EP0550406B1 - Method and device for making (cigarette) packages - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for producing folding boxes made of thin cardboard with a box part and a lid articulated on a back of the same, on the front wall of which a foldable inner flap is attached against the inside of the same, with blanks for the production of the folding box with its longitudinal extension transverse to the direction of movement are transportable in such a way that the inner tabs of the blanks are directed sideways as the end part of the blanks, and the inner tabs can be folded from the stretched position until they rest against the inside of the front wall of the lid during continuous transport of the blanks by sliding along a stationary folding member.

Hinge-lid packs are a widespread type of (cigarette) packs. A special feature of this type of pack is that a collar is arranged in the area of a box part. This collar, consisting of front wall and side walls, sits with a lower area in the box part of the pack and protrudes with an upper area this out. The free part of the collar is enclosed by the lid in the closed position.

The collar is usually a separate blank that is inserted into the pack in the correct position during the packaging process and connected to the inside of the box part. However, blanks are also already known in which the collar is connected in one piece to the "main blank" of the pack via residual connections. When the pack is completed, the remaining connections are folded in a Z-shape to bring the collar into the correct position for the pack.

Another special feature of the hinged box is the presence of an inner tab on the free edge of the lid or the front wall of the lid. This inner tab serves to reinforce the edge of the front wall of the lid and is folded against its inside and connected to it. From DE-A-35 36 791 it is known to transport blanks with their longitudinal extension transversely to the direction of movement and to fold each of the inner tabs mentioned above by sliding along a stationary folding switch. The individual blanks are partially pre-folded and lie in the pockets of a pocket conveyor. In the worst case, the blanks are lifted in their pockets due to the pressure acting on the inner flaps via the folding switch. At any rate, precise folding operations are hardly possible.

The invention has for its object to propose measures for a sensible, powerful and less prone to failure folding the inner lobe. In addition, a reliable folding of the remaining connections of the collar should be ensured.

To achieve this object, the device according to the invention is characterized in that an upper guide and an underpass are provided for guiding the blanks during the folding of the inner tab.

To stabilize the fold, it is then subjected to pressure, in particular by pressure rollers.

Fig. 1

einen Zuschnitt für die Herstellung von (Zigaretten-)Packungen in einer Ausgangsgestaltung,

Fig. 2

den Zuschnitt gemäß Fig. 1 nach einer Teilfaltung desselben,

Fig. 3

eine Vorrichtung (Verpackungsmaschine) zum Herstellen von (Zigaretten-)Packungen in schematischer Seitenansicht,

Fig. 4

eine Grundrißdarstellung der Verpackungsmaschine gemäß Fig. 3,

Fig. 5

eine Einzelheit der Vorrichtung gemäß Fig. 3 in vergrößertem Maßstab, nämlich eine Zuschnittstation, teilweise im Vertikalschnitt,

Fig. 6

die Einzelheit gemäß Fig. 5 im Grundriß,

Fig. 7

einen gegenüber Fig. 5 quergerichteten Vertikalschnitt im Bereich der Zuschnittstation,

Fig. 8

eine weitere Einzelheit der Vorrichtung gemäß Fig. 3 und 4, nämlich eine Faltbahn, im Grundriß bzw. Horizontalschnitt,

Fig. 9

einen Querschnitt durch die Faltbahn der Fig. 8 in der Schnittebene IX - IX,

Fig. 10

einen Schnitt in der Ebene X - X der Fig. 8,

Fig. 11

einen Schnitt in der Ebene XI - XI der Fig. 8,

Fig. 12

eine Einzelheit, nämlich Zuschnittstation einer anderen Ausführung der Vorrichtung, in vergrößertem Maßstab, in schematischer Seitenansicht,

Fig. 13

ein weiteres Ausführungsbeispiel einer Vorrichtung (Verpackungsmaschine) in Seitenansicht.

Further features of the invention are explained in more detail below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. It shows:

Fig. 1

a blank for the production of (cigarette) packs in an initial design,

Fig. 2

1 after a partial folding of the same,

Fig. 3

a device (packaging machine) for producing (cigarette) packs in a schematic side view,

Fig. 4

3 shows a plan view of the packaging machine according to FIG. 3,

Fig. 5

3 shows a detail of the device according to FIG. 3 on an enlarged scale, namely a cutting station, partly in vertical section,

Fig. 6

5 in the plan,

Fig. 7

5 a vertical section in the region of the cutting station, transverse to FIG. 5,

Fig. 8

3 and 4, namely a folding web, in the plan or horizontal section,

Fig. 9

8 in the sectional plane IX - IX,

Fig. 10

7 shows a section in the plane X-X of FIG. 8,

Fig. 11

7 shows a section in the plane XI-XI of FIG. 8,

Fig. 12

a detail, namely cutting station of another embodiment of the device, on an enlarged scale, in a schematic side view,

Fig. 13

another embodiment of a device (packaging machine) in side view.

