JPS6122937B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for stamping rice balls to make rice balls and automatically packaging the rice balls one by one.

Traditionally, rice balls have been produced in factories and sold over the counter, but in this case, it is necessary to wrap the rice balls in a non-breathable sheet to prevent them from drying out and from getting dusty.

However, there was a problem in that it took a lot of time and effort to package it beautifully and uniformly by hand, resulting in high costs.

Therefore, the inventor of the present application previously performed a step of covering the rice ball 9 with the packaging sheet S (FIG. 12B), a step of folding the edge of the covered sheet upward (FIG. 12D), and a step of folding the upper end edges of the sheet S ₄ , S ₄ We have proposed a method and apparatus for automatically packaging rice balls by folding them so that they overlap each other (Fig. 12F) (Japanese Patent Application No. 157093/1983).

The above device successfully achieved automatic packaging of rice balls, but as a result of further research into this device, the applicant found that
Since the process of folding the sheet upward (process D) and the process of folding the upper edge pieces S ₄ and S ₄ of the sheet so that they overlap each other (process F) are performed at the same work station, there is a time loss. I learned that

In addition, it was necessary to reduce the production capacity of the rice ball embossing production device connected to the packaging device.

The present invention maximizes the capabilities of the embossing device and the packaging device by combining a known turntable-type rice ball embossing device and a turntable-type packaging device that is a feature of the present invention.
The purpose is to improve production capacity and downsize the equipment.

The present invention will be specifically described below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIGS. 12A to 12F show the packaging order of the embodiment when the triangular rice balls 9 are packaged with a rectangular sheet S.

Sheet S is made of non-breathable thermoplastic synthetic resin, and width _W1 is the length of one side of triangular rice ball 9.
Slightly longer than W ₂ , length l ₁ is the triangular height of the rice ball
A little longer than twice the length of l ₂ plus the thickness of the onigiri.

In addition, the sheet S in the example is composed of two films S ₀ and S ₀
It is formed into a bag shape by overlapping the sheets and heat welding the outer peripheral edges, and the sheet-like seaweed 90 is housed in the bag.

First, as shown in FIG. 12A, the sheet S is placed horizontally below the packaging turntable 2, which has a mold hole 22 that is slightly larger than the outline of the triangular rice ball. Mold hole 11
Place the origiri 9 in accordance with the direction of. At this time, one side edge of the rice ball 9 is parallel to an imaginary line _S1 dividing the sheet S into 1/2 at the center in the longitudinal direction.

Next, the rice ball 9 is pushed up and passed through the mold hole 22 of the turntable 21 together with the sheet S, and at this time, the sheet S is pushed up along the three sides 9 of the rice ball by the edge of the hole.
Fold it downward along lines 1, 92, and 92 (Figure 12B). At this time, the top surface and three sides of the rice ball are wrapped at once by the folded pieces S ₂ , S ₃ , and S ₃ of the sheet.

At this point, move the rice ball horizontally to the bottom side of the triangular rice ball indicated by the arrow p, hang the folded piece _S2 hanging from the bottom over the edge of the mold hole 22, and form the triangular rice ball 9.
Fold it towards the bottom side.

At this time, the tips of the two triangular folded pieces S ₃ and S ₃ are folded outward at the same time (FIG. 12C).

Fold one end of the square folded piece _S2 upward along the two sides of the rice ball (Figure 12D).

One edge piece _S4 of the sheet protruding above the top surface of the rice ball is folded over the rice ball, and the overlapping portion is heat welded _S5 (Fig. 12E).

Furthermore, the remaining sheet edge piece _S4 is placed on top of the rice ball in the same manner as above and heat welded _S5 (FIG. 12F).

The triangular rice balls are packaged through the above steps.

Details of the packaging device 2 for packaging rice balls according to the above procedure will be described later, but a known turntable-type rice ball embossing device 1 is connected to the packaging device 2.

