JP2007001600A - Bottle stopper opener, and bottle stopper opening apparatus with bottle stopper opener - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bottle stopper opener and a bottle stopper opening apparatus which automatically remove a stopper from a bottle efficiently in a maintenance-free way. <P>SOLUTION: According to the bottle stopper opener 10, the end part of a rotating plate-like body 12 is brought into contact with a stopper 20a of a bottle 20 to automatically remove the stopper 20a. The plate-like body is is made of a synthetic resin, and has flip-up ends formed on both ends of the plate-like body, whose flip-up ends flip up the stopper. The plate-like body is made into a double blade structure that is formed by attaching the center of the rectangular plate-like body to a rotating shaft driven by a gear motor, and is arranged along the transfer direction of the bottle to be located on one side across the direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an unplugging machine for automatically unplugging a glass bottle, for example, and an unplugging apparatus equipped with the unplugging machine.

Beverages, seasonings and the like are mainly bottled and provided to consumers. Among these, glass bottles and the like have been collected after use and recycled for a long time.
For example, a bottle collected after use is subjected to processing such as washing and sterilization, and then filled again with contents and shipped to the market. In order to clean the recovered bottle, etc., it is necessary to put the bottle into an open state. However, some of the recovered bottles remain plugged, and such bottles need to be opened first. There is. If this operation is performed manually, there is a problem that it takes time and cost.

Therefore, although not described in the patent literature, an apparatus for automatically removing the collected bottle stopper has been developed.
The example shown in FIG. 5 is one example, but the stopper plates 12a are respectively connected to both sides of the bottle 20 with cams and links so as to hit only the stopper 20a of the bottle 20 that moves while standing on a conveyor device (not shown). The stopper plate 12a is moved up and down in the shape of an ellipse, and the lower end of the stopper 12a is lifted and removed at the tip.
The stopper plate 12a is driven by, for example, a transmission mechanism rotated by a motor, for example, a cam mechanism (conventional example 1).

In another example, two chains are spanned between the drive and driven sprockets, brushes are attached between the two chains at regular intervals, and the bottle stoppers placed on the conveyor device are attached with the brushes. I try to pull it out.
That is, FIG. 6 is a side view showing the conventional stopper apparatus 100.
As shown in the figure, a coaxial driven pulley 124 is fixed to the drive sprocket 121, and a belt 128 is stretched between the driven pulley 124 and the drive pulley 126 on the drive motor MX side. Accordingly, when the motor MX is driven, the rotation is reduced to a predetermined speed by a reduction gear (not shown) and transmitted to the drive pulley 126, and is transmitted from the drive pulley 126 to the driven pulley 124 via the belt 128. When the driven pulley 124 rotates, the coaxial drive side sprocket 121 rotates to drive the chain 110. By driving the chain 110, the brush 112 attached to the chain 110 is applied to the stopper 20a of the bottle 20, and the bottle 20 is unplugged with the bristles of the brush 112 so as to be rubbed. When plugging with the brush 112, it takes more time for plugging than using the plugging plate. Therefore, the brush 112 is attached between the chains 110 at an angle. (Conventional example 2).

  Also, as described in the patent literature, an automatic bottle opener that automatically opens a cap of a bottle is known. This is achieved by pressing a pressing plate against the bottle head from above, and inserting a stopper plate at the bottom of the neck of the stopper. This bottle opener plate has a plurality of openings having a large and small continuous opening on a flat surface. Pass the plug in the vertical direction at the large opening and slide it through the plug to plug into the smaller opening. Is inserted into the head and pulled up upward by a cylinder to simultaneously open a plurality of flap stoppers (Patent Document 1).

  However, in the plugging device 100a of the conventional example 1, the plugging plate 12a that moves up and down with respect to the plug 20a of the bottle 20 is applied from both sides and plugged upward, so that the plug 20a falls on a bottle transfer conveyor device (not shown) as it is. . Therefore, it is necessary to remove the stopper from the traveling conveyor device. Moreover, since a pair of stopper plates 12a are required, there is a problem that the structure is complicated and the cost is increased.

  Further, since the plugging device of Conventional Example 2 uses a chain transmission mechanism and a belt transmission function, the structure is complicated, and the brush moves in a direction perpendicular to the bottle transfer direction by the chain transmission mechanism. It is necessary to adjust the inclination angle and the moving speed thereof. In addition, there is a problem that maintenance such as replacement due to wear of the brush is necessary.

