JAW PALLETIZER FOR THE GRAPHICS INDUSTRY

Abstract: A jaw palletizer for the graphics industry with a frame­ work (2) supporting runways (3) on which there is a movable trolley (4) supporting a jaw (5) for conveying bundles (6) with the aid of a single column (10). This exhibits opposed sections (11) with twin surface guides (11a) for slide wheels (12) and a rack (13) engaging a pinion (14) actuated by a geared motor (16) supported on the trolley (4). The jaw (5) is affixed to the column (10) by means of a support pin (29), which allows them free reciprocating travel over a short distance. Through a through shaft (33) in the column (10), the jaw (5) can be rotated in its own horizontal plane. The gripping discs are mounted on a self-posi­ tioning slide (39) which signals, via a microswitch, the impact of the bundle (6). This can also be achieved with the use of a slide component that is interposed between the jaw-holding column (10) and the jaw (5) itself.

Description: The present invention concerns a gripper palletizer for the graphics industry. In the graphics industry, the sheets coming off the rotary press are fed in the form of a stream of sheets overlapping like scales into a stacker, where up to a pre-set number of sheets are assembled in superposed layers to form a bundle. This can, for example, be between 80 and 120 cm in height. The bundle is then conveyed on roller tables to a binding station, from where it is transported onto a pallet for the sheets to be given further handling elsewhere. Gripper palletizers are known for conveying bundles onto pallets which comprise a gripper with movable jaws supported by a winch housed on a trolley moving along overhead rails, the gripper being additionally equipped with guide elements in the form of movable vertical rods in guides interposed between said trolley and its axles, which support the wheels moving along the overhead rails. This design type is to be found in British patent no. 2.119. 340. In this, one of the jaws of the gripper is a fixed part of its structure, whilst the other is attached to the moving part of a cylinder/piston unit to enable bundles of varying lengths to be gripped. With palletizers of this type, however, the support given to the bundle is unbalanced, with the result that the guide rods are subjected to notable stresses and strains. These rods can be of considerable lengths, since they must be able to form on the pallet a pile of different superposed layers of bundles and, furthermore, the overhead rails need to be positioned at a certain height so as not to obstruct the free passage of people, fork-lift trucks and other vehicles of the kind. It must also be pointed out that grippers of this type, with the addition of the bundle being carried, often make for a notable weight, in the region of 150 kg, for example. This type of design can accordingly cause the bundle to oscillate during conveyance. To avoid this oscillation, which could seriously affect the formation of a compact pile on the pallet, the bundle would have to be transported at low speed. Another disadvantageous feature of the palletizer published in the British patent 2.119.340 is that the bundles, after being picked up, have to be transported in the same position as that in which they were collected. To permit conveyance of bundles that are of a fair height, grippers of this type employ cylinder/piston units of considerable length. A part from having unfavourable repercussions so far as the balance of the combined gripper/bundle unit is concerned, this also has a negative effect on production costs, since such lengthy cylinder/piston units are very expensive. They also, in proportion with the length of the respective bundle, occupy a good deal of space. United States patent no. 4.256.429 discloses a gripper for conveying sheet bundles that is of the same type as the one described above, but provision is made for it to be used suspended by means of a chain with a conveyor device. Provision is also made, with this type of gripper, for the bundle gripped between the jaws to be rotated lengthwise. For this purpose, rotatable, disc-shaped supports are attached to the jaws, one of them being connected by chain transmission to a motor mounted on the top of the transverse part of the gripper. The said transverse part is also provided with a vertical cylinder/piston unit with a catch projection for ensuring that the bundle is supported at the correct height level, to allow enough room for it to rotate freely. This device however, in which a cylinder/piston unit is also used, carries the same disadvantages as those already mentioned. In this device, in fact, there are no guide rods in the vertical plane, so that in the course of conveyance, which is manually controlled by an operator, the gripper and the bundle in its grip are able to oscillate freely. In this case, too, conveyance speeds are low. A gripper palletizer for conveying sheet bundles is also known from Italian patent no. 1.020.747, comprising two opposed cylinder/piston units, rod-shaped vertical elements