The exemplary embodiments of the drawings relate to the processing of blanks 20 for the production of hinged boxes (hinge-lid packs) for holding cigarettes. The blanks 20 have a peculiarity in that a collar 21 customary in such packs is integrally connected to the blank 20. The design of the blank 20 is described in detail in DE-PS 28 61 346. The collar 21 is then connected via lateral webs 22 to a front wall 23 of the blank 20. To complete the package, it is necessary to move the collar 21 into an offset position relative to the blank 20, such that the collar 21 rests against the inside of the front wall 23 with the webs 22 folded in a Z-shape. The collar 21 now has the required relative position.

A special feature that is important for the concept of the devices (packaging machines) shown is that blanks 20 made of thin cardboard are connected to one another in the region of their longitudinal edges prior to processing to form a pack, forming a continuous material web 24. Accordingly, the blanks 20 are transverse oriented to the longitudinal extent of the material web 24 (see in particular Fig. 8).

The blanks 20 are not connected to one another over the full length of the side edges to form the material web 24, but rather only via residual connections 25 in a central, selected area of the blanks 20. Outside of these residual connections 25, the blanks 20 are also within the material web 24 by means of corresponding punchings separated from each other. The design of the blanks 20 - except for the collar - and the material web corresponds to that according to DE-OS 37 16 897.5.

The blanks 20 continuously fed to the packaging machine as material web 24 must be separated from one another for further processing, so that individual blanks 20 are available. The cuts 20 are separated from the material web 24 by shearing. The blank 20 to be cut is moved by a corresponding cutting tool in a plane transverse to the next blank 20 of the material web 24, whereby the shearing process takes place.

The cuts 20 are separated in the area of a cutting station 26. In this, the material web 24 is conveyed via feed rollers 27 in a horizontal plane in the area of separating members 28.

The separating elements 28 essentially consist of a separating stamp 29 with two stamp plates 30, 31. Each stamp plate 30, 31 serves to separate a blank 20a, 20b. In the present exemplary embodiment, two blanks 20a, 20b are accordingly separated from the material web 24 and from one another. For this purpose, the separating punch 29, which can be moved up and down, is laterally assigned a fixed, horizontal counterplate 32 with a shear edge 33. A fixed, thin-walled shear web 34 is arranged in the central area between the two stamp plates 30, 31, and thus in the area central between the two adjacent blanks 20a, 20b.

When the separating punch 29 moves downward, the stamp plate 31 associated with the material web 24 and thus the counterplate 32 - with a lateral separating edge 35 - firstly causes the separation between the two blanks 20a, 20b on the one hand and the material web 24 on the other. Simultaneously or immediately thereafter, the two blanks 20a, 20b are separated from one another by the shear web 34 due to the further downward movement, whereby this cuts through between the two stamp plates 30, 31.

The stamp plates 30, 31 are provided with suction bores 36 which open on the underside and through which the blanks 20a, 20b are fixed to the stamp plate 30, 31 as a result of negative pressure.

Furthermore, the stamp plates 30, 31 can be moved in the transverse direction relative to one another. For this purpose, each stamp plate 30, 31 is attached to a support arm 37, 38. These are in a common pivot bearing 39 with one another connected. In the starting position (FIGS. 3 and 5, solid lines), the stamp plates 30, 31 are at a small distance from one another. The position of the support arms 37, 38 has the effect that the outer edges - separating edge 35 - of the stamp plates 30, 31 are inclined slightly downward and thus assume a shear position. After the blanks 20a, 20b have been separated from the material web 24 and from one another, the stamp plates 30, 31 are moved slightly apart, so that the two blanks 20a, 20b are spaced apart from one another for further processing.

The blanks 20 are to be processed further in two-lane operation, namely to be fed to a folding turret 40. This is rotatable about a vertical axis and plate-like (analogous to DE-PS 24 40 006). The folding turret 40 is provided with turret pockets 41, 42 arranged in pairs and open at the top. The blanks 20 are pressed into them from above with simultaneous folding (erection) of blank parts.

