JP2784883B2 - Automatic test tube labeling device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic test tube label applicator for automatically applying a label to a test tube used in a clinical test or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Labels indicating patient names and test contents are attached to test tubes used for various tests such as serum separation in clinical tests. Therefore, in order to perform this attaching operation fully automatically, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application No. 2-129909 and the like have proposed an automatic label attaching device for test tubes.

[0003]

By the way, a stopper is fitted on the mouth side of the test tube so that the upper end has a large diameter and the lower end has an arc shape with a small diameter. For this reason, when packing a large number of test tubes in a box, it is usual that the test tubes are placed in the box upside down so as to enable efficient packing. Therefore, when the test tubes are taken out of the box and supplied to the automatic test tube label applicator, it is necessary to supply the test tubes while keeping the top and bottom aligned, which is extremely troublesome.

Therefore, there has been proposed an automatic test tube label applicator which eliminates the need to supply the test tubes in a vertical direction and has a structure in which a label can be automatically attached to the surface of the test tube. Was.

In this apparatus, a test tube is supplied to an intermittent drive conveyor by a test tube supply device so that the longitudinal direction thereof coincides with a feed direction, and the test tubes transported one by one from the intermittent drive conveyor by a uniform feeding device. Are aligned and dropped in the same direction, labels are sequentially attached to the test tubes sent from above by a label attaching device one by one, and the test tubes with the attached labels are discharged to the outside. Things.

By the way, in order to supply a plurality of test tubes for each subject to conduct tests having different contents, a plurality of automatic test tube label applicators must be provided in parallel. Then, in order to be able to collect the test tubes to which the label is attached at one time, a configuration may be proposed in which the test tubes supplied from the respective outlets are supplied to a single external conveyor. By the way, in such a configuration using an external conveyor, each hospital or the like has its own test contents, and the number of attached testers varies, so that the test tube label attaching device arranged in parallel is used. If an external conveyor is to be attached along the row, it must be designed each time according to each attachment condition, it will be expensive to order production, and the number of automatic test tube label applicators will be added later. There is a problem that it is not possible to easily increase or decrease the number.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic test tube label applicator equipped with a label adhering device for joining a label to the peripheral surface of a test tube. The inlet opening coincides with the outlet opening on the other side in the facing direction
And a transfer conveyor is provided from the carry-in opening to the carry-out opening, and the test tube on which the label is attached by the label attaching device is supplied onto the transfer conveyor. This is an automatic test tube label applicator. In this configuration, the test tube to which the label is attached by the label attaching device, itself, is naturally dropped directly from the label attaching position onto the transfer conveyor, and supplied onto the transfer conveyor. be able to. As one configuration of the automatic test tube label applicator to which the above configuration is applied, a test tube supply device that supplies a test tube on the intermittent drive conveyor with its longitudinal direction coinciding with the feeding direction, and an intermittent drive conveyor A standby path having a length capable of inserting only one test tube and penetrating in the insertion direction, the standby path being connected to a horizontal direction continuous with the supply direction of the intermittent drive conveyor. The reversible drive motor selects the rotation direction between a standby position and a drop position where the standby path is substantially vertical. And a test tube judging device for designating the driving direction of the reversible drive motor, a uniform sending device for sending out test tubes aligned in the same direction, and a test below the uniform sending device from the sorting rotating body. Tube insert to which the tube is supplied Part, and an opening and closing seat for supporting the test tube in the tube insertion part. After attaching a label to the peripheral surface of the test tube in the tube insertion part, the opening and closing seat is retracted to remove the test tube from the tube insertion part. And a label sticking device configured to supply the label onto a transfer conveyor in a mounting case.

[0009]

The plurality of automatic test tube label applicators are adjacent to each other with the carry-in opening and the carry-out opening coincident with each other. Thereby, each transfer conveyor is linearly continuous, and a material feeding passage is formed.

In the configuration of the automatic test tube label applicator, the test tube supply device aligns the longitudinal direction of the test tube label with the feed direction so that the test tube is placed on the intermittent drive conveyor in a non-coincidence relationship. Supplied. Then, test tubes are fed one by one from the intermittent drive conveyor into the standby path of the sorting rotary body of the uniform feeding device. In the standby path, the tip shape of the test tube is determined by the test tube determination device, and the sorting rotating body rotates in one of clockwise or counterclockwise directions in accordance with the tip shape, and the standby position is substantially orthogonal. In this state, the test tube falls into the tube insertion portion of the label sticking device with its vertical position being constant. Then, the test tubes are attached with labels one by one by the label attaching device, and are discharged onto the transfer conveyor directly from the tube insertion portion or via a shooter or the like.