serving as guides and a vertical cylinder/piston unit whereby the gripper is attached to a trolley that moves on overhead rails. In palletizers of this type the cylinder/piston units are controlled independently, so that there can be no certainty that when the bundle is picked up the actions will be precisely opposed. These palletizers also have the disadvantage that bundles are liable to oscillate while being conveyed. The way they are designed also necessitates numerous components which send up their price considerably. In view of the weights, already referred to, of the grippers and the respective bundles, the grippers cylinder/piston support is clearly incapable of effecting at speed vertical lifts of sufficient precision to ensure that the piles of bundles formed on the pallet are automatically compact. Not only do all the known designs of gripper palletizers fail to pick up the bundle exactly in the centre, they all share the disadvantage of not allowing for the rotation of the gripper in the horizontal plate. With these known types of gripper, the bundles can therefore only be arranged on the pallets in a formation where they are parallel with one another, which means that really compact piles with "self-secured" bundles cannot be obtained, which is of course desirable. In US-A-4.184.799 is disclosed a setting and stacking arrangement including a gripper movably mounted in said arrangement in a transverse and longitudinal direction and up and down in a vertical direction as well as rotatably about a vertical axis for gripping articles, particularly moulded articles supplied from a ceramic press. On the gripper are slidably mounted as many arm pairs as many articles are to be gripped. A rotary drive unit mounted on the gripper is also provided for performing a rotation of the gripped articles about the horizontal axis thereof. The gripper is secured on a piston rod of a lifting cylinder/piston unit. The disclosed arrangement is not suitable for handling heavy articles when are needed long vertical strokes and horizontal gripper motions to be carried out with high velocity. For this reason in the disclosed stacking arrangement the articles are supplied on a lifting table disposed near the gripper in its upper position and the loading surface receiving the articles is placed at a moderate distance under the lifting table. The depicted gripper ist also not suitable to guarantee automatically a centred positioning of the articles with respect to the vertical rotation axis of the grip, whereby this condition represents the indispensable prerequisite for a correct symmetrical rotation of the assembly gripper-article. The disclosed gripper is not able to determine the point of rest of its downward movement after a full-surface contact between the gripped article and the pallet or article stacks onto the pallet. The object of the present invention is the creation of a palletizer of the type indicated that is capable of conveying the bundles at high speed, with precision, and without oscillation, and also of rotating the gripper in the horizontal plane. An additional object of the present invention is the creation of a palletizer capable of assembling the piles on the pallets automatically and with precision, and more particularly in such a manner that the bundles provide physical support for one another, in an arrangement where they are parallel with and at right angles to one another, so that the piles obtained are both compact and also comprise bundles that are "self-secured" or not likely to become disassembled through the motions of travel. A further object of the invention is the presentation of a palletizer capable of handling bundles of widely diverse lengths with the use of cylinder/piston units of very modest length, or requiring a limited volume of space in assembly. Another object of the present invention is to be seen in the provision of a simple, modular design system for the gripper wherein this component can be transformed, time after time, from a plain gripper, in other words from one that is used merely for gripping and conveying the bundles, into one enabling the bundles to be rotated along their longitudinal axis, or gripping axis, and/or subsequently into a gripper which can be slewed in its horizontal plane. Yet another important object is the provision of a motion of the gripping jaws for the bundles whereby mechanical restraint is exercised in relation to both of them, thus ensuring not only that their movement is synchronised but also that the picking up of the bundles is always centred in relation to the axis of rotation of the gripper, an indispensable prerequisite if their subsequent rotation is to be properly symmetrical. In this way the proposed gripper is made self-centering. The objects of the present invention are achieved with a gripper palletizer in accordance with the invention, which is distinguished by the features to be found in the characterizing part of the indipendent claim 1. Additional versions of the palletizer are to be seen from reference to the characteristic