CA1100108A - Packing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

Machine for packing articles in which an endless conveyor carrying cups feed the articles in succession to the interior of gripping means which deposit the articles in a predetermined position in relation to the packing machine.

Description

'~his in~ention relate~ to a packing machlne intenaed in particular, but not exclu~ively, ~or the packing o~
articles of pasty consistency, ~or example fresh cheeses.
At present, the only sati~actory method o~ packing articles o~ this kind con~ist~ in enclosing -them in relati~ely rigid containers, ~or example o~ card~oard.
~he present invention aim~ to provide a machine enabling the packing of articles, and especially articles o~ past~
co~sistency;- in relatively ~lexible sheet~, giving rise, on the one hand, to an improvement in the presenta~ion of the articles while preservlng their ease of transportation and storage under ~avourable conditions and~ on the other hand, to a sub~tantial lowering o~ the C03t 0~ packing.
The basic idea that has led to the conception o~ the l ~ machine in accordance with the invention is that the art-icles7 in the course o~ their ha~dling in the machine, mu~t always be kept in po~ltion b~ sui~ble members and never be left un~upported~
Accordi~g to the inventlon, a machine for packing article~, especially articles o~ pasty consistenc~, comprising mean~ *or feeding the articles, me~ns ~or pack-in~g, and pre~erably labelling, the articles and mean3 ~o~
discharging the~packed ar~icles, i characterised in ~hat the:means for ~eeding ~he articles comprise~ an endless , co~veyor carrying Cups9 each cup h~ving a mova~le plate re ting on its bottom, by m~ans o~ which the artioles ~o be packed-are fed in.~uccession to the interior o~ a ... ,. ,.

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'.,',.' :.' :':: ' ' ' gripp~ng mean~, which gripping means ~ub~equently deposits the article~ in a predetermined po~ition ln relation ~o the packing de~ice.
In a pre~erred embodiment o~ the machine ? the mean~
for discharging the packed articles compri~e~ a member, for example a plunger, movable between an upper positio~
and a lower position and having substantially vert~cal slots formed in its upper surface, and endles~ conveyor belts passing through said sIots, whereby a packed article deposited on ~aid upper sur~ace of the member may be brought into contact ~ith the conveyor belts and di~char-ged towards the outlet o~ the machine while being support-ed by the ~aid belt~
The invention will now be described, by way o~
example, with reference to the accompan~ing drawings~ in which:- -~igure 1 i9 a- schematic perspective view of one emb~
odiment of a packing machine in accorda~ce with the inv-ention, Figure 2 i~ a perspective view, on an e~larged scale compared with Figure 1, o~ part~ of the article ~eed co~-veyor o~ the machine o~ Figure 1 9 ~igure 3 i~ a seetional view, on an enlarged scale oompared with Figure 1, of the upper ~light of the ar~-icle ~eed con~eyor o~ the machine o~ Figure l, Figure 4 is a perspective viev~, on a~ enlarged scale compared with Figure 1, o~ the gripping mean~ o~ the machine of Figure 1, - 3 _ .