Here, the test tube label automatic sticker row includes:
Since the material feeding path is constituted by a continuous transfer conveyor across the applicator, each test tube is sequentially transferred and collected from the end of the transfer conveyor of the endmost applicator. Become.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An automatic test tube label applicator 1 of the present invention comprises a test tube supply device A, an intermittent drive conveyor B, a uniform feeding device C, a label applying device D, and a transfer conveyor E. You.

The configuration of the test tube supply device A will be described with reference to FIGS.

A transfer trough 3 and a storage hopper 10 which are long in the front and rear sides are adjacent to the mounting case 2 having a rectangular cross section via an inner wall 5 and a vertical working path 17. The bottom surface of the storage hopper 10 is inclined toward the inner wall 5.

An elevating body 2 is provided on an operation path 17 along the inner wall 5.
The support piece 15 is pivotally supported by the shaft 21 at the upper end of the elevating body 20 so as to be rotatable. The elevating body 20 is driven to reciprocate up and down along the inner wall 5 by an elevating control device 22 provided in the mounting case 2.

The lift control device 22 includes a drive pulley 23 linked to a lower reversible lift motor and an upper driven pulley 2.
4, and the belt 25 and the elevating body 20 are connected to each other through the hole 8 formed in the front surface of the inner wall 5, and the supporting piece 15 is aligned with the inclined bottom surface of the storage hopper 10. The test tube w is supplied to the upper surface by the guide action of the inclined bottom surface, and the transfer position u where the test tube w is located near the upper edge of the inner wall 5 and sends the test tube w to the transfer gutter 3 side is reciprocated up and down. It is made to make it. The upper surface of the supporting piece 15 has a rectangular cross section that allows the test tube w to be mounted in a lying state at the capturing position d, and secures the capture of the test tube w at the capturing position d. The working path 1 of the lifting body 20
A reversing switch (not shown) is provided at an appropriate position of 7 to detect the elevating body 20 to define its uppermost position and lowermost position, and to invert the reversible elevating motor. Like that.

When the reversible elevating motor is driven, the elevating body 20 reciprocates up and down.

On the other hand, as described above, at the transfer position u, the test tube w on the carrier piece 15 is sent out to the transfer gutter 3 side. This is achieved by a tilting mechanism that tilts the carrier piece 15 about the shaft 21 toward the transfer gutter 3 at the transfer position u.

To explain this structure, a linking claw 31 is formed on the upper edge of the inner wall 5 as shown in FIG. An engagement step 16 is formed on the outer surface of the support piece 15. Further, a tension spring 32 is interposed between the carrier piece 15 and the elevating body 20, and the carrier piece 15 is held at a steady position shown by a solid line in FIG.

In this configuration, when the carrying piece 15 is moved up together with the lifting / lowering body 20 with the operation of the lifting / lowering control device 22, and reaches the transfer position u, the engaging step 16 comes into contact with the linking pawl 31, The supporting piece 15 is supported by the shaft 2 against the urging force of the tension spring 32.
3 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction as indicated by the chain line in FIG. Thus, the test tube w captured by the support piece 15 is sent out from the upper edge of the inner wall 5 to the transfer gutter 3 side.

On the other hand, the space between the storage hopper 10 and the carrier piece 15 is shielded by a shielding device 24. This shielding device 24
Will be described.

A pulley 30 is slidably supported on the elevating body 20 substantially at the side of the support piece 15, and a reel 27 is wound around a winding shaft 26 at a position directly below the storage hopper 10. Has been turned. The winding shaft 26 is urged in the winding direction. A flexible shutter 28 is wound around the reel 27, extends around the pulley 30 from the side of the transfer gutter 3, and has an end fixed to a fixed shaft 29.

