METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INSERTING PARTITION ELEMENTS BETWEEN ARTICLES

Abstract: A method for inserting of partition elements (14, 25, 26, 27) between articles (3) of a group (100) of articles being transported while flanked together to form transversal ranks (3a) and longitudinal ranks (3b), wherein said longitudinal and/or transversal ranks are spaced and said partition elements (14, 25, 26, 27) are inserted, from the bottom upwards, between the transversal ranks (3a) and/or the longitudinal ranks (3b) of articles (3). An apparatus for carrying out the above-said method.

Description: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INSERTING PARTITION ELEMENTS BETWEEN ARTICLES TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for automatically fitting up longitu- dinal and/or transversal flat partition elements between flanked sideways articles that are contin¬ uously advanced, particularly suitable to be used in the packaging lines of articles such as cans, bot¬ tles or the same. BACKGROUND ART In the specified cited packaging field, and in particular in the case of packaging brittle articles, such as glass bottles, it is often re¬ quired the insertion of longitudinal and/or trans¬ versal flat partition elements between the arti¬ cles of a package to determine a plurality of cells, each of them is aimed to contain a single article, so as to avoid the contact an the direct collision between the same articles, keeping them save, for instance, during the transport steps of the same package. Presently, several methods and apparatuses are known to get the automatic insertion of said partition elements. For example, the patent IT-927.943 discloses that the longitudinal and/or transversal flat partition elements are introduced, consecutively one after the other, between the articles of a pre¬ defined group, and that the so obtained assembly, articles and partition elements, will be subsequent¬ ly packaged and bound in cardboard. To make the insertion of the longitudinal and transversal partition elements easier, the articles of the group to be packed are placed in longitudinal and transversal ranks, than said longitudinal ranks are temporarily spaced out transversally and the transversal ranks are temporarily spaced out long¬ itudinally, so as to the partition elements can slide from above downwards, preferably for gravity, between the spaced out ranks. The apparatus provided to implement the above mentioned method is essentially comprehensive of : a conveyor provided with thrust bars that extends from upstream to downstream of the apparatus, to make the separate groups of articles and to convey the same groups downstream, a plurality of devices fit to insert the boards, placed over the article conveyor and in sequence along the article conveying path, to allow the free fall or to throw downwards the rela¬ ted partition elements; channel devices, to obtain the transversal displacement of the longitudinal ranks of the articles; and a further belt conveyor that is coplanar with the transport plane of the articles, which is fit to act in the operative area of the said first conveyor and to successively speed up the transversal ranks of the articles so as to get a temporary spacing between the same transversal ranks. The patent IT-1.154.364, essentially is comprehensive of: a multiple belt conveyer to transport the articles ordered in transversal and longitudinal ranks from upstream to downstream; an automatic fixed dispenser, placed upon the flow of the containers that advance longitudinally and fit for throwing transversal partition elements from above downwards; and a spacing device to temporarily space longitudinally the transversal ranks of the articles. The spacing device essentially includes a plurality of transversal pegs moved along a closed ring path in a vertical orbit by a chain conveyer, in which the upper branch of the said orbit includes the transport of the pegs between the containers according to the same longitudinal speed of these latter. The operation of this device is that first the pegs insert between the containers from the bottom upwards and then, during the phase of driving back downwards the chains, they determine the spa¬ cing of the container transversal ranks: this is due to the fact that the upper ends of the same pegs, during said phase, make a greater path respect of the one made by their base, that lies about on the same plane with the article bottoms. The methods for inserting partitions and the apparatuses above described have several drawbacks. A first drawback results from the fact that the longitudinal and transversal elements are inser¬ ted from above downwards, by moving them down along vertical planes that are perpendicular to the flow of the articles, so as to determine the need of providing a perfect phase relationship between the lowering partition and the advancing articles, so as the need in keeping a much reduced advancing speed of the articles to have sufficient time to perform said insertion, so having a lower productivity. A further drawback, related to the above mentioned, lies in occurring misplacements of the partitions and apparatus jams due to the fact that, to increase the productivity of the apparatus, the partitions are thrown downwardly at an high speed so as they bounce on the transport plane of the arti¬ cles. The last drawback lies in the fact that the different stores of the partitions are positioned at an height hardly reachable by the operator, so as these apparatuses must have a supplementary frame that allows the operator to reach those stores. This fact determines an high risk of possible accidents. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The main object of the present invention is therefore to avoid the drawbacks reported above. The invention, such as characterised by the claims, resolves the problem of finding out a method and an apparatus for the automatic insertion of longitudinal and transversal partition elements between flanked articles that are continuously advanced. The following results are obtained by the use of a method and of an apparatus of this type: - the partition elements are easier inserted; - the rebound of these elements on the transport plane of the articles is avoided; - the stores for said partition elements are easily reached by the operator. The advantages obtained with the present invention, essentially, are that it is possible to move much quicker the articles so improving the productivity of the apparatus, that it is possible to avoid the problems due to the rebound of the partition elements and to have no supplementary frame to allow the operator access to the stores of the partition elements, so as a reduction of the risks of possible accidents because of the easy access to the frame. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be better pointed out in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, given here as a mere example, not limi- tative, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus being the subject of the present invention; - Figure 1A is a schematic front view of the appara- tus of Figure 1; - Figures 2 and 2A are two schematic views, respect¬ ively front and top view, along the line II-II of Figure 1A; - Figure 2B is an enlarged view of a portion of Figure 1; - Figure 3 is a schematic front view along the line III-III of Figure 1A; - Figures 3A, 3B and 3C are three schematic top views respectively along the lines A, B and C of Figure 3; - Figure 3D is a schematic sectional view along the line D-D of Figure 3 ; - Figures 4A, 4B and 4C are a schematic top view along the line IV-IV of Figure 1A of three succes- sive sequences; - Figure 5 is a sectional view along the line V-V of Figure 1A. BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The Figures of the enclosed drawings show an apparatus designed to package groups of articles 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 comprising three transversal ranks and four longitudinal ranks of articles 3. It is clear that the method and the apparatus here disclosed could be used also with different group sizes. With reference to the Figures 1 and 1A the apparatus 1, object of the present invention, is constituted by an upstream end 2 linked with a feeding machine, not shown, that feeds a continuous flow of the articles 3 to be packed, that are bot¬ tles in the shown Figures. The horizontal transport plane of the arti- cles 3, from upstream to downstream, is in succes¬ sion constituted by: a first sliding surface 2a provided with a plurality of known channel guides 4; a first conveyer 5 provided with multiple belts 5a that are wrapped in a closed ring; a second sliding plane 6; a conveyer 7 with multiple belts 7a that are wrapped to form a closed ring; a third sliding plane 8 comprising, see Figures 3A, 3B and 3C, a plurality of shims 8a longitudinally extending and provided with guides 8c, and that are mutually transversally spaced to determine the openings 8b extending longitudinally; and, at least, a sliding continuous plane 51 having convergent guides 51a, see the said Figure 3C. The upper portion of the apparatus 1, as regards said article transport plane, comprises a pairs of side vertical shoulders 9, 9a, extending longitudinally, that support a closed ring conveyor 11, which includes a pair of chains 50, ' 50a, each of which are wrapped on respective chain wheels and supports one end of respective plurality of trans- ■ ersal thrust bars 11a, so defining a closed ring path, the lower branch of which provides the transport of the articles 3 from upstream to down¬ stream of the apparatus 1. A further closed ring conveyor 12 is placed inside the conveyor 11, is similar to this latter and includes a pair of chains 10, 10a, each of which are spooled on respective chain wheels- and support one end of respective plurality of transversal thrust bars 12a that, along the lower branch of their closed ring path, operate within the operation of the branch of the lower operative path of the bars 11a, as described and shown in another Italian Patent Application No. B094A 000215 filed in the name of this Applicant on the same date. The lower portion of the apparatus 1, from upstream to downstream, in sequence includes: a first known closed path conveyor 60 which supports transversal ranks of slugs 60a, fit to insert be- tween the belts 5a of the conveyor 5; a store 13, of known type, to store of an large amount of transver¬ sal partition elements 14; extracting-transferring means 15 fit to extract and transport in a single succession partition elements 14 from the said store 13; and a close ring conveyor 16 fit to convey in succession one after the other transversal partition elements 14 handled by said extracting-transferring means 15. Particularly, see Figure 2b