For the transfer of the blanks 20a, 20b, which are separated from one another and from the material web 24, to the folding turret 40, a blanking turret 43, which rotates in cycles and rotates about a horizontal axis, serves as an intermediate conveyor. The two blanks 20a, 20b, which are spaced apart, are placed on and through the circumference Suction air held over suction bores 44. The material web 24 is fed in above the cutting turret 43 in the horizontal plane. The blanks 20a, 20b separated from the material web 24 and from one another are fed through the stamp plates 30, 31 on the upper side of the blanking turret 43 and placed on the circumference thereof. The suction bores 36 of the stamp plates 30, 31 are thereby vented and the suction bores 44 of the cutting turret 43 are acted upon by suction air.

Bearing against the cutting turret 43, the blanks 20a, 20b are conveyed by rotating the cutting turret 43 to a position above the folding turret 40 such that the blanks 20a, 20b now located on the underside of the cutting turret 43 are in an exact relative position on two turret pockets 41 , 42 are aligned. The blanks 20a, 20b are lifted from the cutting revolver 43 during a standstill phase and are inserted into the upwardly open revolver pockets 41, 42 by a downward movement.

The blanks 20a, 20b are transferred to the folding turret 40 by means of transfer rams 45, 46 of a double ram 47. This is stored within the blank turret 43 designed as a hollow body and can be moved up and down. During the downward movement of the double punch 47 into the lower position shown in dash-dotted lines in FIG. 5, the transfer punches 45, 46 pass through recesses 48, 49 of the cutting turret 43, taking along the blanks 20a, 20b covering these recesses 48, 49.

The blanks 20a, 20b are pressed into the turret pockets 41, 42 by the transfer stamps 45, 46, parts of the blanks 20a, 20b being folded into an upright position, namely (outer) side tabs 50 and a blank part consisting of the bottom wall 51, front wall 23 and attached cut parts, including collar 21. The transfer stamps 45, 46 then return to the upper starting position within the cutting turret 43.

The cutting turret 43 is of polygonal design in the exemplary embodiment discussed here. Four flat contact surfaces 52 are formed, on each of which two blanks 20a, 20b rest. The contact surfaces 52 are either in the horizontal (upper or lower) or in the vertical position.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the cutting turret 43 is designed as a pot-like hollow body which is supported and driven on one side by a horizontal shaft journal 53. The latter is attached to an upright support part 54 of the machine frame.

The shaft journal 53 is connected to a turret disk 55 which extends in an upright plane. A revolver jacket 56 extends from the edge thereof, on the outer surface of which the blanks 20a, 20b rest. The turret jacket 56 is polygonal and open on the side opposite the turret disk 55.

The recesses 48, 49 are formed in the revolver jacket 56, specifically as recesses which are open on one side. Support webs 57, 58 are formed between the recesses 48, 49 and, as part of the revolver jacket 56, delimit the recesses 48, 49. The supporting webs 57 are each located at the "corners" of the cutting turret 43, which is approximately square in cross section. The supporting webs 58 are located in the central region of a contact surface 52. The supporting webs 57, 58 are provided with suction bores 44. These are connected to a vacuum source via suction channels 59 and a fixed segment disk 60 with suction channel 61. The segment disk 60 is mounted concentrically to the shaft journal 53.

The revolver jacket 56 in the present exemplary embodiment is dimensioned in the axial direction in such a way that only the regions of the blanks 20a, 20b to be pressed into the revolver pockets 41, 42 bear against the revolver jacket 56 or the supporting webs 57, 58. It is a back wall 62, adjacent (inner) side tabs 76 and cut parts to form a lid 63 of the packaging. In particular, the lateral parts of the blanks 20a, 20b, namely the side tabs 76 and lid side tabs 77 and 78 rest on the revolver jacket 56 and on the supporting webs 57, 58 and are held by suction bores 44.

The double stamp 47 enters from the open side of the cutting revolver 43 into the interior thereof or into the revolver jacket 56. The double punch 47 is attached laterally, namely outside the area of the cutting turret 43, to an actuating rod 66 which can be moved up and down via an actuating arm 65.

The blanks 20a, 20b introduced into the folding turret 40 are filled in subsequent stations and finished folding until a packaging (hinged box) is formed. In a filling station 67, the pack content, namely a group of cigarettes encased in an inner blank, is inserted into the partially folded blank 20a, 20b.

The material web 24 can be fed to the cutting station 26 in various ways. 3, the material web 24 is drawn off from a wound bobbin 68. The material web 24 then passes through a web storage 69, in which a material supply is formed, specifically by folding the material web 24 in a zigzag shape. Kinks are formed between successive blanks 20, that is to say in the area of the remaining connections 25 Formations with a relatively large supply of blanks 20. This is located within a storage housing 70 which is rectangular in cross section. This is arranged upright. At the lower end, the material web 24 is pulled out of the storage housing 70 and thereby deformed again into the flat shape.

