ES2610361T3 - A machine and system for applying container holders to containers - Google Patents

Abstract

A machine for applying a film of unifying containers to containers by the use of a roller (132), the film of unifying containers comprising a plastic sheet material (80) having several openings (80a) for holding several containers together, extending the openings in at least a first direction, in which the openings have a center and in which the edges defining the openings have a geometry comprising a plurality of tabs (81-84) that face towards the center, being defined the more internal border tongues separated by depressions (85-88), the depressions defining a background at a maximum point from the center; wherein the innermost edges and the bottoms are, respectively, on the first and second circumference relative to the center, the second circumference being equal to or greater than a circumference of the cord of a container; the configuration of the openings being such that, when placed around a container, the innermost edges of the tabs engage with said cord of such container as the depressions are pushed up and down and the material (80) of perforated sheet elastically forms a three-dimensional structure, in which the machine comprises a conveyor belt system (130) for transporting containers; the conveyor belt system being operative to feed the containers to an accumulation position (134) and operative to transport the containers to an application station comprising said roller (132) for the application of the perforated sheet to the containers, receiving the Roller in use perforated sheet material of a delivery system (133) and pushing the perforated sheet material onto the containers such that each container is received in an unstretched opening whereby the sheet material forms the three-dimensional structure.

Description

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DESCRIPTION

A machine and system for applying container supports to containers Field of the invention

The present description refers to a method and machine for applying container supports to containers. This description also refers to a flexible support material for machine application to substantially identical containers such as beverage cans having annular rings, cylindrical side walls, and truncated conical walls between the rings and side walls, and bottles with a cord in the neck or cord closure. In particular, the present description refers to the machine application of a plastic film having openings for safely retaining beverage cans, food cans, bottles and similar containers, a unique method of applying the film to the containers, providing the resulting combination a multipack or unified container.

Background of the invention

It is a common practice to pack beverages such as sparkling fruit juices, cola drinks, beers and the like in cans, which are typically made of pressed aluminum or rolled steel, which are about 50 pm thick. These cans are typically sold in packs of four (2x2) or six (3x2). The first examples of packaging of such containers used cardboard surrounding the cans. In the 1950s, plastic film container holders were first promulgated. The first forms of plastic film container support used openings that deformed with the application of the sheet on the cans, whereby the film formed a continuous flange area around the side of the can. The films were placed around the top of the can, below a cordon edge formed at the junction of the can lid. Such first forms of support film allowed the cans to be removed through it - although with some difficulty - but an inverse movement of the can with respect to the support would mean that the plastic flange had a stop with the cord and an additional movement required considerable force to release the can.

Figure 1 shows an example of US 2 874 835 (ITW) which provides a support 30 comprising a flat sheet of plastic material that is provided with a plurality of openings 32. The openings are clearly smaller (> 20%) than a diameter of a can retained by the support. Figure 1a shows how the cans are retained in use, with the inner circumferential edge of the plastic openings hooked with a bottom edge of the flange 46. It can be seen that the plastic support material is substantially deformed by stretching - after considerable forces have been applied - such that the edge of the opening is perpendicular to the plane of the plastic support before the placement of the cans, especially with reference to the feature 40 in Figure 1b. In fact, US 2 874 835 indicates that extraordinary force is required to accidentally release the cans from the retention device. The description of US 2 874 835 indicates that polyethylene is a preferred plastic material, which is stamped on a press to form openings. This example taught additional holes through which an elongated gripper can subsequently be inserted. These plastic films - commonly referred to as support material - stretch beyond their elastic limit. In other words, the opening size will in turn be stretched in ways that are complementary to the shapes of the container (by US 4 250 682 (ITW)). After a container is removed from the support, the support cannot be reused due to permanent stretching deformation during application with packaging purposes.

The support material is typically polyethylene and the first examples were of a thickness of 500 pm or more, although it is typically 400 pm or more for supports applied to the flange.

