CA1244699A - Apparatus and method for producing containers - Google Patents
Apparatus and method for producing containersInfo
- Publication number
- CA1244699A CA1244699A CA000452549A CA452549A CA1244699A CA 1244699 A CA1244699 A CA 1244699A CA 000452549 A CA000452549 A CA 000452549A CA 452549 A CA452549 A CA 452549A CA 1244699 A CA1244699 A CA 1244699A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- bag
- former
- container
- closed path
- strip
- 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
- B65B1/00—Packaging fluent solid material, e.g. powders, granular or loose fibrous material, loose masses of small articles, in individual containers or receptacles, e.g. bags, sacks, boxes, cartons, cans, or jars
- B65B1/02—Machines characterised by the incorporation of means for making the containers or receptacles
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Supplying Of Containers To The Packaging Station (AREA)
- Making Paper Articles (AREA)
- Basic Packing Technique (AREA)
- Auxiliary Devices For And Details Of Packaging Control (AREA)
- Containers And Plastic Fillers For Packaging (AREA)
Abstract
An apparatus and method of producing containers employ a downwardly directed former to which an end section of a strip of sheet material is advanced in a vertically downward direction and parallel to a flat face of the former. The end section is then severed from the strip and wrapped around the former to form an upwardly open container, which is then stripped downwardly into a container holder for filling.
Description
~2~46~9 The present invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of producing containers from a strip of flexible sheet material, for example, paper.
Such containers may be employed, for example, for packing granular or powder substances, such as coffee or flour.
It is already known, from French Patent 1,281,258, to employ apparatus for forming and filling containers of flexible sheet material in which, for example, paper is utilized to form the containers by wrapping the paper around formers on a turntable or rotary head. In that apparatus, a section of a sheet is fed horizontally to the formers of a turntable, which is arranged in a horizontal plane.
However, the flimsiness of the sheet material and the in-stability of the horizontal arrangement of the sectionor sheet of paper to be wrapped limit the reliability and the productivity of the hitherto commercial]y available apparatus. Furthermore, these apparatuses have the substan-tial disadvantage that the horizontally formed containers must be reoriented into a vertical position essential for a subsequent filling operation. The prior apparatuses must therefore be stopped for the operations of removing the containers from the formers and transferring them into holding boxes. These unsatisfactory cyclical stoppages restrict the productivity of the prior apparatuses, and in addition involve substantial mechanical disadvantages.
The handling of the flexible and easily damaged body of an empty container, i.e. its reorientation from the hori-zontal to the vertical and its transfer, is also associated with difficulties.
It is accordingly an object of the present inven-tion to provide a novel and improved apparatus for and method of producing containers from a strip of flexible sheet material by forming the containers on vertical formers so that the containers do not have to be reoriented for filling.
According to the present invention, there is pro-~, , ~2~4699 vided in a bag forming and conveying machine of the type having a plurality of parallel vertlcally disposed rectilinear mandrel~ adapted to be moved along a closed path, for cooperation wlth bag forming means, the improvement comprising means for feeding a ~heet of material vertically downwardly ad~acent one side of a mandrel at a predetermined positlon ad~acent said clo~ed path and means for holding said sheet of material agalnst the ~ide of said mandrel for the subsequent wrapping of said sheet about said mandrel to form an open top bag.
Thus, apparatus is disclosed for produclng containers from a strlp of flexible sheet materlal, the apparatus comprising a former, means for advancing the sheet material ln a vertically downward direction to the former with the sheet material extending parallel to a flat face of the former, means for severing an end section of the sheet material from the strlp and means for wrapping the severed end section around the former to form the container.
Thus, the end section of the strip of material e.g. from a coil, disposed in a vertical position and advancing vertically downwardly, may be held in a flat condition by the gravitational force of the downwardly directed weight of the strip end section. Furthermore, a plurality of vertically downwardly directed formers are preferably cyclically located at the end of the vertically downwardly suspended strip, which are oriented downwardly ~o parallel and 80 ad~acent the vertically suspended edge of the strip coming e.g. from the coil that the flexible strip can be stably anchored or pressed against the vertical formers without deviatin~ from the correct flat arrangement.
A feature of the preferred embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention i8 that the flexible material strip i8 cut after its end ha~ been securely anchored to the vertical former.
Preferably, the apparatus includes means for removing the former from the container by relative ~24~9 - 2a -vertlcal displacement of the former and the container to leave the container ln an upwardly open condition for subsequent filling of the container. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, means are associated with the form for pre~sing again6t a bottom portion of the container during the vertical displacement ~o that this operation i8 effected with high reliability even during movement of the former and without stopping the latter.
