Patent GB-724515-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in machines for packing articles into containers
Inventor: HAYCOCK GEORGE WALLACE
IPC: B65B21/18
Filed: 1951-01-01
Abstract: 724,515. Packaging-machines. HAYBAR, Ltd. March 26, 1952 [Jan. 1, 1951], No. 12/51. Class 94 (1). [Also in Group XXX] In a machine for packaging bottles in copartmented cases, e.g. cases having compartments which receive twelve bottles arranged in four rows of three or three rows of four, the bottles 25 are fed into the machine by a transverse endless conveyer 24, Figs. 2 and 3, and pass between curved guide rails 27 on to a longitudinally-arranged endless conveyer 26 driven through reduction gearing 29 by an electric motor 28. The empty cases pass down an inclined roller-way 35 and between guide rails 121, on to an endless conveyer 30 which, together with a second endless conveyer 31 arranged at a slightly higher level, is driven from the motor 28, each case being arrested by a cam-operated stop as it passes on to the conveyer 31. After a group of bottles has been inserted into a stationary case, the stop is retracted and the filled case is fed by the conveyer 31 to a roller-way 36. The bottles are transferred from the conveyer 26 to a slidable apertured supporting plate 45, Fig. 4, by a transversely-movable bottle locator 58 which comprises pairs of longitudinal fingers 59, 59A, co-operating with fixed guides 60, 61 and 62 and is movable in steps in the direction of arrow B, through linkage operated by a cam 66 on a main cam shaft 39 driven by an electric motor 38. The guide 60 forms an extension of one of the guide rails 27 and the guide 62 has a curved extension 62A which arrests the bottles on the conveyer and assists their transfer to the plate 45, which during the transfer operation is located in the position shown with its twelve apertures out of alignment with the spaces between the guides. Prior to each step of movement of the locator, a row of four bottles is fed by the conveyer into the passage defined by an adjacent pair of fingers, the subsequent movement of the locator displacing the row transversely into the spaces between the guides. At the end of the second step, three rows of four bottles are positioned as shown in the locator, and at the end of the third step the twelve bottles are supported by the plate 45. The outer pair of fingers is formed with a stop 72 which arrests the movement of the bottles on the conveyer until the locator returns to its original position. The necks of the bottles on the plate are arranged to be engaged by twelve grippers 73, Figs. 2 and 7 suspended from a crosshead 74 which is movable vertically in guides 76 by a cam 78 on the shaft 39 operating through a counterweighted linkage 79-84, the descent of the crosshead being cushioned by a dashpot 86. Each gripper comprises a pair of blades 73, Fig. 8, with inturned toes 89 extending from arms 87 pivoted at 88 to the crosshead. The upper ends of the arms carry rollers 92 which are urged into engagement with a cam 94 by a spring 93. The cams for one row of three grippers are formed on one of four similar parallel cam shafts 95 having crank arms 97 coupled to a longitudinally-displaceable horizontal rod 98 having a roller 99 at one end and a hook 100 at the other end. After twelve bottles have been assembled on the plate, a cam 105 on the shaft 39 operates through linkage to move a striker 101 into engagement with roller 99, whereby the grippers are allowed to close on to the bottle necks. The cam 78 then causes a slight upward movement of the crosshead to lift the bottles clear of the plate 45, which is then moved to the right by linkage operated by a cam 49 on the shaft to align the apertures therein with the bottles. The crosshead then descends to lower the bottles into the stationary case on the conveyer 31 and a cam 106 then operates through linkage to move a striker 102 into engagement with the hook 100, thus opening the grippers to allow the bottles to drop on to the case bottom. Buffers 119 extend downwardly from the crosshead between the arms of the grippers, so that if the movement of one or more of the bottles into the case is obstructed, the descent of the crosshead is arrested before the striker 102 registers with the hook 100 and the bottles are not released. The stop 122, Fig. 10, which arrests' each case, is secured to a transverse rocking shaft 129 operated through a counterweighted linkage by a cam 123 on the shaft 39, the arrangement being such that the front wall of a case on the conveyer 30 can pass under the lowered stop, but the rear wall of the case is engaged and retained by the stop as the case passes on to the conveyer 31 at a higher level. The side of each stationary case is engaged by a roller 137, Fig. 12, on a lever 134 coupled to a tranverse rod 136 carrying a tongue 133 adapted to enter a notch in a wheel 131 on the cam shaft 39, an arm 136A on the rod being engaged by a spring-actuated self-opening switch 42 in the circuit of the motor 38, so that in the absence of a case the switch is allowed to open. and stop the motor. A starwheel 138, Fig. 4, actuated by the incoming bottles, is associated with the conveyer 26, as described in Specification 724,514 and is arranged to open a further switch in the circuit of the motor 38 if less than the requisite number of bottles are fed to any one of the compartments of the bottle-locator 58.