too, said con- veyor 16 includes a pair of belts or chains 17 17a, wrapped on respective wheels 18-19, 18a-19a, and which support a plurality of pairs of slugs 20, 20a, said upper wheels 19, 19a being located between rolls 7b, 7b belonging to the transmission roll upstream the conveyor 7. The conveyor 16 is vertically sloping to define an operative path designed to convey in sloping way from the bottom upwards and upstream to downstream, fit to convey the partitions 14 uprights in series, through an opening 21 between the sliding surface 6 and the conveyer 7. Moreover, a switch element 6a (see Figure 1A) , fit to switch inside said opening 21 partition elements eventually not well transported, is supplied to avoid wrong inser- tions of the partition 14 trough the opening 21. Wit reference also to the Figures 4A, 4B, 4C, and 5, in the lower portion of the apparatus 1, and downstream with respect of the above mentioned con¬ veyor 16, three stores 22, 23, 24, of known type, are fit to store related longitudinal partition elements 25, 26, 27 and three extracting-transfer¬ ring devices 28, 29, 30 are fit to take and to transport respective longitudinal partitions 25, 26, 27, respectively comprising one or more swinging arms 28a, 29a, 30a, supporting respective suction means 28b, 29b, 30b. Below said extracting-transferring devices 28, 29, 30, there are three respective guides 31, 32, 33 longitudinally extending, from upstream to downstream, from the bottom upwards, from a zone close to the extracting-transferring devices 28, 29, 30 till next to a zone downstream the plane 8 and directly below this latter, see also Figures 1 and 1A. With reference to Figure 5, said guides 31, 32, 33 have a first portion with transversal section like an inverted "L" fit to support relative long¬ itudinal partition elements 25, 26, 27 which are moved by the relative extracting-transferring de- vices 28, 29, 30. The second middle portion of said guides has a a transversal section "U" shaped fit to support the same partition elements 25, 26 and 27 in vertical-longitudinal position. Wit reference to Figures 1A and 3D, the third end portion of said guides 31, 32, 33 has a rectang¬ ular transversal section and it is fit to support the bottom of the partitions 25, 26, 27 and to cooperate with a guide-group 61 that has a series of longitudinal guides 61a, protruding from the lower plane of the sliding surface 8 downwards. The lower rim of said guide-group 61 is vertically spaced from the upper surface of the rectangular section in order to allow the passage of thrust bars 34a, better described later, without any interference. A closed ring conveyor 34 includes a pairs of chains 35, 35a, wrapped onto relative chain wheels 36, 37, 38, 39 e 36a, 37a, 38a, 39a (not all of them are shown in the Figures) , and said chains support a plurality of thrust bars 34a that move along a closed path, the upper branch of which is parallel to the upper level of the guides 31, 32, 33. It must be noted that the operative path of the bars 34a is located in correspondence of a level slightly superior with respect of the guides 31, 32, 33, but so as to not interfere with the operation of the suction means 28b, 29b, 30b, as shown in Figure 5. With reference to the third end portion of the guides 31, 32, 33, the above mentioned operative path does not interfere with the lower end of the guide-group 61. The apparatus 1 is also equipped with known mechanical and/ or electrical and/or electronic and/or computerised devices fit to synchronise the same apparatus. The operation of the apparatus 1 includes the incoming of a continuous flow of articles 3 from a feeding machine linked with the upstream end 2 of the apparatus 1. The continuous flow of articles 3 moves on the sliding surface 2a so as the articles 3 are pushed inside the longitudinal channels defined by the guides 4 obtaining their longitudinal alignment (see Figures 2 and 2A) . Downstream of said sliding surface 2, the articles 3 are transported by the conveyor 5 down¬ stream and towards the longitudinal ranks of pegs 60a protruding from the bottom between the belts 5a in order to transversally align the article 3 to define transversal ranks 3a. The transversal ranks of pegs 60a insert between the transversal ranks 3a of articles 3, and because of the longitudinal speed of the transversal ranks of pegs 60a is lower than the speed of the conveyor 5, see Figures 1A, 2, 2A, said pegs 60a touch the frontal portion of the articles 3, giving these latter a translation speed downstream equal to the speed of said pegs 60a, that is lower than the speed of the conveyor 5. So, the transversal ranks are moved onto the conveyor 5 and when a transversal rank of pegs 60a is diverted downwards next the downstream end of the conveyor 60, the transversal rank 3a, which was blocked by said rank of pegs 60a, is free to move with a longitudinal speed greater than the conveyor 5. since the subsequent transversal rank of articles 3 is still blocked by relative subsequent pegs 60a, it is possible to get a first longitudinal spacing between the transversal released rank of article 3 and the subsequent transversal rank 3a of articles 3 that is still blocked by the subsequent rank of pegs 60a. The transversal ranks 3a of the articles 3 are spaced and are conveyed downstream by means of the conveyor 5. The thrust bars 11a and 12a lower from above downwards, insert between the