Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – By loading or unloading section at selected one of a...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-20
2001-10-02
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
By loading or unloading section at selected one of a...
C198S597000, C198S468110, C198S749000, C198S747000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06296102
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for rejecting containers which are being delivered by a conveyor, and more particularly to a container rejecting apparatus suitable for use with containers filled with a liquid such as beverage.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known a container rejecting apparatus having a pusher for rejecting containers filled with a liquid from a feed conveyor onto a discharge conveyor positioned adjacent to the feed conveyor. Containers that can be rejected by the container rejecting apparatus include PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, glass bottles, cans, etc. The pusher is moved in a short stroke by an air cylinder to accelerate and push a container off the feed conveyor. The pusher moves in the short stroke because the pusher should not hit a next container when it moves back and forth. A flat plate of rubber or synthetic resin is attached to a front face of the pusher.
The feed conveyor comprises chains of synthetic resin and upper plates of synthetic resin which are integrally formed with the chains. The feed conveyor and the discharge conveyor move at the same speed. A guard rail is obliquely disposed over the discharge conveyor for preventing a rejected container from moving off the discharge conveyor. A container which has been pushed of f by the pusher moves obliquely forward at a constant posture onto the discharge conveyor due to inertia and friction with the discharge conveyor, obliquely hits the guard rail, changes its direction, and is finally discharged by the discharge conveyor.
As described above, the containers include PET bottles, and the PET bottles include those having a circular barrel and those having a rectangular barrel. The PET bottle have their bottoms whose central positions are raised into the bottles. Bottoms of various types of PET bottles which contact the conveyor are shown in
FIGS. 7A
,
7
B and
7
C of the accompanying drawings. That is,
FIGS. 7A
,
7
B and
7
C show the bottoms of various types of PET bottles, with contact areas between the bottoms and the conveyor being shown hatched.
FIG. 7A
shows a circular PET bottle
1
which has a circular ring-shaped contact area 1
a
.
FIG. 7B
shows a circular PET bottle
1
which has a petaloid pattern of five contact areas
1
b
.
FIG. 7C
shows a square PET bottle
1
which has a square ring-shaped contact area
1
c
. The square PET bottles are conveyed by the feed conveyor while their sides are being parallel or perpendicular to the direction of movement of the feed conveyor.
In the conventional container rejecting apparatus, the distance between the front face of the pusher which is held in a standby position and the container that arrives at the position of the pusher is minimized to reduce a shock which is produced when the pusher hits the container. However, the container tends to fluctuate, i.e. be unsteady in its posture when it starts being moved because the container is abruptly accelerated by the pusher. It has been desired to prevent the container from fluctuating in its posture when it is pushed by the pusher and starts being moved.
In PET bottles, recently, small-size PET bottles having a volume of 500 ml have been used, and bottle filling lines have been operated at a high speed. Although a low-speed bottle filling line causes no problem, a high-speed bottle filling line requires the pusher of the container rejecting apparatus to be operated at a high speed. Thus, the PET bottles pushed by the pusher tend to fluctuate in their posture on their forward movement and fall down by contact with the guard rail. Those PET bottles which have a square ring-shaped contact area between the bottom and the conveyor are most liable to fall down, and those PET bottles which have a petaloid pattern of contact areas between the bottom and the conveyor are also liable to fall down. Those PET bottles which have a circular ring-shaped contact area between the bottom and the conveyor may fluctuate, but are less liable to fall down. It has been desired to be able to reject containers in a high-speed bottle filling line while preventing them from falling down.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a container rejecting apparatus having a pusher for rejecting a container off a feed conveyor without causing the container to fluctuate in its posture when the container is pushed by the pusher and starts being moved.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a container rejecting apparatus which is capable of rejecting a PET bottle filled with a liquid from a high-speed feed conveyor without causing the PET bottle to fall down.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a container rejecting apparatus for rejecting a container filled with a liquid from a feed conveyor to a discharge conveyor adjacent thereto, comprising a pusher for pushing the container from the feed conveyor onto the discharge conveyor, the pusher having a front face comprising a plurality of tubes of synthetic resin.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the tubes of synthetic resin are hollow and hence are flexible, and are not strongly repulsive. Therefore, the tubes absorb shocks when they hit the container. When the container starts being moved forward by the pusher, the container is accelerated smoothly, and does not fluctuate in its posture. As a result, the container is prevented from falling down.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a container rejecting apparatus for rejecting a container filled with a liquid from a feed conveyor to a discharge conveyor adjacent thereto, the container comprising a PET bottle, the apparatus comprising a pusher for pushing the PET bottle from the feed conveyor onto the discharge conveyor, the pusher being positioned to impart an angular movement to the PET bottle when pushing the PET bottle.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a container rejecting apparatus for rejecting a container filled with a liquid from a feed conveyor to a discharge conveyor adjacent thereto, said container comprising a PET bottle, the apparatus comprising a pusher for pushing the PET bottle from the feed conveyor onto the discharge conveyor, the pusher and the PET bottle being held out of alignment with each other when the pusher contacts the PET bottle.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the pusher imparts an angular movement to the PET bottle when pushing the PET bottle. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the pusher and the PET bottle are held out of alignment with each other when the pusher contacts the PET bottle. In the second and third aspects, therefore, the PET bottle which is pushed by the pusher moves forward and rotates at the same time, and hence the PET bottle is transferred smoothly from the feed conveyor onto the discharge conveyor. Since the PET bottle rotates, the bottom of the PET bottle slides well on the conveyors while being moved forward, and the PET bottle is less liable to fluctuate in its posture.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a container rejecting apparatus for rejecting a container filled with a liquid from a feed conveyor to a discharge conveyor adjacent thereto, comprising: a pusher for pushing the container from the feed conveyor onto the discharge conveyor; an air cylinder having a piston reciprocable within the air cylinder between an advanced position and a retracted position, and a piston rod connected to the piston, the pusher being fixed to the piston rod; a solenoid valve assembly having a solenoid for driving a spool, one port connected to a pressurized air source, two ports connected to the air cylinder, and one port for exhausting air from the air cylinder; wherein air under pressure is constantly supplied to the side pushing the piston toward its retracted position without passing through the solenoid valve asse
Nakajima Kiyoharu
Uchida Tadatsune
Ellis Christopher P.
Kirin Techno-System Corporation
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Sharma Rashmi
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