EP1069054A1

EP1069054A1 - Handle for lifting and carrying sets of articles and method of packaging and palletizing said sets

Info

Publication number: EP1069054A1
Application number: EP99202271A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Alberto La Scala
Original assignee: Brian Pack Sas di La Scala Alberto
Current assignee: Brian Pack Sas di La Scala Alberto
Priority date: 1999-07-10
Filing date: 1999-07-10
Publication date: 2001-01-17

Abstract

The invention relates to a handle for lifting and carrying sets of articles, comprising a gripping member (2) operatively connected to first support means, wherein said first support means are operatively connected to second support means having a substantially flat surface of a size close to the surface enclosing the upper ends of said set (12) of articles. A method of packaging a set of articles is also disclosed, comprising the steps of assembling in said sets (12) and plurality of articles, placing said lifting and carrying handle (1) on the upper ends of said articles, wrapping with a sheet (13) of heat shrinking material the unit comprising set (12) and handle (1), cutting said sheet (13) near said gripping member (2), heating and subsequently cooling the package (14) so obtained. At last said packages may undergo a palletizing process comprising the steps of arranging one or more layers of said packages (14) on a pallet (15), wrapping the unit consisting of packages (14) and pallet (15) with a sheet of heat shrinking material, heating and subsequently cooling the unit so obtained.

