Boxing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9862509-B2
Application number	US-201214122934-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2012
Priority date	Jun 2, 2011
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

A boxing apparatus erects packages that can be erected along a limited section of a conveyor, without having to erect them all at once, even with individual packages that are long in the feed direction. The boxing apparatus has a fourth conveyor belt that blocks the front of a line of incoming packages and exerts an upward force on the front package. The front package is raised up by this upward force, so the following package rides up onto the package in front, and the packages are erected successively. Consequently, even individual packages that are long in the feed direction can be erected at a limited section of a third conveyor belt.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A boxing apparatus comprising
a package feeding conveyor belt;
a package arranging conveyor belt;
an erecting conveyor belt that is fixed in a vertically orientation adjacent to a first end of the package arranging conveyor belt and separately operable relative to the package arranging conveyor belt;
a holding device that is separate from the package arranging conveyor belt, the holding device being configured to pivot between a horizontal orientation where a transport surface of the holding device is substantially at the same level as a transport surface of the package arranging conveyor belt and a vertical orientation relative to the package arranging conveyor belt, the holding device being movable while in the vertical orientation above package arranging conveyor belt from a second end of the package arranging conveyor belt toward the first end; and
a controller configured to control movement of the package feeding conveyor belt, the package arranging conveyor belt, the erecting conveyor belt and the holding device independently from one another, the controller controlling:
movement of the package feeding conveyor belt to provide a plurality of packages one by one to the package arranging conveyor belt in an inclined orientation,
movement of the package arranging conveyor belt to receive the plurality of packages in the inclined orientation and arrange the plurality of packages making a line of packages such that each following package partially overlaps a preceding package, the package feeding conveyor belt collecting a specific quantity of the plurality of packages;
movement of the erecting conveyor belt blocking movement of the first package of the line of packages, the controller further selectively moving a surface of the erecting conveyor belt in an upwardly moving direction with the first package contacting the surface such that the first package moves from an inclined orientation to an erect state and with the controller controlling movement of the package arranging conveyor belt causing remaining ones of the plurality of packages in the line of packages to move from the inclined orientation at least part way toward the erect state; and
movement of the holding device from the horizontal orientation to the vertical orientation and in the vertical orientation move the holding device above and along the package arranging conveyor belt to bring a vertical surface of the holding device into contact with a last package in the line of packages prior to boxing, moving all of the packages in the line of packages to the erect state.

2. The boxing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to control the erecting conveyor belt to exert an upward force on the first package until an angle of the first package relative to the horizontal plane is greater than that of the following package.

3. The boxing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to continue movement of the package arranging conveyor belt even after the front package has been erected.

4. The boxing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the package arranging conveyor belt is configured to pivot about a pivot axis that extends in a direction from the first end to the second end of the package arranging conveyor belt,
the boxing apparatus further comprising:
a pivoting device that pivotally moves the package arranging conveyor belt about the pivot axis from a horizontal orientation to a vertical orientation such that the package arranging conveyor belt is spaced apart from the line of packages,
wherein the holding device and the erecting conveyor belt hold the line of packages in an erect state and push the line of packages downward after the package arranging conveyor belt has moved to the position spaced apart from the line of packages.

5. The boxing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein
the surface of the erecting conveyor belt and the vertical surface of the holding device contact adjacent ones of the line of packages and each move in the vertical directions, and when the packages are pushed downward, the surface of the erecting conveyor belt and the vertical surface of the holding device in contact with the adjacent ones of the packages are moved downward.

6. The boxing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the erecting conveyor belt is a vertically conveyor belt with the surface of the erecting conveyor belt contacting the first package of the line of packages, the surface moving in a vertical direction;
the package arranging conveyor belt is a horizontal conveyor belt whose conveyance surface on which the plurality of packages are placed moves in the horizontal direction, and
the lower end of the vertical conveyor belt is disposed beneath the conveyance surface of the horizontal conveyor belt.

7. A boxing apparatus comprising
a package feeding conveyor belt;
a package arranging conveyor belt disposed under the package feeding conveyor belt;
an erecting conveyor belt that is fixed in a vertically orientation adjacent to a first end of the package arranging conveyor belt and separately operable relative to the package arranging conveyor belt;
a holding device which includes a first member that pivots about a first vertical axis from a position extending above the package arranging conveyor belt aligned with a direction of movement of the package arranging conveyor belt to a position above the package arranging conveyor belt but traverse with the direction of movement of the package arranging conveyor belt; and
a controller configured to control movement of the package feeding conveyor belt, the package arranging conveyor belt, the erecting conveyor belt and the holding device independently from one another, the controller controlling:
movement of the package feeding conveyor belt to provide a plurality of packages one by one to the package arranging conveyor belt in an inclined orientation,
movement of the package arranging conveyor belt to receive the plurality of packages in the inclined orientation and arrange the plurality of packages making a line of packages such that each following package partially overlaps a preceding package, the package feeding conveyor belt collecting a specific quantity of the plurality of packages;
movement of the erecting conveyor belt blocking movement of the first package of the line of packages, the controller further selectively moving a surface of the erecting conveyor belt in a direction exerting an upward force on first package such that the first package moves from an inclined orientation to an erect state and with the controller controlling movement of the package arranging conveyor belt causing remaining ones of the plurality of packages in the line of packages to move from the inclined orientation at least part way toward the erect state; and
pivoting movement of the first member of the holding device to move a surface of the first member into contact with a last package in the line of packages prior to boxing, moving all of the packages in the line of packages to the erect state.

8. The boxing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the controller is configured to control the erecting conveyor belt to exert an upward force on the first package until an angle of the first package relative to the horizontal plane is greater than that of the following package.

9. The boxing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the controller is configured to continue movement of the package arranging conveyor belt even after the front package has been erected.

10. The boxing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the first vertical axis of the first member is located on a first side of the packa

Assignees

• Arimatsu Tatsuya
• Iwasa Seisaku
• Ishida Seisakusho

Inventors

• Arimatsu Tatsuya
• Iwasa Seisaku

Classifications

• B65B35/56

  Orientating, i.e. changing the attitude of, articles, e.g. of non-uniform cross-section · CPC title

• B65G47/29

  by temporarily stopping movement {(stopping elements B65G47/88)} · CPC title

• B65G47/1492

  the articles being fed from a feeding conveyor · CPC title

• B65G47/32

  Applications of transfer devices {(such devices per se B65G47/74)} · CPC title

• B65G47/24

  orientating the articles · CPC title