The capacity of the web store 69 is selected so that sufficient material is available for the continued operation of the packaging machine while replacing an empty bobbin 68 for a full one.

After exiting the web store 69, the material web 24 is steered into a horizontal plane. The material web 24 passes through a glue unit 71. This consists in a conventional manner of glue rollers and a glue container for applying glue spots to the blanks 20.

This is followed by a fold web 72, which also runs horizontally. In the region of the same, the blanks 20 are partially folded within the material web 24 with continuous transport thereof. On the one hand, in the area of the foldable web 72, the collar 21 is folded from the extended starting position according to FIG. 1 into the relative position according to FIG. This requires a relative movement of the collar 21 in the direction of the front wall 23 of the blank 20, with the webs 22 being folded in a Z-shape.

This folding process is brought about by stationary folding members of the folding web 72, along which the parts of the blank 20 to be folded slide along during transport.

For this purpose, the folding web 72 essentially consists of an upper guide 73 and an lower guide 74. The material web 24 is transported between these guides 73, 74, which are arranged at a short distance from one another. A lateral folded edge 75 is used to abut the collar 21, which slides along the folded edge 75. On the opposite side, a counter edge 79 extends along the folding web 72. The end of the blanks 20 or the material web 24 opposite the collar 21 is supported on this. Folded edge 75 and counter edge 79 are on top guide 73 in this embodiment attached, which in turn is connected to a side cheek 80 of the machine frame.

The shape of the folding edge 75 changes along the conveying path within the folding path 72 in such a way that the collar 21 is increasingly shifted from the initially stretched position according to FIG. 1 into the offset position according to FIG. When this position is reached, the material web 24 leaves the region of the fold web 72 defined by the fold edge 75 and the counter edge 79. The fold position of the collar 21 according to FIG. 2 is stabilized by upper and lower pressure rollers 81, 82.

The counter edge 79 for supporting the material web 24 also has the function of a folding member. During the transport of the material web 24, an inner tab 83 arranged on the side of the blank 20 opposite the collar 21 is continuously folded from the extended starting position according to FIG. 1 against the inside of the blank 20, namely a lid front wall 84. For this purpose, the counter edge 79 is designed such that it extends from a flat, stretched position over an upright, downward intermediate position (FIG. 9) into an inward acute-angled position (FIG. 10) over the conveying path of the material web 24 is deformed. The underpass 74 is formed on the side facing the opposite edge 79 with a sharpened edge 85, so that in the final phase of the folding process for the inner tab 83 there is a gap in which the inner tab 83 folded at an acute angle is received. This continuous folding of the material web 24 is also subsequently stabilized by further pressure rollers 86, 87, which are arranged on the same shafts as the pressure rollers 81, 82.

The material web 24 prepared in the above manner by partial folds reaches the cutting station 26 via a compensation store 88. This is located on a level offset to the folding web 72. The compensation store 88, which is designed as a square tube (rectangular) in cross section, is located in the region between the cutting station 26 and the folding web 72 in an oblique arrangement.

Within the compensation memory 88, a memory is constantly formed by temporarily zigzag folding the material web 24, which has the task of effecting the transition from the continuous conveyance of the material web 24 in the area of the folding web 72 to the cyclical transport in the area of the cutting station 26. The zigzag shape of the material web 24 changes continuously (see two positions in FIG. 13).

An alternative for the formation of individual blanks 20 or 20a, 20b by shearing off the material web 24 is shown in FIG. 12.

In this exemplary embodiment, the material web 24 is fed to the cutting station 26 by conveyor rollers 89 after leaving the compensation store 88.

In the cutting station 26 there is a separating unit 90 directly above the folding turret 40. The separating unit 90 consists of fixed guide bodies, namely side guides 91 and 92 and a central guide 93. The above-mentioned guides are provided with upright sliding surfaces 94, on which the blanks move during the downward movement 20a, 20b slide along side cut parts and are folded into an upright position, as already described in connection with the above exemplary embodiment.

The cutting units 90 also include shear blades 95 and 96. The central shear blade 95 can be moved up and down in a vertical plane, which is the separation plane between the two blanks 20a, 20b to be processed simultaneously corresponds. By moving the shear knife 95 downward, the blanks 20a, 20b are separated from one another in cooperation with shear edges 98 and 99 formed by a slot 97 in the central guide 93.

The two blanks 20a, 20b are separated from the subsequent material web 24 by the shear knife 96 in cooperation with a stationary shear edge 100, which is formed by a recess in the region of the side guide 92. The material web 24 is fed to the separating unit 90 on this or on a plate 101 connected to the side guide 92.

