based on the embodiments. The same or equivalent components, parts, and processes shown in each drawing will be given the same reference numerals, and duplicated descriptions will be omitted as appropriate. Furthermore, the embodiments are illustrative rather than limiting the invention, and all of the features and combinations thereof described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the invention.

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a cap tightening machine 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, the cap tightening machine 1 attaches a cap with a dispenser 2 to a container (not shown). The cap with dispenser 2 has a dispenser section 3 provided at the top and a cap section 4 provided at the bottom. The cap section 4 is rotatable relative to the dispenser section 3. The cap tightening machine 1 holds the dispenser section 3 and rotates the cap section 4 to attach it to a screw section provided at the top of the container.

The cap winding machine 1 waits while holding a cap with a dispenser 2. Containers are transported below the cap winding machine 1 via a conveying means such as a belt conveyor. When the container is positioned at a predetermined position relative to the cap winding machine 1 and placed in a predetermined orientation, the cap winding machine 1 descends and attaches the cap with a dispenser 2 to the container.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 2, the cap winding machine 1 includes a main frame 10, a pair of tightening arms 20, a rotating shaft portion 30, a guide shaft portion 40, a slider 50, and a coil spring 60.

The tightening arm 20 is attached to the main frame 10 so as to be able to swing around the arm swing shaft 21. The tightening arm 20 is a long member that extends approximately in the vertical direction. A tightening roller 22 is provided at the bottom of the tightening arm 20. This tightening roller 22 comes into contact with the cap part 4, and by rotating the cap part 4, the dispenser cap 2 is tightened to the container. The tightening arm 20 is provided with a pair of tightening rollers 22. The cap winding machine 1 has four tightening rollers 22.

As shown in FIG. 2, a rotating shaft 30 extending in the vertical direction is rotatably supported on the upper part of the main frame 10. The rotating shaft 30 is supported at the bottom by a thrust bearing 31 and at the middle by an axial bearing 32. This rotating shaft 30 is rotated by a driving source (not shown). The rotating shaft 30 meshes with a gear 241 of a rotation transmission mechanism 24 (described later). When the rotating shaft 30 rotates, the tightening roller 22 rotates via the rotation transmission mechanism 24.

The guide shaft portion 40 is provided below the rotating shaft portion 30. In the illustrated example, the guide shaft portion 40 is provided coaxially with the rotating shaft portion 30. The guide shaft portion 40 is supported non-rotatably with respect to the main frame 10.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the guide shaft portion 40 is provided with a flange portion 41. The arm holder 11 extending horizontally is provided at the bottom of the main frame 10. The arm holder 11 is screwed to the main frame 10 with a screw 11a extending horizontally. The arm holder 11 is provided with a through hole 11b that penetrates in the vertical direction. The lower part of the guide shaft portion 40 is inserted into the through hole 11b of the arm holder 11, and the flange portion 41 of the guide shaft portion 40 is in contact with the upper surface of the arm holder 11. Furthermore, the bottom surface of the guide shaft portion 40 is in contact with the dispenser grip portion 90. A screw 91 is screwed from the dispenser grip portion 90 toward the bottom surface of the guide shaft portion 40 from the bottom to the top. The screw 91 integrates the dispenser grip portion 90, the arm holder 11, and the guide shaft portion 40. In other words, the guide shaft portion 40 is immovably fixed to the main frame 10 via the arm holder 11.

In this embodiment, the dispenser grip 90 has a recess that is shaped to fit the head of the dispenser 3. This recess is tapered so that it widens downward to guide the dispenser 3 in.

The slider 50 has a through hole 51 that extends in the vertical direction. The guide shaft portion 40 is inserted into this through hole 51. The slider 50 can be displaced in the vertical direction relative to the main frame 10 along the guide shaft portion 40. The slider 50 has a cam surface 52 on its outer circumferential surface.

A coil spring 60 is provided between the slider 50 and the flange portion 41 of the guide shaft portion 40. The lower portion of the coil spring 60 is in contact with the flange portion 41 of the guide shaft portion 40, which is fixed to the main frame 10. The upper portion of the coil spring 60 is in contact with the slider 50. The coil spring 60 constantly exerts a force on the slider 50 that pushes the slider 50 upward. In other words, in the normal state, the slider 50 is pushed upward by the coil spring 60.

