Apparatus for transporting containers intermittently

An apparatus for transporting containers intermittently. The apparatus has two guide rails which extend in a horizontal plane. Container carriers, which have receiving elements for the containers are disposed on the guide rails. The container carriers are fed by means of gearing embodied on them and transport gears embodied on the guide rails. Transfer devices and format changer devices are disposed on the ends of the guide rails. The output of the apparatus can be increased by subdividing it into continuous and intermittent feed zones.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention is based on an apparatus for transporting containers 
intermittently as set forth hereinafter. German Patentschrift 28 53 103 
discloses an apparatus of this kind for supplying containers to a filling 
station, in which apparatus the carriers are lined up one after the other 
on two guide tracks which are disposed one above the other; the containers 
are supplied to the carriers on the lower guide track and after they are 
transferred to the upper guide track, are filled at the filling station. 
For transferring the carriers, a transfer device with a pivot arm is 
disposed on each of the two ends of the guide track, which pivot arm 
transfers the arriving carriers from the upper guide track to the lower 
guide track or vice versa. To achieve this, the pivot arm swings each 
carrier out from the first guide track, rotates it on an axis parallel to 
the feed direction and then sets it onto the second guide track at a 
90.degree. tilt. The known apparatus has the disadvantage that processing 
stations can only be disposed along the upper guide track so that the 
arrangement of several processing stations is limited to the length of the 
upper guide track. That is why in order to realize several processing 
steps, the upper guide track is constructed as very long, which causes the 
known apparatus to require a large amount of space. Furthermore, at each 
machine cycle, the containers are shifted further by a step so that the 
machine cycle, and consequently the capacity of the apparatus, depends 
upon the longest processing time. The capacity of the known apparatus is 
therefore relatively low. 
ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION 
The apparatus according to the invention has an advantage over the prior 
art that processing stations can be associated with both the advance track 
and the return track, which allows the apparatus according to the 
invention to be constructed in a particularly compact and simple manner. 
Furthermore, because of the kinematics of the transfer device relative to 
the container carriers, these are always supplied in the same direction so 
that in the formation, they each bump against the same side of the 
neighboring container carrier. It is possible to constitute intermittent 
and continuous feed regions by means of the gearing disposed on the 
container carriers in connection with several transport gears disposed on 
the advance and return tracks. Hence the processing times of the 
processing stations can be lengthened in the continuous feed zones without 
leading to pauses in the processing zones in the intermittent feed zones. 
Consequently, when there are processing stations with differing processing 
times, the output of the apparatus according to the invention is 
particularly high. By the disposition of at least one format changer 
device for the container carriers on a transfer device, a fully automated 
change of format can be executed. 
Further advantages of the apparatus according to the invention will become 
more apparent from the claims and the description. 
DRAWING 
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawing and are 
further explained below. 
FIG. 1 shows a simplified top view of an apparatus for the intermittent 
transport of containers; 
FIG. 2 shows a simplified front view of the apparatus according to FIG. 1; 
FIG. 3 shows a cross section of a carrier for guide rails; 
FIG. 4 shows a top view of a container carrier for receiving a plurality of 
containers; 
FIGS. 5 and 6 show top views of container carriers for containers having 
formats that differ from FIG. 4; 
FIGS. 7-9 show cross sections of container carriers for various containers; 
FIG. 10 shows a top view of a transfer apparatus having guide rails; 
and FIG. 11 shows a simplified top view of an apparatus of FIG. 1 in a 
modified form.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
The apparatus for the intermittent supply of containers 10a-10f to 
processing stations, having filling and closing apparatuses, has two 
straight transport tracks 11, 12 in a horizontal plane for the advance and 
return, each having a guide rail 13, 14. The guide rails 13, 14, upon 
which container carriers 15 can be slid, have a flat, hexagonal cross 
sectional surface. The container carriers 15 are comprised of a 
plate-shaped carrier plate 19, to which are attached two spaced track 
guides 21, 22, which are embodied having wedge-shaped grooves on their 
sides oriented toward the guide rails 13, 14, which form fittingly enclose 
the upper and lower edges of the guide rails 13, 14, which are embodied as 
wedge-shaped. Below the lower track guide 22, a linear gearing in the form 
of a rack 23 is disposed on each carrier plate 19, which linear gearing 
serves to transport of the container carriers 15 on the guide rails 13, 
14. A receptacle element 25a-25f is attached to each carrier plate 19 on 
the side remote from the guide rails 13, 14. Depending upon number and 
format of the containers 10a-10f to be supplied, the receptacle elements 
25a-25f have for example six, eight, or twelve recesses 26a-26c (FIGS. 
4-6), which are embodied spaced equidistantly in the receptacle elements 
25a-25f so that the length of the receptacle elements 25a-25f is always 
the same and essentially corresponds to the length L of a carrier plate 
19. Depending on the intended use and embodiment of the containers 
10a-10f, the receptacle elements 25d-25f can be used for clamped, 
supported, or suspended transport of containers 10a-10f, for example by 
means of clamps 27 or steps 28, 29 (FIGS. 7-9). 
