Package making – Depositing articles and arranging material in preformed... – Simultaneous deposit of plural articles
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-15
2004-05-04
Sipos, John (Department: 3721)
Package making
Depositing articles and arranging material in preformed...
Simultaneous deposit of plural articles
C053S251000, C053S539000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06729103
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an apparatus and method for transferring articles into and out of cases using continuous motion, and particularly, where the continuous motion is basically circular at higher transfer speeds with a small footprint.
In the art of case packing, large numbers of articles must be grouped and packaged rapidly by an apparatus that will function dependably without damage to the articles processed. When unpacking articles from cases, the articles are already grouped in a pattern in the case reducing some of the problems of article pickup. Case packing apparatus has been generally categorized as either intermittent case packing or continuous case packing. In intermittent case packing the article flow and/or case flow is interrupted during article pickup and/or release. Most recently, attention has been directed to continuous case packing in order to increase production. However, the continuous case packing has brought increased problems with handling the processed articles without breakage, damage, or interruption.
In the continuous case packing apparatus, articles are grouped together in successive slugs at a pickup position. The slugs are typically picked up at the pickup position by article grippers carried by an orbital handling machine rotating about two vertical axes. The slugs are transferred to a case loading position where the grippers release the slug of articles into a case. The articles can be released either simultaneously or sequentially as the case is conveyed beneath the slug of articles. Apparatus of this type may be either of the “drop packer” type or “placement packer type.” In the drop packer type, the articles are allowed to drop at least a small distance into the case after release. In the placement packer type, the drop, if any, is minimal and the articles are essentially placed gently onto the bottom of the case.
Continuous motion machines rotating about a single horizontal axis are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,375,395, 5,257,888, and 5,313,764 using articulating arms and pickup heads. A set of article grippers is carried on the ends of the articulating arms. However, during the angular descent from the pickup position to the case packing position, both horizontal and vertical accelerations are typically encountered by the articles which are gripped only at their tops or necks. Intermittent circular machines rotating about a single vertical axis are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,780,492 and 2,807,125.
Various other case packers, generally of the continuous motion type, using a vertical orbital conveyor are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,212,930; 4,541,524; and 4,294,057. The first patent shows depositing the articles sequentially and individually, rather than as a group or slug, into partitioned cases without positively gripping the articles. The latter two patents use gripper devices to grip and place the articles. U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,121 discloses a continuous motion bottle packer wherein a plurality of grids are mounted individually on spokes of a vertical wheel so that each grid moves through an article infeed position where groups of articles are fed into the grid without interrupting the forward speed. Angular and horizontal accelerations of the articles and their contents are encountered due to the rotary wheel motion during the transfer which may be detrimental to the article and/or contents.
Continuous case packers are also known in which a horizontal rotary carousel is used to move vertically reciprocating gripper sets in a horizontal plane about two vertical axes. The reciprocating gripper sets pick up a slug of articles at one position and transfer the slug of articles to a second position where the gripper set is lowered to deposit the articles into a case. Typically the pickup and release stations are on opposite sides of the carousel, requiring parallel conveyors on each side. However, the disposition of the rotary carousel in a horizontal plane requires an inconvenient floor lay-out which also occupies a large amount of floor space. The parallel conveyor arrangements needed for the infeed and outfeed of articles adds to the floor space problem. The path of the gripper sets between the slug pickup position and the case packing position is also typically curved producing angular and acceleration forces on the articles. The curved article transfer path intersects the path of the conveyed case only for a brief interval making timing a factor. In various of the rotary carousel types, it is known to deposit the articles by lowering the articles, already gripped by the gripper set, through resilient fingers that guide the articles into partitioned cases.
Case packers, generally of the intermittent type, are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,553,932 and 3,505,787 which also disclose using combinations of a lifting head having suction cups and bottle grids having pockets for picking up containers and depositing them into cases. The containers and the cases are conveyed on parallel conveyors rather than in-line conveyors, and the transfer from the pickup position to the case loading position is lateral, or transverse, to the flow of containers and cases. U.S. Pat. No. 2,277,688 discloses another case packer using an arrangement of a gripper set and a bottle guide set to package the containers into a case. These type of case packers are generally non-continuous as compared to the continuous motion in-line transfer case packers described above where neither the flow of articles nor the flow of the cases is interrupted during operation of the packer.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide an improved continuous case packing and depacking apparatus having a characteristic circular motion.
Another object of the invention is to provide a continuous motion apparatus and method which moves in a circular motion to provide high speeds of operation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a continuous, circular motion case packing or depacking apparatus and method which rotates about a single axis to provide a small footprint and high speed operation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a continuous, circular motion case packing apparatus and method in which slugs or groups of articles are picked up and transferred to a release station where the motion of the pickup heads is converted to a substantially straight-line motion along a pickup section during which time the articles are picked up.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a continuous, circular motion case packing or depacking apparatus and method wherein the articles are either picked up or released over an arcuate section of a conveyor disposed below the path of pickup heads rotating along a common arc.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a continuous motion apparatus and method in which a revolving turret moves a plurality of transfer arms in a circular path about a single vertical axis as reciprocating article pickup heads and/or grid heads, carried by the transfer arms, pickup and release the articles wherein either the pick up or release occurs over an arcuate conveyor section disposed below the pickup heads moving in a circular motion for high speed, reliable operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above objectives are accomplished according to the present invention by providing apparatus and method for transferring articles from a pickup station to a release station basically in a continuous circular motion. The apparatus includes a rotating turret which continuously rotates about a substantially vertical axis for continuously transferring the articles. A plurality of reciprocating article pickup heads are carried by the rotating turret for continuously and successively picking up groups of the articles at the pickup station and releasing the articles at the release station. A conveyor is provided having an arcuate conveyor section disposed generally below a congruent path of the pickup heads over which the heads are continuously rotated. Advantageously, one of the pickup and release stations is located along t
Cooley David N.
Dillard Robert Leslie
Hartness Thomas Patterson
Scott David Lee
Wiernicki Richard M.
Flint Cort
Hartness International, Inc.
Huynh Louis
McNair Law Firm, P.A.
Sipos John
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