Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor system for establishing and moving a group of items – By shifting group from row conveyor onto stream conveyor
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-30
2001-03-20
Olszewski, Robert P. (Department: 3652)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor system for establishing and moving a group of items
By shifting group from row conveyor onto stream conveyor
Reexamination Certificate
active
06202827
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the art of materials handling, more particularly to an apparatus for feeding empty containers to a system for transporting those containers through various processing stations, such as a filling station, packaging station, labeling station etc.. The apparatus in accordance with the present invention is simple, inexpensive yet highly efficient and reliable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Manufacturers of consumer products packaged in bottles, glass or plastic containers, such as drugs, cosmetics or edible substances, make extensive use of automatic machinery to fill empty containers with the appropriate contents, cap the containers, apply a label, etc. A typical container processing line comprises a plurality of processing stations performing specific operations on containers dispensed in succession from a supply bin. Usually, the containers in the supply bin, are in a completely random disposition, hence a container orienting apparatus is required to first unscramble and then feed the containers to the processing line in a serial uniform spacing order. Glass containers cannot be put in a supply bin like other containers, the unscrambling operation would simply break the glass containers. These glass containers are normally packaged in boxes with compartments for each containers and must be handle very gently by feeding apparatus.
Existing devices for feeding containers to a conveyor belt suffer from numerous drawbacks, namely inefficiency, slow speed and undue complexity. Some devices can only feed containers in rows parallel to the direction of travel of the receiving conveyor belt. In most cases, round containers cannot be fed in an orderly fashion due to the fact that they are likely to overlap between rows and be improperly aligned. Often, without proper control of the container feeding action, the containers will remain randomly positioned when entering the receiving conveyor belt. Often transfer from one conveyor belt to the next without proper guidance creates an area where containers are only half engaged on the receiving conveyor belt resulting in random orientation of the containers and even toppling over of a container causing an interruption of the container feeding sequence.
Considering the popularity of this type of feeding apparatus, there is a strong demand for a feeding apparatus that is fast, efficient, simple and better adapted to fragile containers and to severe conditions.
OBJECT AND STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel apparatus for feeding containers in serial order to a conveyor belt or any other container transporting mechanism, that is simple in construction, can operate at reasonably high speed, is relatively compact and is also reliable.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for feeding containers that can feed containers in rows in any direction of travel of the receiving conveyor belt.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for feeding containers that can feed round containers in an orderly fashion and in proper alignment.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for feeding containers that properly controls the container feeding action so that the containers will remain positioned in an orderly fashion when entering the receiving conveyor belt.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for feeding containers that insures proper engagement of containers on the receiving conveyor belt resulting in proper orientation of the containers.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for feeding containers that prevents toppling over of a container and interruption of the container feeding sequence.
As embodied and broadly described herein the invention provides an apparatus for feeding- containers in serial order to a container transporting device, said apparatus including:
a container supporting surface dimensioned to receive and support a population of containers disposed in a multi-column and multi-row arrangement;
means for displacing said population in a given direction;
an abutment wall extending generally across said container supporting surface, said abutment wall being engaged by the population of containers when tending to move along said given direction;
an outlet passageway adjacent said abutment wall for discharging selected members of the population of containers;
a container pushing device located in the vicinity of said abutment wall, said container pushing device being movable along said abutment wall for engaging one member of the population of containers and causing displacement of the row of containers adjacent said abutment wall toward said outlet passageway whereby the members of the population of containers egress said outlet passageway in single file and at a rate which can be controlled by said container pushing device.
Advantageously, the apparatus for feeding containers further comprises a second abutment wall extending generally across said container supporting surface, said second abutment wall movable between an at rest position and an operating position, whereby in the operating position, said second abutment wall is down between two rows of containers, separating and guiding said containers through said outlet passageway and in said at rest position, said second abutment wall is removed from the containers flow to let a new row of container through. This second abutment wall provides a complementary guiding means to ensure that containers with a circular shape may egress said outlet passageway smoothly.
Advantageously, the apparatus for feeding containers comprises a conveyor belt on which the population of empty containers is placed. The abutment wall is a barrier or any suitable supporting structure extending across the conveyor belt such as to prevent the population of containers from moving beyond the boundary constituted by this barrier. When the conveyor belt is operating, it displaces the population of containers forward until they engage the abutment wall. At this point, the abutment wall causes the containers to slip on the surface of the conveyor belt, thus keeping the containers in place while allowing the conveyor belt to move forward. This particular arrangement allows replenishing the population of containers regularly to prevent depletion as a result of regular container removal. Thus, it suffices to deposit on the conveyor belt empty containers, preferably at a rate equal or slightly exceeding the rate of container removal from the population. Those fresh empty containers will be transported by the conveyor belt toward the abutment wall and will be agglomerated there with the remainder of the container population.
The dimensions of the conveyor belt are such as to allow the establishment of a multi-row, multi-column array of containers. In a very specific example, the transverse dimension of the conveyor belt that determines the number of columns of the array may be in the range of 20 to 60. The parameter that regulates the number of rows in the array is primarily the speed of the conveyor belt and the rate at which fresh containers are being deposited thereon. Indeed, the larger the deposition rate and the greater the speed, the faster the rows of the array will build up. This factor should also take into consideration the rate of container removal from the population. Thus, in absolute terms what should be considered is the differential rate between the containers that are being supplied and those removed in order to establish how fast the population will build up.
The means for displacing the population of empty containers toward the abutment wall may be any mechanical system suitable to accomplish this task. This means is preferably executed by the conveyor surface itself in combination with a drive motor that causes this surface to advance, hence tending to move the population of empty containers forward. Other possible embodiments exist, however. For example, the supporting surface
Jaketic Bryan
Kalish Canada Inc.
Olszewski Robert P.
Ratner & Prestia
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