Counting and feeding device for small article

• US 7,004,353 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2002
• Issued: 02/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shionogi Qualicaps Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Shionogi Qualicaps Company Limited
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Taizo, Yagyu, Motohiro, Ito, Shinichi, Nagao, Akira, Kojima, Fumiyasu
• Primary Examiner(s): NOLAND, KENNETH W
• Application Number:
  US10/467,011
• Publication Number:
  US 20040112909A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,484 Days
• Field of Search: 221/9, 221/120, 221/119, 221/211, 221/277, 221/278, 221/221, 535/34, 535/39, 198/371, 198/380
• US Class Current: 221/277
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/103 for packaging pills or tablets
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 57/20 Applications of counting devices for controlling the feed of articles other applications B65B65/08
• CPC Class Codes: G06M 7/02 wherein objects ahead of the sensing element are separated to produce a distinct gap between successive objects

Abstract

A counting and feeding apparatus for small article, characterized in that tablets are fed intermittently from a feeding means (2) to the outer peripheral surface of a transfer drum (1) multiple pieces at a time and suckingly held on the outer peripheral surface of the transfer drum (1), a plurality rows of tablets orderly arranged along the circumferential direction of the drum are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the transfer drum (1) and transferred, one tablet is inputted from each of the rows into a temporary reservation means at a specified transfer position, and these steps are repeated specified times, whereby the tablets can be counted for each row, and the specified quantity of tablets can be reserved in the temporary reservation means and then fed to containers or a packing mechanism section.

Claims

1. A counting and feeding apparatus for counting small articles such as solid medication or food articles and feeding the small articles successively by a predetermined number into a container such as a packaging container or a packaging bag or to a packaging mechanism section, characterized in that it comprises:

a transport drum for holding with a suction, the small articles on an outer peripheral surface thereof and rotating at a predetermined speed to transport the small articles;

feeding means for feeding the small articles to the outer peripheral surface of said transport drum, said feeding means including

a vibration feeder for feeding the small articles at random;

a communication member having a plurality of communication paths formed thereon, said communication member being connected at a first end thereof to said vibration feeder while a second end of said communication member is positioned in the proximity of the outer peripheral surface of said transport drum, said communication member being disposed in a downwardly inclined relationship from the first end to the second end thereof; and

a feed roller disposed in the proximity of an upper face of the second end of said communication member and rotating at a predetermined speed, said vibration feeder successively feeding the small articles into the communication paths of said communication member and moving the small articles from the first end to the second end of said communication member in said communication paths, and said feed roller feeding the small articles at a predetermined speed from said communication paths onto the surface of said transport drum; and

temporary reservation means for accepting and reserving the small articles from said transport drum and feeding the small articles to the container or packaging mechanism section,

said feeding means feeding the small articles intermittently and successively in a plural number onto the outer peripheral surface of said transport drum so that the small articles are held by suction to the outer peripheral surface of said transport drum such that a plurality of rows of the small articles aligned along a circumferential direction of said drum are formed on the outer peripheral surface of said transport drum and then the small articles are transported by rotation of said transport drum, whereafter one of the small articles is thrown from each of the rows of the small articles into said temporary reservation means at a predetermined transport position, the series of operations being repeated to count the small articles successively in a unit of the number of rows of the small articles until a predetermined number of small articles are reserved by said temporary reservation means, the reserved small articles being fed into the container or packaging mechanism section.

2. The counting and feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transport drum has a plurality of suction grooves formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof along the circumferential direction which holds and then transports the small articles on said suction grooves.

3. The counting and feeding apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said temporary reservation means has a cylindrical hollow having an upper opening and a lower opening and includes a rotatable member having a plurality of partition blades and disposed in said hollow such that said partition blades partition said hollow into a plurality of accommodation sections for accepting and reserving the small articles from said upper opening and allowing the reserved articles to be discharged from said lower opening by rotation of said rotatable member.

4. The counting and feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said vibration feeder includes a vibration disk which microvibrates in such a manner so as to revolve in a small amount and having a plurality of feed holes formed in an outer circumferential portion thereof, and moving the small articles fed to a central portion of said vibration disk toward the outer peripheral portion of said disk while revolving the small articles by the microvibration so that the small articles are fed from said feed holes into said communication paths of said communication member.

5. A counting and feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a sensor for detecting a small articles thrown into said temporary reservation means from each of the rows of the small articles held by suction to the outer peripheral surface of said transport drum is disposed between said transport drum and said temporary reservation means.

6. A counting and feeding apparatus for small articles according to claim 1, which further comprises one or both of image pickup means and a thickness sensor, said image pickup means picking up an image of the small articles held by suction to the outer peripheral surface of said transport drum to detect an abnormal appearance of any of the small articles.