  Also, the automatic bottle opener described in Patent Document 1 is costly because it has a large number of parts and a complicated structure such as a cylinder mechanism and a bottle opener plate. In addition, there is a problem that the positioning and adjustment of the stopper and the stopper plate are complicated and maintenance is necessary.

Utility Model Registration No. 3092616

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the conventional unplugging device, and the object thereof is to perform unplugging efficiently with a simple configuration, and it is not necessary to adjust and eliminate the need for maintenance. An unplugging machine and an unplugging apparatus provided with the unplugging machine are provided.

The invention of claim 1 is an unplugging machine for automatically unplugging a stopper by applying the end of a rotating plate-like body to a bottle stopper, the plate-like body jumping up the stopper at both ends. A rotating shaft having an upper end, a central portion of which is attached to a motor-driven rotating shaft, and is arranged along a bottle conveyance path.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the unplugging machine according to the first aspect, the motor for driving the rotating shaft is a gear motor.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the plugging machine according to the first or second aspect, the plugging plate is made of synthetic resin, and has a taper-like thickness from the back surface side in the rotational direction of the top end to the surface side. It is characterized by gradually decreasing.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an unplugging apparatus comprising the unplugging machine according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein a guide rod for restraining the lateral movement of the bottle is provided along the conveyance path of the bottle. It is characterized by that.

(Function)
The tip of the stopper plate attached to the rotating shaft that is rotated by the gear motor is applied to the stopper of the bottle that is continuously conveyed into the conveyor device in a state where the lateral movement is restricted, and the rotational force and elasticity of the stopper plate Use the to jump up. The removed stopper is collected in a collection box installed below the bottle transfer conveyor device. The stopper plate is substantially rectangular and is connected to the rotating shaft at the center thereof so as to be symmetric with respect to the rotating shaft. Therefore, the unplugging action can be performed twice by one rotation of the rotating shaft. That is, the stopper plate functions as a two-blade.

According to the present invention, since it is a simple configuration in which the stopper plate is simply attached to the rotating shaft of the gear motor, the cost is low, maintenance is not required, and the stopper plate is made of a synthetic resin. Even if it hits the bottle, the bottle will not be damaged, and the bottle can be unplugged in any state.
Moreover, since the plate-like body functions as a two-blade, it can be efficiently plugged.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a side view of an unplugging device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The unplugging device 1 is provided with a unplugging machine 10, and the unplugging machine 10 has a unplugging plate 12 that is integrally attached to a rotating shaft 12 as shown in the drawing, and the unplugging plate 12 rotates as will be described later. By doing so, the stopper 20a attached to the used bottle 20 transferred by the conveyor device 22 is unplugged.

  The stopper 20a unplugged from the bottle 20 by the stopper plate 12 is flipped up by the stopper plate 12 arranged on one side in the traveling direction of the bottle 20 so as to cover the outside of the cover body 26 that covers the bottle 20 and the conveyor devices 22 and 24. It falls and is collected in the collection box 28 installed at the lower part of the frame 40 of the bottle stopper 12.

  The unplugging device 1 is also provided with an endless conveyor device 22 for introducing and discharging the bottles 20 into and from the unplugging device 1 and maintaining the posture of the bottles 20 introduced into the unplugging device 1. Therefore, a guide rod 21 for supporting a portion close to the neck portion of the trunk portion (or a portion close to the trunk portion of the neck portion) from the left and right sides in the drawing, and the barrel portion of the bottle 20 on the side of the stopper plate 12 Guide rods 23 and 24 for regulating the position of the bottle 20 moving in the unplugging device 1 in the left-right direction in the lower portion and the portion on the opposite side closer to the bottom of the bottle than the lower portion are plugged. Attached to the frame 42 of the apparatus 1 along the conveyance path of the bottle 20.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view showing a portion of the stopper plate 12 shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the stopper plate 12 is attached to the rotating shaft 14 having a bevel gear 32 that engages with the bevel gear 34 of the shaft of the gear motor 10 at one end. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, bolts 16 a and nuts (wing nuts) 16 b are integrally attached to three holes provided in the flat portion 14 a provided in the central portion of the rotating shaft 14. The rotary shaft 14 is supported by a bearing 30 attached to the left and right side plates 42 constituting the cover body of the unplugging machine 10.
Instead of a configuration in which the shaft of the gear motor 10 is connected to the rotating shaft 14 via a bevel gear, a configuration in which the shaft is directly connected to the rotating shaft 14 may be used. Moreover, the attachment means to the rotating shaft 14 of the stopper plate 12 is not restricted to the said structure, It can carry out suitably using another known attachment means.

