JPS6234634B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention relates to a bottling method and apparatus.

``Problems to be solved by conventional technology and inventions'' The normal bottling method used in bottling factories involves continuously transporting bottles in a line, and placing air cleaners, filling equipment, caps, etc. on the side of the line. Bottles are then drawn from the transfer line into each device, processed, and returned to the line.

Generally, the transfer line is straight and the bottle feed and bottle delivery ends are separated by a considerable distance. Further, a conveyor for transferring cases, containers, etc. is provided in parallel with the transfer line.

Bottles are delivered from container manufacturers in cases, containers, etc., and at the bottle supply end, workers manually take them out of the cases, containers, etc., feed them in line with the transfer line, and empty them into empty cases and containers. etc. are placed on a conveyor and sent to the bottle delivery end, where another worker stores the processed bottles again in the case, container, etc. to which they were sent.

However, this conventional method has the following drawbacks.

The equipment is quite large, takes up a lot of space, and is complex.

When taking bottles in and out of cases, containers, etc., glass bottles may break, chip, or crack, while plastic bottles may suffer from less damage, but may suffer from deterioration in physical properties, deformation, discoloration, etc. There is.

A bottle is contaminated by a worker's tentacles.

Incidentally, although the supply of bottles and the storage of processed bottles into cases, containers, etc., are automated, they are still large-scale and take up an entire factory building.

Furthermore, for automatic feeding, an electromagnetic feeder or the like is used to feed the bottles using vibration, but since the bottles may be damaged due to collisions, etc., an inspection process is usually provided to remove damaged bottles before starting the processing process.

This inspection is not easy to automate due to the wide variety of bottle damage and generally relies on the visual inspection of the inspector, who must visually follow the bottles as they flow through the transfer line at a considerable speed. It is very tiring, has low reliability, and requires a lot of training.

The present invention seeks to eliminate these drawbacks.

"Means for Solving the Problem" The first aspect of the present invention is to transport a case containing a large number of bottles in rows and columns on a belt conveyor, and on the way, the bottles in the case are taken out row by row by a loader. Then, the intervals are adjusted and the pieces are sent one after another to a continuously operating air cleaner, where they are cleaned one after another, and then transferred one after another to a continuously running chain conveyor, where they are transported. Bottles are continuously filled with contents and caps are attached using a rotary type filling device and a capper installed in parallel to the chain wheel for stretching the chain conveyor, and the processed bottles are sequentially transferred from the chain conveyor by an unloader. This bottling method is characterized in that the bottles are taken out and put together at regular intervals in row units, and then returned to empty cases transported by a belt conveyor one after another in row units and sent out.

Further, the second invention provides a belt conveyor that introduces cases containing a large number of bottles in rows and columns;
A chain conveyor for conveying bottles, which forms a horizontal loop, is arranged parallel to the belt conveyor and runs continuously in synchronization with the belt conveyor;
a loader disposed at an intermediate portion on the upstream side of the belt conveyor and installed to extract bottles line by line from the case introduced therein; a continuously operating air cleaner that receives bottles from the loader, cleans them, and sends them to the chain conveyor; A rotary-type filling device installed in parallel with the upstream chain wheel that stretches the chain conveyor, a rotary-type capper installed in parallel with the downstream chain wheel of the chain conveyor, and a rotary-type filling device installed in parallel with the downstream chain wheel of the chain conveyor, and a rotary-type filling device installed in parallel with the downstream chain wheel of the chain conveyor; This bottling device is characterized by comprising an unloader that takes out processed bottles in rows from downstream of the chain conveyor and returns and stores them one after another into empty cases that are subsequently transferred by the belt conveyor.

``Operation'' With the above structure, when a case containing a large number of bottles in rows and columns is placed on a belt conveyor, the bottles are pulled out row by row by the loader and individually transported to the loader position. The air is sent one after another to an air cleaner, where it is continuously cleaned by the air cleaner, and then transferred to a chain conveyor one after another.

Each bottle on the chain conveyor is continuously conveyed, and along the way, the bottles are continuously filled with contents by a filling device, and caps are continuously attached by a capper.

After the caps have been attached, the bottles are grouped into rows by the unloader, and stored in empty cases, row by row, which are subsequently transported by the belt conveyor, and sent out by the belt conveyor.

