Automated arrangement for loading bottles into shipping racks

• US 8,596,948 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2007
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gregory W. Miles
• Original Assignee: Gregory W. Miles
• Inventors: Miles, Gregory W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lowe, Scott
• Application Number:
  US11/906,423
• Publication Number:
  US 20080267744A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,255 Days
• Field of Search: 41433101-33103, 414/331.08, 414/331.16
• US Class Current: 414/331.08
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 21/14 Introducing or removing groups of bottles, for filling or emptying containers in one operation
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/106 by pushers B65B5/12 and B65B5/108 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/0435 with pulling or pushing means on either stacking crane or stacking area
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 65/00 Loading or unloading of vehicles B65G67/00

Abstract

An automated arrangement for filling a shipping rack structure with water bottles (or any other type of bottle) includes an elevator arrangement and a pusher component, both under the control of a programmed control element (such as a microprocessor), to automatically present a plurality of filled bottles to an open rack “column” and move (push) the bottles from the elevator into the rack. The loader system is pre-programmed with inputs including the array size of the rack being loaded (i.e., how many bottles “deep” along each rail, the number of rows in the rack and the number of columns in the rack). With this information, the elevator will thus lift the proper number of bottles into place to fill a column, and then stop. Once the elevator stops, the pusher component will advance to move the column of bottles into the rack. The pusher then retracts, the elevator is re-started, and the next column of filled bottles is loaded into the elevator.

Claims

1. An automated system for loading bottles into a shipping rack structure having a depth of at least two bottles in each compartments in the shipping rack structure, the system comprising:

an elevator for accepting horizontally-oriented bottles and raising a plurality of bottles into a column configuration, forming a column of single bottles in aligned position with a plurality of compartments of the shipping rack structure, the elevator comprising a plurality of seats disposed along a conveyor, each seat for accommodating a single bottle as it loads into place, the plurality of seats disposed to align with a plurality of compartments along a column of a loading rack structure;

a pusher element for moving the column of single bottles off of the elevator seats and into the associated compartments of said shipping rack structure; and

a process control unit for using as input data a set of parameters associated with the arrangement of compartments within said shipping rack structure, the set of parameters including a number of columns in the shipping rack structure, a number of rows in each column and a depth of each row where the depth of each row is defined as the total number of bottles stored in a compartment, said process control unit coupled to the elevator and the pusher element to activate/deactivate each component in sequence to provide for the automated movement of the elevator to raise the proper number of bottles into place required to fill a column of the shipping rack structure, followed by the automated movement of the pusher element to transfer to the column of single bottles into the shipping rack structure, the depth of movement of the pusher element controlled by how deep into the compartments the current column of single bottles is to be placed.

2. An automated system as defined in claim 1 wherein the automated system further comprises a plurality of stops disposed in conjunction with the shipping rack structure to control the advancement of said shipping rack upon completion of a loading cycle, the loading cycle defined as the number of separate elevate and pusher operations required to fill the depth of the compartments within a column of a shipping rack structure, wherein the plurality of stops is coupled to and controlled by the process control unit to provide for sequential operation of said stops in conjunction with the movements of the pusher element and the elevator during a loading cycle.

3. An automated system as defined in claim 1 wherein each seat of the elevator further includes an outer lip along the peripheral edge thereof, the outer lip sufficient to prevent a loaded bottle from rolling off the elevator as the seat is raised into position.

4. An automated system as defined in claim 1 wherein the conveyor comprises a chain drive and the elevator further comprises a motorized gear element, coupled to the process control unit, the combination of the chain drive and motorized gear element providing the movement of said elevator.

5. An automated system as defined in claim 1 wherein the pusher element comprises

a plurality of pusher arms, said plurality of pusher arms disposed adjacent to, and in alignment with, the plurality of elevator seats so as to effectuate the simultaneous movement of the column of single bottles into the shipping rack structure;

and

a push rod coupled to the plurality of pusher arms and controlled by the process control unit to initiate and control the movement of the pusher arms to effectuate the transfer of the column of single bottles from the elevator to a predetermined depth within the compartments of said shipping rack structure.

6. An automated system as defined in claim 5 wherein each pusher arm further comprises an end cap configured to cover the cap of an associated bottle and provide the push force against the shoulder area of the bottle as it is being transferred from the elevator to the shipping rack structure.

7. An automated system as defined in claim 5 wherein the pusher element further comprises at least one vertical tie bar to hold the plurality of pusher arms in fixed position relative to the elevator.

8. An automated system as defined in claim 7 wherein the at least one vertical tie bar comprises a set of vertical tie bars for providing additional rigidity to the pusher element, the pusher element further comprising a plurality of travel wheels disposed between adjacent pusher arms to control the back and forth motion of said plurality of pusher arms in association with the depth of position of the current column of single bottles within the respective compartments of the shipping rack structure.

9. An automated system as defined in claim 1 wherein the process control unit includes a memory element for receiving as inputs the number of rows, columns, and depth of a particular loading rack structure, and also the size of the bottles to be loaded, the process control unit further including a microprocessor to utilize the input data to determine proper timing and sequence of movements of the elevator and pusher element to perform the loading of a column of single bottles into the shipping rack structure.