JP5794182B2 - Article accumulation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an article accumulating apparatus, and more particularly to an article accumulating apparatus for accumulating an article in a state where one end of the article is sequentially stacked on the other end of an adjacent article.

  There has already been known a packaging device for stacking and stacking a plurality of articles in an oblique state as described above, and collectively packaging these accumulated articles (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The articles are stacked in the state of being sequentially stacked as described above, and then wrapped for the purpose of reducing the cost of packaging materials and transport costs, or improving the aesthetics after packaging. In addition, as described above, there is already known an apparatus in which one end of an article is sequentially stacked on the other end of an adjacent article (for example, see Patent Document 2).

  In the invention described in Patent Document 2, articles are placed one by one between a plurality of inclined plates attached to a chain conveyor, and the articles between the inclined plates are pushed out to a horizontal inclined guide by a comb-shaped extrusion plate, and further inclined The guide is passed and accumulated on the receiving plate in the above-described obliquely superimposed state.

  In the apparatus configured as described above, the design, manufacture, adjustment and the like for inclining the inclined plate are complicated, and since the inclined guide is provided, the inclined plate is used when the article is a bag (pouch) or the like. There is a problem that biting may occur when transferring from a car.

  Further, in order to form a matrix-shaped article group by accumulating a plurality of columns of articles that are sequentially stacked as described above, an extrusion operation is repeatedly performed as many times as the number of columns (for example, Patent Documents). 3), or a process of putting a plurality of articles corresponding to the number of rows between the inclined plates in advance (for example, see Patent Document 4).

Utility Model Registration No. 3039596 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-107706 Japanese Patent No. 2764283 US Pat. No. 6,691,856

  The configuration of the invention described in Patent Document 3 has a problem in that the supply of articles to the packaging device must be stopped until the extrusion operation is completed, and the processing capacity cannot be improved. Further, in the configuration of the invention described in Patent Document 4, there is a problem that it is necessary to make multiple articles in advance at the time of input, which increases the cost of the apparatus.

  The present invention includes a supply conveyor in which a plurality of holding members are attached to an endless transfer body at predetermined intervals, and one article is accommodated and conveyed in an upright posture between the holding members, and a predetermined number of pieces from the supply conveyor Extruding means for extruding the articles in the conveyance direction side, a plurality of holding bodies provided on the side of the supply conveyor, each holding a predetermined number of articles extruded by the extruding means in a standing posture, and these holding bodies A posture changing means having a tilting means for tilting, and a discharge means for pushing out the articles held by the holding body of the posture changing means and discharging them to a required stacking position, and a predetermined number of pieces pushed out from the supply conveyor by the pushing means. By storing the article in the holding body, changing the posture to the inclined posture by the tilting means, and then discharging by the discharging means, the stacking position, In which one end of the article to form a group of articles which are integrated sequentially overlapped state to the other end of an adjacent article.

  A second invention is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the second conveyor has a plurality of rows of conveyance paths arranged in parallel with the supply conveyor, and a plurality of holding members are provided at the predetermined intervals on each conveyance path. A collective conveyor that is attached and can store articles in an upright posture between the holding members, and a transfer means for transferring the articles accommodated in the collective conveyor to the attitude changing means, After the articles are pushed out from the supply conveyor to the collective conveyor a plurality of times by the extruding means, the group of articles arranged in a matrix on these collective conveyors is transferred to the attitude changing means by the transfer means and in the inclined attitude. By changing the above, an article group in which one end of each article in a plurality of rows is sequentially overlapped with the other end of an adjacent article is formed.

  Furthermore, a third invention is the invention described in claim 1 or claim 2, further comprising a width-shifting means for pressing the group of articles stacked at the stacking position from the side, and the width-shifting means sequentially The interval between the articles in the group of articles accumulated in an overlapping state is reduced.

  In the invention of claim 1, design, manufacture, adjustment, etc. are easy, and there is no risk of biting even when handling a flexible article, and one end of the article overlaps the other end of the adjacent article sequentially. In this state, that is, a plurality of articles can be accumulated in a tilted state. In the invention of claim 2, in the invention of claim 1, articles can be accumulated in a matrix of a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns. Furthermore, in the invention of claim 3, as described above, since the width of the article group accumulated in a state where one end of the article is sequentially overlapped with the other end of the adjacent article can be reduced, a compact article group is provided. Can be formed.

