ARRANGEMENT FOR IDENTIFYING AND REMOVING ASSOCIATED PREFORMS FROM A CONTINUOUS TRANSFER LINE

Abstract: Apparatus for transferring preforms (1) comprising a pair of parallel, sloping rails (2, 3) between which a plurality of preforms (1) are capable of gliding in an orderly manner, wherein said apparatus is provided with an arrangement that is adapted to identify the passage of preforms (1), of which one is inserted in the other one, and to remove said preforms (1) from said rails (2, 3). The arrangement (6) is constituted by a plurality of rotating forks (8) provided with two outer arms (9, 10) and located above said rails (2, 3), wherein said arms are capable of moving into at least a position in which the collar (16) of the inner preform (13) is engaged by said arms (9, 10), and a second position in which said arms raise said preforms (13, 12) from said rails (2, 3) and rotate in such a manner as to cause said preforms (13, 12) to be removed in pairs and ejected from said rails (2, 3).

Description: ARRANGEMENT FOR IDENTIFYING AND REMOVING ASSOCIATED PREFORMS FROM A CONTINUOUS TRANSFER LINE DESCRIPTION The piesent invention lefeis to an apparatus foi smgulaiizmg and tiansfeiimg pieforms made of theimoplastic matenal, in particulai polyethylene teiephtalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP) intended foi use m applications implying them being subsequently blow moulded into contameis adapted to be filled with liquids of vaiious kinds, especially alimentary liquids, beveiages and the like These piocesses foi the pioαuction of such types of contameis are generally known to be able to be schematically divided into two basic typologies, le single-stage and two-stage pi ocesses In a two-phase piocess, a pi eviously pioduced piefoim oi paiison, which is in a substantially amoiphous state is heated up again to its pieferied molecular onentation tempei atuie, at which it is then blow-moulded into the desned shape As used m this context, the teim ' two-stage piocess" oi ' double-stage process", shall be undei stood to covei any process that pioduces a piefoim or parison which must then be heated up from ambient tempeiatuie to the related blow-moulding tempei arm e In contrast therewith, single-stage processes are so defined in that they are capable of forming the so-called preform, or paiison, and transferring said preform from the injection mould or extrusion die (upon it having been allowed to cool down to some appropriate temperature) to a conditioning station, where it is allowed to evenly level at a temperature of preferred molecular orientation. Said preform or parison is then transferred to a blow-moulding die, in which it is finally moulded into its desired form. In particulai', the present invention is particularly advantageous when the described devices are associated to a preform manufacturing apparatus included in a so-called two-stage plant, but can be advantageously used also in conjunction with single-stage plants, so as they are defined above. As a matter of fact, the need may arise in such types of plants for intermediate buffers or temporary storage units to be created as preform holding facilities, and the cases in which this is required, as well as the ways in which said buffers and the related handling means can be implemented, are exhaustively described in a detailed manner in the Italian patent application no. PN97A000007 to ZOPPAS, to which reference should therefore be made. It is therefore a generally known fact that the handling of preforms in view of the subsequent processes and treatments must necessarily include a preform singularization step, ie. a land of operation in which the preforms are picked singularly from an initial container in which they are stored in bulk, in particular a rotary hopper, and are lined up along a transfer means from which said preforms can then be removed or collected in the desired quantity for the subsequent processing or treatment steps. Such a container is usually associated to a further apparatus that singularizes the preform, ie. separates it from the other preforms and preai'ranges it so as to be able to be sent or conveyed to an appropriate sliding or move-along line, and from this sliding line, which is essentially constituted by a simple groove delimited on both sides thereof by two guide and support rails provided in an arrangement that slopes down fiom the initial station to the final 01 teimmal one the piefoims aie able to slide along such a gi oove by simple gi avity The preforms fit with the cential portion of their cylindrical body into said gi oove and ai e supported by said two side rails which intercept the upper πm or collai thei eof, immediately below the thi eads When so fitted m said groove, the piefoims start to glide downwards, m contact with each othei , in an oiderly sequence, so as to be appiopπately prearranged for being picked up by suitable i emoval devices It has been howevei been found both expenmentally and m practice that such a method and the I elated machines that cairy it out, although simplke a reliable, have a di awback that quite ft equently foi ces the same machines to be stopped and be l eaii anged, ie leset manually, so that they have pi acticaUy to lun undei almost constant attendance of appropnate peisonnel Such a di awback, quite banal m its natuie, is due to the fact that certain pieforms, which aie stoied m bulk m the