JP7787564B2 - Cap Mounting Device - Google Patents

Description

Article 30, paragraph 2 of the Patent Act applies. On September 1, 2021, Tanaka Giken Kogyo Co., Ltd. sold the cap attachment device it invented to Hokuto Co., Ltd. Mie Mushroom Center.

The present invention relates to a device for attaching caps to mushroom cultivation bottles.

Mushroom cultivation in a culture bottle is carried out by filling the bottle with a medium consisting of sawdust, rice bran, crushed corncob, etc., and inoculating the medium inside the bottle with a seed fungus.
After the culture medium in the culture bottle is inoculated with the seed bacteria, a cap is attached to the opening of the culture bottle.
The reason for putting a cap on the cultivation bottle is to prevent the entry of germs into the cultivation bottle and to allow an appropriate amount of air to circulate, ensuring good growth of mushroom mycelium.

However, manually attaching and detaching the caps to the cultivation bottles one by one is extremely time-consuming.
For this reason, devices for attaching and detaching caps from cultivation bottles have been proposed.
For example, according to the device shown in Patent Document 1, the device descends onto the shoulders of multiple cultivation bottles stored in a container, presses down on the cultivation bottles to position them, and then inserts a wedge-shaped slider into the lower edge of the cap attached to the positioned cultivation bottle and pushes the lower edge of the cap diagonally upward, thereby detaching the cap from the cultivation bottle.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-242780

Although devices for attaching and detaching caps from cultivation bottles have been proposed in the past, such as that disclosed in Patent Document 1, there are no devices at all for attaching caps to cultivation bottles.
This is thought to be due to several challenges that arise when automatically attaching caps to cultivation bottles.

One of the problems is the difficulty of aligning multiple caps for a container that contains multiple cultivation bottles. Typically, caps are stored in a box or other container in a random order before installation, and unless the caps are neatly stacked in the box or other container, it is not easy to create a structure for removing the caps from the box and aligning them.
Another challenge is that caps have a front and back, so when aligning them, it is necessary to accurately distinguish between the front and back of the caps, but it is also necessary to avoid making a mistake in distinguishing between the front and back.

The present invention was made to solve the above problem, and its purpose is to provide a cap attachment device that can reliably distinguish between the front and back of caps that are stored in a messy manner, automatically align them, and then attach them to cultivation bottles.

According to the cap attachment of the present invention, a cap attachment device attaches caps to cultivation bottles arranged in multiple columns and rows in a container, and includes a container arrangement section in which containers each containing a plurality of the cultivation bottles are arranged, a storage box in which the caps are stored, a cap removal device whose lower end enters the storage box and moves from bottom to top to remove caps from the storage box, a discrimination device that determines the front and back of each cap removed by the cap removal device, and if the determined front and back of a cap is different from a preset orientation, removes the cap whose front and back is different from the preset orientation, an alignment section in which caps are arranged in rows with the backs of the caps facing downwards in the same number of rows as the rows of cultivation bottles stored in the container, and gripping sections for gripping the caps aligned in the alignment section, the number of which is equal to the number of cultivation bottles stored in the container, and the multiple gripping sections are used to multiplely grip the caps. The apparatus comprises an attachment unit that grips a number of caps and operates to attach the multiple caps gripped by the gripping unit to each of the cultivation bottles in the container placed in the container placement unit , and the attachment unit has an extension unit that connects multiple plate-shaped members each having a number of gripping units so that they can extend and contract with each other, and a moving device that moves the extension unit from the alignment unit to the container placement unit, and when the moving device moves the extension unit to the container placement unit, it pulls the plate-shaped member of the extension unit that is closest to the container placement unit, so that the spacing between the plate-shaped members in the extension unit is the same as the spacing between the cultivation bottles contained in the container, and when the moving device moves the extension unit to the alignment unit, it presses the plate-shaped member of the extension unit that is closest to the container placement unit, so that the spacing between the plate-shaped members in the extension unit is the same as the spacing between the caps aligned in the alignment unit .
By adopting this configuration, caps stored in a storage box that is randomly stored can be taken out by the take-out device, and the caps can be attached in the correct orientation by distinguishing between the front and back.
In addition, with this configuration, the telescopic section is contracted to grip the caps that are aligned continuously in the row direction of the cultivation bottles stored in the container in the alignment section, and when moving to the container placement section, the telescopic section expands to grip the caps at intervals that are the same as the row spacing of the cultivation bottles stored in the container.Therefore, caps can be attached to cultivation bottles even if the row spacing of the caps aligned in the alignment section is different from the spacing between the bottle mouths of the cultivation bottles in the container.