As described above, when the elevating body 20 is lifted, the belt 25 follows, whereby the flexible shutter 28 is moved from the reel 27 within the working path 17.
The flexible shutter 28 covers the space between the carrier piece 15 in the raised position and the outlet of the storage hopper 10 as shown by the chain line in FIG. In this mode of operation, the outlet surface of the storage hopper 10 is provided only by the flexible shutter 28 extending upward.
Does not go up and down. For this reason, for example, the elevating body 20
When a shielding plate is provided directly on the elevating body 20 to be moved up and down together with the elevating body 20, the test tube is involved in the elevating movement of the elevating plate at the corner of the 10 outlet at the time of descending, and the erecting state Or may be damaged in some cases,
In the configuration using the flexible shutter 28 described above,
Since the flexible shutter 28 does not move up and down,
The outlet of the storage hopper 10 is shielded without changing the test tube in the storage hopper 10 with the movement of the elevating body 20.

The elevating control device 22 described above is constantly driven, so that the elevating body 20 and the supporting piece 15 reciprocate continuously. As described later, when the intermittent drive conveyor B in the transfer gutter 3 is in a non-operating state and the test tube w stays in the transfer gutter 3, the test tube w cannot be transferred to the transfer gutter 3 side. However, the carrier cannot move out of the carrier piece 15 to the transfer gutter 3 side, and falls down together with the carrier piece 15 or falls into the storage hopper 10. And the test tube w
Is returned on being supported on the carrying piece 15, the supply of a new test tube w becomes impossible at the capturing position d.

In addition, a storage sensor is provided in the storage hopper 10, and the presence or absence of a test tube w in the storage hopper 10 is determined. When the storage sensor determines that there is no test tube w, the reversible sensor is used. The drive of the elevating motor is stopped or a warning means such as a warning lamp (not shown) is operated.

[0026] The transfer gutter 3 intermittently driven conveyor is TsukeSo in B is conveyed is supported on the front with a drive pulley 36 driven by a reversible conveying motor M _2, to the follow-up pulley 37 which is pivotally supported on the rear The belts 38, 38 are stretched. With reversible conveying motor M ₂ is in the forward feed drive, resulting reverse drive to allow the return feed of the tubes w as described below, and the intermittent complex operation for sequentially causing a non-driving state.

In the above-described configuration, when the test tube w is supplied to the storage hopper 10 indiscriminately, the reciprocating movement of the carrier piece 15 and the tilting mechanism move the test piece w before and after adjacent to the transfer gutter 3 of the storage hopper 10. A plurality of test tubes w are simultaneously supplied from the lateral direction onto the intermittent drive conveyor B, with the longitudinal direction thereof coincident with the feed direction. For this reason, the supply of the test tube w to the next aligning and feeding device C can be performed smoothly without causing a shortage of feeding.

The intermittent drive conveyor B is used for determining and rotating the test tube w in the aligning and feeding device C as shown below.
A complicated operation such as one stop is performed, and the test tube does not move uniformly. However, in such a configuration, the test tube w is supplied to the intermittent drive conveyor B from the lateral direction, and if the test tube w is already located at the position on the intermittent drive conveyor B and cannot be fed, as described above, With the return of the piece 15, the test tube w is sent back as it is, or falls down and circulates in the storage hopper 10, and is again subjected to the feeding operation by the carrying piece 15. For this reason, even if the intermittent drive conveyor B performs a complicated operation, the feeding operation of the test tube w can be caused without any trouble. Therefore, for example, in a configuration in which the test tubes are fed in the vertical direction from the rear of the intermittent drive conveyor, the feed timing of each test tube must be controlled, but such complicated control is not required. .

Next, the configuration of the aligning and feeding device C will be described with reference to FIGS.

A sorting rotary body 40 is provided at the front of the intermittent drive conveyor B so as to coincide with the feeding direction. That is, a funnel-shaped drop hopper 39 for feeding test tubes w one by one to a tube insertion portion 61 of a label sticking device D described later is provided at a delivery side position of the transfer gutter 3 of the mounting case 2. The sorting rotating body 4 is placed on the mouth of the drop hopper 39.
0 is provided. The sorting rotating body 40 is mounted on the mounting case 2
Is supported by the drive shaft 41 of the reversible rotating motor M ₃ attached to the side, and a positive rotation on the drop hopper 39 is selectively driven and controlled by the rotation angle control means which will be described later and reverse rotation.

The sorting and rotating body 40 has two guide rollers 43a at the top and two guide rollers 43b at the bottom between rectangular mounting plates 42, 42 connected to the drive shaft 41. A stand-by path 4 in which only one test tube w can stand by between the guide rollers 43a and the guide rollers 43b.
4 in a stationary position.
4 with the conveyance path on the intermittent drive conveyor B,
The test tube w is sent in accordance with the drive of the intermittent drive conveyor B.