features described in the characterizing parts of the dipendent claims 2 to 12. Numerous advantages are obtained with the gripper palletizer of the invention. In the first place it is of stable and compact design, so that the gripper in accordance with the invention can be installed in a comparatively small space. The gripper that is proposed at so has the advantage of being of a modular or expanding type, in that from one for basic operation only, allowing merely for the gripping and conveyance of the bundles, it can be be readily transformed into a gripper capable of rotating the bundles and, subsequently or alternatively, into a gripper that is slewable in its horizontal plane. In this last case there is the advantageous option available either of assembling piles of stacks on the pallets, with the bundles arranged as desired, for instance with the layers of bundles arranged in a criss-cross pattern, or of depositing the bundles alongside the exit line of the pick-up station for the bundles or in a position at right angles to it. This has the advantage of allowing for selection of the area for setting down the bundles according to whichever is the most suitable at a particular time, according to whether, for example, there are columns or other obstructions close to the place where the stacker is installed, and so on. Rotation of the bundles along their longitudinal axis, through 90° or 180°, enables them to be loaded on the pallet with the back facing upwards, as is often required, irrespective of the position in which they arrive from the stacker. The use of encoders, preferably programmable by means of a keyboard, and the relevant pulse-counters, has the advantage of permitting the various travels in a horizontal direction of the gripper-holding trolley to be predetermined with great precision, and the same applies for the column supporting and displacing the gripper in the vertical direction, enabling the bundles to be picked up and moved with perfect precision and ensuring automatic assembly of piles of bundles, in a criss-cross pattern if desired, on the pallet. Automatic loading of the bundles in such a way that they are in close physical contact with one another, and arranged parallel to or at right angles to one another, is advantageously ensured mechanically through the effect of the impact of one bundle against the other, imparting optimum stability to the pile on the pallet and preventing any possible disarrangement through the motion of the pallet without its having to be first cellophane-wrapped or secured, as it normally is for short journeys in the printing works or the like. Further characteristics, advantages and details of the palletizer according to the invention are to be found in the description given below, in which reference is made to the attached drawings, illustrating one preferred embodiment thereof and a preferred variation, which are presented as an example. The following is a list of the drawings and what they illustrate in diagram form: Fig. 1: view in lateral elevation of a gripper palletizer according to the invention; Fig. 2: frontal view of the same, on the pallet side; Fig. 3: horizontal section of trolley on which the gripper is mounted, following line III-III in Fig. 2; Fig. 4: vertical section of trolley on which the gripper is mounted, following line of section IV-IV in Fig. 3; Fig. 5: vertical section of trolley on which the gripper is mounted, following section V-V in Fig. 3; Fig. 5a: detail in cross-section of the top end of the column on which the gripper is mounted; Fig. 6: view of the gripper from above; Fig. 7: lateral view of same; Fig. 8: detail showing central support pin of the gripper, more precisely half a view and half a cross-section; Fig. 9: detail of slide support of discs carrying the bundles; Fig. 10: diagram illustrating two possible methods of discharging bundles from the stacker with the palletizer according to the invention; Fig. 11: view in perspective of a pile with criss-cross layers, which can be assembled by means of a gripper according to the invention; Fig. 12: view from above of a variant of the gripper, with self-centering operation; Fig. 13: a lateral component of the gripper shown in Fig. 12; Fig. 14: section following line XIV-XIV in Fig. 13; Fig. 15: section following line XV-XV in Fig. 13; Fig. 16: section following line XVI-XVIA in Fig. 13. In these different figures, for which differing scales have been used for greater clarity, and in which identical parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, the palletizer according to the invention is given the reference numeral 1 when depicted as an ensemble. It comprises essentially a support frame 2 supporting runways 3 at the top, of a kind that are per se known. The numeral 4 denotes the trolley that moves along said run says 3 and supports a gripper denoted by 5. The bundles are denoted by 6, whilst 7 denotes the delivery, or collection, table for the same. The pallet on which the bundles are required to be set down to form a pile is denoted by 8, the pile being denoted