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the tightening arms 20 includes an arm swing shaft 21, a tightening roller 22, and a cam 23. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, the tightening arm 20 includes a rotation transmission mechanism 24. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 1. One rotation transmission mechanism 24 is provided for one tightening roller 22. In other words, the cap winding machine has four rotation transmission mechanisms 24.

The rotation transmission mechanism 24 transmits the rotation of the rotating shaft portion 30 to the tightening roller 22. The rotation transmission mechanism 24 includes a gear 241 that meshes with the rotating shaft portion 30, a first shaft portion 242, a first universal joint 243, a second shaft portion 244, a second universal joint 245, and a third shaft portion 246. The first shaft portion 242 is fixed to the gear 241 and rotates together with the gear 241. The first universal joint 243 and the second universal joint 245 are so-called universal joints. The first universal joint 243 connects the lower part of the first shaft portion 242 to the upper part of the second shaft portion 244, and transmits the rotation of the first shaft portion 242 to the second shaft portion 244. The second universal joint 245 connects the lower part of the second shaft portion 244 to the upper part of the third shaft portion 246, and transmits the rotation of the second shaft portion 244 to the third shaft portion 246. The third shaft portion 246 is fixed to the tightening roller 22. When the third shaft portion 246 rotates, the tightening roller 22 also rotates.

As described above, the tightening arm 20 is supported by the main frame 10 so as to be able to swing around the arm swing shaft 21. The cam 23 is provided above the arm swing shaft 21, and the tightening roller 22 is provided below the arm swing shaft 21. When the cam 23 provided above is displaced horizontally, the tightening roller 22 provided below is displaced horizontally in the opposite direction to the movement direction of the cam 23. In other words, when the cam 23 moves along the cam surface 52 of the slider 50 in accordance with the vertical displacement of the slider 50, the tightening roller 22 can be in an open state (the state shown in Figures 1 to 3) in which the tightening roller 22 is separated from the cap portion 4, and in a closed state (the state shown in Figure 4) in which the tightening roller 22 is in contact with the cap portion 4.

The arm swing shaft 21 and the third shaft 246 are attached to the arm frame 25 of the tightening arm 20. Even if the arm frame 25 rotates around the arm swing shaft 21 due to contact with the cam surface of the cam 23, the rotational force from the rotating shaft 30 continues to be transmitted to the tightening roller 22 by the first universal joint 243 and the second universal joint 245.

Figure 4 is a view of the cap winding machine 1 in the closed state, corresponding to Figure 2. As shown in Figure 4, the cam surface 52 of the slider 50 is an inclined surface that has a large diameter at the top and a small diameter at the bottom. When changing from Figure 2 to the state shown in Figure 4, when the slider 50 descends, the cam 23 of the tightening arm 20 moves up the cam surface 52, and the tightening roller 22 is displaced toward the dispenser-equipped cap 2 held by the dispenser gripping portion 90.

The slider 50 is displaced downward when high-pressure air is introduced into the air chamber 70. Between the upper surface 50a of the slider 50 and the main frame 10, an air chamber 70 is provided that is airtightly sealed with a sealing member 71 such as an O-ring. The guide shaft portion 40 passes through this air chamber 70. The air chamber 70 is connected to a pressure source (not shown). When high-pressure air is introduced from the pressure source to the air chamber 70, the slider 50 is displaced downward against the upward force applied by the coil spring 60, and enters the open state shown in FIG. 4.

Figure 5 is a view taken along the line V-V in Figure 4. In the closed state as shown in Figure 5, the four clamping rollers 22 come into contact with the cap portion 4 of the dispenser cap 2, and the four clamping rollers 22 rotate in the same direction in synchronization, causing the cap portion 4 to rotate and be attached to the container.

Returning to FIG. 4, in the cap winding machine 1 configured in this manner, at least a portion of the coil spring 60 is provided around the guide shaft portion 40, inside the cam surface 52. The coil spring 60 is accommodated in a spring accommodating portion. The spring accommodating portion is formed by the shaft portion 45 of the guide shaft portion 40, the flange portion 41 of the guide shaft portion 40, and an accommodating recess 55 provided on the underside of the slider 50.