The rice ball embossing device 1 has an embossing turntable 11 placed near one end of a base 10 and rotatable in a horizontal plane, and triangular through-holes 12 are formed at equal pitches on the outer periphery of the turntable 11. A plurality of locations, six in this embodiment, are provided.

The turntable 11 is connected to an intermittent rotation device 10, and during one rotation of the intermittent rotation, each mold hole 12 moves to six stations A, B, C, D, E,
Stop at F in order.

The stations A, B, C, D, E, and F are, in the direction of rotation of the table, a cooked rice supply station A, a hole punching station B, a station C for putting ingredients such as umeboshi, an embossing station D, a die cutting station E, Spare stations F are arranged in order.

The cooked rice supplying station A is equipped with a cooked rice supplying device 13 that manually or automatically feeds a predetermined amount of cooked rice into the mold hole 12. Above the mold hole 12 located at the punching station B and the embossing station D, A drilling rod 1 protruding downward from the horizontal lifting plate 14
5 and a triangular embossing plate 16 are located.

As shown in FIG. 3, a mold hole 12 corresponding to the mold cutting station E is provided on the lower surface of the mold pressing turntable 11.
A closing plate 17 is provided that closes the lower openings of all the remaining mold holes except for that part.

Immediately below the mold hole 12 corresponding to the mold cutting station E, a push-up member 18 is provided to push up the rice ball in the mold hole.

A sheet feeding device 3 is provided above the die-cutting station G as shown in FIG.

The sheet feeding device 3 has two endless belts 32, 32 stretched in parallel, with an interval narrower than the width of the sheet S and slightly longer than the length of one side of the rice ball between the pair of rotating shafts 31, 31. , a rotational drive device (not shown) is connected to one rotating shaft 31, and the belt 3
The downstream ends of 2 and 32 are located above the mold hole 12 corresponding to the mold cutting station G of the rice ball mold pressing device 1.

A sheet stocker 33 is provided above the upstream end of the sheet feeding device 3, and a plurality of horizontal bars 34 for supporting the sheets S are provided at the bottom of the stocker 33.

A rotary sheet pull-out member 35 is provided below the stocker 33, and the pull-out member 35 is rotatably fitted into a suction pipe 36 having a partially open outer circumference, and is connected to the belt drive device to be connected to the belt 32. It rotates at the same timing.

A suction port 37 is opened in a part of the outer periphery of the drawer member 35, and when the suction port 37 faces the rear end of the lowest sheet S in the stocker 33, the suction port 37 communicates with the opening 38 of the suction pipe 36. When the sheet S is taken out by suction, and the pull-out member 35 is rotated approximately 180 degrees and the sheet S is placed on the belts 32, 32, the suction port 37 of the suction port 37 corresponds to the wall surface of the pipe. The suction action of is no longer present, and the sheet S is released onto the belt 32 and transported downstream by the belt 32.

The packaging device 2 has a packaging turntable 21 with mold holes 22 formed on the outer periphery at the same pitch as the arrangement pitch of the mold holes 12 of the embossing turntable 11.
It is arranged so as to be freely rotatable in a horizontal plane so as to be aligned directly above the mold hole 22 corresponding to one mold cutting station G.

The packaging turntable 21 is connected to the intermittent rotation device 19 of the rice ball embossing turntable 11, and both tables 11 and 12 rotate intermittently in synchronization, and the six packaging stations G, H,
Stops at I, J, K, and L in order.

The stations G to L include an input station G, a folding station H, a first selvedge folding station I, a second selvedge folding station J, an ejection station K, and a spare station L, which are arranged in this order in the direction of rotation of the table. .

The loading station E overlaps the die cutting station G of the die pressing device 1, and the positions of the die holes 12 and 22 of each of the tables 11 and 12 are vertically aligned at the stations E and G.

The mold holes 22 of the packaging turntable 21 are opened slightly larger than the mold holes 12 of the embossing turntable 11, and each mold hole 22 of the packaging turntable 21 is located on the upstream side with respect to the rotation direction of the turntable 21. As shown in FIGS. 4, 5, and 6, rims 4, 4 are disposed on two edges that sandwich the apex of the rim so as to be movable back and forth.