On the other hand, a test tube judging device 50 fixed to the transfer gutter 3 is located at a position that coincides with the standby path 44 before and after.
Are arranged. The test tube determination device 50 has a groove provided with a detection groove 52 slightly smaller than the diameter of the test tube w at the front position of the standby path 44 so that only the tip of the spherical portion x on the bottom surface of the test tube w can be immersed. A member 51 and sensors S ₄ and S ₅ located on both sides of the groove member 51.
It is fixed to the mounting case 2 side by a fixing screw 55 inserted through a long hole 54 formed in the first support plate 53, and the front and rear movement can be adjusted by the long hole 54, so that it is possible to cope with test tubes w having different lengths. Like that. And the test tube w is the transfer trough 3
From above, they are sequentially sent to the waiting path 44.

This feeding is pushed out from the rear by another test tube w 'sent immediately thereafter by the intermittent drive conveyor B, as shown in FIG. 7, whereby the front end of the test tube w is moved to the above-mentioned position. It is pressed against the groove member 51 side. In this state, the presence or absence of a test tube is determined by the detection sensor S ₄ having the front surface of the groove member 51 as a detection surface, and further, the test tube w is determined by the determination sensor S ₅ having the inside of the detection groove 52 as a detection surface. Of the spherical portion x is determined.

That is, when the spherical portion x is immersed as shown in FIG. 6A, both the detection sensor S ₄ and the determination sensor S ₅ are turned on, whereby the rotation direction is determined, and the sorting rotation member is determined. 40 rotates clockwise slightly more than 90 degrees, converts the test tube w into a vertical state with its spherical portion x upward, and then drops the test tube w from the standby path 44 to the drop hopper 39.

On the other hand, when the plug y tube w as shown in FIG. 6 (b) is pressed against the detecting groove 52 side, the tip is not retracted into the detection groove 52, the detection sensor S ₄ is turned operates There determination sensor S ₅ is not turned on actuation. Therefore, after detects the presence of the test tube w detection sensor S _4, when the determination sensor S ₅ is in the OFF state, it is determined that the plug y is in the front, thereby sorting the rotating body 40, FIG. 8 Then, the test tube w is rotated in the counterclockwise direction as shown in FIG. Then, as described above, the sorting rotating body 40 rotates in a required direction along with the reversal of the test tube w, moves back, and returns to the position shown in FIGS.

When this test tube w is detected by the detection sensor S ₄ , the reversible transport motor M ₂ is driven in the reverse direction to retract the test tube w ′ immediately after so as not to impair the rotation of the sorting rotary body 40. Then, the driving is stopped until the sorting rotating body 40 is completed. In other words, until the test tubes w is detected by the detection sensor S ₄ becomes a possible feed operation by intermittent driving conveyor B continues, test tubes w in the storage hopper 10 is decreased, the test by carrying piece 15 Even when the number of captured tubes w has been reduced, the test tube w is supplied without any problem because it is not due to the uniform feeding operation.

The above-described rotation angle control is performed as shown in FIG.
The slit 58 of the slit plate 57 provided at the rear end of the drive shaft 41 of the reversible rotating motor M ₃ is controlled by detecting by the sensor S _6. Incidentally, the drawing sensor S ₆ is provided for each 90-degree intervals, but so as to control the rotation angle,
It may be controlled by a single sensor S ₆ by forming a plurality of slits 58. Thus, rotation angle control means is configured.

The test tube w whose vertical direction is defined as described above is sent out to the tube insertion portion 61 of the label sticking device D with the spherical portion x facing upward. Next, the configuration of the label sticking apparatus D will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, a holder 62 is provided along a vertical direction so as to surround a gap vertically aligned with the lower end of the drop hopper 39. The holder 62 has a cylindrical shape having a substantially C-shaped cross section, has an opening 63 extending vertically in the front surface, and is supported vertically by the internal frame 65. Then, the tube insertion portion 61 is configured in the cylindrical holder 62. A drive roller 68 is vertically supported on the inner frame 65 in front of the cylindrical holder 62 so as to face the opening 63. The drive roller 68 is controlled to rotate by the driving force of the rotary motor M ₄ is transmitted by the transmission belt 69.

