Apparatus and method for supplying a plurality of box sheets along belts at predetermined intervals
AssigneeTanabe Machinery Co., Ltd.
InventorDaigoro Toriyama
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for supplying a plurality of box sheets comprising first belts which are movable in a predetermined direction, second belts which are also movable in the predetermined direction of the first belts, a shutter located above at least one of the first belts or the second belts, wherein the shutter is located so as to allow only one of the plurality of box sheets to be supplied beneath the shutter at a time, and a control system for controlling an operation of the second belts, wherein a coefficient of friction between the second belts and the box sheets is stronger than a coefficient of friction between the first belts and the box sheets.
Claims8
An apparatus for supplying a plurality of box sheets, said apparatus comprising:
- at least one first belt which is movable in a predetermined direction;
- at least one second belt which is movable in the predetermined direction of said at least one first belt, wherein a first coefficient of friction between the plurality of box sheets and said at least one second belt is greater than a second coefficient of friction between the plurality of box sheets and said at least one first belt so that the box sheets are not carried and sent away from the shutter when said at least one second belt is not moving, and the box sheets are carried and sent away from the shutter one sheet at a time when said at least one second belt is moving;
- a shutter located above at least one of said at least one first belt or said at least one second belt so that only one of the plurality of box sheets can be supplied beneath the shutter at a time;
- and
- a control system for controlling an operation of said at least one second belt.
A method for supplying a plurality of box sheets along belts which are stacked up in a pile located against a shutter, wherein a clutch operatively connects a first shaft with a second shaft and wherein the first shaft is operative so as to drive at least one first belt and the second shaft is operative so as to drive at least one second belt, said method comprising:
- providing the at least one second belt to have a first coefficient of friction with the plurality of box sheets and providing the at least one first belt to have a second coefficient of friction with the plurality of box sheets such that the first coefficient of friction between the plurality of box sheets and the at least one second belt is greater than the second coefficient of friction between the plurality of box sheets and the at least one first belt so that the box sheets are not carried and sent away from the shutter when the at least one second belt is not moving, and the box sheets are carried and sent away from the shutter one sheet at a time when the at least one second belt is moving;
- driving the at least one first belt by rotating the first shaft;
- engaging the clutch so as to rotate the second shaft with the first shaft and drive the at least one second belt, and thereby allowing one of the plurality of box sheets to be supplied beneath the shutter;
- detecting when the one of the plurality of box sheets has completely passed beneath the shutter;
- releasing the clutch, upon the detection that the one of the plurality of box sheets has completely passed beneath the shutter, disabling rotation of the second shaft with the first shaft and disabling the driving of the at least one second belt, and thereby preventing another one of the plurality of box sheets from being supplied beneath the shutter;
- and
- repeating said driving, engaging, detecting, and releasing steps for a subsequent box sheet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.