by 9. According to the invention, a single column 10 is provided to enable the gripper 5 to be raised in the vertical and to ensure stable guidance for same in said vertical plane. On two opposed sides the said column displays a guide section 11 with two opposed surface guides 11a, on which there run guide wheels 12 supported on the trolley 4. The V-shaped arrangement of the surface guides 11a, or the guide wheels 12, provides optimum stability for the movement of the column 10 in the vertical plane. These movements are effected, in accordance with the invention, by means of a rack 13 which is of one piece with the column 10. A pinion 14 engages with the rack 13, the former being splined to the output shaft of a geared motor 16 supported on the trolley 4. The latter also supports another geared motor 17 for moving the trolley along the runways. According to the invention, said runways 3 are likewise equipped with a rack 18 which is engaged by a pinion 19 supported at the end of a shaft 20 actuated by said geared motor 17. On one of the runways 3, or on one side of the trolley 4, the latter exhibits at its ends a slide wheel 21. The other runway 3 is designed with a section 11 with opposed surface guides 11a in the shape of a V, wherein guide wheels 12 engage in the same manner as that referred to above regarding the column 10. With this arrangement a movement of the trolley is obtained that is both extremely stable and very rapid. The gripper 5 according to the invention comprises an upper transverse part formed essentially of two opposed plate-shaped side pieces 22 supporting the cylinder/piston units 23 operating the gripping jaws 24, referred to further below. On the outside, the side pieces 22 exhibit tubular elements serving as guides 25 for the lateral support rods 26 of the jaws 24. This arrangement can be clearly seen in Fig. 6. So that relatively short cylinder/piston units 23 can be used, in accordance with the invention the side pieces 22 are provided with series of holes 27, in such a manner that positioning of the securing screws 27a of the cylinder/piston units 23 in said holes 27 is effected in accordance with the lengths of the bundles 6 to be conveyed. In this way the opening stroke of the piston rods 28 of said units 23 only needs to be of sufficient length to ensure that the gripper is lowered onto the bundle in a sufficiently reliable manner. Such strokes can be kept, for example, to within the order of 20 cm. According to the invention, support for the gripper 5 is effected in such a way that it is the gripper itself that determines the point of arrest of its downward movement. To this end, in the central part of the gripper 5, support is provided for in the form of a slide coupling between a support pin 29 and a support block 30 fitted between the side pieces 22. The support pin 29 exhibits a lower end section shaped like a disc 29a operating in conjunction with a microswitch 5a fitted on the jaw 5. The upper part 29b of the pin 29 projects above the block 30 to a height H, approximately 10 mm, for example, and exhibits a depression 29c in which it supports a plate 31 connected with the column 10, such support being effected by means of two opposed plates 31a and screws 31b, as illustrated in Fig. 7. The end 29b of the pin 29 projects beyond the plate 31 and is affixed to the same by ring nuts 32 and a thrust bearing 32a. Said end 29b also exhibits and axial seating 29d, quadrangular or hexagonal, for example, for housing a bar hold 33a, suitably profiled, of a shaft 33 for rotating the gripper, described further below. The numeral 34 denotes a spring or rather a set of cup springs acting as a shock-absorber. The numerals 35 and 36 denote two keys, the first placed between the pin 29 and the support block 30 and the other placed between said pin 29 and the connecting plate 31. This prevents any relative rotation between the column 10 and the gripper 5. The latter can accordingly only effect linear conveyance of the bundles. This gripper is the basic gripper for the palletizer according to the invention. It is fitted with discs 37 for gripping the bundle. According to the invention, the support pins 38 of the discs 37 are supported in the gripping jaws 24 in such a way that limited movement and self-positioning is permitted, by means, for example, of a movable slide 39 in a seating 40 opposed to repositioning springs 41 or similar. On their outside these slides support a microswitch 42, which operates in conjunction with a profiled plate 43 to signal displacement of the said discs, or of the bundle 6 being gripped, from their centered position. This occurs when a bundle 6 comes to rest against another bundle already on the pallet 8. Such springs can advantageously be calibrated and set from the outside. According to the invention, the basic gripper described above can be transformed into a gripper allowing for rotation of the gripped bundle 6 along its longitudinal axis through the connecting up of a pin 38 of a disc 37 to a geared motor 44 mounted on a connected up slide 39. The