CA1069946A - Apparatus for forming groups made up by a plurality of side-by-side positioned piles of parallelepipedon shaped articles - Google Patents
Apparatus for forming groups made up by a plurality of side-by-side positioned piles of parallelepipedon shaped articlesInfo
- Publication number
- CA1069946A CA1069946A CA274,146A CA274146A CA1069946A CA 1069946 A CA1069946 A CA 1069946A CA 274146 A CA274146 A CA 274146A CA 1069946 A CA1069946 A CA 1069946A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- channel
- piles
- horizontal
- wheel
- articles
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
- B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
- B65B35/30—Arranging and feeding articles in groups
- B65B35/40—Arranging and feeding articles in groups by reciprocating or oscillatory pushers
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
- B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
- B65B35/30—Arranging and feeding articles in groups
- B65B35/50—Stacking one article, or group of articles, upon another before packaging
- B65B35/52—Stacking one article, or group of articles, upon another before packaging building-up the stack from the bottom
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The apparatus comprises a pair of pushing means synchronously moved at a fre-quency equal to 1/n of the frequency of pile forming means. The first pushing means feeds individual piles into a rejecting and replenishment device, and the second pushing means removes individual piles from the same rejecting and replenishment device, and feeds them to an exiting channel wherein individual groups of piles are formed and delivered to the parcelling or cartoning machine.
The apparatus comprises a pair of pushing means synchronously moved at a fre-quency equal to 1/n of the frequency of pile forming means. The first pushing means feeds individual piles into a rejecting and replenishment device, and the second pushing means removes individual piles from the same rejecting and replenishment device, and feeds them to an exiting channel wherein individual groups of piles are formed and delivered to the parcelling or cartoning machine.
Description
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3ACKGROUND OF TIIE INV~NTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming groups nade up by a plurality of side-by-side positioned piles of paralle-Lepipedon shaped articles~ In particular, the present invention re- ;
lates to an apparatus for gathering into parallelepipedon shaped Jroups a plurality of cigarette packets, delivered by an high-speed ~perating cellophane wrapping machine, which groups have to be sup-~lied to a parcelling or cartoning machine.
Said groups of packets can be conceived as obtained by superpo-3ing two or rnore rows, formed by the same number of paclcets, or `;
_ven by bringing a plurality of piles, each consisting of the same umber of packets, close together. :
~ESCRIPTION OF TIIE ~RIOR ART
The conventional cigarette production plants, as known, consist ~f two different type of machines, i.e.:
1) Manufacturing machines, by which cigarettes are made starting rrom the cut and cured tobacco leaves; and
~ 99~6 ; ~
3ACKGROUND OF TIIE INV~NTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming groups nade up by a plurality of side-by-side positioned piles of paralle-Lepipedon shaped articles~ In particular, the present invention re- ;
lates to an apparatus for gathering into parallelepipedon shaped Jroups a plurality of cigarette packets, delivered by an high-speed ~perating cellophane wrapping machine, which groups have to be sup-~lied to a parcelling or cartoning machine.
Said groups of packets can be conceived as obtained by superpo-3ing two or rnore rows, formed by the same number of paclcets, or `;
_ven by bringing a plurality of piles, each consisting of the same umber of packets, close together. :
~ESCRIPTION OF TIIE ~RIOR ART
The conventional cigarette production plants, as known, consist ~f two different type of machines, i.e.:
1) Manufacturing machines, by which cigarettes are made starting rrom the cut and cured tobacco leaves; and
2) Cigarette conditioning rnachines.
The latter machines usually colnprise:
a) the pacl<eting machines, for making cigarette packets;
b) the parcelling or cartoning machines, for making pacl<ages or cartons containing a plurality of cigarette packets; ;
c) the cellophane wrapplng machines~, for wrapping with cellopha-ne, or other simi]ar material, individual cigarette pacl<ets;
d) the overwrapping machines for overwlapping packages or car-to-ns.
10~9946 In said plants, the cellophane wrapping machines are positioned etween the packeting machines and the parcelling or cartoning ma-hines, while the overwrapping machines are positioned downstream f said parcelling or cartoning machlnes.
The operating output speed of the packeting machines can range etween 100/200 cigarette packets up to 400 cigarette packets per inute.
The operating output speed of the parcelling or cartoning machi-es isa/~unction of the number of cigarette packets making up the ndividual packages or carton.
The present invention aims to solve the problems concerned with he feeding of the parcelling or cartoning machines by the cello-hane wrapping machines.
;UMMARY OF THR INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is, therefore, to provi e an apparatus for connecting a cellophane wrapping machine opera-ng at very high output speed (400 packets per minute) to a parcel ng or cartoning machine, without any loss of operating cycles.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such an paratus by which plles, consistlng of any desired number of pa-ets, can be formed.
A further obJect is to provlde, in conformity with the above ob-cts, an apparatus able to feed individual piles of cigarette pa7 ets to a rejection and replenishment device, for rejecting defec-ive piles and for replenishing said defective piles with non-defec _ 3 _ 1.~6994~ ~
~ :
tive piles, and ~ in the meantlme - able to re~ect individual piles from the same device in such a manner to build up complete -:
groups of packets made up by any desired number of piles.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided an apparàtus for forming groups of side~by-side piles of parallelplpedal~shaped articles, in particular clgarette packets 9 the groups being supplied to a parcelling or cartoning machine, the apparatus incluidng a re~ecting and replenishlng device for rejecting defective piles and replenishing said de- .:;.
fective piles with non-defective piles~ said apparatus compri-sing~
a vertically and reciprocatingly movable pile-forming means positioned upstream of said rejecting and replenishing device, for forming piles of a preselected number n of articles; -first and second means synchronously and reciprocatingly moving with a frequency equal to l/n that of said pile-forming means, said first means for feeding individual piles into said e~ecting and replenishing device, and said second means for sequentially removing piles from said re~ecting and replenishing device, and for ~eeding successive piles along an exiting channel~
~rom which individual complete groups of side-by-side piles are conventionally fed to said parcelling or cartoning machine;
an intermittently and unidirectionally rotating wrapping wheel pro~ided with a plurality of radially disposed pockets, `~
a first horizontal inlet channel along which indiv~dual articles are sequentially fed into each pocket of said wrapping wheel during each dwell thereof, a second outlet channel coplanar with said first inlet channel7 and pushlng means for se~uentially removing individual articles from said radial pockets and for 30 pushing said removed articles onto said second outlet channel ;
further comprlsing: a third extending above, parallel to and partially overlapping said second channel;
resiliently movable retaining means positioned along the 6~g~6 opposite longitudinal sides of the overlap ing area of said third channel relative to said second channel;
lifting means positioned underneath said second channel in alignment with said retaining means~ and cycli-cally and reciprocatingly moved in a vertical direction by cam driving means for sequentially transferring articles from said second channel in a piled relationship above said retaining means; ~ .
a stepwise, unidirectionally rotating horizontal wheel provided with a plurality of radially disposed compart- ~ ;
ments coplanar with said third channel; ~ :.
a~'fourth channel coplanar with said third channel and oppositely positioned relative to said horizontal com-partmented wheel; ~
driving means for stepwise~ unidirectionally rota- .
ting s~d horizontal compartmented wheel with a frequency submultiple relative to the cyclic frequency of said lifting ~ ;~
means, and for dwelling a compartment and the relative opposi- i tely disposed compartment in alignment~ respectively~ with said ~
third channel and said rourth channel; and ;.
a first and a second pushing means horizontally and reciprocatingly moved along a path parallel to and above said ~
third channel and said horizontal compartmented wheel in unison ~ ;
actuated by cam driving means with a frequency equal to the :
dwelling frequency of said horizontal compartmented wheel, said first pushing means transferring individual piles from said third channel into that one of the compartments of the horl-zontal compartmented wheel which is dwelling in alignment with the same third channel, and said second pushing means for removing individual piles from said oppositely disposed compar-tment, and for pushing said piles onto said fourth channel, along which successive piles are approached together in a side-by-side relationship to form groups of piles to be ~ed to said parcelling or cartoning machine.
