This invention relates to a rotary transfer mechanism for extracting a flat article from the discharge opening of a magazine and depositing it at a receiving station.
Such a mechanism is described in EP-A-0331325 comprising a support member, a drive shaft rotatably mounted on and extending from the support member, means for rotatably driving the drive shaft, carrier means rotatable with the drive shaft, at least one support shaft rotatable on the carrier means substantially parallel to the drive shaft, whereby the support shaft can orbit round the drive shaft, means for controlling the rotational disposition of the support shaft with respect to the carrier means, at least one suction cup attached to the support shaft, means for producing a vacuum, means alternatively connecting the suction cup with the vacuum-producing means and the atmosphere, the means for controlling the support shaft including means causing the suction cup while connected with the vacuum producing means to contact an article at the discharge opening of the magazine, extract the article from the magazine, and transfer the article to the receiving station, whereupon the suction cup is connected with the atmosphere to release the article to the receiving station, characterised in that the means for controlling the at least one support shaft comprises on the one hand, a pinion secured coaxially to the support shaft, and an arcuate rack secured to the support member in such a position as to act upon the pinion to create a partial path of the at least one suction cup with a “node point” at the discharge opening of the magazine; and, on the other hand, a cam follower on an arm extending laterally from the support shaft, and a cam track secured to the support member and of such an operative extent as to act upon the cam follower when the arcuate rack is not acting on the pinion, the profile of the cam track being such as to cause the suction cup to move past the receiving station in the same direction as the conveyor with the article generally parallel to the conveyor.
Thus, the suction cup “plucks” each article from the magazine, but instead of merely dropping the article at the receiving station, the suction cup imparts to the article a major component of motion in the direction of movement of the conveyor, with consequent better placement of the article on the conveyor. The flexibility of design in suction cup path afforded by the combination of the ratio of the rack-and-pinion drive, the disposition of the rack, and the profile of the operative extent of the cam track, allows for a wide choice of article length and disposition of magazine, whilst avoiding interference between the magazine or the conveyor with the article while it is being transferred. This is particularly important when the conveyor has flights for the timed positioning of the articles in relation to a subsequent operation, such as when the article is a sleeve carton presented on the conveyor in open condition ready for end loading with a product at a subsequent station.
An object of the present invention is to provide a simpler and more compact rotary transfer mechanism than that of EP-A-0331325.
Another object is to keep the fed article path beyond the perimeter of the rotating mechanism at all times, thus enabling, in a sleeve carton feeding, erecting, and end-loading machine, product to be loaded, adjacent to fed cartons, to pass unhindered beneath the mechanism.
A further object is to enable the mechanism to partially overhang the conveyor, thus reducing cantilevered loads and inertia of the at least one suction cup.
Yet another object is to provide an improved path for the fed article, particularly a sleeve carton, as compared with the path afforded by the mechanism of EP-A-0331325.
A still further object is to provide a programmed variable motion path for the fed article, particularly of a sleeve carton with respect to its dimensions, thus giving further carton erection improvements by optimising carton erection geometry.
According to the present invention, a rotary transfer mechanism for extracting a flat article from the discharge opening of a magazine and depositing it at a receiving station on a conveyor comprises a support member, a drive shaft rotatably mounted on and extending from the support member, means for rotatably driving the drive shaft, carrier means rotatable with the drive shaft, at least one support shaft rotatable on the carrier means substantially parallel to the drive shaft, whereby the support shaft can orbit round the drive shaft, means for controlling the rotational disposition of the support shaft with respect to the carrier means, at least one suction cup attached to the support shaft, means for producing a vacuum, means alternatively connecting the suction cup with the vacuum-producing means and the atmosphere, the means for controlling the support shaft including means causing the suction cup while connected with the vacuum producing means to contact an article at the discharge opening of the magazine, extract the article From the magazine, and transfer the article to the receiving station, whereupon the suction cup is connected with the atmosphere to release the article to the receiving station, characterised in that the means for controlling the at least one support shaft comprises a continuous stationary cam track, a gear segment on a pivot on the carrier means axially parallel to the drive shaft, a cam follower on the gear segment permanently engaged with the cam track, and a pinion secured coaxially to the support shaft and permanently meshing with the gear segment, the profile of the cam track being such as to act on the gear segment along one part of the track to oscillate the pinion to create a partial path of the at least one suction cup with a “node point” at the discharge opening of the magazine, and along another part of the track to partially rotate the pinion so as to cause the suction cup to move past the receiving station in the same direction as the conveyor with the article generally parallel to the conveyor.
Thus the carrier means needs to have a radial extent little more than the radial distance of the support shaft from the drive shaft, while the maximum radial extent of the cam track can be appreciably less, thus minimising the radial extent of the carrier means.
As applied to a machine for transferring flat sleeve cartons from the discharge opening of a magazine to a receiving station on a conveyor having flights, opening of the cartons, ready for end loading with a product at a subsequent station along the conveyor, is facilitated by arranging for the combined action of the means for rotatably driving the drive shaft and the means for controlling the at least one support shaft so that at the receiving station the at least one suction cup is moving in the same direction as the conveyor relatively at a slightly greater speed, whereby the relative movement between the suction cup, holding one side of a sleeve carton, and leading flights on the conveyor, which flights are abutted by the leading corner fold of the carton, is such as to effect an opening of the carton which is substantially completed before the carton is abutted by trailing flights on the conveyor to hold the carton in its fully open condition as it passes to and through a subsequent end-loading station.
