GB2169268A - Chopstick packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A chopstick packaging machine which includes a chopstick feeding unit 11 and a tooth-pick feeding unit 12 for delivering pairs of chopsticks and tooth-picks at regular intervals on to a continuous packaging sheet 13 which is drawn through a trough 27 for receiving the chopsticks and tooth-picks and through a sealing and cutting station 15 for being sealed and cut to form into packages. At the chopstick feeding unit, chopsticks from the hopper roll down an inclined plane, where they are held by retaining pins. As the pins are withdrawn, a holding plate contacts the following chopsticks so that only the bottom two chopsticks are allowed to fall into trough 27. Toothpicks are fed from hopper 12 by a rotating cylinder having longitudinal peripheral grooves, from which they are fed down an inclined plane to trough 27 so that both chopsticks and toothpicks are put in the same package. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Chopstick packaging machine This invention relates to a packaging machine, particularly to a chopstick packaging machine which includes a chopstick feeding unit and a tooth-pick feeding unit for delivering pairs of chopsticks and tooth-picks at regular intervals on a continuous packaging sheet.

An object of the invention is to provide a chopstick packaging machine which offers a speedy packaging operation to overcome the drawbacks of consuming a great deal of time and labor incurred in the conventional hand operation.

These and other objects can be achieved in accordance with the present invention through the provision of a chopstick packaging machine which comprises, a chopstick feeding unit which includes an inclined surface for sliding chopsticks, means for arraying chopsticks in side by side adjacent po- sitions on the inclined surface, means for receiving chopsticks provided below the bottom end of the inclined surface, and means for intermittently delivering a pair of chopsticks to the receiving means provided at the bottom end of the inclined surface.

The delivering means includes a retaining means projected forwardly at the bottom end of the inclined surface for stopping the sliding of the bottommost chopstick, the stopping means intermittently retracting from the surface to release the chopsticks, means for pressing the chopsticks which downwardly slide after two bottom most chopsticks against the inclined surface when the retaining means retracts, and a mechanism for operating the retaining means and the pressing means.

The mechanism includes two electromagnets for actuating the retaining means and the pressing means respectively, two microswitches for controlling the electromagnets respectively, and a rotary cam member for alternatingly actuating the microswitches.

The packaging machine is further provided with a tooth-pick feeding unit which includes a toothpick arraying rotary member having regularly spaced axial grooves on its periphery and two circumferential grooves intersecting the axial grooves, each of the axial grooves being capable of receiving a tooth-pick, an inclined plate for intermittently dropping one tooth-pick from the rotary member to the chopstick receiving means, the inclined plate having its top side in sliding contact with the periphery of the rotary member and having two projections extended from its top side which are engaged in the circumferential grooves to take tooth-picks one after the other from the axial grooves which meet said projections one after the other.

There are further provided means for passing a continuous packaging sheet along a path through the chopstick receiving means, means for bending the sheet about an axis parallel to the path provided upstream from the chopstick receiving means, and a sealing and cutting station provided downstream from said chopstick receiving means.

The presently exemplary preferred embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a packaging machine embodying the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a chopstick feeding unit; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a tooth-pick feeding unit; Figure 4 is a schematic elevation view illustrating the packaging machine of the same embodiment of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a view of a bending roller; and Figure 6 is a view showing the sealing and cutting station.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a chopstick packaging machine 10 which includes a chopstick feeding unit 11, a tooth-pick feeding unit 12, means for passing a plastic packaging material 13 through the chopstick feeding unit 11 and the tooth-pick feeding unit 12, sealing and cutting station 15, and collecting station 16.

Referring to Figure 2, the chopstick feeding unit 11 includes a body 20 which includes a top plate 21 inclined downward from its rear side to its front side and is provided with a hopper 22 at the rear portion of the top plate 21 for accomodating chopsticks 23. The hopper 22 has a rectangular crosssection with a width substantially similar to the length of a chopstick. There are further provided two guide bars 24 mounted to a support 26 above the top plate 21 and extending from the vicinity of the hopper 22 to the front side and then turning downward.The guide bars 24 are spaced apart from the top plate 21 with a spacing approximated to the thickness of one chopstick 23 so that the chopsticks 23, which come down from the bottom side of the hopper 22, can be aligned between the top plate 21 and the guide bars 24 in side by side adjacent relationships and then slide down one after the other.

