JP3519288B2 - Slide shoe for sorting conveyor - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a slide shoe for discharging articles conveyed by a sorting conveyor from slats at a sorting position. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the sorting of articles, for example,
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2717065, a sorting conveyor in which slide shoes are externally slidably slidable in the left-right direction is widely used for each of a number of endlessly connected slats. As shown in FIG. 5, a slide shoe used in such a sorting conveyor is provided with a guide at a portion where the slide shoe A1 slides on the surface opposite to the conveying surface F side of the slat A2. A pin A3 is protruded, and the guide pin A3 and a guide roller A4 rotatably mounted on the guide pin A3 are guided by a guide member such as a branch guide rail disposed on a conveyor machine frame (not shown). With the movement of the slat A2 in the transport direction at the sorting position, the slide shoe A1 is slid to the side end of the slat A2 on the sorting position side, and the side surface of the article placed on the slat at the article pushing surface S is moved. By pushing, the article is discharged to a chute at a target sorting position. As described above, the slide shoe A1 used in the conventional sorting conveyor has a flat surface in which the article pushing surface S forms a certain angle α with respect to the conveying direction as shown in FIG. Usually, the angle α is set to about 25 °. FIG. 7 is a view showing the movement of the slide shoe A1 when the article W on the slat A2 is discharged by the slide shoe A1 to a chute (not shown) arranged at the sorting position, and which is upstream of the sorting position. The slide shoe A1 on the slat A2 that moves on the side is moved toward the side opposite to the sorting position side, and a space for placing and transporting articles is provided in the center in the width direction of the slat. When the slide shoe A1 reaches a predetermined position X slightly before the sorting position, the slide shoe A1 slides on the slat A2 in the lateral direction sequentially with the advance of the slat A2 from here, and the angle between the slide shoe A1 and the transport direction is changed. The articles are pushed in a straight line in the direction of α, and the article pushing surfaces S are brought into contact with the side faces of the articles W to change the direction of the articles W to the direction in which the slide shoes A1 are arranged. When the slats A2 carrying the articles W are further advanced, these slide shoes A1 are simultaneously moved in the horizontal direction while keeping the arrangement direction of the article pushing surfaces S at an angle α with respect to the conveying direction. The article W placed on the slat A2 is sent to a chute at a sorting position (not shown). At this time, the inclination angle α of the slide shoes A1 in the arrangement direction with respect to the conveyance direction is set to be equal to the inclination angle of the chute provided at the sorting position with respect to the conveyance direction in the discharge direction. In the case where the inclination angle of the slide shoes for pushing out the articles in the arrangement direction with respect to the transport direction is equal to the inclination angle of the extrusion surface of the slide shoes, as in the above-described sorting conveyor, Since the extruded surface of each slide shoe comes into surface contact with the side surface of the article and pushes the article at once, the article on the slat is smoothly discharged to the chute. However, due to the structure of the building in which the sorting conveyor is installed and restrictions on the layout of the sorting conveyor, the angle formed by the discharge direction of the chute with respect to the transport direction of the sorting conveyor is determined by the inclination angle of the article extrusion surface of the slide shoe. May not be set. In this case, the angle of inclination of the slide shoe relative to the conveying direction in the arrangement direction cannot be equal to the angle of inclination of the article pushing surface of the slide shoe. The corner at the rear end comes into contact with the side surface of the article, and a moment about the center axis of the guide pin acts on the slide shoe, causing a problem that vibration and noise are generated when sliding on the slat. Further, when the slide shoe pushes out the article from above the slat, the article to be sorted may be damaged by the corner at the front end or the rear end of the article pushing surface which hits the side of the article. Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, reduces vibration and noise when sliding on a slat, and can perform a smooth and quiet sorting operation. An object of the present invention is to provide a slide shoe for a sorting conveyor in which articles discharged from a slat are not likely to be damaged. [0014] For this purpose, a slide shoe for a sorting conveyor according to the present invention is fitted to a slat so as to be slidable in the left-right direction, and slides on a surface opposite to a conveying surface of the slat. A guide pin, which is guided by a guide member on the conveyor machine frame side, protrudes from a portion of the slide shoe, and the slide shoe contacts the side surface of the article on the slat and discharges the article to the side of the slat. The product extruding surface to be formed is an arc-shaped surface having the guide pin substantially at the center. In the sorting conveyor, articles are placed at the carry-in position on the slat transport surface in a state where the slide shoe is moved to the side end opposite to the slat sorting position side.
The article is transported to a sorting position. When the plurality of slats on which the articles are placed move to a position just before the target sorting position, the slats slide toward the sorting position in order from the slide shoe of the preceding slat.
The article pushing surface of each slide shoe abuts the side of the article to deflect the direction of the article in the sorting direction. Further, the articles are discharged from the slats to a target sorting position by a sliding operation of the slide shoes accompanying the movement of the slats in the transport direction. At this time, since the article extruding surface of the slide shoe which is in contact with the side surface of the article is formed as an arc-shaped surface substantially centered on the guide pin, the articles ejected at the sorting position are added to the article extruding surface. The reaction force generally acts in the direction of the guide pin. As a result, a moment around the guide pin is prevented from being generated on the slide shoe when the article is pushed out.
When the slide shoe slides on the slat, a smooth sorting operation is performed without generating any vibration or noise. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a sorting conveyor constituted by slats having a slide shoe of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1 and viewed from the direction of the arrow. The sorting conveyor 1 has a plurality of left and right elongated slats 2 attached to both sides thereof.