The forces necessary to allow the plastic film to engage with the sides of a can were considerable and, of course, the great forces that were used to package the containers resulted in problems for a consumer to access an individual can. GB 1 200 807 (ITW) introduced slits in the openings, but the application forces were still considerable since the openings were "significantly smaller than the diameter of a can with which the support film is to be assembled" and therefore they even stretched beyond the elastic limit of the material.

US 2 997 169 taught a solution to the problem by the inclusion of tear tongues 72b; by Figures 2a and 2b, in which pre-stretched members associated with a tongue portion allowed a tear in the plastic retention film, which was considered easier than forcing the flange of the can around the plastic film and stretched out The cans are of a diameter larger than the openings and, consequently, stretch the openings and deform the adjacent material in a conical trunk shape whereby the cans are aggressively retained against removal in the opposite direction to that in which they have been inserted. .

US 2 936 070 teaches a further additional patent, the teaching of which refers to a plastic support that provides a non-lossable grip section of a can by means of turning and flexing movements. With reference to Figures 3a and 3b, flexible, resilient fingers 28 were forced upwards (when the plastic film is placed on several cans during packaging), the fingers being determined by bottoms 30 defined in part at a portion of the edge inside an opening. Figures 3b and 3c show the teaching

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of this anterior retainer in interior views, in which rounded crenulations 28 are clearly visible. Document US 2 936 070 states, in particular, that the bottom diameter is smaller than the diameter of the cans and a considerable stretching force, however, is applied to the plastic material in the vicinity of the roots when stretching the material in the almost cylindrical frustoconical conformation shown in Figure 3c. The description further describes that "the support can be assembled with cans with considerable ease, simply by stamping the support down onto the appropriate number of cans. The cans simply enter into the openings, deflecting the fingers so that the cans are aggressively grabbed with the fingers that stop under the flanges of the cans. ” In fact, the stamping forces had been considerable.

Additional developments include several modifications: a proposal for an article holder was formed from a tube that is filled alternately from side to side in a way that leaves connection portions without slits on subsequent alternate opposite sides so sections successive of the tube can be folded relative to each other generally in a common plane to receive the items to be supported. To economize material, it is generally desirable to make the tube wall as thin as possible consistent with the required strength and durability. Thus, in such structures proposed hereinafter, the immediately adjacent articles in a container are separated from each other in the contact area with the support only by a double thickness of the relatively thin material. It was found that such separation is, for many purposes, insufficient since, in practice, very adjacent items such as bottles or cans rub against each other so that the respective surfaces can be scratched or disfigured. For example, it is common practice to apply a label or other decorative design by lithography or other means to beverage cans and such labeling will be damaged if the cans were allowed to rub against each other improperly such as when the container was subjected to movement or vibration Continue during transport. US 3 924 738 provided a solution to this problem by forming longitudinally extending rib means to thereby provide a gap between cans, as shown in Figure 4.

US 3 968 621 taught the manufacture of a support by the formation of an extruded net, a network that is subsequently flattened by the use of a roller to produce a perforated film of support material, as shown in Figure 5.

US 3 317 234 teaches a packaging system that uses an upper laminate and a lower laminate. As seen with reference to Figures 6a and 6b, the upper laminate comprising a first continuous plastic layer and a second laminate comprising a perforated cardboard layer is placed on a bottle arrangement. The openings of the cardboard layer are arranged to fit on the respective metal stopper of a beverage bottle, the peripheral edges of the openings being arranged to engage with the lower part of the metallic stopper, to thereby retain the upper part of the bottle. The lower laminate being arranged to act in a similar manner with a bottle having a characteristic waist, around which a cardboard member of the second laminate could be attached, in conjunction with a plastic layer, which surrounded a lower portion of the bottle. Similarly, the cans were retained by similar first and second stratified ones, the cardboard element of which is hooked with an edge directed to the body of the respective upper and lower flanges of a double flange can.

At the beginning of the 1980s, there was a change in the method of applying film material to cans and the like. Previous forms of strip material for circularly cylindrical containers had been provided with substantially circular openings. In contrast to the teachings equivalent to or derived from US 4 219 117 (ITW), they proposed support materials that were designed for application by dedicated jaw and drum machinery (as described in US 4 250 682). These proposals related to material that issues integrally linked band segments that define the openings that can receive in longitudinal rows and transverse rows. The band segments include generally longitudinal outer segments with each outer segment partially joining the openings that receive the can in an outer row. The openings defined in such material are generally of a D / triangular shape, mainly to help the mechanical placement of the material around the edge of a can, whose mechanical application required the use of mechanical fingers that generally provide for the simultaneous use of such devices. in any configuration other than that in the provision of longitudinal rows of two rows. That is, the cans are joined together with two cans in a side-by-side arrangement: the systems are limited in use and generally cannot function reliably to provide packaged cans, for example in 3x3 or 3x4 or 4x4 arrangements.

In the support material illustrated and described in US 4 219 117, the band segments also include internal segments that partially join the openings that the cans receive, together with transversely extending segments that join the inner segments, by elements of grip that grip with fingers.

Can manufacturers have introduced cans that have smaller ring diameters in the past, compared to the side wall diameters. Cans of this type are known as "narrowed" cans. Newer versions of these cans with narrowing can further and dramatically reduce the ratio of the ring diameter and the side wall diameter. When material is applied by known procedures, the band segments defining openings that receive the can grip the conical walls of the cans firmly and engage the lower edges of the rings.

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In a narrowed can of a new type, the truncated conical wall between the ring and the side wall defines a conical angle greater than approximately 28 ° and in some cases as large as approximately 37 °. When the truncated cone wall defines such a large angle in relation to the axis of the can, it is difficult to apply support material since the band segments that define the openings that receive the can have an undesirable tendency to slide up the cans and rest on the cans above the lower edges of the rings. This trend is increased due to the jaw application system mentioned above.

An additional problem of known systems, in which great forces have been used to apply the support material, which can be difficult to remove - not only by accident - in use, especially by young people, which has caused the effervescent spill to occur since the withdrawal by force of a beverage can from a support strip has resulted in an unnecessary alteration of the internal effervescent liquid, resulting in a spray or spillage through a subsequent opening of the can.

EP 0 461 748 (ITW) and EP 0 621 203 (ITW) propose the provision of tear-open tongues, which extend upwards through the rings of straight and conical wall cans, respectively, to simplify by It liberation. The tongues in the last patent have concave lateral portions adjacent to a stem of the tongue "for stress relief". In addition, both documents involve the use of relatively thick support materials (greater than 400 pm) that when placed around cans are stretched beyond their elastic limit. These types of support material, however, have not been widely adopted.

Summary of the invention

The present invention seeks to overcome at least one problem associated with the prior art. Notably, the present invention to be described particularly from here onwards seeks to provide a machine and method for assembling and packaging containers such as cans and bottles with a sheet of plastic support material comprising film plastics, so that large forces of stretching to allow the union of several containers in a container of six or similar smaller or greater container (called "unification" of the containers).

This objective is achievable by the use of an application roller configured to push a film of suitably perforated support material onto the edges of successive containers accumulated together to unify. The application roller cooperates with the upper edge of the container (cord, ring or flange) to locate and present a lower edge portion of an opening of the plastic film comprising sheet of support material to the upper edge and progressively move that portion from the edge below the upper edge of the container until the entire inner opening edge is positioned below that upper edge of the container.

The sheet film of support material properly perforated in various embodiments is subject to our patent applications pending with this GB 2 475 622 A and WO 2011 061 518.

The terms support, support material, support sheet and retention sheet can be used interchangeably here to facilitate the description of different aspects of the invention, and refer to a flexible support comprising a plastic film suitable for packaging by a method that It will be described more particularly hereinafter, notably without requiring the use of separation or stretching devices that are needed in the normal use of container containers, applying stretching forces that exceed the limit of elastic deformation for the sheet material of plastic.

