CHANNEL FILLING MACHINE

Abstract: A machine (shwon in Fig. 1) for filling channels (14) formed of flexible materials, said machine comprising a filling head (21), a conveyor (15) for sequentially aligning the channels (14) with the filling head (17) and means (shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6) for opening or maintaining the opening of each channel (14) when it is aligned with the filling head (21).

Description: CHANNEL FILLING MACHINE FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the filling of tubes or channels with material and more particularly to filling the tubular compartments or channels of quilts with down feather and the like. BACKGROUND ART A quilt usually consists of two sheets of material that have spaced apart webs stitched or otherwise secured therebetween to define tubes or channels that are filled with material such as down feather. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide a machine for automatically filling channels formed of flexible materials such as the channels found in a multi-channel quil . According to the invention there is provided a machine for filling channels formed of flexible materials, said machine comprising a filling head, a conveyor for sequentially aligning the channels with the filling head and means for opening or maintaining the opening of each channel when it is aligned with the filling head. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the invention may be more readily- understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention, in which;- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a quilt filling machine according to one embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 is a partial perspective view of part of the leading edge of an unfilled quilt engaged between a drag roller and a rubber track, Fig.3 is a partial perspective view of the sensor arrangement to determine the distance between each web of the unfilled quilt, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the lower gripper arrangement, Fig. 5 is a side view of the upper and lower gripper arrangements about to engage an unfilled channel of the quilt, Fig. 6 is a side view of the upper and lower gripper arrangements holding open the mouth of the channel of the quilt, Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the clamp arrangement to seal the open ends of the channels during the feather feeding, Fig. 8 is a side view of the clamp arrangement to allow even distribution of feather within each channel, The quilt filling machine shown in Figs. 1 to 8 is adapted to fill the channels or tubes of the quilt fed thereupon. A typical quilt channel in its collapsed state that forms part of a quilt 10 is shown in Fig. 5. The quilt 10 consists of an upper sheet 11 and a lower sheet 12 of fabric material that are secured together by spaced apart webs 13 so defining channels 14 therebetween. The channel 14 of Fig. 5 is shown in its open disposition in Fig. 6. The sides of the quilt 10 and the rear edge of the quilt that defines the closed ends of the channels to be filled are secured together with pipe edges (not shown in detail) . The quilt filing machine of Fig. 1 consists of a conveyor deck 12 upon which are located a quilt receiving station 16 and a feather filling station 17 downstream thereof . The conveyor deck 15 has a series of frictioned rubber tracks 18 (shown in detail in Fig. 2) that extend the full length of the deck and which are caused to move in the direction of there length in an anticlockwise direction relative to Fig. 1 by a motor 19 that drives the shaft 20. The feather filling station 17 comprises a feather delivery means 21, a channel dividing clamp means 22, a channel opening clamp means 23 and a channel opening means (shown in detail in Figs. 4, 5 and 6). The unfilled quilt 10 (with the open ends of the channels 14 aligned with the side of the deck 15 adjacent the feather delivery means 21) is loaded onto the front end of the conveyor deck 15 (the quilt receiving station 16) by raising the drag rollers 24 and positioning the quilt between the drag rollers 24 and the deck 15 in the manner shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 shows part of the leading edge of the unfilled quilt 10 engaged between one member of the pair of drag rollers 24 and its complimentary track 18. The drag rollers 24 function to smooth out any wrinkles that maybe present in the unfilled quilt 10 after loading. The unfilled quilt 10 is then conveyed along the deck 15 towards the feather filling station 17 where it first encounters the sensor arrangement shown in Fig. 3. The sensor wheel 25 is connected to one end of an angled arm 26 that is pivoted at its mid point to a fixed support bracket 27. At the top of the bracket 27 is a proximity switch 28 wired to a progra able controller (not shown) of the machine. When the filled quilt 10 is absent the wheel 25 rests on the upper surface of a smooth surfaced belt 29 shown in Fig. 4. Rotatably supported on the shaft of the belt 29 nearest the filling station 17 is a distance recorder 30. When the wheel 25 encounters a bump of the unfilled quilt 10 (caused by the folded web 13) the wheel 25 is forced upwards causing the free end 31 of the angled arm 26 to move through an arc into close proximity to the proximity switch 28, thereby activating the switch and sending a pulse to the programable controller. The switch is next activated with the passage of the following bump of the unfilled quilt 10. The distance recorder 30 then measures the distance the belt 29 (and therefore the quilt 10) has travelled between pulses and feeds this information to the programable controller. Such operation of the proximity switch 28 must be accompanied by activation of a photocell downstream thereof (not shown) before the filling operation is effected. The programable controller (not shown) processes messages