The cap removal device may also be characterized in that it has a belt-shaped member whose lower end enters the storage box and whose surface is parallel to the vertical direction, and which rotates along the vertical direction, and a plurality of cap mounting plates are arranged along the vertical direction protruding from the surface of the belt-shaped member and forming a gap between them that is narrower than the total thickness of the cap and wider than the thickness of the large diameter portion of the cap, and the plurality of cap mounting plates are arranged so as to be inclined relative to the horizontal direction toward either side of the width direction of the belt-shaped member, and a fall prevention wall is arranged on the side of the belt-shaped member up to a predetermined height position from the storage box to prevent caps from falling from the belt-shaped member along the inclined direction of the cap mounting plate, and at the predetermined height position where the fall prevention wall is not provided, a cap moving unit is provided which is connected to a location where the fall prevention wall is not provided, and which rolls and moves the cap that rolls out of the cap mounting plate of the belt-shaped member to the alignment unit while the surface or back surface of the cap remains parallel to the vertical direction.
With this configuration, even if the caps are stored in a random state in the storage box, the caps will naturally rest on the cap placement plate, and the caps can be taken out with their front and backs aligned parallel to the vertical direction.

The discrimination device may also be characterized by having a discrimination control unit that determines whether the front and back of a cap moving on the cap moving unit are on a predetermined side or not, and an air injection device that injects air into a cap whose front and back are determined by the discrimination control unit to be different from the predetermined orientation, causing the cap to fall from the cap moving unit.
By adopting this configuration, caps with their front and back facing in different directions can be easily removed and the caps can be aligned in the alignment section with their front and back faces aligned accurately.

The alignment section may also be characterized in that it has guide grooves in which caps, whose orientation has been preset by the discrimination device , are stored with their backs facing downward, the number of which is the same as the number of rows of cultivation bottles stored in the container, and each guide groove is arranged at the same interval as the spacing between cultivation bottles stored in the container, and each guide groove is formed in the shape of a chute that allows caps whose front or back surfaces are parallel in the vertical direction after passing through the discrimination device to fall and move with their back surfaces facing downward, and is arranged so that the caps are aligned with their back surfaces facing downward at the tip of the chute shape.
With this configuration, the caps can be aligned in rows that match the number of rows of cultivation bottles housed in the container with their back surfaces facing downwards .

The mounting portion may also be characterized in that a through hole is formed in the center of the multiple holding portions, and above the mounting portion in the container placement portion there are multiple pressing portions located above the multiple holding portions and which press the cap held by the multiple holding portions through the through hole to fit it into the cultivation bottle.
With this configuration, in order to securely attach the cap held by the holding portion to the cultivation bottle, the pressing portion can press the cap from above through the through hole to attach the cap to the cultivation bottle.

The pressing portions may be attached, via a buffer member, to a pressing portion attachment plate that moves the pressing portions up and down simultaneously.
When the gripping portion is gripped with the small diameter portion facing upward, the cap cannot be attached even when the pressing portion presses, and so if the pressing portion presses too hard, the cap may break. If the cap breaks, fragments may get into the cultivation bottle, causing foreign matter to get mixed in. Therefore, with this configuration, when the gripping portion is gripped with the small diameter portion facing upward, the buffer member absorbs the force of the pressing portion trying to force the cap into the cultivation bottle, preventing damage to the cap and preventing foreign matter from getting mixed in due to cap breakage.

This invention allows caps stored in a messy manner to be reliably identified as being front or back, automatically aligned, and then attached to cultivation bottles.

1A is a side view of the cap, and FIG. 1B is a plan view of the cap. FIG. 2 is a side view showing the overall configuration of the cap mounting device. FIG. 2 is a front view showing the overall configuration of the cap mounting device. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of the cap mounting device. FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing the cap extracting device, the storage box, and the discriminating device as viewed from the rear. FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the crawler belt and the cap mounting plate. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of an alignment unit. FIG. FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the final alignment section in the alignment section. FIG. FIG. FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a state in which the expansion/contraction portion of the mounting portion is contracted. FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a state in which the expansion/contraction portion of the mounting portion is expanded. FIG. 10 is a side view showing the mounting structure of the pressing portion.

(cap)
FIG. 1(a) shows a side view of the cap, and FIG. 1(b) shows a plan view of the cap.
The cap 10 is attached to the culture bottle in which the seed fungus has been inoculated into the medium until the fungus has spread throughout the medium and the medium is scraped.
The cap 10 is circular in plan view and has a small diameter portion 13 that fits inside the mouth of the cultivation bottle, and a large diameter portion 12 that is located outside the mouth of the cultivation bottle. Depending on the type of cap, a filter may be placed inside the large diameter portion 12.

(Overall structure)
Fig. 2 shows a side view of the cap mounting device. Fig. 3 shows a front view of the cap mounting device. Fig. 4 shows a perspective view of the cap mounting device as seen from an oblique front. However, in Fig. 4, the area ahead of the alignment unit is omitted.
The left side of FIG. 2 is the rear side, and the right side is the front side, and the overall configuration of the cap mounting device will be described below.

The cap fitting device 20 is equipped with a cap removal device 22 that removes caps 10 from a storage box 21 that stores caps 10. The caps 10 removed by the cap removal device 22 are transported to the alignment section 30 via a discrimination device 24 and an exclusion device 25.

