US3570209A - Casing apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A CASE LOAD OF STACKED ARTICLES IS PROVIDED BY ELEVATING A PLURALITY OF ARTICLES IN A HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING ROW AND REPEATING THE ELEVATING STEP UNTIL A ROW OF STACKS IS FORMED. THE ROW OF STACKS IS THEN SHIFTED LATERALLY TO AN OFFSET POSITION AS A UNIT AND THEN MOVED IN A DIRECTION LONGITUDINALLY OF THE OFFSET ROW TO PROVIDE CASELOADS OF STACKED ARTICLES. BY PROVIDING MEANS FOR ELEVATING A RELATIVELY LARGE NUMBER OF ARTICLES AT ONE TIME AND COLLECTING A NUMBER OF STACKS IN AN OFFSET POSITION A RELATIVELY HIGH CASING SPEED IS ACHIEVED.

Description

March 16, 1971 M. SALWASSER CASING APPARATUS AND METHOD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 15. 1969 m VENTOE MEL VIM 514A [M45552 March 16, 1971 M. SALWASSER 3,570,209

\ PPARAT United States Patent 3,570,209 CASING APPARATUS AND METHOD Melvin Salwasser, P.O. Box 548, Reedley, Calif. 93654 Filed Oct. 15, 1969, Ser. No. 866,480 Int. Cl. 1865b 35/40 US. Cl. 53-26 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A case load of stacked articles is provided by elevating a plurality of articles in a horizontally extending row and repeating the elevating step until a row of stacks is formed. The row of stacks is then shifted laterally to an offset position as a unit and then moved in a direction longitudinally of the offset row to provide caseloads of stacked articles. By providing means for elevating a relatively large number of articles at one time and collecting a number of stacks in an offset position a relatively high casing speed is achieved.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for casing similarly shaped articles such as cartons. It is customary to arrange a caseload of articles in stacks and insert such caseload into a paperboard case by means of a power driven case loading ram. See, for example, US. Pat. Nos. 2,941,339 and 3,097,577. However, in order to achieve a high speed in loading the cases it is necessary to be able to accumulate at the same speed or an ever higher speed the number of articles constituting the contents of the case.

The main object of the present invention is the provision of a method and apparatus for collecting, at a relatively high rate of speed, the contents of a case and providing stacks of articles so that a number of stacks constituting a caseload may be arranged at the case loading ram for insertion into the case.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a method and apparatus for conveying articles at a high speed to an orientation station at which they are arranged into stacks so as to be readily available for insertion into the case by the case loading ram.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification and from the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a semischematic perspective showing a preferred embodiment of the apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a schematic piping and wiring diagram for the apparatus of FIG. 1 with the various portions of the apparatus expanded relative to each other for clarity.

Articles such as cartons indicated at 1 are conveyed to the apparatus of the present invention by a conventional conveyor 2 which feeds the articles onto theplatform 3 of a lift generally designated 4 which includes downwardly extendingrear flange 5 to act as a stop for the articles *1 when thelift 4 is elevated out of its normal lower position.

When the number of articles for which thelift 4 is designed have been loaded on the lift from conveyor 2 the forward article of the row actuates a lever 7 (FIG. 2) which closes a switch 8 to initiate upward movement of the lift. The vertical stroke oflift 4 is suflicient to urge the row of articles thereon to a position past a pair of spring urgedpivoted detents 10 which serve to hold the elevated row while thelift 4 returns to its lower position.

After a plurality of rows have been elevated to form stacks having a predetermined number of tiers, a switch 11 is actuated by one of the top cartons of the stacks to cause the advance ofcylinder 12 provided with apusher plate 13. The stroke ofcylinder 12 is sufiiicent to offset the stacks ondetents 10 to a position spaced from the vertical plane of the conveyor 2 and detents 10. Thecylinder 12 "Ice is then retracted to await the completion of the next row of stacks.

When the stacks of cartons are in their offset position they are acted upon by a plural stage ram which may consist of two or more cylinders arranged in series. In the embodiment disclosed herein three cylinders are connected in alignment to constitute thefeeding ram 17 and said cylinders are designated 18, 19 and 20. The details ofram 17 are not shown, but it will be understood that means are provided for supporting cylinders 19, 20 for axial translation so that cylinders 19, 20 as a unit may be pushed by the advance of the piston of cylinder '18 and similarly cylinder 20 may be pushed by the advance of the piston of cylinder 19. In the particular arrangement disclosed, all three cylinders are returned to their retracted position simultaneously. The first actuation ofram 17 is the advance of cylinder 18 which has a sufliciently long stroke to cause the pusher plate 21 ofram 17 to engage the trailing stack of cartons in the offset position and move the row of stacks to a position so that the first three stacks in this case are in registration with thepusher plate 23 of a case loading ram generally designated 24. The presence of the forward stack of the row is detected by a pivoted lever 25 which actuates a switch 26 to close a circuit to advanceram 24 so as to load the forward stack into acase 28.