The rim 4 is a metal plate bent into an inverted L-shape, and a horizontal plate 4
A pair of support shafts 42, 42 protruding downward from 1
A long through hole 21a formed in the turntable 21
It is fitted so that it can move back and forth.

A retaining nut 43 is attached to the lower end of the support shaft 42.

The rim 4 is inserted into the mold hole 2 on the inner surface of the vertical plate 44 of the rim 4.
A leaf spring 45 is provided that biases toward the center of 1.

Furthermore, the horizontal plate 41 of the rim 4 and the turntable 2
1 has shaft holes 46, 21b into which driving shafts 52, 52 (to be described later) are fitted. Shaft hole 4 of rim 4
6 and 46 are opened slightly closer to the center of the mold hole 22 than the shaft hole 21b of the turntable 21, and both shaft holes 46 and 21b are connected to the support shaft 42 and the long hole 21a.
The position is shifted according to the margin of.

A closing plate (not shown) is provided on the lower surface of the packaging turntable 21 to close the lower openings of mold holes other than those corresponding to the input station G, folding station H, and discharge station K.

As shown in FIG. 4, above the packaging turntable 21 is a mold hole 22 that stops at a charging station G.
A protruding member 5 is provided which passes through the folding station H to fold the rice balls thrown in from below and projects them to the station H.

The protruding member 5 has a protruding block 51 protruding from the tip of a swinging arm 50 which is rotatable in a horizontal plane about the center of rotation of the turntable 21 and has a V-shaped notch 53 into which a rice ball is fitted. It is composed of

A pair of driving shafts 52, 52, 52, 52 are provided on both sides of the notch 53 of the protruding block 51 so as to be able to slide vertically through the block 51, and each driving shaft 52 is supported by a spring 54. It is urged upward and is connected to the solenoid 55.

Due to the action of the solenoid 55, the driving shaft 52 descends against the spring 54, and as shown in FIG.
fits into the hole 46 of the table 21 and the hole 21b of the table 21,
At this time, the edge metal 4 is
By moving the rice ball backwards, the rice ball can pass through with a little margin when it is pushed up.

The protruding member 5 is connected to a rotational drive device (not shown) and reciprocates between the loading station G and the folding station H.

As shown in Figure 7, the folding station H has a mold hole 2.
A stopper 56 for the protrusion member 5 is provided close to the upper surface of the table 21 along the downstream hole edge of the table 21.

A presser member 6 is provided above the folding station H. The holding member 6 is attached to two upstream sides 61a, 6 of a triangular holding plate 61 corresponding to the mold hole 22.
1b, a pair of pushing plates 62 along the edge of the mold hole 22,
62 protrudes downward.

A receiving member 63 shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 is disposed below the folding station H so as to be movable up and down.
It is formed by horizontally protruding a triangular receiving plate 65 corresponding to No. 2.

An ear piece folding device 7 is disposed astride the first ear piece folding station I and the second ear piece folding station J.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the ear piece folding device 7 has a plurality of gears (seven gears 71 in the embodiment) pivoted in a row so that adjacent gears mesh with each other on the lower surface of a horizontal board 70. The rotational drive shaft 7 is attached to the gear 71a at the end.
2 are connected.

The second gear 71b from the outer end and the inner gear 7
1c is fitted onto the support shafts 73, 73 so as to be freely rotatable and movable up and down, and is biased upward by a spring 74. Front cams 75, 75 are provided above the two gears 71b, 71c, and both gears 71
A protrusion 76 that corresponds to the cam 75 is provided protruding from b and 71c.

A spatula plate 77 bent in an L-shape is provided protruding from the front of the two gears 71b and 71c.

The rotation of the drive shaft 72 causes the gears 71 to rotate simultaneously, and at this time, the two gears 71b and 71c are lowered by the cam 75 while rotating.

The outer spatula plate 77 rotates counterclockwise at the first lug folding station I as shown by arrow _P1 in FIG. It rotates clockwise at the single-folding station J and stops at the center of the mold cavity 2.

A notch 79 is formed at the tip of both spatula plates 77, 78 into which a heat welding heating piece 81 (described later) enters.

As shown in FIG. 7, above the ear piece folding device 7, a heat welding device 8 is provided spanning the first ear piece folding station I and the second ear piece folding station J.

The heat welding device 8 is connected to a heater 84 directly above the mold holes 22 and 22 that are stopped at the first and second folding stations I and J of a horizontal plate 83 whose outer end is connected to a vertical drive shaft 82. A heated piece 85 is provided to protrude downward.

Immediately above the mold hole 22 corresponding to the discharge station K, a pushing plate 24 for pushing out the rice balls in the mold hole 22 downward is provided, and the pushing plate 24 is connected to the lifting plate 14 of the rice ball stamping device 1. A downwardly projecting portion is provided at the tip of the arm plate 25.

A discharge belt conveyor 26 is provided below the discharge station K.

Arm 50 of protruding member 5, ear piece folding device 7
The rotational drive shaft 72 is connected to a rotational drive device (not shown) provided in the base 10, and the elevating plate 14,
The holding member 6, the receiving member 63, and the heat welding device 8 are connected to a vertical movement device (not shown) provided in the base 10, and perform the following operations.

Embossing rice balls Rice is supplied to the mold hole 12 at the rice supply station A, and a hole is made in the rice in the mold hole 12 by the perforating rod 15 that descends at the punching station B. The tool is manually or automatically supplied to the hole at C, and the embossing station D
The rice is embossed by the embossment board 16 that descends to form rice balls.

Packaging of rice balls The push-up member 18 is raised at the die-cutting station E, and the rice balls 9 pass through the die hole 22 of the turntable 21 of the rice ball packaging device 2 from the die hole 12 to the height of the upper surface of the packaging turntable 21. Pushed up to the limit.

At this time, the rice ball 9 straddles the belts 32, 32 of the sheet feeding device 3, lifts the waiting sheet S, and fills the mold hole 2 of the packaging turntable 21.
In order to pass through, the rice ball 9 is covered with a sheet S as shown in FIG. 12B.

Next, while the packaging turntable 21 is stopped, the protruding member 5 operates to eject the rice ball 9 to the folding station H. At the folding station H, as shown in FIG. 10, the receiving material 63 is in the raised position, that is, fitted into the mold hole 22 of the turntable 21 and waiting at the height of the upper surface of the table 21, and receives the rice ball 9. When the rice ball is pushed out by the projecting member 5 as described above, the portion S ₂ hanging below the sheet S in FIG. 12B
is folded into the underside of the rice ball as shown in Figure 12C.

The press member 6 descends against the rice ball on the folding station H, presses the top surface of the rice ball with the press plate 61, and presses the top of the rice ball with the press plates 62, 62.
Press down on the sides. At the same time, the receiving member 63 is lowered and the rice ball 9 is fitted into the mold hole 22 of the packaging turntable 21 as shown in FIG.

The protruding member 5 returns to the original input station G, and the presser member 6 rises.

At this time, the sheet S covering the rice ball is the 11th sheet.
As shown in Figure 12D, both ears S ₄ and S ₄ are in the mold hole 2
2 and emerges above the turntable 21.

The packaging turntable 21 rotates one pitch,
The rice ball 9 in the mold hole 22 is moved to the first edge folding station I.

The ear piece folding device 7 operates, and the spatula plate 77 of the first ear piece folding station I approaches the table 21 by the cam 75 as shown in FIGS _. Fold the outer edge piece _S4 of the table ₂₁ so that it overlaps the rice ball 9.

Almost at the same time, the thermal welding device 8 descends, and the heating piece 85 presses the sheet S from the notch 79 of the spatula plate 77, welding and fixing the lug _S4 .