In the alignment section 30, the caps 10 are arranged in rows, one row at a time, with the small diameter portion 13 of the caps 10 facing downward, the number of rows being the same as the number of rows of cultivation bottles 16 contained in the container 15.
The mounting unit 50 grasps the caps 10 that have been aligned with their small diameter portions 13 facing downward in the alignment unit 30. After grasping the caps 10 aligned in the alignment unit 30, the mounting unit 50 moves to the container placement unit C, which is a position where the caps 10 are attached to the cultivation bottles 16 contained in the container 15.

In the container placement section C, the container 15 rises and the caps 10 held by the attachment section 50 are brought into contact with the bottle mouths of the multiple cultivation bottles 16 contained within the container 15 .
The container placement section C has a pressing section 52 that presses the grasped cap 10 to fit it into the cultivation bottle 16, and the pressing section 52 presses the cap 10 grasped by the attachment section 50 to attach it to the cultivation bottle 16.
When the cap 10 is attached to the cultivation bottle 16, the container 15 descends and is ready to be removed from the container placement section C.

(Container operation)
Next, the operation of the container 15 will be described.
A plurality of cultivation bottles 16 to which the caps 10 are attached are housed in a container 15.
Containers 15 containing multiple cultivation bottles 16 are arranged to move from the rear to the front in Figure 2 by conveyors 42. In this embodiment, three conveyors 42 are arranged in succession: conveyor 42a corresponding to entrance section A where containers 15 without caps 10 are placed, conveyor 42b located in middle section B forward from entrance section A, and conveyor 42c at container placement section C, which is located forward from the middle section and where caps 10 are attached.
These conveyors 42a to 42c can be chain conveyors, but are not limited to chain conveyors.

The container placement section C is provided with a vertical movement device 44 for raising the container 15 to the cap attachment position. As the vertical movement device 44, for example, an air cylinder or the like can be used.
The vertical movement device 44 has a vertical movement plate 46 that abuts against the bottom surface of the container 15, and the vertical movement plate 46 moves up and down while being guided by vertical movement guides 48 that pass through two locations or four corners.

(Cap removal device)
Next, the cap extracting device will be described. Fig. 5 is a schematic explanatory view of the cap extracting device 22 and the storage box 21 as seen from the rear.
The cap removal device 22 has a structure that extends vertically on the left side of Figure 2, and can remove caps 10 from a storage box 21 in which multiple caps 10 are stored in a messy and unsorted manner by aligning the orientation of the caps 10 (aligning the front or back of the caps 10 so that they are approximately parallel to the vertical direction).

In this embodiment, two cap removal devices 22 are provided, located on both the left and right sides of the alignment section 30. Two storage boxes 21 are also provided, each located behind one of the cap removal devices 22. Figure 5 shows only the cap removal device 22 on the right side when viewed from the rear.

The cap removal device 22 adopts an endless track configuration in which multiple tracks 31 are connected to form a single belt-like member 34, and the belt-like member 34 is stretched between a drive shaft 33 and a driven shaft 32, causing the belt-like member 34 to rotate between the drive shaft 33 and the driven shaft 32.
In this embodiment, the driven shaft 32 is disposed above the storage box 21, and the drive shaft 33 is disposed below the storage box 21, so that the belt-like member 34 rotates in the vertical direction. The rotation direction is such that the surface facing the storage box 21 moves upward.

The storage box 21 is open at the front side (to the right in FIG. 2), and the belt-like member 34 of the cap extractor 22 is provided so as to be exposed inside the storage box 21 through the open portion of the storage box 21 .
Furthermore, as shown in Figure 2, the cap removal device 22 is positioned with its upper portion tilted forward, so that the center of gravity of the cap 10 removed from the storage box 21 tilts forward, preventing the cap 10 from falling off the belt-like member 34.

Fig. 6 shows a front view of the crawler belt, and Fig. 7 shows a plan view of the crawler belt as seen from above. The crawler belt 31 shown here is one of a number of crawler belts connected in a belt-like shape.
A cap mounting plate 36 is attached to the crawler belt 31 by a fixing means such as a bolt 35. The cap mounting plate 36 is attached so as to leave a gap 37 between it and the surface of the crawler belt 31. The width d of the gap 37 is set to be narrower than the total thickness of the cap 10 and wider than the thickness of the large diameter portion 12 of the cap 10.

When the cap placement plate 36 rises in the storage box 21, the large diameter portion 12 of the cap 10 in the storage box 21 enters the gap 37 between the cap placement plate 36 and the crawler belt 31, and the cap 10 in the storage box 21 is removed from the storage box 21.
Furthermore, although the large diameter portion 12 of the cap 10 can fit into the gap 37, the small diameter portion 13 of the cap 10 cannot fit into the gap 37, and therefore the cap 10 is almost always placed with the large diameter portion 12 facing the surface of the crawler belt 31 of the belt-like member 34. However, there is also a possibility that the cap 10 will be placed on the cap placement plate 36 even if the large diameter portion 12 does not fit into the gap 37, in which case the cap 10 will be placed with the small diameter portion 13 facing the surface of the crawler belt 31 of the belt-like member 34.

