DE29802949U1 - Device for packaging at least one product in a container - Google Patents

Description

Applicant: Gerhard Schubert GmbH

Our file: 47411 Al/Gr

Device for packing

at least one product in a container

I.Application area

The invention relates to a device for packaging a product in a container. The product can also consist of a large number of individual products arranged next to one another.

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II. Technical background

Particularly with narrow, flat products such as chocolate bars, biscuits, etc., the individual products can be placed in the container one after the other or in the form of the entire block, i.e. the entire product.

Especially when the container is made of rigid material such as cardboard, two different methods are known:

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The "top loading" method consists of creating the container completely, for example, completely erecting the container made from a flat cardboard blank and, if necessary, fixing the side walls in this fully erected state (which can be done by gluing, interlocking or similar) and only then placing the product in the fully erected but still open container.

This can be done by inserting it from the side, but usually by inserting the product vertically from above.

In contrast, the "wrap-around" method consists of placing the still flat cardboard cut-out on a tub-shaped or hat-shaped auxiliary device that is open at the top and then lowering the product from top to bottom. The product is first pressed from above against the flat cardboard cut-out and then pressed together with it into the auxiliary device that is open at the top. By positioning and dimensioning accordingly, the side walls are automatically raised when the product is pressed in with the cut-out. Due to the rigidity of the cut-out, the walls rest against the inward-facing support surfaces of the auxiliary device and are fixed against each other in this state.

However, both methods have disadvantages:

The disadvantage of "top loading" is that when the product is placed down, the product may have to be held by a holder, etc. As a result, the free space inside the upright container must be larger than the product itself to be picked up in order to provide space for the holder and also for the holder to be pulled back.

Even if the product is only held on the top when it is placed in the container, i.e. the holder does not have to be inserted into the container, it is not possible to hold the product in the container with virtually no play, since lateral play must be provided between the product and the inner wall of the container for insertion. With the walls of a fully erected cardboard container usually standing vertically, the container must therefore be chosen to be larger than would be necessary based on the dimensions alone. This is disadvantageous both for the play that then exists between the product and the container and the resulting possibility of damage to the product, as well as

: also because of the unnecessarily increased storage and transport volume for the goods.

The disadvantage of "wrap around" is that the product must be sufficiently stable to press the flat cardboard blank so hard that the side walls are automatically erected.

Furthermore, this method is not feasible for a product that is not placed in the container as a whole, but consists of individual products that are to be placed in the container one after the other.

III. Description of the invention a) Technical problem

It is therefore the object of the present invention to create a device for packaging a product, in which the product can be received in the container essentially without play, and yet no forces have to be transferred to the container by means of the product and in which additionally the introduction of individual products one after the other into the container is also possible.

b) Solution to the task

This object is achieved by the characterizing features of claims 1 and 19. Advantageous embodiments emerge from the subclaims.

By partially erecting the container before the products are introduced, so that at least one of the side walls has an outward

upwards, there are a whole range of advantages:

On the one hand, the forces required to erect the container, usually a box, are not transferred to the container via the product. On the other hand, the side wall that protrudes upwards at an angle or several or all of the side walls that protrude upwards at an angle fulfill an additional function when inserting the product or products:

&iacgr;&ogr; On the one hand, the side walls, which are slanted in this way, act like an introduction funnel and center the product on the floor surface on which it is to be placed exactly. This function is all the more important the less play there is to be between the outer circumference of the product and the interior of the fully erected container.

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Furthermore, when the product fills the interior of the fully erected container with virtually no play, the outer surfaces of the product serve as an end stop when the previously slanted side wall or walls are completely erected, i.e. placed vertically.

Depending on the product, one, two opposite or all (in the case of a generally square package, all four) side walls are tilted before the product is inserted.

If the product itself is so stable that the force transfer by means of the product to the cardboard of the container does not cause any problems, the container can also be partially erected by means of the product until one or all of the side walls are inclined. In this case, the product is then pressed against the area of the still flat cardboard blank that will later form the base, and the whole thing is then pressed against a device that is supported from below and outside, but which, however, supports one or more

: The side walls are not placed vertically in the final position, but only up to the desired inclination.