Behind the holder 62, a pair of pressing rollers 70a, 70
b is arranged. As shown in FIG. 11, the shaft support 73 is controlled to move forward and backward by a vertically moving arm 74, a solenoid 76 mounted on a lower bottom, and a spring 78. That is, the upper end of a vertical arm 74 that can be tilted by a support shaft 75 is fixed to the shaft support 73 via a rotation shaft 71, and the arm 7 is positioned below the support shaft 75.
4 is connected to an operating rod 77 of a solenoid 76, and by pushing out the operating rod 77, the arm 74 is rotated left and right about a support shaft 75, so that a pressing roller 70a , 70b are extruded toward the drive roller 68. Since the shaft support 73 is connected to the arm 74 via the rotation shaft 71, the tilting of the shaft support 73 causes the pressing rollers 70a and 70b to be vertically vertical along the surface of the test tube w. At this time, an elastic body 72 such as a spring is interposed between the arm 74 and the shaft support 73 in order to generate a moderating action on the shaft support 73. Further, a retracting ridge 78 is attached to the arm 74, and the arm 74 is constantly urged in the retreating direction by the ridge 78.

On the other hand, an opening / closing seat 81 is provided immediately below the tube insertion portion 61. The opening / closing seat 81 is fixed to an upper end of a screw shaft 82 which is vertically screwed to a lower end portion of an L-shaped support arm 79 supported by a support shaft 80 in a vertical direction. By changing the screwing position, the screw is held so that the height can be adjusted. When the test tubes w having different lengths are applied by this height adjustment, there is an advantage that the label sticking position can be set to a predetermined position.

The support arm 79 is connected to a rod 89 of a solenoid 88, and is further provided with a sprout 90. The sprout 90 holds the opening / closing seat 81 at a position immediately below the tube insertion portion 61. I have. When the solenoid 88 is driven, the support arm 79 is set at an open position (a chain line in FIG. 11) centered on the support shaft 80 and defined by the other position holding roll 91b against the urging force of the spring 90. The opening / closing seat 81 is retracted from immediately below the tube insertion portion 61, and is supported on the opening / closing seat 81 as described later, and
Is dropped downward.

[0043] The photoelectric sensor S ₇ for the height position corresponding to the lower end vicinity of the inserted tube w to the holder 62 for sensing the insertion of the test tube w are arranged. On the other hand, on the side of the drive roller 68, a label feeder 95 that feeds out the labels r temporarily attached to the continuous sheet s one by one from the tangential direction to the edge of the drive roller 68 facing the holder 62 is arranged. You.

The label feeder 95 includes a feed roll 96 for holding the rolled continuous sheet s, a driving take-up roll 97 for collecting the release sheet t from which the label r has been removed in a roll shape, A group of guide rolls 98 for applying tension to guide paper supply, and a print head 9 for performing required printing on the label r sent from the feed roll 96.
9 as a main part, and at the side of the tube insertion part 61, the feeding direction is rapidly changed by the reversing guide piece 98a, so that only the label r printed by the print head 99 is peeled off. The tube is sent to the tube insertion portion 61 side.

Next, the label sticking operation will be described.

The test tube w is supplied from the tube insertion portion 61 into the cylindrical holder 62 (FIG. 11), and the test tube w is
When placed on the upper side, the photoelectric sensor detects this, the operating rod 77 of the solenoid 78 is operated in the pushing direction, and the pressing roller pair 70a, 70b supported by the shaft support 73 through the rotation of the arm 74 is driven. It moves in the direction of the roller 68. Thereby, the pressing roller pair 70a, 70b is formed in the vicinity of both the upper and lower ends of the test tube w from the left and right sides by a copying action described later.
Are respectively pressed, and the test tube w is pressed by the pressing roller pair 70a, 7
0b on the opening and closing seat 81 by the pressing action of the driving roller 68
Side, the test tube w is pushed out of the opening 63 of the holder 62 as shown in FIG.
Is pressed against.

The rotation motor M ₄ is started almost simultaneously with the operation of the solenoid 78, and the driving roller 68 is rotated by the driving force of the rotation motor M ₄ . Therefore, the driving roller 6
The test tube w pressed against 8 is driven to rotate by the driving roller 68. Then, while the test tube w is rotating, the label feeder 95 is operated, and the label r at the leading end is fed out in the tangential direction between the drive roller 68 and the test tube w, and is transferred to the test tube w. The label r is wound around the outer peripheral surface of the test tube w and completely adhered by the rotation while the test tube w is pressed against the drive roller 68.