Description

The present invention relates to a handle for lifting and carrying sets of articles and a method of packaging and palletizing said sets.
Consumer goods such as bottles, cans and jars are generally packed in sets of six or twenty-four articles and have uncomfortable gripping means.
More particularly packages of said articles are known, using a heat shrinking wrapping film and as a gripping means having a plastic band glued or welded to the package.
Palletization of these articles is generally carried out in layers, placing a sheet of rigid paper material over each layer, when its upper surface is not smooth, so as to give a uniform and stable support to the overlying layers.
Although the handles as well as the packaging and palletizing methods presently used meet the market requirements, nevertheless they have the following drawbacks.
The known lifting and carrying devices or handles are frequently broken with clear troubles for the final consumer and the persons taking care of the distribution of the articles in the sales business.
This inconvenience is caused by an irregular distribution of the stress that are concentrated at very limited points. In this case both the glues and the joints obtained by thermoplastic heating often are not able to withstand such a condition also in view of the considerable weight of the package. Just as an example, the handle of a pack of six bottles of mineral water is often detached or broken so that it is difficult to carry the pack.
Moreover said packages have irregular surfaces causing problems during the palletizing operation, that must be overcome as above mentioned by placing rigid sheets of cardboard and like materials between the layers, with increase of cost and time for said operation.
To sum up, one has to face often packages of articles having problems in transportation and/or stockage of big quantities with consequent additional troubles and costs.
The object of the present invention is to remove said drawbacks shown by the handles and method of the prior art.
Therefore the present invention relates to a lifting and carrying handle for sets of articles as well as a method of packaging and palletizing said sets, where the handle is securely fixed to the package by a uniform load distribution and the packaging method allows to obtain regular surfaces suitable for the subsequent palletization that can be carried out with a considerable saving of costs and time. Thus practical, cheap and reliable packages are obtained as a result of the invention.
According to the invention the handle for lifting and carrying sets of articles comprises a gripping member operatively connected to first support means, which are in turn operatively connected to second support means having a generally flat surface of a size close to the surface enclosing the ends of said set of articles.
The invention concerns also a packaging method comprising the steps of: assembling in said sets a plurality of articles, placing on the upper ends of the articles said lifting and carrying handle, wrapping with a film of heat shrinking material the unit consisting of handle and set of articles, cutting said film near the gripping member, heating and then cooling the package so obtained.
The invention concerns furthermore a method of palletizing said packages comprising the following steps: arranging one or more layers of said packages on a pallet, wrapping they unit consisting of pallet and packages with a sheet of heat shrinking material, heating and then cooling the unit so obtained.
The lifting and carrying handle, the packaging method and the palletizing method of the invention are characterized by the features recited in claims 1, 9 and 10, respectively.
The gripping member is securely fixed to the whole handle because said first support means comprise two paper elements joined to each other forming two windows for holding said gripping member, and another paper element joined to said two elements for the connection with said second support means.
The gripping member can be grasped easily because it has an extension portion inserted in one of the windows and folded with a thin adhesive glue layer.
The distribution of load and stress on the handle according to the invention is uniform because said second support means comprise an element having a flat surface provided with a central die cut allowing to take out said gripping member after being coupled to the first support means.
The handle of the invention can be made with materials that are readily available on the market, as the gripping member can be made by a plastic strip or synthetic ribbon or band.
The elements of the first support means can also be made of plastic material or thin metal sheets; said flat surface element can also be made of plastic or metallic material or alternatively by a layer of corrugated board sandwiched between two layers of paper material.
Further features, advantages and operative details of the handle for lifting or carrying sets of articles and of the method of packaging and palletizing said sets according to the invention will be better understood by reading the following detailed description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which some preferred embodiments are shown as not limiting illustrative examples.
Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the handle of the invention.
Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along line A-A of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the handle in question.
Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along line B-B of Figure 3.
Figure 5 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of the handle of the invention.
Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along line C-C of Figure 5.
Figure 7 is a perspective view showing a stage of the palletizing method according to the invention.
Figure 8 is a perspective view showing a stage of the packaging method according to the invention.
Figure 9 is a perspective view showing a package provided with the handle of Figure 1.
Figure 10 is a perspective view showing a package provided with the handle of Figure 5.
Figure 11 is a perspective view showing a package provided with the handle of Figure 3.
With reference now to the above listed drawings, the handle 1 for lifting and carrying sets of articles according to the invention, has a gripping member 2 operatively connected to first support means.
More particularly the gripping member 2 for example consisting of a plastic strip, is fixed at its ends to two windows 3, 4 preferably obtained by overlapping and then joining two paper elements 5, 6 that are connected to a further paper or cardboard element 7.
The shape of the elements 5, 6, 7 is preferably but not necessarily rectangular, and the elements are preferably glued to one another so as to form an integral body with the gripping member 2.
The gripping member 2 is also provided with an extension portion 8 inserted in one of the windows 3, 4 in a folded condition with a thin adhesive or glue layer that however does not prevent to extend said portion when the user grasps the handle.
The first support means generally comprising said elements 5, 6, 7 are in turn fixed to second support means by gluing or equivalent means joining the element 7 to the second support means.
More particularly the second support means comprise a corrugated cardboard of known structure, sandwiched between two thin layers of paper material so as to obtain a cardboard element 9 having a generally flat surface. Alternatively said element 9 can be made of plastic or metallic material.
The element 9 can be preferably provided with one or more folding tabs 10 to be better described below, which are useful and functional during the packaging operation, and more particularly said tabs will be arranged as one or two opposite pairs.
The element 9 is also provided with a central die cut 11 which is sufficiently large so as to lodge the gripping member 2 and to allow to grasp and extend it. To this purpose the paper element 7 joining and connecting the elements 5, 6 and the gripping element 2, is joined at its lower side with the element 9 as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Obviously this connection must be such that the gripping member 2 can be grasped by the user at the side of the element 9 other than the side where said connection was effected.
The surface area of the element 9 is of a size close to the surface enclosing the upper ends of the set of articles.
The method of packaging said articles such as bottles, cans, jars as well as containers of any shape and size like vaporizers takes place through the following steps.
The articles are initially divided into sets 12 of predetermined quantity, for instance sets of six or twenty-four articles. Then a handle 1 is placed on the upper end of the articles and if the handle 1 is provided with tabs 10, these tabs 10 are folded down along the upper ends of the articles of the set 12. A sheet 13 of heat shrinking plastic material is then wrapped around the set 12 and the overlying handle 1.
The sheet 13 is then cut near the gripping member 2 of the handle 1 and the assembled package is passed quickly inside an oven (not shown) generally running on rollers. Heat applied to the sheet 13 causes the set 12 to be tightened, while the cut made near the gripping member 2 is widened so that the gripping member 2 can be taken out when required.
Moreover the tabs 10 that were folded down on the articles before the wrapping operation, are also tightened by the sheet 13 against the upper ends of the articles, so as to increase the structural holding force of the package 14 so obtained.
It is to be noted that the handle 1 withstands in a uniformly distributed condition the loads of the weight of the articles, in view of the shape and the size of the surface of element 9, said load distribution preventing detachment of the gripping member 2 from the remaining parts of handle 1.
After the packaging operation, the palletizing method of the invention is carried out according to the following steps. On a pallet 15 some rows of packages 14 are placed so as to cover substantially the whole surface of said pallet. Then one or more additional layers of the same packages 14 can be placed on the first layer, and these overlapping packages will be safely arranged on the flat surfaces of the handles 1 of the underlying packages 14.
A further sheet of heat shrinking material may be optionally placed between pallet 15 and packages 14 or on the unit consisting of pallet 15 and packages 14 so as to improve the compacted condition of the unit. Obviously a brief heating step will be required in this case.
It is to be noted that the handle 1 of the invention not only gives a more reliable holding feature but allows also to remove the layers of additional materials that where required in the palletizing operations of the prior of art, with obvious savings of costs and time.
It is also to be pointed out that the materials used for the handle 1 may be different, as equivalent results can be obtained with plastic materials or thin metal sheets, and the gripping member 2 may be made of a synthetic ribbon or band.
Clearly many modifications, additions, substitutions and adaptations may be resorted to the embodiments and the methods hereinbefore described as non limiting illustrative examples without departing however from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

