CONTAINER HANDLING APPARATUS

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to apparatus for handling containers or boxes containing large numbers of small articles such as bottle caps or bottle preforms.

Background to the Invention

Boxes or containers are often used to deliver goods to a destination. For example, in the soft drinks industry, a reusable container containing plastic preforms and/or bottle caps is used to deliver these articles to a soft drinks manufacturer. The preforms are blown out to form bottles, washed and filled with a soft drink. The caps are screwed onto the bottles to seal the bottles.

GB-A-2439944 describes a container having openings on an inside surface which are for use with a vacuum pump for retaining a liner within the container whilst the contents of the liner are being dispensed. The container may have first and second openable closures for dispensing of the contents in a controlled manner.

The present invention is concerned a dispensing device for dispensing goods from a container, the dispensing device being broadly similar to that described in GB-A-2439944 but incorporating several significant improvements.

Statements of the Invention

According to the present invention there is provided a dispensing device for dispensing articles for a container having a bag or liner located therein, said container having a base with at least one air passage therethrough and also having a top which is openable to allow passage of articles out of the container, the dispensing device including a main frame, a first sub-frame for holding the

container and being movable relative to the main frame to a position in which the container is at least partially inverted, said first sub-frame having suction means which are engageable with said base to allow a vacuum to be applied to the space between the liner and the interior of the container, and a second sub-frame which is moveable towards and away from the container when mounted in the first sub-frame said second sub-frame including an article dispenser for engaging the container.

Preferably the article dispenser includes a hood or hopper having an outlet which is vibratable relative to the hopper. More preferably the outlet includes an elongate delivery chute.

Preferably the outlet includes means for varying its cross-sectional delivery dimensions. More preferably, said means for varying said cross-sectional dimensions comprises a panel which may be raised or lowered across at least a portion of said outlet.

The hood preferably includes resiliently mounted plungers located around its edge and for engagement with the top of the container with the free edge of the bag or liner therebetween.

Preferably the first sub-frame is pivotally mounted on the main frame and is movable relative thereto by pneumatic actuators connected to arms extending between the main frame and the first sub-frame.

Preferably the second sub-frame is movable vertically relative to the first sub- frame by pneumatic actuation.

Preferably the suction means are movable into engagement with the container by pneumatic actuation.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The accompanying drawings are as follows:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a dispensing device for a container in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view of the front end of the dispensing device of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the dispensing device of Figure 1 shown in the course of its pivoting movement;

Figure 4 shows details of the means for pivoting one sub-frame of the dispensing device relative to the main frame;

Figure 5 illustrates the relationship between the dispensing hood and the main frame of the dispensing device of Figure 1 ;

Figure 6 illustrates the relationship between the container liner and the container during application of the hood to the container;

Figure 7 shows the vacuum applying means forming part of the first sub-frame of the dispensing device;

Figure 8 shows in detail the delivery chute of the dispensing device;

Figure 9 shows the adjustable gate between the hood and the delivery chute of the dispensing device of Figure 1 ; and

Figure 10 illustrates further the action of the hood and the delivery chute of the dispensing device of Figure 1.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A dispensing device I in accordance with the present invention comprises a main frame 3 having mounted thereon a first sub-frame 5, and mounted on the first sub-frame 5, a second sub-frame 7. In use a box or container (not shown except in Figure) will be delivered by forklift truck onto the first sub-frame 5 with its base

lowermost and with its top open (one or more box closures numbered in the form of flaps having been pivoted to open positions to reveal the contents of the box. Then the second sub-frame 7 is lowered so as to cause a hood assembly 9 to engage with the top of the box and for a dish shaped suction element 11 to be applied to the bottom of the box. Once this has been achieved, the first sub- frame 5 is caused to rotate rearwardly (as seen Figure 2) relative to the main frame 3 and carrying with it a second sub-frame 7. This rotation is through an angle of about 135° until the box is in its dispensing position.

The main frame 3 includes rearward upright members 13 carrying arms 15 which are pivotally mounted at 17. Pneumatic cylinders A, interconnecting arms 15 and main frame 3 can be actuated to cause the arms to rotate about pivots 17. This in turn causes pivotally mounted sub-frame 5 to rotate about pivot points A. Figure 3 shows the position at which sub-frame has been pivoted through about 45°.

The second sub-frame 7 includes a rearward inverted U-shaped frame element 21 which is mounted for vertical movement relative to sub-frame 5 by means of rods 23 of second sub-frame 7 passing through guides 25 on first sub-frame 5, this movement being effected by pneumatic cylinder arrangement 27.

Near the free ends of the legs of U-shaped element 21 there is mounted a hood assembly 29, the bottom edges of which are dimensioned so that they fit on the upper edges of the open box. The edge of hood 29 carries spring loaded plungers 31 which, when the hood is lowered onto the box from position Y to (position Z in figure 5 and 6) engage with the upper open end of a liner 33 located within the box and with its open end extending over the edge of the box, as illustrated in Figure 6. This action in effect seals the liner within the box and in particular the space between the inner surface of the box and the outside of the liner is effectively sealed at least at the upper end of this space.

The box 35 is provided with one or more holes (not shown) extending through its

base 37. Simultaneously with the engagement of the hood with the top of the box, the suction element 11 , which is mounted for vertical movement on first sub- frame 5, is raised into engagement with the base of the box. Suction applied to the interior of section 11 to 11 via inlet A causes the liner 33 to be held in position against the interior of the box during the subsequent operation of the dispensing assembly.

It should be mentioned that, during the rotational movement of the first sub-frame 5 relative to main frame 3, air conveying tubes which also need to, move are mounted within a belt B which can both protect the tubes and also wind and unwind to accommodate the movement.

Hood assembly 29 carries a chute 41 which extends an upper end of the hood as illustrated in Figure 1. In Figure 1 , chute 41 is directed at an angle of about 45° to the horizontal. By the time that the sub-frame 5 has been fully rotated to its delivery position, chute 41 is at approximately the horizontal, although of perhaps extending slightly downwardly. As best seen in Figure 8, chute 41 is attached at one end to outlet 43 of hopper 29 by resilient mounts 45 which may be rubber or rubber-like grommets. Mounted on a lower (as seen in Figure 8) surface of chute 41 is a pneumatically powered vibrator 47 which in operation causes chute 41 to vibrate relative to hopper 29, thereby aiding the delivery of container contents via hood 29 and into chute 41 , exiting from chute 41 via its open end 49. In order to be able to control the outflow of container contents via chute 41 , an adjustable gate arrangement is provided in the area of the connection between outlet 43 of hood 29 and chute 41. Gate 51 is mounted for limited vertical movement by means of slots 53 located on pins 55. This vertical movement is effected by means of a further pneumatic actuator (not shown). The content of the container will, depending on the size of the individual items, tend to clog or bridge behind gate 51 (as shown in Figure 10) where the distance X is appropriate for the size of items concerned. This distance X will be different for, for instance, a 25mm diameter bottle cap, as compared with a 35 mm bottle cap. Accordingly when the box is inverted with the gate 51 set appropriately, the items 57 will bridge as

shown in Figure 10 and there will be no movement of these items along chute 41 to exit from the free end thereof. However, operation of the pneumatic vibrator 47 will cause chute 41 to vibrate and for the bridge to be broken. Then items 57 will move along the chute and out of the end thereof. The speed with which the items will move will depend on the rate of vibration and delivery of can therefore be fairly accurately controlled by running the vibrator at a certain speed for a certain time to delivery of a predetermined number of items.