springs 41 can of course be replaced by a hydraulic circuit, ensuring a high degree of reliability as regards repositioning of the slides 39. Such a circuit is not denoted here, since it can undoubtedly be installed by an engineer belonging to the branch. Furthermore, according to the invention, the gripper that is proposed can be further transformed, or added to, to render it capable of rotating on itself in the horizontal plane. For this purpose, the column 10 is provided in hollow form, with a rotating shaft 33 running through it of which the bar hold 33a engages, as referred to above, in the seating 29d of the support pin 29 of the gripper, whilst the upper end 33b of the through shaft 33 is connected to a geared motor 45, by means, for example, of a bevel gear pair 46 splined to the rotating shaft of the geared motor 45. The latter is supported by a rest on the upper end of the column 10. Each transformation of the gripper 5 can take place at any time without the need for any previous modification or adjustment of the gripper 5 itself or the column 10 or any other parts of the palletizer 1. The runs made by the trolley 4 in the longitudinal direction to set down the bundles next to one another in the different layers provided for in the pile 9, as well as the vertical travels of the gripper 5, or of the column 10, to form the different layers of the pile 9, are advantageously effected by the use of encoder devices with pulse counters, that are known per se, which can be programmed; they are not illustrated further here. Correct positioning of the bundle 6 in the gripper 5 takes place automatically, since after the jaws have come to rest on the table 7 for collection of the bundle the following downward movement of the column 10 causes , with the gripper 5 closed, the lowering of the bottom profiled end 29a of the support pin 29, and this lowering movement immediately brings the microswitch 5a into operation. This movement can be effected within the range of the travel H referred to above, and in respect of which a shock-absorbing spring can be installed, not illustrated further. Halting the movement of the trolley 4 once physical contact has been made between the bundle 6 to be unloaded and the bundle 6 already on the pallet 8 is assured by the microswitches 42, which come into operation only after said impact has taken place. For transforming the basic gripper, or the gripper effecting rotation of the bundle, to the gripper where there is horizontal rotation of the gripper itself, the key 36 has to be removed, since this ensures that the support pin 29 and the connecting plate 31 are rigidly connected, in order to allow the said pin to rotate freely, with the gripper 5 underneath, together with the rotating shaft 33. Reference will now be made to the variant of the gripper illustrated in Figures 12-16, consisting of a gripper with a facility for self-centering gripping of the bundle. In other words, the bundle is now exactly centered with respect to the axis of the column 10, or the axis of rotation of the gripper 5. This is achieved, according to the invention, through mechanical restraint of the movement of the jaws 24 with the aid of racks 50 and 51 with an interposed pinion, as will be referred to below. In this instance, for purposes of technical convenience, the support pin 29, instead of being a through component, is housed in a support turret 53 mounted above the gripper 5, as can be seen from the drawing, which also houses the microswitch 5a working in conjunction with the lower end 29a of the pin 29. The arrangement of the keys 36, 37 is likewise analogous (not illustrated further). The turret 53 is affixed to the column 10 in the manner previously illustrated. In this variant, the two cylinder/piston units 23 are supported axially side by side in the gripper 5 and their piston rod 28 is attached by an articulated joint at 28a to the connected jaw 24. These exhibit, in the example shown, a support plate 54 in telescope form with lateral slide bushes 55 sliding respectively on a guide rod 56 and affixed by a pin 57 in the heads 58 of the gripper (Fig. 15), and these in turn are firmly affixed to an upper gripper frame 59 supporting in the centre said support turret 53. Up to this point the behaviour of the two cylinder/piston units 23 is similar to that of the units 23 in the version illustrated earlier. If the bundle 6 appearing at the collection point is wrongly positioned with respect to the axis of the column 10, the jaw 24 first coming into contact with the bundle stops against it to give the other jaw time to extend its travel, so that the bundle is gripped and lifted in such a way that it is centered in relation to the axis of the support column 10, or to the centre line of the gripper itself. This will of course be reflected in the way in which the bundle is subsequently handled, when, with rotation of the bundle, the assembled piles would be slightly irregular. This is avoided, according to the invention, by the provision of racks 50 and 51 each of which is affixed to a jaw 24 at 