Further, on both sides of the belt-shaped member 34 in the width direction, fall prevention walls 52 are provided to cover the side surfaces of the belt-shaped member 34 and to prevent the caps 10 from falling off the cap placement plate 36 .
The fall prevention wall 52 of the cap removal device 22 is provided at least to a predetermined height position from the storage box 21, and is provided so that the caps 10 roll from the cap placement plate 36 of the belt-like member 34 from a location 53 where the fall prevention wall 52 is not provided and proceed to the alignment section 30.

A cap moving section 54 is provided along which the caps move horizontally from a section 53 where no fall prevention wall 52 is provided toward the alignment section 30. An inclined surface 55 is formed between the cap moving section 54 and the section 53 where no fall prevention wall 52 is provided, allowing the caps 10 to roll under their own weight.
As shown in FIG. 2, the cap moving section 54 is provided with a conveyor 56 driven by a motor or the like, and the caps 10 are transported by the conveyor 56 .

(discrimination device)
The discrimination device 24 is provided midway along the cap moving section 54 .
The cap 10 removed by the cap removal device 22 must have the small diameter portion 13 facing downward when attached to the cultivation bottle 16, so when aligning it in the alignment section 30, the small diameter portion 13 must be facing backward.
Therefore, a discrimination device 24 is provided to discriminate the orientation of the cap 10 removed by the cap removal device 22 and reject the cap 10 whose large diameter portion 12 faces backward.

The discrimination device 24 has a sensor 58 that measures the distance to the cap as it moves along the cap moving unit 54, a discrimination control unit 60 that discriminates the front and back of the cap 10 based on the distance to the cap 10 measured by the sensor 58, and an air injection device 25 that injects air into caps 10 whose front and back are not facing the predetermined direction, causing the caps 10 to fall.

The determination control unit 60 determines whether the large diameter portion 12 or the small diameter portion 13 faces rearward based on the distance to the cap 10 measured by the sensor 58. In this embodiment, the cap 10 with the small diameter portion 13 facing rearward is determined to be in the correct orientation.
When the determination control unit 60 determines that the orientation of the cap 10 is incorrect, it controls the air injection device 25 to inject air at the cap 10 that is facing the wrong direction.

The discrimination device 24 may use a photographing device that captures an image of the cap, instead of a sensor that measures the distance to the cap 10.
In this case, the discrimination control unit 60 has a central processing unit such as a CPU and a memory for pre-storing a comparison image (an image of the cap in the correct orientation: an image in which the small diameter portion faces backward), and the discrimination control unit 60 compares the image obtained by the photographing device with the comparison image, and if it determines that the image obtained by the photographing device matches the comparison image, it determines that the orientation of the cap 10 is correct.If it determines that the image obtained by the photographing device does not match the comparison image, the discrimination control unit 60 determines that the orientation of the cap 10 is incorrect, and controls the air injection device 25 to inject air at the cap 10 that is facing the wrong direction.

Below the air injection device 25 in the cap moving section 54, the storage box 21 is located with its top surface open, and the caps 10 onto which air has been injected fall from the cap moving section 54 and are stored in the storage box 21.
In this way, only the caps 10 that are oriented correctly are moved from the cap moving part 54 to the aligning part 30, and the caps 10 that are oriented incorrectly are returned to the storage box 21, so that the caps 10 can be aligned in the correct orientation in the aligning part 30.

(Alignment section)
The caps 10 moved from the cap moving section 54 are aligned in the alignment section 30.
The alignment unit 30 is arranged at a position sandwiched between two cap removal devices 22, and the caps 10 aligned so that the large diameter part 12 side (front side) of the cap 10 faces the front are sent from the cap moving units 54 on both the left and right sides when viewed from the front.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic explanatory diagram of the alignment unit.
As shown in Figure 8, the alignment unit 30 has an accumulation unit 62 that accumulates the caps 10 sent from the cap moving units 54 on both the left and right sides while the large diameter portion 12 side (front side) of the cap 10 faces forward, and a shooter unit 64 that changes the orientation of the large diameter portion 12 side (front side) of the cap from the front direction to a downward direction.
The collecting section 62 has a space with a thickness approximately equal to the thickness of the cap 10, preventing the cap 10 from tilting or changing direction. The collecting section 62 is formed so that its width gradually narrows from the cap moving section 54 toward the shooter section 64.

3, the collecting section 62 is provided with a jamming prevention device 65 (omitted in FIG. 8) that prevents the caps 10 from jamming in the collecting section 62. The jamming prevention device 65 has a reciprocating rod 66 that passes through the collecting section 62 in the left-right direction when viewed from the front, and a drive unit 59 that drives the reciprocating rod 66 to reciprocate in the left-right direction.
The drive device 59 drives the reciprocating rod 66 constantly or intermittently to move the caps 10 back and forth in the left and right direction, thereby preventing the caps 10 from getting stuck in the accumulation section 62.

In Figure 3, multiple slit-shaped windows 67 are formed on the front side of the accumulation section 62 so that the accumulation state of the caps 10 can be visually observed, but the shape and number of the windows 67 are not limited to those shown in Figure 3, and the windows 67 do not have to be present.

The shooter section 64 has a curved, inclined surface that extends forward from the lower end of the accumulation section 62, initially dropping vertically and finally becoming horizontal, and the orientation of the large diameter section 12 side (front side) of the cap 10 is changed so that it faces upward at the lower end of the shooter section 64.