Rotation motor M for rotating drive roller 68
₄ stops when the label r is adhered to the test tube w, thereby stopping the drive roller 68. At the same time, the solenoid 78 is turned off and the arm 74 is pulled back by the urging force of the sprung 79, and the pressing roller pair 70a, 70b
Is retracted, and the test tube w is again held by the holder 62. At the same time as the solenoid 78 is turned off,
The solenoid 88 is driven, and the support arm 79 is moved to the support shaft 80.
And the other 91b against the urging force of the spawn 90
The opening / closing seat 81 is retracted from immediately below the tube insertion portion 61 at this position, and the test tube w supported on the opening / closing seat 81 and affixed with the label is moved by the transfer conveyor 10.
It will naturally fall on zero.

Next, the main part of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The opposite side plates 2a, 2b of the mounting case 2
The one side plate 2a has a loading opening 101, and the other side plate 2
b, a discharge opening 102 is formed so as to coincide with each other in the facing direction . A transfer conveyor 100 is provided over the openings 101 and 102 so that the upper surface of the transfer conveyor 100 is vertically aligned with the tube insertion portion 61. The transfer conveyor 100 is extended in a direction orthogonal to the transfer gutter 3.

The transfer conveyor 100 has a driven roll 104 at the rear, a drive roll 105 at the front, and a connecting plate 10.
6 and 106, a material feeding belt 107 is wound around the rolls 104 and 105, and a small gear 108 provided at the shaft end of the driving roll 105 is fixed to a driving shaft of a material feeding driving motor 110. Meshed with the large gear 109
The driving roll 105 is driven almost always, and the material feeding belt 1 is
07 from the carrying-in opening 101 to the carrying-out opening 102
To move to.

When a plurality of automatic test tube label applicators 1 having the above-described configuration are densely arranged side by side as shown in FIG. 1, the carry-in opening 101 and the carry-out opening 102 are previously formed.
Are formed so that they match in the facing direction
And therefore each transfer conveyor 100
Are continuous on a straight line, and a material feeding passage P is formed along the direction in which the test tube label automatic stickers 1 are juxtaposed.

When a plurality of test tubes are required for one subject in order to perform various tests, an automatic test tube label attaching apparatus 1 having test tubes corresponding to each test content is used. By juxtaposing as described above, the test tubes w to which the labels r have been applied by the respective applicators 1 are discharged onto each of the transfer conveyors 100, and as they travel, the adjacent automatic test tube label applicators are used. 1 is transferred to the transfer conveyor 100 from the carry-in opening 101, and is traversed through each applicator 1, and is collected from the carry-out opening 102 of the transfer conveyor 100 of the applicator 1 at the extreme end. In addition, as described above, a caster 115 is pivotally supported at a lower portion of the sticker 1 in order to facilitate the arrangement of the automatic test tube label sticker 1.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention , the carry-in opening 101 and the carry-out opening 101
The openings 102 are formed so as to coincide with each other in the facing direction,
In addition, the transfer port extends from the carry-in opening 101 to the carry-out opening 102.
This is because the conveyor 100 is provided.
Are arranged side by side, so that the carry-in opening 101 and the carry-out
Through the opening 102, each transfer conveyor 100 is connected.
Subsequently, a material feeding passage is formed, and the label r is
The test tube w to which is attached is transferred in the juxtaposed direction,
To be recovered from the discharge opening 102 of the sticker 1 at the end.
Become. For this reason, there is no need to separately attach a conveyor as a custom-ordered product. It is only necessary to set the number of each sticker 1 according to the required number of test tubes and to arrange them side by side. There is an excellent effect that can be arbitrarily added in response to the above.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a juxtaposed state of an automatic test tube label applicator according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a delivery section of a test tube w.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along a line II in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the aligning and feeding device C;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the aligning and feeding device C;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a main part showing a determination mode of the test tube determination apparatus 50.

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional side view showing a state where a test tube w is supplied to a sorting rotating body 40.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional side view showing the operation of the sorting rotation body 40.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a part of the label sticking device D.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a holding mode of a test tube w of the label sticking apparatus D.

11 is a vertical sectional side view of a main part of the label sticking apparatus D. FIG.

FIG. 12 is a front view showing the transfer conveyor 100.

13 is a plan view of the transfer conveyor 100. FIG.

