Patent GB-267266-A (GB)
IPC: C06F1/12
Abstract: 267,266. Ney, A. F. Jan. 26, 1926. Packeting matches in receptacles.-In a machine for filling matches into rectangular boxes comprising a sliding inner member and an outer casing member open at both ends, and of the type comprising a single horizontal endless - chain conveyer composed of links for carrying the boxes. which are fed several at a time in closed condition to it and are opened, filled and reclosed whilst on it, the links of the conveyer are formed with pockets for the outer box member and the inner member, the sides of the pockets for the inner members being formed at their inner ends with tapered grooves that compress the corners of the inners and prevent any bulging thereof. Closed empty boxes B, Figs. 1 and 9, fed by an intermittently moved convever 1, are maintained in three rows by longitudinal partitions 3 and are pressed down by rollers 4, the conveyer depositing them on a stationary plate 6 beneath which a stepped slide 7 resting on a base 16 is reciprocated. The steps 10 of the slide incline backwards and when the slide is withdrawn, the boxes, which are held down by spring fingers 11, 12, move down one step, the boxes on the last step 10<a>, which is horizontal, being deposited on the base 16 so that the return movement of the slide pushes them, three at a time, into pockets 17 forming part of the links of an intermittently moved main conveyer C. These pockets, which are formed with flared mouths 17<a>, are brought successively in front of the various mechanisms of the machine and to ensure correct registration, fingers 28 having bevelled ends are moved into and out of recesses 24, Figs. 11 and 12, beneath pockets 18 adjacent the pockets 17. To press the boxes into the pockets 17, a loosely mounted rod 164 carries spring pressed arms 162 secured to a cover plate 160 which overlies the boxes. The front end of the plate is upturned and as the boxes are moved beneath it, the inners of the boxes are pushed out of the outers into the adjacent pockets 18 by plungers 149 actuated by a main cam shaft 145, shoulders 19 at the entrances to the pockets arresting the outers. On the sides of the pockets 18 are inclined overhanging ledges 22 which co-operate with parallel ledges on the bottoms of the pockets to cause the whole of the tops of the inners to be exposed whilst their ends are still within the outers. At the bottoms of the sides, tapered grooves 23 correct any bulging corners on the inner members. The opened boxes pass before match transferring mechanism located between the conveyer C and the belt 31, Fig. 14, of a match setting and dipping machine. Matches from the belt 31, guided by a deflector plate 44, pass between partitions 36, which separate tapered channels 34 in an inclined shoot 32, until they are checked by a shutter 40 which is formed with spring fingers adapted to enter the channels and is mounted on a rock shaft 37 operated by a cam on the cam shaft 145. When the shutter 37 releases the matches, they pass down to a second similarly mounted and operated shutter 41, a step 33 in the shoot permitting two layers of matches to collect at the second shutter which is provided with a corrugated edge to engage the channels 34. Beneath the shoot 32 is an inclined stationary plate 45 having a grooved surface on to which drop the matches released by the shutter 41, a third similar shutter 42 retaining them on the plate 45 which projects part way over the conveyer C. Simultaneously with the release of the shutter 42, a plate 47, reciprocated on the plate 45 thrusts the matches into the opposite inners of the boxes. The plate 47 is formed with a recess on the underside of its front end and with ribs constituting plungers which engage in the grooves of the plate 45. The filled boxes are closed in two operations. The conveyer C stops with the boxes opposite horizontally reciprocated plungers 51, Fig. 15, formed at their ends with overhanging ledges 186 which press into the boxes any outstanding match ends as the plungers perform the major portion of the closing operation, spring fingers 56 on a plate 57 secured to a rock shaft 58 being reciprocated vertically to press the matches down into the boxes during the first part of the operation. The boxes are then moved in front of a second series of plungers which effect the complete closing of them and then before ejectors which remove them from the conveyer. Each ejector comprises a horizontally reciprocated slide 67, Fig. 13 to which is hinged a member 64 formed with a downturned head 65. When a box has been ejected from the conveyer, the head 65 is lifted over the next approaching boxes by a vertically reciprocated bar 76 having an horizontal arm 75 on which rests a pin 74 on a channel member 73 engaged by a roller on a rod 71 secured by lugs 70 to the member 64. A hand manipulated slide is provided to keep the arm 75 in its raised position when desired. The boxes fall on to a table beside the conveyer in sets of three and are pushed therealong towards a fixed stop by a reciprocating pusher until a row of twelve is assembled when a second reciprocating pusher, at right angles to the first, advances the row the length of a box. This second pusher 88, Fig. 19, is mounted on a spring controlled bent arm 89 pivotally secured at its lower end, and the arm carries a rotatable disc 91 provided with off set rollers 92 adapted to be engaged by an arm 95 on the main cam shaft 145 to rotate the disc a quarter turn. Between two of the rollers is a bar 93 adapted when the arm 95 engages it to force back the arm 89 and so operate the pusher 88. The number of boxes that should be in the row adjacent the conveyer is indicated by a graduated disc 98, Fig. 18, provided with pins 99 through which its rotated a quarter of a turn by a spring controlled pawl 100 mounted on a boss on the channelled member 73, a spring 104 engaging ratchet teeth on the disc to prevent any backward movement thereof. Each complete row of boxes is advanced by the pusher 88 beyond and down a step in the table, where they are yieldingly held by flat springs, until further movements of the pusher transfer them to a tray 113, Fig. 15, detachably mounted on an intermittently moved inclined conveyer provided with a stationary back rest 118 for the tray.