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~ igure 5 is a schematic transverse sectio~al ~iew o~
~he machine of Figure 1 showing the po~ition~ o~ the parts a~ter an artiele has been packed, and ~ ~, S
~ igure ~ i9 a view similar to Figure 6 but showing the position of the parts at the time o~ discharge of a packed article.
In ~igure 1 can be seen, in the foreground, the means generall~ designated by the numeral 1 ~or discharging packed articles, in the middle gound, the endless~ cup-carrying conveyor generally designated b~ the numeral 2,and, in the backgr~und, the gripping mean~ generally des-ignated by the numeral 3.
The cup-carrying conveyor 2 i~ constitutea essent-ially~by two endless chain~ 4, 5? only one o~ which ca~ be seen in Figure 1. The cups 6 merely re~t on the chain~ 4 5 through the intermediary o~ blocks 7 mounted at uni-~ormly spaced intervals on the links o~ the chains, a~
can be best seen in ~igure3 2 and 3. ~ach cup 6 i~ const-ituted by a block of plastica material, ~or example that known under the ~rade Mark "~eflon", haYing a~central opening 8 ~he shape-o~ which i3 identlcal to that o* the article~ lt is desired to pack. In the ensuing de~cript~-ion the articles chosen, by way o~ example, as the art-icles to b~ packed are ~resh cheeses o~ round shape. In this case the central opening 8 in each cup 6 i8 circular.
~t the bottom o~ each cup 6 there is dispo~ed a plate 9 which is vertically movable under the in~luence o~ a rod 10. Since the articles to be packed are round cheeses, it .
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-is not necessary to provide guiding means for defining a predetermined angular orientation of the pla-te 9. However, when the articles to be packed do not ha~e the shape o~ a symmetrical body of revolution, a guide rod 11 cooperating with a ver~ical bore 12 formed in the cup 6 enable~ the horizontal orientation o~ the plate 9 to be fixed.
Along the upper flight o~ the conveyor 2~ each cup 2 rest~ by its own weight on two o~ the mounting blocks 7 which.cooperate with cut-out portions 1~ ~ormed in the lower part of the cup. In other respectsl each cup 6 rests on two horizontal guide~ 15, one positioned out-side and ad~acent to the chai~ 4 and the other po~itioned outslde and ad~acent to the chain 5~ Each rod 10 i8 slidably mounted in a bearing 16 ~ixed in the bottom of the central opening 8 of its associated cup 6~ Along each - o~ its sides, each cup 6 is provided with a rounded ramp 17, which ramp~ bear against curved slides 18 when the cup passes ~rom the horizontal upper flight o~ the conveyor 2 to its horizontal lower ~light. Movement is communicated to the chains 4 and 5 of ~he conveyor 2 by a 3ha~t 19 driving sprocket wheels 20 ~nd connected to a drivi~g mechanism (not shown). At their ends remote from the sha~t 19, the chain~ 4 and 5 pass xound idler sprocket wheels 21. From Flgure 19 it will be seen that the cups - 6 are driven by the chains 4 and 5 in the direction o~ the arrow F2 when the sprocket wheels 20 are driven in the clockwise direction indicated by the arrow Fl.
~he cup~ 6 are advanced intermittently by the .

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conveyor 2, ~nd they are ~illed with the cheeses to be packed, as indictaed by the arrow F, as they proceed along the upper flight o* the conveyor. The intermittemt move-ment o~ the conveyor 2 is advantageously obtained by me~ns o~ a control device of the type known as "Ferguson MH2", and during each dwell period of the conveyor a di~ferent one o~ the cup~ 6 comes to rest under the gripping means 3~ When a cup comes to rest under the gripping means 3, the plate 9 associated v~ith the cup i~ raised and the grippi~g means opens to receive the cheese raised by the plate. The gripping means is ~hown in detail in ~igure 4. It is composed o~ two ~ymmetrical portion~ 31 and 32, respecti~ely7 each carrying a ~aw 33 and 34~ respectively, the internal shape of these jaws being the same as the external shape o~ the cheeses to be packed. ~he gripping means i3 connected by piping 35 to a source of compressed air (not shown) which aots on pistons contained in cyl-i~ders 36 and 37, the introduction of compre~sed air to . these cylinders causing separation of the ~aws 33 and 34.
When the pressure o~ the compressed air is cut o~, springs 39 return the gripping means to its closed posit-ion, this movement bein~ ~uided by cross-piece~ 40. The pos~tion o~ the gripping means itsel~ is controlled by a lever 22 terminating in a fo~ 23 in which a roller 24 1 mounted~
Under the action o~ a mechanism, which wlll be de~cr-ibed subsequerltly, the gripping mean~ 3 may be moved in a hori~ontal plan~ 80 that the ~aws 33 and 34 are brought : . .. :.' ' , ,,: , . : - , :. . . : ' ~ '.`' ~. .
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under a plunger 25 mounted above a packing device o~ the ~ind described in French Patent Speci~ication No. 7313019 ~ efore commencement of the packing process in the packing device 26, the plunger 25 receives a label int-ended to be applied to the packed cheese1 through the intermediary of a labelling device (not ~ho~rn~ of known type. A~ter packing and labelllng, the cheese i~ coll-ected on the upper ~ace o~ a plunger 27 which, in the emb-odiment illui~trated in the drawings i~ o~ circular cylind-rical shape, but which may be of any other sh~pe. ~heplunger 27 has vertical slots 28 formed therein, through which pai~s the upper ~lights o~ belts 29 and 30 oY the discharge conveyor 1 when the plunger 27 is in its raised position, shoY~n in Figure 5. Both the labelling plunger 25 and the plunger 27 have vertical reciprocating move-ments imparted to them, as indi~cated by the arro~s F4 and F5, respecti~ely. -~he belt~ 2g and 30 are dri~en in the direction indic~ted by the arrow F6 and carry the packed : cheeses on to a discharge table 41. These belts are dri~en through the inte~mediary o~ a reducing gear and a roller 46 by a motor 42~ At the end:o~ the conveyor 1 remote ~rom the roller 46, the belts~ 29 and 30 pas~ round a roller 43, and between the rollers 43 and 46 the belt~
are suitably tensioned by auxiliary rollers 44 and 45.
he manner of operation of the above-described maolne will now be decri.bed with reference to Figures 5 and~6. The machine is dri~en by a motor ~not shown) having a main sha~t ~ Ylhich drives1 on the one hand, .
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various cams and, on-t the other hand, the pre~iou~ly mentioned "Fergu~on" control device. A f~r~t cam 47, turnably mounted on a shaf~ 48, cooperate~ with a roller 49 mounted on a link 50 which is turnable about a sha~t 51~ When the conveyor 2 brings a cup 6 below the gripping mea~s 3, the roller 49 i~ lowered with re~pec~ to its normal position, as shown in Figure 6. The end 92 of the link comes to rest on a disc l.Oa fixed to the rod 10 and this movement causes raising of the plate 9~ as shown in 10 chain lines in Figure 6. At the same time as this move-ment occurs, air under pressure is introduced into the piping 35 and the gripping means open~ and then recloses around the cheese on the raised plate 9. A~ter this the link 50 resumes its origLnal position shown in ~ull line~
in Figures 5 and 6. The plate 9 descends and is arrested by the bDttom:~o~ the cup 6. When the cheese ha~ been gripped by the gripping means 3, the latter, starting ~rom the position it occupies in Figure 6~ is made to ta~e up the position ~hown in ~igure 5, so as to bring the chee3e 20 into the interior of the packing devlce 26. As previous-ly mentioned, this packing device is surmounted by a plunger 25. The advancing movement of the gripping mean~
3 i~ obtained by means of: a cam 52 against which bea~ a roller 53 fi~ed to a link 54 turnable about a sha~t 5~, The llnk 54 itself i~ pivoted at 56 to a link 57 on which is pivoted a~or~ed lever 58 which i~ pivotally moun~ed on a ~ha~t 59. ~he ~or~ of the lever 58 cooperate~ with the~ roller 24 fixed to the lever 22 o~ the grippi~g mean~O