``Example'' The illustrated example relates to bottling plastic sample bottles for cosmetics, and Figure 1 shows the configuration. A large number of bottles A are stored in rows and columns in case B and transported, and each case is introduced and automatically processed.

Then, the case B is introduced by the belt conveyor 1, and the bottles A in the case B are picked up row by row by the loader 3, and the intervals between the bottles are adjusted to a predetermined value, and the bottles are sent one after another to the rotary air cleaner 4. They are cleaned with the air cleaner 4 and transferred one after another to the adjacent continuously running chain conveyor 2. That is, it is brought to the chain conveyor 2 via the air cleaner 4.

This transfer is performed at an appropriate location between the two chain wheels 21 and 22 that span the chain conveyor 2, avoiding the chain wheel location.
At the chain wheels 21 and 22, a rotary type filling device 5 and a capper 6 are provided, respectively, to fill the bottles A continuously conveyed by the chain conveyor 2 with liquid and cover them with caps C. Tighten.

In this way, the bottles A... that have gone around the route of the chain conveyor 2 and have been processed are taken out one after another by the unloader 7, and are grouped at predetermined intervals in a line in the number of row units, and transferred to the belt conveyor 1. One after another, they are re-accommodated into empty case B, which is subsequently transferred, and sent out.

Note that necessary measures may be taken between the filling device 5 and the capper 6 using the printing device 8, the filling amount inspection device 9, or others.

The sent-out case B containing the processed bottles A and . . . may be sent to a packaging device and packaged as a whole.

Next, to explain the automatic bottling device in detail, as shown in FIG.
The chain conveyor 2 is run in the direction of arrow β on the belt conveyor side, that is, in the opposite direction to the belt conveyor 1. A loader 3 and a rotary air cleaner 4 are arranged between the intermediate upstream start point of the belt conveyor 2 and the intermediate downstream end point of the chain conveyor 2 on the belt conveyor side corresponding to this point. In between, the loader 3 is placed adjacent to the unloader 7.
chain conveyor 2.
A rotary type filling device 5 and a capper 6 are arranged at each of the two chain wheels 21 and 22, and a printing device 8, a filling amount inspection device 9, a filling amount inspection device 9, Other necessary equipment has been arranged.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, the belt conveyor 1 is a conventional flat belt 11, but has case guides 12, 12 on both sides, and conveys the cases B in a constant posture.

The belt conveyor 1 carries bottles A in case B.
An intermittent operation may be used in which case B is fed in pitches at a line spacing of... Further, a catcher may be attached to the belt conveyor 1 to pick up the case B at the loader 3 and feed it in a pinch.

As mentioned above, the chain conveyor 2 is stretched by two chain wheels 21 and 22 in parallel to the belt conveyor 1, but as shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, Bottle magazines 23... having recesses facing outward and into which bottles A can be inserted from the side are arranged and attached to the outside of the chain 26, and these bottle magazines 2
3. Shelves 24 for receiving bottles are arranged in parallel below the bottle magazine 23, and a bottle guide 25 is separately installed outside the bottle magazine 23 to support and guide the bottles contained in the bottle magazine 23 so that they do not slip out. are doing. Therefore, the bottles inserted into the bolt magazines 23 and placed on the shelves 24 are transported while being supported and guided by the bottle guides 25.

The bottle guide 25 is cut out between the air cleaner 4 and the unloader 7, and enables the supply of bottles from the air cleaner 4 and the delivery of bottles to the unloader 7.

In addition, instead of the above-mentioned shelves 24, it may be a fixed shelf on which bottles are slid, or a conveyor may be used as appropriate.