- 4a-~06g9~6 According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for forming groups of cigarette pa-ckets to be supplied to a parcelling or cartoning machine, said apparatus comprising: an intermittently and unidirectionally rotatable wrapping wheel provided with a plurality o~ radial pockets; a first horizontal inlet channel along which individual pac~ets are se~uentially fed into each pocket o~ said wrapping wheel during a dwell thereof; a second outlet channel coplanar with said first inlet channel; pushing means for sequentially removing individual articles form said radial pocket and for ~ushing said remove~ articles onto said second outlet channel;
a third channel extending above, parallel to and partially overlapping said second channel; resiliently removable retaining .
means positioned along the opposite longitudinal sides o~ the overlapping areas of said third channel relative to said second channel; lifting means positioned underneath said second channel in alignment with said retaining means and cyclically and reciprocatingly movable in a vertical direction by cam driving means for sequentially transferring articles from said second channel in a piled relationship above s~id retaining means;
a stepwise unidirectionally rotatable horizontal wheel provi-ded with a plurality of radially disposed compartments copla-nar with said third channel; a ~ourth channel coplanar with said third channel and positioned opposite the same relative `
to said horizontal compartmented wheel; and driving means for -~
the stepwise unidirectional rotation of said horizontal com-partmented wheel with a ~requency which is a submultiple of the cyclic frequency of said lifting means for causing dwell of a compartment and the oppositely disposed compartment in alignment respectively with said third and fourth channels.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRA~INGS
A pre~erred embodiment of the invention is thereinafter -4b-: . . .. : . . , ~)699916 "
described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: ~
Flg. 1 is a perspective view o~ the mechanism for ~
driving the apparatus according to the invention; and Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic schematic view showing the sequence of the various operations, performed by means driven by the mechanism according to Fig. 1, to build up complete groups from continuously fed cigarette packets.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFEP~RED EMBODIMENT
For a clear understanding of the present invention, only the es-sential components of a high-speed operating cellophane wrapping ma chine are shown in the drawings, being said machine well known to the man of the art.
With particular reference to Fig. 1, with 1 is indicated an elec tric motor for driving a cellophane wrapping machine, of the type -for example- manufactured by the same Applicant as herein, and kno n on the trade as "4350/CELL", conceived to wrap up to 400 cigaret e packets per minute.
Keyed on a horizontal shaft of said motor 1 is a pulley 2, by hich a second pulley 4, keyed on one end of a horizontal main shaf , is driven by a belt transmission 3. On the same shaft 5 are ke-ed, starting from said one end, a skew gear wheel 6, a gear 7, and gear wheel 8. -The skew gear wheel 6 meshes with a gear 9, keyed on the lowernd of a vertical shaft 10, by which in turn, a shaft 13, parallel o shaft 5, is driven through a pair of skew gear wheels 11 and 12.
he task of the shaft 13 will be described thereinafter.
A shaft 15, extending parallel to shaft 5, is driven by the gear , though a gear 14, and carries a conventional device 16, by whlch six-spaces Maltese cross 17 lS intermittently driven, being said altese cross keyed on the left end (viewing Fig. 1) of a shaft 18, lso extending parallel to the main shaft 5.
The device 16 conventionally comprises oppositely posltioned pin ~L069946 ¦or idle rollers9 and a centering member in the form of an arcuated sector: said latter components have not been shown, for clearness sake, in the drawings.
¦ With 19 is indicated an eccentric keyed on a shaft 21, and with 20 is indicated a grooved cam keyed on a shaft 22, extending both latter shafts paralIel to the main shaft 5, and by which are drive in a conventional manner, not shown.
A rod 24, extènding perpendicularly to the main shaft 5, has on end pivotally connected, in 23, to the eccentric l9, and the other end of said rod Z4 carries a pusher 64. On the rod 24 is slldingly mounted a block 26 having horizontal pins 25 engaging the upper . end of a link rod 27. The lower end of the link rod 27 is provided with an idle cam follower 28 engaglng the groove of cam 20.
With such a construction, an axiallY directed, reciprocating motion is imparted by the eccentric 19 to the rod 24, and a swing-ing motion in a vertical plane extending through the axis of same rod 24, is superimposed to said axially directed, reciprocating mo .~
tion by the action of cam 20. Z
A shaft 30, extending parallel to th main shaft 5, is driven ~ . ~ ', .
by the gear 8, through a gear 29, ~e4Rg-4~ said shaft 30 keyed,~-from left to right (viewing Fig~ 1), a gear 31, an eccentria 32, a grooved cam 33, and - at the ~ end - a handwheel 34 for manual ly adjusting the apparatus. .
Slidingly engaged with the groove of cam 33 is a cam follower, shown with dashed lines in Fig. 1, secured to the lower end of a .
vertical rod 35 to which an axially directed reciprocating motion 10~;9946 is imparted, along stationary gu.ides (not shown), when the shaft 30 is turning. The upper end of rod 35 carries (Fig. 2) a pile for ming means 68, the task of which will be explained thereinafter.
The eccentric 3Z is freely turning whithin a ring provided on one end of a link rod 36, being the opposite end of said link rod 36 hinged to a lever 37 pivotally fitted; by a pin 38, on the bed (not shown) of the cellophane wrapping machine, and which lever 37 has the free end formed with a slot 39.
Slidingly fitted in said slot 39, by means of a sliding shoe (not shown), is a horizontal pin 40, by which said lever 37 is con nected to one end of a horizontal rod 4~pe~pendicularl~extending re-lative to the main shaft 5, and to which a reciprocating axial mo-tion, along stationary guides (not shown), is imparted through the above described connection. As shown in Fig. 2, a pusher 67 is se-cured on the other end of rod 41.
The gear 31 meshes with a gear 42 keyed on a shaft 43, extendin parallel to the main shaft 5, and whereon a drùm-shaped cam 44 and a bevel gear 45 are also keyed on.
The drive is transmitted from the gear 42~ through a gear 46, t a vertical shaft 47. Secured to said shaft 47 is a conventional de vice 48, comprising a pin and an arcuated sector (not shown), by which a six-spaces Maltese cross 49, keyed on the lower end of a vertical shaft 50, is intermittently driven. On the upper end of shaft 50 is secured a horizontal compartmented wheel 74, having a plurality of radially disposed compartments 73.
.' : - 7 - - , ~L069946 ¦ Slidingly engaged with the groove of the drum-shaped cam 44 is a cam follower secured to one end of a lever 51, the other end of ¦said lever being secured to the lower end of a vertical shaft 52.
¦ The upper end of shaft 52 carries a horizontal arm 53, the free end of which is provided with a slot 53' engaging, through a slid-ing shoe (not shown), a pin 54 vertically protruding from the mid-dle portion of a horizontal rod 55. The rod 55 is free to axially slide along guides, not shown and secured to the bed of the cello-phane wrapping machine.
One end of the rod 55 carries a first pusher 71, and the other end of the same rod carries a second pusher 75, both pushers sub-stantially lying on the same horizontal plane containing the upper surface of the horizontal compartmented wheel 74.
The revolving motion of the dr~m-shaped cam 44 results, through the connection above described, in a swinging motion in a horizon-tal plane of arm 53, and in axially directed, reciprocating motion of rod 55 in unison w.ith pushers 71 and 75.
The bevel gear 45 meshes with a bevel gear 56 keyed on one end of a horizontal shaft 57,perpendicularlyextending relative to the mair shaft 5. Said shaft 57 represents the source of drive of the par-celling or cartoning machine, located downstream of the cellophane wrapping machine, and fed with groups of cigarette packets made up by the apparatus according-to the present invention.
With 60 ls generically indicated a first horizontal inlet chan-nel, conventionally comprising a pair of spaced apart endless con-veying belts 60' and 60" wound about idle rollers 61, and aboutrollers 62 (only one is shown in Fig. 1) keyed on the shaft 130 The two belts 60' and 60" are spaced apart of a distance sligth ly shorter than the length of a cigarette packet 5B, so that to support each packet on the two opposite ends thereof~ Between the two belts 60' and 60" is longitudinally positioned, coplanar with the upper run of the same belts~ a strip 63.
The channel 60 is formed by a plurality of compartments 59, eac for housing a packet 58, and is prov1ded for individually and se-quentially feeding cigarette packets 58 into radially disposed p~-ckets 65 (six in the embodiment shown) of an intermittently, clock wise rotating wrapping wheel 66, making part of the cellophane wra~
ping machine, and keyed on the horizontal shaft 18.
The pusher 67 moves along a second outlet channel, shown with dashed lines in Fig. 2 and generically indicated with 83. Said se-cond channel 83 lies on the same horizontal plane containing the flrst inlet channel 60, but opposite to the wrapping wheel 66, and extends up to the pile forming means 680 The first pusher 71 moves along a third channel, generically in dicated in Fig. 2 with 69, the inlet portion of which channel 69 overlaps the pile forming means 68, i5 spaced above the second cha~
nel 83 by a distance substantially corresponding to the thickness of a packet 58, and extends up to the horizontal compartmented ¦
wheel 74. The length of said third channel 69 is, in the embodimen1 ;
shown, twice the crosswise dimension of the packets 58.
~ ,: . -1~69~
~ n each side of the i~let portion of the third channel 69, i.e. on that portion overlapping the plle forming means 68, there is provided a resiliently movable retaining means 70 (FigO 2) which can be moved from a first substantially horizontal operative position to a second substantially vertical inoperative position.
Spring means, not shown, reacts to return said retaining means to the first operative position any time they are moved o~f.
The second pusher 75 moves along a fourth channel, generically indicated in Fig. 2 with 76, connecting the compartment-ed hori~ontal wheel 74 with a supporting surface 78.
As particularly shown in Fig. 2, the cigarette packets, delivered by a packeting machine (not shown, and advantageously of the type described in the Canadian application No 17955 filed on l9th Nov. 68, No 187825 filed on 10th Dec. 73, No 200839 filed on 23rd May 1974 in the name of the same Applicant as herein), are fed to the cellophane wrapping machine by a continuously driven conveyor 84, parallel to the main shaft 5, in the direction of arrow 85. On said conveyor 84 the packets 58 are end-to-end and ~ ;
flatwise positioned.
As disclosed in the Canadian application No. 189807 filed on 9th Jan. 1974, in the name of the same Applicant as "
herein, at the discharge end of the conveyor 84, the packets 58 are individually housed into the compartments 59 (Fig. 1) of the ~-conveyor, or first inlet channel 60. As shown in Fig. 2, the conveyor 60 is transversally positioned relative to conveyor 84, ;-and is continuously moved in the direction of arrow 86.
In the operation, a packet 58 i5 continuously moved by the conveyor -- 1 0 -- , ,,, ' ' ' ~ " ,,.
~ 946 60 until it reaches the right end of the same conveyor, wherein th , pusher 64, secured to the free end of rod 24, is standing.
The eccentric 19, cam 20 and link rod 27 cooperate~ as above stated, to impart an axially directed, reciprocating motion to the rod 24 to extend the pusher 64, during its ~orward stroke, in bet-ween the belts 60' and 60", just downstream of that compartment 59 which reached the right end of conveyor 60, so as to push thé pac-ket 58 housed in said compartment-together with a piece of cello-phane wrapping material, not shown and ~ed in any conventional man ner - into that one of the radial pockets 65 which is dwelling in an inlet station aligned with the conveyor 60.
After insertion of a paclcet into a pocket 65, the pusher 64 be-gins its backward stroke, by swinging downwardly to prevent it frol n interferring with the next packet 58 advancing on the conveyor 60, and with which it will come into engagement during its next for-ward strok~. ~
The considered cigarette packet 58, due to the stepwise and clo ckwise rotation ~arrow 87, Fig. 2) of the wrapping wheel 66, is transferréd from said inlet statio~to a diametrally opposite outle~ :
station, and during said transferring the considered packet 58 is subjected to a first series of wrapping operations by conventional (not shown) stationary and movable folding means, as well as by I
welding means fitted about the wrapping wheel 66. i, On the outlet station operates the pusher 67,which removes the considered and partially wrapped packet from the relative pocket 65, and moves it onto the second channel 83, along which the wrap-ping operations are completed.
The second channel a8 has a length equal to a multiple of the crosswise dimension of the packets 58, and - during normal opera-tion - said second channel accomodates a row made up by a certain number of side-by-side positioned packets. The insertion of a new packet into channel 83 causes9 thefore J the row of packets to move in the direction of arrow 88, of a distance corresponding to the crosswise dimension of a packet, and the transfer of the first pa-cket of the row onto the pile forming means 68, now dwelling in a d~ lly ~ard~ directed inoperative position'' During the upward stroke of the pile forming means 68, control-led by the cam 33 through the vertical rod 35, the packet previou-sly transferred onto said means 68, is pushed through the spring controlled retaining means 70, and -~uring the return stroke of me ans 68- retained by said means 70 in the inlet porti~o,n of the thir~ I ..
channel 69.
As above stated~ the first and second pushers 71 and 75 are se-cured to the two ends of the rod 55, and they are actuated in uni-son by said rod 55 with a frequency which i5 half that of the pile forming means 68.
Since the first pusher 71, carried by the left end (viewing Fig 1~ of rod 5S, is hori~ontally reciprocated along the third channel 69, in the time interval between two successive interventions of said pusher 71,a pile 72 - consis-ting of two superposed packets 58 is formed by the pile forming means 68 in the inlet portion of the , , : ", ' - ,; : ., thlrd channel 69, the newly formed pile being in a side-by~side re lationship with the previously formed pile, the latter now resting on the outlet portion of the same channel 69.
In its forward stroke, the pusher 71 engages the left side of the pile 72 resting on the inlet portion of the channel 69, and pushes it up to the outlet portion of the same channel, thus allo-wing the formation, by the pile forming means 68, of a new pile 72 in the inlet portlon of sa1d channel 69.
As.a consequence of the shifting of a pile 72 from the inlet po tion of channel 69 up to the outlet portion of the same channel, the pile previously positioned in said outlet ~ortion is pushed in to that one of the compartments 73 o~ the ~ l 74,dwelling in an inlet station aligned with the channel 69, and -therefore- aligned with the path of pushers 71 and 75.
The horizontal compartmented wheel 749 as above stated, is ke-yed on the upper end of shaft 50, and it is intermittently, anti-clockwise rotated at the same frequency of the pushers 71 and 7S, so that at each forward stroke of the pusher 71, successive piles 72 are inserted into successive compartments 73 of wheel 74.
Due to the intermittent rotation of the horizontal compartmente~
wheel 74, the piles 72 housed in the compartments 73 are transfer-red from the inlet stat1on to an opposltely disposed outlet stati-on in alignment with the fourth channel 76, and during each forwar~
stroke of the second pusher 75, working in unïson with the first pusher 71, a pile will be removed from said outlet station, and pu :, , ~ . :
.,, .. .~, . . ..
106~1-46 shed onto said fourth channel 76.
At each stroke from left to right cf rod ~5~ a plle is introdu-ced lnto a compartment 73 by the first pusher 719 and a pile ls re moved from the diametrally opposite compartment 73 by the second pusher 75, and by said later pusher introduced into the fourth cha nel 76, thus gradually forming - on the supporting surface 78 - a complete group 79 underneath a conventional brush 77 (in the exam-ple shown, the complete group 79 is made up by five side-by-side positioned piles 729 each comprising two superposed packets 58).
Each complete group 73 is conventionally pushed, in a manner no shown, along the supporting surface 78 in the direction of arrow 89 (Fig. 2) toward theparcelling or cartoning machine (not shown).
In Fig. 1 are also shown two stations ~ 80 and 81, the .-sta-tion 81 underlaying a storage unit 82 containing a stack of non-defective packets.
As described in the ~talian patent N 68-065~, in the name of th same Applicant as herein, suitable means (not shown) rejects piles 72 l~ontaining one or more defective packets from the station 80, and in the . station 81 a new pile is supplied from the sto-rage unit 82.
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The latter machines usually colnprise:
a) the pacl<eting machines, for making cigarette packets;
b) the parcelling or cartoning machines, for making pacl<ages or cartons containing a plurality of cigarette packets; ;
c) the cellophane wrapplng machines~, for wrapping with cellopha-ne, or other simi]ar material, individual cigarette pacl<ets;
d) the overwrapping machines for overwlapping packages or car-to-ns.
10~9946 In said plants, the cellophane wrapping machines are positioned etween the packeting machines and the parcelling or cartoning ma-hines, while the overwrapping machines are positioned downstream f said parcelling or cartoning machlnes.
The operating output speed of the packeting machines can range etween 100/200 cigarette packets up to 400 cigarette packets per inute.
The operating output speed of the parcelling or cartoning machi-es isa/~unction of the number of cigarette packets making up the ndividual packages or carton.
The present invention aims to solve the problems concerned with he feeding of the parcelling or cartoning machines by the cello-hane wrapping machines.
;UMMARY OF THR INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is, therefore, to provi e an apparatus for connecting a cellophane wrapping machine opera-ng at very high output speed (400 packets per minute) to a parcel ng or cartoning machine, without any loss of operating cycles.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such an paratus by which plles, consistlng of any desired number of pa-ets, can be formed.
A further obJect is to provlde, in conformity with the above ob-cts, an apparatus able to feed individual piles of cigarette pa7 ets to a rejection and replenishment device, for rejecting defec-ive piles and for replenishing said defective piles with non-defec _ 3 _ 1.~6994~ ~
~ :
tive piles, and ~ in the meantlme - able to re~ect individual piles from the same device in such a manner to build up complete -:
groups of packets made up by any desired number of piles.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided an apparàtus for forming groups of side~by-side piles of parallelplpedal~shaped articles, in particular clgarette packets 9 the groups being supplied to a parcelling or cartoning machine, the apparatus incluidng a re~ecting and replenishlng device for rejecting defective piles and replenishing said de- .:;.
fective piles with non-defective piles~ said apparatus compri-sing~
a vertically and reciprocatingly movable pile-forming means positioned upstream of said rejecting and replenishing device, for forming piles of a preselected number n of articles; -first and second means synchronously and reciprocatingly moving with a frequency equal to l/n that of said pile-forming means, said first means for feeding individual piles into said e~ecting and replenishing device, and said second means for sequentially removing piles from said re~ecting and replenishing device, and for ~eeding successive piles along an exiting channel~
~rom which individual complete groups of side-by-side piles are conventionally fed to said parcelling or cartoning machine;
an intermittently and unidirectionally rotating wrapping wheel pro~ided with a plurality of radially disposed pockets, `~
a first horizontal inlet channel along which indiv~dual articles are sequentially fed into each pocket of said wrapping wheel during each dwell thereof, a second outlet channel coplanar with said first inlet channel7 and pushlng means for se~uentially removing individual articles from said radial pockets and for 30 pushing said removed articles onto said second outlet channel ;
further comprlsing: a third extending above, parallel to and partially overlapping said second channel;
resiliently movable retaining means positioned along the 6~g~6 opposite longitudinal sides of the overlap ing area of said third channel relative to said second channel;
lifting means positioned underneath said second channel in alignment with said retaining means~ and cycli-cally and reciprocatingly moved in a vertical direction by cam driving means for sequentially transferring articles from said second channel in a piled relationship above said retaining means; ~ .
a stepwise, unidirectionally rotating horizontal wheel provided with a plurality of radially disposed compart- ~ ;
ments coplanar with said third channel; ~ :.
a~'fourth channel coplanar with said third channel and oppositely positioned relative to said horizontal com-partmented wheel; ~
driving means for stepwise~ unidirectionally rota- .
ting s~d horizontal compartmented wheel with a frequency submultiple relative to the cyclic frequency of said lifting ~ ;~
means, and for dwelling a compartment and the relative opposi- i tely disposed compartment in alignment~ respectively~ with said ~
third channel and said rourth channel; and ;.
a first and a second pushing means horizontally and reciprocatingly moved along a path parallel to and above said ~
third channel and said horizontal compartmented wheel in unison ~ ;
actuated by cam driving means with a frequency equal to the :
dwelling frequency of said horizontal compartmented wheel, said first pushing means transferring individual piles from said third channel into that one of the compartments of the horl-zontal compartmented wheel which is dwelling in alignment with the same third channel, and said second pushing means for removing individual piles from said oppositely disposed compar-tment, and for pushing said piles onto said fourth channel, along which successive piles are approached together in a side-by-side relationship to form groups of piles to be ~ed to said parcelling or cartoning machine.
- 4a-~06g9~6 According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for forming groups of cigarette pa-ckets to be supplied to a parcelling or cartoning machine, said apparatus comprising: an intermittently and unidirectionally rotatable wrapping wheel provided with a plurality o~ radial pockets; a first horizontal inlet channel along which individual pac~ets are se~uentially fed into each pocket o~ said wrapping wheel during a dwell thereof; a second outlet channel coplanar with said first inlet channel; pushing means for sequentially removing individual articles form said radial pocket and for ~ushing said remove~ articles onto said second outlet channel;
a third channel extending above, parallel to and partially overlapping said second channel; resiliently removable retaining .
means positioned along the opposite longitudinal sides o~ the overlapping areas of said third channel relative to said second channel; lifting means positioned underneath said second channel in alignment with said retaining means and cyclically and reciprocatingly movable in a vertical direction by cam driving means for sequentially transferring articles from said second channel in a piled relationship above s~id retaining means;
a stepwise unidirectionally rotatable horizontal wheel provi-ded with a plurality of radially disposed compartments copla-nar with said third channel; a ~ourth channel coplanar with said third channel and positioned opposite the same relative `
to said horizontal compartmented wheel; and driving means for -~
the stepwise unidirectional rotation of said horizontal com-partmented wheel with a ~requency which is a submultiple of the cyclic frequency of said lifting means for causing dwell of a compartment and the oppositely disposed compartment in alignment respectively with said third and fourth channels.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRA~INGS
A pre~erred embodiment of the invention is thereinafter -4b-: . . .. : . . , ~)699916 "
described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: ~
Flg. 1 is a perspective view o~ the mechanism for ~
driving the apparatus according to the invention; and Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic schematic view showing the sequence of the various operations, performed by means driven by the mechanism according to Fig. 1, to build up complete groups from continuously fed cigarette packets.
,- ,;i ~'~
'.::
. ~ .
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFEP~RED EMBODIMENT
For a clear understanding of the present invention, only the es-sential components of a high-speed operating cellophane wrapping ma chine are shown in the drawings, being said machine well known to the man of the art.
With particular reference to Fig. 1, with 1 is indicated an elec tric motor for driving a cellophane wrapping machine, of the type -for example- manufactured by the same Applicant as herein, and kno n on the trade as "4350/CELL", conceived to wrap up to 400 cigaret e packets per minute.
Keyed on a horizontal shaft of said motor 1 is a pulley 2, by hich a second pulley 4, keyed on one end of a horizontal main shaf , is driven by a belt transmission 3. On the same shaft 5 are ke-ed, starting from said one end, a skew gear wheel 6, a gear 7, and gear wheel 8. -The skew gear wheel 6 meshes with a gear 9, keyed on the lowernd of a vertical shaft 10, by which in turn, a shaft 13, parallel o shaft 5, is driven through a pair of skew gear wheels 11 and 12.
he task of the shaft 13 will be described thereinafter.
A shaft 15, extending parallel to shaft 5, is driven by the gear , though a gear 14, and carries a conventional device 16, by whlch six-spaces Maltese cross 17 lS intermittently driven, being said altese cross keyed on the left end (viewing Fig. 1) of a shaft 18, lso extending parallel to the main shaft 5.
The device 16 conventionally comprises oppositely posltioned pin ~L069946 ¦or idle rollers9 and a centering member in the form of an arcuated sector: said latter components have not been shown, for clearness sake, in the drawings.
¦ With 19 is indicated an eccentric keyed on a shaft 21, and with 20 is indicated a grooved cam keyed on a shaft 22, extending both latter shafts paralIel to the main shaft 5, and by which are drive in a conventional manner, not shown.
A rod 24, extènding perpendicularly to the main shaft 5, has on end pivotally connected, in 23, to the eccentric l9, and the other end of said rod Z4 carries a pusher 64. On the rod 24 is slldingly mounted a block 26 having horizontal pins 25 engaging the upper . end of a link rod 27. The lower end of the link rod 27 is provided with an idle cam follower 28 engaglng the groove of cam 20.
With such a construction, an axiallY directed, reciprocating motion is imparted by the eccentric 19 to the rod 24, and a swing-ing motion in a vertical plane extending through the axis of same rod 24, is superimposed to said axially directed, reciprocating mo .~
tion by the action of cam 20. Z
A shaft 30, extending parallel to th main shaft 5, is driven ~ . ~ ', .
by the gear 8, through a gear 29, ~e4Rg-4~ said shaft 30 keyed,~-from left to right (viewing Fig~ 1), a gear 31, an eccentria 32, a grooved cam 33, and - at the ~ end - a handwheel 34 for manual ly adjusting the apparatus. .
Slidingly engaged with the groove of cam 33 is a cam follower, shown with dashed lines in Fig. 1, secured to the lower end of a .
vertical rod 35 to which an axially directed reciprocating motion 10~;9946 is imparted, along stationary gu.ides (not shown), when the shaft 30 is turning. The upper end of rod 35 carries (Fig. 2) a pile for ming means 68, the task of which will be explained thereinafter.
The eccentric 3Z is freely turning whithin a ring provided on one end of a link rod 36, being the opposite end of said link rod 36 hinged to a lever 37 pivotally fitted; by a pin 38, on the bed (not shown) of the cellophane wrapping machine, and which lever 37 has the free end formed with a slot 39.
Slidingly fitted in said slot 39, by means of a sliding shoe (not shown), is a horizontal pin 40, by which said lever 37 is con nected to one end of a horizontal rod 4~pe~pendicularl~extending re-lative to the main shaft 5, and to which a reciprocating axial mo-tion, along stationary guides (not shown), is imparted through the above described connection. As shown in Fig. 2, a pusher 67 is se-cured on the other end of rod 41.
The gear 31 meshes with a gear 42 keyed on a shaft 43, extendin parallel to the main shaft 5, and whereon a drùm-shaped cam 44 and a bevel gear 45 are also keyed on.
The drive is transmitted from the gear 42~ through a gear 46, t a vertical shaft 47. Secured to said shaft 47 is a conventional de vice 48, comprising a pin and an arcuated sector (not shown), by which a six-spaces Maltese cross 49, keyed on the lower end of a vertical shaft 50, is intermittently driven. On the upper end of shaft 50 is secured a horizontal compartmented wheel 74, having a plurality of radially disposed compartments 73.
.' : - 7 - - , ~L069946 ¦ Slidingly engaged with the groove of the drum-shaped cam 44 is a cam follower secured to one end of a lever 51, the other end of ¦said lever being secured to the lower end of a vertical shaft 52.
¦ The upper end of shaft 52 carries a horizontal arm 53, the free end of which is provided with a slot 53' engaging, through a slid-ing shoe (not shown), a pin 54 vertically protruding from the mid-dle portion of a horizontal rod 55. The rod 55 is free to axially slide along guides, not shown and secured to the bed of the cello-phane wrapping machine.
One end of the rod 55 carries a first pusher 71, and the other end of the same rod carries a second pusher 75, both pushers sub-stantially lying on the same horizontal plane containing the upper surface of the horizontal compartmented wheel 74.
The revolving motion of the dr~m-shaped cam 44 results, through the connection above described, in a swinging motion in a horizon-tal plane of arm 53, and in axially directed, reciprocating motion of rod 55 in unison w.ith pushers 71 and 75.
The bevel gear 45 meshes with a bevel gear 56 keyed on one end of a horizontal shaft 57,perpendicularlyextending relative to the mair shaft 5. Said shaft 57 represents the source of drive of the par-celling or cartoning machine, located downstream of the cellophane wrapping machine, and fed with groups of cigarette packets made up by the apparatus according-to the present invention.
With 60 ls generically indicated a first horizontal inlet chan-nel, conventionally comprising a pair of spaced apart endless con-veying belts 60' and 60" wound about idle rollers 61, and aboutrollers 62 (only one is shown in Fig. 1) keyed on the shaft 130 The two belts 60' and 60" are spaced apart of a distance sligth ly shorter than the length of a cigarette packet 5B, so that to support each packet on the two opposite ends thereof~ Between the two belts 60' and 60" is longitudinally positioned, coplanar with the upper run of the same belts~ a strip 63.
The channel 60 is formed by a plurality of compartments 59, eac for housing a packet 58, and is prov1ded for individually and se-quentially feeding cigarette packets 58 into radially disposed p~-ckets 65 (six in the embodiment shown) of an intermittently, clock wise rotating wrapping wheel 66, making part of the cellophane wra~
ping machine, and keyed on the horizontal shaft 18.
The pusher 67 moves along a second outlet channel, shown with dashed lines in Fig. 2 and generically indicated with 83. Said se-cond channel 83 lies on the same horizontal plane containing the flrst inlet channel 60, but opposite to the wrapping wheel 66, and extends up to the pile forming means 680 The first pusher 71 moves along a third channel, generically in dicated in Fig. 2 with 69, the inlet portion of which channel 69 overlaps the pile forming means 68, i5 spaced above the second cha~
nel 83 by a distance substantially corresponding to the thickness of a packet 58, and extends up to the horizontal compartmented ¦
wheel 74. The length of said third channel 69 is, in the embodimen1 ;
shown, twice the crosswise dimension of the packets 58.
~ ,: . -1~69~
~ n each side of the i~let portion of the third channel 69, i.e. on that portion overlapping the plle forming means 68, there is provided a resiliently movable retaining means 70 (FigO 2) which can be moved from a first substantially horizontal operative position to a second substantially vertical inoperative position.
Spring means, not shown, reacts to return said retaining means to the first operative position any time they are moved o~f.
The second pusher 75 moves along a fourth channel, generically indicated in Fig. 2 with 76, connecting the compartment-ed hori~ontal wheel 74 with a supporting surface 78.
As particularly shown in Fig. 2, the cigarette packets, delivered by a packeting machine (not shown, and advantageously of the type described in the Canadian application No 17955 filed on l9th Nov. 68, No 187825 filed on 10th Dec. 73, No 200839 filed on 23rd May 1974 in the name of the same Applicant as herein), are fed to the cellophane wrapping machine by a continuously driven conveyor 84, parallel to the main shaft 5, in the direction of arrow 85. On said conveyor 84 the packets 58 are end-to-end and ~ ;
flatwise positioned.
As disclosed in the Canadian application No. 189807 filed on 9th Jan. 1974, in the name of the same Applicant as "
herein, at the discharge end of the conveyor 84, the packets 58 are individually housed into the compartments 59 (Fig. 1) of the ~-conveyor, or first inlet channel 60. As shown in Fig. 2, the conveyor 60 is transversally positioned relative to conveyor 84, ;-and is continuously moved in the direction of arrow 86.
In the operation, a packet 58 i5 continuously moved by the conveyor -- 1 0 -- , ,,, ' ' ' ~ " ,,.
~ 946 60 until it reaches the right end of the same conveyor, wherein th , pusher 64, secured to the free end of rod 24, is standing.
The eccentric 19, cam 20 and link rod 27 cooperate~ as above stated, to impart an axially directed, reciprocating motion to the rod 24 to extend the pusher 64, during its ~orward stroke, in bet-ween the belts 60' and 60", just downstream of that compartment 59 which reached the right end of conveyor 60, so as to push thé pac-ket 58 housed in said compartment-together with a piece of cello-phane wrapping material, not shown and ~ed in any conventional man ner - into that one of the radial pockets 65 which is dwelling in an inlet station aligned with the conveyor 60.
After insertion of a paclcet into a pocket 65, the pusher 64 be-gins its backward stroke, by swinging downwardly to prevent it frol n interferring with the next packet 58 advancing on the conveyor 60, and with which it will come into engagement during its next for-ward strok~. ~
The considered cigarette packet 58, due to the stepwise and clo ckwise rotation ~arrow 87, Fig. 2) of the wrapping wheel 66, is transferréd from said inlet statio~to a diametrally opposite outle~ :
station, and during said transferring the considered packet 58 is subjected to a first series of wrapping operations by conventional (not shown) stationary and movable folding means, as well as by I
welding means fitted about the wrapping wheel 66. i, On the outlet station operates the pusher 67,which removes the considered and partially wrapped packet from the relative pocket 65, and moves it onto the second channel 83, along which the wrap-ping operations are completed.
The second channel a8 has a length equal to a multiple of the crosswise dimension of the packets 58, and - during normal opera-tion - said second channel accomodates a row made up by a certain number of side-by-side positioned packets. The insertion of a new packet into channel 83 causes9 thefore J the row of packets to move in the direction of arrow 88, of a distance corresponding to the crosswise dimension of a packet, and the transfer of the first pa-cket of the row onto the pile forming means 68, now dwelling in a d~ lly ~ard~ directed inoperative position'' During the upward stroke of the pile forming means 68, control-led by the cam 33 through the vertical rod 35, the packet previou-sly transferred onto said means 68, is pushed through the spring controlled retaining means 70, and -~uring the return stroke of me ans 68- retained by said means 70 in the inlet porti~o,n of the thir~ I ..
channel 69.
As above stated~ the first and second pushers 71 and 75 are se-cured to the two ends of the rod 55, and they are actuated in uni-son by said rod 55 with a frequency which i5 half that of the pile forming means 68.
Since the first pusher 71, carried by the left end (viewing Fig 1~ of rod 5S, is hori~ontally reciprocated along the third channel 69, in the time interval between two successive interventions of said pusher 71,a pile 72 - consis-ting of two superposed packets 58 is formed by the pile forming means 68 in the inlet portion of the , , : ", ' - ,; : ., thlrd channel 69, the newly formed pile being in a side-by~side re lationship with the previously formed pile, the latter now resting on the outlet portion of the same channel 69.
In its forward stroke, the pusher 71 engages the left side of the pile 72 resting on the inlet portion of the channel 69, and pushes it up to the outlet portion of the same channel, thus allo-wing the formation, by the pile forming means 68, of a new pile 72 in the inlet portlon of sa1d channel 69.
As.a consequence of the shifting of a pile 72 from the inlet po tion of channel 69 up to the outlet portion of the same channel, the pile previously positioned in said outlet ~ortion is pushed in to that one of the compartments 73 o~ the ~ l 74,dwelling in an inlet station aligned with the channel 69, and -therefore- aligned with the path of pushers 71 and 75.
The horizontal compartmented wheel 749 as above stated, is ke-yed on the upper end of shaft 50, and it is intermittently, anti-clockwise rotated at the same frequency of the pushers 71 and 7S, so that at each forward stroke of the pusher 71, successive piles 72 are inserted into successive compartments 73 of wheel 74.
Due to the intermittent rotation of the horizontal compartmente~
wheel 74, the piles 72 housed in the compartments 73 are transfer-red from the inlet stat1on to an opposltely disposed outlet stati-on in alignment with the fourth channel 76, and during each forwar~
stroke of the second pusher 75, working in unïson with the first pusher 71, a pile will be removed from said outlet station, and pu :, , ~ . :
.,, .. .~, . . ..
106~1-46 shed onto said fourth channel 76.
At each stroke from left to right cf rod ~5~ a plle is introdu-ced lnto a compartment 73 by the first pusher 719 and a pile ls re moved from the diametrally opposite compartment 73 by the second pusher 75, and by said later pusher introduced into the fourth cha nel 76, thus gradually forming - on the supporting surface 78 - a complete group 79 underneath a conventional brush 77 (in the exam-ple shown, the complete group 79 is made up by five side-by-side positioned piles 729 each comprising two superposed packets 58).
Each complete group 73 is conventionally pushed, in a manner no shown, along the supporting surface 78 in the direction of arrow 89 (Fig. 2) toward theparcelling or cartoning machine (not shown).
In Fig. 1 are also shown two stations ~ 80 and 81, the .-sta-tion 81 underlaying a storage unit 82 containing a stack of non-defective packets.
As described in the ~talian patent N 68-065~, in the name of th same Applicant as herein, suitable means (not shown) rejects piles 72 l~ontaining one or more defective packets from the station 80, and in the . station 81 a new pile is supplied from the sto-rage unit 82.
.. . :' ' , , . :
.:' ' ' , .
. , .
Claims (5)
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. An apparatus for forming groups of side-by-side piles of parallelpipedal-shaped articles, in particular cigar-ette packets, the groups being supplied to a parcelling or carton-ing machine, comprising an intermittently and unidirectionally rotating wrapping wheel provided with a plurality of radially disposed pockets, a first horizontal inlet channel along which individual articles are sequentially fed into each pocket of said wrapping wheel during each dwell thereof, a second outlet channel coplanar with said first inlet channel, and pushing means for sequentially removing individual articles from said radial pockets and for pushing said removed articles onto said second outlet channel further comprising: a third channel extending above, parallel to and partially overlapping said second channel;
resiliently movable retaining means positioned along the opposite longitudinal sides of the overlapping area of said third channel relative to said second channel;
lifting means positioned underneath said second channel in alignment with said retaining means, and cyclically and reciprocatingly moved in a vertical direction by cam driving means for sequentially transferring articles from said second channel in a piled relationship above said retaining means;
a stepwise, unidirectionally rotating horizontal wheel provided with a pluralty of radially disposed compartments coplanar with said third channel;
a fourth channel coplanar with said third channel and oppositely positioned relative to said horizontal compartmented wheel;
driving means for stepwise, unidirectionally rotating said horizontal compartmented wheel with a frequency submultiple relative to the cyclic frequency of said lifting means, and for dwelling a compartment and the relative oppositely disposed compartment in alignment, respectively, with said third channel and said fourth channel; and a first and a second pushing means horizontally and reciprocatingly moved along a path parallel to and above said third channel and said horizontal compartmented wheel in unison actuated by cam driving means with a frequency equal to the dwelling frequency of said horizontal compartmented wheel, said first pushing means transferring individual piles from said third channel into that one of the compartments of the horizon-tal compartmented wheel which is dewlling in alignment with the same third channel, and said second pushing means for remo-ving individual piles from said oppositely disposed compart-ment, and for pushing said piles onto said fourth channel, along which successive piles are approached together in a side-by-side relationship to form groups of piles to be fed to said parcelling or cartoning machine.
resiliently movable retaining means positioned along the opposite longitudinal sides of the overlapping area of said third channel relative to said second channel;
lifting means positioned underneath said second channel in alignment with said retaining means, and cyclically and reciprocatingly moved in a vertical direction by cam driving means for sequentially transferring articles from said second channel in a piled relationship above said retaining means;
a stepwise, unidirectionally rotating horizontal wheel provided with a pluralty of radially disposed compartments coplanar with said third channel;
a fourth channel coplanar with said third channel and oppositely positioned relative to said horizontal compartmented wheel;
driving means for stepwise, unidirectionally rotating said horizontal compartmented wheel with a frequency submultiple relative to the cyclic frequency of said lifting means, and for dwelling a compartment and the relative oppositely disposed compartment in alignment, respectively, with said third channel and said fourth channel; and a first and a second pushing means horizontally and reciprocatingly moved along a path parallel to and above said third channel and said horizontal compartmented wheel in unison actuated by cam driving means with a frequency equal to the dwelling frequency of said horizontal compartmented wheel, said first pushing means transferring individual piles from said third channel into that one of the compartments of the horizon-tal compartmented wheel which is dewlling in alignment with the same third channel, and said second pushing means for remo-ving individual piles from said oppositely disposed compart-ment, and for pushing said piles onto said fourth channel, along which successive piles are approached together in a side-by-side relationship to form groups of piles to be fed to said parcelling or cartoning machine.
2. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the length of said second and third channels is equal to a multiple of the dimension of the articles as measured in the direction of their advancement, the difference in height between said second and third channels being at least equal to the dimension of the same articles as measured in a direction perpendicular to said advancement.
3. An apparatus for forming groups of cigarette pa-ckets to be supplied to a parcelling or cartoning machine, said apparatus comprising:
an intermittently and unidirectionally rotatable wrap-ping wheel provided with a plurality of radial pockets;
a first horizontal inlet channel along which indivi-dual packets are sequentially fed into each pocket of said wrap-ping wheel during a dwell thereof;
a second outlet channel coplanar with said first inlet channel;
pushing means for sequentially removing individual articles from said radial pocket and for pushing said removed articles onto said second outlet channel;
a third channel extending above parallel to and partially overlapping said second channel;
resiliently removable retaining means positioned along the opposite longitudinal sides of the overlapping areas of said third channel relative to said second channel;
lifting means positioned underneath said second channel in alignment with said retaining means and cyclically and reciprocatingly movable in a vertical direction by cam driving means for sequentially transferring articles from said second channel in a piled relationship above said retaining means;
a stepwise unidirectionally rotatable horizontal wheel provided with a plurality of radially disposed compart-ments coplanar with said third channel;
a fourth channel coplanar with said third channel and positioned opposite the same relative to said horizontal com-partmented wheel; and driving means for the stepwise unidirectional rotation of said horizontal compartmented wheel with a frequency which is a submultiple of the cyclic frequency of said lifting means for causing dwell of a compartment and the oppositely disposed compartment in alignment respectively with said third and fourth channels.
an intermittently and unidirectionally rotatable wrap-ping wheel provided with a plurality of radial pockets;
a first horizontal inlet channel along which indivi-dual packets are sequentially fed into each pocket of said wrap-ping wheel during a dwell thereof;
a second outlet channel coplanar with said first inlet channel;
pushing means for sequentially removing individual articles from said radial pocket and for pushing said removed articles onto said second outlet channel;
a third channel extending above parallel to and partially overlapping said second channel;
resiliently removable retaining means positioned along the opposite longitudinal sides of the overlapping areas of said third channel relative to said second channel;
lifting means positioned underneath said second channel in alignment with said retaining means and cyclically and reciprocatingly movable in a vertical direction by cam driving means for sequentially transferring articles from said second channel in a piled relationship above said retaining means;
a stepwise unidirectionally rotatable horizontal wheel provided with a plurality of radially disposed compart-ments coplanar with said third channel;
a fourth channel coplanar with said third channel and positioned opposite the same relative to said horizontal com-partmented wheel; and driving means for the stepwise unidirectional rotation of said horizontal compartmented wheel with a frequency which is a submultiple of the cyclic frequency of said lifting means for causing dwell of a compartment and the oppositely disposed compartment in alignment respectively with said third and fourth channels.
4. The apparatus defined in claim 3, further compri-sing: a first and second pushing means horizontally and recip-rocatingly moved along a path parallel to and above said third channel and said horizontal compartmented wheel in unison actuated by cam driving means with a frequency equal to the dwelling frequency of said horizontal compartmented wheel, said first pushing means transferring individual piles from said third channel, and said second pushing means for removing indi-vidual piles from said oppositely disposed compartment, and for pushing said piles onto said fourth channel, along which succe-ssive piles are approached together in a side-by-side relation-ship to form groups of piles to be fed to said parcelling or cartoning machine.
5. The apparatus defined in claim 4, wherein the length of said second and third channels is equal to a multi-ple of the dimension of the articles as measured in the direc-tion of their advancement, the difference in height between said second and third channels being at least equal to the dimension of the same articles as measured in a direction perpendicular to said advancement.