1 is a plan view of an article accumulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention. (Example 1) It is sectional drawing which follows the AA line of FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the BB line of FIG. (A) A figure is a side view which shows the state in which the articles | goods which stood up to the attitude | position change means were supplied, (b) A figure is a side view which shows the state which inclined the articles | goods.

  A plurality of holding members are attached to the supply conveyor at predetermined intervals, and the articles are held in an upright posture between the holding members and are conveyed intermittently. Extruding means (first extruding means) for extruding articles is provided on the side of the supply conveyor, and articles on the supply conveyor are extruded and assembled on a collective conveyor arranged next to each other. The collective conveyor has a plurality of transport paths, and collects articles in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns by a plurality of operations of the first pushing means. A posture changing means having a holding body for holding articles in an upright posture and an inclination means for inclining the holding body is provided adjacent to the collective conveyor, and the collective conveyor is provided by a transfer means (second pushing means). The upper articles are collectively pushed out and held by the holding body of the posture changing means, and the holding body is tilted by the tilting means so that the holding article is tilted. A width adjusting station is disposed on the side of the posture changing means, and the article is pushed out by the discharging means (third pushing means) and placed on the table of the width adjusting station. When an article held on the holding body in an inclined posture is moved onto the table, one end of one article overlaps with the other end of another adjacent article, and is sequentially stacked in an inclined posture. Become. The width adjusting means provided in the width adjusting station includes a pusher that presses the article on the table by the operation of a cylinder, and the article is placed between the pusher and a fixed stopper arranged on the opposite side of the pusher. The interval between the plurality of articles in a tilted state is reduced. A group of articles compacted by the operation of the width adjusting means is pushed out onto the introduction conveyor by the fourth pushing means.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. The article stacking apparatus according to this embodiment pushes the articles 4 conveyed in a standing posture by the supply conveyor 2 onto the collective conveyor 6 arranged in parallel to the side of the supply conveyor 2, and performs this operation. Multiple rows of articles 4 are gathered on the gathering conveyor 6 by repeating a plurality of times. Thereafter, the articles 4 in a plurality of rows and columns (in this embodiment, 5 rows and 3 columns) are integrally pushed onto the posture changing means 8 and held. The posture is changed by the posture changing means 8 so that the article 4 held in the standing posture is inclined. Subsequently, the articles 4 arranged in a matrix in an inclined posture are pushed out to the width adjusting station 12 having the width adjusting means 10, and the distance between the articles 4 in the separated rows is reduced by the width adjusting means 10. . A plurality of rows of articles 4 are accumulated in a state where one end side is superimposed on the other end of the adjacent article 4, and the accumulated article group is pushed out onto the introduction conveyor 14 to fill a bag not shown. Transport to packaging equipment (horizontal pillow packaging machine). The supply conveyor 2, the collective conveyor 6, the posture changing means 8, the width adjusting station 12, and the introduction conveyor 14 are installed in a machine frame 16 as shown in FIG.

  Articles 4 accumulated in the apparatus according to this embodiment are individually packaged by an outlet conveyor 18 connected to an individual packaging bag making and filling apparatus (not shown) installed on the upstream side of the article accumulation apparatus. The package is continuously conveyed at a predetermined interval. In the outlet conveyor 18, the packaged articles 4 are conveyed in a horizontal state (see the article indicated by reference numeral 4A on the outlet conveyor 18 in FIGS. 1 and 2).

  Articles 4 conveyed in a row by the outlet conveyor 18 are input to the supply conveyor 2 via an input conveyor 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the supply conveyor 2 is wound around a drive wheel 22 arranged on the upstream side and a driven wheel 24 arranged on the downstream side, and is circulated up and down (endless belt) (endless belt). ) 26, and a plurality of holding members (crosspieces) 28 are attached to the outer surface side of the endless belt 26 at equal intervals. Each crosspiece 28 has an interval that is substantially the same as or slightly larger than the thickness in the state in which the article 4 is erected (the article in the erected state is indicated by reference numeral 4B in each figure). In the horizontal traveling section, the article 4 can be kept at a right angle with respect to the endless belt 26 and the article 4 can be held in a standing posture between the front and rear bars 28. Moreover, when the said crosspiece 28 rotates around the outer periphery of the wheels 22 and 24, it will be in the state which inclined, and the space | interval of the upper end parts of the front and back crosspiece 28 will expand. The supply conveyor 2 is driven by a drive motor 30 (see FIG. 1) and travels intermittently by one pitch (distance between two adjacent bars 28).

  The outlet conveyor 18 and the supply conveyor 2 have different heights, and the supply conveyor 2 is positioned below the outlet conveyor 18. An inclined input conveyor 20 is disposed between the conveyors 2 and 18 having different heights. The input conveyor 10 has an endless belt 38 whose surface is meshed between rollers (the driven rollers 32 and 34 and the driving roller 36). The endless belt 38 drives the motor 40 to drive the motor 40. The transfer surface is transmitted to the roller 36 and travels obliquely downward from the exit conveyor 18 toward the supply conveyor 2. A vacuum device 42 is installed below the conveying surface of the endless belt 38. By sucking the article 4 conveyed by the vacuum device 42, the article 4 is prevented from dropping from the inclined endless belt 38. . The rotational speed of the motor 40 can be changed by a control device (not shown), and the conveyance speed can be adjusted.

  The downstream end of the input conveyor 20 is disposed above the position where the crosspiece 28 at the upstream end of the supply conveyor 2 rotates from below to above. The supply conveyor 2 is operated intermittently, and the article 4 is loaded from the loading conveyor 20 on a beam 28 (refer to a beam denoted by reference numeral 28A in FIG. 2) stopped in an inclined state. . The articles 4 placed on the inclined rails 28A are conveyed in a horizontal state on the outlet conveyor 4 when the rails 28 on which the articles 4 are placed upright by the advance of the next supply conveyor 2. 4 (4A) is changed to a standing posture. An article detection sensor 44 is provided at the article input position A (the article receiving position of the supply conveyor 2), and detects the presence or absence of the article 4. The article detection sensor 44 is attached via a bracket 50 to the lower surface of the beam 48 fixed to the top surface 16a of the machine frame 16 in the X direction (the conveying direction of the conveyors 2, 18, 20). ing.

  Adjacent to the side of the supply conveyor 2, an assembly conveyor 6 that collects the articles 4 extruded from the supply conveyor 2 is provided. The collective conveyor 6 is arranged in parallel with the supply conveyor 2 and travels in the same direction. Similarly to the supply conveyor 2, the collective conveyor 6 also has an endless belt 52 that is wound around upstream and downstream wheels (not shown). The endless belt 52 is provided on the supply conveyor 2. A number of holding members (crosspieces) 54 are provided at the same intervals as the intervals of the holding members (crosspieces) 28. The collective conveyor 6 is driven intermittently by being driven by a drive motor 56. In this embodiment, the robot moves forward by 5 pitches (for every 5 bars). When the supply conveyor 2 and the collective conveyor 6 are stopped, the positions of the crosspieces 28 and 54 in the conveying direction coincide. Moreover, in this embodiment, the articles | goods 4 for 3 rows pushed out from the supply conveyor 2 are collected, and the assembly conveyor 6 has the conveyance paths 6a, 6b, 6c of 3 rows. Note that the number of columns of the articles 4 to be assembled by the collective conveyor 6 is not limited to three, and may be one, two, or four or more. Needless to say, the number of articles 4 in each row to be assembled at one time is not limited to five, and may be other numbers.

  There is provided first extruding means 46 that moves from the side of the supply conveyor 2 to the side of the collection conveyor 6 (crosses over the supply conveyor 2) and moves the articles 4 on the supply conveyor 2 onto the collection conveyor 6. Yes. The first pushing means 46 is provided with an X-direction beam 48 disposed above a Y-direction (a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the supply conveyor 2 and the collective conveyor 6) and a Z-direction (vertical). Direction) A pusher main body 62 attached via a drive unit 60 and five push-out claws 64 fixed to the pusher main body 62 facing downward are provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the pusher main body 62 is disposed in the same direction as the transport direction of the supply conveyor 2, and five push-out claws 64 are attached to the pusher main body 62 at equal intervals. The five extrusion claws 64 are attached at the same interval as the crosspieces 28 of the supply conveyor 2 so that each extrusion claw 64 can pass between the two crosspieces 28. The position where the first pushing means 46 is provided is the article pushing position B to the collective conveyor 6.

  In this embodiment, the pusher main body 62 and the five push-out claws 64 are moved by the operation of the Z-direction drive unit 60 and the Y-direction drive unit 58 on the side of the supply conveyor 2 opposite to the collective conveyor 6 (FIG. 1). Is moved to the position between the supply conveyor 2 and the collective conveyor 6 and is held between the bars 28 of the supply conveyor 2. The article 4 is extruded onto the collective conveyor 6. Then, it raises at the position between the supply conveyor 2 and the collective conveyor 6, and retreats to the original position at this height. In this embodiment, the articles 4 for three rows are gathered on the gathering conveyor 6, and the pushing operation is performed three times while the gathering conveyor 6 is stopped.

  An attitude changing means 8 is disposed adjacent to the collecting conveyor 6 on the side opposite to the supply conveyor 2 (the lower side in FIG. 1). From the supply conveyor 2 to the collecting conveyor 6, five articles 4 are pushed out by one pushing operation, gathered in three rows by three times, and then gathered by running the gathering conveyor 6. Is moved downstream by 5 pitches (this position is the position 4 for pushing the article 4 to the posture changing means 8), and then the article 4 is pushed from the collective conveyor 6 to the posture changing means 8. Accordingly, the posture changing means 8 is disposed on the side of the collective conveyor 6 that is 5 pitches downstream from the position B at which the articles 4 are pushed out from the supply conveyor 2 to the collective conveyor 6.

  Transfer means (second extrusion) that pushes articles on the collective conveyor 6 and transfers them to the posture change means 8 on the opposite side (supply conveyor 2 side) to the position where the posture change means 8 is provided on the collective conveyor 6 Means 66) are provided. The second pushing means 66 strokes the collection conveyor 6 from the side on the supply conveyor 2 side to a position between the collection conveyor 6 and the posture changing means 8 to move the articles 4 for three rows on the collection conveyor 6. Transfer to the posture changing means 8 at a time. Similarly to the first pushing means 46, the second pushing means 66 is also provided with pushing claws 68 at the same interval as the intervals between the crosspieces 54. The second pushing means 66 can be moved forward and backward in the Y direction and the Z direction by a drive unit such as a cylinder. By moving across the collective conveyor 6 in the lowered position (moving in the Y direction), the articles 4 in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns are pushed out to the holding bodies 70 and 72 of the posture changing means 8, Thereafter, it rises (moves in the Z direction), moves backward, and descends again to wait for pushing out the next article 4.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the posture changing means 8 is connected to an advancing / retracting shaft 76 that is advanced and retracted by an air cylinder 74, and five holding bodies 70 that rotate between an upright posture and an inclined posture, 72. In this embodiment, each of the holding bodies 70 and 72 has a length capable of holding the three articles 4 in each row. The advancing / retreating shaft 76 is disposed along the conveying direction of the collective conveyor 6 and is connected to the piston rod 74a of the air cylinder 74 (tilting means) to move forward and backward. The five holding bodies 70 and 72 have an L-shape facing in the opposite direction or a U-shape with the opening facing upward. Note that the holding body 72 arranged on the most upstream side (the left side of FIGS. 4A and 4B) is arranged on the rear side so that the article 4 does not fall when tilted (the state of FIG. 4B). The wall is provided and is U-shaped. Each holding body 70, 72 has a lower end portion of a mounting rod 78 coupled to the advance / retreat shaft 76, and a lower surface side thereof (a coupling portion with the mounting rod 78) is supported by a fixed shaft 80. By the movement of the shaft 76, it is rotated around the fixed shaft 80 and tilted.

  A discharge means (pushing the article 4 whose posture has been changed from an upright state to an inclined state by the posture changing means 8 (see the article indicated by reference numeral 4C in FIG. 4B) and moving it to the next width-shifting station 12 ( A third pushing means 82) is provided. The third pushing means 82 also has five pushing claws 84 that can be moved in the Y direction and the Z direction by the operation of a cylinder or the like, like the pushing means 46 and 66. These pushing claws 84 stroke from the side portion (position shown in FIG. 3) of the posture changing means 8 on the side of the collective conveyor 6 to a position between the posture changing means 8 and the pushing station 12. The articles 4 held by the holding bodies 70 and 72 are pushed out in a posture inclined by this stroke, and are sent out to the next width adjusting station 12 to be accumulated. Each article 4 is inclined while being held by the holding bodies 70, 72. When the articles 4 are pushed out of the holding bodies 70, 72, each article 4 is placed on the other end of the adjacent article 4. It will be in the state which overlapped sequentially. That is, the upper part of the second article 4 from the left overlaps with the bottom of the leftmost article 4 in FIG. 4B, and the upper part of the third article 4 from the left on the bottom of the second article 4 from the left. Overlap. Similarly, the fourth article 4 from the left and the rightmost article 4 are sequentially stacked and accumulated.

  A width adjusting station 12 is provided adjacent to the posture changing means 8. The width adjusting station 12 includes a table 88 that receives the articles 4 pushed out from the posture changing means 8 and a width adjusting means that presses the articles 4 on the table 88 to reduce the interval between the articles 4 in each row. 10. The width adjusting means 10 includes a pusher 90 having a length corresponding to the three rows of articles 4 and a cylinder 92 for moving the pusher 90 forward and backward. Further, a fixed stopper 94 is disposed at the end of the table 88 opposite to the side where the pusher 90 is disposed (left side in FIG. 1), and the article 4 is pressed by the pusher 90 to keep an interval. When contracting, the article 4 is supported from both sides by supporting the article 4 on the opposite side.

  The articles 4 pushed out by the third pushing means 82 are arranged on the table 88 in a state where one end of each article 4 is sequentially overlapped with the other end of the adjacent article 4 as described above. At this time, the posture of the article 4 is inclined, but the length of each row of five articles 4 (from the upper end of the leftmost article to the lower end of the rightmost article) Is substantially the same as in the upright posture state. In this state, the pusher 90 located at the end of the table 88 opposite to the fixed stopper 94 is moved forward (moved to the left in the figure). By the movement of the pusher 90, the distance between the articles 4 is compressed while the articles 4 in each row remain obliquely overlapped with each other.

  An introduction conveyor 14 is disposed adjacent to the width aligning station 12. Stroke from the side on the posture changing means 8 side of the width adjusting station 12 to a position between the width adjusting station 12 and the introduction conveyor 14, and the articles 4 in 5 rows and 3 columns accumulated on the table 88 are Extruding means (fourth extruding means 96) for extruding from the shifting station 12 onto the introduction conveyor 14 is provided (see FIG. 3). The fourth push-out means 96, like the push-out means 46, 66, 82, is adapted to move back and forth in the Y direction and move up and down in the Z direction by a drive unit such as a cylinder. It moves in the direction and pushes out the article 4 by the push-out claw 98, then ascends and retracts and waits for the next push-out. The articles 4 accumulated in 5 rows and 3 columns and pushed onto the introduction conveyor 14 are conveyed to the introduction conveyor 14 and sent to a bag making filling and packaging apparatus (not shown).

  Stoppers (first lifting stopper 100) that can be raised and lowered between the collective conveyor 6 and the posture changing means 8, between the posture changing means 8 and the width adjusting station 12, and between the width adjusting station 12 and the introducing conveyor 14. , A second elevating stopper 102 and a third elevating stopper 104) are provided. These stoppers 100, 102, 104 are attached to air cylinders 106, 108, 110 installed upright on the bottom surface 16 b of the machine frame 16 so as to move up and down in the vertical direction.

  The operation of the article accumulating apparatus according to the above configuration will be described. The articles 4 continuously conveyed by the outlet conveyor 18 are sequentially delivered to the input conveyor 20 and conveyed toward the supply conveyor 2. At the article receiving position A of the supply conveyor 2, the presence / absence of the article 4 is detected by the article detection sensor 44, and the motor 40 of the input conveyor 20 is increased / decreased in accordance with the presence / absence of the article 4 at the position A. And the article 4 is inserted between the bars 28 of the supply conveyor 2. The input conveyor 20 is configured to adsorb the article 4 to the belt 38 by a vacuum device 42 disposed below the conveying surface of the endless belt 38, and the conveying surface of the belt 38 is increased or decreased even if the conveyor speed increases or decreases. On the other hand, the article 4 does not slip, and the article 4 can be put between the bars 28 at a desired timing.

  The supply conveyor 2 in which the articles 4 are inserted between the bars 28 is traveling intermittently. When the leading article 4 is transported to the extrusion position B where the first extrusion means 46 is provided and stopped, The first pushing means 46 operates to push the five articles 4 on the supply conveyor 2 together onto the collective conveyor 6. When the article 4 is conveyed by the supply conveyor 2, the pusher main body 62 and the five extrusion claws 64 of the first extrusion means 46 are lowered to the side opposite to the assembly conveyor 6 of the supply conveyor 2. (The state shown in FIG. 2), and the pusher main body 62 and the push-out pawl 64 are stroked to a position between the supply conveyor 2 and the collective conveyor 6, thereby causing the first row 6a of the collective conveyor 6 (FIG. 1). The five articles 4 are moved to the uppermost row). The pusher main body 62 and the push-out claw 64 are pushed up after pushing out the article 4, retracted to the original position, lowered again, and wait until the next five articles 5 are conveyed by the supply conveyor 2.

  When the next five articles 4 are conveyed to the extrusion position B by the supply conveyor 2, the first extrusion means 46 performs the second extrusion operation. The stroke of the pushing claw 64 is between the supply conveyor 2 and the collecting conveyor 6, and the articles 4 pushed out for the first time are pushed by the articles 4 pushed out for the second time, and the second row 6 b of the collecting conveyor 6. Move up. Similarly, by the third extrusion operation, five articles 4 are pushed out from the supply conveyor 2 to the first row 6a of the collective conveyor 6, and the articles 4 already placed in the first row and the second row are They are moved to the second column 6b and the third column 6c, respectively. By performing the extrusion operation three times in this way, the articles 4 in 5 rows and 3 columns are assembled on the collective conveyor 6.

  When the articles 4 in 5 rows and 3 columns are gathered on the gathering conveyor 6, the gathering conveyor 6 moves forward by 5 pitches and stops the group of articles gathered at the position C where the article 4 is pushed out to the next posture changing means 8. When the collective conveyor 6 stops, the second extruding means 66 waiting at a position lowered to the side of the collective conveyor 6 on the supply conveyor 2 side is operated. The second push-out means 66 advances from the standby position to a position between the collective conveyor 6 and the posture changing means 8, and collects a group of articles of 5 rows and 3 columns at a time with the holding body 70 of the posture changing means 8, 72. At this time, the first stopper 100 provided between the collective conveyor 6 and the posture changing means 8 is lowered and the second stopper provided between the posture changing means 8 and the next width adjusting station 12. 102 is raised to prevent the article 4 from jumping out of the holding bodies 70 and 72 of the posture changing means 8. When the articles 4 are moved to the discharge position (position C where the articles 4 are pushed out to the posture changing means 8 from the collective conveyor 6) by the collective conveyor 6, at the upstream extrusion position B, the supply conveyor 2 starts to the collective conveyor. The extrusion operation to 6 is started to form the next group of articles of 5 rows and 3 columns.

  When the article 4 is held on the holding bodies 70 and 72 of the posture changing means 8, the first stopper 100 is also lifted to prevent the article 4 from jumping out of the holding bodies 70 and 72, while the air cylinder 74 is operated. The advance / retreat shaft 76 is moved to the right in FIG. 4 to tilt the holding bodies 70 and 72 (from the state of FIG. 4A to the state of FIG. 4B). When the holding bodies 70 and 72 are inclined, the held articles 4 are also inclined.

  After changing the posture of the article 4 held by the holding bodies 70 and 72 by the posture changing means 8 from the standing state to the inclined state, the first stopper 100 provided on both sides of the posture changing means 8 and The second stopper 102 is lowered and the third pushing means 82 is operated to push out the article 4 held in the holding bodies 70 and 72 onto the table 88 of the width adjusting station 12. The articles 4 placed on the table 88 are arranged in addition to the second article 4 from the left at one end (right end) of the leftmost article 4 (the leftmost article in FIGS. 1 and 4B) in each row. The end (left end) is placed, and the left end of the third article 4 is placed on the right end of the second article 4. In this way, the five articles 4 in each row are aligned in a state where they are sequentially stacked obliquely.

  When the article 4 is pushed onto the table 88 by the third pushing means 82, the third stopper 104 is raised to prevent the article 4 from falling from the table 88. The push-out pawl 84 of the third push-out means 82 strokes from a position between the collective conveyor 6 and the posture change means 8 to a position between the posture change means 8 and the width adjusting station 12 in a lowered state. After the article 4 is pushed out, it moves up, moves backward, returns to the position between the collective conveyor 6 and the posture changing means 8, and waits for the next pushing operation above.

  In the width adjusting station 12, the second stopper 102 between the posture changing means 8 is raised again, and the width adjusting means 10 is operated in a state where both sides of the table 88 are guided by the second stopper 102 and the third stopper 104. Then, the pusher 90 is advanced in the direction of the fixed guide 94 (left side in FIG. 1), and the interval between the five articles 4 in each row that are sequentially stacked is reduced.

  Thereafter, the second stopper 102 and the third stopper 104 arranged on both sides of the table 88 of the width adjusting station 12 are lowered, and the fourth pushing means 96 introduces the articles 4 of 5 rows and 3 columns that are width aligned. 14 Extrude on top. The fourth push-out means 96, like the push-out means 46, 66 and 82, performs an operation of moving forward at the lowered position to push out the article 4, rising and retreating, and then descending again. When the articles 4 on the table 88 are pushed out by the fourth pushing means 96, the pushers 90 of the width adjusting means 10 are kept in the advanced state so that the arrangement of the article groups is not disturbed.

  In this embodiment, the articles 4 in 5 rows and 3 columns are assembled and accumulated with the end portions of the articles 4 overlapped with each other, but the number of articles 4 is not limited to 5 rows and 3 columns. You may make it let it. For example, the number of articles 4 in each column may be two and the number of columns may be three, or the number of columns may be only one. When the number of lines is changed, the moving amount of the collective conveyor 6 that runs intermittently is changed. For example, when five rows of articles 4 are gathered as in the above-described embodiment, the gathering conveyor 6 is advanced by 5 pitches, but when it is changed so that two rows of articles 4 are stacked, the gathering conveyor 6 Move forward by 2 pitches. In this case, the number of pushing claws 64 of the first pushing means 46 is also changed according to the number of rows of articles 4. That is, the apparatus according to the present invention can cope with various accumulation patterns of the article group only by changing the moving stroke of the collective conveyor 6 and the number of the pushing claws 64 of the first pushing means 46. If the articles to be accumulated are only one row, the collective conveyor 6 is not necessary, and the articles may be directly transferred from the supply conveyor 2 to the posture changing means. In addition, as the article 4, any article 4 can be used as long as one article 4 can be sequentially superposed on one end of one article 4 on the other end of another adjacent article 4. 4, the present invention can be applied. For example, the present invention can be applied to a pouch filled with a fluid, a plate-like body, a rectangular parallelepiped carton, and the like. In other words, any article having a shape that is difficult to stand on a surface other than the largest surface is applicable.

2 Supply Conveyor 4 Article 6 Collecting Conveyor 8 Posture Changing Means 10 Widening Means 26 Endless Conveying Body (Endless Belt)
28 Holding member (crosspiece)
46 Extruding means (first extruding means)
54 Assembly conveyor holding member (crosspiece)
66 Transfer means (second extrusion means)
70 holder 72 holder 74 tilting means (cylinder)
82 Discharging means (third pushing means)
88 Stacking position (table)

Claims (3)

A plurality of holding members are attached to the endless transport body at predetermined intervals, and a supply conveyor that stores and conveys articles one by one between each holding member, and conveys a predetermined number of articles from the supply conveyor Extruding means for extruding to the side in the direction, a plurality of holding bodies provided on the side of the supply conveyor, each holding a predetermined number of articles extruded by the extruding means in a standing posture, and inclination means for inclining these holding bodies A posture changing means having, and a discharge means for pushing out the articles held by the holding body of the posture changing means and discharging them to a required accumulation position,
A predetermined number of articles pushed out from the supply conveyor by the pushing means are accommodated in the holding body, and the posture is changed to a tilted attitude by the tilting means, and then discharged by the discharging means, whereby one end of the articles is brought into the accumulation position. Article stacking apparatus that forms a group of articles that are stacked in a state of being sequentially overlapped with the other end of adjacent articles It is arranged in parallel with the supply conveyor, has a plurality of rows of conveyance paths, a plurality of holding members are attached to the respective conveyance paths at the predetermined intervals, and one article is erected between the holding members. A collective conveyor that can be accommodated, and transfer means for transferring the articles accommodated in the collective conveyor to the posture changing means,
After the articles are extruded from the supply conveyor to the collective conveyor a plurality of times by the extruding means, the group of articles arranged in a matrix on the collective conveyor is transferred to the attitude changing means by the transfer means to be inclined. 2. The article accumulation according to claim 1, wherein the article group is formed by changing the posture so that one end of each article in a plurality of rows is sequentially overlapped with the other end of the adjacent article. apparatus.   A width-shifting means is provided to sandwich the article group accumulated at the accumulation position from the side, and the interval between the articles of the article group accumulated in a sequentially stacked state is reduced by the width-imparting means. The article accumulation apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.

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