JPH06286853A - Direction changing device for workpiece in conveyance - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To selectively reverse a film unit with lens in conveyance so as to unify the direction of the film unit. CONSTITUTION:A horizontal guide plate 25 is provided between a feed conveyor 20 and a delivery conveyor 22, and a hole 26 is formed at the center part of the horizontal guide plate 25. A protruding pin 30 is selectively protruded from the hole 26 by an air cylinder, and a rotating shaft 35 is provided on the axially extended line of the protruding pin 30. A resin disc 37 is fixed to the lower end of the rotating shaft 35, and the rotating shaft 35 is rotated in the reverse direction by a motor 36. When a film unit 1 with lens, a reversed object, comes into the position of the protruding pin 30, the protruding pin 30 is protruded. The film unit 1 is thereby held by the protruding pin 30 and the resin disc 37, and reversed. The protruding pin 30 is then retreated below the horizontal guide 25 by the reversal end detection signal of a unit reversal end sensor 42.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for changing the direction of a work being conveyed, for example, a lens-fitted photo film unit, during conveyance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A film unit with a lens "Sharprun" (trade name) manufactured by the applicant of the present invention, which has a built-in film in advance, has a built-in film unit so that a photograph can be taken easily at any time. Sold and widely used. This lens film unit
For example, it has a very simple structure as known from Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 2-32615, and after photographing, it is possible to request DP processing as a film unit as in a conventional photographic film.

In this lens-fitted film unit, when the film winding knob is rotated, winding is stopped while the film is fed by one frame, and the unexposed film is set at the exposure position. Further, the shutter is charged by the film feeding by the film winding knob, and the photographing standby state is set. Photographing is performed by pressing the shutter button in this state. The photographed film is wound into the patrone by rotating the film take-up knob, and the filmed film is completely stored in the patrone when all frames have been photographed.

The photographed film unit with a lens is submitted to a photofinishing shop for a DP processing request. After that, the photographed lens-fitted film unit is sent to a developing place, where the lid for taking out the film is opened, and the photographed cartridge is taken out, and film development and print processing are performed. After the film is taken out, the lens-fitted film unit is collected again by the maker, and the paper box covering the unit body is once peeled off for reuse, and each of the parts is disassembled. The paper box itself uses recycled paper, and the peeled paper box is recycled to make recycled paper.

For this reason, a device for peeling a paper box from the unit body has been developed. For example, in the paper box peeling device using the method for separating a package of Japanese Patent Application No. 4-305667 already filed by the present applicant, the unit During transportation of the main body, the back side of the paper box of the unit main body is opened by a fixed blade provided in the transport direction of the transport conveyor, and then the paper box and the unit main body are separated. However, the unit main body is formed with the lens mounting portion that houses the lens on the front side, so when the unit main body is placed on the conveyor without being aligned, when the front side of the unit main body is located on the fixed blade side, As the lens mounting portion hits the fixed blade, the unit body cannot be separated from the paper box, and the unit body is clogged with the fixed blade. For this reason, in order to unify the orientations of the unit bodies in front of the paper box peeling device, it is necessary to arrange a reversing device that reverses the orientations of the unit bodies when they come in different directions.

[0006]

As a general method for reversing such a work being conveyed, there is provided a baffle pin in the conveyance path of the work, or a work sandwiched between parallel guides. Some of them rotate, and are often used. For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-606 discloses a device for rotating a work such as a cardboard box by 90 ° by hitting a corner of the work by using a step provided on a guide plate instead of an obstacle pin. However, in the reversing device using such baffle pins, steps, etc., there is a problem that stable operation cannot be obtained unless the work is a rectangular parallelepiped and the aspect ratio is large to some extent. In addition, such a baffle pin is effective in reversing all the works, and there is a problem that it is difficult to selectively reverse only a part of the works. Furthermore, it is also necessary to use a conveyer conveyor with an inclined rotating part, which complicates the device configuration and cannot increase the processing speed too much.
An efficient reversing device has been desired.

The problem of selectively reversing the work being conveyed selectively and efficiently exists not only in the lens-fitted photo film unit but also in various fields.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a work orientation changing device during transportation that can efficiently change the orientation of a work being transported with a simple mechanism. The purpose is to do.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is such that a projecting member is displaced between a position retracted from a work carrying path and a position projecting into the work carrying path. The rotation axis and the rotation axis that comes into contact with the workpiece displaced by the protrusion when the protrusion shaft is in the protrusion position, at a position that does not hinder the work conveyance in the extension direction of the protrusion shaft. Rotation means for rotating the workpiece in a direction that changes the direction, a work sensor for detecting that the work has been transferred to the projecting shaft by the conveying means, a work rotation end sensor for detecting the end of rotation of the work, and work detection by the work sensor A controller is provided which sets the projecting shaft to the projecting position based on the signal and sets the projecting shaft to the retracted position based on the work rotation end signal of the work rotation ending sensor.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect of the invention, a work orientation sensor for detecting the orientation of the work being conveyed is provided, and it is necessary to rotate based on the output signal of the work orientation sensor. Only the work is rotated.

