Device for handling objects, for example hygienic and sanitary articles

• US 6,170,635 B1
• Filed: 02/22/1999
• Issued: 01/09/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fameccanica Data SpA (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Original Assignee: Fameccanica Data SpA (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Inventors: Rommelli, Guido
• Primary Examiner(s): Ellis, Christopher P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHARMA, RASHMI K
• Application Number:
  US09/252,681
• Time in Patent Office: 687 Days
• Field of Search: 198/429, 198/463.2
• US Class Current: 198/429
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/5127 by relative displacement between conveyor and input or output
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/82 Rotary or reciprocating members for direct action on articles or materials, e.g. pushers, rakes, shovels means for pushing glass articles onto a conveyor C03B9/453

Abstract

A device for handling objects or articles capable of receiving at its input a substantially continuous flow of single or multiple articles to be assorted into groups intended to be discharged from the output side in a phased or intermittent manner. The device includes a conveyor for transferring the articles that is provided with appropriate reception seatings for the said articles. The transfer conveyor has an associated expulsion unit capable of acting simultaneously on a group of the said articles contained in the appropriate seatings of the said transfer conveyor maintained in a condition of standstill or substantial standstill. The device also includes an input conveyor that receives a flow of the articles at its upstream end and distributes them into the reception seatings of the said transfer conveyor. The downstream end of the input conveyor is capable of performing a to and fro motion along the transfer conveyor and can thus move the incoming articles into their appropriate seatings, this also as the result of a relative scanning movement within the individual seating, so that a stack of individual products can be formed in that seating. This can be done both when the transfer conveyor is in standstill conditions during the expulsion of a group of articles and when the said transfer conveyor is moving to transfer the articles into the region where they become subject to the action of the expulsion unit.

Claims

1. In a device for handling articles, including a transfer conveyor with an active branch provided with seatings for receiving the articles, said transfer conveyor having associated with it first motor means to impress upon said active branch a forward movement between an input position and an output position for realizing the transfer of the articles contained in said seatings from said input position to said output position, the device including loading means on the input side capable of receiving a continuous flow of articles and transferring the articles of said input flow towards appropriate seatings of said active branch of the transfer conveyor;

said loading means on the input side having associated with them second motor means to move said loading means on the input side with respect to said transfer conveyor in such a way as to enable them to;

follow said active branch of the transfer conveyor in said forward movement between said input position and said output position, and

selectively vary the length of said active branch of the transfer conveyor comprised between said input position and said output position and thus permit the articles to accumulate on said active branch of the transfer conveyor while they are being transferred, the improvement wherein

said transfer conveyor and said loading means on the input side are kinematically uncoupled from each other;

there are provided control means that act in a coordinated manner on said first and second motor means to realize said movement of following the active branch of the transfer conveyor in said forward movement between said input position and said output position to selectively vary the length of said active branch of the transfer conveyor comprised between said input and output positions.

2. The device of claim 1, including expulsion means located at said output position and capable of acting simultaneous on a group of said articles contained in said seatings of said active branch of the transfer conveyor to expel said group of articles from the transfer conveyor.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein that said loading means on the input side and said expulsion means are configured in such a way as to feed and expel said articles to and from, respectively, the said transfer conveyor by always moving them in the same direction.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein:

said transfer conveyor, said loading means on the input side and said expulsion means each have associated with them respective driving means and

are provided with control means capable of acting on said several driving elements to;

i) bring said transfer conveyor into a substantial standstill condition while said expulsion means expel from the transfer conveyor a group of said articles and said loading means on the input side continue to transfer articles of said input flow into the appropriate seatings of said active branch of the transfer conveyor by moving along said active branch away from said output position and thus to increase the length of said active branch of the transfer conveyor comprised between said input and said output position;

ii) resume the forward movement of said active branch of the transfer conveyor after said expulsion means have expelled said group of articles from the transfer conveyor and displace said loading means on the input side along said active branch of the transfer conveyor to approach said output position and thus following the forward movement of the said active branch of the transfer conveyor.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein said loading means on the input side that said loading means include a representative conveyor with an upstream end and a downstream end in the direction of motion of the articles of said input flow;

the said upstream end being mounted in a substantially fixed position, while said downstream end is associated with motor means capable of moving said downstream end in a direction substantially coextensive with at least an appropriate branch of said active branch of the transfer conveyor.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein said downstream end has associated with it supporting equipment capable of moving along guide formations that run substantially parallel to at least an appropriate branch of said active branch of the transfer conveyor.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein said mobile supporting equipment is made of low-inertia material.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the transfer conveyor is provided with fin formations that define said reception seatings and wherein said mobile equipment is provided with an organ capable of locally raising the tract of the active branch of the transfer conveyor facing said mobile equipment to produce a divarication of the fin formations provided in said tract of the active branch.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein said loading means on the input side include a conveyor of the motor-operated belt type.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the said loading means on the input side have a linear motor associated with them as the driving element.