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Raising o~ the roller 53 causes rotation of the link 54 around the sha-~t 55, whi.ch displace~ the lower end o~ the forked lever 58 and results in movement to the right (a~
viewed in Figure 6) of the gripping means 3, the latter coming to rest under the plunger 25. The guide lever 22, ~ixed to the gripping means 3, i9 guided in a guide block 60 by rollers 61 and 62 and by a support block 63.
A~ can be seen from Figures S and 6, when the cups move along the lower horizontal ~light o~ the conveyor 2, the plate~ 9 descend under the influence of their own weight, but are held by the discs lOa. As shown in chai~
lines~ the plunger 25 assist~ the cheese to pa~s through the packing device 26 and to arrive, once packed, on the head of the plunger 27 where it occupies the position : de~igna~ed by the ~umeral 63. The ~ertical reciprocatory mo~ement of the plunger 27 is controlled by a cam 64 coop-erating with a roller 65 mounted at one end o~ a link 66 pivotally mounted on a sha~t 67, the second end of the link 66 being pivoted at 68 to a rod 69. ~he plunger 27 reciprocates between two positions, namely an upper po~
ition shov/n in Figure 5 and a lower position shovt~ in ~ig-ure 6, under the action o~ the rod 69. The rod 69 is itsel~ pivoted to a stirrup 79 9 to which i~ fixed the rod 80 o~ the plunger 27, whilst a guide rod 81 ~lides ~reel~
i~ the i~terior o~. a bore 82 provided in the stirrup 79~
~hu~ the plun~er 27 ~ollows the movemen-t~ of the roller 65 on the cam 64. In the course o~ its de~cent, the plun~
ger 27 take~ along with it the packed cheese 63 and g .' '' ' .