[0011]

When the work to be reversed is sent to the position of the protruding shaft, the work sensor detects it. The controller causes the protruding shaft to protrude based on the work detection signal from the work sensor. Due to this protrusion, the work is held by the protrusion shaft and the rotation shaft. Since the rotating shaft is always rotating in the direction in which the direction of the work is changed by the rotating means, at the same time when the work is clamped, the work rotates about the rotating shaft while slightly floating from the transport path. When the change in the orientation of the work is completed by this rotation, the work rotation end sensor detects this. The controller retracts the protruding shaft to the retracted position based on the change end signal for the workpiece. Therefore, the work is conveyed to the next process in a state in which the work is turned.

[0012]

EXAMPLE FIG. 5 shows the outer appearance of the lens-fitted film unit 1. The unit main body 2 is mainly made of plastic and is entirely covered with the package 3. The packaging body 3 is for protecting the lens-fitted film unit and for making the appearance clean, and a paper box or the like having a printed outer surface is used. The packaging body 3 includes a photographing lens 4, a shutter button 5, a winding knob 6, a finder window 7,
Holes for exposing the display window 8 for confirming the number of remaining films are formed, and photography can be performed through these holes.

As shown in FIG. 6, perforations (not shown) are provided in the package 3 that covers the bottom surface of the unit main body 2. A part of the bottom surface of the package 3 is broken along the perforations, and the paper piece 14 is flipped to expose the cartridge removal lid 13 to the outside. Then, the patrone take-out lid 13 is unlocked and opened by a flat-blade screwdriver or the like, and the patrone 15 in the patrone storage chamber is taken out. The taken-out patrone 15 is subjected to DP processing in the same manner as a normal patrone. The film unit 1 from which the cartridge 15 has been taken out
Are sent to a recycling plant and decomposed for reuse on a recycling line.

The recycling factory is provided with a line for sorting by manufacturer and model, separating the package from the film unit 1, and disassembling the film unit 1. First, in the sorting line, a large number of film units 1 housed in a container are arranged and conveyed, for example, in a longitudinal direction by an aligning machine. During this transportation, the cartridge removal lid 13
Also, the torn paper piece 14 (see FIG. 6) at this portion is pressed against the unit main body 2 side, whereby the take-out lid 13
Is locked to the unit body 2 and is closed. Also,
The piece of paper 14 is also pressed against the unit body 2 side. Then, after being sorted by a model or a maker by a sorter during transportation, it is sorted by a sorter into a separation line for each model. Therefore, the same model is sent to each separation line.

In the separation line, the direction of the film unit 1 is first detected by the unit direction sensor while the film unit 1 is being conveyed. The film unit 1 is conveyed with its bottom portion facing up, but is not aligned until the orientation is unified, and the orientation is unified in this separation line. As shown in FIG. 5, since the lens mounting portion 9 is formed so as to project on the front side of the film unit 1 so that the direction is unified, when the front side of the package 3 is broken by the fixed blade, This is because the fixed blade hits the attachment portion 9 and these cannot be separated. Therefore, using the reversing device of this embodiment, the film unit 1
Those having the opposite directions are reversed to unify the orientations of all the film units 1 in accordance with the orientations of the fixed blades in the next package separating step.

The film unit 1 having the uniform orientation is broken during transportation by the fixed blade to break the packaging body on the back side thereof, so that the unit body 2 and the packaging body 3 are separated. Regarding the method for separating this package, Japanese Patent Application No. 4-30
It is described in detail in No. 5667. The separated unit body 2 is aligned and placed on a pallet with a palletizer.
The pallet is supplied to the decomposition line, which is the next step. The separated packaging 3 is sent to a recycled paper recycling factory.

1 to 1 showing a reversing device of a film unit.
In FIG. 3, the film unit 1 is a feeding conveyor 20.
The film unit 1 sent to the reversing device 21 by the reversing device 21 is sent to the package separating device (not shown), which is the next step, by the sending conveyor 22. The feeding conveyor 20 and the feeding conveyor 22 are composed of endless belts 20a and 22a and a motor (not shown) that rotates the belts in the feeding direction.

Feeding conveyor 20 and feeding conveyor 22
A horizontal guide plate 25 is provided between and at a level that is the same as or slightly lower than that of the endless belts 20a and 22a.
The length L of the horizontal guide plate 25 is set to be smaller than the length L1 of the film unit 1, and the feed conveyor 20
The film unit 1 sent from is reliably delivered to the next delivery conveyor 22.