11. The device of claim 1, including an associated output conveyor situated in a fixed position with respect to said transfer conveyor and at the output end thereof.

12. The device of claim 2, including, at said output position, means for exerting a compacting action on the articles comprised in said group.

13. The device of claim 1, including an associated output conveyor situated in a fixed position with respect to said transfer conveyor and at the output end thereof and, at said output position, means for exerting a compacting action on the articles comprised in said group, wherein said output conveyor is provided with conveyance formations that tend to converge in the flow direction of said articles, so that said output conveyor will realize said action of compacting the articles as they move forward on said output conveyor.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein said output conveyor is a motor-operated conveyor of the belt type.

15. The device of claim 2, wherein the expulsion means include a pusher element capable of performing a sideways motion in a direction that is generically transverse with respect to said active branch of the transfer conveyor.

16. The device of claim 2, wherein said transfer conveyor is provided with fin formations that jointly define said reception seatings for said articles and wherein said pusher element is configured in such a way as to act on the articles contained in said reception seatings in substantial absence of any interference with said fin formations.

17. The device of claim 2, wherein said expulsion means have associated with them an appropriate driving element capable of impressing different speeds upon said expulsion means during the movement to expel said group of articles from the transfer conveyor and also during the corresponding return movement.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein said transfer conveyor is a motor-operated ring conveyor that envelops the associated revolving bodies.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein said active branch of the transfer conveyor is provided with reception seatings for the articles having the general configuration of a channel that permit said articles to slide in a direction that is generically transverse with respect to said forward motion of the active branch of the transfer conveyor.

20. The device of claim 1, including expulsion means located at said output position and capable of acting simultaneous on a group of said articles contained in said seatings of said active branch of the transfer conveyor to expel said group of articles from the transfer conveyor and wherein the transfer conveyor is provided with fin formations that define said reception seatings and wherein said mobile equipment is provided with an organ capable of locally raising the tract of the active branch of the transfer conveyor facing said mobile equipment to produce a divarication of the fin formations provided in said tract of the active branch, said finned formations being provided with longitudinal openings for receiving laminar elements to be inserted in said groups of articles by virtue of the action of said expulsion means.

21. The device of claim 1, wherein:

said motor means can be operated by said motor means in such a manner as to impress upon said loading means on the input side a scanning movement relative to said active branch of the transfer conveyor such that the loading means on the input side become capable of performing a scanning movement relative to said reception seatings for the articles, and

said loading means on the input side carry associated guide formations for sequentially feeding, due to said relative scanning movement, into each of said reception seatings a plurality of products that will jointly form an article received in one of said seatings.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein said guide formations have at least partly an unsymmetrical overall conformation, so that said products are inserted into said reception seatings in such a way as to be arranged on one of the sides of said reception seatings, with consequent stacking of said sequentially fed products.

23. The device of claim 22, wherein:

said relative scanning movement is realized in the direction opposite to the direction in which said active branch of the transfer conveyor is moving forward, and

said guide formations steer said products towards the side of said reception seatings situated on the downstream side with respect to the forward movement of said active branch of the transfer conveyor.

24. The device of claim 21, wherein said guide formations include a pincer-like structure and the two jaws of said structure guide said products.

25. A device of claim 21, wherein said guide formations have at least partly an unsymmetrical overall conformation, so that said products are inserted into said reception seatings in such a way as to be arranged on one of the sides of said reception seatings, with consequent stacking of said sequentially fed products, and wherein said guide formations include a pincer-like structure and the two jaws of said structure guide said products, one of the jaws of said pincer-like structure being provided with an appendage that prolongs it and realizes said unsymmetrical conformation.

26. The device of claim 21, wherein said guide formations include at least one stirrup element that defines a pocket structure to receive said products.

27. The device of claim 25, said stirrup element having an appropriate appendage that is substantially coextensive with and points in the direction of said prolonging appendage.

28. The device of claim 21, wherein at least some of said guide formations have associated with them yielding elements to deaden the movement of said products.