Patent GB-1263904-A (GB)
Title: Container conveying and loading machine
IPC: A24C5/356
Filed: 1968-05-15
Abstract: 1,263,904. Packaging machines. AMF Inc. 15 May, 1969 [15 May, 1968], No. 23106/68. Heading B8C. A machine for the sequential conveying of a series of containers to and away from a discharge position comprises a first device 22 for receiving a container and conveying it laterally from a tray receiving to a ready position adjacent said discharge position, a second device for conveying a discharged container from the discharge position to an outlet path for the empty containers, and driving means for moving said first device from the ready position to the discharge position on removal of the discharged container from the discharge position. As shown, a front pair of conveyer belts 13 of a tray feed conveyer urge trays, stacked with horizontal cigarettes, rearwardly to a mid-way position against stop pins 14, 15, which, upon retraction by pneumatic rams 16, 17, allow a released tray to be intermittently moved, by a second pair of conveyer belts 13, rearwardly and enter a tray carrier 22, the trays, each with an open top and a forwardly facing side, being guided by side brushes 19. The tray carrier 22, Fig. 5, which is splined to a shaft 24 rotatable by an actuator 25, and which is laterally movable by a ram 211 and lever arrangement 21, has a bottom wall 28 which is removable by means of a spring 30 which acts through a rotatable rod 32 and forked end-members 33 which engage pins 34 extending from the ends of the wall 28. The latter is held in its closed position by a spring-loaded release member 40 which is engageable by a stop 42 located at the discharge position over a hopper 43, the wall being returned to its closed position by means of a fixed cam 46 and a follower 47. When a demand signal is received, as the level of cigarettes falls in the hopper 43 at the discharge position, the carrier 22 is swung up to a position 60 degrees to the vertical and then moved laterally to the discharge position. As the previous tray is being removed, the carrier 22 is swung into a vertical position so that its open front face is located against a plate 50, and the release member 40 engages the stop 42 to remove the bottom wall 28 and allow the cigarettes to fall into the hopper. In this position the arms 61, 62 of a clamp 59, moved by a ram 68, grip an upper side of the tray for subsequent rotation, by a rotary actuator 60, through 180 degrees, to a take-away position where a pusher arm 72, controlled by a ram 80, moves the tray along strips 70, 71. An alternative lateral drive device for the tray carrier, Fig. 4, comprises a drive chain and pulley arrangement the chain drive of which moves twice as far as the pistonrod of a two-way acting ram 106 which drives it. The machine is automatically operated by microswitch pneumatic devices, the detailed sequences of tray feed, pick-up, transfer, discharge, and removal being described with reference to Figs. 7A-7D (not shown). A modified machine, Figs. 8-12 (not shown), is characterized in that the tray carrier (134) is rotated by a pair of piston-and-cylinder devices (135, 136) and is moved laterally by a drivechain (146) and pulley (147) arrangement similar to the arrangement of the modification shown in Fig. 4. The spring-loaded release member of the movable bottom wall (158) comprises a spring-loaded pivoted detent (167) which is urged into engagement with a recess (166) in a disc (165) carried by the operating rod (162) for the base wall (158). The wall (158) is returned to its closed position by a fixed cam (175) and follower (176). The tray removal clamp has jaws (185, 186) which are pivotally mounted on a casing (187) which is slidable laterally along a rod (188) to an empty tray take-away position where another pair of clamp jaws (194, 195) grip the tray and rotate it though 180 degrees and drop it into a shoot having spring-loaded sides (210, 211) to retard the descent of the tray. The latter is urged by a pusher arm 221 on to a disposal conveyer (215).