To protect the containers 10a-10f against laterally falling out of the 
recesses 26a-26c during transport, track guides 31 which adjoin the 
transport tracks 11, 12 are disposed parallel to the guide rails 13, 14. 
The guide rails 13, 14 are attached to carriers 32, which are disposed on 
a table 30, which holds the entire drive and control of the apparatus 
according to the invention. The carriers 32 have a column-shaped base 33, 
on whose upper region a transverse arm 36 is attached via a U-shaped 
angled piece 34, which transverse arm 36 on each side carries one of the 
guide rails 13, 14. Below the transverse arm 36, there is a transport gear 
35a, which is driven by means of a shaft 37, which is guided by the base 
33. The diameter of the transport gear 35a is calculated so that with its 
gearing 38, it simultaneously engages the racks 23 of two container 
carriers 15, which are on opposite sides of the guide rails 13, 14, so 
that when the transport gear 35a turns, the one container carrier 15 is 
shifted in the one direction and simultaneously, the other container 
carrier 15 is shifted in the opposite direction, each on the respective 
guide rail 13, 14. To protect against soiling, the upper region of the 
carrier 32 is covered with a sheath 39. 
In the event that container carriers 15 on the apparatus are advanced 
solely intermittently, two carriers 32 having corresponding transport 
gears 35a, which are cyclically and synchronously driven already prove to 
be sufficient. In this case, the carriers 32 are disposed at the 
respective ends of the guide rails 13, 14. The individual container 
carriers 15 are shifted further in the formation on the respective guide 
rails 13, 14 by the container carriers 15 now in the region of both of the 
transport gears 35. In order to reduce the forces on the transport gears 
35a, however, depending on the length of the guide rails 13, 14, as a 
rule, more than two carriers 32 are disposed having transport gears 35a 
between the guide rails 13, 14, which are likewise all cyclically and 
synchronously driven. 
A transfer device 40 adjoins both ends of the guide rails 13, 14. The 
transfer devices 40 each pick up a container carrier 15 from one of the 
guide rails 13, 14, rotate it 180.degree. in the plane of the guide rails 
13, 14, and deposit it on the other of the guide rails 13, 14. Since both 
of the transfer devices 40 rotate in the same direction, for example 
counterclockwise, a revolving operation of the container carriers 15 on 
the guide rails 13, 14 is achieved. 
Each of the transfer devices 40 is rotatably supported on an axle 43 and 
has two rail sections 45 for the container carriers 15, which sections 45 
are disposed opposite from each other and are connected to the axle 43 via 
struts 44. The rail sections 45, whose length is a little greater than the 
length L of the carrier plate 19 of the container carriers 15, have the 
same cross sectional surface as the guide rails 13, 14 and are disposed 
spaced apart by the same distance as them so that for picking up or 
depositing container carriers 15, both rail sections 45 directly adjoin 
the guide rails 13, 14. For transferring a container carrier 15 from one 
of the guide rails 13, 14 to a transfer device 40 and vice versa, a 
stationary transfer gear 47 is disposed between the rail sections 45 of 
each transfer device 40, between its axle 43 and the guide rails 13, 14, 
which transfer gear 47 is driven by a drive disposed in the table 30. To 
protect the containers 10a-10f from falling off of the container carriers 
15, guide plates 48 in the shape of segments of a circle are disposed on 
the transfer devices 40 in the extension of the track guides 31. 
Near the transfer devices 40, format changer apparatuses 50 adjoin the 
sides remote from the guide rails 13, 14. In a change of format, with the 
help of the format changer apparatuses 50, container carriers 15, each 
having identical receptacle elements 25a-25f for various container 
formats, are taken off the guide rails 13, 14 and stored in a magazine; 
when a change is made back to the original container format, they are put 
back again. The container carriers 15 are stored in storage locations 51 
in the format changer apparatus 50; the receptacles 54 of these storage 
locations 51 are embodied for example like the rail sections 45 of the 
transfer devices 40. The individual storage locations 51, each of which 
stores a container carrier 15, are connected to one another with a belt or 
a chain 52 in the form of a belt or chain feeder embodied perpendicular to 
the apparatus, which feeder is attached to the table 30 by a column 55. 
The arrangement of the storage locations 51 on the belt or chain feeder is 
chosen so that a storage location 51 is disposed in the extension of each 
of the two receiving rails 45 of a transfer device 40. To pick up and 
deposit container carriers 15, a stationary format gear 53 is disposed 
between two storage locations 51 in the format changer device 50. In a 
change of format, the format gear 53, which has the same diameter as the 
transfer gears 47 and the transport gears 35a, carries out the removal of 
a container carrier 15 from a first rail section 45 of a transfer device 
40 into the format changer device 50, while at the same time depositing a 
container carrier 15 for another container format from the format changer 
device 50 onto the second rail section 45 of the transfer device 40. Once 
the process is completed, the storage locations 51 are moved further, for 
example clockwise, by means of a drive, not shown, for the belt or chain 
feeder, to a position in order to pick up and deposit the next container 
carriers 15. During the format changer process, the rail sections 45 of 
the transfer devices 40 are not rotated around the axle 43, but rather 
stay in the extension of the guide rails 13, 14. The transfer gear 47 of 
the transfer device 40 is simply driven in the same direction, synchronous 
to the transport gears 35a. 
It is additionally noted that in each of the two format changer devices 50, 
at least half of the storage locations 51 should be intended for container 
carriers 15 of a single format. It is also possible, though, by means of a 
corresponding increase of the number of storage locations 51 to store for 
example one or several complete format sizes in one of the format changer 
devices 50 and to have them available by means of an appropriate control. 
It is also conceivable to simply provide a storage capacity appropriate to 
the format changer device 50, on one end of the apparatus. 
When the apparatus is operated intermittently (FIG. 1), the length of the 
guide rails 13, 14 advantageously comes to a multiple of the length L of a 
container carrier 15. To fully exploit the capacity of the apparatus, both 
guide rails 13, 14 are furthermore completely occupied by container 
carriers 15, and a container carrier 15 is disposed in the transfer 
devices 40 in the extension of each of the guide rails 13, 14. 
The transport gears 35a as well as the transfer gears 47 are synchronously 
driven in the same rotation direction, for example counterclockwise, and 
are each driven by the same angular magnitude. The smallest meaningful 
feed cycle effects the further transport of the container carriers 15 by 
one container 10a-10f, which is disposed on the container carrier 15. This 
can be necessary, for example, if only one container 10a-10f at a time can 
be closed at a closing station. The greatest possible feed cycle effects 
the further transport of the container carrier 15 by its length L. The 
greatest possible feed cycle is limited in that each of the transfer 
devices 40 can only pick up one container carrier 15 at time. Once a 
container carrier 15 has been completely fed into a transfer device 40 by 
one of the guide rails 13, 14, the feeding of container carriers 15 onto 
the guide rails 13, 14 is discontinued during the time while this 
container carrier 15 is transferred from the one to the other guide rail 
13, 14. After the container carrier 15 is rotated in the transfer device 
40 around the axle 43 by an angle of 180.degree., it is released onto the 
other guide rail 13, 14 while maintaining its original direction of 
movement, while the transfer gear 47 and the transport gears 35a are 
driven once again. 
In a modification of solely intermittent feeding of container carriers 15, 
additional continuous feed zones K are created in the apparatus according 
to FIG. 11. In these zones K, the processing stations are moved with the 
container carriers 15, while in the intermittent feed zones I, the 
processing stations are disposed stationarily on the apparatus and the 
container carriers 15 are supplied to them intermittently. Hence, the 
processing stations in the continuous feed zones K can be lengthened 
regardless of the processing times of other processing stations, without 
leading to pauses in the intermittent feed zones I, thus increasing the 
overall output of the apparatus. 
Unlike the intermittent feeding, the guide rails 13, 14 according to FIG. 
11 are not completely loaded with container carriers 15. Furthermore, in 
the continuous feed zone K, transport gears 35b are disposed between the 
guide rails 13, 14, which gears 35b are continuously driven having a 
constant angular velocity, and in a transition zone M, transport gears 35c 
execute either an accelerating or a decelerating rotation movement 
depending on which of the guide rails 13, 14 is feeding it a container 
carrier 15. If, for example, container carriers 15 go from the 
intermittent zone I into the continuous zone K, they are slowed down in a 
zone M and adapted to the lower angular velocity of the transport gears 
35b in the continuous zone K by means of the transport gears 35c. Upon 
reentry into an intermittent feed zone I, the transport gears 35c take the 
container carriers 15 from the continuous feed zone K and adapt them to 
the motion of the gears 35a of the intermittent zone I. Since the movement 
sequences of the two guide rails 13, 14 are mirror images of each other, 
and a transport gear 35c feeds container carriers 15 onto both guide rails 
13, 14, but the demands on the kinematics of the transport gear 35c for 
containers on the two guide rails 13, 14 are different, only one container 
carrier 15 is disposed in the engagement range of each transport gear 35c. 
It is additionally emphasized that the apparatus according to the invention 
can be adapted by the creation of additional intermittent or continuous 
feed zones to the processing stations so that its flexibility and output 
is increased when there are several consecutively running processing steps 
of differing processing times. It is furthermore possible to buffer 
several container carriers 15 in the continuous feed zones K, which 
carriers are then brought jointly in formation into an intermittent feed 
zone I by means of appropriately triggered transport gears. In this way, 
the available processing times for this formation can be increased in the 
intermittent zone I, which can likewise increase the output of the 
apparatus. 
The foregoing relates to preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention, 
it being understood that other variants and embodiments thereof are 
possible within the spirit and scope of the invention, the latter being 
defined by the appended claims.