The accommodation recess 55 is formed between a first portion 56 that protrudes downward from the underside of the slider 50 along the shaft portion 45 of the guide shaft portion 40, and a second portion 57 that protrudes downward from the mask surface of the slider 50 at a position separated by a space sufficient to accommodate the coil spring 60 on the outer peripheral side from the inner sleeve. The second portion 57 is provided on the side closer to the axis of the rotating shaft portion 30 (inner side) than the cam surface 52. The second portion 57 protrudes downward from the first portion 56 and abuts against the flange portion 41 of the guide shaft portion 40. The inner peripheral surface of the upper portion of the coil spring 60 can contact the outer peripheral surface of the first portion 56 of the slider 50. The inner peripheral surface of the lower portion of the coil spring 60 directly faces the shaft portion 45 of the guide shaft portion 40 without any member between them. The distance between the inner peripheral surface of the lower portion of the coil spring 60 and the shaft portion 45 of the guide shaft portion 40 is longer than the distance between the inner peripheral surface of the upper portion of the coil spring 60 and the first portion 56.

Unlike the present invention, the cap winding machine of Patent Document 1 is equipped with a tightening chuck that rotates the dispenser when attaching a dispenser-equipped cap to a container. In the device of Patent Document 1, a rotating shaft portion that transmits the rotational force of a rotary drive source provided at the top to a tightening chuck provided at the bottom extends from the top to the bottom of the device.

On the other hand, the cap winding machine 1 of this embodiment relates to a device that attaches a dispenser-equipped cap 2 to a container by rotating only the cap section 4 without rotating the dispenser section 3. In the cap winding machine 1 of this embodiment, since it is not necessary to rotate the dispenser section 3, a non-rotating guide shaft section 40 is provided below the rotating shaft section 30. The non-rotating guide shaft section 40 and the slider 50 simply displace relative to each other in the vertical direction. Since no rotational force acts on a sealing member 71 such as an O-ring provided between the guide shaft section 40 and the slider 50, wear of the sealing member 71 can be suppressed.

In addition, in Patent Document 1, if the coil spring 60 is disposed around the rotating shaft portion 30, the coil spring 60 will rotate when the rotating shaft portion 30 rotates, generating abnormal noise. For this reason, in Patent Document 1, the coil spring 60 is provided outside the cam surface 52 so that the coil spring 60 does not come into contact with the rotating shaft portion 30.
Unlike Patent Document 1, in the cap winding machine 1 of this embodiment, at least a portion of the coil spring 60 that urges the slider 50 upward is provided around the guide shaft portion 40, inside the cam surface 52. Because the guide shaft portion 40 does not rotate, no abnormal noise is generated even if the coil spring 60 is provided directly around the guide shaft portion 40. Furthermore, the coil spring 60 can be disposed on the inside, which allows the lateral dimension of the device to be reduced.
Thus, according to the cap winding machine 1 of this embodiment, a cap winding machine 1 is provided which has less wear on the sealing member 71, is small in width, and is suitable for attaching a dispenser-equipped cap 2 to a container by rotating only the cap portion 4.

In addition, in the cap winding machine 1 of this embodiment, a storage recess 55 that stores the upper part of the coil spring 60 is provided on the underside of the slider 50. This stabilizes the mounting position of the coil spring 60 and makes it less likely to shift, so the force with which the coil spring 60 presses the slider 50 is stable.

Furthermore, according to the cap winding machine 1 of this embodiment, the guide shaft portion 40 has a cushion ball 80, a storage portion 81 that stores the cushion ball 80 so that it can be displaced laterally, and a cushion spring 82 that urges the cushion ball 80 toward the tightening arm 20 within the storage portion 81.
Even if the tightening arm 20 is displaced from the open state to the closed state at high speed, when the tightening arm 20 is displaced from the open state to the closed state, the tightening arm 20 first hits the cushion ball 80, and then the tightening roller 22 comes into contact with the cap portion 4. Therefore, even if the tightening arm 20 is displaced from the closed state to the open state at high speed, a large impact force is unlikely to act from the tightening arm 20 to the cap portion 4, so the tightening arm 20 can be operated at high speed.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the dispenser gripping portion 90 is formed as a recess has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this example. Figure 6 is a diagram showing the open state of a cap winding device 1A according to a modified example of the present invention. Figure 7 is a diagram showing the closed state of a cap winding device 1A according to a modified example of the present invention.