Below the bottom end of the downwardly extending portion 25 of the top plate 22 is provided a chopstick receiving trough 27 which has a Vshaped cross-section. There is further provided means for delivering a pair of chopsticks onto the receiving trough 27 which includes two spaced apart retain pins 28 capable of intermittently projecting from the front side 29 of the body 20 to stop the sliding of the bottom most chopstick 23. The chopsticks 23 can be delivered to the trough 27 when the pins 28 are retracted. The pins 28 are actuated by an electromagnet (not shown) provided in the body 20 in which they are incorporated in a manner than can be accomplished by an ordinary skill in the art.

At a position above the pins 28 is further provided a fence plate 30 for intermittently pressing the chopsticks which follow the two bottom most chopsticks, against the top plate 21 so that only each pair of chopsticks are delivered when the pins 28 intermittently retract. The fence plate 30 is mounted on a rod 31 which is movably mounted to the body 20 and is actuated by a swinging lever 32 which in turn is actuated by anotherelectromagnet ( not shown). Since the incorporation of the swinging lever 32 and the electromagnet can be accomplished in a manner that can be accomplished by an ordinary skill in the art, the detail thereof is not described hereinunder.

The electromagnets that respectively actuate the pins 28 and the fence plate 30 are in turn controlled by two microswitches 33 and 34 which are alternatingly actuated by a rotary cam member 35 rotatable about an axis 36. The alternating actuation of the microswitches 33 and 34 will cause the simultaneous retraction of the pins 28 and the pressing movement of the press plate 30.

There are further provided rotary members 37 which are mounted on a shaft 38 and are made of resilient material, such as rubber. When these rotary members 37 are rotated, the chopsticks 23 which come down from the bottom side of the hopper 22 can be moved and rearranged to be in an alignment on the inclined plate 21.

Referring again to Figure 1 together with Figure 3, there is further provided a tooth-pick feeding unit 12, on another side of the chopstick trough 27, which includes a container 40 for accomodating tooth-picks mounted on a body 41, a tooth-picks aligning rotary member 42 mounted on a shaft 47 and an inclined plate 43 for delivering the toothpicks onto the chopstick trough 27 simultaneously with the delivery of a pair of chopsticks by the unit 11. The tooth-picks aligning rotary member 42 is provided with, on its periphery, axial grooves 44 for taking one tooth-pick one after the other from the container 40 and two circumferential grooves 45 intersecting the axial grooves 44.The inclined plate 43 has its top side 43a placed in sliding contact with the periphery of the rotary member 42 and is provided with two projections 46 at its top side 43a which are extended into the circumferential grooves 45. The lower side of the inclined plate 43 is placed adjacent to the chopstick trough 27.

During rotation of the rotary member 42, each tooth-pick which is received in each groove 44 is transmitted to the projections 46 when the groove 44 meets the projections 46, and is delivered onto the chopstick trough 27 through the inclined plate 43.

Referring again to Figure 1 together with Figure 4, there is further provided an unwind roller 48 from which a continuous sheet of plastic packing material is drawn through rollers 49, 50, chopstick trough 27, and rollers 14 to the sealing and cutting station 15. Upstream the trough 27 is provided a bending roller 51 which is substantially a shape of two truncated cones having their converged end faces abutted one another, as better shown in Figure 5. The bending roller 51 when rolling on the sheet 13 bends the sheet 13 in such a manner that the sheet 13 after bent has a V-shaped cross-section perpendicular to the moving path of the sheet 13.When the sheet 13 is passed through the trough 27, the chopstick feeding unit 11 delivers pairs of chopsticks at regular intervals on the continuous sheet 13 simultaneously with the delivery of tooth-picks one after the other at the same intervals by the tooth-pick feeding unit 12. The bent sheet 13 is then passed between rollers 14 which bring the two sides of the sheet 3 together and advance it to the sealing and cutting station 15. As shown in Figure 6, the sealing and cutting station includes two heated rollers 52 which have embossing annuiar flanges 53 respectively for sealing two longitudinal sides of the sheet 3 to enclose the chopsticks and the tooth-pick, and have axial sealing blocks 54 for transversely sealing the sheet 3.

One of the sealing blocks 54 is provided with a knife (not shown) so that, when the two sealing blocks 54 are registered the packing sheet 13 which encloses a pair of chopsticks and a toothpick at intervals is cut into elongated packages 60 of a predetermined length which is equal to the circumference of the flange 53.