FIG. 14 is a side view of the automatic test tube label applicator 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic test tube label sticker 2 Mounting case 3 Transfer gutter 5 Inner wall 10 Storage hopper 15 Supporting piece 20 Elevating body 22 Elevating control device 23 Movable body 26 Winding shaft 27 Reel 28 Flexible shutter 40 Sorting rotating body 44 Standby path 50 Test tube judging device 51 Groove member 52 Detection groove 61 Tube insertion portion 79 Support arm 81 Opening / closing seat 88 Solenoid 95 Label feeder 100 Transfer conveyor 101 Loading opening 102 Delivery opening A Test tube feeding device B Intermittent driving conveyor C Feeding device D Label sticking device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Atsuto Nakamura 3-9-9 Sakae, Naka-ku, Nagoya City Inside Kobayashi Recording Paper Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-62-100318 (JP, A) JP-A Sho 60-218212 (JP, A) JP-A 5-27675 (JP, U) JP-A 57-178014 (JP, U) JP-B 60-25331 (JP, B2)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. An automatic test tube label applicator provided with a label attaching device for joining a label to a peripheral surface of a test tube, wherein a loading opening is provided on one of the opposite side plates of the mounting case and a delivery opening is provided on the other. Are formed so as to coincide with each other in the facing direction, a transfer conveyor is provided from the carry-in opening to the carry-out opening, and the test tube on which the label is stuck by the label sticking device is supplied onto the transfer conveyor. An automatic test tube label applicator characterized in that: 2. An automatic test tube label applicator provided with a label attaching device for joining a label to a peripheral surface of a test tube, wherein a loading opening is provided on one of the opposite side plates of the mounting case and a delivery opening is provided on the other. Are formed so as to coincide with each other in the facing direction, and a transfer conveyor is provided from the carry-in opening to the carry-out opening, and the test tube to which the label is attached by the label attaching device, the label attaching itself, is attached to the label attaching device. 2. The automatic test tube label applicator according to claim 1, wherein the test tube label is automatically dropped from a position directly onto the transfer conveyor and supplied onto the transfer conveyor. 3. An intermittent drive conveyor provided in a transfer gutter for transporting test tubes forward, a test tube supply device for supplying the test tubes onto the intermittent drive conveyor with the longitudinal direction thereof coincident with the feed direction, It is located in front of the intermittent drive conveyor, has a length that allows only one test tube to be inserted, and has a standby path that penetrates in the insertion direction. The standby path is continuous with the supply direction of the intermittent drive conveyor. A reversible drive motor to select a rotation direction between a horizontal standby position and a drop position where the standby path is substantially vertical, and a selection rotating body, and a test tube in the standby path. A test tube judging device that determines the tip shape and specifies the driving direction of the reversible drive motor; a uniform sending device that sends out test tubes aligned in the same direction; and a sorting device below the uniform sending device. Test tube from rotating body A pipe insertion part to be supplied and an opening / closing seat for supporting a test tube in the pipe insertion part, and after attaching a label to the peripheral surface of the test tube in the tube insertion part, the opening / closing seat is retracted to remove the pipe. In an automatic test-tube label applicator equipped with a label attaching device configured to discharge a test tube from an insertion section in a mounting case, a loading opening is provided on one of the opposite side plates of the mounting case and the other is provided on the other side. The carrying-out openings are formed so as to be aligned in the facing direction, a transfer conveyor is provided from the carrying-in opening to the carrying-out opening, and the test tube on which the label is attached by the label attaching device is transferred from the tube insertion portion. An automatic test tube label applicator characterized by being supplied on a conveyor. 4. A test tube supply device, comprising: a storage hopper provided on a side of a transfer gutter for storing test tubes; and a storage hopper provided along an inner wall partitioned from the transfer gutter in the storage hopper. The control device reciprocates vertically between the capture position of the storage hopper bottom and the transfer position at the top of the storage hopper,
A support piece for transporting the test tube to the transfer position in a lying state; and a tilting of the support piece at the transfer position to transfer the test tube supported on the support piece from the upper end of the inner wall onto the intermittent drive conveyor of the transfer gutter. A tilting mechanism, which is wound on a reel that is wound on a pulley that is lifted and lowered in synchronization with the carrier piece and urged in a winding direction on substantially the side of the carrier piece, and has one end held therein. With a shutter,
3. The test according to claim 2, wherein a flexible shutter is drawn out from the reel with the rise of the pulley, and the storage shutter is provided with a shielding device for blocking between the storage hopper and the supporting piece. Automatic tube label applicator.