As shown in Figures 6 and 7, the lower part of the guide shaft part 40 is provided with a dispenser contact part 91 having a flat bottom surface 91a that can contact the dispenser cap 2. Each of the pair of fastening arms 20 is provided with a stopper 92 that protrudes toward the side of the dispenser cap 2. The base of this stopper 92 is fixed to the frame 25 of the fastening arm 20. The tip of the stopper 92 is covered with a rubber cap 93. In the closed state, the distance between the tips of the pair of stoppers 92 is approximately the width dimension of the dispenser part 3.

When transitioning from the open state shown in FIG. 6 to the closed state shown in FIG. 7, the rubber caps 93 at the tips of the pair of stoppers 92 come into contact with the dispenser unit 3 and guide the dispenser unit 3 to directly below the axis of the rotating shaft unit 30. In other words, when transitioning from the open state to the closed state, the pair of stoppers 92 are configured to each come into contact with the side of the dispenser cap 2 to position the dispenser cap 2 at a predetermined position. As a result, even if the dispenser cap 2 is misaligned with respect to the cap winding machine 1A, the pair of stoppers 92 can move the dispenser cap 2 to the predetermined position.

1, 1A Cap winding machine 2 Cap with dispenser 3 Dispenser section 4 Cap section 10 Main frame 11 Arm holder 11a Through hole 20 Fastening arm 21 Arm swing shaft section 22 Fastening roller 23 Cam 24 Rotation transmission mechanism 30 Rotation shaft section 31 Thrust bearing 32 Axial bearing 40 Guide shaft section 41 Flange section 45 Shaft section 50 Slider 50a Top surface 51 Through hole 52 Cam surface 55 Storage recess 56 First section 57 Second section 60 Coil spring 70 Air chamber 71 Sealing member 80 Cushion ball 81 Storage section 82 Cushion spring 90 Dispenser gripping section 91 Dispenser contact section 92 Stopper 93 Rubber cap 241 Gear 242 First shaft section 243 First universal joint 244 Second shaft section 245 Second universal joint 246 Third shaft section

Claims (4)

The mainframe and
a pair of clamping arms supported by the main frame so as to be capable of swinging and having clamping rollers for clamping the dispenser cap to the container;
a rotating shaft portion extending in a vertical direction and rotatably supported by the main frame;
a guide shaft portion supported below the rotating shaft portion so as not to be rotatable with respect to the main frame;
a slider that moves vertically relative to the main frame along the guide shaft portion and has a cam surface on an outer circumferential surface;
an air chamber formed between the main frame and the slider;
a pressure source capable of introducing high pressure air into the air chamber;
a coil spring provided between the slider and a flange portion provided on the guide shaft portion, the coil spring constantly biasing the slider upward,
Each of the clamping arms comprises:
A cam provided on an upper portion of the fastening arm;
an arm swing shaft portion that is provided below the cam, extends in a horizontal direction, and is swingably supported by the main frame;
the clamping roller is provided below the arm swing shaft portion and contacts the cap portion of the dispenser cap to clamp the cap portion to the container;
a rotation transmission mechanism that transmits a rotational force of the rotation shaft portion to the fastening roller,
The cam moves along the cam surface of the slider, so that the clamping roller provided on the lower part of the clamping arm can take a closed state in which it contacts the cap portion and an open state in which it is separated from the cap portion,
When high pressure air is not being introduced into the air chamber from the pressure source, the slider is pushed upward by the coil spring, and the clamping roller is in an open state.
When high pressure air is introduced from the pressure source into the air chamber, the slider is pushed downward against the coil spring, and the clamping roller is brought into a closed state.
At least a portion of the coil spring is provided around the guide shaft portion on the inner side of the cam surface,
a dispenser contact portion having a flat bottom surface capable of contacting the dispenser cap is provided at a lower portion of the guide shaft portion;
A cap winding machine , wherein at least a portion of the coil spring is positioned so as to overlap with the cam surface in the vertical direction . The cap winding machine according to claim 1, wherein the lower surface of the slider is provided with a storage recess for storing the upper part of the coil spring. The cap tightening machine according to claim 1, wherein the guide shaft portion has a cushion ball, a housing portion that houses the cushion ball so that the cushion ball can be displaced laterally, and a cushion spring that urges the cushion ball toward the tightening arm within the housing portion. Each of the pair of fastening arms is provided with a stopper protruding toward a side surface of the dispenser cap,
The cap winding machine of claim 1, wherein when transitioning from the open state to the closed state, a pair of the stoppers are configured to contact the sides of the dispenser cap to position the dispenser cap at a predetermined position.

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