Orienting and feeding apparatus for manufacturing line

Abstract

Apparatus for orienting and feeding blow molded preforms which are elongated generally cylindrical plastic objects, one end of which is a threaded neck portion for the ultimate blow molded container, and the other end of which extends from the opposed end of the cylindrical object as a narrower and heavier tubular portion which during the blow molding operation will be softened and enlarged into the ultimate container, the preform further including an encircling handling disc between the said threaded neck portion and tubular portion which has a larger diameter than the remaining portions of the preform, the disc serving to facilitate handling of the preforms. First and second conveying belts are provided having input and output ends for cooperatively conveying such objects toward a downstream processing line. The belts are mounted so that their respective conveying surfaces are movable in a common parallel direction. The facing edges of the conveying surfaces of these belts are spaced from one another to define a uniform gap between them of a dimension less than that of the disc. The conveying surfaces are upwardly sloped away from the gap, to define a zone converging downwardly in the direction of the gap. Object input means deposit the initially unoriented preforms at the input ends of the conveying belts. The belts are moved in a common direction, but at different speeds. The preforms are rotated by contact with the differentially speeding belts as they descend into the converging zone and become supported at the gap and conveyed by riding on the edges of the moving belts which border the gap. Object output means at the ends of the belts receive the oriented objects and direct them toward the downstream processing line. Means at the output ends of the belts deflect any preforms which are not properly oriented and seated in the gap; and preform output means at the output end of the belts receive the oriented preforms and direct them toward the processing line. In order to preclude or minimize the preforms resisting deflection due to frictional lock between the disc portion of the preform and an adjacent lateral edge of an opposed belt, one or both of the lateral edges of the belts abounding the gap are formed to diverge upwardly away from the belt gap.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION[0001]This invention relates generally to apparatus which are useful in orienting and feeding large numbers of successive objects from a supply source to a downstream processing station. More specifically the invention relates to such apparatus which are particularly applicable in the orienting and feeding of generally cylindrical, substantially identical elongated objects.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]In the course of manufacturing or assembling various manufactured goods it is often desirable to orient and feed components or precursors of the goods from a supply source to a downstream processing station at which the components or precursors may be further processed or assembled with other components. Typical manufacturing operations to which the invention is applicable are blow molding operations and trimming operations. At one point e.g., in the manufacture of mass produced blow molded objects such as plastic containers for beverages or other liquids, so call...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The solution effectively minimizes frictional locking and ensures accurate orientation and feeding of preforms, maintaining apparatus efficiency by preventing preforms from becoming stuck and ensuring they are properly seated and directed towards downstream processing.

Problems solved by technology

In the past it has proved very difficult to orient and feed elongated objects of the foregoing types in rapid fashion.

These devices are unfortunately not capable of rapid and accurate processing of the objects.

The prior art apparatus discussed, while being generally effective in its use, was found by the inventors to be commercially unacceptable in that during operation preforms which did not descend properly into the gap between the conveying belts and become correctly seated therein, would frequently become impossible to deflect from the conveyed stream at the output end thereof and would thereby impair the apparatus operation.

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