afoie mentioned initial contamei , may accidentally end up by inserting into each othei , in pailiculai when said contamei is a lotary hoppei and, owing to possible impacts oi piessuies exterted upon them and the fnction between sui faces made of the same plastic mateπal, they aie not able to lelease each othei , ie sepai ate fiom each othei by themselves, but lemam so stuck "m pans" also m the subsequent phases of the piocess In pailiculai , these 'pans" of piefoims stuck into each othei aie legulaily smgulanzed and loaded onto the sloping ti ansfei line and, when they leach the teimmal station wheie they aie then picked up, they piesent themselves as a single piefoim that is almost double m its length Such a cncumstance is detected by the contiol devices piovided to this puipose which thei efoi e i espond by immediately and automatically shutting down the plant To l estoi e the opei ation of the plant, and of couise lemove the piefoims so stuck togethei the piesence of an opeiatoi is lequired and this requnement, along with the pioduction loss bi ought about by such a shutdown of the plant, gives use to an additional buiden that is neithei predictable nor quantifiable Based on these consider anons, it theiefore is a mam purpose of the present invention to provide an arrangement and a method concerning the preform transfei phase of the process which are capable of doing away with the above cited di awback, so as to pi event the oveiall plant productivity from bemg jeopardized, and which are capable of being easily implemented with the aid of leadily available techniques and means and theiefoie are leasonably low -cost, leliable and capable of being fully mtegi ated with a pieform production stage that may be piovided upstieam of said ariangement This aim along with furfhei featuies of the piesent invention, is leached in an ariangement foi the automatic i emoval of mutually associated piefoims opeiatmg as i ecited m the appended claims A piefened embodiment of the piesent ibention is described m detail and lllustiated below by way of non-limitmg example with refeience to the accompanying di awmgs, m which - Figuie 1 is a view of a piefoim handling and tiansfei plant compπsmg a piefoim ti ansfei line on which an aii angement accoiding to the piesent lvention can be installed, - Figuie 2 is a side view of an an angement accoiding to the piesent invention, - Figuie 3 is a view of the aii angement shown m Figuie 2, but with an appioachmg piefoim inserted m a second piefoim, - Figures 4 to 9 ai e side views of the i especϋve subsequent phases in which said mutually associated piefoims aie gi asped, lifted out and ejected fiom the ti ansfei line by means of an appai atus accoi ding to the pi esent invention, - Figui es 10 and 11 ai e enlai ged views of an arrangement according to the piesent invention, with and without a i otary -motion dnvmg belt, respectively, - Figuie 12 is a top view of the ariangement according to the present invention, which is shown jointly with a portion of the corresponding transfer line, - Figuie 13 is a view of the A-A section, refeπed to Figure 11 , of the arrangement according to the present invention, - Figuie 14 is a side view of two piefoims that are stuck into each other, m the state m which they must therefoie be desirably removed fiom the production flow by means of the aii angement accoiding to the piesent invention With lefeience to the Figuies, they can be noticed to lllusti ate a sequence of pieforms 1 entenng in an oideily line a pair of parallel I ails 2, 3 that are inclined with lespect to the honzontal plane so as to enable said piefoims to glide along by gi avity fi om an uppei loading station 4 down to a lowei unloading station 5 Above said lails, m an intermediate position theieof there is installed an arrangement 6 compiismg a centi al structui e 7 that is adapted to rotate about a honzontal axis X On this centi al stmctuie theie aie attached a plm alitv of folks 8 piojectmg fiom lespective outei portions of said centi al stiucture 7, which aie contained within planes that do not pass thiough said lotation axis X, aie substantially arranged above said i ails and m such a mannei as to ensui e that the position of any of said folks is deteimmed by the lotation about said axis X of any othei of said folks On the othei hand, then configui ation and aii angement can be cleaily and unmistakably lecognized and undei stood fiom the lllusti ations appearing in the accompanying Figui es Furtheimoie said folks aie such as to comply with the following additional requnements a) the side arms 9, 10 of said folks are substantially paiallel and are spaced fiom each othei by a sepaiation distance Z that is widei than the outside diameter of the thieaded portion of the piefoims passing by, but nairowei than the diameter of the collar of the same pieforms, b) the disposition and size of said central structure 7 together with said forks 8 aie such as to ensure that said forks, when lotatmg mto their lowest position, do not interfere with said parallel rails 2, 3, while their arms move from the opposite sides very close to the thieaded portions of the pieforms gliding along below said centi al stmctuie, c) given two piefoims of the same type that areinserted into each other so as to foim a special pan of piefoims m which the outer or lower preform is indicated at 12 and the mnei oi uppei piefoim is indicated at 