A hole 26 is formed in the central portion of the horizontal guide plate 25 in the work feeding direction, and a projecting pin 30 is formed through the hole 26 so as to vertically project to the horizontal guide plate 25.

As shown in FIG. 2, the protruding pin 30 is rotatably attached to the tip of the rod 31a of the air cylinder 31. A solenoid valve 32 is connected to the air cylinder 31, and by switching the solenoid valve 32, the tip of the protruding pin 30 slightly protrudes from the horizontal guide plate 25. The solenoid valve 32 is controlled by the controller 33 via the driver 34.

A rotating shaft 35 is provided above the projecting pin 30. The rotating shaft 35 is constantly rotated by a drive motor 36 in a direction for changing the direction of the film unit 1. A resin disk 37 is attached to the tip of the rotating shaft 35. The resin disk 37 is the film unit 1
Is set to a position slightly higher than the height of the film unit 1 so as not to hinder the passage of the film unit 1. When the film unit 1 is lifted up by the projecting pin 30, the upper surface of the film unit 1 is made of a resin disk. The lower surface of 37 is contacted.

The resin disk 37 has a contact surface 37a which contacts the upper surface of the film unit 1 and a tapered guide surface 37b formed around the contact surface 37a. The guide surface 37b guides the film unit 1 which does not need to be inverted so as to press the paper piece 14 at the cartridge removal lid when the film unit 1 passes under the resin disk 37,
The paper piece 14 is prevented from being caught on the resin disk 37. It should be noted that the resin disk 37 may be of any type as long as it can cooperate with the projecting pin 30 to hold the film unit 1 without slipping, and the material thereof is other than synthetic resin, such as rubber or metal. May be a combination of these.

On the delivery conveyor 22 side, side guide plates 43, 4 for guiding the inverted film unit 1 are provided.
4 and a unit inversion end sensor 42 for detecting the inverted film unit 1. The side guides 43 and 44 guide the film unit 1 to the package separating device in the next process while maintaining the reversed orientation of the film unit 1. The side guide 44 is bent at its tip so as not to obstruct the reversal of the film unit 1.

The unit reversal end sensor 42 is composed of a light reflection type sensor, and the hole 4 of the side guide plate 43.
The end of reversal of the film unit 1 is detected from 3a. This inversion end signal is sent to the controller 33.

Above the horizontal guide plate 25, a unit sensor 40 for detecting the arrival of the film unit 1 is provided. The unit sensor 40 includes the light emitters / receivers 40a, 4a.
0b, and these are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction of the film unit 1. And
When the film unit 1 crosses the inversion center line connecting the projecting pin 30 and the rotation shaft 35, the tip of the film unit 1 blocks the sensor optical axis 40c, so that the film unit 1 arrives at the inversion device 21. To detect. The unit detection signal of the unit sensor 40 is the controller 33.
Sent to.

As shown in FIG. 2, a unit orientation sensor 45 for detecting the orientation of the film unit 1 is connected to the controller 33. Unit orientation sensor 45
Is arranged on the feeding conveyor 20 and detects which side the front portion of the conveyed film unit 1 faces. This unit direction signal is sent to the controller 33. Based on the unit direction signal, the controller 33 performs a reversing process when the back surface of the film unit 1 is not located on the fixed blade side of the package separating device.

As shown in FIG. 4, the reversing process is performed by activating the air cylinder 31 via the solenoid valve 32 when the film unit 1 to be reversed is detected by the unit sensor 40. As a result, the projecting pin 30 projects upward from the horizontal guide plate 25, and the film unit 1 is sandwiched between the projecting pin 30 and the resin disk 37. By this sandwiching, the film unit 1 is moved to the conveyors 20, 22.
And the disk 37 is floated from the surface of the horizontal guide plate 25, and the disk 37 is rotated by the rotating shaft 35, so that the film unit 1 is inverted about the rotating shaft 35.
When this reversal is detected by the unit reversal end sensor 42, the controller 33 operates the air cylinder 31 in response to the reversal end signal to retract the protruding pin 30 from the horizontal guide plate 25 so as to sink. As a result, the reversed film unit 1 goes down and is sent out by the conveyor 2
It is placed on the sheet 2 and sent to the next package separating device.

The rotation speed of the resin disk 37, the protrusion amount of the protrusion pin 30 from the horizontal guide plate 25 and its timing, the pressing force of the air cylinder 31, etc. are determined by the conveyor 20,
It is adjusted according to the feeding speed of 22 and the unit size and weight.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The film unit 1 from which the filmed film cartridge 15 has been removed
At the recycling plant, the products are sorted by the sorting device according to the model, and those that are disassembled and recycled are sent to the packaging separation line. In the package separation line, the film conveyer 20 conveys the film unit 1. During the transportation, the film unit 1 is detected by the unit orientation sensor 45.
The orientation of is detected. When the film unit 1 to be reversed reaches the reversing device 21, the unit sensor 4
0 detects this, the air cylinder 31 is driven based on this detection timing, and the protruding pin 30 slightly protrudes from the horizontal guide plate 25. Due to this protrusion, the film unit 1 is sandwiched between the protrusion pin 30 and the resin disk 37.

