JPH07125814A - Article accumulating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To supply or discharge an article without using a pusher. CONSTITUTION:An article accumulating device has a conveyor 30 which is set so as to extend in parallel with an article carrying-accumulating member 20 to carry and accumulate an article in an article accumulating device and carries the article in an article receiving part by passing the part through the article receiving part 26 of the device. The conveyor 30 is arranged at intervals in parallel with each other in the extending direction, and has plural long and narrow finger members 38 extending in the direction for proceeding to the article carrying-accumulating member. On the other hand, the article carrying- accumulating member 20 has plural article accumulating finger members mutually set at prescribed intervals in parallel with each other in the lengthwise direction, and an article accumulating finger member passes upward through a clearance between the finger members in an upper traveling part 30' of the conveyor 30 passing through the article receiving part, and takes up the article placed and carried by the finger members.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention accumulates or discharges a product set in, for example, a production line and flowing in the line without stopping the entire flow of the line. The present invention relates to an article storage device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-32362 discloses such an article storage device, which is generally shown in FIGS.
It has a configuration as shown in. That is, the device is mounted on a frame 10, a plurality of fixed sprockets 12 rotatably mounted at predetermined positions on the left and right frame portions of the frame, and (in the example shown, mounted on a movable plate 14 which is vertically movable). ) Multiple movable sprockets 1
6, a pair of endless chains 18 which are respectively hung on the fixed and movable sprockets on the left and right and driven in a substantially vertical plane, and a predetermined interval is provided between the endless chains in the length direction of the chains, A plurality of article conveying / accumulating members 20 set to be substantially horizontal, drive means (first motor 22 and second motor 24 in the example shown) for rotationally driving the sprocket, and the article moved in the frame. It has an article receiving section 26 for receiving articles from the outside onto the conveyance / accumulation member 20, and an article ejection section 28 for ejecting articles from the article conveyance / accumulation member moved in the same frame to the outside.

In this apparatus, the first motor 22 is driven while the second motor 24 is stopped to drive the sprocket 1
Rotating 2 clockwise (as seen in Figure 1) shortens the length of the lower chain portion 18 'between the two sprockets connected to the first and second motors, whereas Thus, the length of the upper chain portion 18 ″ between the sprockets is lengthened, so that a large number of articles are stored and stored in this upper portion.

On the contrary, if the second motor 24 is driven while the first motor 22 is stopped, the upper part 18 '' of the chain is moved toward the lower part 18 'and accumulated. The article A is sent to the article discharge unit 28.

In order to supply the article onto the article conveying / accumulating member of such an apparatus, the article is conveyed to the vicinity of the article receiving section of the article accumulating apparatus by a belt conveyor, and the article accumulating apparatus is pushed by using a pusher. The method of pushing onto the article transport storage member is generally used. Further, in the case of discharging the article from the article storage device, a method of pushing the article carried by the article transport storage member to the article discharge section to the belt conveyor set outside the storage device by the pusher is the reverse of the above. Generally taken.

However, when the article is, for example, a soft confectionery, the busher may deform the article.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an article storage device capable of supplying and discharging articles without using a pusher.

[0008]

That is, the device according to the present invention comprises a frame, a plurality of fixed sprockets rotatably mounted at predetermined positions on the frame, and a plurality of movable sprockets movably mounted on the frame. An endless chain that is hung on a sprocket and driven in a substantially vertical plane, a plurality of article conveying and accumulating members that are set substantially horizontally along the endless chain at predetermined intervals, and the sprocket is rotationally driven. Driving means, an article receiving section for receiving an article from the outside on the article carrying and accumulating member moved in the frame, and discharging the article from the article carrying and accumulating member moved in the frame to the outside. And an article discharging unit configured to extend in parallel with the article transporting and accumulating member, a part of which is an upper part. An endless conveyor for carrying in articles to the article receiving section, which is passed through the article receiving section, and is set so as to extend in parallel to the article carrying and accumulating member, a part of which is the article receiving section. Is an endless conveyor for carrying in articles for carrying articles to the article receiving part, which are parallel to each other at a predetermined interval in the extending direction, in a direction toward the article carrying / accumulating member. There is an endless conveyor for carrying in articles having a plurality of elongated carrying-in finger members, and the article carrying and accumulating members are set in parallel with each other at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction. An elongated accumulating finger member, the accumulating finger member passing through the article receiving portion, and the gap between the carrying finger members in the upper traveling portion of the conveyor is directed upward. The article according to the present invention is an endless conveyor for unloading, which has the same configuration as that described above. It can also be provided in the discharge part.