Preferably, means are provtded for advancing the former, the pressing means and the container along a horizontal path, the pre3sing means comprising ~Z~4699 a pressing member at the bottom of the former for pres-sng against the bottom of the container, a rod extending vertically downwardly through the former to the presser member and means for vertically reciprocating the rod rela-tive to the former during the advance along the horizontalpath.
The apparatus may also comprise means for holding the container in its upwardly open condition and means for advancing the former and the holding means in vertical align-ment with one another, at least during the stripping ofthe container from the former, the pressing means being adapted to displace the container downwardly from the former into the holding means. The former and the holding means may each be one of a plurality, each of the holding means being respectively associated with one of the formers for receiving a container therefrom, and means being provided for advancing the formers and the holding means in syn-chronism with one another around an endless path past a transfer zone at which the containers are transferred in succession from the formers to the holding means.
The invention also provides a method of producing containers from a strip of flexible sheet material, the method comprising the steps of feeding the sheet material in a vertically downwardly extending direction to a former so that an end section of the stip is disposed parallel to a flat face of the former, severing the end section from the strip and wrapping the severed end section around the former to form the container.
Preferably, the fitting of the sheet material to the former includes suspending the end section of the strip so that the end section hangs under gravity in a flat vertical position parallel to and adjacent the flat face of the former.
The severing of the end portion may be effected after pressing the end section against the flat face so that the severed end portion remains in a flat vertical condition during the subsequent wrapping of the end section ~Z~4699 around the former. Thus, the container may be formed in an upwardly open condition around the former and may be subsequently stripped Erom the former by relative vertical displacement of the container and the former, pressure being exerted on the bottom portion of the container within the container to effect the stripping of the container from the former by displacing the container downwardly from the former into a container holder disposed below the former and advanced in synchronism with the former in a horizontal direction.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cutting of the vertically downwardly depending flat end section of the strip is effected after the suspended end section of the strip has been anchored to the former in such a manner that the flat sheet or end section severed from the flexible strip from the spool can be transferred to subsequent wrapping locations without moving from its vertical flat arrangement, and the former is one of a plurality of vertically downwardly extending formers moving along a path in which, at least in a zone at which the end section is held against the former and the container is removed from the former, are located with reference to the vertical plane, in which the end section of the strip is positioned under gravity, with a degree of closeness and parallelism which ensure the positioning of the sheet without deviation from the stable, vertical flat, vertically downwardly extending position.
In this embodiment, the container, wrapped around the former, is located in a vertical position with a fil-ling opening facing upwardly for the filling of any sub-stance to be packed into the container by gravity.
The former in this embodiment is provided with a plunger mechanism having a movable bottom for pressing in an axial direction against the interior of the bottom of the container for stripping the latter from the former as the former is advanced. The plunger mechanism is actuated by a push rod which has a pin actuated by a known displace-~Z~4699 ment mechanism for coaxial movement of the bottom of thevertical former within the container.
The reciprocating mechanism is aligned with one of a plurality of underlying boxes which, at least in a zone at which the container is transferred thereto, is ar-ranged coaxially with the former and is synchronized with the movement of the former from which the container is stripped during its movement which, in this zone, is iden-tical to that of the underlying box.
The former iN this embodiment is one of a plurality of vertically arranged formers in a circular or endless set with a corresponding circular or endless set of underlying and synchronized boxes, to which a plurality of the con-tainers are transferred at the synchronous transfer zone, at which each former and a respective one of the boxes are arranged coaxially one below the other and are synchronized for simultaneous transfer of the containers stripped from the formers and transferred into the boxes during the syn-chronized movement of the formers and the boxes.
The preferred embodiment of the invention pro-vides a substantial increase of reliability and consequen-tial increased operational productivity and is characterized by optimum safety and operational precision.
The apparatus according to the invention may be employed in the formation of the strip from a coil in a machine which fills, weighs, conditions and seals the containers with a content of granular or powder substances, such as flour, sugar or coffee, even under vacuum and even in continuous operation, and may be integrated with a down-stream apparatus for the extrusion and connection ofmaterials with printed or cut-out decorations and with flexible strips provided with heat weldable interior and exterior layers.
The invention will be more readily understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:-~Z~4699 Figures 1 to 5 show successive steps in the pro-duction of a container in a first embodiment of a container producing apparatus; and Figures 6 to 10 show further embodiments of con-tainer producing apparatuses.
In Figure l, there is diagrammatically illustrated a vertically downwardly moving end section of a strip 1 of flexible material, which comes from a coil or spool or an extrusion device. Draw-off rollers 2 advance the strip 1 and guide it downwardly, so that it is fed in the direction indicated by an arrow.
In Figure 2, the free end section of the strip 1 from the coil, due to the force of its gravitational weight, is longitudinally stretched like a plumb thread and assumes and stably maintains a flat, vertical position parallel to a flat face of a former 3. Thus, the end section of the strip 1 is suspended so that it hangs under gravity in a flat vertical position parallel to and ad-jacent the flat face of the former 3.
As shown in Figure 2, the vertically suspended end section or portion of the strip 1, during movement into a position in which it is pressed against the flat face of the former 3 by means of a horizontally displaced plate 4, does not lose its parallelism with respect to the flat face of the former 3, since it was already disposed closely parallel to this flat face.
F'igure 4 shows, as indicated by reference numeral 5, the strip end portion or section severed from the strip 1 along a line 6 by means of a cutter (not shown~ while it is secured to the former 3. From Figure 4, it is apparent that the severed strip end portion 5 remains secured ver-tically and stably to the former 3, and the strip end por-tion 5 remains in this vertical engaged/secured condition in all subsequent phases of the wrapping of the strip end portion 5 about the former 3 to form a container by wrap-ping mechanism which is of a conventional type well known to those skilled in the art and which, therefore, will not .~ i ~2~699 be described in greater detail herein. It can also be seen that the severed edge 6 of the strip end portion 5 is hori-zontal so as to form a horizontal edge of the container, which is located in a vertical position with an upwardly facing open,ing.
Figure 5 shows a plurality of the formers 3 travelling around a circular path of travel and having containers formed in successive steps thereon and, thus, diagrammatically illustrates the successive steps in the formation of each of the containers. It will be seen from Figure 5 that the cut edge 6 of the strip end portion 5 forming each of the containers remains horizontally disposed during the successive steps of the wrapping of the strip end portion 5 about the vertical former 3 to form each of the containers.
Figure 6 shows details of a stripper mechanism by which each of the containers is stripped from its former 3.
As can be seen in Figure 6, each of the formers 3 is provided at its bottom with a presser plate 71 which is mounted at the lower end of a rod 9 and which is reci-procable therewith, relative to the respective former 3, in a vertical direction along the axis of the former 3. The presser plate 7, within each container, presses against the bottom interior surface of the container to strip the container from its former 3 and to locate the thus-stripped container in an open-sided box-shaped up-wardly open container holder 8 after the formation of each container. The reciprocation of the rods 9 is effected by cam follower rollers 10 at the upper ends thereof run-ning along a cam groove 11 in a stationary drum 12. The formers 3 and the container holders 8 are driven in syn-chronism with one another, with each holder 8 disposed directly below a respective one of the formers 3, by drive chains ~not shown), so that the formers are advanced in succession through the location at which the severed end sections of the strip are applied to the formers, with the ~2~4~99 formers being disposed in a vertical position with the flat face thereof adjacent and parallel to a vertical plane in which the respective severed end portion of the strip hangs under gravity in a stable, vertical flat downwardly ex-tending condition, the formers 3 and the container holders8 being advanced in synchronism with one another by the chains around an endless path past a transfer zone at which the containers are transferred in succession from the for-mers 3 to the container holders 8 by the presser plates 7. In this way, the containers 5 are transferred by pres-sure exerted within the containers during the synchronized movement of the containers, the formers 3 and the holders 8 and in a continuous manner without stoppage of the ap-paratus.
Figure 7 shows parts of the apparatus and, in particular, shows a plurality of the container holders 8 travelling around an endless path, the formers 3 travelling around a circular path in synchronism with the container holders 8.
Figure 8 shows parts of a modified embodiment of the apparatus, in which the formers 3 travel around an endless path while the formers 3 travel along a similar but offset endless path, with a section of each of the two paths being located one below the other.
Figure 9 shows a further modification of the ap-paratus in which the container holders 8 and the formers 3 travel around circular paths disposed one below the other and in which a plurality of further container holders 8' travel around another circular path tangential to that of the container holders 8, the containers 5 being transferred from the container holders 8 to the container holders 8', by a conventional transf~r mechanism which is not shown in the drawings but which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, with the containers 5 empty and in a vertical, upwardly open orientation, so that the containers can be filled and sealed while they are carried around by the contain holders 8' by filling and sealing mechanisms ~LZ9~4699 g (not shown).
Figure lO shows a further modification of the apparatus which is similar to that of Figure 9 but in which the container holders 8' travel around a longer endless path.