This is useful, for example, if the product needs to be held by a holding device not only on the top but also on the sides when it is put down.

Which or how many of the side walls are placed at an angle depends not least on the shape of the product: If the product to be stored - in a

If the biscuit has a shape that tapers downwards when viewed from a horizontal surface, as is the case with vertical, round biscuits, for example, the side walls on the left and right in this direction of view need to be inclined little or not at all, and can therefore be positioned completely or almost completely vertical. The centering is therefore carried out by the shape of the product itself, which widens from bottom to top.

However, if the product is equipped with vertical side edges in this viewing direction, it is recommended that these side walls be inclined as described above.

A further advantage is that such an inclined side wall can not only perform a centering function, but can also serve as a support surface for a product that is to be placed upright in the container. Especially when individual products are to be placed one after the other in a container, which is done, for example, when filling with individual products using so-called pickers, there is a problem when very narrow, flat individual products are to be arranged vertically in the container:

The pickers hold the product using a small vacuum suction cup, which requires a minimum area on the product. Since the individual products are usually delivered on a belt-shaped conveyor and picked up by the picker from there, the picker therefore picks up the product on the side facing upwards.

broadside of the product. For placing in the container, the head of the picker could be designed to swivel so that it holds the individual product upright and also inserts it into the container. However, if it is placed exactly vertically, there would be a great risk that the individual product would fall over to the free side after the picker has been released. Furthermore, with the last individual products to be placed to the side, i.e. to the front wall at the end of the horizontal row, there would be no room for the picker to grab the product from the side if the products were to fill the container almost completely.

In this case, the first individual product will not be placed vertically, but rather at an angle in line with the slanted wall, so that its narrow side rests on the ground and its broad side, which points downwards, rests on the slanted wall. The remaining individual products are then placed in a horizontal row by the picker, one resting on the other, in the same angled manner. This prevents the individual products from falling over and - even if the opposite wall is slanted - enables the picker to place individual products right up to the edge of the base of the container, so that the container, which is later fully upright, is then completely filled with products.

The individual products do not, of course, remain in this slanted state in the packaging. By placing the slanted wall supporting the individual products in the vertical position, all individual products are also placed vertically after the domino effect. To prevent them from falling over, at least the opposite side wall must also be placed vertically at this point.

The side walls are then fixed together again in this fully upright, usually vertical position.

The known methods for fixing are available, such as gluing overlapping fastening tabs, simply raising the unit without overlapping fastening tabs and fixing it in this position by placing a lid on top, positively connecting the adjacent side walls using plug-in tabs, etc.

If you choose a type of fixation that allows at least one wall, which served as a support when filling with the individual products, to be put back into an inclined position or even into a horizontal position flush with the floor,

&iacgr;&ogr;, this leads to the individual products also tipping into this inclined position.

This makes it easier for the user to remove the individual products because it spreads them out. This is possible, for example, if this supporting side wall has tabs in the direction of the two adjacent side walls, which are guided along these side walls, e.g. between these adjacent side walls and the products.

By fanning out the products at a very angle, almost horizontally, a greater total length is of course required for the row of products than if they were positioned vertically. This can be taken care of by lowering the opposite side wall before lowering the support wall into the angled or horizontal position, preferably also to the horizontal position, flush with the ground.

This means that the length of this folded side wall is also available for the diagonally fanned out row of products.

Accessibility for the user is also improved if the side walls running parallel to the row of individual products are folded outwards at least slightly and thus angled.

c) Examples of implementation

An embodiment according to the invention is described in more detail below by way of example with reference to the figures. They show:
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Figures 1: the procedure with a single product P,

Fig. 2: the procedure for filling with vertically standing,

narrow individual products,
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Fig. 3: a plan view of the container according to Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4: the cut for the production of container 1.

Fig. la shows the initial situation in which the blank 5, from which the container 1 is to be formed, is still in one plane.

Such a cut is shown for example for a square box in Fig. 4. It consists of the rectangular part that later forms the base 4/central, and rectangles arranged on its 4 edges - for a cuboid-shaped container - which represent the two end walls 3a, 3b on the left and right side and the longitudinal walls 2a, 2b on the top and bottom of Fig. 4. In addition, fastening tabs 11 and 11' for connecting to the adjacent walls can be present on those side edges of these walls 2, 3 that face the adjacent wall.