In particular it is appreciable that the application roller that is adapted to push the support material onto the accumulated containers according to this invention does not require widening jaws, separating fingers or similar manipulators required in the prior art for stretching-adjusting the support to the containers Instead according to the invention, when handling an open retainer or retainer to unify a plurality of accumulated containers, the roller and accumulated containers are juxtaposed in such a way that as the roller turns relative to the flange of a container , an inner edge portion of an opening of the perforated portion sheet is engaged under the flange at a first contact point. Next, the roller pushes the remaining portions of the edge of the opening to fit on the flange so that progressively the portion of the edge above the support sheet is pushed under the flange until the entire edge of the opening is below of the container flange.

According to a first aspect of the invention as defined in claim 1, a machine is provided for applying container holders to containers by means of a roller.

The configuration of the support material, especially the opening configuration is such that together with the method of applying the roller in cooperation with an upper edge of the container, for example, a can, the initially flat support material is reconfigured to a three-dimensional configuration Around the can.

The support material that forms the container support to be applied by the machine comprises a plastic film sheet material having a number of openings to hold several containers together, the openings arranged in series and extending in at least one first address, typically the address of

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the machine, for application in the form of a continuous strip from a delivery system such as a reel of the previously perforated plastic film. Appropriately, the openings have a center and edges in which the edges defining the openings have a geometry comprising a plurality of tongues facing the center, the tongues being separated by depressions, the depressions comprising a bottom at a maximum point from center; in which are the innermost edges of the tongues and the bottoms, respectively, in first and second circumferences in relation to the center, the second circumference being equal to or greater than a circumference of a vessel's cord; the configuration of the openings being such that, when placed around a container, the edges of the tabs engage with said cord of such container as the plastic film around the container is pushed down and the plastic film elastically forms a three-dimensional waveform structure around the vessel.

The support film is preferably made of the group consisting of polyolefin plastics such as polyethylene and polyethylene derivatives such as copolymers and addition polymers or polymer blends, but other plastic materials with similar mechanical properties including recycled plastics can be used. The support film can be advantageously made of much thinner plastic films, for example, of plastic film up to about 350 pm thick. A plastic film of at least about 50 to 75 pm can be used for some containers, and generally a plastic film of about 100 pm will be suitable for many types of containers. The support material may be made entirely of plastic film for the best performance of the invention, but a laminate comprising said film with another material that does not inhibit the flexibility to allow roller application of the support material on containers as described. here it is not excluded here. Similarly, any coating, labeling, marking, color layer or applied sheet that does not interfere with the roller application can be used.

The plastic support film openings can be sized to fit around cans of cylindrical walls. The plastic support film openings can be sized to fit around hoop cans or reduced neck. The plastic support film openings can be sized to fit around the cord around the neck of a bottle. In this way the support films are opened to form a container hitch portion for each container to be unified or multipack. The machine can accept material comprising a length of a perforated film in a single row or multiple rows.

After such a plastic film is pushed over the upper parts of the containers, it is observed that the previously flat plastic film partially conforms to the neck or part under the ring of the container or otherwise forms a depression so that the overall The flat plastic film becomes the desired use in an undulating surface that extends between containers unified by the film.

The machine also comprises a conveyor belt system for transporting containers, which can be of a generally known type; the conveyor belt being operative to feed the containers to an accumulation position; and carrying the accumulated containers to an application station for the application of an open support or retention sheet, for example, of said support material above. The machine uses a roller to push the open support or retention sheet over the accumulated containers in the application station. The roller receives the open support or retention sheet of a supply system.

The roller for pushing the perforated plastic film on the accumulated containers may have a modified surface configuration to apply a certain amount of pressure on the perforated plastic film during or after pushing the perforated plastic film on the accumulated containers. This may have benefit to ensure that as the roller moves with respect to the successive accumulated containers each opening is properly positioned with respect to a flange of a container such that the edge of the opening is always pushed below the flange of the container respective. In particular, the roller can have projections such as mutually separated teeth or ribs positioned to engage the web between open support openings or plastic film retention foil.

