Article orienting machine
AssigneeNorden Machinery AB
InventorJan Nilsson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to an article orienting machine for elongate articles, said machine comprising an endless first conveyor by which articles are conveyed with a first predetermined spacing, said elongate articles having their main axes arranged transverse to the direction of movement of said conveyor; at least a first and a second wheel on which the conveyor is supported; a first drive means arranged to rotate one of the wheels on which the conveyor is supported; and opposed pairs of holders attached to said endless conveyor at said first predetermined spacing, each pair of holders being arranged to contact and support an elongate article at opposite ends thereof while the article is received and released by the article orienting machine.
Claims16
An article orienting machine for elongate articles, said machine comprising:
- an endless first conveyor by which articles are conveyed with a first predetermined spacing, said elongate articles having their main axes arranged transverse to the direction of movement of said conveyor;
- at least a first and a second wheel on which the conveyor is supported;
- a first drive means arranged to rotate one of the wheels on which the conveyor is supported;
- and
- opposed pairs of holders attached to said endless conveyor at said first predetermined spacing, each pair of holders being arranged to contact and support an elongate article at opposite ends thereof while the article is received and released by the article orienting machine,
- wherein the machine is arranged to orient said articles at regular intervals, where the articles to be oriented are arranged with a second predetermined spacing, which second spacing corresponds to a whole multiple of the first predetermined spacing, equal to at least twice the first predetermined spacing,
- that each article to be oriented is rotated about said main axis located in a plane parallel to the first endless conveyor and transverse to the direction of movement of said conveyor,
- that at least one of each pair of holders supporting opposed ends of an article to be rotated comprises a drivable member arranged to cause the article to rotate, and
- that each drivable member is arranged to rotate said article over a predetermined angle.
An article orienting system comprising:
- a supply conveyor arranged to supply elongate articles at a first spacing, an article orienting machine receiving said articles, and a grouping conveyor arranged to receive articles from the article orienting machine and to group a predetermined number of articles,
- said article orienting machine comprising an endless first conveyor by which articles are conveyed with a first predetermined spacing, said articles having their main axes arranged transverse to the direction of movement of said conveyor;
- and
- opposed pairs of holders attached to said endless conveyor at said first predetermined spacing, each pair of holders being arranged to contact and support an elongate article at opposite ends thereof while the article is received from the supply conveyor and released to the grouping conveyor,
- characterized in that
- the system is arranged to orient said articles at regular intervals, where the articles to be oriented by the article orienting machine are arranged with a second predetermined spacing, which second spacing corresponds to a whole multiple of the first predetermined spacing, equal to at least twice the first predetermined spacing,
- that each article to be oriented is rotated about said main axis located in a plane parallel to each conveyor and transverse to the direction of movement of said conveyors,
- that at least one of each pair of holders supporting opposed ends of an article to be rotated comprises a drivable member arranged to cause the article to rotate, and
- that each drivable member is arranged to rotate said article over a predetermined angle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.