It is knitted endlessly by being connected flexibly by many
A horizontal roller 4 and a vertical roller 5 rotatably attached to each connection link 3 are guided and supported by a pair of left and right guide rails 6 provided on a machine frame (not shown), and are circulated in a vertical plane. It is configured as follows. Each of the slats 2 is provided with a slide shoe 7 for extruding articles conveyed on the upper surface thereof to the side of the conveyor at the sorting position. As shown in FIG. 3, these slide shoes 7 are formed with slat insertion holes 8 penetrating left and right, and the inner surface of the slat insertion holes 8 is guided by the outer peripheral surface of the slat 2, and The slide shoe 7 is supported so as to be slidable in the left-right direction. A guide pin 9 projects from the center of the lower surface of the slide shoe 7, and a guide roller 10 composed of a ball bearing is rotatably mounted above the guide pin 9. . The guide pin 9 and the guide roller 10 are
The slide shoe 7 is guided by a guide member such as a branch guide rail attached to a machine frame (not shown) to slide the slide shoe 7 toward the sorting position as the slat 2 moves. Since the structure is the same as that described, detailed description is omitted. As shown in FIG. 4, the slide shoe 7
The left and right side surfaces of the slat 2 on which articles are placed are provided with an article pushing surface C formed of an arcuate surface substantially centered on the center axis of the guide pin 9. The article extruding surface C is smoothly continuous with a flat surface C1 parallel to the conveying direction in front of the conveying direction of the article, and an inclined surface C2 inclined at an angle θ with respect to the conveying direction behind the conveying direction. It is formed smoothly and continuously. In the present embodiment, the inclination angle θ of the inclined surface C2 is set to 30 °, and the inclination of the chute provided at the sorting position in the discharge direction with respect to the conveying direction of the sorting conveyor 1 is 20 °. The angle can be adjusted within the range of 30 ° to 30 °. As shown in FIG. 4, a tool insertion hole 12 for turning a fixing nut 11 for screwing the guide pin 9 to the slide shoe 7 is formed at the center of the upper surface of the slide shoe 7. I have. Next, an operation of sorting articles by the slide shoe 7 configured as described above will be described. When the slide shoe 7 is conveyed to the sorting position of the articles with the movement of the slats 2, the guide pin 9 branches diagonally from the linear guide rail by a switch rail (not shown) switched in the sorting direction. Guided to the branch guide rail. When the slat 2 moves further forward, the guide pin 9 is guided by the branch guide rail, and the slide shoe 7 slides on the slat 2 in the sorting direction. A guide roller 10 provided on the guide pin 9 is also guided by a branch wall (not shown), and cooperates with the guide pin 9 to slide the slide shoe 7.
Surely moves to the side end on the sorting position side of the slat 2. The article placed on the upper surface of the slat 2 is pushed on its side by the article pushing surface C of the slide shoe 7 which slides toward the sorting position, and is discharged from above the slat 2 to the chute. At this time, the article pushing surface C of the slide shoe 7
Is formed by an arc-shaped surface centered on the center axis of the guide pin 9, so that the article is not damaged by the contact of the slide shoe 7, and the object receiving surface C receives from the article. The direction of action of the force is approximately the guide pin 9
Therefore, when the slide shoe 7 slides on the slat 2, vibration and noise are prevented from being generated. As described above, according to the present invention, when an article is discharged from the slat of the sorting conveyor to the chute at the sorting position from the slat of the sorting conveyor, the action of the reaction force applied to the article pushing surface from the article. Since the direction is substantially the direction of the guide pin, the slide shoe moving on the slat at the time of extruding the article does not generate vibration or noise, and can perform a smooth and quiet sorting operation. Further, since the articles to be sorted come into contact with the arc-shaped article pushing surface of the slide shoe at the sorting position and are extruded from the slats, there is no risk of being damaged.
As a result, even if the discharge direction of the chute with respect to the transport direction of the sorting conveyor is slightly different from the inclination angle of the article pushing surface of the slide shoe, the sorting operation does not interfere,
The degree of freedom in the layout of the sorting equipment can be increased.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a sorting conveyor using a slide shoe for a sorting conveyor of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrow. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a slide shoe for a sorting conveyor according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway cross-sectional view showing a state where a conventional sorting conveyor slide shoe is mounted on a slat. FIG. 6 is a plan view of a conventional slide shoe for a sorting conveyor. FIG. 7 is a view showing the movement of a conventional slide shoe in the vicinity of a sorting position. [Description of Signs] 1 Sorting conveyor 2 Slat 3 Connecting link 4 Horizontal roller 5 Vertical roller 6 Guide rail 7 Slide shoe 8 Slat insertion hole 9 Guide pin 10 Guide roller 11 Fixing nut 12 Tool insertion hole C Product extrusion surface

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Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] [Claim 1] A slat is slidably fitted to the outside of the slat in the left-right direction, and is guided by a guide member on the conveyor machine frame side to a portion sliding on a surface opposite to a conveying surface of the slat. A slide shoe for sorting conveyors having projecting guide pins projecting therefrom, wherein an article pushing surface for contacting an article side surface on the slat and discharging the article to the side of the slat has an arc-shaped surface substantially centered on the guide pin. A slide shoe for a sorting conveyor, comprising: