EP0271042A2 - Packaging method and packaging automat for envelopes for letters and expedition bags - Google Patents

Abstract

In the process of packaging letter envelopes and mailing wallets, the packaging batch is counted in the end region of the production machine, and the individual article of the packaging batch corresponding to the specific batch size is at least identified or optionally pushed a certain distance sideways out of the path of movement of the packaging batch in one direction or the other as a counting article. The packaging batch is deposited on a conveyor belt and conveyed away. A stack support keeps the stack approximately vertical on its end face. The stack support is advanced in front of the stack at the conveying speed of the conveyor belt. As soon as the counting article at the end of a stack has arrived at a transfer point which is at a relatively long distance from the production machine, a separating device is introduced into the stack, with the result that the following portion of the packaging batch is temporarily halted. During this time, the separated stack is pushed, at the same height, into an open container via a slide track. Subsequently, the stack support is guided back to the separation point, and the separating device is retracted from the end face of the following packaging batch, after which the stack support once again takes over the vertical guidance of the packaging batch, until the next counting article has arrived at the separation point. The automatic packaging machine for letter envelopes and mailing wallets has several devices, by means of which the individual steps of the process are executed partly alone and partly in combination with one another.

Description

Production machines for envelopes, mailers and similar products made from paper and / or plastic webs work continuously over several hours during a work shift. At the end of the production machine, the products have to be counted packed in containers, in particular in cartons, and the filled containers either transported individually or stacked on pallets. This packaging is still carried out by hand on many production machines. Because of the continuous operation, two people are generally required as packers at the delivery point so that they can represent each other if necessary. While one of these two people is working at the packing table, the other person can only carry out auxiliary services.

There is a packaging machine for mechanically packing the envelopes or mailing bags. This is installed at the end of the relevant production machine immediately after the serrated lock washers of the production machine. With this automatic packaging machine, the packaged goods are delivered in the form of envelopes or mailing bags from the serrated lock washers via a guide plate to two storage belts which are arranged parallel to one another. The storage belts are guided around a pulley on two parallel shafts, one of which is driven. A stack support is arranged above the level of the storage belts and is movably guided in the longitudinal direction of the storage belts by means of a longitudinal guide. The individual pieces of the packaged goods are placed against the stacking support by the serrated lock washers of the production machine. This stack support is moved away from the serrated lock washers by a drive with the packaged goods.

In the area of the serrated lock washers there is a separating device, by means of which a stack of a certain number of individual pieces of the packaged goods can be separated from the subsequent packaged goods, a gap being simultaneously formed between the stack and the subsequent packaged goods. This separating device has a separating fork, which rises in the area of the serrated lock washers from below the support plane of the storage belts into the gap between two individual pieces still in the slots of the serrated lock washer and thereby enables separation. This separating fork is guided parallel to itself by means of a parallel crank mechanism and moved on a circular path, as a result of which it moves with the goods to be packaged over a short distance.

The fact that the separating fork is arranged in the area of the serrated lock washers so that it can engage in the space between two individual pieces of the goods to be packaged which are still kept separate from one another in the slots of the serrated lock washer, and in that, owing to their circular movement path, they have only a limited distance with the Individual pieces can migrate and thus only a relatively small number of individual pieces can be accommodated between it and the serrated lock washers, the stack separated by the separating fork must be brought out of the path of movement of the subsequent packaged goods as quickly as possible so that the stack support is again in front of the front of the subsequent packaged goods can be brought into their supporting position so that they can take over the support of the packaged goods before the separating fork is immersed too far. A transfer device above the Storage belts is arranged. It detects the stack separated from the subsequent packaged goods and brings it to a transfer position, where the stack is pushed down into an open carton.

The transfer device has two transport forks which are arranged one behind the other to form a carriage in the direction of the conveying movement of the packaged goods. One transport fork is rigidly arranged in the direction of movement of the packaged goods at the end of the carriage. The second transport fork is connected to the carriage by means of a vertical lifting device. This is movably guided on a horizontal longitudinal guide of the carriage relative to the first transport fork and coupled to a drive. The carriage of the transfer device, in turn, is movably guided on the horizontal longitudinal guides from the transfer point to the transfer point. It is moved back and forth between the transfer position and the transfer position by means of a chain drive.

The stack is gripped by the transfer device in such a way that the stack support is laterally withdrawn from the path of movement of the stack after the rigid transport fork has been reached, as a result of which the stack lies against the rigid transport fork. The stack support is moved back to its starting position near the serrated lock washers. The movable transport fork is lowered into the gap between the stack and the packaged goods by means of the lifting device and is moved to a certain extent against the rigid transport fork by the horizontal drive. The stack located between the two transport forks is compressed and clamped between the transport forks. In this state, the stack is conveyed from the transfer device to the filling station.

In the larger gap that occurs between the movable transport fork and the separating fork when the stack is compacted, the stack support is again pushed transversely into the path of movement of the following stacked goods.

In the filling station, the stack held by the transport forks partly rests on floor plates that are shorter than the stack length. These floor plates can be folded down from the horizontal position into a vertically downward position by a pivot axis that is aligned horizontally and at the same time transversely to the movement path of the stack. As a container, a box with an open flap is generally lifted from below into the filling station. Then the bottom plates are folded down into the box so that they can serve as guides for the stack. The stack, which is still held by the transport forks, is pressed downwards out of the transport forks into the carton by a vertically guided and driven rake. The transfer device then moves the two transport forks back to the takeover position. The movable transport fork is raised beforehand so that it can be guided over the newly formed stack. As soon as the gap is created at the end of the next stack, the movable transport fork is lowered into this gap, after which the next work cycle follows.

With this transfer device, the changeover to other formats is very difficult. This also applies to a change when changing the paper thickness and / or when changing the number of pieces in a stack. The separating fork in the area of the serrated lock washers only has a finite stroke, which is why it can only move up to a certain height into a stack from below. If the height of the stack is greater, it can happen that the upper edges of the last individual pieces of the stack and the first individual pieces of the subsequent packaged goods tip over into the gap and thereby lowering the movable transport fork is difficult, if not prevented. Therefore, this transfer device is only suitable for envelopes or mailing bags with a limited height. In addition, when changing the height of the stack, the stroke of the slide-in rake and the stroke of the carton lifting device must be changed.

If the format width is changed, at least the outer two fork tines of both transport forks must be set exactly to the new format width. The position of the box must be set to the format width. When changing the stack length, both the forward and backward movement of the stack support must be set accordingly. In addition, the distance between the two transport forks and each other and relative to the degree of compaction must be set, the latter depending not only on the stack length but also on the paper thickness, the paper quality and the design of the envelopes or mailers. In addition, the carton must also be adjusted to the changed stack length, provided the travel distance of the transport forks remains the same, in relation to the movable transport forks.

As far as the folding axis of the floor plates in the filling station is aligned parallel to the direction of movement of the stack, the floor plates have to be exchanged if the length of the stack is greater because they cannot be lengthened or shortened by themselves. The same applies to a change in the width of the format, provided that the swivel axes of the base plates are aligned transversely to the direction of movement of the stack. Either there must be several groups of floor plates for this, or you are narrowly restricted in changing the format.

Due to the numerous necessary adjustment processes, such a packing machine is very cumbersome with regard to the change to other formats. It can therefore only be used to a limited extent, especially for smaller lot sizes.

A major disadvantage of this automatic packaging machine is that the stack is clamped in the filling station between the two transport forks as a free carrier, at the latest from the point in time at which the base plates were folded down. In such a stack, those surface areas which, due to the greater number of paper layers lying one above the other, are most likely to absorb the compressive forces of the two transport forks in the stack, are distributed in very different ways over the end face of the stack. As a result, the phenomena of the buckling bar occur with eccentric loading or, conversely, with central loading and eccentric cross-section. In most cases, the surface area of the stack which transmits the compressive force of the transport forks is located at the bottom, the upper surface areas being able to contribute nothing to the support of the inner bending moment due to the smaller number of paper layers. Such a carrier, which is only clamped at the two ends, breaks all too easily under its own weight in the middle. This means that the moment the bottom flaps are folded down into the box, the carrier made of the individual pieces bends downwards in the middle and suddenly breaks down after a little sag, before the side ones Edges of the stack could be pushed down by the rake. Such a broken-through stack can at best still be arranged with laborious manual labor and squeezed into the carton with equally laborious manual labor. If such a malfunction occurs, the entire production machine must be shut down until this damage has been remedied. Such a packaging machine therefore jeopardizes the smooth operation Operation of the production machine to a high degree. Such disruptions are all the more likely to occur since the paper quality of the envelopes or mailers, particularly with regard to the stiffness of the paper as such, with regard to the stiffness of the fold and the resilience of the paper in the surface and especially at the fold edges, can vary greatly. There are also major differences in terms of the surface roughness on the outside of the envelopes or mailers.

The invention is based on the object of specifying a method with which a packaged item in the form of envelopes, mailing bags or the like can be automatically packaged in containers with a higher level of operational safety than in the known method. In addition, the invention has for its object to provide suitable packaging machines for performing the method.

These objects are achieved by methods with the method steps specified in claims 1 to 3 or by packaging machines with the features specified in claims 7 to 9.

Characterized in that in the method according to claim 1, the goods to be packaged are first conveyed away from the production machine by means of the storage belts and the stack to be packaged is only separated from the subsequent goods to be packaged at some distance from the serrated disks of the production machine, this results between the separation point and the serrated lock washers have a relatively large storage space with a correspondingly large number of individual items of the packaging material. This large length section of the relatively loosely conveyed to the separation point packaged has such a great compressibility that there is enough time behind the separation point to cross the sectioned stack to push the original direction of movement into the container and to return the devices involved back to their starting position for taking over the next stack, the separating point not having to travel with the packaged goods, as is the case with the known packaging machines. Due to the sufficient compressibility of the packaging material conveyed to the separation point, there is even enough time to compress the separated stack with the original loose packing density and thus shorten it to an extent with which it can be inserted into the container without difficulty. Because the individual item corresponding to a certain batch size of the stack to be packaged is pushed out of the movement path to the side by a certain amount when the packaged goods leave the production machine, it is possible to temporarily stop this counting item and the individual items that follow it on this side, whereby the surface areas of these individual pieces adjoining this lateral edge area are pushed a little further by the subsequent packaged goods, so that the preceding individual pieces move away from the stopped individual pieces in the edge area, thereby creating a sufficiently large gap into which a separating part can be inserted. The entire subsequent packaged goods can be stopped using their compressibility until the divided stack has been pushed into the container and the devices involved have returned to their starting position. Because the separated stack is slid horizontally into the container on a slideway, it does not have to be clamped and raised and transported freely. As a result, the inevitable inhomogeneities in the stack no longer have an adverse influence on the operating sequence of the packaging machine and thus indirectly on that of the production machine. Because the stack is always on the same point, the separating point, are separated from the subsequent packaging and they are moved from this point transversely to their original conveying movement and both the separating device and the slideway always occupy the same position, only the stack support in its normal direction of movement has to be changed if the format is changed or are moved less far from the separation point and the pushing is done more or less far. The container can be aligned in all formats to the unchangeable level of the slideway and the separating device.

In the method according to claim 2, the same or at least similar conditions are present, only the formation of the gap for inserting the separating part takes place in that the separating part first moves into the gap in a first stage of its movement, which is caused by the partial pushing out of the Counter piece was formed on the other side. The individual pieces of the packaging material adjoining the primary gap are temporarily stopped again until a sufficiently large secondary gap has formed between them and the preceding stack, into which the separating part can be completely inserted in order to completely separate the stack from the packaging material that follows.

In the method according to claim 3, the stack is separated from the subsequent packaging material without the presence of a physically detectable counting piece in that the separating part separates the visually imperceptible and only numerically present counting piece and the adjacent individual piece from one another with an eccentrically rotating tip, that one of these two individual pieces bounces off this tip elastically when it hits the rotating tip and thereby the tip has the opportunity to penetrate between these two individual pieces and as a result of the further rotation and further advancement Finally, the entire width of the stack is separated from the subsequent packaged goods. This is followed by pushing over the separated stack in the same way as in the other methods, the compressibility of the packaged goods being used for the timing of these processes.

