Material or article handling – Device for emptying portable receptacle – Rotary cradle
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-26
2001-04-10
Bratlie, Steven A. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Device for emptying portable receptacle
Rotary cradle
C414S405000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213707
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to packaging operations, and in particular to a system for unpacking items, such as flattened cardboard cartons, from the boxes in which such items are transported and delivered.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Soft-drinks cans are typically sold in packs of 24 cans, packaged into a cardboard case or carton. The operation of packaging cans into cardboard cartons has been the subject of continuing development over the years, whereby in conventional packaging plants the whole operation is now more or less completely automated.
However, one area in which introduction of automation has been slow is the area of un-packing the cardboard cartons from the boxes in which the cartons are delivered to the packaging plant.
Boxes containing e.g two or three hundred (flattened) cartons are delivered from the carton manufacturer to the packaging plant. Generally, the boxes are palletized for delivery. Typically, de-palletization has been automated, but the conventional practice then has been for the cartons to be unpacked from the boxes and placed into the magazine of the packaging apparatus by hand, or at least, if not actually by hand, by a procedure that includes more manual handling than is desirable in what is otherwise basically a fully automated procedure. Also, it is recognized that such automation as has been introduced into the area of unpacking the cartons from the boxes has been viewed rather as providing motorized assistance to the operator in his manual unpacking operations, rather than automation as such.
The present invention is concerned with automating the apparatus and procedures for removing cartons from boxes of the cartons, and transferring the cartons to the carton-magazine of the packaging machine.
The invention is described herein as it applies to the unpacking of flat-form cardboard cases or cartons from cardboard boxes, but the invention may be applied to unpacking items from boxes, in general.
THE PRIOR ART
Patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,311 (Cawley, July 1994) describes a robot for extracting bundles of cartons from cardboard boxes. This publication serves to illustrate the complexity with which the box-unpacking operation has been approached by earlier designers, and illustrates why automation of the box-unpacking operation has been so slow.
GENERAL FEATURES OF THE INVENTION
In the invention, it is arranged that the box containing the items is unpacked by first turning the box over, and then pulling the box upwards, clear of the items. The operation is facilitated by transferring the box into a bucket, in which the box and the cartons are retained while the box is turned over.
Preferably, the box is pulled upwards at a time when the sides of the box are relieved of pressure. It is recognised that it is much more efficacious to pull the box upwards, leaving the items behind, than it would be, for example, to try to pull the box laterally or sideways. When the box is pulled upwards, the items can be separated from the box simply by leaving the items behind, i.e by letting gravity in effect pull the items out of the box. When the box is pulled upwards, the friction associated with trying to pull the box sideways, plus the need to hold the items in a gripper while the box is being pulled clear, is avoided.
Naturally, the designer should arrange that the items are loose enough in the boxes that the boxes can be pulled clear, but that is simple. Also, the designer should arrange that the box is not subjected to friction or other restrictive actions during the upwards-lifting operation. As will be described, when the apparatus is arranged as described herein, the box can be isolated from virtually all drag and friction, and as a result the box can be pulled upwards using a conventional suction-cup head, mounted on a trolley.
The boxes are arranged, prior to being unpacked, on a box-conveyor, upon which dozens, or hundreds, of boxes can be stored, and from which the boxes can be transferred one by one, by a lateral push from a simple pneumatic ram.
It is an aim of the invention to make use of gravity as much as possible, and to make use of simple single-motion rams and such simple operations. Also, it is an aim that most of the moving/powered components of the apparatus be mounted on the fixed frame of the apparatus; that is to say, it is an aim of the invention that the number of components that are mounted on other moving components be kept to a minimum.
The apparatus is described in two versions. In the first version, the items (cartons) are delivered to a magazine in the near-vertical orientation; in the second version, the items are delivered to a magazine in the horizontal configuration. As will be seen, the designer should arrange that the box is pulled upwards at a time when the box is upturned and the bottom of the box is uppermost, and that requirement may dictate that the unpacked items be re-orientated after the box has been removed, in the one version, or may dictate that the unpacked items can be placed straight onto the magazine, in the other version.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4696617 (1987-09-01), Kumata et al.
Liehs Bernard Claus
Liehs Martin Rupert
Liehs Rupert Hubert
Anthony Asquith & Co.
Bratlie Steven A.
International Machinery and Guarding Systems Inc.
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