transversal ranks 3a, and provide to advance the transversal ranks 3a and to set them in a right phase relationship ac¬ cording to the subsequent operations, as shown in Figure 2A with the numeral references 3aa, 3ab, 3ac, 3ad, 3ae and so on. If it is necessary, the thrust bars 11a and 12a increase the longitudinal spacing therebetween. It should be noted that, for reasons better clear in the following description, the group of article 100 has the two transversal front ranks 3aa, 3ab, pushed by two bars 12a of the conveyor 12, while the transversal rear rank 3ac is pushed by a bar 11a of the conveyor 11. The article transversal ranks 3a are so moved upon the sliding surface 6 and, in phase relationship with the advancement thereof, a partition element 14 is inserted between the two front transversal ranks 3aa and 3ab of the group 100 of article 3. This partition element passes, from the bottom upwards, trough the opening 21 placed between the sliding surface 6 and the conveyor 7 and by means of switch¬ ing element 6a. Said partition element 14 is inserted along a sloping plane having a direction from the bottom upwards and upstream to downstream, by means of the conveyor 16, which, with its slugs 20, 20a, takes and transfers the elements 14, extracted from the store 13 and transferred by the extracting-transfer¬ ring device 15. In this manner a first partition element 14 will be inserted between the first and second trans¬ versal rank, respectively 3aa and 3ab and, subsequ¬ ently, a second partition element 14 will be so inserted between the second and third transversal rank 3ab, 3ac. In this specific embodiment, no partition elements will be inserted between the rank 3ac and the rank 3ad, thus obtaining a group 200 of articles 3 provided with two transversal partition elements 14. With reference to Figures 2 and 2A, each transversal rank 3aa, 3ab, 3ac is pushed by respec¬ tive thrust bars 12a, 12a, 11a, downstream onto the conveyor 7; subsequently bars 12a, 12a are switched upwards so as only the bar 11a longitudinally pushes the group 200. The speed of the conveyor 7 is lower than that of the bars 11a, so during the transport of the group of articles on said conveyor 7 a longitudinal accumulation between the transversal ranks 3a of articles, which were previously spaced, is obtained. Referring to Figures 3, 3A, 3B and 3C, groups 200, 300 of articles 3 are routed by bars 12a and by conveyor 7 on the sliding surface 8 and against the diverging heads of guides 8c (see Figure 3A) , thus separating the group 400 to longitudinal ranks 3b, between which the openings 8b extend. Referring now to Figure 5, the extracting- transferring devices 28, 29, 30 withdraw respective partition elements 25, 26, 27, bringing them to the respective guides 31, 32, 33, which have an inverted "L" shape, for a further transport. Referring to Figures 4A, 4B, 4C and 5, the thrust bars 34a of conveyor 34, driven in a phase relationship with the operating cycle of the appara- tus 1, during their upper active path, affect the rear rim of the longitudinal partition element 25 first, then, in a succession, the rear rims of the longitudinal partition elements 26 and 27 (Figures 4B and 4C) push three partition elements 25, 26, 27 transversely aligned within respective longitudinal guides 31, 32, 33. Those, as mentioned above, have a transversal shape of a "U" for an intermediate stretch of their longitudinal extension, while their final downstream stretch forms a rectangle-shaped guide (Figure 3) exclusively able to hold the parti¬ tion elements and a plurality of vertical guides 61a, which extend longitudinally and downwards the sliding surface 8; the vertical guides 61a are aimed to hold in a vertical and longitudinal position the partition elements. The partition elements are so routed from the bottom upwards and upstream to downstream under the sliding surface 8, having a longitudinal and verti¬ cal position and transversely centred with respect to the openings 8b located between the shims 8a. After¬ wards, near the downstream end of the conveyor 7, they are inserted between the longitudinal ranks 3b of articles 3, passing through said openings 8b. After said insertion, just after the down- stream end of the conveyor 34, the group 500, provi¬ ded with transverse partition elements 14, 14 and with longitudinal partition elements 25, 26, 27, is transferred from the sliding surface 8 to the sli¬ ding surface 51 which transversely accumulates said group 500, as shown as numeral 600. The group 600 then continues its transferring to further packaging operation. The description of method and apparatus are given as a pure and not limitative example, and it is therefore evident that all changes or variants suggested by use or practice are however included within the scope of the following Claims.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A method for inserting partition elements (14, 14, 25, 26, 27) between transversal ranks (3a) and longitudinal ranks (3b) of groups (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600) of articles (3) being transported along an operating path wherein said transversal ranks (3a) and longitudinal ranks (3b) are spaced out in order to allow said insertion, characterised in that said partition elements (14, 25, 26, 27) are inserted from the bottom upwards between the trans¬ versal ranks (3a) and between the longitudinal ranks (3b) . 