Since the resin disk 37 is constantly rotated in the reverse direction by the motor 36, the sandwiched film unit 1 is instantaneously reversed. When the reversal is completed, the unit orientation sensor 42 detects this and retracts the protruding pin 30 from the horizontal guide plate 25 downward. As a result, the pinch between the protruding pin 30 and the resin disk 37 is released,
The film unit 1 in the inverted state is sent to the next package separating device by the sending conveyor 22.

As described above, since the film unit 1 is sandwiched in the vertical direction and instantaneously rotated, the inversion processing can be efficiently performed. Also, since it is instantly reversed, the feeding conveyor 2
Even if the film unit 1 is being transferred at 0, the film unit 1 can be reliably inverted. In particular, it is difficult to automatically supply the collected film for recycling the lens-fitted film unit to the conveyor in the same direction, and the outer shape is disturbed due to the breakage of the packaging such as a paper box or the opening of the paper piece 14 of the cartridge ejecting lid. However, in the present embodiment, since the film unit 1 is sandwiched from above and below and is reliably inverted, it is less affected by the disorder of the outer shape of the film unit 1.

In the above embodiment, the orientation of the film unit 1 is changed with the vertical axis as the center of rotation. However, when other lightweight / small size workpieces or the reversing speed is slow, the horizontal axis or the inclination is used. The work may be inverted around the axis.

Further, in the above embodiment, the work is 180 °.
Although it was rotated, by changing and adjusting the rotation speed of the resin disk 37 and the position of the side guide plate 43 after reversal,
It is also possible to rotate at any angle such as 90 ° or 270 °. Therefore, it can be used not only as a reversing device but also as a work direction changing device.

Further, although the protruding pin 30 is lifted by the air cylinder 31 in the above embodiment, it may be lifted by using an electromagnetic solenoid, a cam, a link mechanism, a spring or the like. Further, the projecting pin 30 has a work contact surface rotatably formed so as to make the rotation of the work free, but the contact surface with the work is reduced if there is no obstacle to the forced rotation of the work by the resin disk 37. It is also possible to just project it in a round shape.

Further, in the above embodiment, the works are sent to the feeding conveyor in a separated state.
If there is no disturbance on the end face of the work in the transport direction, there is little friction on the end face of the work, and there is no catch on the end faces, continuous supply / reversal is possible without separating the work, and even more processing efficiency. Can be raised. Further, although the above-mentioned embodiment is carried out for the lens-fitted film unit, the orientation of various works can be changed in addition to this.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the work is clamped and rotated by the rotatable pin that pushes up and lifts the work from the lower side and the disk that is forcibly driven, it is possible to securely hold the work and change its direction instantaneously. Moreover, by gripping and rotating the end side of the work, after the reversal, the space for one work is naturally opened and sent between the works. Therefore, in addition to reversing the work, the effect of automatically separating the work can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a reversing device for a lens-fitted film unit embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing the reversing device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the reversing device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a reverse processing procedure in the controller.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a lens-fitted film unit whose direction can be changed by a reversing device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the lens-fitted film unit after taking out the photographed film cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Film with lens 2 Unit body 3 Packaging body 20 Feeding conveyor 21 Reversing device 22 Feeding conveyor 25 Horizontal guide plate 30 Protruding pin 31 Air cylinder 35 Rotating shaft 37 Resin disk 40 Unit sensor 42 Unit reversing end sensor 45 Unit orientation sensor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A device for changing the direction of a work being carried by a carrying means, wherein the projecting shaft is displaced between a position retracted from the work carrying path and a position projecting into the work carrying path, and a projecting shaft. In the extending direction of the workpiece, the rotary shaft that comes into contact with the workpiece displaced by the protrusion when the protrusion shaft is in the protruding position and the rotating shaft changes the direction of the workpiece. Rotating means for rotating in the direction, a work sensor for detecting that the work has been transferred to the projecting shaft by the carrying means, a work rotation end sensor for detecting the end of rotation of the work, and the projecting shaft based on the work detection signal of the work sensor. And a controller for setting the projecting shaft to the retracted position based on the workpiece rotation end signal from the workpiece rotation end sensor. Orientation device. 2. The workpiece orientation changing device according to claim 1, further comprising a workpiece orientation sensor that detects the orientation of the workpiece being transported, and only the workpiece that needs to rotate based on the output signal of the workpiece orientation sensor. A device for changing the orientation of a work during conveyance, which is characterized by rotating the.