The shooter section 64 is configured with parallel guide grooves 69 in the same number of columns as the number of columns of cultivation bottles 16 stored in the container 15. In this specification, columns are defined as the left-right direction when viewed from the front-to-back direction, and rows are defined as the front-to-back direction. In this embodiment, four columns are shown in the drawings, but this is not limited to four columns and can be changed as appropriate to match the number of columns of the container 15.
Each guide groove 69 has a width slightly larger than the diameter of the cap 10 and a low coefficient of friction that allows the cap 10 to slide down when dropped from the collecting section 62 .

A feed device 68 is provided at the lower end of the shooter portion 64 for feeding the cap 10 further forward with the large diameter portion 12 side (front side) facing upward.
As shown in Figure 9, the feed device 68 has a rotating shaft 70 extending along the width direction, a plurality of rotating bodies 71 fixed to the rotating shaft 70 and arranged in each guide groove 69, a plurality of cap holders 72 protruding radially from each rotating body 71, and a drive device 74 that rotates and drives the rotating shaft 70.
Each cap retainer 72 is made of an elastic material such as rubber, and has a length longer than the distance from the rotor 71 to the surface of the cap 10. Therefore, the cap retainer 72 reliably contacts the cap 10 in a bent state, and this bending can be used to send the cap 10 forward.

As shown in Figure 10, a fixed stopper 75 is provided at the front end of each guide groove 69 of the alignment section 30. In this embodiment, the fixed stopper 75 is composed of two rod-shaped members that abut against the side surfaces of the cap 10 to stop the cap 10.

A sensor 80 for recognizing the side surface of each cap 10 is provided between the two rod-shaped members that constitute the fixed stopper 75 in each guide groove 69 .
The sensor 80 can detect the distance to the side of the cap 10, and thereby can detect whether the cap 10 is present at the fixed stopper 75, which is the front end of each guide groove 69, or whether the cap 10 is facing upside down even if the cap 10 is present.

The sensor 80 is connected to a control unit 82 .
When the sensor 80 detects that the cap 10 is not on the fixed stopper 75, the control unit 82 stops the operation of the attachment unit 50 if the absence of the cap 10 continues for a predetermined period of time based on the timer function of the control unit 82.
Furthermore, when the sensor 80 detects that the cap 10 is upside down, the control unit 82 temporarily stops the operation of the attachment unit 50. During the temporary stop, an operator returns the upside down cap 10 to the correct orientation.

In addition, a sensor 76 is provided in each guide groove 69 several rows (the same number as the number of rows of cultivation bottles 16 stored in the container 15) behind the fixed stopper 75 and ahead of the feed device 68. Between this sensor 76 and the fixed stopper 75 is a final alignment section 78 where the number of caps 10 required for one container 15 is aligned. The mounting section 50 is located above this final alignment section 78, and the mounting section 50 holds the number of caps 10 required for one container 15 aligned in the final alignment section 78.
Each sensor 76 detects whether the required number of caps 10 for the final alignment section 78 have been aligned in each guide groove 69 .

The sensor 76 is connected to the control unit 82 described above.
When the control unit 82 determines that the required number of caps 10 for a row of containers 15 have been sent to each guide groove 69 of the final alignment unit 78, it moves the mounting unit 50 to the final alignment unit 78 and controls the mounting unit 50 to grasp the caps 10 aligned in the final alignment unit 78.
Furthermore, when the control unit 82 determines that the required number of caps 10 for the row of containers 15 have been sent to each guide groove 69, it operates the mounting unit 50 and controls the drive unit 74 of the feed device 68 to rotate in reverse. By rotating the feed device 68 in reverse, it is possible to prevent more caps 10 than necessary from being sent to the final alignment unit 78, and it is possible to prevent the caps 10 from overlapping each other due to more caps 10 than necessary being sent to the final alignment unit 78.

The final alignment section 78 is provided so as to be movable up and down by a vertical movement device 95 .
When the sensor 76 determines that the required number of caps 10 have been sent to the row of containers 15, and the extension/contraction section 98 in the mounting section 50 is positioned at the final alignment section 78, the up/down movement device 95 is driven to raise the final alignment section 78 and mount the caps 10 on the gripping section 84 described below.

(Attachment part)
The mounting section 50 has the function of grasping a predetermined number of caps 10 at the final alignment section 78, and moving the caps 10 while still grasping them to the container placement section C to simultaneously mount the caps 10 on multiple cultivation bottles 16 in the container 15.
The mounting portion 50 has gripping portions 84 for gripping the caps 10 in the same number as the cultivation bottles 16 housed in the container 15.