A double stamp 102 is assigned to the cutting station 26 of this exemplary embodiment. Whose individual punches 103, 104 capture a blank 20a, 20b when moving downward from the upper starting position shown in FIG. 12, move this through the mouthpiece-like guides 91, 92, 93 into the assigned revolver pocket 41, 42 Blanks 20a, 20b deposited by the Doeppel stamp 102 in the fold position already described.

Another variant of the device (packaging machine) according to the invention is shown schematically in FIG. 13. The cutting station 26 is designed here in the same way as in the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 12. The special feature is the storage and feeding of the material web to the cutting station 26.

As can be seen, blank stacks 105 are formed as a supply. The blank stacks 105 are formed by zigzag folding of a longer material web. As a result, a large number of contiguous blanks 20 can be stored in a space-saving manner. In the present exemplary embodiment, a plurality of blank stacks 105 are on a common stack conveyor 106 designed as a conveyor belt arranged side by side in a sealing position. The blank stacks 105 are successively conveyed to a removal station 107. In the present exemplary embodiment, this is formed by a fixed, upright stop wall 108 for the front blank stack 105 to be dismantled in each case.

The material web 24 is continuously removed from the stack of blanks 105 in the removal station 107, eliminating the zigzag-shaped fold. The material web 24 is then passed over deflection rollers 109 and fed to the cutting station 26.

The plurality of blank stacks 105 arranged in the material store, namely on the stack conveyor 106, are preferably formed from a common, coherent material web 24. In each case a lower blank 20 of a blank stack 105 is connected to the upper blank 20 of the next blank stack 105 via a web section (not shown). The very extensive memory of blanks 20 can thus be used up by continuously dismantling the stack of blanks 105 without manual intervention. A new group of blank stacks 105 can then be placed on the stack conveyor 106.

Claims (10)

1. Apparatus for the production of hinge-lid boxes from thin cardboard, having a box part and a lid which is articulated on a rear side of said box part and on the front wall (84) of which there is fitted an inner tab (83) which can be folded against the inner side of said front wall, it being possible for blanks (20) for the production of the hinge-lid boxes to be transported with their longitudinal extent transverse to the movement direction, such that the inner tabs (83) of the blanks (20) are directed sideways as an end part of said blanks, and it being possible, during the continuous transportation of the blanks (20), for the inner tabs (83) to be folded, by sliding along a stationary folding member, from the extended position until they rest against the inner side of the lid front wall (84), characterized in that an upper guide (73) and a lower guide (74) are provided in order to guide the blanks (20) during the folding of the inner tab (83).
2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, characterized in that the upper guide (73) and the lower guide (74) are parts of a preferably horizontally running folding path (72).
3. Apparatus according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, during the folding-over operation of the inner tab (83), the blanks (20) can be transported in a planar, unfolded state.
4. Apparatus according to one or more of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, in order to fold the inner tab (83), an edge (79) which is preferably arranged on the upper guide (73) is provided, which edge is deformed from a flat, extended position, via an upright, preferably downwardly directed intermediate position, into an inwardly directed, acute-angled position along the conveying section of the blanks (20).
5. Apparatus according to Claim 4, characterized in that, on the side which faces the edge (79), the guide (74) is designed with a bevelled border (85) such that, in the end phase of the folding operation, a gap in which the inner tab (83) is received is formed.
6. Apparatus according to one or more of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the folding of the inner tabs (83) can be carried out for blanks (20) which are joined together within a material web (24).
7. Apparatus according to one or more of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that that part of the blank (20) which adjoins the inner tab (83) is guided by the upper guide (73), which preferably bears the edge (79), and the lower guide (74).
8. Apparatus according to one or more of Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that in the region of the folding path (72), on that side of the blanks (20) which is located opposite the inner tab (83), a collar (21) which is connected, in particular, integrally to said blanks can be folded, in the region of the connection of said collar to the blank (20), preferably in the form of a Z, during transportation, by stationary folding members which change in the transporting direction.
9. Apparatus according to Claim 8, characterized in that a folding edge (75) is arranged on that side of the folding path (72) which is preferably located opposite the folding edge (79), and said folding edge (75) folds the collar (21), during the transportation, from an extended initial position into a position which is offset with respect to said initial position.
10. Apparatus according to one or more of Claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, following on from the folding path (72), there are arranged pressure members for acting on the folded inner tabs (83) and/or the folded Z-shaped residual connections (22) of the collars (21), in particular pressure rollers (81, 82; 86, 87), between which the blanks (20) can be conveyed by a fold-containing region.

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