JPS5917684B2 - Alignment device for rectangular objects such as tape cases - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an apparatus for aligning rectangular objects such as tape cases.

The object of the present invention is to manufacture various rectangular bodies, such as tape cases for incorporating magnetic tapes, plastic cases for storing cassette tapes, resin molded products such as pencil cases, and other rectangular bodies used in various production processes. An object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement device for rectangular objects such as tape cases, which can be arranged in a predetermined direction.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a rectangular body having a substantially cubic projection piece formed at one corner of either the front surface or the back surface, and to adjust the distance or offset of two opposing sides. - To provide a device for aligning rectangular bodies, which comprises an aligning section and a second aligning section for regulating the front or back sides.

The present invention was made with the purpose of tilting, and in the process of various machining processes or various production processes, it is necessary to adjust the direction in advance in only one direction, for example, the horizontal direction or the vertical direction, and to This is a rectangular body whose two sides or the front and back sides are irregular, all of which are adjusted to the same predetermined state for the benefit of post-processing.One embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

First, to describe the main structure, in each figure (1 is the supply path for the rectangular body a that is regulated in advance only in the horizontal or vertical direction and is fed. For example, there is a protruding piece at one corner of the lower surface. A1 is formed so that the rectangular body a having a desired shape can be transported, for example, while being maintained in the lateral direction, that is, the longitudinal direction in the illustration.

Note that the supply path 1 is constituted by a conveying means such as a belt or dead weight.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a first alignment section that is connected to the supply path 1 and is configured to allow two opposing sides to be aligned in a certain direction.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a transfer path that can gravity-transfer the rectangular body a, which is regulated in a certain direction on one of the two opposing sides at the second alignment section 2, by gravity, and a front and back side for detecting the front and back sides of the rectangular body a. The detection element 20 is positioned on one side of the middle (on the right side in FIGS. 1 and 4) at a position slightly higher than the thickness of the rectangular body.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a second aligning section connected to the transfer path 3, which is a mechanical section that can align the rectangular body a in one direction, either front or back.

The second alignment section 4 includes a placing section 5, and the arrival confirmation element 21 for the rectangular body a faces near the surface of the central placing section 5 on the inner surface of the rear wall 5a.

Furthermore, discharge passages 7 and 8 are provided on both sides of the mounting section 5,
Furthermore, a U-shaped reversing path 9 is vertically connected to one of the discharge paths 8, and the reversing path 9 and the discharge path 7 are merged to form a lead-out path 10.

In addition, on both sides of the mounting section 5, a rectangular body a on the mounting section 5 (
- Air shooters 11 and 12 that can blow air into either of the discharge passages 7 or 8 are arranged opposite to each other.

Next, we will explain the detailed structure and operation.

First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the first alignment section 2 is arranged to align the upper and lower sides of the front and back sides of a rectangular object a, such as a container (or lid) of a case that stores a cassette tape. It is designed to regulate in a certain direction by finding the difference in shape, for example, the one shown in the figure supplies the protruding piece a1 at one corner of the lower surface of the case of the container (or lid body) constituting the set tape. A U-shaped detection element 15 is provided on one side of the supply channel 10 to enable electrical detection during the supply process through the channel 1.

The supply channel 1 has a middle and high part 1 in the center as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
Since the rectangular body a is formed at 0.degree. C., both ends are hollow, and when the rectangular body a passes through this portion, the protruding piece a1 passes through this portion, and the detection element 15 is mounted so as to face this passage.

The upper and lower distance between the U-shaped elements of the detection element 15 is the protrusion piece a1.
They are designed to contact each other even if they face upward or downward (misaligned), but if the opposite side without the protruding piece a1, that is, the upper side of the rectangular body a, passes, they will not contact each other.

The first alignment section 2 includes a pair of slide rails 16, 1 installed at the center of the opening 13 along the traveling direction of the rectangular body a, and provided at a slightly upward parallel position symmetrically with respect to the distribution bar 19.
6', air cylinder 17, 1 to operate them
7', and further comprises a contact confirmation element 18 which is installed on the inner surface of the opening 13 above the end of the rod 19, and which stops the advance of the rectangular body a and at the same time detects contact.

Note that the slide rails 16 and 16' are always in a state of being advanced inward.

The temperature detection element 15 is mounted on one side of the middle of the supply path 1 as shown in FIG.
When the cylinder passes through the detection element 15 side and enters the -th alignment section 2 and presses the contact confirmation element 18, the cylinder 17 retreats due to the signals from the detection element 15 and the contact confirmation element 18, and the slide rail 16 is pulled in and the rectangular body a is in the state shown by the solid line in FIG.
Fall down with 1 facing down.

When the projection piece a4 of the rectangular body a is placed in the supply path 1 and passes the opposite side of the detection element 150 and presses the contact confirmation element 18, the cylinder 17' and the slide rail 16' are activated, and the same occurs. The protruding pieces a1 fall down, and the alignment of the protruding pieces a1 is adjusted from four ways: top and bottom, front and back, to two ways: only front and back.

In other words, the rectangular body a advances with the edge on the side where the protruding piece a1 is located forward, with either the front side or the back side shifted by degrees Celsius.

The rectangular body a whose protrusion piece a1 has been regulated in one direction on the lower side in the first alignment section 2 is guided to the placement section 5 of the second alignment section 4 via the transfer path 3, as shown in FIG. Projection piece a1 like
The front and back sides of the rectangular body a are discriminated depending on whether or not the rectangular body a comes into contact with the front and back detection element 20. That is, in this example, the lower side of the protruding piece a1 is in the leading position.

In addition, to explain in detail the detection situation by the front/back detection element 20, when the rectangular body a slides down the transfer path 3 in the "front" attitude with the protruding piece a1 facing upward as shown in FIG. Since the detection element 20 is provided at a position slightly higher than the thickness of the rectangular body a, the rectangular body a passes through it without contacting it and reaches the mounting portion 5.

On the other hand, as shown in (■) in the figure, when the rectangular body a is in the "back" position with the protruding piece a1 facing downward, the detecting element 20 side of the rectangular body a is raised due to the protruding piece a1. Since it is in an inclined state, it contacts the detection element 20, and more specifically, the detection element 20 has its detection rod 20a aligned with the rectangular body a.
Since it comes into contact with the back surface of the controller and rotates, it operates and sends a signal to an operator (not shown).

Therefore, when the rectangular body a that has reached and been placed on the placing section 5 becomes "front" as shown in FIG. 1 and presses the arrival confirmation element 21, there is no signal from the front/back detection element 20. Since the valve 12 is opened for a certain timer setting time, the rectangular body a is discharged to one side of the discharge passage 7 by the action of high-pressure air and remains in the outlet part 10 in a "front" state. sent out.

In addition, while the rectangular body a is in the "back" state as described above,
That is, the height of the protruding piece a1 is higher than the thickness of the rectangular body a (after contacting the front/back detection element 20 while passing through the transfer path 3 in an upright posture, it is placed on the mounting section 5 and the arrival confirmation element 21 When pressed, the element 21 and the front/back detection element 20
The valve of the other air shooter 11 is opened for a certain timer setting time by the action of an operator (not shown) which receives a signal from , and further, the reversing path 9
The orientation is reversed from "back" to "front" and aligned in the lead-out path 10 in the same state as in the above case.

Therefore, the second alignment section 4 is supplied with only one "front" and "back" of the rectangular body a whose two opposing sides are regulated in a certain direction. In this case, it is possible to adjust an irregular state to a "table" state,
This allows all the rectangular bodies a to be aligned in a predetermined direction.

Although the embodiments of the first alignment section 2 and the second alignment section 4 of this embodiment have been disclosed above, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and the Other configurations in which the two sides of
It includes all other configurations that can be made with the following rules.

The present invention can be widely used to regulate the orientation of various rectangular bodies in a predetermined direction, such as rectangular bodies with different lengths on the top, bottom, left and right, or square bodies with equal lengths on the top, bottom, left and right, as shown in the paper, and this invention can also be used as a regulating strategy. are the two opposite sides of the rectangular body (
・First, in the first stage, align one side with 1 level, then in the second stage, level the front or back with 1 level, and () Since the transfer is carried out in a continuous transfer process, it is extremely efficient and has the feature that it can be carried out accurately with a simple structure.

Furthermore, since the present invention is constructed with a first alignment part and a second alignment part, there is no waste, the composition can be made compact, and it has the effect that it can be used as an alignment means for various rectangular bodies.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cut-away perspective view of the main structure of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are line ■-■ in FIG.
4 is an explanatory perspective view showing the relationship between the protruding pieces of the rectangular body passing through the transfer path and the front and back detection elements, and Figure ” (・
Figure 3 shows the case where the rectangular body is on the back side. 1...... Supply channel, 1a... Middle and high part, 2...... th alignment part, 3......
... Transfer path, 4... Second alignment section, 5.
...... Placement section, 5a... Rear wall, 7,
8...Discharge path, 9...Reverse path,
10... Outlet path, 11, 12... Air shooter 113... Opening, 15...
...Detection element, 16, 16'...Slide rail, 17, 17'...Air cylinder,
18...Contact confirmation element, 19...Distributing rod, 20...Front and back detection element, 21...
・Arrival confirmation element.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rectangular object such as a tape case with a protrusion in the shape of a cube on one corner of the front or back surface is arranged horizontally or vertically in a fixed direction, and a middle height is provided in the center. A supply channel is provided on one side with a detection element that detects the position of the protruding piece by the passage of the rectangular body, and a supply channel is provided at the center of an opening connected to the supply channel along the traveling direction of the rectangular body. For the distribution, a rod is installed, and the distribution is made from the detection element and the contact confirmation element installed on the inner surface of the opening above the end of the rod, at a parallel position symmetrically above the rod. a pair of slide rails each reciprocated by an air cylinder operated in response to a signal from the rectangular body; A front/back detection element is located below the supply path, extends downward in a direction substantially perpendicular to the supply path, and detects the presence or absence of contact with a protruding piece when passing between the front and back sides of the rectangular body. A transfer path is erected at the required height, and an arrival confirmation element that detects the arrival by contact with a rectangular body faces the center of the inner surface of the rear wall of the loading section connected to the transfer path. A discharge path is provided on both sides of the writing section, and a reversing path that is connected vertically to one of the discharge paths and a lead-out path that joins the other discharge path is provided, and A pair of air shooters are disposed facing each other on both sides of the rectangular body, each operating in response to a signal from a front/back detection element and an arrival confirmation element to blow air down to a desired discharge path. A device for aligning a rectangular object such as a tape case, comprising a second aligning section for aligning the rectangular object such as a tape case.