By designing this method according to claim 4, the individual pieces of the stack are shaken and, as a result of the abutment of their one side edge, aligned flush with the sliding part. As a result, the individual pieces in the container no longer have to be adjusted in order to be able to close the container and also to achieve a pleasing appearance of the stack in the container. If this method step is further developed according to claim 5, the alignment of the individual pieces in the stack is additionally facilitated due to the then lower mutual contact force of the individual pieces. An embodiment of the method according to claim 6 ensures that the stack is inserted into the interior of the container, thus practically eliminating the risk of bumping or rubbing against the container walls. Characterized in that the stack is moved beyond the depth of the container, whereby the container is pushed away by the stack itself, it is ensured that all individual pieces of the stack are pushed into the bottom of the container. This avoids the fact that the individual pieces lying against the container walls in the case of only a partial insertion on the two end faces of the stack are held back by the container walls by frictional engagement and would have to be inserted flush with the usual individual pieces afterwards.

Characterized in that in the packaging machine according to claim 7, the drive of the storage belts takes place continuously and not in batches, and in that the drive also on the actual feeding speed of the individual pieces coordinated, with failures in the production machine also being taken into account, there is no compression or thinning in the packaged goods. The fact that the stack support is guided on its own guide and it has its own drive means that in this area of the packaging machine changes to other formats are possible without difficulty, both with regard to the dimensions of the individual pieces and with regard to the type of fold and with regard to the material qualities. Characterized in that the stack support has two or more strip-shaped support elements one above the other, which are aligned horizontally, an at least approximately vertical guidance of the packaging material is made possible in its entire height. Characterized in that there is a space between two adjacent support elements, which is open in the pushing-out direction of the packaged goods, other elements of the transfer device can reach through the gaps and completely push out the parts of the packaged goods to the side without jamming this part of the packaged goods have to.

Due to the fact that the separating device is arranged at a certain distance from the serrated lock washers of the production machine, there is a sufficiently large storage space with such a great compressibility of the packaging material therein that for separating the stack, for pushing it into the container and for that Returning all devices involved in their initial position, sufficient time remains.

Characterized in that the separating device has a separating sword with a wedge-shaped head and with an adjoining shaft, the total length of which is at least equal to the greatest possible width of the packaged goods, and in that the separating sword is guided on a guide transverse to the movement path of the packaged goods and is coupled to a drive , it can stack the stack to be packed on its whole Separate the width and the entire height of the following packaged goods. Characterized in that the separating sword is arranged in its rest position so that the tip of his head at least partially protrudes into the movement path of the counting piece, and in that in this area the tip of the separating sword there is at least one sensor which is used when approaching and / or emits a control signal when the meter at the tip, and because a delay element is switched on in the control of the drive, it is possible to detect the arrival of the meter at the point of separation by delaying the activation of the drive of the knife at the meter and temporarily stopping the immediately following individual pieces while the remaining part of these individual pieces is being pushed through the subsequent packaged goods, and in this way to create a larger gap between the counting piece and the preceding individual pieces, into which the separating sword with its wedge-shaped head and on then continues his g the entire shaft can be pushed in until the stack is completely separated from the subsequent packaged goods.

Characterized in that the transfer device is designed as a shifting device which has a shifting rake, the tines of which extend above or below the horizontal support elements of the stacking support up to at least the separating sword, and in that the shifting rake is displaceably guided transversely to the movement path of the packaged goods by means of a longitudinal guide is and is coupled to a drive, the separated stack can be moved laterally at a constant height into the container without the stack being gripped and clamped by a gripping device and possibly also having to be transported freely. This horizontal sliding displacement of the stack on a fixed slideway between the two Through guide elements, the stack can be pushed into the container without any difficulties. For example, neither a different distribution of the number of layers of paper nor different properties of the material of the individual pieces can cause disruptions in the operating sequence. The stack cannot break through, as can occur in the known packaging machine.

In the packaging machine according to claim 8 there are largely the same and otherwise very similar conditions. The only difference is that the sensor at the top of the separating sword responds not to the installation of a counter piece pushed out of the packaged goods, but to the gap of the counter piece pushed out to the other side and emits a control signal, and that the retracting movement of the separating sword takes place in two stages, in which, at the first stage of its entry movement, it only moves into the primary formed by the pushed-out counting piece, thereby temporarily stopping the subsequent individual pieces, and only after the formation of a sufficiently large secondary gap between the counting piece and the subsequent pieces Single pieces into it and through the packaged goods.

In the automatic packaging machine according to claim 9, most of the devices are also identical or largely similar to those of the automatic packaging machine according to claim 7. In the packaging machine according to claim 9, only the separating device is modified more, because there are no counting pieces which are pushed out or out by a certain distance to one side or the other and which are thereby visually detectable. With him the counting piece is merely a numerically recorded single piece, in which the separation process is carried out.

Because this separating device has an eccentrically rotating cone tip, which is moved against the goods to be packaged when the counting piece arrives at the separating point, it can happen that it either encounters a gap between the counting piece and one of the adjacent individual pieces or that it counts the counting piece or touches the one-off piece on one side or the other and compresses it slightly elastically. In the latter case, the continuous eccentric rotational movement and the further advancement of the cone tip and by moving the packaged goods transversely to the direction of approach of the cone tip will cause the individual piece to jump off the cone tip on which the cone tip first hit. As a result, the tip of the cone is already between this single piece and the adjacent single piece, and as a result of the further advancement with a simultaneous eccentric rotary movement, it constantly increases the gap into which the entire separating lance then enters. The other processes are the same as for the other two packaging machines.

In an embodiment of the packaging machines according to claim 10, in which the storage belts extend counter to the conveying direction of the packaging goods into the outline area of the serrated lock washers of the production machine, the individual pieces of the packaging material brought up are deposited directly on the storage belts by the serrated lockers, the detached individual piece on the preceding single piece is not yet present and it can therefore not be prevented by this by frictional engagement on the storage belts. As a result, the individual pieces of the packaged goods are aligned flush with each other from the start. In one embodiment of the packaging machines according to claim 11, the stack support with its longitudinal guide and the separating device and the transfer device can be separated from the table frame with the storage belts and from a production machine to another production machine, which also has a table frame with storage belts of the same or similar type.

In one embodiment of the packaging machine according to claim 12, in particular when the stacking support is equipped with two sensors at different heights, it is possible to determine whether the goods to be packaged are so close to the stacking support that they rest equally against the stacking support both below and above or whether the foremost single piece has a certain distance from the top or bottom of the stacking support because, depending on the position of the surface areas with the largest number of paper layers, it is inclined with the upper edge first or vice versa with the lower edge first and the other edge around one a certain distance back. As a result, the speed of movement of the stacking support can be adjusted such that the foremost single piece of the packaged goods is aligned perpendicularly and thus parallel to the other individual pieces of the packaged goods. As a result, the packaged goods are conveyed largely uniformly. In one embodiment of the packaging machine according to claim 13, the fact that the wheel resting on one of the storage belts and rotatably mounted ensures that when the storage belts move relative to the friction wheel, the friction wheel is rotated relative to its bearing axis. Characterized in that the friction wheel is connected to a control disk in the form of a cam disk, which cooperates with a pushbutton switch that converts a rotary movement of the control disk into corresponding control signals, a further control option is achieved with which the stack support is evenly uniform, albeit at small intervals is moved on with the conveyed packaging goods. During the movement of the stack support, temporary reductions in the conveying speed of the storage belts are also taken into account, which are caused by temporary failures when feeding the individual pieces of the packaging goods can arise from the production machine if individual or a few workpieces have to be removed from the ongoing production in the production machine due to minor malfunctions or if the production of the envelopes or mailing bags in the production machine is temporarily interrupted despite the machine continuing to run. This is of great importance because the uniformity of the stack to be separated and the uniform vertical alignment of its individual pieces are largely retained even in the event of temporary malfunctions in the production machine, which benefits the trouble-free separation of the stack from the subsequent packaging material. In addition, this prevents the stack support from being moved further on both sensors of the stack support solely because of the accidental contact of the first individual piece.

In one embodiment of the packaging machines according to claim 15, the longitudinal grooves on the side of the separating sword facing the stack support ensure that the tines of the sliding rake can extend into these longitudinal grooves of the separating sword, so that the rear individual piece of the separated stack can also be removed from the tines of the sliding rake is detected, so that it cannot remain behind despite the friction on the separating sword, but is reliably moved together with the other individual pieces of the stack into the container.

An embodiment of the packaging machine according to claim 16 ensures that the separating sword is first introduced into and through the gap like a compact separating body with a small vertical dimension along the lower edge of the packaged goods, with the alignment of the individual pieces above the gap being practically insignificant has, that is that a slight inclination of the individual pieces can be accepted. Only after the separating sword has been completely retracted will the upper one Moving parts of the separating sword raised in its operating position, the possibly not exactly vertical individual pieces are aligned vertically on both sides of the gap, so that in particular the rear single piece of the stack has the required vertical alignment for a correct insertion into the container. This enables a perfect separation of the stack from the subsequent packaged goods even under unfavorable conditions, for example when the stack is very long and the support and alignment effect of the stack support no longer affects the rear end of the stack, and / or when the stacked goods are very large is high and there is also a large difference in the packing density between the upper and the lower edge of the stacked goods. In a further development of the packaging machine according to claim 17 is achieved even with a two-part design of the separating sword that the prongs of the sliding rake grasp the rear single piece of the stack in both parts of the separating sword by reaching into the longitudinal grooves.

In an embodiment of the packaging machine according to claim 18, the guide elements of the stack support and the separating sword or the separating lance can have dimensions that are slightly larger than the greatest possible width of the stack. The intermediate space is bridged almost to the bottom of the container by the further guide elements in the line of alignment of the guide elements of the stack support and the separating sword or the separating lance. Characterized in that at least one group of the other guide elements is pivotally mounted about a common vertically aligned pivot axis and it is under the action of a spring member, through which they can be pivoted slightly to the interior of the container, the container can be easily accessed from the outside Slide on other guide elements. When the stack is pushed in, it will counteract the action of the spring element pivoted outwards against the wall of the container, so that the stack can be completely pushed into the container unhindered.

By designing the packaging machines according to claim 19, the stack is shaken at the beginning of its sliding movement, whereby the frictional engagement between the individual pieces lying against one another is significantly reduced. At the same time, the shifting rake with its prongs, which moves in the direction of the container, ensures a flush alignment of the edge of the individual pieces of the stack lying against it, including the counting piece which originally protrudes noticeably towards the other side. As a result, the individual pieces of the stack have a pleasing flush alignment even in the container.

If the packaging machine according to claim 9 is configured with the separating lance according to claim 20, the shaft of the separating lance can be fastened directly to a slide or carriage, by means of which the separating lance is displaceably or displaceably guided on the longitudinal guide, avoiding a rotary bearing. This gives the cantilevered lance greater rigidity. In addition, it is no longer necessary to choose a circular cross-sectional shape of the shaft. Rather, it can be designed according to other aspects, for example the cross-sectional shape can be chosen to be larger in height than in width, and the shaft of the separating lance can therefore have a more sword-shaped or lance-shaped shape. Because the tapered head is rotatably mounted on the shaft or better still in the longitudinal through hole of the shaft, the drive shaft only has to transmit the very small torques for the rotary movement of the tapered head. It can therefore be made relatively thin, so that it takes up little space on or in the shaft. By further developing the packaging machine according to claim 21 can also in the A lance of the sliding rake grips into the groove of the shaft so that the last individual piece of the stack is securely grasped when moving.

If this automatic packaging machine is designed according to claim 22, this automatic packaging machine enables the stack to be separated from the subsequent packaging goods even under unfavorable circumstances in the same flawless manner as is possible with the automatic packaging machine with the separating sword designed according to claim 16. The same applies to the further development of this packaging machine according to claim 23 as for the configuration of the other packaging machines according to claim 17.

In an embodiment of the packaging machine according to claim 24, starting or starting up the packaging machine together with starting up the production machine is made easier because the start support of the packaging item is also supported and held in a vertical orientation when the beginning of the packaging item is the separation point has not yet reached the point at which it is taken over and supported by the stack support. The temporary use of the start-up support is not only considered if the production machine has been converted to a new format for the packaged goods and thus restarted, but also if the production machine is restarted due to production disruptions in the production machine or in the event of routine operational interruptions and from the previous one Operating time is no longer sufficient individual pieces between the serrated lock washers and the stack support or if a larger number of individual pieces have been removed from the packaged goods, for whatever reason.

• Fig. 1 eine schematisch dargestellte perspektivische Ansicht des ersten Ausführungsbeispieles des Verpackungsautomaten mit einem Trennschwert;
• Fig. 2 eine perspektivische Ansicht eines Ablagetisches mit Ablagebändern;
• Fig. 3 eine Seitenansicht des Ablagetisches am Anfang der Anfahrphase;
• Fig. 4 eine Draufsicht des Ablagetisches nach Fig. 2;
• Fig. 5 eine Seitenansicht des Ablagetisches zusammen mit einer Stapelstütze zu einem mittleren Zeitpunkt der Anfahrphase;
• Fig. 6 eine Seitenansicht des Ablagetisches am Ende der Anfahrphase;
• Fig. 7 eine Seitenansicht der Stapelstütze nach Fig. 5 mit einer Fühlervorrichtung für ihre Antriebs­steuerung;
• Fig. 8 eine Stirnansicht der Fühlervorrichtung nach Fig. 7;
• Fig. 9 eine schematische Seitenansicht einer Trenn­einrichtung des Verpackungsautomaten mit Trenn­schwert;
• Fig. 10 eine Stirnansicht des Trennschwertes in der Trenn­stellung zwischen einem ausschnittweise dar­gestellten Stapel und dem ausschnittweise dar­gestellten nachfolgenden Verpackungsgutstrich;
• Fig. 11 und 12 eine ausschnittweise dargestellte Draufsicht des Trennschwertes am Verpackungsgut in zwei verschiedenen Phasen des Trennvorganges;
• Fig. 13 eine Seitenansicht des Trennschwertes;
• Fig. 14 einen Querschnitt des Trennschwertes;
• Fig. 15 eine schematisch dargestellte Draufsicht einer Übergabeeinrichtung des Verpackungsautomaten in der Endphase des Trennvorganges;
• Fig. 16 eine schematisch dargestellte Draufsicht der Übergabeeinrichtung in der Anfangsphase des Übergabevorganges;
• Fig. 17 eine schematische Draufsicht der Übergabe­einrichtung in einer Zwischenphase des Übergabe­vorganges;
• Fig. 18 eine Draufsicht eines abgewandelten Teils der Übergabeeinrichtung zusammen mit einem Behältnis;
• Fig. 19 eine ausschnittweise dargestellte Draufsicht des zweiten Ausführungsbeispieles des Verpackungs­automaten mit einem Trennschwert;
• Fig. 20 eine schematisch dargestellte perspektivische Ansicht des dritten Ausführungsbeispieles des Verpackungsautomaten mit einer Trennlanze;
• Fig. 21 bis 24 ausschnittweise dargestellte Draufsichten der Trennlanze in verschiedenen Phasen des Trenn­vorganges am Verpackungsgut;
• Fig. 25 eine teilweise geschnitten dargestellte Seiten­ansicht einer abgewandelten Ausführungsform der Trennlanze;
• Fig. 26 einen Querschnitt der Trennlanze nach Fig. 25.
• Fig. 27 und 28 eine schematische Seitenansicht bzw. Draufsicht einer Handhabungseinrichtung für die Behältnisse in einer ersten Bewegungsphase;
• Fig. 29 und 30 eine schematische Seitenansicht bzw. Draufsicht der Handhabungseinrichtung in einer zweiten Bewegungsphase;
• Fig. 31 und 32 eine schematische Seitenansicht bzw. Draufsicht der Handhabungseinrichtung in einer dritten Bewegungsphase mit Teilen der Übergabeeinrichtung;
• Fig. 33 und 34 eine schematische Seitenansicht bzw. Draufsicht der Handhabungseinrichtung in einer vierten Bewegungsphase.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to several exemplary embodiments of packaging machines shown in the drawing. Show it:

• Figure 1 is a schematically illustrated perspective view of the first embodiment of the packaging machine with a separating sword.
• 2 shows a perspective view of a storage table with storage belts;
• 3 shows a side view of the storage table at the beginning of the start-up phase;
• Fig. 4 is a plan view of the tray table of Fig. 2;
• 5 shows a side view of the storage table together with a stack support at an intermediate point in time during the start-up phase;
• 6 shows a side view of the storage table at the end of the start-up phase;
• FIG. 7 shows a side view of the stack support according to FIG. 5 with a sensor device for its drive control;
• FIG. 8 is an end view of the sensor device according to FIG. 7;
• 9 shows a schematic side view of a separating device of the packaging machine with separating sword;
• 10 shows an end view of the separating sword in the separating position between a stack shown in sections and the subsequent packaging material shown in sections;
• 11 and 12 show a cutaway top view of the separating sword on the packaged goods in two different phases of the separating process;
• 13 is a side view of the separating sword;
• 14 shows a cross section of the separating sword;
• 15 shows a schematically illustrated top view of a transfer device of the packaging machine in the final phase of the separation process;
• 16 shows a schematically represented top view of the transfer device in the initial phase of the transfer process;
• 17 shows a schematic top view of the transfer device in an intermediate phase of the transfer process;
• 18 shows a plan view of a modified part of the transfer device together with a container;
• 19 shows a top view of the second exemplary embodiment of the packaging machine with a separating sword;
• 20 shows a schematically illustrated perspective view of the third exemplary embodiment of the packaging machine with a separating lance;
• 21 to 24 show cut-out plan views of the separating lance in different phases of the separating process on the packaged goods;
• 25 shows a side view, partially in section, of a modified embodiment of the separating lance;
• 26 shows a cross section of the separating lance according to FIG. 25.
• 27 and 28 show a schematic side view and top view of a handling device for the containers in a first movement phase;
• 29 and 30 a schematic side view and top view of the handling device in a second movement phase;
• 31 and 32 a schematic side view and top view of the handling device in a third movement phase with parts of the transfer device;
• 33 and 34 a schematic side view and top view of the handling device in a fourth movement phase.

The packaging machine 1 shown in FIG. 1 in its essential parts is set up following a production machine 2 for envelopes, mailing bags or the like. From this production machine 2 only the serrated lock washers 3 are shown. By means of the serrated lock washers 3, the individual pieces of the envelopes or mailing bags, which are brought one behind the other by the transport elements of the production machine 2, are erected and the end face is lined up one behind the other. This process can be seen in more detail in FIG. 3. Instead of the serrated lock washers 3, other devices, e.g. Suction cylinder, be available to line up and line up the individual pieces. The following explanations apply equally to this.

The packaging machine 1 has a storage table 4, a separating device 5, a stacking support 6 and a transfer device 7 as main assemblies. A handling device 8 for containers 9 is added as a further assembly, which will be explained in more detail later with reference to FIGS. 26 to 34.

The individual pieces 10 (FIG. 3) of the envelopes, mailing bags or similar products produced on the production machine from paper and / or plastic webs are lined up one behind the other by the flap discs 3 on the storage table 4. A certain number of individual pieces are separated as a stack 12 from this longer row of individual pieces standing one behind the other, which will be referred to as packaged goods 11 in the following, and inserted into a container 9 by the transfer device 6.

The storage table 4 has two storage belts 13 (FIG. 2) which are designed in the manner of flat belts and are closed in a ring shape. You are in a certain mutual distance arranged side by side. The storage belts 13 are placed around two pulleys 14, which sit in pairs on a shaft 15 and 16, respectively. The two shafts 15 and 16 are rotatably mounted on a table frame 17. The table frame 17 is arranged after the production machine 2 such that the beginning of the storage belts 13 extends counter to the conveying direction of the packaging material 11, which is illustrated in FIG. 3 by the arrow 18, into the plan area of the serrated lock washers 3, as it can be seen from Figs. 3 and 4. As a result, the individual pieces 10 of the packaged goods are deposited directly on the storage belts 13, as is illustrated in FIG. 3. If there is a greater difference in height between the axis of rotation of the serrated lock washers 3 and the storage plane of the storage belts 13, it may be expedient to arrange a baffle plate or a plurality of baffle plates 20 between the serrated lock washers 3 and the storage belts 13, which include a certain angle with the storage plane of the storage belts 13, such as it is indicated by dash-dotted lines in FIG. 3. As a result, the lower edge of the individual pieces 10 guided by the slots of the serrated lock washers 3 strikes the guide plates 20 at an angle of incidence which is greater than the angle of incidence which occurs in the lower-lying storage belts 13. A larger angle of incidence up to a right angle is particularly advantageous when processing such individual pieces that have only a low rigidity.

The shaft 15 of the storage belts 13 is driven continuously by means of an electric motor 19 via a V-belt drive 21. The drive speed of the electric motor 19 is controlled by a control device 22, which receives its control signals on the one hand from a tachometer generator 23 which is coupled to the shaft of the serrated lock washers 3, so that these control signals are generated as a function of the production or conveying speed of the production machine 2 will. On the other hand, the control device 22 receives control signals from a sensor 24 which is arranged in the inlet area of the serrated lock washers 3 (FIG. 3). The drive signals of the storage belts 13 can be set by the control signals of the tachometer generator 23 as a function of the conveying speed of the production machine 2, which is given by the storage speed of the serrated lock washers 3. Different ratios of the packaged goods 11 can be taken into account on the control device 22, such as are given by the paper thickness, the number of superimposed layers at the fold and glue points, the resilience of the material, in particular at the fold points, and the like. The sensor 24 scans the individual pieces 10 which are fed to the serrated lock washers 3 from the preceding production stations. If there are no individual pieces 10, it emits a corresponding control signal to the control device 22, by means of which the drive of the storage belts 13 is reduced in a corresponding manner. As a result, the storage belts 13 are always driven as a function of the actual feed speed of the individual pieces 10 to the packaged goods 11 and according to its actual space requirement.

The upper run of the storage belts 13 slides over the upper side of a table top of the storage table 4, which is not shown in FIGS. 2 to 7, in order to avoid sagging of the upper run of the storage belts 13 under the weight load of the packaged goods 11.

As can be seen from FIGS. 3 to 6, a starting support 25 is provided in the area of the storage belts 13. It is embodied by the piston rods 26 of two vertically aligned pneumatic piston drives 27 which are arranged next to one another. These piston drives 27 form a lifting device 28 for the starting support 25, by means of which the starting support 25 is lowered into a rest position can, in which it is below the level of the storage belts 13 (Fig. 6), and can be raised into an operating position (Fig. 3 and Fig. 5) in which it extends at least so high that it is at the beginning of Protected packaging 11 standing single piece from falling over and also from bending. Advantageously, the piston rods 26 extend beyond the center of the packaged item 11 with the greatest height.

The starting support 25 is arranged on a carriage 29 which is guided in a displaceable manner parallel to the storage belts 13 by means of a longitudinal guide 31. The carriage 29 and the longitudinal guide 31 are designed and arranged so that the starting support 25 is in one end position (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4) near the serrated lock washers 3, and that they are in the conveying direction of the packaged goods 11 to at least Separating device 5 can be moved, which is shown in Fig. 6.

For moving the starting support 25 into the end position in the serrated lock washers 3, a first drive 32 is provided, which has a single-acting pneumatic piston drive 33, with the piston rod 34 of which the slide 29 is coupled. The starting support 25 is moved out of this end position by a second drive 35 in front of the packaged goods 11 to come. This drive 35 has an annularly closed drive belt 36, which is arranged parallel to the storage belts 13 and is guided around a pulley 37 and 38, respectively. The pulley 37 is seated on a shaft 39 which is rotatably mounted on the storage table 4. The pulley 38 is rotatably mounted on an axis 41 which is attached to the storage table 4. The drive belt 36 is non-positively coupled to the shaft 15 via a slip clutch 42 and a chain drive 43. This drive is like that designed that the starting support 25 is moved at least approximately at the same conveying speed as the storage belts 13.

The starting support 25 has the task, when starting up the production machine 2, to hold the individual pieces 10 of the packaged goods 11 deposited or, to be more precise, placed on the storage belts 13 by the serrated lock washers 3 in the upright position (FIGS. 3 and 5). until the packaged goods 11 have reached the stack support 6 (FIG. 6). Such a start-up process is always given when the production machine 2 has been changed over to a different format of the packaged goods and is being started up again in the literal sense, or if after a production fault in the production machine 2 or in the packaging machine 1 or after a routine shutdown of the production machine 2 this is started up again with the packaged goods remaining the same and if, due to production downtime or for other reasons, between the serrated lock washers 3 and the stacking support 6 in the starting position (FIG. 6), there are not enough or not enough individual pieces of the packaged goods 11 to hold the packaged goods upright hold. If such a remnant of packaging material is still present on this route, it is expedient to remove it or to place it in front of the starting support 25. The starting support 25 is moved from the control panel of the packaging machine 1 by means of the drive 32 into its end position at the serrated lock washers 3. The starting support 25 is extended upward into its operating position by means of the lifting device 28 (FIG. 3). After starting up the production machine 2, the individual pieces 10 are deposited in increasing numbers on the storage belts 13, the stack support 25 moving with the storage belts 13 (FIG. 5). As soon as the starting support 25 the stack support 6 has reached, the starting support 25 is lowered again into its rest position below the storage belts 13 by means of the lifting device 28 (FIG. 6). From then on, the stack support 6 takes over the management of the packaging goods 11.

The stack support 6 has a longitudinal guide 45, which is arranged above the storage belts 13 and is held by a frame 46, of which only a part is shown in FIG. 1 for the sake of clarity. The stack support 6 has a slide 47 which is guided on the longitudinal guide 45 so as to be longitudinally displaceable. This longitudinal guide 45 is e.g. through the use of two guide rails or guide rods 48.1 and 48.2 arranged at a certain mutual distance, so designed that they are able to absorb torques about the longitudinal axis of the guide 45 which occur on the slide 47 due to eccentric weight forces or actuation forces. The guide rods 48.1 and 48.2 are metal rods with a circular cross section. Matched sliding bushes or ball bushings are arranged in the slide 47, depending on how high the sliding speeds are. Slide bushings are less sensitive to the inevitable paper dust than ball bushings.

A carrier 49 extends downward from the slide 47 to just above the storage table 4. Three strip-shaped support elements or support strips 51 for short are fixedly attached to the support 49, which are arranged horizontally and are oriented at right angles to the path of movement of the storage belts 13. The three support strips, which are designated 51.1, 51.2 and 51.3 for better differentiation, extend from the carrier 49, which stands next to the movement path of the packaged goods 11 and the stack 12, at least beyond the greatest width of the packaged goods 11. In Fig. 1 they are shown for the sake of simplicity so long that they reach into the container 9. In reality, they are shorter, as will be explained later.

The support strips 51 are arranged at a mutual distance above one another, so that there is a space 52 between each of them (FIG. 1), which in the direction of ejection of the stack 12, i.e. towards the container 9, is open. The stack support 6 is moved at least approximately at the same conveying speed as the storage belts 13. For this purpose, the carriage 47 is moved both in the conveying direction of the stacked goods 11 and in the opposite direction by means of a toothed belt, not shown in the drawing. This is placed around a toothed belt pulley, which is rotatably mounted in each of the columns of the frame 46. One of these toothed belt pulleys is driven by an electric motor, also not shown, which is controlled by means of a control in the conveying direction of the packaged goods 11 as a function of the conveying speed of the storage belts 13. The return speed is higher. Instead of the toothed belt drive, it is also possible, for example, to use a spindle drive, in particular one with a ball nut.

The control of the drive of the stack support 6 receives its control signals from two sensors 53 and 54 (FIG. 1) and from a control device 55 (FIGS. 7 and 8).

The sensors 53 and 54 are arranged on the stack support 6, namely the sensor 53 on the lower support bar 51.1 and the sensor 54 on the upper support bar 51.3 (FIG. 1). The sensors and 54 are arranged so that they act on the side facing the packaging guide. In the simplest case, they extend from the side of the supporting strip in question away from the packaging material 11 through it to the other side. The sensors 53 and 54 are designed so that they generate a control signal when approaching and / or when creating the foremost single piece of the packaging material 11 at the associated support line.

The control device 55 has a friction wheel 56 which is rotatably mounted on a guide 57 in the vertical alignment plane of one of the two conveyor belts 13. The guide 57 is arranged on the stack support 6, specifically on its lower support bar 51.1, in such a way that the friction wheel rests on the storage belt 13 under its own weight. If necessary, the guide 57 can also be designed such that an additional spring force is exerted on the friction wheel 56 in the direction of the storage belt 13. The friction wheel 56 is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to a control disk 58, which has three peripheral regions 59 on its peripheral surface, which are formed by three sections of a circular cylinder surface of equal length in the circumferential direction, which have a certain radius in relation to the axis of rotation of the control disk 58. In between there are three circumferential areas 61, the radius of their radius outside the transition point to the circumference 59 is smaller than the radius of the circumference 59. These circumferential areas can be formed, for example, by three sections of a hollow circular cylinder surface of equal length. These concavely curved circumferential regions 61 have a smaller extent in the circumferential direction than the convexly curved circumferential regions 59. A push-button switch 62 interacts with the control disk 58. This has a pivotable sensing element 63, on the free end of which a sensing roller 64 is rotatably mounted, the radius of which is smaller than the radius of curvature of the circumferential regions 61, or vice versa. The key switch 62 is arranged so that its key, and in particular the key roller 64, can cooperate with the control disk 58, so that when the key roller 64 rolls on the convexly curved peripheral regions 59, the key switch 62 is in one switch position and that when Rolling of the feeler roller 64 on the concavely curved circumferential areas 61 of the feeler switch 62 is in the other switching position and in the process emits corresponding control signals to the control circuit for driving the stack support 6.

In the control circuit for the drive of the stack support 6, the control signals of the two sensors 53 and 54 and that of the key switch 62 interact via an AND operation in such a way that the drive of the stack support 6 is switched on in the presence of all three input signals and that in the absence even only one of the three input signals of the drive stack support 6 is switched off. This control ensures that an actuation signal for driving the stack support 6 is only emitted via the two sensors 53 and 54 when the packaged goods 11 generate a control signal at both sensors 53 and 54. This presupposes that the packaged goods 11 are in contact with the lower support bar 51.1 near its lower edge as well as with the upper support bar 51.3 near its upper edge. This state can be seen in FIG. 6, whereas it has not yet been reached in FIG. 7. In Fig. 7, the packaged goods 11 still have to travel a short distance to the stack support 6 until the lower sensor 53 on the support bar 51.1 actuates the system of the packaged goods 11 by a control signal.

As a further condition for an actuation signal for driving the stack support 6, the key switch 62 must be switched on. If this is assumed in the position of the control disk 58 and the sensing element 63 shown in FIG. 7, however, an actuation signal is not yet generated because the lower sensor 53 does not yet emit a corresponding control signal. In such a case, the stack support 6 remains at rest while the storage belts 13 continue to run and the packaged goods 11 continue to move in the direction of the stack support 6. As a result of this relative movement between the storage belts 13 and the stack support 6, the friction wheel 56 resting on the one storage belt 13 rotates, after a certain small angle of rotation the feeler roller 64 moves from the one peripheral area 61 to the adjacent peripheral area 59 and the push button switch 62 thereby switches over. Then he gives temporarily no control signal until after a further rolling movement of the friction wheel 56 on the deposit belt 13 the sensing roller 64 again reaches a peripheral region 61 and the push button switch 62 is switched on again and emits a control signal. Then, when the packaged goods 11 have been conveyed further by the storage belts 13 by such a distance that they are now also in contact with the lower support bar 51.1 and, as a result, the lower sensor 53 emits a control signal, an actuation signal for driving the stacking support 6 is emitted in the control circuit. The stack support 6 is then moved a certain distance, the length of which is predetermined by the setting parameters of the control circuit. The feed speed of the stack support 6 is in any case chosen to be greater than the average conveying speed of the storage belts 13. When the stack support 6 moves forward, the friction wheel 56 therefore rolls on the storage belt 13 in the opposite direction of rotation, as a result of which the pushbutton switch 62 switches over again after a certain short period of time and the drive of the stack support 6 is switched off again. This remains until, due to the rolling movement of the friction wheel 56, the key switch 62 is switched on again in the original direction of rotation.

Through this pilgrim step movement of the friction wheel 56 with respect to the storage belt 13, the stack support 6 executes an intermittent subsequent movement with respect to the storage belts 13. Because of the small pilgrim steps and the sufficiently large compressibility of the packaged goods 11, this intermittent subsequent movement only affects relatively few individual pieces on the head of the packaged goods 11. It is therefore harmless for the uniform conveyance of the larger part of the packaging material 11. This type of control and actuation of the drive of the stacking support has the great advantage that it is always moved in accordance with the actual conveying movement of the packaging material 11, and that this means, for example, changes the compressibility or the elastic expansion of the packaged goods are automatically taken into account, such as can occur when changing the paper roll at the beginning of the production machine.

The separating device 5 includes an auxiliary device, not shown in the drawing, which is arranged on the production machine on the outlet side of the serrated lock washers 3. This auxiliary device has a counter and a displacement device controlled by the counter. A sensor of the counter, similar to the sensor 24 (FIG. 3), detects the number of individual pieces 10 transferred from the production machine 2 to the packaging machine 1 by the serrated disks 3. The displacement device shifts the single piece corresponding to a certain number of individual pieces out of the normal movement path the individual pieces 10 and the packaged goods 11 out by a certain distance to the side on which the separating device 5 is located. This pushed-out single piece moves as a counting piece 65 with the packaged goods, as can be seen from FIG. 1.

The separating device 5 is arranged at a certain distance from the serrated lock washers 3 of the production machine 2, as can be seen from FIG. 1. The extent of this distance depends on the compressibility of the packaged goods 11, on the working speed of the production machine 2, on the thickness of the separating element of the separating device 5 and on the working speed of the separating device 5 and the transfer device 7. This measure is expediently between 100 mm and 500 mm .

The separating device 5 has a separating sword 66 as a separating element with a wedge-shaped head 67 and a shaft 68 adjoining it. The separating sword 66 is divided into two parts along its entire length along a separating joint 69 running in a horizontal plane, namely in the lower part 71 and the upper part 72 (FIGS. 9 and 13). The lower part 71 is fixedly connected to two spacers 73. The upper part 72 is connected to a carriage 74 (FIG. 1) which can be moved vertically on the spacers 73 serving as a longitudinal guide. The spacers 73 are connected to a holding head 75, which is arranged higher than the greatest possible height of the packaged goods 11 above the storage level of the storage belts 13. The holding head 75 is guided by means of a longitudinal guide 76 on a post 77 so as to be displaceable in the horizontal direction, the direction of displacement being oriented at right angles to the movement path of the packaged goods 11. Both on the carriage 74 and on the post 77 there are sliding bushes for guiding the relevant rod parts. A pneumatic piston drive (not shown) serves as the drive. On the spacers 73 or on the drive there is a height stop, not shown, which is adjustable in height, so that the upper part 72 can be moved to different height positions.

The free length of the separating sword 66 outside the connection with the spacers 73 is at least the same size, but expediently somewhat larger than the greatest possible width of the packaging material 11 to be processed. The holding head 75, the longitudinal guide 76 and the post 77 are designed and arranged such that the separating sword 66 can be moved back and forth between a rest position, which is shown in solid lines in FIG. 9, and a separating position, which is shown in broken lines in FIG. 9. In the rest position, the tip of the head 67 of the separating sword 66 is just in the path of movement of the counting pieces 65 (FIGS. 1 and 9). In the separating position, the separating sword 66 extends through the packaged goods 11, with at least the tip of the head 67, if not the entire head 67, protruding from the packaged goods 11 on the other side.

A sensor 78 is arranged on the lower part 71 of the separating sword 66 at the tip of the head 67 on the side facing the serrated lock washers 3, which sensor is preferably designed as an optical sensor. This has a light guide 79 in the form of a glass fiber cable, the end of which is remote from the sensor 78 in a converter housing 81, in part with a light source, e.g. is optically coupled with a light-emitting diode, and in part with an optoelectronic converter. In this way, the sensor 78 works as a diffuse sensor. Overall, it is designed and arranged such that it emits a control signal when a counting piece 65 approaches, in particular when it is in contact with the sensor 78.

In the control of the drive of the holding head 75, a delay element is switched on, which only emits an actuation signal for driving the holding head 75 with the separating sword 66 a certain time after the control signal of the sensor 78 occurs. As a result, the separating sword 66 remains in its rest position for a short time, during which the packaged goods 11 are pushed slightly beyond the line of alignment of the separating sword 66 beyond the part of the count piece adjacent to the separating sword 66 and the subsequent individual pieces by the subsequent packaged goods 11. This creates a gap between the counting piece 65 and the individual pieces preceding it, as can be seen from FIG. 11. After the set delay time has elapsed, the separating sword is pushed further into this gap, whereby the gap widens progressively and finally the entire separating sword 66 extends through this gap and keeps the now separated stack 12 separated from the subsequent packaging material 11.

With the separating sword 66 in the separation position, the upper part 72 is raised parallel to itself, as a result of which the stack 12 is also separated from the subsequent packaging material 11 in its upper region (FIG. 10).

In the temporarily delimited storage space between the retracted separating sword 66 and the serrated lock washers 3, the latter add the individual items to the already existing individual items of the packaging material 11 and arrange them in a row.

The separated stack 12 is then displaced by the transfer device 7 transversely to its previous direction of movement in the direction of the container 9 and finally pushed completely into the container 9.

The transfer device 7 is designed as a displacement device. It has a slideway 82 for the stack 12, which extends from the storage belts 13 to the filling station of the container 9 (FIG. 15). The transfer or shifting device 7 has a shifting rake 83 with two prongs 84 (FIGS. 15 and 1). The two tines 84 are fastened one above the other on a support body 85 which is guided in a horizontal direction on a longitudinal guide 86, the direction of displacement being oriented at right angles to the movement path of the two storage belts 13. The tines 84 extend past the support strips 51 of the stack support 6, either above or below the support strips or through a gap between two adjacent support strips 51, to the point of separation with the separating sword 66. The free ends of the prongs 84 extend into the plan area of the separating sword 66.

The lower part 71 and the upper part 72 of the separating sword 66 each have a longitudinal groove 87 or 88 on the side facing the sliding rake 83, which are aligned parallel to the horizontally oriented longitudinal axis of the separating sword 66 and parallel to its path of movement. The longitudinal grooves 87 and 88 open at both ends of the separating sword 66.

The cross section of the two longitudinal grooves 87 and 88 has a greater height than the height of the prongs 84 of the sliding rake 83. The two prongs are designated 84.1 and 84.2 for better distinction. The lower prong 84.1 is arranged at the same height as the longitudinal groove 87 in the lower part 71 (FIG. 13). The upper prong 84.2 is arranged at the height which the longitudinal groove 88 of the upper part 72 occupies when the upper part 72 of the separating sword 66 is in the raised separating position, which is designated 72ʹ in FIGS. 9 and 10. Since the upper part 72 can be moved to different height positions, the upper prong 84.2 is also connected to the support body 85 so as to be adjustable in height.

In the support body 85 there are again sliding bushes which slide on the round rods of the longitudinal guide 86. A toothed belt (not shown), which is guided around two toothed belt pulleys which are rotatably mounted on the two posts of the longitudinal guide 86, serves as the drive for the sliding rake 83, only one post 89 of which is shown in FIG. 1 for the sake of clarity. One of these two toothed belt pulleys is driven by an electric motor.

While the stack 12 is separated from the subsequent packaging material 11 by the separating sword 66 and the upper part 72 of the separating sword 66 is then raised, the stack support 6 with the continuous conveyor belts 13 moves continuously away from the separation point. The fact that no further individual pieces are added to the rear end of the stack due to the separating sword 66, and that the storage belts 13 continue to run, the stack can expand and loosen at least in its upper regions.

A vibrating device is arranged in the plan area of the stack 12 (FIG. 15), the vibrating table (not shown) of which is installed in the storage table 4. The upper run of the storage belts 13 lies on the vibrating table. The vibrating table is expediently arranged in height so that its upper side is not lower than the upper side of the storage table 4 even in the lower reversal point of the vibrating movement. Before the start of the shaking, the sliding rake 83 approaches the stack 12 from its rest position, in which it stands at a short distance from the stack 12. While the stack 12 is being shaken on the vibrating table, the shifting rake 83 continues in the direction of the container 9. The stack 12 abuts the prongs 84 of the sliding rake 83, so that, under the loosening effect of the shaking movement, the side edge of all the individual pieces of the stack 12 finally abuts the prongs 84 and thus all the individual pieces are aligned flush with one another.

Even while shaking, the stack support 6 is moved out of its temporary end position (FIG. 15) in the direction of the separating sword 66 into a sliding position (FIG. 16). In this case, the stack 12 is compressed in the longitudinal direction, namely counter to the direction of its original conveying movement on the storage belts 13, to such an extent that its longitudinal extent is smaller than the clear width of the container 9. In this state, the stack 12 is moved by the displacement device 7 pushed by slide rake 83 over slideway 82 towards container 9 (FIG. 17) and finally pushed into it.

When the stack 12 is pushed over, the support strips 51 of the stack support 6 and the two parts of the separating sword 66 serve as end guides for the stack 12. Since the separating sword 66 projects only slightly beyond the width of the stack 12, it is in the line of alignment A further strip-shaped guide element is arranged in each of the two parts, which take over the guiding task of the separating sword 66 in the further course of the sliding movement of the stack 12 (FIG. 17). These strip-shaped guide elements, or guide strips 91 for short, extend in the sliding direction of the stack 12 from the storage belts 13 at least approximately as far as the support strips 51 of the stack support 6. The guide strips 91 and the support strips 51 extend to a point which is different from the original Movement path of the stack 12 is further away than the container 9 is deep. As a result, when the stack support 6 has been moved into the transfer position (FIG. 16), the container 9 can be pushed onto the ends of the guide strips 91 and the support strips 51 until the bottom rests against the latter, without first hitting the stack 12 . In FIG. 16 and FIG. 17, for the sake of clarity, the container 9 is shown only partially pushed on.

By means of the sliding rake 83, the stack 12 is pushed completely into the container 9 beyond the intermediate position shown in FIG. 17. The sliding rake 83 moves a certain distance beyond the insertion position and thereby simultaneously pushes the container 9 down from the guide strips 91 and the support strips 51 with the stack 12. As a result, the individual end pieces of the stack 12 remain in the flush position with the remaining part of the stack 12, although they are moved relative to the support elements 51 and to the guide strips 91 and thereby exert a frictional force on them, which is directed out of the container 9 is. The additional displacement distance of the rake 83 is therefore at least equal to the immersion depth of the guide strips 91 and the support strips 51 or, in other words, at least equal to the depth of the container 9.

18 shows a modified embodiment of those parts which guide the stack 12 when inserted into a container 9 on the two end faces. Here, the support strips of the stack support 6 as support strips 51ʹ only extend approximately as far towards the filling point of the container 9 as is the case with the separating sword 66. In the line of alignment of the support strips 51ʹ, strip-shaped guide elements or guide strips 92 are arranged, which act as an extension of the support strips 51 und and which accordingly extend into the container 9. The guide strips 92 are fastened to the end region remote from the container 9 on a common holder 93 which is pivotably mounted about a vertical pivot axis 94. A tension spring 96 is suspended on the end section 95 of one of the guide strips 92, which extends beyond the holder 93, the other end 97 of which is supported on a stationary part of the packaging machine 1. The tension spring 96 exerts a torque on the guide strips 92, by means of which they are pivoted toward the interior of the container, as is shown for the guide strips 98 in the line of alignment of the separating sword 66. In the path of movement of the end section 95, a stop 99 is arranged in a stationary manner, against which the end section 95 bears when the guide strips 92 are pivoted by a pivoting angle of approximately 5 °... 10 ° with respect to the line of alignment of the support strips 51 '. The end section 95 on the guide element 92 and on the guide element 98 is slightly angled outward with respect to its line of alignment in order to create an entry slope for the stack 12.

The guide strips 98 are designed in the same way as the guide strips 92 and are only pivoted through 180 °, which is why the explanations relating to the guide strips 92 apply to them in a corresponding manner.

The insertion position of the stack support 6 and its support lesites 51ʹ depends on the length of the stack 12. In the case of the stack support 6, this is taken into account by controlling its drive accordingly. The separate guide strips 92 must be adjusted in the direction of the longitudinal extent of the stack 12 when the length of the stack 12 and thus also the length of the container 9 changes. The easiest way to do this is to arrange the pivot axis 94 on a slide which can be adjusted by means of a longitudinal guide parallel to the longitudinal guide 45 of the stack support 6.

After the stack 12 is pushed into the container 9 and pushed down together with the latter from the support strips 51 and the guide strips 91, the sliding rake 83 is moved back into its starting position or rest position (FIG. 1), in which its prongs 84 are on the side of the separating device 5 stand next to the movement path of the packaging material 11. At the same time, the stack support 6 is moved back from the push-over position to the separating sword 65 which remains in the separating position. The separating sword 65 is moved back out of the movement path of the packaged goods 11 into its rest position (FIG. 1), after which the stack support 6 with its support strips 51 again supports the front end face of the packaged goods 11 and in advance step by step in the direction of the transfer position hikes there.

The correct interaction of all parts of the packaging machine 1 is facilitated in that the separating device 5, the stack support 6 with its frame 46 and the displacement device 7 are arranged on a common base frame 100, which is indicated in FIG. 1 only as a smaller plate for the sake of clarity which in reality has the shape of a rack. This base frame 100 and the storage table 4 are detachably connected together. This means that if necessary the the base frame combined part of the packaging machine 1 in which a production machine is replaced and attached to another production machine, provided that its work table is of the same type as the work table 4.

In the second exemplary embodiment of a packaging machine 101, which can be seen in detail from FIG. 19, the separating device 102 of which is also equipped with a separating sword 103, essentially only the type of detection of the counting pieces is modified, which will be explained in the following. Insofar as individual assemblies or components are not explained in more detail, it can be assumed that they are designed and arranged identically or at least similarly to the corresponding assemblies or components of the packaging machine 1 and act in the same or a similar manner.

The auxiliary device for the separating device 102 arranged in the outlet area of the serrated washers of the production machine is located on the same side as the separating device 102. This auxiliary device accordingly shifts the individual pieces of the packaging material 105 serving as counting pieces 104 to the opposite side by a certain distance. This creates a small primary gap 106 on the side of the packaging material 105 on the side of the separating device 102 in the area of the counting pieces 104. The optical sensor 107 is designed and arranged on the separating sword 103 such that it responds to the primary gap 106 when it arrives and emits a control signal. On the basis of this control signal, the control circuit of the packaging machine 101 switches on the drive of the separating sword 103 in such a way that the tip of the separating sword 103 is first moved into the primary gap 106 at most by the depth thereof and that the separating sword 103 is then driven for one is switched off for a short period of time or at least delayed.

During this period, the individual pieces of the packaging material 105 adjoining the primary gap 106 are stopped at their edge region by the separating sword 103, while the remaining part of these individual pieces is pushed on by the subsequent individual pieces. The counting pieces also move further with their edge, so that a secondary gap arises between them and the individual pieces of the packaging material 105 adjoining them, which gap becomes increasingly larger. As soon as this secondary gap has reached a certain size after the set period of time, the control circuit of the packaging machine 101 switches the drive of the separating sword 103 on again and pushes the separating sword 103 into the secondary gap and through the packaged goods 104.

The separating sword 103, like the separating sword 66, is formed in two parts. After it has been pushed completely into the packaged goods, the upper part of the separating sword 103 is raised up to the upper region of the packaged goods 105, thereby completely separating the preceding part of the packaged goods from the subsequent packaged goods 105 as a stack 108. The other operations for packing the stack 108 are the same as for the stack 12.

The packaging machine 111 shown in FIG. 20 differs from the two packaging machines 1 and 101 essentially only in the manner in which a stack 112 is separated from the subsequent packaged goods 113. The packaging machine 111 does not require a device which would otherwise result in the area of the serrated lock washers 114 one or more of the individual pieces of the packaged goods 113 are pushed out of the row as counting pieces. The packaging machine 111 is therefore suitable for use in those production machines in which such a shifting device for counting pieces is not present and cannot be retrofitted.

The separating device 115 has a separating lance 116 which is rotatably mounted on a bearing body 117, the axis of rotation of the separating lance 116 being aligned horizontally and at the same time at right angles to the conveying direction of the packaged goods 113. The bearing body 117 is arranged on two spacers 118, via which it is firmly connected to the holding head 119.

The separating lance 116 has a cylindrical shaft 121 and a conical head or, in short, a conical head 122. The taper axis 123 is offset from the cylinder axis 124 of the shaft 121 by a certain eccentric dimension "e" (FIG. 20). This eccentric dimension "e" is approximately 1 mm.

