Abstract:
In a stacking and forwarding apparatus, an array of work is continuously transported or rails by belts and a preceeding one of works is located and stopped in a receiving space defined by stoppers. The preceeding one of works is lifted by three guide rails which are located at left and right sides and front side of the work. Thus, a next work is received in the receiving space under the preceeding work and also lifted by the rollers. The pair of stacked works is pushed outside of the apparatus.

Description:
This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/539,181, filed Jun. 12, 1990, now abandoned. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a stacking and forwarding apparatus for stacking works supplied one after another and forwarding them, and more particularly, to a packing machine adapted to pack works, such as cigarette packs, into one box, such that the works are arranged in two rows, stacked one on the other, each consisting of 5 works. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A conventional apparatus of this kind is disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 62-126035. In this apparatus, two parallel belts 51 transfer works W, such as cigarette packs, one by one into a divided section 52, as shown in FIGS. 1 through 3. The section 52 is provided with a lower receiving portion 52a and an upper receiving portion 52b. After the first work W is transported into the lower receiving portion 52a, as shown in FIG. 1, the divided section 52 moves downward, whereby the second work W is guided into the upper receiving portion 52b, and simultaneously, the first work is pushed from the lower receiving portion 52b into a stacking section 54 by a pushing member 53a, as shown in FIG. 2. Then, as is shown in FIG. 3, the divided section 52 and the stacking section 54 move upward, whereby the second work is pushed from the upper receiving portion 52b by a pushing member 53b located above the pushing member 53a, onto the first work located on the stacking section 54, and at the same time the third work W is received in the lower receiving portion 52a. The first and second works W stacked on the stacking member 54 are pushed out by a send-out member 55, as shown in FIG. 1. Thus, the works W supplied one by one on a continuous basis are forwarded in a stacked state. 
     In the conventional apparatus, to stack the works, the divided section 52 is moved up and down, and the pushing member 53a and 53b are moved back and forth. Consequently, the stacking operation cannot be performed at high speed. In particular, the reciprocation of the divided section 52 makes high-speed stacking difficult. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which can stack successively supplied works, and forward the stacked works, at high speed. 
     According to the invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising: 
     transporting means for transporting works one after another in a first direction on a continuous basis; 
     interrupting means for interrupting the transport of the works in the first direction; 
     guide means for guiding any work from the interrupting means, in a second direction different from the first direction, and allowing the next work to be transported into said interrupting means, thereby stacking the guided work on the received work, and guiding the stacked works in the second direction; and 
     forwarding means for forwarding at least two stacked works. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIGS. 1 to 3 are perspective views of a conventional stacking and forwarding apparatus, useful in explaining the operation thereof to stack and transport works supplied on a continuous basis; 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of a stacking and forwarding apparatus of the invention for stacking and forwarding works supplied on a continuous basis; 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is a plan view, showing the operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 7 is a sectional side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 8 is a plan view, showing another operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 9 is a sectional side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 8; 
     FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a roller for stacking and forwarding works, which is employed in the apparatus shown in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 11 is a plan view of the roller shown in FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 12 is a side view of the roller shown in FIG. 10; and 
     FIG. 13 is a development of the peripheral surface of the roller shown in FIG. 10. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIGS. 4 to 9 show a packing apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention, which packs works or articles, for example, cigarette packs, into boxes, such that the works are arranged, in each box, in two rows stacked one on the other, each consisting of 5 works. In FIG. 4, the symbol W designates a work or article, i.e. a cigarette pack in the embodiment. The works or articles W are continuously transported on a rail 2 from a cigarette-pack manufacturing-device, with the opposite shorter sides of the pack held between two parallel belts 1. Thus, the works W are supplied, on a continuous basis, to a receiving section 3, which comprises stoppers 3a and 3a to be brought into contact with the front surface of the work W, and guide members 3b, 3b, 3b and 3b to be brought into contact with the opposite shorter sides of the work W. Thus, the work W is placed by the stoppers 3a and 3a and guide members 3b, 3b, 3b and 3b in a proper location wherein the work is capable of being lifted. 