FIG. 11 shows a plan view of the gripping portion, and FIG. 12 shows a side view of the gripping portion.
The gripping portion 84 is made by bending a single metal plate, and has a flat base portion 85 and four claws 86 bent downward from the base portion 85 .
Each of the claws 86 is composed of a reduced diameter portion 86a that slopes downward and inward, and an expanded diameter portion 86b that slopes downward and outward from the lower end of the reduced diameter portion 86a.
The lower end of the reduced diameter portion 86a has a diameter slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the cap 10, and when the cap 10 is pushed into the claw 86, the reduced diameter portion 86a expands, allowing the claw 86 to firmly hold the cap 10.
A through hole 88 is formed in the center of the gripping portion 84. The through hole 88 is formed so that a pressing portion (described later) provided on the container placement portion C can pass through.

13 and 14 are plan views of the expansion and contraction portion of the mounting portion.
13 shows a state in which the gap between the plate-like members 90 is narrowed, and FIG. 14 shows a state in which the gap between the plate-like members 90 is widened.
The expandable section 98 is constructed by connecting a plurality of plate-like members 90 extending in the width direction. The above-mentioned gripping parts 84 are attached to the bottom of each plate-like member 90 in the same number as the number of cultivation bottles 16 stored in the row direction of the container 15. The dotted lines in Figure 13 indicate the locations where the gripping parts 84 are attached.
The plate-like members 90 are connected in the front-to-back direction in the same number as the number of cultivation bottles 16 stored in the row direction of the container 15.
The container 15 of this embodiment can accommodate a total of 16 cultivation bottles 16 in four rows and four columns, so the extension section 98 of this embodiment has four plate-shaped members 90, and each plate-shaped member 90 has four gripping sections 84.

A through-hole 97 is formed in each plate-shaped member 90 so as to communicate with the through-hole 88 of the gripping portion 84. The through-hole 97 is formed so that a pressing portion (described below) provided on the container placement portion C can pass through the plate-shaped member 90 and the gripping portion 84 to press the cap 10.

FIG. 13 shows a state in which the gap between the plate-like members 90 is narrowed, and in this state the cap 10 is gripped at the final alignment section 78 .
In the final alignment section 78, the caps 10 are continuously fed into the guide groove 69, so the spacing between rows of the caps 10 is narrow. For this reason, when the caps 10 are gripped in the final alignment section 78, the spacing between the plate-like members 90 of the expandable section 98 is narrowed.

Figure 14 shows a state in which the spacing between each plate-like member 90 is widened, and in this state, caps 10 are simultaneously attached to multiple cultivation bottles 16 contained in a container 15 at the container placement section C.
In the container 15, the cultivation bottles 16 are housed in close contact with each other, but the bottle mouths are spaced apart widely because the diameter of the bottle mouths is smaller than the outer diameter of the cultivation bottles 16. For this reason, when attaching the caps 10 in the container placement section C, the spacing between the plate-like members 90 of the expansion section 98 is widened.

The connecting structure of the plurality of plate-like members 90 of the expansion/contraction section 98 will be described.
The plate-like member at the forefront is designated as 90a, and the plates are designated as 90b, 90c, and 90d toward the rear.
The foremost plate-like member 90a and the second-from-the-front plate-like member 90b are connected by plate-like connecting members 92a provided at two locations on both the left and right sides. The plate-like connecting member 92a and the foremost plate-like member 90a are fixed so as not to move by bolts 91 or the like, and the plate-like connecting member 92a and the second-from-the-front plate-like member 90b are connected by bolts 96 or the like provided on the second plate-like member 90b that extend into elongated holes 93 formed in the connecting member 92a, so that the second plate-like member 90b can move in the front-to-rear direction relative to the foremost plate-like member 90a by the length of the elongated holes 93.

The second plate-shaped member 90b from the front and the third plate-shaped member 90c from the front are connected by plate-shaped connecting members 92b at two locations on both the left and right sides. Plate-shaped connecting member 92b and the second plate-shaped member 90b are fixed in place by bolts 91 and other fasteners, and bolts 96 and other fasteners on the third plate-shaped member 90c are inserted into elongated holes 93 formed in connecting member 92c, allowing the third plate-shaped member 90c to move forward and backward relative to the second plate-shaped member 90b by the length of the elongated holes 93.

The third plate-shaped member 90c from the front and the rearmost plate-shaped member 90d are connected by plate-shaped connecting members 92c at two locations on both the left and right sides. The plate-shaped connecting member 92c and the third plate-shaped member 90c are fixed in place by bolts 91 and other fasteners, and the plate-shaped connecting member 92c and the rearmost plate-shaped member 90d are attached by bolts 96 and other fasteners on the rearmost plate-shaped member 90d that extend into elongated holes 93 formed in the connecting member 92c, allowing the rearmost plate-shaped member 90d to move forward and backward relative to the third plate-shaped member 90c by the length of the elongated holes 93.

The mounting section 50 is provided with a moving device 100 that moves the extendable section 98 between the final alignment section 78 and the container placement section C. An air cylinder or the like can be used as the moving device 100, but other driving means may also be used.
The moving device 100 is connected to the foremost plate member 90a of the expansion/contraction section 98 and moves the foremost plate member 90a.