received from the proximity switch 28, distance recorder 30 and the photocell so as to index the passage of the unfilled quilt 10 towards the filling station 17 in a manner that will enable the various operations of the filling station 17 to be executed correctly. The correct positioning of an unfilled channel 14 with respect to channel opening means is shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 4. shows the lower channel gripper 32, the operation of which is identical to that of the upper channel gripper (shown in Figs. 5 and 6). The gripper 32 operates in a recessed portion of the deck 15 where it has access to the lower surface of the unfilled channel 14. Thin support bars 33 runs the length of this recessed portion and are positioned at a height that will allow the unfilled quilt 10 to remain flat with the surrounding deck. The lower gripper 32 consists of a fixed base 34 which supports a pneumatic cylinder 35 and a guide 36 (two guides are shown in the lower gripper of Figs. 5 and 6). The arm of the cylinder 35 and the slide of the guide 36 are connected to the under side of a gripper platform 37 so that the platform 37 maybe evenly raised from and lowered towards the base 34 over a distance set by the pitch of the cylinder 35. A second pneumatic cylinder 38 is fixed to the platform 37. The arm of the cylinder 38 is devised to a pincer body 39 (seen after a section has been taken through the platform 37) that is fixed to the lower slab of the platform 37. The pincer body 39 has a pair of pincers 40 extending upwardly therefrom. The lower slab of the platform 37 has, at its opposite end, a second pincer body (not shown) ith pincers 41 extending therefrom and protuding through a groove 42 in the upper slab of the platform 37 , reaching a height identical to that of the pair of pincers 40. It should be noted that the pincers 40 also protude through a groove (not shown) . Therefore, the lower slab of the platform 37 is adapted to slid horizontally with the extension of the arm of the cylinder 38. (Here, appropriate means are provided, but not shown, to allow the cylinder 35 and guide 36 to maintain there fixed position with respect to the base 34 whilst the lower slab (to which they are connected) is moved horizontally) . Accordingly, the two pairs of pincers 40 and 41 move simultaneously whenever the arm of the cylinder 38 is extended. The upper slab of the platform 37 has two pairs of pincers 43 and 44 extending upwardly therefrom. When viewed form side on (as shown in Figs. 5 and 6) complimentary pincers extending from the lower and upper slabs of the platform 37 are displaced from each other a fixed distance required for effective operation of the channel opening procedure. The pincers 40 and 41 that are connected to the lower slab of the platform 37 rise to a height of one material thickness of an unfilled quilt greater than the height of the pincers 43 and 44 extending from the upper slab of the platform 37. In order to grip the lower surface of an unfilled channel 14, the platform 37 is raised by operation of the cylinder 35 to a height where the upper most surface of the pincers 40 and 41 abut against the lower surface near the mouth of the channel 14. The arm of cylinder 38 is then extended to bring the pincers 40 and 41 into closer proximity to the fixed pincers 43 and 44. During this movement, the taller pincers 40 and 41 drag the rough lower surface of the channel 14 with them causing the material between each pincer of a complementary set to form a pocket and be pinched firmly into that configuration when the pincers of a complementary set are brought to there most proximate position. It is important that the distance between adjacent bars 33 is such as not to impede the travel of the pincers during operation of the cylinder 38. Once the pincers have gripped the lower surface of the channel 14, the arm of cylinder 35 fully retracts bringing the platform 37 (still gripping the lower surface of the channel) to a position that will facilitates feather introduction. The functions of the upper channel gripper work simultaneously with those of the lower channel gripper. Figs. 5 and 6 show an unfilled channel 14 before and after the operation of the channel opening means. The opened channel 14 shown in Fig. 6 is now ready to receive feathers therewithin. As shown in Fig. 1, the feather delivery means 21 , consists of a supply hose 45 that empties into a blower encasement 46. The supply has 46 feeds from a source of feathers (not shown) which are forced through the hose 45 and into the confines of the blower encasement 46 by operation of the blower therewithin (not shown) . The blower encasement 46 has an outlet 47 about which is sealed one end of an extendable rubber jacket 48. The other end of the jacket 48 seals about the neck of a nozzle 49. Also connected to the neck of the nozzle 49 is an L- shaped bracket 50 supported by its underside by rollers 51. Movement of the bracket 50 along the guided rollers 51 is effected by a hydraulic cylinder (not shown) that causes the mouth of the nozzle 49 to be inserted into the opening of the unfilled channel 14. Before introduction of feather into the unfilled channel 14 can begin ihe channel opening clamp means 23 shown in Fig. 1 (also shown in Fig. 7 in its operative position) comes into operation. The structure of the clamp means 23 will be described with reference to Fig. 7. Fixed to the main frame of the machine is a H-shaped framework 52 (with dule cross bars) that controllably supports a claim bar 53 moulded to the lower cross bar of the framework 52 are two identical raised (54 that between them support a shaft 55 at there upper end.) Connected to the shaft 55 is a cylinder 56 (only partly shown) the arm of which extends downwards and forms a clevis about the mid-length of a connecting member 57. The connecting member 57 is pivoted at one end of the upper