The separating lance 116 is rotatably driven by a drive, not shown, which is arranged at the rear end of the separating lance 116 on the bearing body 117 and is coupled in a rotationally fixed manner to the end 121 116 of the separating lance 116. The holding head 119 is again longitudinally displaceable in the same way by means of a longitudinal guide 125 and coupled to a longitudinal drive, not shown, as was the case with the holding head 75 of the packaging machine 1. In this way, the separating lance can be pushed transversely to the movement path of the packaged goods from its rest position shown in FIG. 20, in which it stands outside the packaged goods 113, until at least its conical head 122 protrudes on the other side of the packaged goods 113.

When a single piece of the packaged goods 113 approaches, which corresponds to a certain number of preceding individual pieces and which can thus be addressed as a counting piece 126, a longitudinal sensor of the packaging machine 1 causes the longitudinal drive of the separating lance to be triggered based on a corresponding counting signal from a sensor arranged in the area of the serrated lock washers 116 switched on. In a first movement phase the separating lance 116 first moved up to the side edge of the packaged goods 113 (FIG. 20) and also moved a small distance further against the packaged goods 113 (FIG. 21). By the tip 130 of the conical head 122, which rotates eccentrically around the cylinder axis 124, either the counting piece 126 or the individual piece adjacent to it on one side or the other is either immediately pushed to the side or, as shown in FIG. 21, its edge is initially somewhat into the packaged goods 113 pressed in, whereby the edge area is elastically deformed and stretched. As a result, this side edge jumps off the tip 130 in the course of the further circular movement of the cone head 122 (FIG. 22) and aligns itself again in a straight line next to the cone head which continues to rotate (FIG. 23), so that the cone head 122 then at the latest between the counting piece 126 and one neighboring single piece 127 has penetrated the packaging material 113. Due to the continuous circular movement of the cone head 122 and the further advancement of the entire separating lance 116, it moves through the entire packaged goods 113 and thereby separates the individual pieces forming the stack 112 from the subsequent packaged goods 113, at least in the lower region.

The separation lance 116 is constructed in two parts, similar to the separation sword 66. Its upper part 128 is fastened to a carriage 129 in such a way that it is arranged in the vertical direction above the separating lance 116, which forms its own lower part. The underside of the upper part 128 facing the separating lance 116 can be of hollow cylindrical design so that it lies more closely against the separating lance 116 in the lowered position.

The carriage 129 is guided in a vertically displaceable manner on the spacers 118 serving as a longitudinal guide. It is coupled to a longitudinal drive, not shown, by means of which it can be raised together with the upper part 128 into a position, as is the case with the upper part 72 of the separating sword 66.

The rotating separating lance 116 has no longitudinal groove for the immersion of the free end of one of the tines 131 of the shifting rake 132. In this case, one of these tines 131 must be arranged just below or just above the separating lance so that it still extends into the basic area of the separating lance 116 can extend into it. The non-rotating upper part 128 is provided with a longitudinal groove into which the free end of the tine 131 can be immersed, which is at the height that the respective longitudinal groove occupies on the upper part 128 when it is in the raised position, that of the position 72ʹ of the upper part of the separating sword 66 corresponds (Fig. 9 and 10).

When the separating lance 116 has completely separated the stack 112 from the subsequent packaged goods 113, the further processes for packing the stack 112 into a container 9 proceed in the same way as with the packaging machine 1.

The accuracy of the separating device 115 is slightly less than that of the separating device 5 of the packaging machine 1. For this purpose, the packaging machine 111 with the separating device 115 can also be used in those production machines in which the device for moving counters is not available and cannot be installed.

25 and FIG. 26 show a modified embodiment of the separating lance, in which the separating lance 133 is formed in two parts and has a shaft 134 and a conical head 135 as independent parts. The shaft 134 is rigidly attached to a support body 136, which corresponds to the bearing body 117 in the rotatable separating lance 116. Like this, the support body 136 is arranged on two spacers 118, via which it is connected to the holding head of the separating device.

The shaft 134 can have any cross section, for example a square or rectangular cross section (FIG. 26). It is therefore designed as a hollow body and has a through hole 137 running centrally to its longitudinal axis. At the two ends of the shaft 134 two bearings 138 are arranged centrally to the through hole 137. A shaft 139 is mounted thereon, at the front end of which the conical head 135 is arranged. At the opposite end, the shaft 139 is coupled to a rotary drive attached to the support body 136, which is not shown in FIG. 25. At the end region adjacent to the cone head 135, the outside of the shaft 134 is aligned with the circular cylindrical end region of the cone head 135 in order to avoid end faces against which the packaged goods could touch.

In the event that the horizontally measured outer dimension of the cross section of the shaft 134 is only slightly larger than the inner dimension of the through hole 137, it is expedient to provide the shaft 134 on the underside with a keel-like extension 141, which is indicated by dash-dotted lines in FIG. 26 . In the area of this extension 141 there can be a longitudinal groove 142 on the side facing the sliding rake (FIG. 20), on which a tine of the sliding rake 132 can be aligned such that its free end extends into the upright projection of the groove 142.

As with the separating lance 116, the separating lance 113 can also be provided with an upper part 143, which can also have a longitudinal groove 144, to which a tine of the sliding rake 132 is aligned when the upper part is in the raised operating position. For this purpose, the upper part 143 is connected to a lifting device, which the spacers 118 serve as a longitudinal guide.

Pushing the containers 9 onto the guide elements in the form of the guide strips 91 and the support strips 51, as illustrated in FIG. 16, could be carried out by hand. Since the pushing of the empty container 9 onto these guide elements and the removal of the filled container 9 must be carried out within a relatively short period of time and exactly in time with the other work processes of the packaging machine 1, the handling device 8 is used for handling the containers 9, which also is controlled by the control circuit of the packaging machine. It is explained below with reference to FIGS. 27 to 34.

The handling device 8 has two conveyor belts 145 and 146. The conveyor belt 145 is used to feed the empty containers 9 to a transfer device 147. The conveyor belt 146 is used to remove the filled containers 9 from the transfer device 147 (FIGS. 33 and 34) to a stacking station or to a further conveyor device. The two conveyor belts 145 and 146 end shortly before the floor plan area of the last of the empty containers 9 being conveyed above the transfer device 147 (FIG. 27). So that the foremost container 148 also remains in the correct position in the conveying direction of the conveyor belt 145 above the transfer device 147, a stop plate 149 is arranged in the path of movement of the containers 9, which is oriented perpendicularly and which the container 148 later also during the lowering movement as Leadership serves. The stop plate 149 is fixedly arranged in the conveying direction of the conveyor belt 145, so that the side wall of the containers 9 facing the production machine 2 is always set on the alignment line of the separating device 5.

The transfer device 147 includes a vertical conveyor 151, which has a pneumatic piston drive 152 with a piston rod 153, on the upper end of which a suction head 154 is arranged. The conveying height of the vertical conveyor 151 corresponds to the height difference between the upper conveyor belt 145 and the lower conveyor belt 146. The sag head 154 can be connected to a vacuum generator via the piston rod 153.

A sliding table 155 is arranged at the level of the conveyor belt 146. It can be moved horizontally on a longitudinal guide with two guide rods 156, the direction of movement of the sliding table 155 being aligned parallel to the line of alignment of the guide strips 91 and the support elements 51 (FIG. 15).

The table top 157 of the sliding table 155 has on the side facing away from the packaging machine a cutout 158 with a U-shaped plan figure, which is open towards the side facing away from the packaging machine. The plan area of the recess 158 is slightly larger than the relative range of movement of the vertical conveyor 151, which results from the fact that the sliding table 155 is moved relative to the vertical conveyor 151 into the take-over position for the container 148 shown in FIG. 28, in which the vertical conveyor 151 at least stands approximately in the geometric center of the sliding table 155. The sliding table 155 has a suction cup 159 in the area facing the packaging machine, which is arranged on the line of symmetry of the sliding table 155, which is aligned with the recess 158.

Instead of the conversion device 147, a modified conversion device 147vorrichtung can also be used, the parts of which are distinguished below from the corresponding parts of the conversion device 147 by reference numerals with an apostrophe. The parts of the transfer device 147ʹ are not shown separately. In the context of the following explanations, they are designed and arranged identically or at least similarly to the corresponding parts of the transfer device 147.

In the transfer device 147ʹ, the vertical conveyor 151ʹ is not arranged in a fixed location, but is combined with the sliding table 155,, which only has a circular recess for the vertical conveyor 151ʹ in its table top 157ʹ. As a further modification, the second suction head 159ʹ is combined with the suction head 154ʹ of the vertical conveyor 151ʹ to form a double suction head which is arranged on the piston rod 153ʹ of the vertical conveyor 151ʹ. With this transfer device 147ʹ, the container 148 is no longer released from the vertical conveyor 151ʹ after being placed on the sliding table 155ʹ, but held by the double suction head 154ʹ / 159ʹ continuously during the subsequent operations until the sliding table 155ʹ has returned to its initial position and thus the container 148 has arrived at the transfer point to the lower conveyor belt 146. After switching off the double suction head 154ʹ / 159ʹ, the container can be pushed over to the conveyor belt 146ʹ by the shifting device 161ieb.

In the take-over position of the sliding table 155, a displacement device 161 is arranged on the side facing away from the conveyor belt 146. It has a pneumatic piston drive 152, on the piston rod of which a sliding plate 163 is attached. The displacement device is arranged at least approximately in the longitudinal center line of the conveyor belt 146 and is aligned thereto. The displacement plate 163 is oriented transversely to it. In terms of height, the displacement device 161 is at least approximately open aligned the lower region of the containers 9 resting on the sliding table 155. The displacement path of the displacement device 161 extends at least up to the conveyor belt 146.

The handling of the foremost container 148 brought up by the conveyor belt 145 is explained below:

The piston rod 153 is raised up to the container 148, so that the suction head 154 lies against the bottom of the container 148. The suction head 154 is connected to the vacuum generator via a valve actuated by the control circuit. Due to the resulting pressure difference between the top and the bottom of its bottom, the container 148 is pressed onto the suction head 154, to a certain extent sucked in by it. The piston rod 153 is retracted downward, thereby lowering the container 148 onto the sliding table 155 (FIG. 30) in the take-over position. The suction cup 159 on the sliding table 155 is now also connected by the control circuit via a valve to the vacuum generator, after which the suction head 154 on the piston rod 153 is switched off again shortly thereafter. As a result, the container 148 is held on the sliding table 155. At the point in time when the stack support 6 has already compressed the stack 12 with its support strips 51 and has reached its push-over position (FIG. 16), the sliding table 155 with the container 148 is shifted towards the packaging machine into the filling position, which it has not quite reached in Fig. 16 and Fig. 17. Through the sliding rake 83, the stack 12 guided by guide strips 91 and the support strips 51 is pushed completely into the container 148 (FIG. 32) and then the container 148 together with the sliding table 155 is pushed back until the guide strips 91 and the support strips 51 are complete have emerged from the filled container 148. Then the sliding table 155 is not by one longitudinal drive shown pushed back into the takeover position (Fig. 28 and Fig. 34). The suction cup 159 is switched off and the filled container 148 is pushed down from the sliding table 155 by means of the displacement device 161 and pushed onto the conveyor belt 146 (FIGS. 33 and 34).

The container 148 can be provided for the take-over by the vertical conveyor 151 in that the conveyor belt 145 is switched on whenever the suction head 154 of the vertical conveyor 151 is in the raised take-over position, which is shown in FIG. 27. Then the suction head 154 also serves as a support for the container 148. However, it is better to provide a transfer device 165 which is shown only in FIG. 31 for the sake of clarity. It has a piston drive 166, which is arranged in the direction of the movement path of the containers 9 lying on the conveyor belt 145 beyond the stop plate 149 and whose piston rod 147 extends through a recess in the stop plate 149 to the conveyor belt 145. A suction head 168 is arranged at the end of the piston rod 167. With this suction head 168, the foremost of the containers 9 is grasped on the conveyor belt 145 and pulled over into the transfer position or, more precisely, lifted over (FIG. 26), in which it is designated as container 148. As soon as the vertical conveyor 151 has taken over the container 148, the suction head 148 of the transfer device 165 is switched off.