When the telescopic section 98 is moved from the final alignment section 78 to the container placement section C, the moving device 100 pulls or pushes the foremost plate member 90a (if the moving device 100 is positioned forward of the foremost plate member 90a, it pulls; if it is positioned behind it, it pushes only the foremost plate member 90a). When pulling, the foremost plate member 90a pulls the second and subsequent plate members 90b-90d forward. This causes the rear ends of the elongated holes 93 of each connecting member 92a-92c to pull the bolts 96 of the second and subsequent plate members 90b-90d, widening the spacing between each plate member 90a-90d by the length of the elongated holes 93 of each connecting member 92a-92c.

When the telescopic section 98 is moved from the container placement section C to the final alignment section 78, the moving device 100 pulls or pushes the foremost plate-shaped member 90a, which in turn pushes the second and subsequent plate-shaped members 90b-90d rearward. This causes the front ends of the elongated holes 93 of each connecting member 92a-92c to push the bolts 96 of the second and subsequent plate-shaped members 90b-90d, thereby reducing the spacing between each of the plate-shaped members 90a-90d by the length of the elongated holes 93 of each connecting member 92a-92c.

In this embodiment, mounting portions 99 protruding in the width direction are provided on both widthwise ends of the forefront plate-like member 90a for mounting the moving device 100 thereon.
In this embodiment, an air cylinder 100 is used as the moving device, and the tip of a rod 100 a of the air cylinder 100 is attached to an attachment portion 99 .

In Figures 13 and 14, the air cylinder 100 is positioned on the final alignment section 78 side, and operates to extend the rod 100a when moving the telescopic section 98 from the final alignment section 78 to the container placement section C, and to retract the rod 100a when moving from the container placement section C to the final alignment section 78.
However, the air cylinder 100 may be positioned on the container placement section C side, and the rod 100a may be retracted when the telescopic section 98 is moved from the final alignment section 78 to the container placement section C, and may be extended when the telescopic section 98 is moved from the container placement section C to the final alignment section 78.

(Cap installation operation)
When the telescopic section 98 grasps a predetermined number of caps 10 at the final alignment section 78 and moves to the container placement section C, the up-and-down movement device 44, which raises the container 15 to the cap mounting position, raises the container 15 to the mounting position. The mounting position is a position where the bottle mouths of each cultivation bottle 16 in the raised container 15 abut against the caps 10 grasped by the gripping section 84.
Since the cap 10 cannot be securely attached to the bottle mouth simply by the vertical movement device 44 pressing the bottle mouth of the cultivation bottle 16 against the cap 10, a pressing part 52 is provided to press the cap 10 from above toward the bottle mouth.

The pressing units 52 are roughly cylindrical in shape and are provided in the same number as the number of cultivation bottles 16 housed in one container 15. The pressing units 52 are attached to the pressing unit attachment plate 104 so as to be positioned directly above each cultivation bottle 16 housed in the container 15.
The pressing portion mounting plate 104 has vertical movement devices 106 such as air cylinders mounted at two locations on the left and right, and vertical movement guides 108 provided at the four corners.

When the vertical movement device 106 is driven, the pressing portion mounting plate 104 descends, and the pressing portion 52 descends through the through-holes 97 of the plate-shaped members 90a to 90d and the through-hole 88 of the gripping portion 84, pressing the cap 10 held by the gripping portion 84 from above and fitting the cap 10 into the cultivation bottle 16.

Once the caps 10 are attached to each cultivation bottle 16, the up-and-down movement device 106 is driven to raise the pressing portion mounting plate 104, thereby removing the pressing portion 52 from the through-holes 97 of the plate-like members 90a to 90d and the through-holes 88 of the gripping portion 84. Then, the moving device 100 is driven to move the extension/contraction portion 98 to the final alignment portion 78.
The vertical movement device 44 is then driven to lower the container 15 from the mounting position to the conveyor 42c, which then drives the conveyor 42c to send the container 15 with the cap 10 mounted thereon out of the device.

15, each pressing portion 52 is attached to the pressing portion attachment plate 104 via a spring 110, which is an example of a buffer member. However, the buffer member is not limited to a spring.
With this configuration, when the gripping portion 84 grips the cap 10 in the opposite direction and the cap cannot be attached even when the pressing portion presses, the spring 110 can absorb the force that the pressing portion 52 tries to apply force to.
This prevents damage to the cap 10 and prevents foreign matter from entering the cultivation bottle 16 due to cap damage.

The number of cultivation bottles 16 housed in the container 15 can vary depending on the size of the container 15 and the cultivation bottles 16. However, the cap attachment device of the present invention can accommodate this by appropriately changing the number of guide grooves 69 in the alignment section 30, the number of plate-like members 90, the number of gripping portions 84 provided on the plate-like members 90, and the number of pressing portions 52.