According to a feature of special significance, the drive shaft is rotatably driven by a servomotor programmed by a computer, to afford variation in the speed of the at least one suction cup along its path through the receiving station, particularly to suit different sizes of sleeve cartons.
Conveniently, three support shafts are provided with two or more suction cups attached to each shaft; but two, or four or more support shafts may be provided, depending on the size of the article to be transferred and/or the spacing of articles on a conveyor; and, likewise, three or more suction cups may be attached to each support shaft, depending on the size and/or weight of article to be transferred.
The or each pair (or more) of suction cups is preferably carried by a cantilever from a bracket secured on one end of a crank arm the other end of which is pivoted to the support shaft, and the bracket is secured to one end of a link arm the other end of which is pivoted to one end of a rocker arm the other end of which is freely rotatable on the drive shaft, whereby as the crank arm swings the suction cups are orientated accordingly, firstly for contact with an article at the discharge opening of the magazine, and secondly as required for passage through the receiving station on the conveyor.
The cam track is preferably provided on a disc mounted inside a casing forming the carrier means along with the gear segment and cam follower, and the pinion, with the or each support shaft exiting through a sealed bearing, and with the drive shaft passing through the support member and coaxially through the casing via sealed bearings, from a gearbox and motor (e.g. a servomotor) to the rocker arm, thus effecting driving of the casing through the link arm, the crank arm and the support shaft; thus enabling the use of a steel cam plate with attendant accuracy and durability, steel gear segment and cam follower, and steel pinion, with permanent lubrication affording increased life expectation and potential noise reduction:
An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to
The vacuum-producing means comprises two suction pumps (not shown) connected by pipelines 39, 40 to arcuate ports 41, 42 in a stationary valve plate 43 of the vacuum control means 33, a rotary valve plate 44 of which is driven with the drive shaft 26. The drive shaft is hollow and contains three tubes 45, one for each set of four suction cups 32 to which connection is made by means of flexible pipes 46 (indicated by broken lines only in
Each bracket 48 is pivoted on one end of a crank arm 53 the other end of which is secured to the respective support shaft 30, and the bracket is secured to one end of a link arm 54 the other end of which is pivoted to one end of a rocker arm 55 the other end of which is freely rotatable on the drive shaft 26, whereby, as the crank arm 53 swings the respective suction cups 32 are orientated accordingly, firstly for contact with a carton blank 20 at the discharge opening 21 of the magazine 22, and, secondly, as required for passage through the receiving station 23 on the conveyor 24.
The cam track 34 is provided on a plate 56 mounted inside a two-part casing 57, 58 forming the carrier means 29 along with the gear segments 35 and cam followers 37, and the pinions 38, with the support shafts 30 exiting through sealed bearings (not visible) from the casing port 57, and with the drive shaft 26 passing through the support member 25 and coaxially through the gearbox 28 and the two-part casing 57, 58 via bearings 59, 60 to the rocker arms 55 (each on a bearing indicated by a small x), thus effecting driving of the carrier means 29 through the link arms 54, the crank arms 53 and the support shafts 30. The cam plate 56 is secured to the gearbox 28 by four screws 61 and houses the bearing 59, the other bearing 60 being housed within the gearbox on a spigot 62 extending from a bevel gear 63 meshing with a bevel gear (not visible) driven by the servomotor 27.
As each crank arm 53 swings the respective set of suction cups 32 are orientated accordingly, and particularly as appropriate from position A to position V in
From position A (
Positions W, X, Y, Z (
Only one set of flights 64, 65 is shown in
The support member 25 (
Variations in sizes of cartons is illustrated by the different ones shown in
Considerable advantages accrue from the combination of integers of the mechanism described above.
While the fixed continuous cam determines the locus of the path of the suction cups, their motion is modified by the computer software programming the servomotor velocities. Thus, the ‘overlaid’ servo motion determines the speed, including acceleration and deceleration, at which the suction cups travel around the locus path, particularly through the delivery station relative to the constant velocity of the flights.
The primary advantage arising from the ‘overlaid’ servo motion is to allow exactly the same rotary feeder mechanism to be used for erecting cartons of different sizes into different flight pitches. Complete feeder mechanism assemblies may be held in stock without need of knowledge as to what flight length they may be applied, as each flight length will have servo motion profile software dedicated to it.
A secondary advantage afforded by the ‘overlaid’ servo motion is the ability to modify the motion profile of the suction cups for particular carton sizes within a given flight length machine. Two or more distinct predetermined motion profiles may be used to modify the position of the suction cups relative to the flights for different ranges of carton size, e.g. large, medium or small. A mathematical formula may be embedded within the software that will automatically modify the motion profile software responding to carton length and width dimension inputs, which can be made in various ways, e.g., at the main operator interface, such as an LED touch screen, from a menu recipe predetermined by the machine manufacturer, from a recipe input by the customer, or a combination thereof.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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0516051.0 | Aug 2005 | GB | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/GB2006/002489 | 7/5/2006 | WO | 00 | 1/28/2008 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2007/015049 | 2/8/2007 | WO | A |
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5431274 | Schaupp | Jul 1995 | A |
6383123 | Ehring et al. | May 2002 | B1 |
6503180 | Pluschow et al. | Jan 2003 | B1 |
20070257416 | Ford | Nov 2007 | A1 |
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0 331 325 | Sep 1989 | EP |
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1 388 495 | Feb 2004 | EP |
WO 03020615 | Mar 2003 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20080227612 A1 | Sep 2008 | US |