Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – With gravity-conveying means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-03
2001-07-31
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3652)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
With gravity-conveying means
C198S735100, C198S836100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06267221
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a conveying device for containers, in particular bottles, which are to move through a series of subsequent working stations.
The working stations include, for instance, one or more filling stations, one or more weighing stations, closing station etc.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
It is known that in some production fields, like e.g. drug production, it is necessary to work in sterile environment, so that the products are free of impurities.
This requirement is met by a widespread technique, known as “closed environment systems”, according to which the machine is contained inside a stationary structure, called isolator, closed and sterilised thereinside.
Operators work outside the isolator and use suitable extensible gloves extended thereinside and accessible from outside in order to perform operations inside the isolator.
Otherwise, sterile or clean chambers are used, in which the operators, properly protected by sterile overalls, work directly on the machine.
The sterile chamber is usually placed in the centre of a system of stations provided with an increasing degree of sterility, going from outside toward inside, protecting one another.
Usually, flow-controlled suitably filtered air passes in the sterile stations.
It is helpful to specify that sterile environments are identified according to a conventional class, which according to the US regulation FS209E, results from the number of pollution particles, microbes and other inorganic parts present in a unit of air (in this case a cubic foot equal to 0.0283 cubic meters).
Using the above mentioned sterile stations, it is necessary to avoid as much as possible the presence of pollution sources.
In particular, it is generally required that the machines working in sterile stations be not equipped with moving means which use, during normal operation, prismatic guides.
For this purpose, engines equipped with these guides along which they reciprocate, are generally contained inside hermetic structures separated from the sterile station and called grey or non-clean environments.
Anyway, the sterile environments are sterilised, with predetermined frequency, by means of suitable disinfectants and the like.
Other types of conveying lines, that are designed for transportation of the above mentioned containers, use movable running surfaces for the containers to be moved.
Those skilled in this field would notice immediately the problems resulting from this type of conveying systems, especially concerning production and subsequent effectiveness of the conveyors including movable supporting surfaces.
Other solutions provide stationary supporting surfaces equipped with suitable dragging means for moving the containers.
Basically, the dragging means include one or more belts made of synthetic or metallic material with extensions applied thereto.
Pairs of adjacent extensions form seats for housing the containers moved by the belt.
The publication DE-A-3209790 discloses a filling device equipped with a bottle conveyor systems made according to different embodiments.
In some of the embodiments described in this document, the conveyor system includes a stationary support surface and a belt or a chain with fastened thereto means for picking up or pushing the bottles.
It is obvious that the construction of this type of dragging means is extremely difficult and complicated, and therefore increases the device global production cost.
Also the effectiveness of the systems which use this type of dragging means is hindered by possible difficulties resulting from the behaviour of extensions, picking up and pushing means carried by a belt or a chain, particularly with respect to bottles of different shapes.
In particular this last mentioned problem is considerably serious and very often can be solved only by substitution of the belt equipped with extensions with another more appropriate belt with extensions of different shape and/or mutually spaced with a different distance.
According to a particular embodiment, the dragging means include a rigid segment with semicircular seats, inside which the bottles are pushed by a striker placed opposite to the segment.
The segment is moved with reciprocating motion both lengthwise, with a stroke at least equal to the distance between two seats, and sidewise, so as to describe a rectangular trajectory.
It is evident that this type of the conveyor can be used only with bottles which have to move in an intermittent way.
Moreover, it is evident that the construction of this type of dragging means is extremely difficult and complicated, and therefore increases the global production cost of the conveying system.
Moreover, it is not possible to perform additional operations on the containers, if there are not provided complex devices for picking up single containers in different areas of the conveying surface.
The German publication DE-A-2548613 discloses a tooth belt conveyor for bottles which has radial paddle attachment and belt drums and with radial clearance slots for attachment clamps.
The transfer belt conveyor is for vertical objects such as bottles and the radial paddles are attached to the outside of the conveyor belt. The paddle attachments are guided above and below by right angle edges which are part of the conveyor frame cover panels. The conveyor belt has internal teeth so that they match the drive and location drum. The drum has also radial clearance slots which are provided for the paddle attachment clamps. A bar longitudinal parallel to the belt keeps the bottle in between the paddles while they are moved. At the conveyor exit, the upright bottles are taken over by a transfer rotor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A main object of the present invention is to provide a conveying system of the above described type, with characteristics which simplify its production and, at the same time, improve its effectiveness.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device that can be adapted widely and easily to all possible shapes of containers to be conveyed, without complicated substitution and/or adjustment operations.
The above mentioned objects are obtained by a conveying device including:
at least one stationary support element which defines a support and running surface for these containers;
at least one dragging element designed to engage and move the containers resting on the support and running surface;
at least one lateral striker for the containers, for enabling the dragging means to engage and move the containers;
the conveyor is characterized in that:
the dragging element is formed by an endless motorised belt having an active straight run situated over a longitudinal edge of the support element;
the edge of the active straight run which is turned toward the lateral striker is provided with seats regularly spaced out and situated over a corresponding section of the support and running surface;
the width of the seats decreases while they extend inwards;
the lateral striker is formed by a bar that extends parallel to the active straight run of the belt and in the region of a longitudinal lateral edge of the support and running surface, opposite to the belt;
the dragging element and the bar can translate sidewise in relation to the containers size, maintaining said containers always centered with respect to a median line traced between them and crossing operative means located along the longitudinal extension of the conveyor.
In a first preferred embodiment, the belt is made of a synthetic material and is provided with dragging cogs made on the inner surface of a closed loop defined by the belt.
In a second preferred embodiment the belt is made of a metallic material and the seats have inclined edges featuring flanges folded downwards.
The dragging element and the striker are made in such a way and controlled by such means that they produce corresponding references for the bottles to be moved.
Other features and variants of constructive details are pointed out in the subsequent dependent claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1729237 (1929-09-01),
Bisi Alessandro
Salmi Gianfranco
Chin Paul T.
Coleman Sudol Sapone P.C.
Ellis Christopher P.
I.M.A. - Industria Macchine Automatiche - S.p.A.
Sapone William J.
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