As shown in FIG. 2, the loader 3 has a lifting/lowering and lateral movement mechanism (not shown) driven by a fluid pressure cylinder or the like.
The transfer bar 31 includes a bottle chute 32, a horizontal screw rod 33 driven and rotated by a motor, and a small conveyor 34, and the transfer bar 31 has a plurality of bottle air chucks 31a on its lower surface. are provided according to the number and spacing of the bottles A in one row in case B, and the bottle chute 32 separates and guides the bottles A in one row and simultaneously releases the bottles A in one row.
3, the screw rod 33 extends longer than the width of the bottle chute 32, and the screw thread 33 is formed so as to extend longer than the width of the bottle chute 32, and its spiral shape is formed so that the valley in the portion corresponding to the bottle chute 32 is shaped so that the bottle can be received. and forming the mountain to a pitch that matches the bottle spacing, and gradually increasing the pitch in the extended portion so that the bottle spacing finally reaches a predetermined pitch,
A bottle guide 35 is provided next to the bottle chute 32 on the side of the extended portion, and the small conveyor 34 is located below the screw rod 33.
In parallel with this, a bottle A is placed and conveyed in synchronization with the screw rod 33.

Further, the transfer bar 31 operates in conjunction with the belt conveyor 1 so that the bottles A... from the cases B being conveyed by the belt conveyor 1 are grabbed one after another in rows by air chucks 31a... and brought to the bottle chute 32. .

Note that the chucks of the transfer bar 31 are not limited to those described above.

As shown in FIG. 3, the rotary air cleaner 4 has small star wheels 41, 4 for introducing bottles and for sending out bottles, respectively, corresponding to the tip of the screw rod 33 and the middle of the chain conveyor 2.
2, and a main star wheel 43 that is larger than both star wheels 41 and 42 and adjacent to them.
These star wheels are arranged at the same circumferential speed, and the main star wheel 43 is in the same direction as the chain conveyor 2, and the other two small star wheels 41 and 42 for bottle introduction and delivery are in the opposite direction. These star wheels 41, 4 are rotated by a motor or the like, respectively.
A plurality of depressions 41 are provided on the circumferential surface of 2 and 43 to receive bottles from the side with the above-mentioned predetermined inter-bottle pitch.
a..., 42a..., 43a... are circumferentially arranged so as to match each other in position, and the recess 43a... is located below the main star wheel 43.
A disc-shaped shelf 44 for receiving bottles placed therein is provided to rotate integrally with the main star wheel 43, and a shelf 44 is provided outside the main star wheel 43 to prevent bottles placed in the recesses 43a from slipping out. The bottle guide 45 that supports and guides
Star wheels 41, 42 for bottle introduction and delivery
The star wheels 41 and 42 for bottle introduction and delivery are provided with the depression 41 at the bottom in one half of the introduction and delivery route.
Guide shelves 46, 47 are installed to receive and slide the bottles placed in a..., 42a..., and bottle guides 48, 49 are placed outward to support and guide the bottles placed in the recesses so that they do not slip out. ing.

Further, a disk 401 that rotates integrally with the main star wheel 43 is provided above the main star wheel 43, and cleaning nozzles 402 are vertically movably suspended from the disk 401 in correspondence with the respective depressions 43a of the main star wheel 43. Although not shown, these cleaning nozzles 402... are introduced into the recesses of the main star wheel 43 by means of a cam mechanism so that they descend into the bottle being transferred, and rise when being sent out. , those cleaning nozzles 402...
has an air nozzle and a vacuum nozzle,
These are connected to an air tank and a vacuum tank (not shown) as appropriate to clean the air inside the bottles A introduced and transferred during the descent.

The above-mentioned air cleaner 4 is arranged so that the bottles A, which have come from the tip of the screw rod 33 of the loader 3 to the tip, are received one after another without interruption in the recesses 41a of the star wheel 41 for introducing the bottles. 3, and the bottle introduction star wheel 41 operates in conjunction with the bottle A.
... to the recess 43a... of the main star wheel 43 one after another without interruption, and the main star wheel 43
transfers these bottles, and during the transfer, lowers the cleaning nozzle 402 to clean the inside of the bottle A, and then passes them one after another without interruption to the recesses 42a of the delivery star wheel 42, and The star wheel 42 passes the bottles A to the chain conveyor 2.

By the way, the chain conveyor 2 is operated in conjunction with the air cleaner 4 so that each bottle magazine 23 receives the bottles A from the delivery star wheel 42 without interruption.