13, as this is shown in Figuie 14, when such special pans of piefoims 12 and 13 are loaded onto the tiansfei line within said pair of paiallel lails, the height of the collai 16 of the upper preform 13 comes to be substantially at the same level oi height H of said aims 9, 10 of said folks 8 when the lattei aie an anged on a plane that is substantially pai allel to said lails, as shown m the Figuies Any fuithei featme oi chai actei istic of said folks said centi al stiuctme 7 and then mutual fastening and disposition lelative to the pan of l ails can be cleaily infeiied fiom the Figui es and is leadily deducible by those skilled m the ail, so that a detailed descnption thereof is intentionally omitted heie for reasons of bievity The opei ation of the above descnbed aii angement is as follows With lefeience to Figuie 1 it can be noticed how the pieforms aie noimally sent by gi avity along the ti ansfei line constituted by the two I ails 2 and 3, so as to move fiom the loading station 4 to the unloading station 5 Such a situation of noimality is illustrated m gieatei m Figure 2 which shows also the positioning and, albeit schematically the structui e of the ari angement 6 according to the present invention In this situation of normality the prefoims 1 glide along withm said gap or groove formed between said two l ails 2 and 3 and move below the arrangement 6 without being mteicepted, in fact, the folks 8, which lotate in the direction shown in the Figuies, ie m such a manner that the diiection of their movement, when they are m then lowest position, is the opposite of the diiection of movement of the preforms gliding along by gi avity aie able to neithei touch said lails, since their length does not allow them to do it noi the thieaded portion of the piefoims since the side aims 9, 10, although lowenng to the level of said thieaded portion, are sepai ated and spaced fiom each othei by an extent enabling them to move laterally past said thieaded portion on the two opposite sides theieof without coming up against it and, as a lesult without stopping oi alteimg in any way the motion of the legulai piefoims Conveisely when mutually inserted oi stuck piefoims 1 and 13 as shown m Figuie 14, aie loaded into said 1 ails 2 and 3 by the loading station 4, said piefoims then piesent themselves on the tiansfei line as iHustiated m Figuie 3, ie with the uppei lnnei piefoim 13 having its collai 16 at a height H that conesponds to the height of a genei al folk 8 when this is l otated so that its a ms an ange themselves on the inclined plane extending pai allelly to said 1 ails When these piefoims 12, 13 as supported by the collai 26 of the lower piefoim 1 lestrng on the lails move towa ds the aii angement 6, a lotatmg folk 8 glides initially without getting engaged along the flanks of the body of the uppei piefoim 13 until the collai 16 of said uppei piefoim is eventually giasped by the same folk as shown m Figuie 4 and is fiist lifted out by it and then lotated, as lllustiated m Figuies 5 thiough to 9 wheiem it caines with it both said preforms inserted into each othei which aftei having so been lemoved fiom the continuous sequence of legulai piefoims 1 aie ejected backwaids by letting them diop freely, as shown m Figure 9 Such an effect actually achieves the purpose of the piesent invention The above descnbed ariangement can be further improved thiough the implementation of some variants that are aimed at increasing the effectiveness and the utilization scope thereof The first such measuie consists m giving the various component pails of the centi al stiuctuie 7 and the forks 8 such dimensions, shape and l otational speeds as to enable them to intercept and lemove even a plurality of pairs of mutually inserted prefoims that may come up in a continuous sequence along said l ails 2, 3 Such an occuirence, although lather uncommon m the pi actice, must anyway be taken into due account m view of adequately countei acting, ie eliminating it, since it only takes just one of such prefoims 12, 13 escaping the filtenng action of said aii ngement 6, and the lesultmg I emoval from the line, to bung about a shut-down of the whole plant The selection and definition of said geometnc and dimensional features, as well as the numeiousness and the angular velocity of said forks, so as to obtain the desned lesult, aie fully within the capability of those skilled in the art, so that their descnption in detail will be intentionally omitted here foi leasons of bievrty A furthei impiovement can be obtained by letting the folks lotate continuously, so as to do away with the constiuctional complication of having to piovide folks that only start to move when activated by special sensois detecting the passage of pans of mutually inserted piefoims 12, 13 that have desnably to be lemoved fiom In particulai , the contmuousness of the I otational motion of said forks and said centi al stiuctuie is advantageously obtainable by means of at least a dnve belt 20, adapted to engage a lespective appiopnate pulley 21 shi ink-fitted on to said centi al sti uctui e 7 , so as shown m Figui es 11 , 1 and 13 Finally, with lefeience to Figuies 10, 11 and 12, a useful impiovement is offeied by the fact of pioviding a piotection membei 22 aiianged between the portion situated downstieam of said aii angement 6 and the portions situated therebelow of said rails 2 and 3. Such a member, which may possibly