deposits it on the upper ~l.ights o~ the bel-ts 29 and 30 which ef~ect evacuation of the cheese ~rom the machine~
~he operation o~ the machine is as ~ollow~:-The cheeses are deposited in the cups 6 at a ratecorresponding to the arrival o~ the CUp8 in a horizontal position at thc commencement of the upper flight o-~ the co~veyor 2. When a cup arrive~ beneath the gripping means 3~ the plate 9 of the cup rises taking the cheese ~ith it.
At this moment the gripping means 3 opens and then closes almost immediately a~terwards~ Then the gripping mea~ 3 brings ~he cheese below the plunger 25 and the grippi~g m~ans opens again, which enables disengagement o~ the chee~e when the plunger 25 i~ lowered by means o~ a cam (not shown) or a pneumatic actuator~ Under the action of the plunger 25, the cheese enters the packing device 26 when the plunger 27 is in raised position and read~ to - receive the cheese~ ~hen the plunger 27 descend~ and deposits the packed a~d labelled oheese on the belts 29 and 30. The cheeses are then evacuated ~rom the machine It will be understood that the cups 6 are simply rested on the chains 4 and 5, which makes it very easy to disengage them from the co~veyor 2~ This gives ~n import- :
ant advantage, especially when food prod.uct~, neces~ita~-i~g absolute cleanliness, ha~e to be packed. ~o this end7 the cup~ may be very ea~ily cleaned and then re~T~oun~ed on the~chains as desired.
In accordance wi-th one o:f ~he aims o~ the invention, the produc~s being packed are always held and gu~ded in -- 1 o , `

the cour~e of their passage through the machine. Although the above de~cription relates to the e~ample o~ packing fresh cheeses of round ~hape1 the machine may be adapted very easily to the packing of product~ of di~erent shape~. All th~t i~ necessary i~ to modi~y the shape of the cups and of the gripping means in order to obtain the deslred result.
; In the embodiment of the machine illustrated in the dra~ings, the ma~ority o~ the moving component~ e dri~en by mechanical means. ~he~e movement~ may be obtained instead, without departing ~rom the ~cope o~ the invention as deIined in the en~uing claim~9 with the aid o~ pne _ ~Oio or hydr~lio aotu~tors.

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Claims (10)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A machine for packing articles, comprising article feeding means, comprising an endless conveyor having an upper race and a lower return race, a series of cups for carrying said articles removably associated with the conveyor, each cup including a pair of shoulders and guide rails associated with the lower flight for retaining the cups on the conveyor during the lower flight thereof, each cup having a movable plate resting on its cavity bottom, means cooperating with the movable plate for feeding said articles in succession to the interior of a gripping means.

2. A machine according to claim 1, in which the article feed conveyor comprises two spaced-apart chains each mounted on a driving sprocket wheel and an idler sprocket wheel, support blocks being mounted at regular intervals on the links of said chains, said support blocks entering recesses formed in the lower part of the cups.

3. A machine according to claim 1, in which, along the upper flight of the article feed conveyor, the cups rest on horizontal guides and slide on these guides through the inter-mediary of grooves formed in the lower part of the cups.

4. A machine according to claim 3, in which the upper part of each of said cups has an arcuate ramp at each side of its central opening, which ramps cooperate with slideways when the cup leaves the upper flight of the article feed conveyor.

5. A machine according to claim 1, in which, when a cup arrives below said gripping means, a lever raises the plate resting at the bottom of the cup so as to bring it just below the gripping means.

6. A machine according to claim 1, in which said grip-ping means comprises two jaws fixed to supports which are laterally separable, with respect to an axial member, under the influence of pneumatic actuating means in opposition to the action of return spring means.

7. A machine according to claim 6, in which said jaw supports are mounted on a lever actuated by a cam, the said lever imparting a horizontal reciprocating movement to the gripping means.

8. A machine according to claim 7, in which the means for discharging the packed articles comprises, below the pack-ing device, a member which is movable between an upper position and a lower position and has substantially vertical slots formed in its upper surface, and endless conveyor belts passing through said slots, whereby a packed article deposited on said upper surface of the member may be brought into contact with the conveyor belts, when the member is in its lower position, and be discharged from the machine while being supported by the said belts.

9. A machine according to claim 8, in which said cam and a further cam controlling vertical movement of said movable member of the means for discharging the packed articles, are mounted on the same drive shaft.

10. A machine according to claim 5, in which the cups of the article feed conveyor are animated with an intermittent motion by means of a synchronized cam system, which system also controls the raising of said plates at the desired moment.