As shown in FIG. 4, the rotary filling device 5 is provided with a disk 51 that rotates integrally with the chain wheel 21 above the chain wheel 21, and at the peripheral edge of the disk 51, the bottle magazine of the chain conveyor 2 A large number of filling nozzles 5 corresponding to 23...
2... are disposed circumferentially so as to be movable up and down, and these filling nozzles 52... are within the range where the chain conveyor 2 and the chain wheel 21 are engaged, that is, within the outer half of the chain wheel 21. are configured to be lowered by a cam mechanism (not shown), and each is connected to a filling tank with a pump so as not to interfere with the rotation of the disc 51 (not shown), so that the filling nozzle is lowered during the lowering. 52
It is configured to eject the liquid in the filling tank from ..., and fills the bottle A with the liquid while inserting the filling nozzle 52 into the bottle A being conveyed by the chain conveyor 2 in the outer half of the chain wheel 21.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the star wheel 53 supporting the bottles A...
It may be provided so that it rotates at the same time as the

As shown in FIG. 5, the rotary capper 6 is provided with a disc 61 that rotates integrally with the chain wheel 22 above the chain wheel 22, and at the peripheral edge of the disc 61, the bottle magazine 23 of the chain conveyor 2 A large number of vertical spindles 62... are disposed around the circumference so as to be movable up and down corresponding to..., and a cap chuck 63 is attached to the lower end of these spindles 62...
... are provided, and pinions 64 ... are provided at the upper end, and these pinions 64 ... are meshed with the large gear 65 to give rotation to the spindle 62 ... and therefore the cap chuck 63 .... Also, these spindles 62 ... are connected to the chain. Although not shown, a cam mechanism (not shown) is configured to lower what is within the range where the conveyor 2 and the chain wheel 22 engage, that is, within the outer half of the chain wheel 22, and A disk 66 that rotates integrally with this is provided, and the bottles A... carried by the chain conveyor 2 are placed around the periphery of the disk 66.
In the outer half of the chain wheel 22,
A bottle clamper 67 that is gripped by a cam mechanism (not shown) or the like is arranged around the disk 61, and
A parts feeder 68 for cap C is provided inside the chain conveyor 2, and its tip 68a is brought onto the chain conveyor 2 just before reaching the chain wheel 22.
... is held here, and the bottle A ... carried by the chain conveyor 2 is configured so that the bottle A ... which is carried by the chain conveyor 2 hooks the cap C ... held at its mouth and passes through the chain wheel 22. Before reaching bottle A, caps C are supplied one after another from parts feeder 68, bottle A is gripped by bottle clamper 67 in the outer half of chain wheel 22, and spindle 62 is rotated and lowered. Capture 63
Tighten cap C... to bottle A... with...

As shown in FIG. 6, the unloader 7 includes a star wheel 71 for taking out bottles that is driven and rotated by a motor or the like, a horizontal screw rod 72 that is driven and rotated by a motor or the like, a small conveyor 73, and a fluid pressure cylinder. The transfer bar 74 is operated by a lifting and lateral movement mechanism (not shown).

The star wheel 71 is located close to the outer side of the chain conveyor 2 at a proper position, and has depressions 71a on the outer peripheral surface thereof for receiving bottles from the side at a pitch equal to the pitch between bottles on the chain conveyor 2, and the depressions 71a... corresponds to the bottle magazine 23 of the chain conveyor 2 and rotates at the same circumferential speed as the chain conveyor 2, and the above-mentioned depression 7 is formed downward in the 1/4 periphery forming the introduction route.
A guide shelf 75 is installed to receive and slide the bottles placed in 1a, and a bolt guide 76 is installed outwardly to support and guide the bottles placed in the recesses so that they do not slip out.

The screw rod 72 is exactly the same as the screw rod 33 of the loader 3, only its rotation is reversed, one end of the larger pitch side is connected to the star wheel 71, and a bottle guide 77 is attached to the side. They are installed in parallel, and the small conveyor 73 mentioned above is
Below and parallel to the screw rod 72,
It is provided so that the bottles A... are loaded and conveyed in synchronization with the screw rod 72, and the transfer bar 74
is exactly the same as the transfer bar 31 of the loader 3, and has air chucks 74a vertically disposed equal to the number and spacing of the bottles A in one row in the case B.

