CA1167754A - Packing and capping machine - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT
The present invention provides a novel method of packing a plurality of articles such as cans and bottles in trays and a novel machine adapted thereto. According to the method there is provided in a hopper station a stack of pre-cut paperboard blanks each having crease lines defining a bottom panel, front and rear walls with flaps and a pair of end walls.
One of the tray blanks is pulled from the bottom of the stack, and creased along the front wall crease lines. The front wall is cammed into a square position with the bottom panel, and the rear wall is creased. The blank so partially formed is pushed from the hopper station to a packing station, while the front wall is held in a square position with the bottom panel.
The front wall of the tray is guided into a desired position within the packing station with the bottom panel, the rear wall and the end walls under a dead plate. A load of cans or the like is delivered over the dead plate and contacts the front wall of the tray, drawing the tray blank out from under the dead plate and pushing the loaded partially formed tray away from the packing station. The tray front wall flaps are folded into square position with the front wall. The loaded partially formed tray is conveyed to tray erecting and sealing means where the rear wall flaps are kicked into square position with the rear walls and the rear wall is erected into square position with the bottom panel, and for erecting. The end walls are erected into square position with the bottom panel and into adhesive contact with the front and rear flaps. The novel machine comprises a hopper station, a packing station, a glue station, and tray erecting and sealing means. The hopper station includes means for holding the stack of pre-cut paper-board blanks, means for pulling one of the tray blanks from the bottom of the stack, and forming therefrom a partially formed blank, and means for holding the front wall of the blank in a square position with the bottom panel during the transfer from the hopper station to the packing station. The packing station includes means for holding the tray front wall flaps into square position with the front wall, and for maintaining the front wall in that position, a dead plate, gate means for guiding the front wall of the tray into a desired position, means for delivering a load of cans or the like over the dead plate, a downstream dead plate, means for rotating the gate away from the front wall and means for conveying the loaded partially formed tray to said glue station. The glue station includes means for applying glue to the opposite ends of the end walls of the tray. The tray erecting and sealing means includes means for kicking the rear wall flaps into square position with the rear walls, means for erecting the rear wall into square position with the bottom panel, and means for erecting the end walls into square position with the bottom panel and into adhesive contact with the front and rear flaps.

Description

~ 3 677~ D-2114 PACKING AND CAPPING r~ACHINE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
_ Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improvements in packaging systems for packing groups of articles, for example, 24 cans or bottles and the like, in a corrugated paperboard tray and for capping the filled tray with a film sheet in a tight package. The invention relates particularly to improve-ments in the packer for such packaging systems, and in an associated hopper that holds a stack of pre-cut corrugated paperboard blanks.
Description of the Prior Art Machines for forming -trays and packaging articles of various kinds in a series of corrugated paperboard trays formed from pre-cut tray blanks are known in the art. Thus, tray or case formers are disclosed in my U.S. Patent No. 3,101,654, issued August 27, 1963, and No. 3,196,761, issued ~uly 27, 1965. Packaging machines are also known that are operative, . in sequence, to draw a film sheet from a roll of film over the articles in a tray, to cause the sheet to adhere to at least a pair of opposite wallsl thereby to cap and hold the articles in a tray. Such a packaging machine is shown in my United States Patent No. 3,890,763, and an improvement thereof is disclosed in my published German Patent Application No. 2720255, pub-lished on November 17, 1977. Trays packaged by such packaging machines provide a number of advantages over the conventional ~ !

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corrugated paperboard case, including weight savings, lower costs, locking of articles in the trays to prevent relative movement of the articles, and transparency of the covering sheet to name a few.
However, there has existed a need for improving the manner in which the trays are formed from pre-cut corrugated paperboard blanks and in whicll the articles such as cans and bottles are loaded into the trays, thereby to allow higher speeds of operation, to provide trays with improved quareness, 10 less susceptibility to problems such as jams in the machine, and better control of tray formaltion and article loading op-erations in the event of a problem to allow cleanin~ out tray loads from the machine and handling of the problem before the machine stops, thereby to provide longer periods of continued 15 operation, reducing maintenance, and resulting in greater re-liability.

Summary of the Invention Among the objects of the invention is to provide an im-20 proved method of and apparatus for successivel.y formin~ andfilling at high speed each of a succession of corrugated paperboar~ trays with an associated group or load of articles such as cans or bottles.
A feature of the inventîon is the manner in which a 25 group of cans contacts a partially formed tray blank and draws it out from under a dead?late while the flaps on the ends of the front wall are controlled to prevent the front wall from being pushed out flat.
Another feature of the invention is the manner in which 30 the flaps on the ends of both the front walls and rear walls of a tray blank are held down to improve the squareness of the walls.
A further feature of the invention is the method by which pre-cut tray blanks are pulled down from a stack of such blanks 3~ at positive c~n controlled s?eeds of vacuum cups with fast rise follo~ed initially by slow descent to pull only one .

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~7~5 blank from the stack in the hopper and then fast descent again.
Still another feature of the invention is the method of forming the front wall of a pre-cu~ ~ray blank and pre-5 breaking the rear wall of the blank over fixed cams to giverigidity to the blank and to eliminate warp during transfer of the blank to the packing station.
An additional feature of the invention is the articu-lating can flight bar drive for pushing a group of cans into 10 contact with the front wall of a partially formed tray for drawing the tray out from under a deadplate and for trans-ferrin8 the tray and cans from the deadplate to a deadplate further downstream.
A further feature of the invention is the use of an air 15 clutch for quick release the can flight bar drive in the event a problem such as a jam in the packer station arises to allow cleaning out of the tray loads from the machine before the machine stops. The machine additionally includes electri-cal interlocking safety features to prevent machine damage in 20 the event of jams.
Another feature o the invention is the use of the grouper control electrical circuits to slow the machine down to "slow speed" before the grouper clutch can re-engage.
Brief Description of the Drawings Figs. lA and lB comprise left and right hand por~ions, respectively, of a view in side elevation that shows the gen-eral arrangement of the packing and capping machine in accord-ance with the invention;
Figs. 2A and 2B comprise left and right hand portions, 30 respectively, of a view in top plan of the packing and capping machine of Fig. l;
Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the hopper assembly of the machine looking from the packer station in Fig l;
Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmented perspective views of the 35 hopper assembly looking toward the packer station in Fig. l;