Referring again to Figure 4, the chopstick feeding unit 11, the tooth-pick feeding unit 12, unwind roller 48 and the sealing and cutting station, etc., are operated by a drive mechanism which includes a motor 55, speed change unit 56, transmitting shaft 57 provided with bevel gears 58 and 59 which drive shafts 61 and 62 respectively for rotational movements of the rollers 14 and rollers 52, and pulleys which drive the shaft 36 of the chopstick feeding unit 11 and the shaft 47 of the toothpick feeding unit 12. The shaft 36 is drivingly connected to the shaft 38 for rotating the rotary members 37.

Downstream from the cutting station 15 is provided a collecting means which includes a tray 63 incliningly mounted for delivering chopstick packages 60 to a container 64. At the bottom side of the tray 63 is provided a stop plate 65 pivoted at 67 for closing and opening the outlet of the tray 63. The stop plate 65 is connected to a lever 68 which is actuated by an electromagnet 66 controlled by a counter ( not shown). The counter is made dependent upon the revolution of the shafts 57, 61 or 62 and will send a signal to actuate the electromagnet 66 after a desired amount of packages are collected in the tray 63.

With the invention thus explained, it is apparent that various variations and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, it is not intended necessarily to limit the number of retain pins 28, guide bars 24 and circumferen-tial grooves 45 within the scope of the invention to two.

Claims (10)

1. In a packaging machine for chopsticks, a chopstick feeding unit which comprises: an inclined surface for sliding chopsticks, means for arraying chopsticks in side by side adjacent positions on said surface, means for receiving chopsticks provided below the bottom end of said inclined surface, and means for intermittently delivering a pair of chopsticks to said receiving means provided at the bottom end of said inclined surface.

2. A chopstick feeding unit as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said delivering means includes retaining means projected forwardly at the bottom end of said inclined surface for stopping the sliding of the bottom most chopstick, said stopping means intermittently retracting from said surface to release the chopsticks, means for pressing the chopsticks which downwardly slide after two bottommost chopsticks against said inclined surface when said retaining means retracts, and a mechanism for operating said retaining means and said pressing means.

3. A chopstick feeding unit as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said mechanism includes two electromagnets for actuating said retaining means and said pressing means respectively, two microswitches for controlling said electromagnets respectively, and a rotary cam member for alternatingly actuating said microswitches.

4. A chopstick feeding unit as claimed in Claim 3, wherein said retaining means includes two retain pins and said pressing means includes a plate which is movably mounted adjacent to said inclined surface.

5. A chopstick feeding unit as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said arraying means includes two guide bars extending from the top side to the bottom side of said inclined surface and spaced above said inclined surface with a spacing surstantially equal to the thickness of one chopstick, and rotary elements provided at the upper side of said guide bars for aligning and sending the chopsticks into between said inclined surface and said guide bars.

6. In a chopstick packaging machine, a toothpick feeding unit comprising, a tooth-pick arraying rotary member having regularly spaced axial grooves on its periphery and two circumferential grooves intersecting said axial grooves, each of said axial grooves being capable of receiving a tooth-pick, an inclined plate for intermittently dropping one tooth-pick from said rotary member, said inclined plate having its top side in sliding contact with the periphery of said rotary member and having two projections extended from its top side which are engaged in said circumferential grooves to take tooth-picks one after the other from said axial grooves which meet said projections one after the other.

7. A chopsticks packaging machine comprising: a chopstick feeding unit which includes an inclined surface for sliding chopsticks, means for arraying chopsticks in side by side adjacent positions on said surface, means for receiving chopsticks provided below the bottom end of said inclined surface, and means for intermittently delivering a pair of chopsticks to said receiving means provided at the bottom end of said inclined surface, said delivering means including retaining means projected forwardly at the bottom end of said inclined surface for stopping the sliding of the bottommost chopstick, said stopping means intermittently retracting from said surface to release the chopsticks, means for pressing the chopsticks which downwardly slide after two bottommost chopsticks against said inclined surface when said retaining means retracts, and a mechanism for operating said retaining means and said pressing means which includes two electromagnets for actuating said retaining means and said pressing means respectively, two microswitches for controlling said electromagnets respectively, and a rotary cam member for alternatingly actuating said microswitches; a tooth-pick feeding unit which includes a tooth-pick arraying rotary member having regularly spaced axial grooves on its periphery and two circumferential grooves intersecting said axial grooves, each of said axial grooves being capable of receiving a tooth-pick, an inclined plate for intermittently dropping one tooth-pick from said rotary member to said chopstick receiving means, said inclined plate having its top side in sliding contact with the periphery of said rotary member and having two projections extended from its top side which are engaged in said circumferential grooves to take tooth-picks one after the other from said axial grooves which meet said projections one after the other; means for passing a continuous packing sheet along a path through said chopstick receiving means; means for bending said sheet about an axis parallel to said path provided upstream from said chopstick receiving means; and a sealing and cutting station provided downstream from said chopstick receiving means.

