Patent GB-1454036-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for loading articles into a receptacle
IPC: B65B35/18
Filed: 1974-09-02
Abstract: 1454036 Apparatus for loading articles separately in side-by-side arrangement in a container YOSHIDA KOGYO KK 2 Sept 1974 [5 Sept 1973] 38248/74 Heading B8C An apparatus for loading articles into an opentop receptacle 33 comprises a receiving plate 12 adapted to receive the articles 11 successively at prescribed intervals; a suction member 16 communicating with a source of vacuum 17 and having a suction port to which the article on said receiving plate is caused to attach by auction; a platform 32 supporting said receptacle thereon; means for reciprocating said suction member between a first position over said receiving plate 12 and a second position over said receptacle 33 on said platform 32; means 21 for arresting the motion of said suction member after travel of said suction member from said first to said second position with the article attached to said suction port, said arresting means being effective to shift horizontally said second position of said suction member by increments relative to said receptacle each time the suction member brings a said article from said first position; and means for causing the article 11 to drop into said receptacle from said suction port of said suction member in said second position thereof. As shown, completed sliding clasp fasteners 11, at prescribed spacings, are delivered by a conveyer 10, one at a time, onto the receiving plate 12, and as a foremost fastener 11 on the plate 12 is sensed by a photo electric means 15 the plate is swung up about a pivot 14 so that the fastener becomes attached to the suction member 16. The latter is held in its fastener-receiving position, Fig. 1, by a lever 22 which is maintained pivoted in its extreme inclined position, to the left about a pivot 23, by a crank arm 26 against the action of a spring 29. The suction member 16 and a slider 21 are each slidably mounted on a horizontal guide bar 19 and are interconnected by a rod 20, the slider carrying a pin 25 which engages the bifurcated end 27 of the lever 22. The upward swing of the plate 12 also actuates a limit switch, not shown, which motivates a onerevolution clutch and brake mechanism and a drive motor, not shown, the latter rotating, through belt drives, the crank 26 and, at a reduced rate, e.g. a reduction of one twentieth, a heart-shaped cam 34 so that the spring 29 is able to pivot the lever 22 to the position, Fig. 2. In the latter position the lever abuts the cam 34, the suction member 16 is located, in a predetermined position over the receptacle 33, and the crank arm 26 abuts a limit switch 37 so that a solenoid 40 is energised to lower a separator 38 and remove the fastener 11 from the suction member 16, the fastener dropping into the container 33. Continued rotation of the crank 26 moves the lever 22 counter clockwise against the spring 29, to return the suction member 16 to a stand-by position over the plate 12 to await the delivery of the inset fastener. The heart-shaped cam 34 is angularly displaced by an increment of 18‹ for each rotation of the crank 26 so that, for each of the first ten rotations of the crank, the clockwise swing of the lever 22 is arrested in a position angularly displaced by an increment in the anti-clockwise direction and the suction member 16 correspondingly deposits each fastener to the left of the one preceding. In this manner the fasteners are loaded in a side-by-side layer often and the cam 34 reaches the position, Fig. 3. Thereafter the clockwise swing of the lever increases successively to lay a second layer of ten fasteners over the first layer until the cam 34 again attains the position, Fig. 1, and actuates a limit switch 46. The latter energises a cylinder 44, to impart via a rod and pinion 42, 41, 180 degrees of rotation to a shaft 30 in either direction to rotate the table 32, and the container thereon, so that each group of twenty fasteners is arranged in the opposite direction to the preceding group of twenty. The axis of rotation of the receptacle, i.e. shaft 30, is located out of alignment with position where each fastener is dropped so that the thick ends of fasteners in each two consecutive layers of fasteners project beyond the thin ends of the fasteners in the preceding two layers.