Upon retraction of thecase loading ram 24 the next three stacks of the row are pushed byram 17 to case loading position and the above described operation is repeated. In a similar manner the last three stacks are advanced to the case loading position.

Considering the apparatus in somewhat greater detail, thelift 4 is actuated by a vertically disposed cylinder 30 and includes a switch actuator 31 which, in the advanced position of cylinder 30, closes a pair of switches 32, 33. The closing of switch 32 completes a circuit through the retract end of a four-way valve 34 which reverses the cylinder 30 and causes the lift '4 to move downwardly to its lower position. (In FIG. 2 the Retract and Advance ends of four-way valves are marked R and A respectively.) When the above mentioned switch 11 has been actuated by a complete stack of cartons a circuit is completed through switch 33 which is closed by the advance movement of cylinder 30 so as to complete a circuit through the advance end of four-way valve 36 to advance thecylinder 12 moving the row of stacks to their offset position. Advance oflift 4 is prevented, except whencylinder 12 is retracted, by means of switch 41 which is closed bypusher plate 13 of cylinder '12 in its retracted position.

The advance ofcylinder 12 causes a switch 37 to be closed which completes the circuit through the advance end of valve 38 thereby advancing cylinder 18 of theram 17. However, the circuit of the advance end of cylinder 18 also includes a safety switch 39 which is closed by thepusher plate 23 ofcylinder 24 when said pusher plate is in its retracted position. By this arrangement it is impossible for theram 17 to advance until thecase loading cylinder 24 has been retracted. The circuit of the retract end of four-way valve 36 includes a switch 42 actuated by the first advance ofram 17 thus holding thecylinder 12 in retracted position whileram 17 is operating. The advance side circuit ofcylinder 12 includes a switch 47 which is closed by the pusher plate 21 ofram 17 in its retracted position.

After the first group of three stacks has been inserted in thecase 28 the return ofcase loading cylinder 24 to its retracted position causes actuation of switch 40 to com plete a circuit through the advance end of the second stage valve 43. Actuation of valve 43 is prevented, except after completion of the first stage, by a switch 44 which is closed when theram 17 has completed its first stage through actuation of cylinder 18.

The last group of three stacks is advanced to the case loading station by the third cylinder 20 ofram 17 which in turn is actuated by a four-way valve 44 also controlled by safety switch 40 and by a switch 45 which is actuated by theram 17 completing the second stage.

Reversal of theram 17 to its retracted position is initiated by the closing of a switch 48 when theram 17 has been advanced to its most advanced position. Also in the circuit that energizes the retract ends of valves 38, 43 and 44- is a switch 50 which is closed by movement of the case loading cylinder to its advance position.

The circuit which energizes the advance end of fourway valve 52 controllingcylinder 24 includes, in addition to the above noted switch 26, a switch 53 which is closed by case 28 'when the latter has been positioned in its proper position for receiving the caseload. The retract end of valve 52 controllingcylinder 24 is actuated by the engagement of the ram ofcylinder 24 with a switch 54 signalling the completion of the case loading step.

The embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is obviously only one of many patterns which may be employed in using the invention. Instead of feeding three stacks to the case loading ram at each step more or less stacks may obviously be fed, the important advantage provided by the invention being the fast orientation of caseloads at an intermediate point between the conveyor 2 and the case loader. Instead of one row of cartons on conveyor 2 it will be apparent that a plurality of rows may be provided for to further increase speed.

I claim:

1. In the method of casing stacks of articles, the steps of:

conveying articles in single file to an elevating station to form a row of articles of a predetermined number, successively elevating rows of articles to form a row of stacks having a predetermined number of tiers, offsetting said row of stacks as a unit horizontally to an intermediate position,

successively and intermittently moving said row as a unit from said intermediate position in adirection 4 longitudinally of said row and in an amount equal to a predetermined group of articles constituting a fractional part of said row, and

successively and intermittently oifsetting each group horizontally out of the vertical plane of said row. '2. The method of claim 1 wherein said group is inserted into a case at said last mentioned offsetting step. 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said row has at least twice the number of articles as a group.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein two rows of articles are conveyed in single file to said elevating station and simultaneously elevated to form two rows of stacks, and wherein said two rows are simultaneously moved as a unit and two groups offset to case two layers of articles.

"5. Casing apparatus comprising: conveyor means for conveying articles in single file to form a row of articles of a predetermined number,

elevator means for successively elevating rows from said conveyor means to form a row of stacks having a predetermined number of tiers,

first pusher means for offsetting said row of stacks horizontally to an intermediate position,

second pusher means for intermittently moving said row of stacks in a direction longitudinally of said row and in an amount at each movement equal to a fractional part of the length of said row,

third pusher means for inserting said amount equal to a fractional part of the length of said row into a case.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,924,051 2/1960 More 53-26 2,956,381 10/1960 Chauvin et a1 5326 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner R. L. SPRUILL, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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