EP0082220A1 - Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Zusammenfassen von Verpackungsbehältern, Verbindungselement und Mehrstückpackung - Google Patents

Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Zusammenfassen von Verpackungsbehältern, Verbindungselement und Mehrstückpackung Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0082220A1
EP0082220A1 EP81201384A EP81201384A EP0082220A1 EP 0082220 A1 EP0082220 A1 EP 0082220A1 EP 81201384 A EP81201384 A EP 81201384A EP 81201384 A EP81201384 A EP 81201384A EP 0082220 A1 EP0082220 A1 EP 0082220A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
containers
joining
container
supporting
joined
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.)
Granted
Application number
EP81201384A
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP0082220B1 (de
Inventor
Laurentius Adriaan Maria Evers
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Vereenigde Glasfabrieken NV
Original Assignee
Vereenigde Glasfabrieken NV
Priority date (The priority date 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 date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Vereenigde Glasfabrieken NV filed Critical Vereenigde Glasfabrieken NV
Priority to DE8181201384T priority Critical patent/DE3175182D1/de
Priority to EP81201384A priority patent/EP0082220B1/de
Priority to AT81201384T priority patent/ATE21501T1/de
Publication of EP0082220A1 publication Critical patent/EP0082220A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0082220B1 publication Critical patent/EP0082220B1/de
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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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
    • B65B17/00—Other machines, apparatus, or methods for packaging articles or materials
    • B65B17/02—Joining articles, e.g. cans, directly to each other for convenience of storage, transport, or handling
    • B65B17/025—Joining articles, e.g. cans, directly to each other for convenience of storage, transport, or handling the articles being joined by a top carrier element
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
    • B65D71/00—Bundles of articles held together by packaging elements for convenience of storage or transport, e.g. portable segregating carrier for plural receptacles such as beer cans or pop bottles; Bales of material
    • B65D71/50—Bundles of articles held together by packaging elements for convenience of storage or transport, e.g. portable segregating carrier for plural receptacles such as beer cans or pop bottles; Bales of material comprising a plurality of articles held together only partially by packaging elements formed otherwise than by folding a blank

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a method of joining packaging containers, more particularly of the so-called cup-type, having an outwardly directed circumferential flange along the top edge of the upstanding wall delimiting the container opening, said circumferential flange being apt to be used, after filling the container, to bear a closing means for the opening.
  • cup-type containers particularly those made in plastics material but also in other materials, are widely in use for food products, particularly dairy products, and also for soft drinks, jams and many other things.
  • multipack The number of containers in such a multiple packing unit - which hereinafter will be called "multipack" - may be 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, or even more 12. In some cases th-, whole multiple pack is intended to be taken by the buyer in a shop, in other cases it is permitted for the buyer to tear off a smaller number, from a multiple pack which contains a great number of individual cups.
  • the multiple container can be manufactured, for example drawn, when plastics containers are concerned, in its ready, multiple state, in which a number of containers is interconnected.
  • One of the limitations of this method is, therefore, that printing can hardly or not be done on the outside of the containers and must therefore be limited to the covering sheet of foil.
  • the present invention is therefore concerned with the former method, i.e. the one in which the containers are manufactured individually and therefore apt to be printed individually, they being united into multiple packs afterwards.
  • the considerations underlying this preference can be elaborated in some more detail.
  • the invention has a twofold aim.
  • it wants to provide a method of joining individual cups which is much more efficient (one may also say: cheap) than any of the other methods which are on the market.
  • it wants to introduce a planning flexibility as regards the nature of the articles or products to be packed, that is, a planning flexibility in many respects as has not yet existed so far.
  • Such planning flexibility comprises not only the choice or combination of processing steps and the capacity thereof, but more particularly also flexibility in the number of units in each multipack, the shape of the bundle, the volume of the separate units and even in a possible combination of articles or products of different nature into one multiple pack.
  • the joining member used according to the invention can be an extremely simple part of plastics material, and when this is used one obtains a full freedom to combine and connect any number of containers into a multiple pack, by any method or apparatus, and containing any type of contents.
  • the joining members because of their extreme simplicity, are very cheap in manufacture.
  • the abovementioned steps of the method may be performed after filling the containers with the substance they are destined to contain, and before closing the container openings.
  • This means that the method according to the invention is incorporated as part of a processing or handling line.
  • joining members are only supplied where they are needed according to the desired structure of the multipacks made. Flexibility is retained because for every different pattern of individual containers to be united into multipacks one need only change the way of supplying the joining members and, naturally, the place where connecting means such as welding means are being made operative.
  • a device for joining packaging containers more particularly of the so-called cup-type, having an outwardly directed circumferential flange along the top edge of the upstanding wall delimiting the container opening, said circumferential flange being apt to be used, after filling the container, to bear a closing means for the opening.
  • Such device basically, is characterized by
  • the device is incorporated as part of an apparatus.
  • Such apparatus is characterized in that it comprises:
  • the apparatus is adapted to be included in a processing line between a filling station and a closing station.
  • the invention also comprised joining members apt to be used for joining packaging containers, because such joining members, as used in connection with the method or the apparatus of this invention, have not been used earlier for this purpose.
  • the joining member may be plastics material, particularly when the cups to be united are made in the same material,
  • the most simple strip-shape is an elongate rectangular piece. In this simple form it can be used in connection with the invention, provided that the containers to be joined have circumferential flanges of relatively great radial dimensions. When working with circumferential flanges of smaller radial dimension it is preferable to adapt the shape of the joining strip or joining member.
  • an advantageous embodiment is characterized in that the joining member, in two opposite edges is formed so as to substantially conform to the outer circumference of the containers to be joined at the location where the containers are to be joined.
  • the joining member may be provided, substantially along a central axis, with a weakening line.
  • a weakening line does not in any way hamper the handling or connecting of the strips, but it helps when the consumer wants to break the multiple pack up into the individual containers.
  • the invention finally, also comprises a multiple pack of containers of the type referred to, such pack now being characterized in that
  • a preferred embodiment of the multiple pack is characterized in that different containers in the multiple pack are filled with different substances.
  • fig. 1 shows a plastics cup 1 of a type which is generally known. It comprises a circular bottom 2, an upstanding wall 3 which is slightly conical except for the uppermost circum-4' ferential area 4 which is cylindrical through a transitionAwhich thus acts as an abutment in piling the cups in empty condition.
  • the uppermost wall portion 4 is contiguous with a circumferential flange 5 which is directed outwardly and has a flat top surface 51.
  • a top closure which commonly takes the form of an aluminum foil which is carried by, and possibly in a well known manner affixed to, the top surface 5' of the flange.
  • FIG. 2 shows one embodiment of a joining member 6 which is generally strip-shaped and which will therefore also simply be referred to as the joining or connecting strip.
  • each of the opposite edges 7, 7' having the longest dimension has a part-circular shape, the radius of curvature being substantially equal to the radius of curvature of the outside of the cylindrical wall portion 4 of the cup, so that it will conform to the outer circumference of the container.
  • a weakening line 12 along the center line of the strip 6, is visible.
  • Such weakening line is again visible in figure 3 in form of a V-shaped notch. It may, however, have any other form which will facilitate separation of the interconnected cups by the user.
  • the commencement of tearing can be facilitated by some cut out 13 in the shorter edges of the strip, although removing such material would also serve the purpose of economy in the use of plastics material.
  • FIG. 5 One way of implementing a device which would facilitate the method of interconnecting the cups is schematically illustrated by figure 5.
  • Two cups which may now be indicated by the sam- reference numerals 8 and 9 as was done in figure 3, are supported by two rings 14 and 15, respectively. These rings, therefore, have apertures such as 16 in which the cups 8 and 9 fit with an appropriate play.
  • the top surface 17 of each of the rings constitutes a supporting plane for the cup flange 10 or 11.
  • Each of the rings 14, 15 is provided with a hollowed out or deepened place 18.
  • the vertical dimension or height of this cavity is substantially equal to the thickness of the connection strips 6 to be used.
  • the deepened places such as 18 have a shape corresponding with a part of the strip 6. More particularly the shape of the cavity corresponds to the overlapping portions of cup flanges 10, 11 and connecting strip 6 as seen in figure 3.
  • the supporting rings 14, 16 are interconnected, but such interconnection may also be a permanent one, as is, again schematically, illustrated by 19 in figure 5.
  • the strip 6 and the cup flanges 10, 11 are in proper position one with respect to the others so that they can be interconnected. This could be done by ultrasonic welding, not illustrated in figure 5. Other welding techniques are also envisaged.
  • figure 6 represents, in a very schematical way, an apparatus for making the multipacks, thought of as a top view of the pack forming section which is arranged between other stations in a processing line.
  • the numeral 20 indicated a filling station for the cups, having four syn- chroneously operating filling heads.
  • the cups are still individual cups, and they are being treated, and more particularly transported, in any manner which is usually in such filling stations.
  • the reference numeral 24 indicates a set of 4 x 6 cups collected in this way, the set 24, thus, consisting of 24 cups.
  • the invention does not, as such, introduce any new proposals for arranging a number of cups into such a set.
  • the preparation station 25 contains means for supporting the cups and the connecting strips in appropriate manner, for example in the manner illustrated basically in figure 5. There will be no reason to go into further details about the adaptation of the disclosure of figure 5 to a concrete situation for example of a 4 x 6 unit.
  • Numeral 27 refers to means for handling the supply of connecting strips and distributing them over the supporting means in the preparation station 25. Techniques for sorting and distributing a mass of individual parts and arranging them in regular places are known in a variety of embodiments so that they need not be further illustrated for the concrete situation of the connecting strips according to this invention.
  • the preparation station 25 is followed by a connecting station or welding station 28.
  • the welding station may weld, for example, one line of 6 cups at a time, so that the whole set is being welded to the extent that it is being transported through the machine. Thereupon the containers may be closed in a closing station 29.
  • the multipacks formed may be further treated, such as packed, at station 30 for example by means of a mechanism arranged as at 31. Thereupon the articles may be transferred to a conveyor 32.
  • Figures 7a-7d illustrate one aspect of the versatility of the method of forming multipacks according to the invention. They illustrate five possible ways of forming multipacks within the system, illustrated by the machine of figure 6, which operates with sets of 4 x 6, so 24 cups. In figure 7a the cups in the set 24 have been interconnected pairwise.
  • the other figures of the series which, for simplification, show only part of the set of 24 cups, show a multipack consisting of 3 cups in line (figure 7b), a set of 4 cups in a square (figure 7c, sets of 6 cups arranged 2 x 3 (figure 7d). It will be clear that also multipacks containing more than 6 units are well feasible.
  • a plastic cup has been represented and described.
  • the containers may, however, also be made in other materials.
  • the joining members used may still be more simple strips than the embodiment described and shown in the drawing; this has been explained in the preamble to the specification.
  • cupes or containers need not necessarily be circular in horizontal cross section. They may also have other forms, such as with a square cross section having rounded edges. Any shape other than a circular one does have certain disadvantages, for example with the printing, but they may yet be interconnected in the way proposed by the invention.
  • Interconnecting the containers and the joining members may be done with any appropriate apparatus or method.
  • Ultrasonic welding is one technique which is applicable for plastics material and which,in the opinion of the inventor, deserves preference, but the invention also envisages vibration welding, simple supply of heat (melting together), hot sealing by means of special coatings and application of heat, simple glueing etc.
  • the supplying and supporting steps of the method may indeed be performed by any appropriate mechanical means. Many such means are experimentr to the man skilled in the art, like supporting plates, racks, perforated plates, suction heads etc.
  • One example would be to make a combination of puddings or soft drinks of different tastes in one multipack. Also it is stressed again that the invention can be applied with any desired degree of mechanization and automation, varying between the use of quite simple mechanical auxiliary means and a considerable amount of manual labour, up to a fully automated production line including facilities for changing the type of multipacks made.
  • the invention puts no restrictions to the nature of the articles or products to be packed in the containers.
  • a plurality of examples of fields in which the invention can be applied are:

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Packages (AREA)
  • Supplying Of Containers To The Packaging Station (AREA)
EP81201384A 1981-12-18 1981-12-18 Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Zusammenfassen von Verpackungsbehältern, Verbindungselement und Mehrstückpackung Expired EP0082220B1 (de)

Priority Applications (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE8181201384T DE3175182D1 (en) 1981-12-18 1981-12-18 Method, device and apparatus for joining packaging containers, joining member and multiple pack
EP81201384A EP0082220B1 (de) 1981-12-18 1981-12-18 Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Zusammenfassen von Verpackungsbehältern, Verbindungselement und Mehrstückpackung
AT81201384T ATE21501T1 (de) 1981-12-18 1981-12-18 Verfahren und vorrichtung zum zusammenfassen von verpackungsbehaeltern, verbindungselement und mehrstueckpackung.

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP81201384A EP0082220B1 (de) 1981-12-18 1981-12-18 Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Zusammenfassen von Verpackungsbehältern, Verbindungselement und Mehrstückpackung

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0082220A1 true EP0082220A1 (de) 1983-06-29
EP0082220B1 EP0082220B1 (de) 1986-08-20

Family

ID=8188174

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP81201384A Expired EP0082220B1 (de) 1981-12-18 1981-12-18 Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Zusammenfassen von Verpackungsbehältern, Verbindungselement und Mehrstückpackung

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0082220B1 (de)
AT (1) ATE21501T1 (de)
DE (1) DE3175182D1 (de)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2222136A (en) * 1988-08-12 1990-02-28 Metal Box Plc Multipacks of containers
GB2225566A (en) * 1988-12-02 1990-06-06 Mb Group Plc Apparatus for coupling together a plurality of plastics containers
EP0547657A1 (de) * 1991-12-04 1993-06-23 Akzo Nobel N.V. Halter für Paare ungleicher Behälter
EP0667225A1 (de) * 1993-11-02 1995-08-16 Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance SA Zusammenfügung von Verschliessungsteilen für Packungen zu einer Bogen- oder Bahnform
WO1997042083A1 (en) * 1996-05-09 1997-11-13 Rieber & Søn A/S Means and method for the production of multiple packages

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3688899A (en) * 1971-03-10 1972-09-05 Container Corp Article group carrier
FR2291111A1 (fr) * 1974-11-12 1976-06-11 Remy & Cie E P Procede de regroupement de recipients et ensemble de recipients regroupes obtenu par ce procede
FR2432975A1 (fr) * 1978-08-09 1980-03-07 Monoplast Procede de groupage de recipients de dose unitaire et recipients obtenus selon ce procede

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3688899A (en) * 1971-03-10 1972-09-05 Container Corp Article group carrier
FR2291111A1 (fr) * 1974-11-12 1976-06-11 Remy & Cie E P Procede de regroupement de recipients et ensemble de recipients regroupes obtenu par ce procede
FR2432975A1 (fr) * 1978-08-09 1980-03-07 Monoplast Procede de groupage de recipients de dose unitaire et recipients obtenus selon ce procede

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2222136A (en) * 1988-08-12 1990-02-28 Metal Box Plc Multipacks of containers
GB2225566A (en) * 1988-12-02 1990-06-06 Mb Group Plc Apparatus for coupling together a plurality of plastics containers
EP0547657A1 (de) * 1991-12-04 1993-06-23 Akzo Nobel N.V. Halter für Paare ungleicher Behälter
EP0667225A1 (de) * 1993-11-02 1995-08-16 Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance SA Zusammenfügung von Verschliessungsteilen für Packungen zu einer Bogen- oder Bahnform
US5474628A (en) * 1993-11-02 1995-12-12 Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. Method of distributing objects
AU676090B2 (en) * 1993-11-02 1997-02-27 Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance Sa A method of distributing objects
WO1997042083A1 (en) * 1996-05-09 1997-11-13 Rieber & Søn A/S Means and method for the production of multiple packages

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE3175182D1 (en) 1986-09-25
EP0082220B1 (de) 1986-08-20
ATE21501T1 (de) 1986-09-15

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