[0009]

The article accumulating device according to the present invention has the above-described structure, and the article is placed on the carrying-in finger member of the carry-in endless conveyor and carried into the article receiving portion of the apparatus. When the article is conveyed to the article discharging section by being received by the accumulation finger member passing upward between the finger members and conveyed to the article discharging section, the accumulation finger member passes through the article discharging section to carry out the unloading endless conveyor. The conveyed articles pass downward between the finger members, and are transferred onto the carrying-out finger members and carried out. Therefore, in the article accumulating device according to the present invention, without using a pusher or the like for putting in and taking out articles,
Therefore, even when handling soft foods and the like, they can be put in and taken out without being significantly deformed.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail based on the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

The article storage device according to the present invention is basically similar to the conventional article storage device described above, and includes a frame 10, a plurality of fixed sprockets 12 rotatably mounted at predetermined positions of the frame, and a movable body. A plurality of movable sprockets 16 mounted on the endless chain, an endless chain 18 hung on these fixed and movable sprockets and driven in a substantially vertical plane, and set substantially horizontally along the endless chain at predetermined intervals. The plurality of article conveying and accumulating members 20 and the driving means 2 for rotationally driving the sprockets.
2, 24, an article receiving portion 26 that receives an article on the article transporting / accumulating member moved in the frame from the outside, and an article receiving unit 26 that discharges the article to the outside from the article transporting / accumulating member moved in the frame. And an article discharging section 28 for

As described above, the feature of the apparatus according to the present invention resides in the apparatus for loading and unloading articles shown in FIGS. 3 to 5.

Since an apparatus for carrying in an article and an apparatus for carrying out an article have substantially the same structure, an apparatus for carrying in an article will be mainly described below.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the outline of the relationship between the article conveying / accumulating member 20 in the article receiving section 16 and the unloading endless conveyor 30 for carrying articles into the article receiving section, and FIG. It is a side view which shows the relationship between an article conveyance storage member and a conveyor.

As shown in the figure, the carry-in conveyor 30 is set so as to extend in parallel with the article carrying / accumulating member 20, and a part thereof (a part near the left end in FIG. 3) is passed through the article receiving section 26. ing. The conveyor basically comprises a pair of sprockets 34 (only one of the sprockets is shown in the drawing) and an endless chain 36 hung on the sprockets. And a plurality of elongated loading finger members 38 which are cantilevered and parallel to each other and which extend in a cantilever fashion in the direction towards the article transport storage member. As shown in FIG. 4, the finger members are passed through the holes of the tubular support member 40 fixed to the links of the chain, which are fixed at predetermined intervals, and are fixed by fixing members (not shown) such as screws. . The finger member extends from the support member 40 toward the article conveying / accumulating member by a length suitable for placing a desired article.

The member designated by reference numeral 44 in FIG.
A finger member guide that is set parallel to the conveyor 30, and is composed of an elongated lower plate 46 that extends parallel to the conveyor 30, an intermediate spacer 48, and an upper plate 50, and the rear end portion of the finger member 38. Are housed in a guide space 52 formed between the upper and lower plates to guide the moving finger member and to balance the weight of the article A supported by the front portion of the finger member. .

As shown in FIG. 5, the article transport storage member 20.
Are a pair of hanging members that are connected to chains C set along both sides of the article accumulating device in the width direction (longitudinal direction of the article conveying and accumulating member) and that are substantially T-shaped when viewed from the side. 54, a rod-shaped member 56 set between the suspension members, and a plurality of storage finger members 60 mounted on the rod-shaped member. Both suspension members,
The lower portion thereof has a cylindrical portion 62 projectingly provided so as to face each other, and the rectangular holes of the cylindrical portion are aligned in the width direction. The rod-shaped portion 56 has a rectangular cross section, and both ends thereof are fitted into the holes 64 of the tubular portion 62 of the suspension member. The finger member 60 has a rectangular hole corresponding to the cross section of the rod-shaped member, and is set by sequentially inserting the holes into the rod-shaped member 56. In the illustrated embodiment, holes 6 are provided at both ends of the upper horizontal portion of the suspension member.
6 is provided, only one of which is to be connected to the chain and the other hole is not used, this hole allows the member to be connected to either the left or right chain It is for.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the article receiving section 26, the article transport / accumulation member 20 is adapted to be transferred from the lower side to the upper side, and by setting a pair of sprockets as shown, The article conveying / accumulating member is passed through the upper traveling portion 30 ′ of the endless supply conveyor from the bottom to the top, and is placed on the finger member 38 of the conveyor so as to lift and receive the article A conveyed from below. Has been done.

The apparatus for carrying in articles is as described above, but the apparatus for carrying out articles has almost the same structure. That is, the article carrying / accumulating member 20 is as described above, and the endless conveyor for carrying out is provided to receive and carry out the article carried by the article carrying / accumulating member. It is the same as that of the conveyor 30 for. The difference is that the article transport / accumulation member 20 is set so as to pass from the top to the bottom with respect to the unloading conveyor, and the article A placed on the finger member of the article transport / accumulation member is for unloading. Only that it is transferred onto the finger members of the conveyor.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view of the article storage device showing the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view of the article storage device viewed from an article receiving side.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an article receiving portion which is a main part of the article storage device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the article receiving unit.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an article transport / accumulation member of the apparatus according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 --- Article storage device, 10 --- frame, 12 ---
-Fixed sprocket, 16 --- Movable sprocket, 1
8 --- Endless chain, 20 ---- Article transport storage member,
22, 24 --- driving means, 26 --- article receiving section,
28 --- Article discharge part, 30 --- Endless conveyor for loading, 38 --- Fingers for loading, 60 --- Fingers for storage.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A frame (10), a plurality of fixed sprockets (12) rotatably mounted in a predetermined position of the frame, and a plurality of movable sprocket (16) movably mounted, and these fixed and movable. An endless chain (18) which is hung on a sprocket and driven in a substantially vertical plane, and a plurality of article conveying / accumulating members (20) which are set substantially horizontally at predetermined intervals along the endless chain. Drive means (22, 24) for rotationally driving the sprocket, and an article receiving section (26) for externally receiving an article on the article carrying / accumulating member moved in the frame, and a moving section in the same frame. An article accumulating device (1) having an article ejecting section (28) for ejecting an article from the article conveying and accumulating member to the outside, comprising: An endless conveyor (30) for loading articles for loading articles into the article receiving section, the part of which is set to extend in parallel with the article receiving section (26). An article loading endless conveyor (30) having a plurality of elongated loading finger members (38) which are parallel to each other at a predetermined interval in the extension direction and are extended in a direction toward the article transport accumulating member. The article carrying and accumulating member has a plurality of elongated accumulating finger members (60) set in parallel with each other at predetermined intervals in the length direction thereof. 60) is passed through the article receiving section and passes through the gap between the carrying-in finger members (38) in the upper traveling section (30 ′) of the conveyor (30) and is placed by the carrying-in finger member. Article storage apparatus characterized by being adapted to take up has been Barre article A. 2. A frame (10), a plurality of fixed sprockets (12) rotatably mounted in a predetermined position of the frame, and a plurality of movable sprocket (16) movably mounted, and these fixed and movable. An endless chain (18) which is hung on a sprocket and driven in a substantially vertical plane, and a plurality of article conveying / accumulating members (20) which are set substantially horizontally at predetermined intervals along the endless chain. Drive means (22, 24) for rotationally driving the sprocket, and an article receiving portion (26) for externally receiving an article on the article transport / accumulation member moved in the frame, and an article receiving section (26) moved in the frame. An article accumulating device (1) having an article ejecting section (28) for ejecting an article from the article conveying and accumulating member to the outside, comprising: Is set so as to extend in parallel with, and a part of which is passed through the article discharge section (28), for receiving and carrying out the article conveyed by the article conveyance / accumulation member from the article conveyance / accumulation member. An endless conveyor for unloading articles, the article unloading comprising a plurality of parallel elongated unloading finger members, which are parallel to each other at predetermined intervals in the extension direction and are extended in a direction toward the article transport / storage member. Endowment conveyor, the article transport storage member has a plurality of storage finger members set in parallel with each other at a predetermined interval in the length direction, the storage finger member, An upper portion of the conveyor that passes through the article discharge section passes through the gap between the finger members of the conveyor downward, and the articles placed and carried by the finger members are conveyed to the delivery filter. An article storage device, characterized in that it is adapted to be transferred onto a gang member.