8. A chopstick packaging machine as claimed in Claim 7, wherein said bending means includes a roller having two tappered ends and a portion of converged cross-section intermediate said tappered ends for rolling on said continuous sheet.

9. A chopstick packaging machine as claimed in Claim 7, further comprising a package collecting means for receiving packages of the chopsticks and tooth-picks, said means having a counter for counting the packages.

10. A chopstick packaging machine having a chopstick feeding unit according to any one of Claims 1 to 5 and a toothpick feeding unit comprising a tooth-pick arraying rotary member having regularly spaced axial grooves on its periphery and two circumferential grooves intersecting said axial grooves, each of said axial grooves being capable of receiving a tooth-pick, an inclined plate for intermittently dropping one tooth-pick from said rotary member, said inclined plate having its top side in sliding contact with the periphery of said rotary member and having two projections extended from its top side which are engaged in said circumferential grooves to take tooth-picks one after the other from said axial grooves which meet said projections one after the other.

10. A chopstick packaging machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

11. A chopstick packaging machine having a chopstick feeding unit according to anyone of claims 1 to 5 and a toothpick feeding unit according to claim 6.

12. A toothpick feeding unit substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

New claims or amendments to claims filed on 1514/85 Superseded claims 5 - 12 New or amended claims : 5 - 10

5. A chopstick feeding unit as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said arraying means includes two guide bars extending from the top side to the bottom side of said inclined surface and spaced above said inclined surface with a spacing substantially equal to the thickness of one chopstick, and rotary elements provided at the upper side of said guide bars for aligning and sending the chopsticks into between said inclined surface and said guide bars.

6. A chopsticks packaging machine comprising: a chopstick feeding unit which includes an inclined surface for sliding chopsticks, means for arraying chopsticks in side by side adjacent positions on said surface, means for receiving chopsticks pro vided below the bottom end of said inclined surface, and means for intermittently delivering a pair of chopsticks to said receiving means provided at the bottom end of said inclined surface, said delivering means including retaining means projected forwardly at the bottom end of said inclined surface for stopping the sliding of the bottommost chopstick, said stopping means intermittently retracting from said surface to release the chopsticks, means for pressing the chopsticks which downwardly slide after two bottommost chopsticks against said inclined surface when said retaining means retracts, and a mechanism for operating said retaining means and said pressing means which includes two electromagnets for actuating said retaining means and said pressing means respectively, two microswitches for controlling said electromagnets respectively, and a rotary cam member for alternatingly actuating said microswitches; a tooth-pick feeding unit which includes a tooth-pick arraying rotary member having regularly spaced axial grooves on its periphery and two circumferential grooves intersecting said axial grooves, each of said axial grooves being capable of receiving a tooth-pick, an inclined plate for intermittently dropping one tooth-pick from said rotary member to said chopstick receiving means, said inclined plate having its top side in sliding contact with the periphery of said rotary member and having two projections extended from its top side which are engaged in said circumferential grooves to take tooth-picks one after the other from said axial grooves which meet said projections one after the other; means for passing a continuous packing sheet along a path through said chopstick receiving means; means for bending said sheet about an axis parallel to said path provided upstream from said chopstick receiving means; and a sealing and cutting station provided downstream from said chopstick receiving means.

7. A chopstick packaging machine as claimed in Claim 6, wherein said bending means includes a roller having two tapered ends and a portion of converged cross-section intermediate said tapered ends for rolling on said continuous sheet.

8. A chopstick packaging machine as claimed in Claim 6, further comprising a package collecting means for receiving packages of the chopsticks and tooth-picks, said means having a counter for counting the packages.

9. A chopstick packaging machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.