Conveniently, the conveyor belt or roller are arranged to collaborate together, with the supply system, such that as the conveyor belt moves the containers, the flanges of the containers are presented to the perforated plastic sheet support material, so that an inner tongue edge of an opening can butt against a bottom edge of a bead of a container. At the same time under the continuous thrust movement of the motor roller, the perforated plastic film sheet support material is pushed over the edges of the accumulated containers transported. In particular, the action of the thrust roller when applying the perforated plastic film is such that the lateral edges of the opening diverge elastically to surround the sides of the cord of the container that define a flange of the container until the inner edge of the opening in front of the first hooked side of the opening is adjacent to the flange. At that time the pushing action of the roller causes an inner edge of said inner tongue edge in front of the opening to engage with a lower side of the flange, to thereby secure the perforated film with the can.

Conveniently, the conveyor belt moves the containers to an accumulation position before being presented to the application station. Conveniently, the conveyor belt moves the containers with the plastic film applied to a cutting apparatus, said cutting apparatus being operative to allow appropriate container sizes to be produced, thus separating containers from containers is achievable

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unified.

Conveniently, a plurality of co-operating sheet supply mandrels are provided to thereby provide a continuous supply of sheet to the roller, to allow a seamless connection of separate sheets to provide effective continuous operation of the system.

According to another aspect of the invention as defined in claim 13, there is provided a method for unifying container, for example cans, using the open plastic machine and film described herein.

The support material suitable for use in the machine and method of the invention is provided with several openings for holding several containers together, the container material comprising a plastic film material having several openings arranged for example, in the form of a series in at least a first direction, in which the openings comprise a plurality of fingers or tongue elements, separated by depressions, the openings having a center; in which the innermost edge or tip of the finger elements is on a first circumference in relation to the center and the bottom of the depressions is on a second circumference in relation to the center, the second circumference being equal to or greater than the circumference of the container; in which the edges of the fingers are operatively hooked with a bead of a container as the depressions are pushed down and out; the depressions being operative to allow the film to deform elastically upon placement and allow the film to adopt a three-dimensional structure. Although the present invention requires at least three fingers or tongues, it has been found that a fourth finger-shaped opening (with tongue) benefits in terms of product packaging due to the forces of the ring, through the finger, allows the upward movement of the film adjacent to the depressions, thereby creating a wave effect or undulating surface between adjacent vessels. The three-dimensional structure adopted by the film is in effect analogous to a monocoque structure of a vehicle; Due to the fact that the resistance of the undulating shaped material in contact with the containers is greater than that of the otherwise flexible material before it is pushed in contact with the containers.

Applicants have determined that at the point where the tongues or fingers meet the bottom side of a bead of a container, such as the ring of a beverage can, the material deflects in a downward direction. Because the contact is discontinuous, it creates a three-dimensional wave in the material that acts against the tongues or fingers and forces them to remain in contact with the containers. In the corners of the sheet (in the case of a container of four, for example) in front of where the cuts are located in the opening, because there are no downward forces, only the lateral ones exerted by the effect of the fingers that they act against the rings, the material is forced to an apex at its furthest point from the can that contributes to the wave effect. This combination of wave and apex effect further prevents the fingers from separating from the bottom side of the hoop and ensures that the containers are held securely.

The open material can be sized to fit around cans of traditional cylindrical walls such as the traditional can of cooked beans (say 307 x 512 US CMI). The perforated film can be sized to fit around narrowed cans as they are typically produced today in the beverage industry (2011) which in Europe is one of the following types (all approximate sizes) 330 ml, 66 mm 0/115 mm high; 440 ml, 66 mm 0/150 mm high; 500 ml (~ 16 fluid ounces US) 65 mm 0/170 mm high.

