Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Pusher conveyor and separate load support surface
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-26
2003-09-23
Bidwell, James R. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Pusher conveyor and separate load support surface
C198S626500, C198S867050
Reexamination Certificate
active
06622852
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a continuous container-supplying apparatus and more particularly to an improvement in a continuous container-supplying apparatus used in a continuous filling and packaging system in which various packaging operations such as filling with contents, sealing of the openings of containers, etc. are performed on containers (e.g., packaging bags) while the containers are continuously conveyed at a high speed.
2. Prior Art
The continuous bag-supplying apparatus shown in
FIGS. 11 through 13
is described in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/523,856 which is filed by the applicant of the present patent application.
The continuous bag-supplying apparatus
1
comprises a bag holding assembly conveying device
4
which has a plurality of bag holding assemblies
3
attached at equal intervals to a conveyor belt
2
, and an intermittent bag-supplying device
5
which simultaneously supplies bags to a plurality of the bag holding assemblies
3
(i.e., to n number of bag holding assemblies
3
), with one bag being supplied to each bag holding assembly
3
. The bag holding assembly
3
is moved in one direction along an annular track that has a pair parallel sections.
The bag holding assemblies
3
are moved intermittently on one side (the bag entry side) A of the parallel sections, with each movement covering a distance that is n times the attachment spacing of the bag holding assemblies
3
, and the bag holding assemblies
3
move are further continuously at a constant speed on the other side (bag exit side) B of the parallel sections.
The intermittent bag-supplying device
5
is disposed on the bag entry side A so as to supply bags in a plurality of rows (n rows) to stopped bag holding assemblies
3
. On the bag exit side B, a rotary type transfer device
6
is disposed so as to successively receives bags from the continuously moving bag holding assemblies
3
and continuously transfers the bags to the rotor
7
of an apparatus used in next process.
As shown in the schematic diagram in
FIG. 14
, the bag holding assembly conveying device
4
is equipped with a rotational conveying mechanism
8
and a reciprocating driving mechanism
9
. The rotational conveying mechanism
8
rotationally conveys a plurality of bag holding assemblies
3
(only the bags are shown in
FIG. 14
) disposed at equal intervals on an endless conveyor belt
2
in one direction along the annular track by means of a variable-speed driving motor M
1
The reciprocating driving mechanism
9
causes the rotational conveying mechanism
8
as a whole to perform a reciprocating motion over a specified distance along the parallel sections by means of a driving motor M
2
that has a variable feeding speed.
The rotational conveying speed of the bag holding assemblies determined by the driving motor M
1
and the speed of the reciprocating motion of the rotational conveying mechanism
8
determined by the driving motor M
2
are set at different values during the advancing motion (the motion of the bag holding assemblies in the conveying direction on the bag exit side B is taken as the advancing motion; in
FIG. 14
, this is the motion from the solid line to the two-dotted (imaginary) line) and the return motion (from the two-dotted (imaginary) line to the solid line). In this case, rotational conveying speed (U
1
) of the bag holding assemblies determined by the driving motor M
1
and the speed of the advancing motion (U
3
) of the rotational conveying mechanism
8
determined by the driving motor M
2
are synthesized (canceled out) during the advancing motion on the bag entry side A, so that the movement speed of the bag holding assemblies becomes zero. Furthermore, on the bag exit side B, the rotational conveying speed (U
1
during the advancing motion, U
2
during the return motion) of the bag holding assemblies determined by the driving motor M
1
during the reciprocating motion and the speed of the reciprocating motion (U
3
during the advancing motion, U
4
during the return motion) of the rotational conveying mechanism
8
determined by the driving motor M
2
are synthesized, and the speeds are set so that the movement speed of the bag holding assemblies is always constant.
With the settings as described above, on the bag entry side A, the bag holding assembly conveying device
4
receives bags W in bag holding assemblies
3
that have a movement speed of zero (i.e., that are in a stationary state) from the intermittent bag-supplying device
5
during the advancing motion of the rotational conveying mechanism
8
. Also, on the bag exit side B, the bag holding assembly conveying device
4
continuously transfers bags W to the rotary type transfer device
6
at a constant speed.
In the above continuous bag-supplying apparatus
1
, the driving conditions of the respective driving motors, etc., can be determined if the following conditions are set: i.e., the processing capacity (bags/minute), the number of bags (n) supplied at one time, the attachment pitch p (in meters) of the bag holding assemblies, and the time of the advancing motion of the rotational conveying mechanism
8
(=the intermittent stopping time of the bag holding assemblies on the bag entry side A) t
1
(in seconds).
The equations shown below are examples of calculations that are performed when it is assumed that the change-over from the speed during the advancing motion to the speed during the return motion (or the change-over from the speed during the return motion to the speed during the advancing motion) is performed instantaneously in the respective driving motors as shown in FIG.
15
.
t
2
=60×
n/S−t
1
M=
(
t
1
×S×P/
2)/60
U
1
=S×p/
2
U
2
=S×p+
(
t
1
×S×p/
2)/(60
×n/S−t
1
)
U
3
=S×p/
2
U
4
=(
t
1
×S×p/
2)/(60
×n/S−t
1
)
V
1
=V
2
=p×S
V
3
=0
V
4
=60
×n×p/(
60
×n/S−t
1
)
The respective symbols used in the above equations have the following meanings:
t
2
: time of the return motion of the rotational conveying mechanism (=intermittent movement time of the container holding assemblies on the bag entry side A)
M (m): distance of the return motion of the rotational conveying mechanism (=return motion distance)
U
1
(m/minute): rotational conveying speed of the bag holding assemblies (during the advancing motion of the rotational conveying mechanism)
U
2
(m/minute): rotational conveying speed of the bag holding assemblies (during the return motion of the rotational conveying mechanism)
U
3
(m/minute): speed of the advancing motion of the rotational conveying mechanism
U
4
(m/minute): speed of the return motion of the rotational conveying mechanism
V
1
(m/minute): synthesized movement speed of the bag holding assemblies on the bag exit side B (during the advancing motion of the rotational conveying mechanism)
V
2
(m/minute): synthesized movement speed of the bag holding assemblies on the bag exit side B (during the return motion of the rotational conveying mechanism)
V
3
(m/minute): synthesized movement speed of the bag holding assemblies on the bag entry side A (during the advancing motion of the rotational conveying mechanism)
V
4
(m/minute): synthesized movement speed of the bag holding assemblies on the bag entry side A (during the return motion of the rotational conveying mechanism)
Furthermore, if the distance over which the bag holding assemblies are conveyed during the return motion on the bag entry side A (i.e., the distance obtained by the synthesis of the conveying distance of the conveyance performed by the rotational conveying mechanism and the distance of the return motion of the rotational conveying mechanism) is designated as L, then, since L may be referred to as the distance advanced by the bag holding assemblies at a synthesized speed of V
4
during the return motion time of (t
2
/60) minutes, L may be expressed as follows:
Bidwell James R.
Koda & Androlia
Toyo Jidoki Co., Ltd.
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