     As is shown in FIGS. 10 to 13, stacking rollers 4-1, 4-2 and 4-3 are arranged respectively opposed to the front side and opposite shorter sides of the work W, and can rotate in synchronism with each other in the directions indicated by the arrows I, II and III shown in FIG. 4. More specifically, the first and second rollers 4-1 and 4-2 have the same shape, and can rotate in the same direction I and II, while the third roller 4-3 has a shape symmetrical to that of the rollers 4-1 and 4-2, and can rotate in the opposite direction. As is shown in FIGS. 10-13, each roller 4 comprises a base portion defined by a basic diameter D1, and a peripheral portion obtained by removing the base portion from the entire body defined by a reference diameter D2, and is arranged such that the base portion does not contact the work W, and the peripheral portion can contact the bottom surface of the work W. The peripheral portion is provided with a stage 4a, a guide surface 4b, a stacking portion 4c having an upper surface and a lower surface, and a slanting surface 4e, while the base portion is provided with a relief surface 4d. The stage 4a is formed over the rotational angle from 345° (-15°) to 0° (360°), and has a level equal to or slightly lower than the bottom level of the work W, which is defined by the height of the rail 2, shown in FIG. 10. As is shown in FIG. 12, the guide surface 4b is formed spiral and like a groove (i.e., as a partial screw thread) over the rotational angle from 0° to 180°, and has a height increased from one end to the other end for pushing up the work W. The stacking surface or upper groove surface of the stacking portion 4c is formed over the rotational angle from 180° to 330° (-30°), and has the same height over its entire surface. Over the rotational angle from 145° to 330°, the relief surface 4d is formed, which has a height T larger than the thickness 2W of the work W, and the slanting surface 4e is formed under the stacking portion 4c, for preventing the interference between the upper surface of the work W and the lower surface of the stacking portion 4c. 
     A pushing rod 5 for pushing the works W is arranged above the works W transported on the rail 2 on a continuous basis, and is reciprocated by a cam mechanism 10 in synchronism with the rotation of the roller 4. 
     When the work W, transported on the rail 2 with the opposite shorter sides held between the belts 1, reaches the area where the belts 1 are not provided, it is pushed by the succeeding works W into the receiving section 3, and then slides on the guide surface 4b of the roller 4 in accordance with the rotation of the same, thus being moved upward to be stacked, as is shown in FIG. 7. While the roller rotates through 360°, the work W slides on the upper surface 4c of the roller 4. The speed of the supply of the works W is adjusted to synchronize with the rotation of the roller, such that the next work W is surely received in the receiving section 3, positioned below the first work W, and then has the first work W stacked thereon. 
     In the above-described stacking and forwarding apparatus, the first work W is received in the receiving section 3 when the rotational angle of the roller 4 is 0 degree, as is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In accordance with the rotation of the three rollers 4, the first work W contacts the guide surface 4b of each roller 4, to thereby be moved upward, and is placed on the stacking surface 4c when the rotational angle of the roller reaches 180°. The next work W can enter the receiving section 3 by virtue of the relief surface 4d. When the rotational angle of the roller becomes 0°, the lower surface of the stacking portion 4c is separated from the first work W, and therefore, the first work W falls, by its own weight, onto the second work W already received in the receiving section 3. The second work W also contacts the guide surfaces 4b of the three rollers, and moves upward, with the first work W stacked thereon. As is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the stacked works W are placed on the stacking surface 4c at a rotational angle of 270°, and pushed by the pushing rod 5 while the roller moves from 180° to 360°, thus being transported outside the apparatus. The third and fourth works W are stacked and transported in a similar manner to the first and second works W. Thus, two works can be stacked by two revolutions of the roller. Since the stacking and forwarding apparatus employs the rollers 4 which directly transports the works W in a stacking direction and stacks them, the stacking operation can be hastened. 
     Although in the above embodiment, works W are supplied one by one, and the works of each pair is stacked one on the other, the invention is not limited to this. To stack the works W on n-levels, the apparatus can be modified such that the works are pushed by the pushing rod 5 after the rollers 4 rotate n times. Further, to stack the works, supplied on two-levels, on four-levels, the configuration of the roller 4 can be made such that the works stacked on two-levels can be stacked with further works thereon. In this way, a desired stacking can be performed. Also, in the embodiment, the stacking portion 4c is formed so that it is brought out of contact with the work W at a rotational angle of 0°, and hence the work W falls at this angle, by its own weight, onto the next work W, whereby the two works can move upward together. This structure can be replaced with another. For example, if the stacking portion 4c is lengthened to a maximum, but keeping the upper surface of the work W off the lower surface of the stacking portion 4c, the work W can be prevented from falling down by its weight. Alternatively, the fall of the work due to its own weight can be prevented by applying a frictional force to the opposite sides of the work W when the work W is raised. Moreover, instead of the stacking surface 4c of the roller 4, any similar mechanism can be employed in the apparatus. 
     Moreover, although a cylindrical roller having a guide surface formed on the periphery thereof is used as the stacking roller 4 in the embodiment, another guiding mechanism can be used, which has opposite ends provided with guide surfaces, respectively, or has another configuration. That is, what is essential is to employ a guide which can directly contact works and transport them in the stacking direction. 
     As is described above, the present invention employs a stacking roller capable of directly transporting works in a stacking direction and stacking them, which can hasten the stacking operation.