Another 250 ml can size that has been introduced for specialized beverages such as so-called energy drinks is also slightly necked and is about 52 mm 0/135 mm high.

Due to these three dimensional differences in containers to be unified at different times, the machine of the invention may be equipped with adjustment means to change the relative placement of the application roller with respect to the containers transported and accumulated between the packaging operations of different containers

The perforated film can also be sized to fit around neck bottles with cord, in which the cord around the neck of a bottle can act in a manner similar to the ring or cord of a can.

The openings may resemble an opening generally of the square type (arched square), with the tongues comprising arches extending slightly outward. Other openings polyarqueadas are possible, being the number of tabs however less than ten, for containers such as those commonly used for drinks.

The support material comprising plastic film used for the present invention may comprise integrally bonded band segments that define openings that receive the cans in longitudinal rows and transverse rows. There may be a single longitudinal row. The band segments include generally longitudinal outer segments, each outer segment partially joining the openings that receive the can in an outer row. In the application, the support material or film can be provided in roll form for use in a product application lamination method, conveniently in a multitrack format typically but not exclusively 6 tracks wide. The sheet material is supplied in a roll and fed to the application machine in an almost continuous action, so it is subdivided into the machine in the

Required container sizes, packages of 4, packages of 6, etc.

The method of winding the film on the top of the container uses the pressure below the roller as the containers pass under it to gently and elastically form the material through the interaction of the film and the container to achieve the above mentioned clamping action and 3-dimensional transformation of the sheet material. Thus, the roller when pushing the film on the accumulated containers to be unified also has a role in promoting the performance of the film by pushing a particular configuration to adopt.

In particular, the plastic film after application to several containers defines a three-dimensional shape as a direct result of the different forces acting on the material, thereby increasing the inherent strength 10 of the resulting product. As a direct result of the increased resistance of the applied film (in three dimensions), a reduction in the degree and thickness of the film material can be made: costs can be reduced because less material is required. Additionally, because the machinery is not required to exert tremendous forces to allow the material to engage with the containers, the specification of the packaging plant can be reduced, reducing costs again. Significant total energy savings can be made by virtue of the invention.

An additional advantage is that because the machinery is less massive and can be applied without large jaws / mechanical hands (such as those currently used in industry - which prevent the function of jaws / mechanical hands located adjacently), several currents Packaging can simply be placed in a side-by-side configuration - even allowing rows of 12 openings to be manufactured.

In this way the present invention takes advantage of the physical properties of the perforated plastic film material so that, surprisingly, containers such as beverage cans can be retained by a sheet of a much smaller thickness than the sheet generally employed until now that it has been placed on the rim of the container, therefore a plurality of defined inner edges along an inner circumference of the opening support a lower side of the rim, in the free state the inner circumference being less than the circumference of the can, under the flange, the sheet material, by virtue of a discontinuous circumferential contact around said flange, to thereby form a three-dimensional shape that offers stability and resistance to a combination of container and film. Specifically, the three-dimensional shape provides a much greater resistance than that achieved with a standard film. As a direct result of its increased resistance, the choice material can be selected by price and availability instead of by quality per se.

The above and other advantages allow the objectives of the invention to be achieved.

Brief description of the Figures

Some preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings showing support material of both the prior art and embodiments of the invention, of which:

Figures 1a-c show a first example of known support material;

Figures 2a, b show a second example of known support material;

Figures 3a-c show a third example of known support material;

Figure 4 shows a container holder comprising strips of material;

Figure 5 shows other means of retaining containers of the prior art;

Figures 6a, b show retention means of plastic and cardboard laminate containers;

Figures 7 a-e show examples of commonly used support material presently;

Figures 8 a-c show a first embodiment of a film and the same in use;

Figure 9 shows a second embodiment;

45 Figure 10 shows a third embodiment;

Figure 11 shows a further embodiment of the invention, while Figure 11a shows one of its variants, and 11b-11d show the variant of Figure 11a in use;

Figures 12, 12a-12f detail stages in aspects of the application procedure;

Figures 13a and b show packaging equipment in side and plan views;

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Figure 14 shows a side view of an application drum; and Figures 15-20 show unified cans.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments

The best mode currently contemplated by the inventor for carrying out the present invention will now be described by way of example only. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a complete understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art, that the present invention can be put into practice with variations of the specific.