be properly bent in view of increasing its protection effectiveness, has the task of intercepting the pairs of mutually inserted preforms 12, 13 as they are ejected and unloaded behind said arrangement 6. In fact such preforms, if not otherwise diverted, would automatically disengage, ie. drop by gravity after approx. half a turn and would therefore fall exactly on to the preforms that are regularly arranged on the rails downstream of the arrangement 6, with the risk of damaging and/or altering the regular sequence thereof. In view of doing away with such a risk, said protection member 22 is arranged downstream of said arrangement 6, and immediately above the preforms 1 , so as to guard them against the fall of preforms being released and dropped thereabove., wherein said protection member can be applied to said rails by means of several fastening means 24, 25 constituted preferably by bridge-like brackets provided with suitable means, preferably screws 25 or the like, adapted to allow for said protection element 22 to be locked in position or to be released for any operational or maintenance requirement whatsoever. It will be appreciated that, although described based on the example of preferred embodiments thereof and using a commonly known terminology, the present invention shall by no means be considered as being limited by such a description and such a terminology, since those skilled in the art are capable of devising and introducing a number of modifications. The appended claims shall therefore be intended to extend to and cover such obvious modifications.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Apparatus for transferring preforms (1), comprising a pair of parallel rails (2, 3) separated by a groove-forming gap m which a plurality of preforms are inserted tempoianly so as to be able to glide in an oiderly sequence between said rails, which are ai ranged slopmgly fiom an uppei loading station (4) down to a lower unloading station (5), characterized in that said apparatus is provided with an arrangement (6) adapted to. - intercept the passage of pans of preforms m which an inner preform (13) is inserted, with the closed end of the body thereof, m the aperture of a respective outei preform (12), said pair of pieforms being supported by said rails by means of said parallel rails engaging the collar portion (26) of said outer preform, and said lnnei pieform (13) moving forward at such a height that the respective collar (16) theieof is raised from the uppei edge of said rails by a distance (H) that is gieatei than a pi e-detei mined value, and - lemove said pan of preforms (12, 13) from said plurality of preforms (1) 2. Apparatus accoiding to claim 1 , characterized in that said arrangement (6) is adapted to lift out and lemove from said groove-forming gap said pairs of pieforms (12, 13) of which one is inserted m the othei one 3. Appaiatus accoiding to claim 1 oi 2. characterized in that said arrangement comprises a plurality of lotary folks (8), each one of which is provided with two outei paiallel arms (9, 10) ai ranged above said rails, said arms being capable of moving into at least a first posmon (Fig. 4) m which the collai of said incoming inner piefoim is engaged by said aims, and a second position (Fig 8) in which said armskft said pairs of pi eforms out of said i ails and rotate so as to remove and eject said pan of pi eforms from sa d i ails 4. Apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that the end portions of said arms of said forks are spaced from each other by a distance that is greater than the diameter of the threaded portion of said preforms (1) and the diameter (d) of the cylindrical body of the preform below the respective collar. 5. Apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the rotation of said forks takes place about a horizontal axis (X) extending transversally with respect to the vertical plane passing through said groove-forming gap and situated at a higher position above it. 6. Apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the rotation of said arrangement is a continuous rotation, and that the rotation rate is such and the angle between said rotary forks is such that said forks are adapted to remove two successive and adjacent ones of said pairs of inner and outer preforms (12, 13) individually. 7. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the arms of said forks are adapted to assume an orientation that is parallel to said rails when the distance (H) between said forks and said rails is equal to or slightly smaller than the distance between said rails and the collar (16) of said inner preform (13). 8. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is also provided with a protection member (22), preferably formed by a removably mounted bracket-like member, attached thereto by means of appropriate fastening means (24, 26) and situated immediately downstream of said arrangement above the respective portion of said rails. 9. Apparatus according to any of the claims 3 to 8. characterized in that said preferably continuous rotation is obtained by means of a belt (20) passing over a respective pulley (21) that is firmly joined to said forks. π

Inventors: CASAGRANDE LUCIANO, CASAGRANDE, LUCIANO
Applicants: CASAGRANDE LUCIANO, SIPA SPA, CASAGRANDE, LUCIANO, SIPA S.P.A.
Application year: 1999
Main classification: B29C49
IPC codes: B07C5, B29C49, B65G47