end cross- bar of the framework 52 and is fixed at its other end to the clamp bar 53. Opposing support members 58 and 59 are pivoted about the upper cross-bar nearest the upright members of the frame work 52 and are fixed at there other end to the clamp bar 53 so as to allow the clamp bar 53 to remain substantially horizontal throughout the operation of the cylinder 56. A thin rubber lining 60 runs the length of the underside of the bar. At the end of the clamp bar 53 closest to the quilt receiving station 16 is connected a T-shaped extension 61. When the mouth of the nozzle 49 is inserted into the opening of the unfilled channel 14, the cylinder 56 extends, thereby causing the clamp bar 53 to be lowered until its rubber lining 60 is pressed against the upper surface of the quilt near the openings of the channels 14 (see Fig. 7) . Because the nozzle 49 has been inserted in the opening of one of the channels 14, and in order to obtain full pressing of the clamp bar 53 along the length of the quilt upper surface near the openings of the channel 14, the clamp bar 53 has a recessed portion 62 (still having the rubber lining 60) of a shape complementary to the shape of the upper surface of the nozzle 49. This arrangement of the clamp bar 53 insures that when the clamp bar 53 is pressed against the quilt upper surface during the feather feeding stage a seal forms against the escape of firstly air and feather from the opening of the channel being filled, and secondly feather from any filled channels. During feather feeding, air escapes through the pores of the material comprising the skin of the quilt. The T-shaped extension 61 ensures that the quilt remains flat and square with the conveyor during filling. Once the clamp bar 53 is in place, the blower is activated so that feather is charged into the channel 14. Fig. 8 shows that the introduction of feather is done by incremental amounts determined in part by the positioning of channel dividing clamps along the length of the channel 14 being filled. This ensures a substantially even distribution of feather with each channel. With the force with which the feather is charged into the channel, the feather settles at the end of the channel furthest from the nozzle 49. When a sufficient quantity of feather is present, a clamp 63 (seen side on in Fig. 8) having a lower rubber lining (not shown) is forced upon the quilt at the position shown. Subsequent feather settlement will occur in the empty portion of the quilt nearest the engaged clamp 63 until, as before, a sufficiently quantity of feather has settled there to ensure a smooth surface topography of the filled parts of the channel . Additional clamps may also be used as shown in Fig. 8. The clamp 63 is operated by a pneumatic cylinder 64 slideably mounted on a gantry arm 65. Also connected to the clamp 63 is a slide rod (not shown) that is able to slide along the bore of a hollow cylindrical guide 66, that is itself slideably mounted on the gantry arm 65. This arrangement of cylinder 64 with slide rod and guide 66 ensures that the face of the clamp remains horizontally disposed whenever it is pressed against the upper surface of the channel 14. It is apparent that the position that the clamp 53 maybe pressed against the channel can be varied by adjusting the position of the cylinder 64 with slide rod and guide 66 along the gantry arm 65. When the channel 14 has been filled sufficiently with feather, the next channel is indexed into the feather filling station 17 and the sequence of * operations described above of channel opening, nozzle insertion, clamping and controlled feather feeding is repeated until all channels have been similarly filled. It is apparent that the cylinders that carry out such operations of the machine may have there operation adjusted by the programable controller. The conveyor deck 15 then carries the filled quilt onto the table of the closing station (not shown) positioned across the ends of the deck 15. Various modifications may be made in details of design and construction without departing from the scope and ambit of the invention.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A machine for filling channels formed of flexible materials with filling material, said machine comprising a filling head, a conveyor for sequentially aligning the channels with the filling head and means for opening or maintaining the opening of each channel when it is aligned with the filling head. 2. A machine according to claim 1, wherein the filling head comprises a source of filling material to be filled into the channels, means for supplying the filling material from the source to an outlet of the filling head and means for introducing the outlet into the opening of the channel to be filled. 3. A machine according to claim 1 , wherein the conveyor includes a means for sequentially senseing the presence of channels and means for indexing the sensed channels into alignment with the filling head. 4. A machine according to claim 1, wherein the means for opening or maintaining the opening of each aligned channel comprises a pair of gripping means oppositely disposed about the opening of the channel . 5. A machine according to claim 2, further comprising means for sealing the opening of the channel to be filled about the outlet of the filling head during the filling operation. 6. A machine according to claim 1, further comprising clamp means adapted to engage the outer surface of the channel when being filled so as to evenly distribute the filling material therein. 7. A machine for filling channels formed of flexible materials with filling material, said machine being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the drawings.

Inventors: WONG PAUL CHARLES, WONG, PAUL, CHARLES
Applicants: AUSTRALIAN FEATHER MILLS, AUSTRALIAN FEATHER MILLS PTY. LIMITED
Application year: 1989
Main classification: B68G7
IPC codes: A47G9, B68G7