Handle for lifting and carrying sets of articles comprising a gripping member (2) operatively connected to first support means, characterized in that said first support means are in turn operatively connected to second support means having a generally flat surface of a size close to the surface enclosing the ends of said set (12) of articles.
Handle according to claim 1 characterized in that said first support means comprise two paper elements (5, 6) joined to each other, provided with two windows (3, 4) for fixing said gripping member (2) and a further paper element (7) joined to said elements (5, 6) for the connection with said second support means .
Handle according to claim 2, characterized in that said gripping member (2) is provided with an extension portion (8) inserted in one of the windows (3, 4) and folded with a thin adhesive layer.
Handle according to claim 2, characterized in that said gripping member (2) may be made of a plastic strip or a synthetic ribbon or band as alternative to a paper material.
Handle according to claim 2, characterized in that said elements (5, 6, 7) of the first support means may be made of plastic material or thin metal sheets.
Handle according to claim 1, characterized in that said second support means comprise an element (9) having a flat surface and provided with a central die cut (11) allowing to take out said gripping member (2) after joining with the first support means.
Handle according to claim 6, characterized in that said element (9) with flat surface is made of plastic or metallic material.
Handle according to claim 6, characterized in that said element (9) with flat surface comprises a layer of corrugated cardboard sandwiched between two layers of paper material.
Method of packaging sets of articles comprising the following steps: assembling in sets (12) a plurality of articles, placing on the upper end of the articles the handle (1 ) made according to one or more of claims 1 to 8, wrapping with a sheet (13) of heat shrinking material the unit consisting of set (12) and handle (1), cutting said sheet (13) near the gripping member (2) of the handle (1), heating and subsequently cooling the package (14) so obtained.
Method of palletizing the packages (14) obtained by the packaging method of claim 9, comprising the following steps: arranging one or more layers of said packages (14) on a pallet (15), wrapping the unit consisting of packages (14) and pallet (15) with a sheet of heat shrinking material, heating and subsequently cooling to the unit so obtained.
Method of palletizing packages (14) according to claim 10, characterized in that sad heat shrinking sheet is wrapped only around said packages (14) before placing said packages (14) on said pallet (15).