Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor having impinging fluid to feed – shift or discharge...
Patent
1998-01-05
1999-11-23
Bidwell, James R.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor having impinging fluid to feed, shift or discharge...
65323, C03B 3510
Patent
active
059883553
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a technique for handling articles. More particularly, the invention deals with techniques for handling articles while they are being made and more specifically articles which are at a high temperature.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND
Although the invention is not limited to this type of industry, it will be described with reference to the industry which deals with the manufacture of glass containers of the bottle or flask type. To make it easier for the reader to understand, the invention will more specifically be described with reference to "pushers". Pushers are tools allowing the bottles as they leave the mould in which they were formed to be transferred to a conveyor of the rolling belt type which takes them away, for example, towards an annealing tunnel.
These pushers usually consist of several compartments in which several bottles are accommodated at the same time. Their use consists, as soon as the bottles are released from the moulds, in moving the said pushers towards the bottles in order to push the latter towards the conveyor belt. Each bottle finds itself in a compartment of the pusher designed for this purpose.
As the pusher pushes the bottles, there is always, a priori, contact between the pusher and the bottles, and the risks of this contact are generally lessened by the presence of contact materials such as carbon or special resins fixed to the metal walls of the pushers. Such contact is to be avoided because the bottles, owing to their temperature at this stage in the production, may become marked, which leads to defects such as scratching, glazing. These defects lead either to a reduction in the mechanical strength of the articles, or possibly to them being scrapped.
What is more, the fact that the bottles are moved along by being pushed, without being held entirely firmly by the walls of the compartments of the pushers, may lead to unsteady movement, or even to the bottles falling over and therefore breaking, or alternatively to the production machine becoming covered in glass.
The creation of suction by means of a vacuum in order to pull the bottles onto the walls of the pusher as they are being transferred from one place to another has already been proposed. One such technique does indeed allow a bottle to be held correctly in position while it is being transferred but contributes to increasing the risks of defects due to the contact with the walls of the pushers. This is because the bottles thus pulled have at least one generatrix in contact with one wall of the pusher, and generally two, given that the bottle is wedged into a corner of the pusher. Another technique, especially described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,444 consists in blowing a jet of air from an orifice placed on the pusher on a wall facing the point at which a bottle is to be held in place. According to this technique, the bottles are held in place against the walls of the pusher by the pressure of the jet of air which presses the bottles against the walls. This technique has the same drawbacks as the technique described earlier because it accentuates the contact between the bottles and the walls, and therefore the risks of defects appearing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The subject of the invention is a method of handling articles which gives precise positioning of the article during handling while at the same time avoiding as far as possible any contact with the tools. In the case of a pusher, the object of the invention is thus to hold a glass bottle firmly in position in a pusher while at the same time limiting the contacts between the walls of the pusher and the bottle.
This object is achieved according to the invention using a method of handling articles in which at least one mechanical tool conveys the article or plays a part in transferring the article, and according to which at least one jet of gas under pressure is blown through a duct passing through the mechanical tool, and the article is held in position on the mechanical tool while limiting contact therewith
REFERENCES:
patent: 3340038 (1967-09-01), Hartman
patent: 3857691 (1974-12-01), Jones et al.
patent: 3893835 (1975-07-01), Jones et al.
patent: 4927444 (1990-05-01), Voisine
Bidwell James R.
Saint-Gobain Emballage
LandOfFree
Method and device for handling articles does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and device for handling articles, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and device for handling articles will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1210951