Such a blank is now pressed in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 1a, preferably with the aid of a stamp corresponding to the shape and size of the base 4, into a trough-shaped auxiliary device 20, which consists of support end walls 13 projecting obliquely upwards and outwards, which are connected to the central support base 12 via joints 19.

Analogous longitudinal support walls for the longitudinal walls 2a, 2b of the blank 5 can also be present transversely to the viewing direction of Fig. 1a, which also rise up from the support base 12, and preferably not vertically, but rather diagonally upwards and outwards. These are not shown in Figures 1 for the sake of simplicity.

After the front walls 3a, 3b of the blank 5 are in contact with the supporting front walls 13, the longitudinal walls are in contact with the supporting longitudinal walls and the base 4 is in contact with the supporting base 12, and thus has taken up the trough-shaped inner contour of the auxiliary device 20, the product P is placed on the base 4 of this partially erected container 1, as shown in Fig. 1b.

The walls are then folded up completely from the inclined position into the vertical position, i.e. the end position for a container with vertical walls, which has already been done in Fig. 1c with the left end wall 3a and still has to be done with the right end wall 3b by pivoting around the joint 19b.

The product P has a cuboid shape and protrudes beyond the upper ends of the end walls 3a, 3b, so that these end walls of the product P can serve as an end stop for folding up the end walls 3a, 3b - and analogously also for the longitudinal walls.

The walls 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b are then fixed to one another. This is done in a form-fitting manner according to Fig. 1d by slipping a lid 14 from above over the product P and container 1, whereby in the final state - as can be seen in Fig. 1e - the lid walls 15 overlap downwards over the upper edge of the walls 3a, 3b and also the longitudinal walls 2a, 2b. Due to the fixation of the lid walls 15 to one another, even loose, unconnected walls 2, 3 of the container 1 are fixed to one another in a form-fitting manner by the lid that is slipped over them.

The lid 14 can be delivered in the finished state with the lid walls 15 fixed against each other and can be placed vertically from above on the product P and container 1, whereby the inner contour of the lid 14 must at least correspond to the outer contour of the container 1. However, it is also possible, as shown in Fig. 5 1d, to place the lid from above, while the lid walls 15a, 15b, which are present all the way around the peripheral edges of the base of the lid, still extend diagonally downwards to the outside in order to make it easier to place it over the product P and container 1, as shown in the right half of Fig. 1d.

Only then are the cover walls pressed down into the completely vertical position and connected to one another, for example by gluing the cover tab 17, which is firmly arranged on the cover wall 15b and is glued to the cover longitudinal wall.

In addition, the entire lid 14 can be glued to the container 1 by means of adhesive 16 between the outer surface of one or more walls 2, 3 of the container 1 and the inner surface of the corresponding lid walls, e.g. 15a, 15b in their vertical overlap area.

Both the lid 14 and the container 1 can be made from a blank 5 according to Fig. 4. In the left half of the picture, fastening tabs 11 are arranged on the left end wall 3 on those edges that border the adjacent longitudinal walls when erected, which tabs 11 lie parallel to the adjacent longitudinal walls 2a, 2b when erected and can be glued to them. Inserting them into corresponding openings in the longitudinal walls 2 is also possible, for example supported by hooking means.

In the right half of Fig. 5, these fastening tabs 11' are designed as quarter circles, for example. Because this right end wall 3b is slightly lower than the adjacent longitudinal walls 2a, 2b and the longitudinal walls are

Folding over from the outside, doubled, with a folded edge in the upper area of the finished side wall 2b, the fastening tabs 11' can then be inserted into the space between the layers 2b, 2b' and 2a, 2a' and held there in a form-fitting manner. This makes it possible to fold the front surface 3b up and down repeatedly, but folding the longitudinal walls 2a, 2b diagonally outwards is only possible to a very limited extent.

Fig. .3, on the other hand, shows a blank 5 which consists exclusively of the floor 4 and the adjacent surfaces for the walls 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, and has no elements for connecting these walls to one another.

Fig. 3 shows the container 1 in the partially erected state with the product already placed on the bottom 4 of the container 1.