Further, the screw rod 72, the small conveyor 73, and the transfer bar 74 operate in conjunction with the star wheel 71, so that the star wheel 71 sequentially introduces the processed bottles A from the chain conveyor 2. Then, the screw rod 72 collects the bottles A... into the number of rows and the required spacing in case B, and the transfer bar 72 transfers the bottles A... to the number of rows in the case B. Air chuck 7
4a... and accommodate them one after another in case B.

As a result of the automatic bottling device explained above, as a result of the related operations throughout, as stated at the beginning, automatic bottling is obtained through each process sequentially, and by sending the bottle A while it is contained in the case B, the processing is completed. Bottles A... are again accommodated in case B and come out.

In addition, in the above-mentioned Example, although the object of processing was a sample bottle of cosmetics, it is of course not limited to this.

Furthermore, depending on the object to be treated, each part of the processing equipment may be replaced with, added to, or excluded from equipment such as capping, sealing, etc. of the same type.
The specific configuration of each part may be changed in design. An automatic packaging device may be associated with the delivery end of the belt conveyor 1.

"Effects of the Invention" According to the present invention, not only is it possible to fully automate the supply and storage of bottles without requiring the manual operation of an operator, but also the filling device and capper are of rotary type. The chain conveyor is installed in parallel with the chain wheel for stretching, and an air cleaner is interposed between the chain conveyor and the belt conveyor, and these are operated continuously, making it easy to clean bottles and fill them with contents. It is possible to continuously process the installation of caps and caps at high speed and with high efficiency, and as a result, it is possible to obtain an extremely advantageous spatial arrangement of each processing device and to share parts of each other, and the overall equipment can be downsized. Therefore, a large amount of space is not required, the equipment is simple and inexpensive as a whole, and maintenance is easy and economical. In addition, since it can be fully automated as mentioned above, there is no contamination caused by workers' tentacles, and there is no damage to bottles caused by workers' manual feeding and storage of bottles. Therefore, there is no need to inspect the bottles for damage during the process, and there is no need to have a bottle inspector or to consider various problems that are important to the inspector.

In addition, the packaging device can be linked to the belt conveyor to automatically package the bottles and transport them directly to wholesalers and retailers, greatly reducing the labor involved at the contents manufacturer. It is also possible to easily match the information before and after processing, and this allows container manufacturers to display the contents, lot number, machine number, manufacturing date, factory name, etc. on the case, and then Manufacturers and content manufacturers are directly connected, allowing for efficient integrated work.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration, and FIGS. 2 to 6 are perspective views of various parts and devices. 1...Belt conveyor, 2...Chain conveyor,
3...Loader, 4...Air cleaner, 5...Filling device,
6...Kitpa, 7...Unloader.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Cases containing a large number of bottles in rows and columns are conveyed by a belt conveyor, and along the way, the bottles in the case are taken out row by row by a loader, the intervals are adjusted, and the bottles are delivered one after another. The bottles are sent to a continuously running air cleaner, where they are cleaned one after another, and then transferred one after another to a continuously running chain conveyor. The installed rotary type filling device and capper continuously fill the contents and attach the caps, and the unloader takes out the processed bottles one after another from the chain conveyor and collects them at regular intervals in the rows mentioned above. At the same time, the bottling method is characterized in that the empty cases that are being continuously transported by a belt conveyor are returned to the empty cases row by row and then sent out. 2. A belt conveyor that introduces cases containing a large number of bottles in rows and columns, and a bottle conveyor that forms a horizontal loop that is arranged on the side of the belt conveyor in parallel with it and runs continuously in synchronization with it. a chain conveyor, a loader installed in the middle part of the upstream side of the belt conveyor and installed to extract bottles line by line from the case, and a continuous operation that receives bottles from the loader, cleans them, and sends them to the chain conveyor. an air cleaner, a rotary-type filling device installed in parallel with the upstream chain wheel around which the chain conveyor is stretched, a rotary-type capper installed in parallel with the downstream chain wheel of the chain conveyor, and an intermediate part of the downstream side of the belt conveyor. The apparatus is characterized by comprising an unloader which is arranged in sections and takes out the processed bottles from the downstream of the chain conveyor in units of rows, and returns and stores them one after another into the empty cases that are successively transported by the belt conveyor. bottling equipment.