초록 ▼

An apparatus for replacing rejected articles, in particular blister packs, includes an additional magazine situated beside the feeding line and aimed at receiving and housing, arranged in pile, the articles, which are to be withdrawn when necessary to replace the rejected articles. An elevating memb

An apparatus for replacing rejected articles, in particular blister packs, includes an additional magazine situated beside the feeding line and aimed at receiving and housing, arranged in pile, the articles, which are to be withdrawn when necessary to replace the rejected articles. An elevating member is connected to the additional magazine and controls the stepwise movement of means supporting the pile of articles in step relation with accumulation of the articles inside the additional magazine or with withdrawal of a single article to be fed to the feeding line, from the top of said pile. A transferring device, situated above the additional magazine, is equipped with gripping means, which transfer the group of articles into the additional magazine, in order to form the pile of articles, and which withdraw single articles from the top of the pile in order to replace the rejected articles.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An apparatus for replacing rejected articles, in particular blister packs, onto the feeding line of a packaging machine, along which the articles to be packaged are conveyed, arranged and aligned in a line and regularly spaced apart, including:an additional magazine situated beside the feeding li

1. An apparatus for replacing rejected articles, in particular blister packs, onto the feeding line of a packaging machine, along which the articles to be packaged are conveyed, arranged and aligned in a line and regularly spaced apart, including:an additional magazine situated beside the feeding line for receiving and housing, a series of said articles arranged in a pile, which are used to replace the rejected articles;an elevating member connected to said additional magazine for controlling a stepwise movement of means supporting said articles arranged in a pile in step relation with an accumulation of the articles inside said additional magazine or with removal of a single article to be fed to said feeding line, from a top of said pile;a transferring device, situated above said additional magazine and equipped with gripping means, for automatically transferring said series of said articles into said additional magazine, to form a pile of said articles, and for picking up single articles from a top of said pile for replacing the rejected articles. 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transferring device is a carrousel, rotating on a vertical axis in the same direction as the forward movement direction of said feeding line, and equipped with said gripping means situated along its edge. 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said carrousel, in normal operation conditions, picks up one by one said articles from an outlet line and transfers orderly said picked up articles to said feeding line, which is situated perpendicular to said feeding line. 4. An apparatus according to claim 1, further including means for controlling the movement of said additional magazine in the same direction as the forward movement direction of said transferring device, in suitable step relation, respectively with the transferring device, in suitable step relation, respectively with the transferring of said articles piled up inside said additional magazine and with removal of single articles from the top of said pile in order to replace said rejected articles. 5. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said controlling means are designed to move said additional magazine with such a speed that the transferring and removal of said articles by said gripping means in performed at substantially zero speed. 6. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said additional magazine is hinged to the base of a stationary structure of the machine, at a pivot pin, and is operated to oscillate by a linkage controlled, by means of a transmission member, by a motor member of said transferring device. 7. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means supporting said pile of articles include a tray fastened to a transmission member, which is operated in stepwise motion, in opposite direction, longitudinally with respect to said additional magazine. 8. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said gripping means move vertically, controlled by suitable actuator means, in order to pick up and release said articles. 9. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said additional magazine includes a vertical container, made with different sizes and interchangeable. 10. An apparatus according to claim 1, including: an electric-electronic apparatus for controlling and operating said transferring device, the relative gripping means, and said elevating member, said apparatus being aimed at receiving, from a functional logic control unit of said packaging machine, information concerning a filling of the boxes with blister packs, as well as information concerning the number of the blister packs carried by the feeding line as well as the number of blister packs which are to be introduced into each of said boxes;a first and second sensors, which detect respectively the maximum and minimum level of the blister packs inside said magazine, and which are connected to the functional logic control unit of the packaging machine, with the second sensor aimed at activating, after having detected said minimum level, the filling of the magazine only when a number of said blister packs have been countered over said feed line, said number being a multiple of the number of blister packs for each box, and, consequently, the blister transfer to said feeding line downstream of said magazine is suspended;with said first sensor aimed at resuming, after having detected said maximum level, the normal feeding of blister packs to said feeding line, downstream of said magazine, only when there are no more blister packs on said feeding line.