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Fig. 6 is a view similar to Figs. 4 and 5 showing a stack of tray paperboard blanks in place;
Fig. 7 is a view showing the hopper assembly o~ the machine looking from the right in Fig. 3;
Fig. 8 is a perspective view s'nowing the tray blank ` conveyor, the deadplate in the packer station, and the feed to the deadplate of the tray blank and grouper conveyors, and the gate forming a downstrealm brîdge;
Fig. 9 is a side elevational view of an enlarged scale 10 of the packer station showing the pusher bar and flight as-sembly.
Fig. 10 is a perspective vi.ew o~ the packer with a load of cans being picked up by the pusher bar and can flight drive assembly;
Fig. 11 is a perspective view showing in greater detail one of the can ~light bars and an associated actuating cam;
Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the packer with a load of cans in place, a few cans being removed to show the front wall of the cans picking up the tray blank front wall and 20 forming an end flap;
Fig. 13 is a cross sectional view looking at the packerfrom the downstream side;Figs. 14A and l~B comprise left and right hand portions, respectively,- of an enlarged side elevational view of ~he 25 pusher bar con~eyor extending from the packer throught the glue station to the flap seal to the film wrap station;
Figs, 15A and 15B comprise left and right hand portions, respectively, of a view in top plan of the pusher bar conveyor of Figs. 14A and 14B; and Fig. 16 is a perspective view that shows the chain drive for the pusher bar conveyor and also a take-away belt that is provided.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment The packing and capping ~achine 1 illustrated in Figs.
35 lA, lB and 2A, 2B includes, in sequence along a predetermined path, a feeder 10> a lane divider station 12, a grouper 14, D~
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a hopper station 16, a packer sta~ion 18, a glue station 20, a flap seal 22, a film wrap 24, a fi:Lm sealer 26 and a heat tunnel 28~
The feeder 10 comprises a suitable feeder conveyor 5 and delivers a flow of cans indicated generally at 30 in nested orientation, to the lane divider station 12. The lane divider station 12, as show~, includes five lane guides indicated generally at 32. The lane guides 32 cause the cans 30 that are delivered to the grouper 14 to 10 be separated into six separate ~ows.
The grouper 14 serves a holclback unction, releasing at predetermined intervals groups or loads 31 of cans that are to go into a tray. Typically, such a group is six cans wide and four cans long, thus providing twenty-four cans to 15 a pack. It will be understood, however, that with appro-priate adjustment of the lane divider station 12, other size groups of cans may be provided, if desired, for example, four cans wide and three cans long thus making up twelve to a pack.
A clutch drives the grouper 14 from a sprocket 214 on the 20 pusher bar conveyor. The grouper 14 is used as a metering device to control the whole machine 1, to control precisely the delivery of a load of cans 31 and a tray blank to the packer 18. The grouper 14 urther is contrdlled to slow the machine down to "sIow speed" before the grouper clutch can re-25 engage~ The machine illustrated in Figs. lA and lB has arated speed of 75 filled trays or cases a minute. When it is desired to clear out the machine, in the event, for example, of trouble, the operator can cut back the speed back to 60 trays per minute by switching the grouper 14 in and out~ Also, 30 the grouper can be disengaged and the ~rays downstream can be ran out. When the grouper 14 engages, there is a delay of a second or two and then the machine is run up to full speed.
The operator control panel is shown at 33 in Fig. lA, The hopper station 16, as seen by reference to Fig. 3, ~7754 includes a support bar bracket 34, a slide support bar 36, a support bar 38, a hopper clamp bar 40, a hopper rear sup-port 42, a rear wall breaking cam or pre-breaker 44, a hopper front support 46, a front wall breaking cam 48, S and hopper stack end guides 50. The hopper station further includes a blank guide 52 that is supported on a suitable bracket 51, a blank guide 54, a blank guide spacer 56, a blank feed guide 58, a flap holding guide plate 60, and a front wall holding guide 122.
Included in the hopper station 16, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, is a stack 65 of corrugat~ed paperboard blanks 66.
Each paperboard blank is pre-cut to facilitate forming the blank into a tray having a bottom panel 67, a front wall 68, a rear wall 70, and end ~alls 72 and 74. Also, there is pro-15 vided on the blank 66 a back or rear wall flap 76 at each end of the rear wall 70 and a front wall flap 78 at each end of the front wall 68. ~dditionally, there i9 provided a front wall crease line 80, a back wall crease line 82, end wall crease.lines 84 and 86, the crease lines for the flaps 76 and 20 78 comprising extensions of the end wall crease lines 84 and 86, respectively.
As may be seen particularly b~ reference to Figs. 5 and - 7, the hopper section ~urther includes a vertically oscillating vacuum cup lift that is indicated generally at 88 that is con-25 nected to a suitable vacuum pump (not shown) having its own drive for pulling down the bottom paperboard blank 66 of the stack 65 of such blanks that are stored in the hopper 16. The vacuum cup lift 88 includes four oblong-shaped vacuum cups 90, 92, 94 and 96. The mechanism for raising and lowering the 30 vacuum cup lift 88 comprises a vacuum cup lift plate 98, a : pusher plate 74, a pusher plate bracket 100, a block pusher guide 102, a pusher linkage rod 104, a pusher linkage rod end 106, a vacuum cup lift lever arm 108, a facP cam 110 having an oscillating ollower 112, the face cam 110 having a D-21l4 775 ~

characterized track (not shown) but which the cam follower 112 follows to rock lever arm 108 about a pivot 114 and thereby alternately, through linkages 106 and 104 and pusher plate 100, to li~ the vacuum cup lift plate 98 and thereby the four vacuum cups 90, 92 7 94 and 96 into engage-ment with the bottom paperboard blank 66 in the hopper stac~
65 and to pull down such bottom blank 66 into position for transfer to the packer station 18.
The characterlzed track of face cam 110 causes the rise of the ~acuum cup lift plate 88 toward the bottom paperboard blank 66 of the stack 65 to be very rapid. The rate o~ descent, however, of the vacuum cup lift ~8 is initially slow and is followed by a fast descent again. It has been found that as a result of such characterized rise and descent of the vacuum cups lift 88 the tendency for more than one paperboard blank 66 to be pulled down from the stack 65 is eliminated or substantially minimized. This method of pulling do~l a tray blank 66 frum the hopper 16 at positive cam controlled speeds with fast rise and initial slow descent to pull only one blank 66 from the hopper 16, followed by fast descent again is a feature of the inven-tion. The initial slow descent allows air to leak in between the paperboard blank 66 that is being lowered and the adjacent paperboard blank, thereby relieving a suction effect that tends tb cause an adjacent blank also ~o be ulled down and contributing importantly to the reliability of pulling one tray at a time from the stack, It will be noted with respect to the vacuum cup lift 33, particularly as seen in Fig, 5, that provision is made by way of a clamping plate 116 for adjustment of the spac-ing between the~pairs of vacuum cups 90, 94 and 92, 96.
Specifically~ the vacuum cups 90 and 94 are fixed in posi-tion, but by loosening clamping plate 116 7 the vacuum cups 92 and 96, those disposed to the upstream side of the hopper section 16, may be adjusted in position relatively D-211l~
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,, to vacuum cups 90 and ~4 As shown in Figs. 3-6, there is provided a ledge 118 on the hopper rear support 42 and a ledge 120 on the hopper front support 46. The ledges 118 and 120 are stack breakers, the purpose being to shuf~le~ that is, to relatively vertically to shift the paperboard blanks, as indicated generally in Fig. 6, so as to minimize the pressure on the bottom surfaces of the blanks, specifically the surface areas of the bottom of the blanks that engage the flap breaking cams 44 and 48.
The perspective view of Fig. 4 of the hopper station shows a paperboard blank 66 as having been lowered into posi-tion for, and in the process of being transferred to the packer station 18. A front wall 68 of the blank 66 is shown as having been erected to a vertical, squared position with respect to the bottom panel 67. This erection is produced by the camming action of cam 48 as the paperboard blank 66 is being pulled down. Also, the crease line 82 for the rear or back wall 70 of the blank 66 is shown as having been broken. The front wall 68 is shown as being captured by a plastic channel guide support 62 which, as shown, includes an upper ledge 124. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that as the paperboard blank 66 is pulled down by the vacuum cup lift 88 that the edge of the front wall 68 slides off the upper ledge 124 of the channel guide 122 and is latched thereby. That is, th~ edge of ~he ~ront wall 68 of the paperboard blank 65 slides down over the ledge 124 until the tension or bending memory of the joint formed at the crease line 80 of the front wall 68 flips the wall 68 forward under the led~e 124, thereby allowing the ledge 124 to capture the paperboard front wall 96 in an up-right position with respect to the bottom panel 67. It isimportant to get the front wall 68 upright with the bottom panel 67. Doing so also takes out some of the warp out of the tray blank 66.

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~ eanwhile, the rear flap breaking cam or pre-breaker 44 Elips up the back wall 70 o~ the blank 66 and allows it to flip down again. The back wall 70 is pre~breaked to avoid holding up subsequent operations when the back wall is erected to a square position Also shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 7 is a pusher bar 126.
Pusher bar 126 is connected by a stem 128 to an air cylinder 130, as seen particularly in Fig. 7. Pusher ~ar 126 is operative, when actuated, to engage the adjacent end of the paperboard blank 66, as best seen in Figs. 4 and 7, to move the blank 66 into engagement with a tray blank conveyor 132 ~or transporting the blank 66 to the packer station 18.
The tray blank conveyor 132, as seen in Figs 7 and 8 includes an endless belt 134 that is driven by a chain drive mechanism indicated at 136. Associated with the tray blank conveyor 132 in the hopper section 16 are two pairs of infeed rollers 138 and 140, as shown in Fig. 4, that desirably are spring biased downwardly and which, in cooperation with a roller 138 underneath, as seen in Fig. 5, guide the paper-board blank 66 in driving engagement with the drive belt134 of the tray blank conveyor 132.
By reference to Fig. 8 it is noted that the packer station 18 includes a deadplate 142. Cans (not shown) in groups, six abreast and four long, for examplé, are succes-sively delivered to the top of the deadplate 142 by thegrouper 14. Additionally, tray paperboard blanks 66 are successively moved into cooperative relation with the deadplate 142 by the tray blank conveyor 132, the bottom panel 67, back wall 70 and end walls 72 and 74 of each tray blank 66 being positioned under the deadplat~ 142, with the front wall 68 of the tray blank 66 extending above the deadplate 142 and maintained in an erec~ position by the channel guide support 122, the end latter terminating in the packer section 18 at the adjacent edge of the deadplate 142. Also included in the packer station 18 is a plactic - tray blank stop indicated at 144 agains~ which the end wall of the tray blank 66 abuts to terminate the transverse ,, , . . . .

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movement by the blank conveyor 132 of the tray blank 66 from the hopper section 16 to the packer section 18. The inner rollers are so positioned that with the paperboard blank 66 abutting blank stop 144, the blank 66 is just barely out away from them. This is necessary because if the blank 66 were still engaged by the rollers 138, 140 and 141, the blank would not be free to move out from under the deadplate 142.
In Fig. 8 there is indicated, generally, at 146, six articulated drive chains at the exit end of the grouper 14. These chains 1~6 deliver the successive groups of cans, six abreast and four deep substantially to the packer station 18 but do not drive the successive groups of cans on to the deadplate 142. For the latter purpose, and for conveying each group of cans, as contained or captured in an individual tray, for a further distance downstream, there is provided an overhead pusher bar and can flight assembly that has been indicated generally at 147 in~JFig. 9.
As shown in Fig. 9 the pusher bar and can flight assembly includes a pair of chains 148 on which are mounted five flight bars 150 that are equally spaced along chains 148.
The flight bars 150.are driven in an orbital path by the chains 148 which in turn, are driven from a grouper and flight bar sprocket 152 by a chain 154.
In operation, as illustrated in Fig. 9, 10 and 11, each of the flight bars 150 operates, in turn, to swing down and around tail sprockets 166 of pusher bar and can flight assembly 146 and comes up from behind to engage the rear wall 156 of a load of cans 31 as ~he cans 31 leave the lane guides 32, as seen in Fig. 2, and approach the packer 18. In this way the load of cans 31 is pushed on to the deadplate 142 in the packer 18, the forward wall 160 of the cans 31 being moved into engagement with the erect front wall 68 of the tray blank 66 then positioned in packer station 18.
Referring to Figs. 10 and 11 it will be seen that each of the can fli~ht bars 150 are square and have a spring D~211 I ~ B 7n~ 4 steel plate 162 which is controlled by a cam follower or roller 16~. The cam roller 16A is adapted, as the bar 150 rounds a sprocket 166, at the upstream side of the assembly 146, to s-trike a cam track 170 of a cam 168. This makes the flight bar 150 and spring steel plate 162 rotate 90 and brings the steel plate 162 into position to push the load of cans 31. The flight bars 150 are suspended by being locked into a locking position. There are five flight bars 150 and cam rollers 164. Desirably, the shape of plate 162 is so selected as to cause the plate 162 to engage the rear wall 156 of cans 31 at a low position, a position below their center of gravity, so as to avoid toppling the cans as they are being pushed. It is noted that the ends of the lane guides 32 of the lane divider 12 adjacent the tail sprockets 166 of the pusher bar and can flight conveyor 1~6 are cut do~m to allow the passage of the flight bars 150.
This is to avoid having the spring steel plates 162 come into contact with the la~e guides 32.
Desirably, there also is provided a hold-down indicated at 172 for the loads 31 of cans as they are moved in succession on to the deadplate 142 in the packer 18.
Hold-down 172 is made of a sheet of a very tough durable plastic, and acts to hold down the tops of the cans 31 to prevent the cans 31 from toppling forward.
In Fig. 10 a load of cans 31 is shown as having ju~t been picked up by a flight bar 150. The hold-down 172 has not been shown in Fig. 10 to avoid complication of the drawing. The for~ard wall 160 of the cans 31 is shown still some distance from the front and squared wall 68 of the tra~ blank 66, thus revealing the front wall 68, the inner front wall flap 78 and the crease line for the latter.
~ig. 1~ is a view o~ the packer station 18 that is ; , ' ~
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similar to the view of Fig. 10 but shows some of the cans of load 31 have been taken out to reveal how the fron-t wall 160 of the cans 31 engages the front wall 68 of the paperboard blank 66 and pulls or draws the blank 66 out from under the deadplate 142. Fig. 12 shows that as the blank 66 is drawn out from under the deadplate 142, the inner or front flap 78 of the tray begins to form about an inner cam shoe in-dicated at 174 the upper edge of the turned flap 78 being captured under a ledge 178 to hold it in its turned position.
A similar cam shoe 174 (not shown) is provided at the other side of the front wall 68 of the tray blank 66, and as a result, the other inner front flap 78 of the tray also begins to form. The inner flaps 7~ are made one-sixteenth of an inch (1/6") (0.1587 centimeters) higher than the end walls 72 and 74 to hold the flaps 78 in place under the ledge 178.
This results in the formation of trays that are very square.
It will be noted that as the inner and outer front flaps are formed the squared and erect position of the front wall 68 of the paperboard blank 66 is maintained notwithstand-ing that the front wall 68 no longer is being supported inits erect and squared position by the plastic channel guide - 122.
As shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 13 there is provided a tray gate indicated at 176.
The gate 176, when in a vertical position, serves to escort the tray blank 66 across an opening called the "throat of the machine, from the hopper station 66 to the packer station. The gate 176 serves to ge~ the leading edge of the tray blank 66 past the outer cam shoe that forms the outer or leading flap 78, thereby maintaining the squared position of the front wall 68 of the paperboard blank 66. The gate 176 guides the blank 66 and holds the front wall 68 up as the front wall 68 leaves the plastic channel guide support 122, the support 122 terminating adjacen~ the inner shoe 174, as seen in Fig. 12. Thus the leading edge of the front wall 116775~

68 stays up long enough to get the leading edge of the blank over the outer shoe, the flaps 78 at the end of the front wall 68 being in line to be bent back by the inner shoe 174 and the corresponding outer shoe that is provided.
By reference to ~ig. 9, it is seen that the gate 176 is arranged to be actuated between its erect position shown to a horizontal position by an air cylinder indicated at 179, a tray stop ~ylinder lever, a blank gate shaft 182, a tray stop lever shaft 184, a tray gate rod 186, and a gate hinge pin 188. Upon actuation of the air cyli.nder 179 the gate 176 is lowered to its horizontal position thereby allow-ing the load of cans 31 to be conveyed by the pusher bar and can flight assembly 146 thereacross and on to next deadplate, that indicated at 190.
In accordance with the invention, once the tray blank 66 has been escorted by the tray gate 176 across the throat of the machine between the hopper 16 and packer 18, as described, with the front wall 68 and associated outer flap 78 past the outer flap ~orming shoe, the gate 176 has done its job, and as the cans 31 come in, just before the for-ward wall 160 of the cans contacts the front wall 68 of the tray blank 6Z, the air cylinder 178 is actuated to move the gate 176 from-its vertical position to its horizontal posi-tion. It is noted that in its horizontal position the ga~e 176 acts-as a-drawbridge to support the front portion of the tray blank 66 underneath across the void to the next dead-plate, a short deadplate 190, where the successive tray blanks 66, partially formed and with the load of cans 31 thereon, are picked up and conveyed to the glue station 20 by a pusher bar conveyor 192 which also conveys the partially formed trays and cans 31 to tray erecting and sealing means 191 to be described.
The glue station 20, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 includes four spray guns indicated at 194, 196, 198 and 200 ; 35 that are arranged to spray adhesive downwardly on each of " } .
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the end surfaces of the end walls 72 and 74, the latter being still flat, that is, as yet, not raised into square positions with the bottom panel 67 of the tray blank 66.
The pusher bar conveyor 192 includes first and second pairs of pusher bar chains 202 and 203, as seen partic-ularly in Figures 14B and 16 that are driven by a chain drive 206 and sprocket 208 from a gear box 207. A plurality of front pusher bars 204 are car:ried by the first pair of chains 202, being suspended therebetween. Similarly, a plurality of rear pusher bars 205 are carried by suspended between, the second pair o chains 203. Thus, there is provided a plurality of sets of front and rear pusher bars 204 and 205, the spacing between each set of bars 204 and 205 being such as to embrace a filled tray with a front pusher bar 20~ in contact with the front wall 68 and a rear pusher bar 205 in contact with the rear wall 70 of the tray. Desirably, suita-ble means are provided for adjusting the spacing between the front pusher bars 204 and the rear pusher bars in order to accommodate trays having different distances between their front and rear walls.
Provided on the tail shaft 210 of the pusher bar chains 202 and 203, as seen in Fig. 15A is a Ferguson Over-load Coupling 212 and also a double drive sprocket 214 for the grouper 14 and the pusher bar and can flight assembly 146. Thus, a chain drive, as indicated as 154 in Fig. 9, is provided between the double sprocket 214 and the sprocket 152 of the pusher bar and can flight assembly 146. Drive 215, as seen in Fig. lA, drives the grouper 14 and the six individual chains 146. Sprocket 152 is moun~ed on an air clutch that allows quick release of the can flight assembly 146 drive in the event a problem arises.
The pusher bar conveyor 192 also includes a plurality of deadpla~es 215 on which a tray blank 66 and i~s load of cans 31 are adapted to be pushed. In the ope.ation of ~h~
conveyor 192, a rear pusher bar 205 comes up from behind the filled tray and pushes up the rear wall 70 into a square position with the bottom panel 67, the front wall 68 of the .

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tray meanwhile being pushed into engagement with the asso-ciated front bar 204 of the conveyor 192, the squared position of the front wall 68 having been maintained by the cooperation of flaps 78 of the tray blank 66 and the ledge 175.
~ As the tray blank 66 is moved forward from the packer station 18 wi~h the front wall 68 and rear wall 70 both in square positions with the bottom panel 67, flap tuckers 216 and 218 that are provided on opporite sides of the conveyor 192, as seen in Fig. 15, are rocked to turn or tuck inwardly the back wall flaps 76 of the paperboard blank 66. Flap tuckers 216 and 218, as shown, are carried on a shaft 220 that is rocked by a flap tucker cam 222 through a flap tucker lever arm 224 having a cam follower 226 on the end thereof in engagement with t.he cam surface of cam 222.
Further movement of the tray blank 66 and the load of cans 31 by ~he pusher bars 204 and 205 results in the capture in their inwardly tucked positions of the back wall flaps 76 by side guides indicated at 228. With the back wal]. flaps 76 so captured, the tray blank 66 and its load of cans is mov~d to the glue station 20 where, as previously mentioned, glue is sprayed downwardly on each of the end surfaces of the end walls 72 and 74 of the blank 66, which end walls 72 and 74 are still in a horizontal position, Following such application of glue ~o the end walls 72 and 74, each side of the tray blank 66 and its load of cans is moved by the pusher bars 204 and 205 past the tray erecting and sealing means 191 which, as seen in Fig. 14A, includes a pair of rollover bars 230. The roll-over bars 230functions to erect the end walls 72 and 74, a flap guide 232 being provided at the end of each rollover bar 230, as shown. With continued movement forward, the end walls 72 and 74 are captured between opposed compression plates 234 that are provided on the sides of ~he conveyor ,~ -., 1 ~ 6~75~ D-2114 192 in the flap seal section 22 of the packaging machine 1.
In the flap seal section 22, the adhesive that was applied to each end of the end walls 72 and 74 dries to form a strong bond between each of the end walls 72 and 74 and an associated flap 78 of the front wall 68 and associated flap 76 of the back wall 70, thus forming a completed tray around the associated load of cans 31, that is to say, a filled tray.
At the exit end of the pusher bar conveyor 192 there is provided a take-away belt indicated at 236. The take-away belt 236 may comprise a belt and is a little speedup belt that pulls the filled trays away from the rear pusher bar 206 thereky preventing the pusher bar 206 from possibly damaging the tray as it whips around the end of the pusher bar conveyor 192.
After leading the pusher bar 192, as seen in Figs.
1 and 2, the filled tray is moved into and through the film wrap and sealer station 26 where the filled tray is capped with a film sheet, for example, of thin polyethylene, stretch - film, or paper. From the film wrap and sealer station 26, the filled and capped tray is moved by a discharge conveyor indicated at 238 to a film seal 26 to bond or weld the film sheet to the tray walls to produce a tight bond between the film sheet and the tray, and then to a heat tunnel 28 where the filled and capped tray is formed into a tight package.
The film wrap 24, film seal 26 and heat tunnel 28 preferably are constructed and arranged as illustrated bY m~
aforementioned German application for patent published on November 17, 1977 and bearing serial No. 27 20 255, and hence, detailed description thereof herein is believed to be unnecessary.
Suffice it to say with respect to the film wrap 24 and film seal 26 that power driven means are provided to push a filled tray against a film sheet extending from a constant-tension film-unwend device, follwing whiah a flight bar pulls the film sheet tautly over the tops of the packaged articles and against ~, , . ' , , .~ ;.

~ D-2114 the trailing wall of the tray. ~eat is supplied to the flight bars. Pressure of the film sheet against the tray is effective to bond or "weld" the film sheet to the tray wall to produce a tight bond between the film sheet and the tray.
As illustrated in the several drawings, power driven means including a number of separate motors are provided for driving the several conveyors. These motors may be similar to the power driven means that are described in U.S. Patents 3,101,654, 3,196,761, 3,890,763 and in the aforementioned German application No. 27 20 255 published on November 17, 1977.
Thus, there has been provided, in accordance with the invention `a method of and a system for packaging a plurality of articles such as cans and bottles and the like in trays that are erected from pre-cut corrugated paperboard blanks comprising, a feeder 10 of articles to be placed in a tray, a lane divider 12, a grouper 14, a hopper station 16, a packing station 18, a glue station 20, tray erecting and sealing means 191, a film wrap and film seal station 26, and a heat tunnel 28.
The hopper station 16 includes means for holding a stack of pre cut paperboard blanks each having crease lines defining a bottom panel, front and rear walls with flaps and a pair of end walls, cam-operated and positively controlled pulling means for pulling a tray blank 66 from the bottom of the stack, front flap breaking cam for breaking the front wall crease lines and camming the front wall intoan upright position with the bottom panel, a rear flap breaking cam 4~ for breaking the rear wall, a pusher bar 126 for pushing the blank from the hopper station 16 to the packing station 18, and a guide support 122 for holding the front wall of ~he blank in an upright position with the bottom panel during the transfer of the partially formed tray from the hopper station 16 to the ~ packing station 18.

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~ 7 IJ5~ D-2114 r~he packing station includes shoe means 174 for folding the tray front wall flaps 78 into square position with the front wall 6~ 7 a ledge 178 for controlling the position of the top edge o~ the flaps 73 for controlling the top edge o$ the front wall and for maintaining the front wall in square position, a dead plate 142, a tray gate 176 for guiding the front wall 68 of the tray lnto a desired position with the pack~ng station, t~e bottom panel 67 being beneath the dead plate, a pusher bar and flight assembly 146 for delivering a load of cans 31 or the like over tEIe dead plate to the front wall of the tray and for pushing`the front wall and the tray away from the packing station 18 and on to a downstream dead plate 190, an air cylinder 178 and associated linkage for rotating the gate away from the front wall 68 of the blank 66 so that the tray gate 176 forms a draw bridge between ~he deadplate 142 in the packing station 18 and the downstream deadplate l90, and a pusher bar con~eyor 192 for conveying the loaded tray to the glue station which includes means for applying glue to the end walls of the tray.
The tray erecting and sealing means 191 including flap tuckers 216 and 218 for kicking the rear wall flaps 76 of this partially formed tray into square position with the rear wall 70, pusher bars 205 of the pusher bar conveyor for erecting the rear wall 70 into square position with the bottom panel 67, and rollover bars and flap guides for erecting the end walls 72 and 74 into square position with the bottom panel 67 and into adhesive contact for bonding with the ~ront and rear flaps 76 and 78, thus forming a completed tray around the load of cans 31~ that is, a filled - tray.
- The film wrap 24~ ~ilm seal 26 and heat tunnel 28 ;~ cap the filled tray with a f~lm sheet in a tight package~

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Claims (4)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A packing station for loading a plurality of articles such as cans and bottles and the like on a pre-cut paperboard blank that is partially formed in a hopper, said blank having crease lines defining a bottom panel, front and rear walls with flaps and a pair of end walls and being parti-ally formed in that the front wall has been erected in a square position with the bottom panel and the rear wall crease line has been broken, comprising:
a deadplate, means for transferring the partially formed tray blank from the hopper to the packing station with the bottom panel underneath the deadplate, gate means for guiding the front wall of the tray during such transfer to hold the front wall in square position with the bottom panel, means for moving a load of articles to be packed in the tray over the deadplate to contact the front wall of the tray for drawing the front wall and the tray with the articles on the bottom panel away from the deadplate, and means operative during such movement for controlling the front wall flaps of the tray to prevent the front wall from being pushed out flat.

2. A packing station as specified in claim 1 wherein said final means element includes shoe means that are engaged by and turn each of the tray front wall flaps into a position that is square with the front wall, and further includes a guide channel having a ledge for capturing the top edge of the tray front wall flaps thereby to hold the tray front wall flaps in such square position.

3. A packing station as specified in claim 1 including a tray blank stop for stopping the tray blank at a predetermined position in the packing station as the tray blank is transferred from the hopper.

4. A packing station as specified in claim 1 where-in the means or moving the load of articles to be packed over and away from the deadplate comprises a pusher bar and cam flight assembly, said assembly including a chain drive on which is carried a plurality of feathered pusher bars each of which bars has a spring plate and a cam follower, and a cam track that is engaged by the cam follower to bring the steel plate in position to push the cans on the deadplate.