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT03378/76A IT1060845B (en) | 1976-03-17 | 1976-03-17 | EQUIPMENT FOR FORMING GROUPS OF CIGARETTE PACKAGES DISTINED FOR THE SUPPLY OF PACKING MACHINES OR STICKING MACHINES |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1069946A true CA1069946A (en) | 1980-01-15 |
Family
ID=11105994
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA274,146A Expired CA1069946A (en) | 1976-03-17 | 1977-03-17 | Apparatus for forming groups made up by a plurality of side-by-side positioned piles of parallelepipedon shaped articles |
Country Status (19)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPS52133672A (en) |
| AR (1) | AR211634A1 (en) |
| AT (1) | AT359926B (en) |
| BR (1) | BR7701603A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1069946A (en) |
| CH (1) | CH610561A5 (en) |
| CS (1) | CS210612B2 (en) |
| DD (1) | DD129431A5 (en) |
| DE (1) | DE2711781A1 (en) |
| ES (1) | ES456921A1 (en) |
| FR (1) | FR2344478A1 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB1573634A (en) |
| IN (1) | IN146416B (en) |
| IT (1) | IT1060845B (en) |
| MX (1) | MX144133A (en) |
| NL (1) | NL7702797A (en) |
| PL (1) | PL108231B1 (en) |
| SE (1) | SE425153B (en) |
| SU (1) | SU664550A3 (en) |
Families Citing this family (12)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPS58162429A (en) * | 1982-03-18 | 1983-09-27 | Akio Ono | Work aligning device |
| JPS58193835A (en) * | 1982-04-30 | 1983-11-11 | Haruo Sugiura | Equipment for automatically inverting and stacking cases |
| DE3618247A1 (en) * | 1986-05-30 | 1987-12-03 | Hauni Werke Koerber & Co Kg | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR REPLACING DEFECTIVE PACKS SEPARATED FROM A CONVEYOR CURRENT BY Fault-free Packings |
| DE3876206D1 (en) * | 1987-10-16 | 1993-01-07 | Hauni Werke Koerber & Co Kg | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PACKING SINGLE PACKS IN GROUPS. |
| DE4225494A1 (en) * | 1992-04-07 | 1993-10-14 | Focke & Co | Method and device for transporting packages |
| IT1260227B (en) * | 1992-12-18 | 1996-04-02 | Gd Spa | CIGARETTE PACKAGE FEEDING DEVICE TO A STICKING MACHINE |
| IT1279221B1 (en) * | 1994-01-20 | 1997-12-09 | Gd Spa | METHOD AND PACKAGING MACHINE FOR THE FORMATION OF DOUBLE PACKAGES FOR CIGARETTES |
| DE102005013111A1 (en) * | 2005-03-18 | 2006-09-28 | Focke & Co.(Gmbh & Co. Kg) | Method and apparatus for forming pack groups |
| RU2523835C1 (en) * | 2012-12-12 | 2014-07-27 | Сергей Витальевич Некрасов | Device for oriented feeding and stacking of product stacks |
| CN113729268B (en) * | 2021-09-08 | 2022-09-16 | 山东中烟工业有限责任公司 | Method for arranging cigarettes in order for cigarette conveying channel |
| IT202100030995A1 (en) * | 2021-12-10 | 2023-06-10 | Sasib Spa | Bundling units and bundling method for making a stack of snus boxes. |
| CN114919800B (en) * | 2022-05-27 | 2024-03-29 | 红塔烟草(集团)有限责任公司 | Device for filling cigarette packets into prefabricated boxes |
Family Cites Families (12)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US2008870A (en) * | 1930-06-28 | 1935-07-23 | Reynolds Tobacco Co R | Defective package ejector for cigarette packaging machines |
| FR996638A (en) * | 1945-05-08 | 1951-12-24 | Signaux Entr Electriques | Device for mechanical grouping of packages from packaging machines |
| FR1122308A (en) * | 1954-02-19 | 1956-09-05 | Unilever Nv | Method and device for bringing or transporting packaged goods |
| DE1127810B (en) * | 1960-12-21 | 1962-04-12 | Hesser Ag Maschf | Device for stacking prismatic objects, in particular in connection with a device for multipacking the stacked objects |
| US3220570A (en) * | 1964-02-04 | 1965-11-30 | Package Machinery Co | Assembly and wrapping of groups of articles |
| DE1511626A1 (en) * | 1965-07-19 | 1969-09-11 | Hauni Werke Koerber & Co Kg | Device in packing machines for connecting parts of the wrapping of cigarette packs or other block-shaped objects |
| US3570209A (en) * | 1969-10-15 | 1971-03-16 | Melvin Salwasser | Casing apparatus and method |
| JPS5119910B2 (en) * | 1971-12-28 | 1976-06-21 | ||
| JPS4917190A (en) * | 1972-05-31 | 1974-02-15 | ||
| IT983255B (en) * | 1973-05-09 | 1974-10-31 | Gd Spa | CIGARETTES PACKAGING MACHINE |
| US3954165A (en) * | 1973-07-12 | 1976-05-04 | R. C. H. Tool Corporation | Automatic collating machine |
| IT992093B (en) * | 1973-07-31 | 1975-09-10 | Gd Spa | KINEMATISM OF MACHINE CONDITIONING TRICE OF CIGARETTES IN FAST PACKAGES |
-
1976
- 1976-03-17 IT IT03378/76A patent/IT1060845B/en active
-
1977
- 1977-03-07 IN IN331/CAL/77A patent/IN146416B/en unknown
- 1977-03-15 NL NL7702797A patent/NL7702797A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1977-03-15 AR AR266854A patent/AR211634A1/en active
- 1977-03-16 CS CS771758A patent/CS210612B2/en unknown
- 1977-03-16 ES ES456921A patent/ES456921A1/en not_active Expired
- 1977-03-16 MX MX168397A patent/MX144133A/en unknown
- 1977-03-16 SE SE7702972A patent/SE425153B/en unknown
- 1977-03-16 JP JP2811877A patent/JPS52133672A/en active Granted
- 1977-03-16 PL PL1977196704A patent/PL108231B1/en unknown
- 1977-03-16 CH CH327377A patent/CH610561A5/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1977-03-16 DD DD7700197886A patent/DD129431A5/en unknown
- 1977-03-16 BR BR7701603A patent/BR7701603A/en unknown
- 1977-03-17 DE DE19772711781 patent/DE2711781A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1977-03-17 SU SU772476511A patent/SU664550A3/en active
- 1977-03-17 CA CA274,146A patent/CA1069946A/en not_active Expired
- 1977-03-17 GB GB11438/77A patent/GB1573634A/en not_active Expired
- 1977-03-17 AT AT184877A patent/AT359926B/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1977-03-17 FR FR7708032A patent/FR2344478A1/en active Granted
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| NL7702797A (en) | 1977-09-20 |
| AR211634A1 (en) | 1978-02-15 |
| DD129431A5 (en) | 1978-01-18 |
| DE2711781A1 (en) | 1977-10-06 |
| FR2344478B1 (en) | 1983-09-30 |
| ATA184877A (en) | 1980-04-15 |
| ES456921A1 (en) | 1978-11-01 |
| SU664550A3 (en) | 1979-05-25 |
| SE425153B (en) | 1982-09-06 |
| BR7701603A (en) | 1978-01-03 |
| JPS52133672A (en) | 1977-11-09 |
| CS210612B2 (en) | 1982-01-29 |
| FR2344478A1 (en) | 1977-10-14 |
| GB1573634A (en) | 1980-08-28 |
| IT1060845B (en) | 1982-09-30 |
| MX144133A (en) | 1981-08-31 |
| IN146416B (en) | 1979-05-26 |
| JPS5738127B2 (en) | 1982-08-13 |
| CH610561A5 (en) | 1979-04-30 |
| AT359926B (en) | 1980-12-10 |
| SE7702972L (en) | 1977-09-18 |
| PL108231B1 (en) | 1980-03-31 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |