Handling process for staging manufactured articles

Claim 2

A handling process for staging manufactured articles leaving a production unit and traveling towards a receiving machine working at a preset speed; each article or group of articles leaving the production unit being oriented so as to match the requirements of the receiving machine, each article following another on an endless conveyor belt, and being staged and phased at random in relation to the correct staging and phasing for the receiving machines operating cycle; the process comprising the steps of measuring the amount by which each article is out of phase with relation to a reference signal which defines the zero angle of the working cycle of the receiving machines, this reference signal immediately preceding detection of the said article in said measuring step; measuring the instantaneous speed of the receiving machine; speeding up or slowing down each article and at least one regulating station independence on the measured amount of dephasing and the speed of the receiving machine, wherein the speeding up or slowing down of each article comprises four stages: a first stage during which the dephasing of the article is measured in relation to the zero angle of the receiving machine; a second stage during which the article enters the regulating station, traveling at the same speed as on the section of conveyor belt preceding the regulating station; a third stage during which the dephasing of the article is corrected by a speeding up and slowing down cycle, depending on its dephasing as measured; and a fourth stage during which the article leaves the regulating station and moves at the same speed as on the conveyor belt section following on the regulating station; and transferring the article on leaving the regulating station to an endless conveyor belt traveling in synchronization with the receiving machine.

Claim 3

A handling process for staging manufactured articles leaving a production unit and traveling towards a receiving machine working at a preset speed; each article or group of articles leaving the production unit being oriented so as to match the requirements of the receiving machine, each article following another on an endless conveyor belt, and being staged and phased at random in relation to the correct staging and phasing for the receiving machines operating cycle; the process comprising the steps of measuring the amount by which each article is out of phase with relation to a reference signal which defines the zero angle of the working cycle of the receiving machines, this reference signal immediately preceding detection of the said article in said measuring step; measuring the instantaneous speed of the receiving machine; speeding up or slowing down each article and at least one regulating station independence on the measured amount of dephasing and the speed of the receiving machine, wherein a tolerance range for acceptable dephasing is defined and not corrected, the conditions for the proper operation of the speed up or slowing down of each article in the regulating station are monitored, an article that fails to meet the requirements between the article detector and the regulating station being ejected, in a first regulating station correcting that part of the dephasing error corresponding to a delay of less than 0.6T, T being the duration of one cycle of the receiving machine; and in a second regulating station correcting that part of the error not corrected in the first regulating station, in the case of articles having an initial delay exceeding 0.6T; and transferring the article on leaving the second regulating station to an endless conveyor belt travelling in synchronization with the receiving machine.

Claim 4

A handling process for staging manufactured articles leaving a production unit and traveling towards a receiving machine working at a preset speed; each article or group of articles leaving the production unit being oriented so as to match the requirements of the receiving machine, each article following another on an endless conveyor belt, and being staged and phased at random in relation to the correct staging and phasing for the receiving machines operating cycle; the process comprising the steps of measuring the amount by which each article is out of phase with relation to a reference signal which defines the zero angle of the working cycle of the receiving machines, this reference signal immediately preceding detection of the said article in said measuring step; measuring the instantaneous speed of the receiving machine; speeding up or slowing down each article and at least one regulating station independence on the measured amount of dephasing and the speed of the receiving machine, wherein a tolerance range for acceptable dephasing is defined and not corrected, the conditions for the proper operation of the speed up or slowing down of each article in the regulating station are monitored, an article that fails to meet the requirements between the article detector and the regulating station being ejected, in a first regulating station correcting that part of the dephasing error corresponding to a delay of less than 0.6T, T being the duration of one cycle of the receiving machine; and in a second regulating station correcting that part of the error not corrected in the first regulating station, in the case of articles having an initial delay exceeding 0.6T; and transferring the article on leaving the second regulating station to an endless conveyor belt travelling in synchronization with the receiving machine.

Claim 7

An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein the two parallel conveyor belts of the regulating station are arranged so as to exert a squeezing effect on the article at least during the third stage.

Claim 8

An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 or 4, which comprises three sections of endless conveyor belt and two regulating stations each located between two of the said sections of conveyor belt.

Claim 9

An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 or 4, which comprises at least two sections of endless conveyor belt, drived in synchronisation with the receiving machine and separated by at least one regulating station, the regulating station having a horizontal conveyor belt and two vertical conveyor belts moved simultaneously at the same speed; the vertical belts being parallel and separated by a gap at least approximately equal to the width of the article conveyed.

Claim 11

An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the detectors are photo-electric cells.

Claim 12

An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, which further comprises an ejecting device placed between each regulating station and the corresponding monitoring detector for ejecting from the conveyor articles whose phase cannot be corrected.

Claim 13

An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the ejecting device is a mechanical arm governed by an electro-magnet.

Claim 14

A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein a tolerance range for acceptable dephasing is defined and not corrected, the conditions for the proper operation of the speeding up or slowing down of each article in the regulating station are monitored, an article that fails to meet the requirements between the article detector and the regulating station being ejected, and a first regulating station correcting that part of the dephasing error corresponding to a delay of less than 0.6T, T being the duration of one cycle of the receiving machine; and in a second regulating station correcting that part of the error not corrected in the first regulating station, in the case of articles having an initial delay exceeding 0.6T.