Claims (24)

1. method for packing envelopes or mailing bags into a container,
characterized by the process steps:
in the end area of the production machine, the packaged goods are counted out of envelopes or mailing bags or the like and at least the individual piece of the packaged goods corresponding to a certain lot size of a stack to be packaged is pushed out laterally as a counting piece from the movement path to a certain extent,
the packaging goods handed over by the production machine are continuously moved as a stack by the ratio of the further individual pieces of the packaging goods brought onto storage belts,
a support member is moved at the feed speed of the individual pieces of the stack in front of the head of the stack and the stack is thereby held at least approximately upright,
when the counting piece arrives at a separation point a certain distance away from the transfer point of the production machine, the counting piece protruding from the stack is stopped,
a separating part is inserted transversely to the path of movement of the stack into the gap that forms between the counting piece and the stack that is being moved, and the subsequent packaging material is thereby temporarily stopped,
- After inserting the separating part between the stack and the subsequent packaged goods, the supporting part is moved back a certain distance in the direction of the separating part, and thereby the separated stack is compressed to a stack length that is smaller than the horizontally measured clear width of the container,
the compacted stack is shifted on a slideway across its original path of movement into the container,
- After pushing the stack into the container, the support part is moved back to the separation point and the separation part is withdrawn from the path of movement of the subsequent packaged goods. 2. method for packing envelopes or mailing bags into a container,
characterized by the process steps:
in the end area of the production machine, the packaged goods are counted out of envelopes or mailing bags or the like and at least the individual piece of the packaged goods corresponding to a certain batch size of a stack to be packaged is laterally pushed out of the movement path to a certain extent,
the packaging goods transferred by the production machine are continuously moved as a stack in the ratio of the further individual pieces of the packaging goods that are brought in,
a support member is moved at the feed speed of the individual pieces of the stack in front of the head of the stack and the stack is thereby held at least approximately upright,
when the primary gap formed by the shifted counting piece arrives at a separation point a certain distance away from the transfer point of the production machine, the individual pieces following the primary gap are stopped,
a separating part is inserted transversely to the movement path of the stack into the secondary gap which forms between the counting piece and the subsequent packaged goods following the primary gap, thereby temporarily stopping the subsequent packaged goods,
- After inserting the separating part between the stack and the subsequent packaged goods, the supporting part is moved back a certain distance in the direction of the separating part and the separated stack is thereby compressed to a stack length that is smaller than the horizontally measured clear width of the container,
the compacted stack is shifted on a slideway across its original path of movement into the container,
- After pushing the stack into the container, the support part is moved back to the separation point and the separation part is withdrawn from the path of movement of the subsequent packaged goods. 3. method for packing envelopes or mailing bags into a container,
characterized by the process steps:
the packaged goods transferred by a production machine are continuously moved as a stack in relation to the further individual pieces of the packaged goods brought in on storage belts,
a support member is moved at the feed speed of the individual pieces of the stack in front of the head of the stack and the stack is thereby held at least approximately upright,
- After the arrival of a counting piece of the packaged goods counted by a counter at a separating point a certain distance away from the transfer point of the production machine, a separating part is moved against the packaged goods which, by means of an off-center rotating tip, creates a gap between the counting piece and the neighboring one Forms a single piece of the packaged goods,
the separating part is completely pushed into this gap transversely to the movement path of the packaged goods, and the subsequent stack is thereby temporarily stopped,
After the separating part has been pushed in between the two successive stacks, the support part is moved back a certain distance in the direction of the separating part, thereby compressing the separated stack to a stack length that is smaller than the horizontally measured inside width of the container,
the compacted stack is shifted on a slideway across its original path of movement into the container,
- After the preceding stack has been pushed into the container, the support part is moved back to the separation point and the separation part is withdrawn from the path of movement of the subsequent stack. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 characterized by the step
- The separated stack is pushed during the first part of its lateral displacement towards the container over a vibrating table and thereby vibrated in the vertical direction, with a push-on part on the side facing away from the container against the stack and shifting it laterally during the vibrating and aligning it flush. 5. The method according to claim 4,
characterized by the process steps:
at the beginning of the shaking phase, the support part is moved a certain distance away from the separating part,
- During or after the shaking phase, the support part is moved towards the separating part up to its push-over position, in which the stack is compressed. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized by the process steps
the container is pushed onto the loading point on guide elements which are either formed by the supporting elements of the stacking support or are arranged in the line of alignment and which are arranged in the line of the separating part,
the stack is preferably displaced beyond the receiving position of the container by at least the depth of the container when it is pushed into the container, thereby pushing the container together with the stack away from the guide elements,
- The filled container is transported away from the loading point with a separate conveyor. 7. Automatic packaging machine for envelopes and mailers, in particular for carrying out the method according to claim 1, with the features:
two ring-shaped storage belts are arranged next to each other at a certain mutual distance,
the storage belts are each guided around a common shaft, which are rotatably mounted on a table frame and at least one of which is coupled to a drive,
baffles are arranged in the area of the beginning of the upper run of the storage belts, which extend counter to the conveying direction of the packaged goods into the transfer area of the serrated lock washers of the assigned production machine,
a stack support is arranged above the level of the storage belts and is movably guided in the longitudinal direction of the storage belts by means of a longitudinal guide,
there is a separating device by means of which a stack of the packaged goods can be separated from the packaged goods following from the serrated lock washers,
there is a transfer device by means of which the separated stack can be moved into an open container,
characterized by the features:
- The drive (19) of the storage belts (13) is designed as a continuous drive, the conveying speed of which can be adjusted to a specific ratio to the conveying speed of the production machine (2),
- In the inlet area of the fan slides (3) of the production machine (2), a sensor (24) is arranged, by means of which the packaging material fed to the serrated lock washers (3) can be scanned, for the purpose of controlling the drive (19) of the storage belts depending on the presence or absence of the Packaging goods,
- The stack support (6) is guided on its own guide (45) and can be moved by means of its own drive both in the conveying direction of the packaged goods and in the opposite direction,
- The drive of the stack support (6) is designed to be adjustable in the conveying direction of the packaged goods to the conveying speed of the storage belts (13),
- The stack support (6) has two or more strip-shaped support elements (51) which are arranged horizontally and at right angles to the path of movement of the storage belts (13),
- Between two adjacent support elements (51) there is an intermediate space (52) which is open in the pushing-out direction of the stack (12),
- As an auxiliary device of the separating device (5) on the production machine (2) on the outlet side of their serrated lock washers (3) there is a counter and a displacement device controlled by the counter, by means of which at least one individual piece of the packaging material as a counter (65) from its path of movement laterally can be pushed out to a certain extent,
- The separating device (5) is arranged at a certain distance from the serrated lock washers (3) of the production machine (2),
- The separating device (5) has a separating sword (66) with a wedge-shaped head (67) and an adjoining shaft (68),
- The total length of the separating sword (66) is at least approximately equal to the greatest possible width of the packaged goods (11),
- The separating sword (66) is arranged in its rest position so that the tip of its head (67) at least partially protrudes into the path of movement of the counting piece (65) in the packaged goods (11),
- In the protruding into the path of movement of the counting area of the tip of the separating sword (66) there is at least one sensor (78) which is designed so that it approaches and / or when the counting piece (65) comes into contact with the tip emits a control signal,
- The separating sword (66) is guided in its longitudinal direction on a longitudinal guide (76) which is aligned horizontally and transversely to the movement path of the packaged goods (11),
the separating sword (66) is coupled to a drive by means of which the separating sword (66) can be moved into the movement path of the packaged goods (11),
- In the control of the drive of the separating sword (66), a delay element is switched on, which emits a start signal for driving the separating sword (66) only after a certain time after the control signal of the sensor (78) appears at the top of the separating sword (66) ,
- The transfer device is designed as a displacement device (7) which has a slideway (82) for the stack (12), which extends from the storage belts (13) to the filling point of the container (9), and which has a sliding rake (83 ), the tines (84) of which lie above or below the support elements (51) and / or through the space (52) between two adjacent support elements (51) of the stack support (6) up to at least the outline area of the separating sword (66) extend,
- The sliding rake (83) is guided so that it can be moved transversely to the movement path of the packaged goods (11) by means of a longitudinal guide (86),
- The sliding rake (83) is coupled to a drive by means of which it moves out of its rest position, in which its prongs (84) are outside the movement path of the packaged goods (11), in several movement sections at least up to the loading position of the container (9) now and then can be moved back to its rest position. 8. Packaging machine for envelopes and mailers, in particular for carrying out the method according to claim 2, with the features:
two ring-shaped storage belts are arranged next to each other at a certain mutual distance,
the storage belts are each guided around a common shaft, which are rotatably mounted on a table frame and at least one of which is coupled to a drive,
a stack support is arranged above the level of the storage belts and is movably guided in the longitudinal direction of the storage belts by means of a longitudinal guide,
there is a separating device by means of which a stack of the packaged goods can be separated from the packaged goods following from the production machine,
there is a transfer device by means of which the separated stack can be moved into an open container,
characterized by the features:
- The drive (19) of the storage belts (13) is designed as a continuous drive, the conveying speed of which can be adjusted to a specific ratio to the conveying speed of the production machine (2),
- In the inlet area of the serrated lock washers (3) of the production machine (2), a sensor (24) is arranged, by means of which the packaging material (105) fed to the serrated lock washers (3) can be scanned, for the purpose of controlling the drive (19) of the storage belts (13) in Dependence on the presence or absence of the packaged goods,
- The stack support (6) is guided on its own guide (45) and can be moved by means of its own drive both in the conveying direction of the packaged goods and in the opposite direction,
- The drive of the stack support (6) is designed to be adjustable in the conveying direction of the packaged goods to the conveying speed of the storage belts (13),
- The stack support (6) has two or more strip-shaped support elements (51) which are arranged horizontally and at right angles to the path of movement of the storage belts (13),
- Between two adjacent support elements (51) there is an intermediate space (52) which is open in the direction in which the stack is pushed out,
- As an auxiliary device of the separating device (5) on the production machine (2) on the outlet side of their serrated lock washers (3) there is a counter and a displacement device controlled by the counter, by means of which at least one individual item of the packaging material as a counter (104) from its path of movement laterally can be pushed out to a certain extent,
- The separating device (102) is arranged at a certain distance from the serrated lock washers (3) of the production machine (2),
- The separating device (105) has a separating sword (103) with a wedge-shaped head and an adjoining shaft,
- The total length of the separating sword (103) is at least approximately equal to the greatest possible width of the packaged goods (105),
- The separating sword (103) is arranged in its rest position so that the tip of its head protrudes at least close to the movement path of the packaged goods (105),
- In the area of the tip of the separating sword (103) there is at least one sensor (107) which is designed such that it emits a control signal when the primary gap (106) formed by the counter (104) arrives,
- The separating sword (103) is slidably guided in its longitudinal direction on a longitudinal guide which is aligned horizontally and transversely to the movement path of the packaged goods (105),
the separating sword (103) is coupled to a drive by means of which the separating sword (103) can be moved into the movement path of the packaged goods (105),
- In the control of the drive of the separating sword (103), a step circuit with a delay element is switched on, which first emits a movement signal for driving the separating sword (103) for a movement distance that extends into the primary gap (106) of the counting piece (104) reaches in, and which emits a second movement signal for the further movement path of the separating sword (103) to its end position only after a certain period of time after the first movement signal,
- The transfer device is designed as a displacement device (7); which has a slideway (82) for the stack (108), which extends from the storage belts (13) to the filling point of the container (9), and which has a sliding rake (83), the tines (84) of which are above or extend below the support elements (51) and / or through the intermediate space (52) between two adjacent support elements (51) of the stack support (6) to at least the outline area of the separating sword (103),
- The sliding rake (83) is guided so that it can be moved transversely to the movement path of the packaged goods (105) by means of a longitudinal guide (86),
- The sliding rake (83) is coupled to a drive by means of which it moves out of its rest position, in which its tines (84) are outside the path of movement of the packaged goods (105), in several movement sections at least up to the loading position of the container (9) now and then can be moved back to its rest position. 9. Packaging machine for envelopes and mailers, in particular for carrying out the method according to claim 3, with the features:
two ring-shaped storage belts are arranged next to each other at a certain mutual distance,
the storage belts are each guided around a common shaft, which are rotatably mounted on a table frame and at least one of which is coupled to a drive,
a stack support is arranged above the level of the storage belts and is movably guided in the longitudinal direction of the storage belts by means of a longitudinal guide,
there is a separating device by means of which a stack of the packaged goods can be separated from the packaged goods following from the production machine,
there is a transfer device by means of which the separated stack can be moved into an open container,
characterized by the features:
- The drive of the storage belts (13) is designed as a continuous drive, the conveying speed of which can be adjusted to a specific ratio to the conveying speed of the production machine (2),
- In the inlet area of the serrated lock washers (114) of the production machine (2), a sensor (24) is arranged, by means of which the packaged goods fed to the serrated lock washers (114) can be scanned, in order to control the drive of the storage belts depending on the presence or absence of the packed goods,
- The stack support (6) is guided on its own guide (45) and can be moved by means of its own drive both in the conveying direction of the packaged goods and in the opposite direction,
- The drive of the stack support (6) is designed to be adjustable in the conveying direction of the packaged goods to the conveying speed of the storage belts (13),
- The stack support (6) has two or more strip-shaped support elements (51) which are arranged horizontally and at right angles to the path of movement of the storage belts (13),
- Between two adjacent support elements (51) there is an intermediate space (52) which is open in the direction in which the stack is pushed out,
- The separating device (115) is arranged at a certain distance from the serrated lock washers (3) of the production machine (2),
- The separating device (115) has a separating lance (116) with a conical head (122) and with an adjoining circular cylindrical shaft (121),
- The total length of the separating lance (116) is at least approximately equal to the greatest possible width of the packaged goods (113)
- The separating lance (116) is rotatably mounted about the cylinder axis (124) of its circular cylindrical shaft (121) and coupled to a rotary drive,
the taper axis (123) of the tapered head (122) is offset parallel to the cylinder axis (124) of the cylindrical shaft (121) by a certain amount (e),
- The separating lance (116) is displaceably guided in its longitudinal direction on a longitudinal guide (125) which is aligned horizontally and transversely to the movement path of the packaged goods (113),
- The separating lance (116) is coupled to a longitudinal drive, by means of which it can be moved into the movement path of the packaged goods (113),
- In the control of the longitudinal drive of the separating lance (116) a delay element is switched on, which temporarily delays the longitudinal movement of the separating lance (116) in the direction of the packaged goods (113) at the point at which the tip (130) of the conical head (122) touches the packaged goods (113),
- The transfer device is thus designed shifting device (7) which has a slideway (82) for the stack (112), which extends from the storage belts (13) to the filling point of the container (9), and which has a shifting rake (132 ), the tines (131) of which lie above or below the support elements (51) and / or through the space (52) between two adjacent support elements (51) of the stack support (6) up to at least the outline of the separating lance (116) extend,
- The sliding rake (132) is guided so that it can be moved transversely to the movement path of the packaged goods (113) by means of a longitudinal guide,
- The sliding rake (132) is coupled to a drive by means of which it moves out of its rest position, in which its tines (131) are outside the path of movement of the packaged goods (113), in several movement sections at least until the container (9) is in the loading position. now and then can be moved back to its rest position. 10. Packaging machine according to one or claims 7 to 9, characterized by the mark:
- The beginning of the storage belts (13) extends counter to the conveying direction of the packaged goods (11) into the plan area of the serrated lock washers (3), 11. Packaging machine according to one of claims 7 to 10, characterized by the feature:
- The longitudinal guide (45) of the stack support (6) is arranged above the plane of the storage belts (13) and is preferably detachable from the table frame (17) with the storage belts (13),
- The separating device (5) and the transfer device (7) are preferably designed to be detachable from the table frame (17) and are preferably arranged together with the guide (45) of the stacking support (6) on a common base frame (100). 12. Packaging machine according to one of claims 7 to 11, characterized by the features:
at least one sensor, but preferably two sensors (53; 54) are arranged on the stack support (6) on the side facing the stack (12),
- In the case of two sensors (53; 54), the sensors are arranged at different heights, namely one sensor (53) in the area of the lower edge and the other sensor (54) in the area of the upper edge of the packaged goods (11),
- The sensors are designed so that they generate a control signal when approaching and / or when placing the packaged goods (11) on the stack support (6). 13. Packaging machine according to claim 12, characterized by the features:
a control device (55) is arranged on the side of the stack support (6) facing away from the packaged goods (11), above one of the storage belts (13),
- The control device (55) has a friction wheel (56) which is rotatably mounted,
- The bearing of the friction wheel (56) can be lowered on a guide (57) with a vertical component until the friction wheel (56) rests on the relevant storage belt (13) and can preferably be pressed onto the storage belt (13) by its own weight or by spring force,
- With the friction wheel (56), a control disc (58) is rotatably connected, which has at least two surface areas (59; 61), of a common flexion line, in particular the axis of rotation of the control disc (58), or of a common reference surface, in particular one have a different distance at right angles to the axis of rotation,
- A key switch (62) is arranged so that its key element (63) rests resiliently on one of the two surface areas (59; 61) and, when the control disk (58) rotates, these surface areas alternate into an on position and an off position of the key switch is movable
- The control circuit for the drive of the stack support (6) has a double or, in the presence of two sensors (53; 54) for the packaged goods (11), a triple AND operation, the first input terminal with the push button (62) and the second input terminal of which is connected to one sensor (53) and, if appropriate, the third input terminal of which is connected to the other sensor (54) on the stack support. 14. Packaging machine according to claim 12,
characterized by the features:
on the side of the stack support facing away from the packaged goods, a sensor is arranged above one of the storage belts, which sensor responds to markings on the storage belt and generates control signals,
- The control circuit for the drive of the stack support has a double or, in the presence of two sensors for the stacked goods, a triple AND link, the first input terminal of which is connected to the sensor for the markings on the storage belt, the second input terminal of which is connected to one sensor and , if necessary, whose third input terminal is connected to the other sensor on the stack support. 15. Packaging machine according to claim 7 or 8 or according to one of claims 10 to 14,
characterized by the features:
the separating sword (66) has on the side facing the stack support (6) a longitudinal groove (87) which opens freely at least at the head end (67) of the separating sword (66), preferably also at the other end,
- On the sliding rake (83) one of the prongs (84.1) at the height of the longitudinal groove (87) on the separating sword (66) and so long or arranged in its longitudinal direction that its free end into the front projection of the longitudinal groove (87) protrudes from the separating sword (66). 16. Packaging machine according to claim 7 or 8 or according to one of claims 10 to 15,
characterized by features:
- The separating sword (66) is constructed in two parts,
- The two parts (71; 72) of the separating sword (66) are arranged one above the other and aligned parallel to one another,
- The two parts (71; 72) of the separating sword (66) are preferably arranged on a common carriage or carriage (75) which is slidably guided on the horizontal guideway (76),
- The lower part (71) of the separating sword (66) is fixed in a certain height position,
- The upper part (72) of the separating sword (66) is guided on the carriage or carriage (75) by means of a vertical guide (73) adjustable in height and by means of a lifting device from the lower part (71) adjacent rest position in an opposite the lower part (71) can be raised by a certain distance higher operating position (72ʹ) and lowered again to the rest position. 16. Packaging machine according to claim 16 in connection with claim 15,
characterized by the features:
- Both parts (71; 72) of the separating sword (66) each have a longitudinal groove (87; 88) on the side facing the stack support (6), which is at least at the head end (67) of the separating sword (66), preferably also on the other End, flow freely,
a tine (84.1) is arranged on the shifting rake (83) at the level of the longitudinal groove (87) on the lower part (71) of the separating sword,
- Another tine (84.2) on the sliding rake is adjustable to the height of the longitudinal groove (88) of the upper part (72ʹ) of the separating sword (66) in the operating position,
- These two tines (84.1; 84.2) are so long or arranged on the sliding rake that their free end extends into the front projection of the associated longitudinal groove (87; 88) on the lower part (71) or on the upper part (72) of the separating sword (66) extends into it. 18. Packaging machine according to one of claims 7 to 17, characterized by the features:
- The support elements (51ʹ) of the stack support (6ʹ) extend over the greatest possible width of the stack (12) up to the vicinity of the opening of the container (9) facing them,
- In the line of alignment of the support elements (51ʹ) of the stack support (6ʹ) and in the vertical plane of the line of alignment of the separating sword (66) or the separating lance (116), further guide elements (92; 98) are present, which are at least approximately to the bottom of a the container (9) located in the loading position,
- Of the further guide elements (92; 98), at least one group (92; 98) is pivotally mounted on its end section (95) facing away from the container (9) about a common vertically aligned pivot axis (94), the guide elements (92; 98) of this group are arranged on a common holder (93) which is mounted on its side so as to be pivotable about the vertical pivot axis (94),
- For each pivotable group of guide elements (92; 98) there is a spring member (96) by means of which the guide elements (92; 98) can be pivoted in the direction of the opposite group of guide elements against a stop (99) on which the guide elements rest at a swivel angle of preferably 5 ° ... 10 ° with respect to the line of alignment of the support elements (51ʹ) of the stack support (6) or with respect to the line of alignment of the separating sword (66) or the separating lance (116). 19. Packaging machine according to one of claims 7 to 18 characterized by the features:
- there is a vibrating device with a vibrating table,
- The vibrating table is arranged in the area between the line of alignment of the separating device (5) and the maximum extended stack support (6),
- The vibrating table has an extension transverse to the movement path of the packaged goods (11) which is at least the same, preferably greater than the greatest width of the packaged goods (11). 20. Packaging machine according to claim 9,
characterized by the features:
- The separating lance (133) is formed in two parts in such a way that the conical head (135) and the shaft (134) are independent parts,
the shaft (134) is not rotatably arranged and is preferably designed as a hollow body which has a through hole (137) running centrally or parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shaft (134),
the tapered head (135) is rotatably mounted on the shaft (134), preferably in its through hole (137),
- The rotary drive is coupled to the tapered head (135) via a shaft (139). 21. Packaging machine according to claim 20,
characterized by the features:
the shaft (134) has a longitudinal groove (142) on the side facing the stacking support (6), which opens freely at least at the end facing the conical head (135), preferably also at the other end,
- On the sliding rake (132), a tine is arranged immovably at the level of the longitudinal groove (142) on the shaft (134) and is so long or is arranged on the sliding rake (132) such that its free end extends into the upright projection of the longitudinal groove (142 ) extends into it. 22. Packaging machine according to claim 9 or according to claim 20 or 21,
characterized by the features:
a second lance part (128) is present above the separating lance (116) and is aligned parallel to the separating lance (116),
- The second lance part (128) preferably has a length which is at most equal to the length of the cylindrical shaft (121) of the separating lance (116), and a plan shape which at most reaches up to the plan shape of the separating lance (116),
the underside of the second lance part (128) facing the separating lance (116) is preferably at least partially adapted to the upper side of the separating lance (116) facing it,
- The second lance part (128) is guided in a height-adjustable manner by means of a vertical guide (118) relative to the separating lance (116) and by means of a lifting device from the rest position adjacent to the separating lance (116) into one opposite the separating lance (116) Operating position at a higher distance can be raised and lowered again. 23. Packaging machine according to claim 22,
characterized by the features:
the second lance part (128) has, on the side facing the stack support (6), a longitudinal groove which opens freely at least at the free end of the lance part (128), preferably also at the other end,
a tine (131) is arranged on the sliding rake (132) so as to be adjustable to the height of the longitudinal groove of the second lance part (128) in the operating position,
- The adjustable tine (131) is so long or arranged in its longitudinal direction on the sliding rake (132) so that its free end extends into the front projection of the longitudinal groove on the second lance part (128). 24. Packaging machine according to one of claims 7 to 23, characterized by the features:
- There is a start-up support (25) which can be raised and lowered again from a rest position into an operating position by means of a lifting device (28), the start-up support (25) being in the rest position below the level of the storage belts (13) and being in the operating position extends to a height which is at least approximately equal to a part of the height of the packaged goods (11),
- The starting support (25) is guided by means of a longitudinal guide (31) parallel to the storage belts (13) between an initial position and an end position, displaceable or movable, the initial position being located near the serrated lock washers (3) of the production machine (2) and the end position is in the starting position of the stack support (6),
- The starting support (25) can be moved by means of a drive (35; 32) in the direction of movement of the packaged goods (11) at least approximately with the speed of movement of the storage belts (13) and can be moved back independently in the other direction of movement.

Images