10 Cap 12 Large diameter portion 13 Small diameter portion 15 Container 16 Cultivation bottle 20 Cap attachment device 21 Storage box 22 Cap removal device 24 Discrimination device 25 Removal device 25 Air injection device 30 Alignment unit 31 Track 32 Driven shaft 33 Drive shaft 34 Belt-like member 35 Bolt 36 Cap placement plate 37 Gap 42a to 42c Conveyor 44 Vertical movement device 46 Vertical movement plate 48 Vertical movement guide 50 Mounting unit 52 Pressing unit 52 Fall prevention wall 53 Area where fall prevention wall is not provided 54 Cap moving unit 55 Inclined surface 56 Conveyor 58 Photography device 59 Drive device 60 Discrimination control unit 62 Accumulation unit 64 Shooter unit 65 Jam prevention device 66 Reciprocating rod 67 Window 68 Feeding device 69 Guide groove 70 Rotating shaft 71 Rotating body 74 Drive device 75 Fixed stopper 76 Sensor 78 Final alignment unit 80 Sensor 82 Control unit 84 Grip unit 85 Base unit 86 Claw 86a Diameter reduction unit 86b Diameter expansion unit 88 Through holes 90a to 90d Plate-like member 91 Bolts 92a to 92c Connecting member 93 Slot 95 Up-down movement device 96 Bolt 97 Through hole 98 Expandable unit 99 Mounting unit 100 Moving device (moving device)
100a Rod 104 Pressing portion mounting plate 106 Vertical movement device 108 Vertical movement guide 110 Buffer member (spring)
A Entrance section B Middle section C Container placement section d Width

Claims (6)

A capping device that attaches caps to cultivation bottles arranged in multiple rows and columns in a container,
A container placement section in which a container containing a plurality of the cultivation bottles is placed;
a storage box in which the caps are stored;
a cap removal device having a lower end portion inserted into the storage box and moving from below to above to remove caps from the storage box;
a discrimination device that discriminates the front and back of each cap taken out by the cap take-out device, and when the discriminated front and back of the cap is different from a preset orientation, eliminates the cap whose front and back is different from the preset orientation;
an alignment unit in which the caps are arranged with their back surfaces facing downwards in rows equal in number to the rows of the cultivation bottles accommodated in the container;
The apparatus is provided with a mounting section that has gripping sections for gripping the caps aligned in the alignment section, the same number as the number of cultivation bottles contained in the container, and that grips multiple caps with the multiple gripping sections and operates to attach the multiple caps gripped by the gripping sections to each cultivation bottle in the container arranged in the container arrangement section ,
The mounting portion is
an expansion/contraction section in which a plurality of plate-like members provided with a plurality of gripping sections are connected to each other so as to be expandable and contractible;
a moving device that moves the extension/contraction section from the alignment section to the container placement section,
When the moving device moves the extension section to the container placement section, it pulls the plate-like member of the extension section that is located closest to the container placement section, so that the spacing between the plate-like members in the extension section is the same as the spacing between the cultivation bottles contained in the container,
A cap mounting device characterized in that when the moving device moves the extension section to the alignment section, it presses the plate-shaped member of the extension section that is located closest to the container placement section, so that the spacing between each plate-shaped member in the extension section is the same as the spacing between the caps aligned in the alignment section . The cap removal device
a belt-like member whose lower end enters the storage box, whose surface is parallel to the vertical direction, and which rotates along the vertical direction;
a plurality of cap mounting plates are provided along the vertical direction so as to protrude from the surface of the belt-shaped member and form a gap between the surface of the belt-shaped member and the cap mounting plates, the gap being narrower than the total thickness of the caps and wider than the thickness of the large diameter portions of the caps;
the plurality of cap placement plates are provided so as to be inclined with respect to the horizontal direction toward either one of the width directions of the belt-shaped member,
a fall prevention wall disposed on a side of the belt-shaped member along the inclination direction of the cap placement plate to prevent the caps from falling off the belt-shaped member, the fall prevention wall being provided up to a predetermined height position from the storage box;
The cap mounting device described in claim 1, characterized in that at the specified height position where the fall prevention wall is not provided, a cap moving section is provided that is connected to the location where the fall prevention wall is not provided and rolls and moves the cap that rolls out from the cap loading plate of the belt-shaped member to the alignment section while keeping the front or back surface of the cap parallel in the vertical direction. The discrimination device is
a determination control unit that determines whether the front and back of the cap moving on the cap moving unit are on a preset side;
The cap mounting device according to claim 2, further comprising an air injection device that injects air into a cap whose front and back are determined by the discrimination control unit to be different from a predetermined orientation, thereby causing the cap to fall from the cap moving unit. The alignment unit includes:
A cap mounting device as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that guide grooves in which caps whose orientation has been preset by the discrimination device are stored with their backs facing downwards are formed in the same number as the rows of cultivation bottles stored in the container, and each guide groove is arranged at the same intervals as the spacing between the cultivation bottles stored in the container, and further each guide groove is formed in the shape of a chute that allows caps whose front or back surfaces are parallel in the vertical direction after passing through the discrimination device to fall and move with their back surfaces facing downwards, and is arranged so that the caps are aligned with their back surfaces facing downwards at the tip of the chute shape. The mounting portion has a through hole formed at the center of the plurality of gripping portions,
A cap mounting device as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that above the mounting section in the container placement section there are multiple pressing sections located above multiple gripping sections and which press the caps held by the multiple gripping sections through the through holes to fit them into the cultivation bottle. The cap attachment device described in claim 5, characterized in that each pressing portion is attached via a buffer member to a pressing portion mounting plate that moves the pressing portion up and down.