Fig. 2 shows the procedure when the product P to be placed in the container 1 consists of a large number of individual products Pa, Pb, ..., which are to be arranged upright in the container 1.

The partial erection by pressing the blank 5 into the auxiliary device 20 with at least one, according to Fig. 2 a total of four inclined support walls (support end walls 13a, 13b, support longitudinal walls 18a, 18b) happens analogously during the transition from Fig. 2a to Fig. 2b.

The upright individual products Pa, Pb, ... are delivered one after the other by the suction head 7 of a picker 6, which grips the broad side 8 of the individual products Pa, Pb, whereby the products Pa, Pb are held vertically or diagonally according to the inclination of the support front wall 13. The first individual product Pa is placed with its narrow side 9 on the floor 4 of the container 1 directly on the support front wall 13b, so that the individual product Pa is supported parallel to the support front wall 13b. The other individual products Pb, ... are then placed one after the other and leaning against each other in this way on the floor 4 until the entire container 1 is filled.

as shown in Fig. 2c. Due to the inclined position of the products, there is still sufficient space between the last individual product Px and the adjacent wall on this side for the picker 6 to grip.

The slanted walls are then raised, which has already happened in Fig. 2c with the left support end wall 13a. By subsequently folding up the support end wall 13b that supported the slanted individual products Pa, Pb, the individual products Pa - Px are also placed vertically and now preferably completely fill the container 1.

In Fig. 2c, the fastening tabs 11' are shown in operation as shown in the right half of Fig. 4.

In Fig. 2d, an extension 13a' is arranged on the left support end wall 13a, which extends at a right angle and thus horizontally and parallel to the base 4 from the upper edge of the support end wall 13 to the middle of the container 1. This extension makes it possible to fix the container 1 and in particular its side walls against each other by sliding a tubular sliding sleeve 21, adapted to the outer contour of the filled container 1 and open on two opposite sides, for example in the longitudinal direction 10, i.e. along the row of individual products Pa, Pb, ... over the filled container.

Even connecting straps 11 or 11' between the walls 2, 3 of the container 1 can be dispensed with in this way.

Fig. 2e shows the use of container 1 when the user removes the individual products Pa - Px.

In this case, firstly, the one end wall 13ä, which preferably comprises the tab 1'3'a, is placed in a position approximately or completely horizontal and thus

folded down flush with the base 4, with the tab 13'a extending approximately vertically upwards. When the opposite support end wall 13b is subsequently folded down into an inclined position, the length of the row of individual products Pa - Px becomes ever greater the flatter the inclined position of the support end wall 13 and thus of the individual products.

The tab 13'a on the opposite side serves as an end stop for the individual products Pa - Px. Due to this inclination, which results in a greater spread out of the individual products, these can be

&iacgr;&ogr; User can grasp and remove it from the container 1 more easily, which is made easier in particular by the inclination or the complete folding down of the longitudinal walls 18a, 18b.

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LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

5 1 container 2 Longitudinal wall 3 Front wall 4 Floor 5 Cutting 10 6 Pickers 7 Suction head 8th Broadside 9 Narrow side 10 Longitudinal direction 15 11 Fastening tab 12 Support trestle 13 Supporting front wall 14 Lid 15 Cover wall 20 16 Glue 17 Lid flap 18 Longitudinal retaining wall 19 Joints 20 Auxiliary device 25 21 Sliding sleeve 22 Rubber stamp P product

Claims (3)

PROTECTION CLAIMS 1. Device for packaging at least one product (P) in a container (1), characterized in that the device comprises an auxiliary device (20) with a support base (12) corresponding to the size of the base (4) of the container (1) and a support wall (13a, 13b, 18a, 18b) arranged on at least one of the edges of the support base (12), which wall is fastened to the support base (12) via a joint (19) and can be pivoted from a position aligned therewith into an end position transverse to it, in particular perpendicular to it, and can be locked in at least one oblique intermediate position between the aligned position and the end position. 2. Device according to claim 1, .
characterized in that the supporting walls correspond at least to the height of the container (1). 3. Device according to one of claims 1 or 2,
characterized in that the device comprises a stamp (22) for pressing the blank (5) for the container (1) into the auxiliary device (20), in particular from the top.