Here, the stopper plate 12 of the present embodiment is made of a synthetic resin such as MC nylon (registered trademark) and is made of a rectangular plate body having ends that are the upper ends of the stoppers at both ends, and is attached to the rotary shaft 14. Sometimes, the rotation end surface, that is, the upper end surface is tapered in a direction of gradually decreasing the thickness from the rear side in the rotation direction toward the front side. This is because when the stopper plate 12 is rotated, its thickness does not get in the way so that it can be easily engaged with a small protruding portion from the bottle opening of the stopper. Further, by utilizing the flexibility of the plugging plate 12 made of a synthetic resin, the plug is bounced up by using its elastic force when hitting the plugging, and the plug 20a falls on the outside of the bottle 20 opposite to the plugging plate 12. Then, it is securely stored in the collection box 28.
In addition to the rectangular shape, the stopper plate 12 may have a shape in which two sides connecting two sides formed by parallel straight lines that are the raised ends of the stopper are curved or bent.

Next, the operation | movement which unplugs the used bottle 20 using the unplugging machine 10 with the unplugging apparatus 1 demonstrated above is demonstrated.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the unplugging device 1 according to the present embodiment.
When the used bottles 20 are to be unplugged, first, the endless conveyor device 22 is operated, and the bottles 20 arranged at equal intervals on the one conveying surface 22a are introduced into the unplugging machine 10. The unplugging device 1 operates the gear motor M in synchronism with the operation of the conveyor device 22 to transmit the rotation decelerated to the rotary shaft 14 and rotate the unplugging plate 12.

The bottles 20 are unplugged in a state where they are arranged on the conveyor device 22 at equal intervals and whose upper and lower portions are supported by the guide rods 21, 23, 24, that is, in a state of being restrained in the lateral direction. It is introduced into the machine 10. When the bottle 20 enters the rotation region of the stopper plate 12, the tapered portion at the tip of the rotating stopper plate 12 hits a slightly protruding portion of the stopper 12 a of the bottle 12 and jumps up as shown in FIG. 1.
In this case, the stoppers 20a of a plurality of bottles 20 can be simultaneously unplugged by appropriately selecting the arrangement position of the bottles 20 on the conveyor device and the width of the stopper plate 12.

The bottle 20 that has been unplugged is conveyed as it is to the collection position outside the unplugging apparatus 1 by the conveyor device 22.
Some of the collected used bottles 20 do not have the stopper 12a. However, in the present unplugging apparatus 1, the bottles 20 may be arranged on the conveyor device 22 as they are after the bottles are sorted and then unplugged. Of course, the apparatus 1 may be used.
The stopper plate 12 is preferably made of a synthetic resin, but is not necessarily limited to this, and a material such as a metal other than the synthetic resin can also be used.

It is a side view of the tapper which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which expands and shows the part of the stopper plate of FIG. It is a front view which shows the structure of a stopper plate. It is a perspective view of a plugper. It is a side view of the conventional plugper. It is a side view of the other conventional plugper.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Unplugging device, 10 ... Unplugging machine, 12, 12a ... Unplugging plate, 14 ... Rotating shaft, 20 ... Bottle, 20a ... Plug, 22 ... Conveyor device, 21 , 23, 24 ... guide rod, 28 ... collection box, 110 ... chain, 112 ... brush, 120, 121 ... sprocket, 124, 128 ... pulley, M ... gear motor MX ... motor.

Claims (4)

An unplugging machine for automatically unplugging the stopper by applying the end of the rotating plate to the stopper of the bottle,
The plate-like body has a top end that flips up the stopper at both ends, a central portion is attached to a motor-driven rotating shaft, and the stopper is disposed along a bottle conveyance path . The plugper according to claim 1, wherein
The motor for driving the rotating shaft is a gear motor. The bottle opener according to claim 1 or 2,
The unplugging machine is characterized in that the unplugging plate is made of a synthetic resin, and the thickness thereof is gradually decreased from the back surface side in the rotational direction of the jump upper end toward the surface side. In the unplugging device provided with the unplugging machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
An unplugging device comprising a guide rod for restraining the lateral movement of the bottle along the conveyance path of the bottle.

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