The spatula plate 77 returns to its original position, and the heating piece 85 rises.

The turntable 21 rotates one pitch, and the mold hole 2
The rice ball in 2 is the 2nd ear folding station J
Move to. At the station J, the remaining ear piece _S4 is folded onto the rice ball by the spatula plate 78, as in the first ear piece folding station I, and is thermally welded to complete the packaging as shown in FIG. 12F.

The packaging turntable 21 rotates one pitch,
The rice balls 9 packaged in the mold holes 22 are moved to a discharge station K, where they are pushed out by a push-out plate 24 onto a discharge conveyor 26 below.

The above operation is performed on both tables 1 for embossing and packaging.
By repeating steps 1 and 21 every one pitch rotation, wrapped rice balls can be manufactured continuously.

As described above, the present invention uses the turntable 11 to efficiently make rice balls, and uses the packaging turntable 21 to move the rice balls one by one and sequentially wrap them.
There is less time loss and manufacturing efficiency is improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a plan view of the rice ball manufacturing device, Figure 2 is a side view of the same as above, Figure 3 is a front view of the sheet feeding device, Figure 4 is a slope view of the protruding member, and Figure 5 is the state in which the rim is attached. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view near the driving shaft, FIG. 7 is a holding member, a lug folding device,
An oblique view of the thermal welding device, FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the selvedge folding device, and FIG. 9 is a front view of the selvedge folding device.
FIGS. 10 and 11 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the presser member, and FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of the packaging order. 1... Rice ball embossing device, 11... Turntable, 12... Mold hole, 18... Push-up member, 2
...Rice ball packaging device, 21...Turntable, 22...Mold hole, 3...Sheet feeding device, 4...
...Brim, 5...Protrusion member, 6...Press member, 7
...Ear piece folding device, 8...Heat welding device, 9...
Onigiri, S... sheet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An embossing turntable 11, which is arranged so as to be able to rotate intermittently on a base 10 and has a plurality of rice ball mold holes 12 formed at equal pitches on its outer periphery, is arranged in a circle around the turntable. A plurality of work stations, including a rice supply station, an embossing station, and a die cutting station, which are installed in Die-cutting station E of rice ball embossing device 1
A sheet feeding device 3 which is placed over the top and feeds the packaging sheets one by one intermittently onto a die-cutting station E, and a mold hole 22 which is placed above the sheet feeding device 3 and into which the rice balls fit are formed on the outer periphery. The mold holes 22 are opened at equal pitches and are arranged so as to be able to rotate intermittently so that one of the mold holes 22 is located directly above the mold hole 12 of the mold stamping turntable 11 at the mold cutting station E of the rice ball mold pressing device 1. packaging turntable 21 and the die cutting station E
A push-up member is disposed below and pushes up the rice balls in the mold hole 12 of the embossing turntable 11 through the sheet feeding device 3 and the mold hole 22 of the packaging turntable 21 to the height of the upper surface of the turntable 21. 18, the rice ball placed above the packaging turntable 11 and pushed up by the pushing up member 18 is directed toward the rotating direction of the turntable 1.
a protrusion member 5 that protrudes into the folding station H on the downstream side of the pitch; a presser member 6 that is movably disposed above the folding station H and pushes the rice ball protruded to the station H into a mold hole 22 that is stopped at the station H; , a receiving member 63 that is disposed so as to be movable up and down below the folding station H and that supports the rice balls by appearing in and out of the mold hole 22 that stops at the station H; Sheet ear piece S ₄ that is deployed and protrudes above the mold hole 22
This rice ball manufacturing device is comprised of an ear piece folding device 7 which folds the rice balls so as to overlap each other using a pair of spatula plates 77 and 78. 2 The ear piece folding station includes a first ear piece folding station I and a second ear piece folding station J provided downstream of the folding station, and one spatula plate is provided for each ear piece folding station I, J. A rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1.