DEVICE FOR BRAKING ARTICLES TO BE CONVEYED ON A CONVEYOR AND ITS BRAKING RUBBER TUBES

Abstract: Device for braking articles to be conveyed on a conveyor whereby providing a pair of tubes (2), (2) of predetermined length so formed as to maintain the flatness of braking surfaces (2a), (2a) that are inflatable end surfaces inflated in both directions of articles to be conveyed (C), interposing between themselves the travers­ ing direction of conveyor (1) strip whose traversing surface is flat on the inside of a pair of side walls (7), (7) in a manner that ar­ ticles to be conveyed (C) can pass on travelling conveyor (1) and that both ends of articles to be conveyed (C) are interposed with said rubber tubes (2), (2) which are inflated by being fed with air and by providing side guide members (5), (5) and (6), (6) to guide articles to be conveyed (C) by interposing said rubber tubes (2), (2) at a po­ sition in the proximity of the upper portion of each side wall (7), (7) and the lower portion of each rubber tube (2), (2).

Description: The present invention relates to a braking system and rubber tubes to be utilized with said braking system, for temporarily stopping the movement of an article on a conveyor during opertion and movement of the conveyor, for distributing the article traversed on the conveyor, for traversing the article , etc. on the production line, such articles being e.g. paper packaging, containing liquid foods. Work on the production line, packaging containing liquid food such as milk and juice, has conventionally been repeated as required to temporarily hold or release several pieces of such packages continuous­ ly delivered on a conveyor having the flat traversing surface for dis­ tribution purpose, etc. In such cases, rectangular-shaped braking plates that can be freely advanced or withdrawn are provided along the conveyor having a flat surface, being utilized to appropriately hold or release an article to be conveyed. This method has often created a problem affecting the paper packaging surfaces by partially damaging them, since a paper packaging that is a comparative soft object had to be held with hard braking plates. The present invention has been made in taking this into consideration, having an object to provide a device for braking an article to be con­ veyed on a conveyor and rubber tubes to be utilized therewith in order to preliminarily prevent bad effects such as partial damage to the article to be conveyed when holding or releasing. In a device for braking according to the present invention, a pair of rubber tubes of predetermined length so formed as to inflate and extrude in the directionsof both sides of an article to be conveyed or in the upward directions of both sides interposing between them a conveyor having a flat traversing surface and to hold the flatness of braking surfaces that are inflated end surfaces provided on the inside of a pair of side walls in a manner such that the article to be conveyed on the travelling conveyor can pass and both sides of the article to be conveyed are interposed with said rubber tubes inflated by being fed with air, side guide elements for guiding the article to be conveyed are provided at the positions adjacent to the upper portions of each side wall and the lower portions of each rubber tube interposing said rubber tubes between them, and by feeding air into rubber tubes, the articles to be conveyed is braked and the movement of the article to be conveyed is thereby stopped. Furthermore, by using rubber tubes in­ flating and projecting in an inclined-up direction, when an article to be conveyed is interposed, the article to be conveyed is slightly lifted from the conveyor surface to be stopped. On the other hand, rubber tubes for braking according to the present invention are rubber tubes to be utilized with said device for braking, provided with the wall part being normally narrow and small, but enlarged when inflated with air, and having a flat braking surface and reinforcing part to hold the flatness of the braking surface and further provided with attaching wall part to attach the present tube. Furthermore, in rubber tubes that inflate in an inclined-up direction, the portion of said braking surface is connected to front face wall of attaching wall part via a pair of walls different in thick­ ness to form an approximate parallelogram. In a device according to the present invention, compressed air fed into a pair of rubber tubes facing each other causes the said rubber tubes to be inflated,braking surfaces that are flat and elastic quickly interpose an article to be conveyed being traversed on a conveyor on both sides and brake it, and said article may be stopped on the moving conveyor without such bad effects as partial damage to its surface. The rubber tubes are so constructed as to slightly lift an article to be conveyed from the traversing surface of a conveyor when the braking surfaces move in an inclined-up direction to interpose the article, preventing the bottom of the article from being damaged. Fur­ thermore, according to this invention, in the rubber tubes for braking, when air is fed into the tubes to inflate them, a reinforcing part to maintain the flatness is provided at the back of the flat braking sur­ faces which interpose an article to be conveyed by touching the article on the conveyor, and therefore the braking surfaces can be sufficiently effective in braking the article to be conveyed by maintaining its own flatness. Furthermore, in an object in which braking surfaces are in­ terposed with a pair of walls different in thickness and a tube is in a form of parallelogram, the walls are different in elongating proportion and therefore the braking surfaces can move in an inclined direction against the attaching surfaces. A description of the embodiment according to the present in­ vention will be made in conjunction with the accompanying drawings as follows: Fig. 1 is a front view of a braking device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view showing main portion of the braking device, Fig. 3 (a) is a schematic and enlarged sectional view along line A-A of Fig. 1 illustrating the relationship of the rubber tubes to an article to be conveyed, Fig. 3 (b) is a sectional view illustrating a condition when rubber tubes are fed with air and said rubber tubes are thereby in­ flated to interpose an article to be conveyed, Fig. 4 (a) is a schematic and enlarged sectional view illu­ strating the relationship of rubber tubes in another embodiment to an article to be conveyed, and Fig. 4 (b) is a sectional view illustrating a condition when rubber tubes of Fig. 4 (a) are fed with air and thereby said rubber tubes are inflated to interpose an article to be conveyed. Fig. 1 is a front view of device for braking of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a front view showing main portion of said braking device so arranged as to brake articles to be conveyed (C) on a conveyor (1), which represent paper packaging containging liquid foods such as milk and juice. Conveyor 1 having flat traversing surface us in a form of linked chain that is capable of curving its traversing direction and, though not illustrated, a part of conveyor 1 being in an upper position and another part of the conveyor 1 being in a lower position are so arranged to move in a reverse direction with each other in order that both conveyor parts may make respective circular movements on upper and lower supporting plates 11, provided in the present device and they may be connected to conveyor supporting plates that are arranged on the outside of the present device in accordance with conveyor 1 passage. Furthermore, Fig. 2 shows the upper conveyor 1 moving to the right. On the both sides of supporting plates 11, that are passages of a conveyor 1, there are in positions corresponding to the lower portion of an article to be conveyed C, being spaced with a predetermined distance, a pair of guide pipes 5, 5 that are side guide members of the article to be conveyed C in a manner that they are connected to guide pipes outside the device, and on the both side ends in a lengthwise direction of the device (left and right directions of Fig. 2) at the outside of said pipes, a pair of support 9, are provided in a manner that the passage of an article to be conveyed is interposed with the upper portions of the supports. Mounting the upper portion of a pair of left and right supports arranged in a lengthwise direction, a pair of side walls 7 that are base plates to attach rubber tubes are connected to respective supports 9, so that they face each other interposing the conveyor passage. At each of side walls 7, facing each other and along with lengthwise direction of the side walls, rubber tubes 2, of pre­ determined length are attached by means of insering in dovetail grooves on both sides of the attaching wall part 2b (Fig. 3). Positions of said rubber tubes 2,are determined with clamps 8 at their respective ends. Air feeding pipes 3 are attached on one side of said clamps 8 and air exhausting pipes 4 at another side of said clamps 8. By means of electro­ magnetic valves, which are not illustrated, compressed air can be fed via the air feeding pipes 3, and the inflation and contraction of rubber tubes 2 are performed by adequately closing and opening the valves. On the upper side surface of side walls 7 that are base plates to attach rubber tubes facing each other, for guiding an article to be conveyed C so that it is not laterally slided on a convey of the present braking device, a pair of side guide elements 6 in the form of plates having obliquely cut end-edge part at least at its carriage-in end are provided so that the article to be conveyed C may be guided with an adequate space maintained between the article and the members. Said rubber tube 2 is, as shown in Fig. 3 (a), provided with wall part having flat braking surface 2a and attaching wall part 2b which interpose between them a hollow section 2c, which is narrow and small in a condition when it is not fed with air and not braked and which may be inflated when braked by a feeding compressed air (Fig. 3(b)), the wall part having the braking surface 2a being provided with re­ inforcing part 2d having lightened part 2e at the back of the braking surface, that is to say, on the side of hollow section 2c to maintain its flat condition so that the braking surface is not deformed, and when feeding air into rubber tube 2 and braking the article to be con­ veyed, the braking surface 2a is capable of maintaining the flatness without deforming, being in contact with the article to be conveyed C and efficiently performing a braking action. When the present braking device is set at the required position of conveyor lines for paper packaging that is an article to be conveyed, rubber tubes 2 are made to inflate by opening an electromagnetic valve, which is not illustrated (electromagnetic valve on the side of air exhausting pipe 4 is being closed at this time) and by feeding compressed air via air feeding pipe 3, both sides of the article C to be conveyed on the operated and moving conveyor are interposed with said rubber tubes 2, consequently the article is prevented from moving and maintains its stopping position while sliding on conveyor 1 (Fig. 3 (b)). Moreover, it is also possible to lower the moving speed of the article to be con­ veyed at the area of braking device depending on the internal pressure of rubber tube 2. Said rubber tubes 2, facing each other are swift to act because compressed air is fed by operating the electromagnetic valve, and there is not the fear of damaging to the article to be conveyed as the braking surface is made of rubber. And furthermore, with no opertion of hard machinery parts, the braking action may be performed quitely and smooth­ ly. Fig. 4 (a), Fig. 4 (b) are schematic sectional views showing the relationship of a pair of rubber tubes 2, to articles to be conveyed C in another improved embodiment. Rubber tube 2 is, as is in the previously described embodiment and illustrated in Fig. 4 (a), provided with wall part having flat braking surface 2a and attaching wall part 2b which interpose between them hollow section 2c, which is narrow and small in a condition when it is not fed with air and not braked and which may be inflated when braked by feeding compressed air (Fig. 4 (b), the wall part having the braking surface 2a being provided with reinforcing part 2d having lightened part 2e for maintaining the flatness at its back and being connected to front face wall 2b′ of attaching wall part 2b via a thickwall 2f and a thin wall 2f′ that are inclined, and is used by attaching a tube formed in an ap­ proximate parallelogram with the thick wall positioned upward. The ar­ rangement in this manner will make the elongating proportion greater for the thin wall 2f′ than for the thick wall 2f, and thereby the lower part of the braking surface 2 tends to be lifted when the rubber tube is inflated. Therefore, when an article to be conveyed C on a conveyor 1 is interposed, the article to be conveyed C will be slightly lifted from the top surface of the conveyor 1. Consequently, when an article to be conveyed is interposed with rubber tubes 2 on a conveyor 1 and stopped, the bottom of said article C is disconnected from the top surface of the conveyor 1 and said bottom is prevented from being damaged by rubbing with the top surface of the conveyor. In the present embodiment, rubber tube 2 whose attaching surface is perpendicular to the traversing surface of conveyor 1 and whose braking surface 2a is elongated in an inclined-up direction is utilized, however, without restriction to this. It is also possible to obtain the same effect by utilizing a rubber tube with its attaching surface inclined and having braking surface elongated in the right angle to the inclined attaching surface or in an inclined-up direction against the conveyor surface and perpendicular to the conveyor surface at the front end. As is evident from the foregoing description, if a device for braking an article to be conveyed according to this invention is in use, when the article to be conveyed such as liquid packaging that is carried on the flat traversing surface of the conveyor being operated is made to temporarily hold for distribution purposes, etc., the article is braked by deforming elastic elements such as rubber tubes using com­ pressed air, instead of utilizing hard plates. Therefore, the device is simple in construction and noiseless, braking action may be swiftly and smoothly performed, an article to be conveyed is prevented from being damaged, and it is also possible to make a delicate adjustment of braking operation as it is done with the fed air pressure, and fur­ ther to offer an excellent device as a device for braking an article to be conveyed on a moving conveyor. Furthermore, when rubber tubes according to this invention are in use as elements to brake an article to be conveyed with a braking device as aforementioned, the braking surfaces of tubes maintain the predetermined wide and flat condition without deforming and contact the article to be conveyed, and therefor it is possible to obtain a braking effect in temporarily holding the article to be conveyed, etc. And furthermore, in a device in which a braking surface moves in an inclined-up direction against the attaching surface, when rubber tubes are inflated, it shows an effect that, when an article to be con­ veyed such as packaging, etc. is temporarily held, its bottom may be prevented from being damaged.

Claims: 1. Device for braking articles to be conveyed on a conveyor characterized by providing a pair of tubes (2), (2) of predetermined length so formed as to maintain the flatness of braking surfaces (2a), (2a) that are inflatable end surfaces inflated in both directions of articles to be conveyed (C), interposing between themselves the travers­ ing direction of conveyor (1) strip whose traversing surface is flat on the inside of a pair of side walls (7), (7) in a manner that articles to be conveyed (C) can pass on travelling conveyor (1) and that both ends of articles to be conveyed (C) are interposed with said rubber tubes (2), (2) which are inflated by being fed with air and by pro­ viding side guide members (5), (5) and (6), (6) to guide articles to be conveyed (C) by interposing said rubber tubes (2), (2) at a position in the proximity of the upper portion of each side wall (7), (7) and the lower portion of each rubber tube (2), (2). 2. Device for braking articles to be conveyed on a conveyor as described in claim 1, which is characterized by the inflation of said pair of rubber tubes (2), (2) in the direction of both sides of an ar­ ticle to be conveyed (C) in an inclined-up direction so that the ar­ ticle to be conveyed (C) is slightly lifted up from the conveyor (1) surface when both sides of said article to be conveyed (C) is held by rubber tubes (2), (2). 3. Rubber tubes for braking an article to be conveyed on a conveyor, which is characterized by being a rubber tube (2) that is provided on both sides of a strip of conveyor (1) having a flat traversing surface and interposed with said rubber tubes (2), and that is inflated with air fed to brake and interposing the article to be conveyed (C) on a travelling conveyor (1), and such that the wall part having a flat braking surface (2a) and reinforcing part (2d)positioned at the back of said braking surface (2a) for maintaining the flatness, and attach­ ing wall part (2b) are provided together with hollow section (2C) that is positioned between the wall part and the attaching wall part (2b) so that is arranged to be normally narrow and small, but enlarged when inflated with air. 4. Rubber tube for braking an article to be conveyed on a conveyor which is described in claim 3, and which is characterized by the wall part having flat braking surface (2a) of said rubber tube (2) which is connected to front face wall (2b′) of attaching wall part (2b) via a pair of walls different in thickness (2f), (2f′) to form an approximate parallelogram.

Inventors: BERGSTROM,ANDERS, SEVRELL,GOESTA, Sevrell,Gösta
Applicants: AB TETRA PAK
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B65G47
IPC codes: B65G47, B65B43, B65B57