50a and 51a and in engagement with the pinion 52 supported idle on the pin 52a supported in the gripper structure. In the area of said pinion 52 the racks are movable in slide guides, denoted by 60. As can be seen from the drawing, the racks 50 and 51 operate in mutually opposite directions, so that should the position in which the bundle 6 presents itself be out of centre with respect to the longitudinal axis of the column 10, the jaw executing the longer distance of travel will at the same time forcibly determine that the bundle 6 is displaced by the jaw that has previously completed the shorter distance of travel. The gripper 5 that is constructed in this way accordingly displays a self-centering function so far as collection of the bundle is concerned. Movement of the bundle is facilitated in that it is provided with a feed-in, or pick-up, table, 7, in the form of a roller conveyor comprising longitudinal rollers, so as to reduce friction between the bundle 6 and said feed-in table 7 to a minimum. From the description of the construction and function of the different components of the palletizer according to the invention, it can be seen that it provides an effective solution in terms of the underlying object of the present invention, and enables the purposes and advantages mentioned in the introductory section to be implemented. In practice, all the separate parts, or the separate components, can certainly be replaced by others that are equivalent from a technical and/or functional point of view, but this is no ground for discarding the range of protection in respect of the present invention. For instance, the support slides for the gripping discs for the bundles can be replaced by a plain slide coupling, in the case of a non-slewable gripper, and this coupling can be inserted in the gripper-holding column 10 slightly above the connecting plate 31. And these slides will clearly be fitted with pre-loadable repositioning devices, designed either in the form of springs or as hydraulic circuit components. It can be seen from the diagram at Fig. 10 that the bundles 6 to be picked up from the table 7 downstream if the palletizer 48 can be arranged side by side on the pallet 8 with a movement in the direction of the arrow F1 or, after being rotated by the gripper in the direction of the arrow f and moved in the direction of the arrow F2, they can be loaded on the pallet 8a in an arrangement at right angles in relation to the pallet 8. On each of the pallets 8, 8a the bundles can additionally still be arranged in a parallel arrangement and also in an arrangement in criss-cross layers.

Claims: Gripper palletizer (1) for the graphics industry, comprising a support frame (2) with runways (3) at the top, a trolley (4) that can move forwards and backwards along said runways (3), and a gripper (5) for picking up bundles (6), wherein said gripper (5) is attached to a single support column (10), supported and controlled (11,12) on the trolley (4), where it is connected with devices (13,16) for providing vertical lift supported on said trolley (4), characterized in that the gripper (5) is connected to the column (10) by means of a support pin (29) housed in such a way that it can slide axially but not rotate in a support block (30) affixed to the central part of the gripper (5), such support pin (29) exhibiting a disk-shaped, profiled lower end (29a) bearing said gripper (5) and operating in conjunction with a microswitch (5a) fitted to the gripper (5) itself and causing the stop of the lowering movement of column (10) when disengaged from the lower end (29a) of said support pin (29), whilst the upper end (29b) of said pin (29) projects freely for a certain distance beyond the upper side of the gripper (5) and is provided with a shoulder (29c) supporting a connecting plate (31) rigidly attached to the column (10), the support pin being attached to the connecting plate (31) by a thrust bearing (32a) and threated ring nuts (32), a removable key (36) preventing any rotation between said connecting plate (31) and said support pin (29). Palletizer in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that said support pin (29) for the gripper (5) is supported in a hollow support turret (53) affixed on top of the transverse side of the gripper (5) and also housing the microswitch (5a) operating in connection with the disk-shaped profiled lower end (29a) of said support pin (29), the upper end (29b) of the support pin (29) projecting above said hollow support turret (53) which is fixed to the column (10) supporting said gripper (5). Palletizer in accordance with claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the transverse side of the gripper (5) forms a frame structure, with two heads (58) supporting two longitudinal guide rods (56) over which there slide bushes (55), sliding laterally, of a telescope type plate (54), supporting respectively one jaw (24) of the gripper (5), each jaw (24) having affixed to it the free end of the piston rod of one of two cylinder/piston units (23) supported in a longitudinal side