Various other possible geometrical and kinematically corresponding and synchronized combinations, which are not shown in the drawings, can be constructed within the scope of the invention. The invention further includes various embodiments of different dimensional relationships and dif-ferent structural relationships and also the selection ofthe materials employed can be effected in accordance with the speed and the physical and organic characteristics of the substances to be packaged. It will be apparent that all container production apparatuses employing a coil of a strip of flexible material in which a free end portion of the strip is suspended in a vertically downwardly ex-tending condition fall within the scope of the invention.
It will also be clear that the invention also embraces all container producing apparatus provided with a cyclical plurality of vertical formers which are moved parallel and close to the vertically suspended end edge of a strip so that they can be brought into engagement therewith without the above-described vertical and adjacent disposition en-sured by gravity being disturbed, are included within the invention.
It will also be apparent that the invention in-cludes package producing apparatuses with vertical formers which are provided with means acting within the containers for displacing the containers from the formers during the advance of the formers by acting directly within the con-tainers to press the containers on the interior bottom sur-faces thereof and thus to strip the containers formed by wrapping in a vertical orientation. Thus, it will also be clear that the circular or endless turntable carrying the formers with a plurality of container holders respectively associated and synchronized with the formers for displacing ~2~4699 the empty containers into the holders during the synchronized movement represents a further feature of a preferred embodi-ment of the invention. In addition, the invention includes all apparatuses which wrap vertical sheets around a plurality of vertical formers in order to form containers which are already vertically arranged with openings facing upwardly, and which are transferred into a plurality of associated, underlying holders during synchronized movement.
Such containers may be employed, for example, for packing granular or powder substances, such as coffee or flour.
It is already known, from French Patent 1,281,258, to employ apparatus for forming and filling containers of flexible sheet material in which, for example, paper is utilized to form the containers by wrapping the paper around formers on a turntable or rotary head. In that apparatus, a section of a sheet is fed horizontally to the formers of a turntable, which is arranged in a horizontal plane.
However, the flimsiness of the sheet material and the in-stability of the horizontal arrangement of the sectionor sheet of paper to be wrapped limit the reliability and the productivity of the hitherto commercial]y available apparatus. Furthermore, these apparatuses have the substan-tial disadvantage that the horizontally formed containers must be reoriented into a vertical position essential for a subsequent filling operation. The prior apparatuses must therefore be stopped for the operations of removing the containers from the formers and transferring them into holding boxes. These unsatisfactory cyclical stoppages restrict the productivity of the prior apparatuses, and in addition involve substantial mechanical disadvantages.
The handling of the flexible and easily damaged body of an empty container, i.e. its reorientation from the hori-zontal to the vertical and its transfer, is also associated with difficulties.
It is accordingly an object of the present inven-tion to provide a novel and improved apparatus for and method of producing containers from a strip of flexible sheet material by forming the containers on vertical formers so that the containers do not have to be reoriented for filling.
According to the present invention, there is pro-~, , ~2~4699 vided in a bag forming and conveying machine of the type having a plurality of parallel vertlcally disposed rectilinear mandrel~ adapted to be moved along a closed path, for cooperation wlth bag forming means, the improvement comprising means for feeding a ~heet of material vertically downwardly ad~acent one side of a mandrel at a predetermined positlon ad~acent said clo~ed path and means for holding said sheet of material agalnst the ~ide of said mandrel for the subsequent wrapping of said sheet about said mandrel to form an open top bag.
Thus, apparatus is disclosed for produclng containers from a strlp of flexible sheet materlal, the apparatus comprising a former, means for advancing the sheet material ln a vertically downward direction to the former with the sheet material extending parallel to a flat face of the former, means for severing an end section of the sheet material from the strlp and means for wrapping the severed end section around the former to form the container.
Thus, the end section of the strip of material e.g. from a coil, disposed in a vertical position and advancing vertically downwardly, may be held in a flat condition by the gravitational force of the downwardly directed weight of the strip end section. Furthermore, a plurality of vertically downwardly directed formers are preferably cyclically located at the end of the vertically downwardly suspended strip, which are oriented downwardly ~o parallel and 80 ad~acent the vertically suspended edge of the strip coming e.g. from the coil that the flexible strip can be stably anchored or pressed against the vertical formers without deviatin~ from the correct flat arrangement.
A feature of the preferred embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention i8 that the flexible material strip i8 cut after its end ha~ been securely anchored to the vertical former.
Preferably, the apparatus includes means for removing the former from the container by relative ~24~9 - 2a -vertlcal displacement of the former and the container to leave the container ln an upwardly open condition for subsequent filling of the container. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, means are associated with the form for pre~sing again6t a bottom portion of the container during the vertical displacement ~o that this operation i8 effected with high reliability even during movement of the former and without stopping the latter.
Preferably, means are provtded for advancing the former, the pressing means and the container along a horizontal path, the pre3sing means comprising ~Z~4699 a pressing member at the bottom of the former for pres-sng against the bottom of the container, a rod extending vertically downwardly through the former to the presser member and means for vertically reciprocating the rod rela-tive to the former during the advance along the horizontalpath.
The apparatus may also comprise means for holding the container in its upwardly open condition and means for advancing the former and the holding means in vertical align-ment with one another, at least during the stripping ofthe container from the former, the pressing means being adapted to displace the container downwardly from the former into the holding means. The former and the holding means may each be one of a plurality, each of the holding means being respectively associated with one of the formers for receiving a container therefrom, and means being provided for advancing the formers and the holding means in syn-chronism with one another around an endless path past a transfer zone at which the containers are transferred in succession from the formers to the holding means.
The invention also provides a method of producing containers from a strip of flexible sheet material, the method comprising the steps of feeding the sheet material in a vertically downwardly extending direction to a former so that an end section of the stip is disposed parallel to a flat face of the former, severing the end section from the strip and wrapping the severed end section around the former to form the container.
Preferably, the fitting of the sheet material to the former includes suspending the end section of the strip so that the end section hangs under gravity in a flat vertical position parallel to and adjacent the flat face of the former.
The severing of the end portion may be effected after pressing the end section against the flat face so that the severed end portion remains in a flat vertical condition during the subsequent wrapping of the end section ~Z~4699 around the former. Thus, the container may be formed in an upwardly open condition around the former and may be subsequently stripped Erom the former by relative vertical displacement of the container and the former, pressure being exerted on the bottom portion of the container within the container to effect the stripping of the container from the former by displacing the container downwardly from the former into a container holder disposed below the former and advanced in synchronism with the former in a horizontal direction.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cutting of the vertically downwardly depending flat end section of the strip is effected after the suspended end section of the strip has been anchored to the former in such a manner that the flat sheet or end section severed from the flexible strip from the spool can be transferred to subsequent wrapping locations without moving from its vertical flat arrangement, and the former is one of a plurality of vertically downwardly extending formers moving along a path in which, at least in a zone at which the end section is held against the former and the container is removed from the former, are located with reference to the vertical plane, in which the end section of the strip is positioned under gravity, with a degree of closeness and parallelism which ensure the positioning of the sheet without deviation from the stable, vertical flat, vertically downwardly extending position.
In this embodiment, the container, wrapped around the former, is located in a vertical position with a fil-ling opening facing upwardly for the filling of any sub-stance to be packed into the container by gravity.
The former in this embodiment is provided with a plunger mechanism having a movable bottom for pressing in an axial direction against the interior of the bottom of the container for stripping the latter from the former as the former is advanced. The plunger mechanism is actuated by a push rod which has a pin actuated by a known displace-~Z~4699 ment mechanism for coaxial movement of the bottom of thevertical former within the container.
The reciprocating mechanism is aligned with one of a plurality of underlying boxes which, at least in a zone at which the container is transferred thereto, is ar-ranged coaxially with the former and is synchronized with the movement of the former from which the container is stripped during its movement which, in this zone, is iden-tical to that of the underlying box.
The former iN this embodiment is one of a plurality of vertically arranged formers in a circular or endless set with a corresponding circular or endless set of underlying and synchronized boxes, to which a plurality of the con-tainers are transferred at the synchronous transfer zone, at which each former and a respective one of the boxes are arranged coaxially one below the other and are synchronized for simultaneous transfer of the containers stripped from the formers and transferred into the boxes during the syn-chronized movement of the formers and the boxes.
The preferred embodiment of the invention pro-vides a substantial increase of reliability and consequen-tial increased operational productivity and is characterized by optimum safety and operational precision.
The apparatus according to the invention may be employed in the formation of the strip from a coil in a machine which fills, weighs, conditions and seals the containers with a content of granular or powder substances, such as flour, sugar or coffee, even under vacuum and even in continuous operation, and may be integrated with a down-stream apparatus for the extrusion and connection ofmaterials with printed or cut-out decorations and with flexible strips provided with heat weldable interior and exterior layers.
The invention will be more readily understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:-~Z~4699 Figures 1 to 5 show successive steps in the pro-duction of a container in a first embodiment of a container producing apparatus; and Figures 6 to 10 show further embodiments of con-tainer producing apparatuses.
In Figure l, there is diagrammatically illustrated a vertically downwardly moving end section of a strip 1 of flexible material, which comes from a coil or spool or an extrusion device. Draw-off rollers 2 advance the strip 1 and guide it downwardly, so that it is fed in the direction indicated by an arrow.
In Figure 2, the free end section of the strip 1 from the coil, due to the force of its gravitational weight, is longitudinally stretched like a plumb thread and assumes and stably maintains a flat, vertical position parallel to a flat face of a former 3. Thus, the end section of the strip 1 is suspended so that it hangs under gravity in a flat vertical position parallel to and ad-jacent the flat face of the former 3.
As shown in Figure 2, the vertically suspended end section or portion of the strip 1, during movement into a position in which it is pressed against the flat face of the former 3 by means of a horizontally displaced plate 4, does not lose its parallelism with respect to the flat face of the former 3, since it was already disposed closely parallel to this flat face.
F'igure 4 shows, as indicated by reference numeral 5, the strip end portion or section severed from the strip 1 along a line 6 by means of a cutter (not shown~ while it is secured to the former 3. From Figure 4, it is apparent that the severed strip end portion 5 remains secured ver-tically and stably to the former 3, and the strip end por-tion 5 remains in this vertical engaged/secured condition in all subsequent phases of the wrapping of the strip end portion 5 about the former 3 to form a container by wrap-ping mechanism which is of a conventional type well known to those skilled in the art and which, therefore, will not .~ i ~2~699 be described in greater detail herein. It can also be seen that the severed edge 6 of the strip end portion 5 is hori-zontal so as to form a horizontal edge of the container, which is located in a vertical position with an upwardly facing open,ing.
Figure 5 shows a plurality of the formers 3 travelling around a circular path of travel and having containers formed in successive steps thereon and, thus, diagrammatically illustrates the successive steps in the formation of each of the containers. It will be seen from Figure 5 that the cut edge 6 of the strip end portion 5 forming each of the containers remains horizontally disposed during the successive steps of the wrapping of the strip end portion 5 about the vertical former 3 to form each of the containers.
Figure 6 shows details of a stripper mechanism by which each of the containers is stripped from its former 3.
As can be seen in Figure 6, each of the formers 3 is provided at its bottom with a presser plate 71 which is mounted at the lower end of a rod 9 and which is reci-procable therewith, relative to the respective former 3, in a vertical direction along the axis of the former 3. The presser plate 7, within each container, presses against the bottom interior surface of the container to strip the container from its former 3 and to locate the thus-stripped container in an open-sided box-shaped up-wardly open container holder 8 after the formation of each container. The reciprocation of the rods 9 is effected by cam follower rollers 10 at the upper ends thereof run-ning along a cam groove 11 in a stationary drum 12. The formers 3 and the container holders 8 are driven in syn-chronism with one another, with each holder 8 disposed directly below a respective one of the formers 3, by drive chains ~not shown), so that the formers are advanced in succession through the location at which the severed end sections of the strip are applied to the formers, with the ~2~4~99 formers being disposed in a vertical position with the flat face thereof adjacent and parallel to a vertical plane in which the respective severed end portion of the strip hangs under gravity in a stable, vertical flat downwardly ex-tending condition, the formers 3 and the container holders8 being advanced in synchronism with one another by the chains around an endless path past a transfer zone at which the containers are transferred in succession from the for-mers 3 to the container holders 8 by the presser plates 7. In this way, the containers 5 are transferred by pres-sure exerted within the containers during the synchronized movement of the containers, the formers 3 and the holders 8 and in a continuous manner without stoppage of the ap-paratus.
Figure 7 shows parts of the apparatus and, in particular, shows a plurality of the container holders 8 travelling around an endless path, the formers 3 travelling around a circular path in synchronism with the container holders 8.
Figure 8 shows parts of a modified embodiment of the apparatus, in which the formers 3 travel around an endless path while the formers 3 travel along a similar but offset endless path, with a section of each of the two paths being located one below the other.
Figure 9 shows a further modification of the ap-paratus in which the container holders 8 and the formers 3 travel around circular paths disposed one below the other and in which a plurality of further container holders 8' travel around another circular path tangential to that of the container holders 8, the containers 5 being transferred from the container holders 8 to the container holders 8', by a conventional transf~r mechanism which is not shown in the drawings but which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, with the containers 5 empty and in a vertical, upwardly open orientation, so that the containers can be filled and sealed while they are carried around by the contain holders 8' by filling and sealing mechanisms ~LZ9~4699 g (not shown).
Figure lO shows a further modification of the apparatus which is similar to that of Figure 9 but in which the container holders 8' travel around a longer endless path.
Various other possible geometrical and kinematically corresponding and synchronized combinations, which are not shown in the drawings, can be constructed within the scope of the invention. The invention further includes various embodiments of different dimensional relationships and dif-ferent structural relationships and also the selection ofthe materials employed can be effected in accordance with the speed and the physical and organic characteristics of the substances to be packaged. It will be apparent that all container production apparatuses employing a coil of a strip of flexible material in which a free end portion of the strip is suspended in a vertically downwardly ex-tending condition fall within the scope of the invention.
It will also be clear that the invention also embraces all container producing apparatus provided with a cyclical plurality of vertical formers which are moved parallel and close to the vertically suspended end edge of a strip so that they can be brought into engagement therewith without the above-described vertical and adjacent disposition en-sured by gravity being disturbed, are included within the invention.
It will also be apparent that the invention in-cludes package producing apparatuses with vertical formers which are provided with means acting within the containers for displacing the containers from the formers during the advance of the formers by acting directly within the con-tainers to press the containers on the interior bottom sur-faces thereof and thus to strip the containers formed by wrapping in a vertical orientation. Thus, it will also be clear that the circular or endless turntable carrying the formers with a plurality of container holders respectively associated and synchronized with the formers for displacing ~2~4699 the empty containers into the holders during the synchronized movement represents a further feature of a preferred embodi-ment of the invention. In addition, the invention includes all apparatuses which wrap vertical sheets around a plurality of vertical formers in order to form containers which are already vertically arranged with openings facing upwardly, and which are transferred into a plurality of associated, underlying holders during synchronized movement.
Claims (4)
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. In a bag forming and conveying machine of the type having a plurality of parallel vertically disposed rectilinear mandrels adapted to be moved along a closed path, for cooperation with bag forming means, the improvement comprising means for feeding a sheet of material vertically downwardly adjacent one side of a mandrel at a predetermined position adjacent said closed path and means for holding said sheet of material against the side of said mandrel for the subsequent wrapping of said sheet about said mandrel to form an open top bag.
2. A bag forming and conveying machine as set forth in claim 1, further comprising bag discharge means mounted within each mandrel for vertical reciprocating movement to discharge each bag formed thereon downwardly from said mandrel and cam means disposed adjacent said closed path and operatively connected to each of said bag discharge means for periodically reciprocating said bag discharge means.
3. A bag forming and conveying machine as set forth in claim 2, further comprising horizontally disposed conveyor means moveable along a second closed horizontal path below and partially coinciding with said first mentioned closed path and a plurality of vertically disposed bag support means carried by said conveyor means for receiving the bags discharged from said mandrels by said discharge means to support said bags during a subsequent bag filling and closing operation.
4. A bag forming and convoying machine as set forth in claim 3, further comprising an additional horizontally disposed means movable along a horizontally disposed closed path coplanar with and tangential to the closed path of said conveyor means, a second plurality of bag support means mounted on second conveyor means with each bag support means on each conveyor means being comprised of a box having an open top and one open side with the open side of each box facing outwardly of the closed path of the respective conveyor means to facilitate the lateral transfer of a bag from a box on one conveyor means to a box on the other conveyor means at the point of tangency.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT8303491A IT1212928B (en) | 1983-07-12 | 1983-07-12 | MACHINE FOR THE INTEGRAL PACKAGING OF BAGS STARTING FROM COILS |
| IT3491A/83 | 1983-07-12 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1244699A true CA1244699A (en) | 1988-11-15 |
Family
ID=11108365
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000452549A Expired CA1244699A (en) | 1983-07-12 | 1984-04-19 | Apparatus and method for producing containers |
Country Status (20)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| EP (1) | EP0131101B1 (en) |
| JP (1) | JPS6023101A (en) |
| AR (1) | AR242922A1 (en) |
| AT (1) | ATE38366T1 (en) |
| AU (1) | AU572507B2 (en) |
| BR (1) | BR8402260A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1244699A (en) |
| CS (1) | CS250662B2 (en) |
| DE (1) | DE3474944D1 (en) |
| DK (1) | DK229084A (en) |
| ES (1) | ES8504018A1 (en) |
| FI (1) | FI841829A (en) |
| HU (1) | HU197861B (en) |
| IN (1) | IN160788B (en) |
| IT (1) | IT1212928B (en) |
| MX (1) | MX160322A (en) |
| NO (1) | NO169582C (en) |
| PL (1) | PL140538B1 (en) |
| SU (1) | SU1440336A3 (en) |
| ZA (1) | ZA843366B (en) |
Families Citing this family (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPH0564676U (en) * | 1992-01-29 | 1993-08-27 | 株式会社日本クライメイトシステムズ | Automotive air conditioner capacitors |
| FI981122A (en) | 1998-05-20 | 1999-11-21 | Upm Kymmene Corp | Method and apparatus for feeding substances |
| FI120485B (en) | 1998-05-29 | 2009-11-13 | Lamican Oy | The container-forming unit |
| FI981219A (en) | 1998-05-29 | 1999-11-30 | Upm Kymmene Corp | Process and packaging machine for forming a filled package, material web and filled packaging |
| ITBO20100049A1 (en) * | 2010-01-27 | 2011-07-28 | Ica Spa | BAG PACKAGING MACHINE WITH INTERMITTENT VERTICAL SPINDLES |
Family Cites Families (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US1628120A (en) * | 1921-03-22 | 1927-05-10 | Cooper Simon | Packaging machine |
| AT130469B (en) * | 1930-04-07 | 1932-11-25 | American Mach & Foundry | Process for the production of, on the one hand, open boxes by folding an inner and an outer casing sheet around a mandrel and a machine for carrying it through. |
| FR1281258A (en) * | 1960-08-31 | 1962-01-12 | Zd Y Potravinarskych A Chladic | Machine for manufacturing, filling and sealing paper packages of various kinds with coating of plastic, aluminum foil, cardboard, or the like |
| DE2032184A1 (en) * | 1969-07-15 | 1971-02-18 | Haum Werke, Korber & Co KG, 2050 Hamburg | Device for producing and filling soft packs |
-
1983
- 1983-07-12 IT IT8303491A patent/IT1212928B/en active
-
1984
- 1984-01-12 BR BR8402260A patent/BR8402260A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1984-04-19 CA CA000452549A patent/CA1244699A/en not_active Expired
- 1984-04-30 EP EP84104822A patent/EP0131101B1/en not_active Expired
- 1984-04-30 AT AT84104822T patent/ATE38366T1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1984-04-30 DE DE8484104822T patent/DE3474944D1/en not_active Expired
- 1984-05-02 CS CS843239A patent/CS250662B2/en unknown
- 1984-05-02 NO NO841736A patent/NO169582C/en unknown
- 1984-05-04 ZA ZA843366A patent/ZA843366B/en unknown
- 1984-05-07 ES ES532261A patent/ES8504018A1/en not_active Expired
- 1984-05-07 IN IN339/MAS/84A patent/IN160788B/en unknown
- 1984-05-08 FI FI841829A patent/FI841829A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1984-05-08 JP JP59091720A patent/JPS6023101A/en active Granted
- 1984-05-08 DK DK229084A patent/DK229084A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1984-05-08 MX MX201270A patent/MX160322A/en unknown
- 1984-05-08 PL PL1984247580A patent/PL140538B1/en unknown
- 1984-05-08 SU SU843736504A patent/SU1440336A3/en active
- 1984-05-09 AR AR84296599A patent/AR242922A1/en active
- 1984-05-09 AU AU27860/84A patent/AU572507B2/en not_active Ceased
- 1984-07-11 HU HU842709A patent/HU197861B/en not_active IP Right Cessation
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| NO841736L (en) | 1985-01-14 |
| DK229084D0 (en) | 1984-05-08 |
| BR8402260A (en) | 1985-06-11 |
| ATE38366T1 (en) | 1988-11-15 |
| IT1212928B (en) | 1989-12-07 |
| NO169582B (en) | 1992-04-06 |
| FI841829A0 (en) | 1984-05-08 |
| EP0131101A2 (en) | 1985-01-16 |
| PL140538B1 (en) | 1987-05-30 |
| DK229084A (en) | 1985-01-13 |
| HU197861B (en) | 1989-06-28 |
| PL247580A1 (en) | 1985-01-16 |
| CS250662B2 (en) | 1987-05-14 |
| ES532261A0 (en) | 1985-04-01 |
| IT8303491A0 (en) | 1983-07-12 |
| AU572507B2 (en) | 1988-05-12 |
| EP0131101B1 (en) | 1988-11-02 |
| JPH0230853B2 (en) | 1990-07-10 |
| DE3474944D1 (en) | 1988-12-08 |
| FI841829A (en) | 1985-01-13 |
| JPS6023101A (en) | 1985-02-05 |
| ZA843366B (en) | 1984-11-28 |
| NO169582C (en) | 1992-07-15 |
| AR242922A1 (en) | 1993-06-30 |
| SU1440336A3 (en) | 1988-11-23 |
| AU2786084A (en) | 1985-01-17 |
| EP0131101A3 (en) | 1986-06-04 |
| HUT38078A (en) | 1986-04-28 |
| ES8504018A1 (en) | 1985-04-01 |
| MX160322A (en) | 1990-02-06 |
| IN160788B (en) | 1987-08-08 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |