EP0893242B2 - Method for manufacture of fibrous cellulosic products, in particular handkerchiefs or towels - Google Patents

Abstract

The procedure is for manufacturing cellulose fibre products such as paper handkerchiefs or serviettes, which may be rectangular or square in shape. Continuous strips (B1,B2) of paper are printed with two different and alternating designs (M1,M2). They are then cut into individual handkerchiefs or serviettes and are stacked prior to packing so that each stack contains articles with alternate designs. The paper used for the procedure is taken from a roll (10) and two rows of alternating designs are printed on it before the strip is divided lengthwise. Each section then passes through a folder (30) to fold the articles lengthwise, then a cutter (32) and finally another folded (34) to fold them transversely before stacking.

Description

The present invention relates to a process for the manufacture of fibrous cellulosic products, such as, in particular, facial tissues or rectangular or square towels.

One way of marketing this type of product is to distribute them in the form of stacks of products which are generally all cut into the same format, each stack having a number of products and being packaged in a transparent flexible plastic film or case. which may include information and advertising backgrounds. Other materials are also used.

In order to make this type of product even more attractive, it has already been proposed that it comprises, on each product, a decorative pattern.

It may be a colored pattern that is printed on the product and / or embossed pattern embossed in the thickness of the product.

Still with the aim of increasing the approval of use of this type of product marketed by bundles of stacked products, it has also been proposed that each stack of products comprises products with at least two different patterns, each stack having alternately products having a first pattern and products having a second pattern distinct from the first pattern.

For this purpose, it has therefore proved necessary to produce stacks of alternating products before the final packaging of these batteries in packets in cases.

For this purpose, it has already been proposed a manufacturing method consisting of producing a first series of products each having a first decorative pattern and which are cut to the desired format, to produce at least a second series of products each having a second decorative pattern. and which are cut into the desired format, then to constitute a stack alternately comprising first and second cut products for their subsequent conditioning by batteries comprising belonging to the two series.

According to a known technique, each series of products is carried out independently of the other then the products are stacked, by automated means, alternately taking a product in one or the other series of cut products.

This manufacturing process is particularly complex, slow and expensive in its final phase because it requires, in addition to conventional facilities for the independent manufacture of both series of products, to have a complementary facility for alternating stacking.

Another known technique is that used for entangled facial type products. However, to obtain the desired result, that is to say a handkerchief with embossing A followed by a handkerchief with embossing B, it would be necessary to install an embossing group on each of the rolls of cellulose wadding, hence an increase of not insignificant material.

The object of the invention is to propose a new manufacturing method that makes it possible to eliminate the complementary alternating stacking installation, and thus to reduce the time and the cost of manufacturing alternating product packages.

For this purpose, the invention proposes a manufacturing method of the type mentioned above, according to claim 1.

The cutting of the strip allows to obtain the continuous flow of alternating products which can be immediately automatically stacked one after the other to constitute the desired pile.

For some products, and particularly in the case of paper tissues, the products are folded, in a longitudinal orientation before being cut to size, and they can also be folded in a transverse orientation after having been cut into the format and before to be stacked.

Thanks to such characteristics, the stacking of folded and alternately patterned handkerchiefs is obtained directly.

In order to increase the production capacity of a unit for manufacturing such products, two continuous and adjacent strips are simultaneously produced for the simultaneous constitution of two stacks each comprising at least two alternating products of different patterns, and the two adjacent strips are made of a single width that is longitudinally separated into two bands before cutting the strips.

The alternating products of each of the two adjacent strips may be of the same length and aligned longitudinally or they may be offset longitudinally.

Each of the two strips can comprise alternately first and second products, a first product of one of the strips being for example adjacent to a second product of the other band.

Each band may comprise an association of at least two individual plies, or sheets, of cellulose wadding, superimposed. The two bands may be of the same color or not, and be composed of cellulose wadding different in nature.

A continuous band comprises successively and alternately in its length first and second fibrous cellulosic products respectively comprising a first and a second decorative pattern.

• la figure 1 est une vue schématique en perspective des principaux éléments d'une installation pour la mise en oeuvre d'un procédé de fabrication conforme aux enseignements de l'invention ;
• la figure 2 est une vue schématique en élévation illustrant la position des différents motifs sur un cylindre gravé de gaufrage appartenant à l'installation de la figure 1 ;
• la figure 3 est une vue de détail illustrant une partie d'une laize gravée à l'aide du cylindre de la figure 2 et comportant deux bandes adjacentes de mouchoirs à motifs alternés et alignés longitudinalement ;
• les figures 4 et 5 sont deux schémas permettant d'illustrer différents agencements de motifs et de bandes dans une laize ; et
• les figures 6 et 7 sont des vues similaires à celle de la figure 1 qui illustrent deux variantes de réalisation de l'installation.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear on reading the detailed description which follows for the understanding of which reference will be made to the appended drawings in which:

• Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of the main elements of an installation for the implementation of a manufacturing method according to the teachings of the invention;
• Figure 2 is a schematic elevational view illustrating the position of the various patterns on an engraved embossing cylinder belonging to the installation of Figure 1;
• Figure 3 is a detail view illustrating a portion of a width etched with the cylinder of Figure 2 and having two adjacent bands of alternately patterned and longitudinally aligned patterned tissues;
• Figures 4 and 5 are two diagrams for illustrating different arrangements of patterns and strips in a width; and
• Figures 6 and 7 are views similar to that of Figure 1 which illustrate two embodiments of the installation.

The method according to the invention will now be described in the context of the manufacture of tissues of paper, in particular cellulose wadding, which are generally square in shape and packaged in stacks of tissues each of which has tissues of different patterns folded and wrapped in a plastic case.

FIG. 1 shows an installation comprising a coil 10 from which a width 12 of cellulose wadding is unwound.

Starting from the spool 10, the width 12, which may be a single-ply or multiple-ply sheet, first passes into a calendering station 14 whose function is to smooth the paper and give it softness by passing it through. between two calendering rollers 16.

The sheet 12 then passes to an embossing station 18 comprising for example a rubber cylinder 20 and an engraved steel cylinder 22, the station 18 having the function of embossing different patterns on the width 12, these patterns can also be colored .

The embossing of patterns on the web 12 is such that it results in producing two adjacent longitudinal strips, each of which, according to the teachings of the invention, comprises successively and alternately in its length of tissues M1 and M2 having distinct decorative patterns.

In order to obtain the two adjacent strips B1 and B2, use is made, for example, of an engraved cylinder of the type illustrated in FIG. 2, the continuous cylindrical surface of which comprises two adjacent b1 and b2 etched strips in the transverse direction T. Each of these strips has an even number of engraved patterns m1 and m2 successive and alternating according to the running direction M.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, each etched strip b1, b2, and therefore each strip of embossed paper B1, B2, thus comprises the two patterns alternately.

The design of the engraved cylinder 22 is also such that the patterns have the same circumferential length in the running direction M, and a first pattern m1 is aligned in the running direction with a pattern m2 of the other band.

After embossing and before separation, as can be seen in FIG. 3, a width 12 is thus obtained comprising the two adjacent strips B1 and B2, each of which alternately includes the tissues M1 and M2.

The installation illustrated in Figure 1 comprises a station 24, said slitting by which is separated by cutting strips B1 and B2. These then continue to run parallel and at the same speed on guide rollers 26 and 28 and then to a station 30, not shown in detail in the figures, where the operations of longitudinal folding of the tissues are performed.

The two strips then arrive at a common cutting station 32 where the simultaneous cross section of the handkerchiefs of the two bands is carried out.

After the cutting station 32, two successions are obtained, according to the direction of travel, folded tissues M1 and M2 longitudinally and cut to length which are scrolled successively and alternately in each file.

Each file then passes to a station 34 where is made a transverse folding to result in the formation of two rows of tissues cut and folded. They finally come out of the installation in an arrangement that makes it possible to automatically produce series of P batteries of tissues each of which has an alternating stack of tissues M1 and M2.

It then remains to condition each cell P by packaging means (not shown in the figures) for making tissue packs each having a case in which is housed a stack of tissues.

As a variant and as can be seen in FIG. 4, it is of course possible to start from a width 12 of greater width, that is to say that additional adjacent strips of for example to have four adjacent strips each having alternating patterns.

Alternatively, and as shown schematically in FIG. 5, the patterns of the bands may be longitudinally offset from one band adjacent to the other.

The choice of patterns aligned or shifted from one band to another results from a compromise, depending on the nature of each of the patterns, especially in order to distribute the engravings on the cylinder in a balanced way. engraved in order to avoid untimely vibratory phenomena at the embossing station.

The invention is of course not limited to the case where each of the cells comprises tissues belonging to two different series.

It is of course possible to multiply the number of different tissues of each stack to the extent that it is sufficient to provide that each band comprises successively and alternately tissues with different decorations, for example three or four different and successive decorations.

The products thus manufactured, and in particular in the case of tissues, are of course not limited to the case where they comprise only one fold per sheet.

On the contrary, they preferably comprise several superimposed folds.

This is for example the case in the embodiments shown in Figures 6 and 7.

In these figures, the installation uses a sheet or web 12 consisting of three superimposed folds which, beyond the calendering station 14, are divided into a single lower fold S and a double upper fold D.

The double upper fold D is driven between the rubber cylinder 20 and the engraved cylinder 22 of the embossing station.

The parts formed in relief on the double fold at the exit of the embossing station are then coated with glue by a gluing station 36 which is here shown schematically in the form of a gluing group with two cylinders and with doctor chamber, d other more conventional sizing groups that can be envisaged, for example of the known three-roll type.

After application of the glue, the single lower ply is married to the double upper fold embossed and glued by means of a marrying cylinder 38.

The rest of the installation shown in FIG. 6 is similar to that described and shown with reference to FIG. 1, and thus makes it possible to produce stacks of tissues with two alternating patterns with embossed and glued edges.

In the variant illustrated in FIG. 7, the embossing and gluing operations are reversed.

It can thus be seen that the adhesive before embossing is applied to the double top fold D by means of a sizing station 36.

To prevent the glue from covering the entire surface of the corresponding face of the double fold D, there is provided an applicator roll 40 having application areas corresponding to the peripheral areas of the handkerchiefs which will then be etched.

The third single lower fold S is assembled to the double top fold D at the same time as the embossing of the patterns is performed by means of the rolls 20 and 22.

The remainder of the installation, downstream of the embossing station 18, is identical to that described and shown with reference to FIG. 1 and it makes it possible to produce stacks of tissues with two alternating patterns with glued and embossed edges.

Claims (9)

1. Method for production of fibrous cellulose products, such as, in particular, square or rectangular handkerchiefs or napkins, comprising:

   - production of a first series of embossed products (M1), each comprising a first decorative pattern, and which are cut to the required format;

   - production of at least one second series of products (M2), each comprising a second embossed decorative pattern, different from the first, and which are cut to the required format; then

   - constitution of a stack (P) which comprises alternately first (M1) and second (M2) products, cut in order subsequently to be packed in stacks comprising products which belong to both series;

   characterised in that:

   - the first (M1) and second (M2) products are produced in a continuous strip (B1, B2), which comprises in succession and alternately along its length first (M1) and second (M2) products produced on an embossing station comprising an engraved roller (22) which serves the purpose of marking different patterns in relief;

   - the strip is then cut (32) in order to obtain a succession of alternating first (M1) and second (M2) products cut to the format; and

   - the successive alternating products (M1, M2) are then stacked consecutively, in order to constitute the said stack (P).
2. Method according to the preceding claim, characterised in that the products (M1, M2) are folded (30) according to a longitudinal orientation, before being cut to the format.
3. Method according to either of the preceding claims, characterised in that the products (M1, M2) are folded (34) according to a transverse orientation, after having been cut to the format, and before being stacked.
4. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that two continuous, adjacent strips (B1, B2) are produced simultaneously, for simultaneous constitution of two stacks, each comprising at least two alternating products with different patterns, and in that the two adjacent strips are produced in a single width (12), which is separated longitudinally (24) into two strips before the strips (32) are cut.
5. Method according to the preceding claim, characterised in that the alternating products of each of the two adjacent strips have the same length, and are aligned longitudinally.
6. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the alternating products of each of the two adjacent strips are offset longitudinally.
7. Method according to claim 5 or claim 6, characterised in that each of the two strips comprises alternately first and second products.
8. Method according to claim 7, taken in combination with claim 5, characterised in that a first product of one of the strips is adjacent to a second product of the other strip.
9. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the strip comprises an association of at least two individual plies or sheets of superimposed cellulose wadding.

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