by side arrangement in the centre part of the frame structure of the gripper (5). Palletizer in accordance with claim 3, charaterized in that each of the telescopic plates (54) supporting a jaw (24) of the gripper (5) has affixed to it the inside end of one of two opposed racks (50,51) arranged in the longitudinal direction of the gripper (5) which engage internally with an idle pinion (52) supported on the gripper structure, in such a manner that movements of one jaw (24) forces the movement in the other direction of the other jaw (24), thus ensuring selfcentering positioning of the bundle (6) in relation to the centre line of the gripper (5), or to the longitudinal axis of the gripper-holding column (10). Palletizer in accordance with claims 1 and 2, characterized in that said support column (10) for the gripper (5) is provided in hollow form and a through shaft (33) is housed in it, showing a profiled bar hold (33a) at the bottom housed in a corresponding profiled axial seating (29d) provided at the top end of said support pin (29), whilst the top end of said through shaft (33) projects from the top end of the column (10) and is there attached to it by means of a bevel gear pair (46), with a geared motor (45), the rotation of which, after removal of the removable key (36) interposed between the support pin (29) of the gripper (5) and said connecting plate (31) joining the gripper (5) to the column (10), or between the support pin (29) and said hollow gripper-holding turret (53), causes the gripper (5) to rotate in its horizontal plane, with components that are known per se enabling the gripper (5) to rotate through the preselected angle. Palletizer in accordance with claim 1, wherein the discs (37) for gripping the bundle (6) in the jaws (24) of the gripper (5) are supported respectively in a movable slide (39) supported, and opposed to resilient devices (41), in a seating (40) machined out of the sides (24) of the gripper (5), a microswitch (42) also being fitted on said slide (39) which operates in conjunction with a profiled plate (43) to determine that the movement of conveyance of the bundle (6) comes to a halt when the bundle (6) being conveyed comes to rest physically against a bundle (6) arranged on the pallet (8). Palletizer in accordance with claim 1, wherein a single or double slide is fitted between said plate (31) connecting the gripper (5) to column (10) and the column itself, said slides moving horizontally in opposition to the sprung repositioning devices and supporting microswitches operating in conjunction with profiled strips to determine that the travel of the gripper (5) is halted when the bundle (6) being conveyed comes to rest against the bundle (6) already arranged on the pallet (8). Palletizer in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein there are provided, on the transverse side of the gripper (5) supporting coaxially a cylinder/piston unit (23) for each gripping jaw (24), a number of seatings (27) arranged longitudinally for supporting said cylinder/piston units (23) at different intervals, to enable bundles (6) of differing lengths to be transported. Palletizer in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein programmable encoders are used for determining the length of travel for lateral conveyance of the bundles (6) and the length of travel in the process of lowering the gripper (5). Palletizer in accordance with claim 1, wherein control of the vertical movement of the column (10) is effected by means of through sections (11) provided on two opposite sides of the column (10), each of which is equipped with two opposed V-shaped surface guides (11a) with which two guide wheels (12) are engaged, likewise mounted in V formation on the trolley (4), whilst for displacements in the vertical plane a rack (13) is provided, of one piece with the column (10), which is enganged by a pinion (14) splined to the output shaft (15) of a geared moter (16) mounted on the trolley (4). Palletizer in accordance with claim 1, wherein the runways (3) are constructed with profiles similar to the gripper-holding column (10), both said profiles forming the ranways (3) and exhibiting a rack (18) with which there is enganged a gear (19) mounted on one end of a common shaft (20) and actuated by a geared motor (17) supported on the trolley (4) and wherein, in respect of one runway (3), the trolley (4) is supported by a single wheel (21) at each end whereas the other runway (3) exhibits a section with opposed V-shaped surface guides (11a) engaged by a pair of supported wheels (12), likewise in V formation, at each end of the trolley (4). Palletizer in accordance with one of the preceding claims, wherein the gripper (5) designed to rotate the bundle (6) lengthwise is fitted with a geared motor (44) connected to the pin (38) of a gripping disc (37) for the bundle (6), said geared motor (44) being supported on the slide (39) supporting said disc (37).

Inventors: MASINI, GIANCARLO
Applicants: CIVIEMME S.R.L.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B65G57
IPC codes: B65G61