2. A method according to Claim 1, character¬ ised in that it comprises the following operating steps: spacing out said transversal ranks (3a); inserting of at least one transversal partition element (14) , from the bottom upwards, between said transversal ranks (3a) ; spacing out said longitudi¬ nal ranks (3b) ; inserting of at least a longitudinal partition element (25,26,27) between said longitudi¬ nal ranks (3b) . 3. A method according to Claims 1 or 2, characterised in that said transversal partition elements (14) are inserted between said transversal ranks (3a) of articles (3) by moving them from the bottom upwards and upstream to downstream with a longitudinal feeding which is concordant to the longitudinal feeding of the transversal ranks (3a) . 4. A method according to Claims 1 or 2, characterised in that said longitudinal partition elements (25, 26, 27) are inserted between the longitudinal ranks (3b) of articles (3) by moving said longitudinal partition elements (25, 26, 27) , held in a vertical position, from the bottom upwards and upstream to downstream, with a longitudinal feeding which is concordant with the longitudinal feed of the longitudinal ranks of articles (3) . 5. A method according to Claim 4, character¬ ised in that the longitudinal feeding speed of the longitudinal partition elements (25, 26, 27) during the phase of insertion between the longitudinal ranks (3b) of articles (3) is substantially equal to the feeding speed of the ranks (3b) of articles (3) moving along the operating path. 6. An apparatus for inserting partition elements (14, 14, 25, 26, 27) between the transver¬ sal ranks (3a) and longitudinal ranks (3b) of groups (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600) of articles (3) being moved along an operating path, wherein transversal ranks (3a) and longitudinal ranks (3b) are spaced out to allow said insertion, in relationship with the method disclosed in a Claim from 1 to 5, charac¬ terised in that said apparatus comprises at least a device (13, 15, 16; 22, 28, 31, 34; 23, 29, 32, 34; 24, 30, 33, 34) for inserting partition elements (14; 25; 26; 27) located in a position underlying the article (3) transport plane, and at least a opening (21; 8b) , located along said operating path, which is able to allow said partition elements (14, 25, 26, 27) to pass from a zone underlying said path to a zone overhanging said path, wherein said parti¬ tion elements (14, 25, 26, 27) are moved from the bottom upwards through said opening (21; 8b) between the ranks of articles (3a; 3b) . 7. An apparatus according to Claim 6, charac¬ terised in that said devices for insertion of trans¬ versal partition elements comprise: at least a store (13) , longitudinally extending, to store said trans- versal partition elements (14) ; at least an extract¬ ing-transferring device (15) , able to extract and to transfer said transversal partition elements (14) in succession from said store (13) ; a conveyor (16) , able to transport said transversal partition ele- ments (14) carried by said collecting-transferring device (15) upwards between said articles (3) , by passing them through said insertion opening (21) . 8. An apparatus according to Claim 7, charac- terised in that said conveyor (16) comprises a pair of belts or chains (17, 17a) , provided with slugs (20, 20a), wrapping around a closed path in respec¬ tive parallel planes on respective wheels (18, 19; 18a, 19a) , wherein the upper wheels (19, 19a) are positioned between rollers (7b, 7b) of a drive-back roller group of a conveyor (7) . 9. An apparatus according to a Claim from 6 to 8, characterised in that it comprises a opening (21) for inserting said transversal partition ele¬ ments (14) , which is obtained by spacing out the downstream end of a sliding surface (6) and the upstream end of a tape conveyor (7) , defining, both of said sliding surface (6) and said tape conveyor (7), the articles (3) operating path. 10. An apparatus according to Claim 6, char¬ acterised in that said devices for inserting long¬ itudinal partition elements comprise: at least a store (22, 23, 24) transversely extending for stor- ing said longitudinal partition elements (25; 26; 27); at least an extracting-transferring device (28; 29; 30) , fit to extract and to transfer one at a time, from said store (22; 23; 24) said longitudi- nal partition elements; guide means (31, 61; 32, 61; 33, 61), fit to receive said longitudinal partition elements (25; 26; 27) carried by said collecting- transferring device (28; 29; 30) and to guide them downstream while keeping them in a longitudinal and vertical position; a conveyor (34) having at least a thrust bar (34a) , fit to push said longitudinal partition elements (25; 26; 27) carried from said extracting-transferring device (28; 29; 30) along said guide means (31, 61; 32, 61; 33, 61) and up- wards between the articles (3), passing them through said insertion opening (8b) . 11. An apparatus according to Claims 6 or 10, characterised in that it comprises at least a open- ing (8b) for inserting said longitudinal partition elements (25, 26, 27) , said opening (8b) being obtained by means of a sliding surface (8) formed with transversely spaced shims (8a) , which are provided with guides (8c) .

Inventors: GAMBETTI MARIO, GAMBETTI, MARIO
Applicants: BAUMER SRL, GAMBETTI MARIO, BAUMER S.R.L., GAMBETTI, MARIO
Application year: 1995
Main classification: B65B61
IPC codes: B65B61