Support material for unifying containers

The present invention will now be described with reference to a first embodiment as shown in Figures 8a-c. Figures 8a and 8b show the first and second perspective views of an arrangement of five beer cans retained by plastic film material having six openings for containers.

The plastic film is shown in plan view in Figure 8c. Each opening 80a is a general square shape, operatively arranged to accept a circularly cylindrical part of a container therethrough, with four fingers or tongues 81, 82, 83 and 84 extending from indentations or depressions having a band element that connect adjacent fingers or tongues. The depressions are in a radius slightly larger than the radius of the container around which it is designed to retain the film. The tips of the fingers or tongues, that is, the portions that will support the flange or ring of the can, are conveniently slightly curved upwards. In fact, to fit most precisely around a container, the arc corresponds to an arc of a circle of a radius that corresponds to a radius of the container that is immediately adjacent to the rim or ring of the container, taking the form into account the fact that the film will adopt an undulating shape in view of the resilience of the plastic film being used. It is important to keep in mind that although the elastic properties of the film are used, it does not approximate the elastic limit of the material.

In use, the support material provided with several openings for holding several containers together, the material comprising a thin plastic film material having several openings arranged in at least a first direction. The openings comprise a plurality of tongue or finger elements, separated by depressions, the openings having a center. The tip of the finger elements is on a first circumference in relation to the center while the bottom of the depressions (the part of the depressions most distant from the center) is on a second circumference relative to the center, the second circumference being equal or greater than the circumference of the container. In use the fingertips are hooked with a bead of a container while the depressions, as a direct result - since they are part of the same film - are pushed down and out. In doing so the depressions push the film to form elastically with the placement and allow the film to adopt a three-dimensional structure. Although the number of tongues or fingers can vary from three to more, it has been found that an opening of four fingers (or equivalents of multiple operative fingers to achieve the same effect) is beneficial in terms of product packaging for reasons of forces from The hoop, through the finger, allows the upward movement of the film adjacent to the depressions, to thereby create a wave effect. The three-dimensional structure adopted by the film is in many ways analogous to the types of structures in vehicle manufacturing, that is, the structure is a monocoque structure in which the overall strength of the finished film is greater than that of the inherently flexible material .

Referring in particular to Figure 8c, film 80 is provided with openings 81, the openings being defined by fingers 82-85. An opening 81 will now be discussed; the distance between the centers of opposite fingers is approximately 90% of the diameter of the portion of the container around which the opening will be closed, while the distance between opposite depressions corresponds to 110% of said diameter. As can be seen, with additional reference to Figures 8a and 8b, fingers 82-85 abut the bottom of the can ring or rim and the film closely follows the narrowing portion of the container. Instead of using the elasticity of the material to allow the containers to be retained, the film as described here when applied by rolling as described here adopts a three-dimensional geometric shape that allows the shape of the film to thereby provide a relatively sharp arrangement. In fact, instead of using high quality virgin plastic film of a preferred thickness in the range of 400-500 pm, the present invention can use recycled plastic film of a thickness of about 350 pm or even much less, for For example, about 100 pm or less depending on the containers to be unified, with the aim of using as little weight as possible due to the use of thinner materials. It should be understood that although the weight of a single perforated film for a container of six is of the order of a couple of grams, globally, several thousand tons of plastic are used in the manufacture of film of container unification. A reduction in the amount of plastic of 25% or more will provide a significant reduction in the operating costs of any canning plant. Additionally, it is known in the art (for example, EP1038791) that any buckling of a transverse band should be minimized due to consumer perception; It is believed that a smooth transverse band is more aesthetically pleasing.

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As will be appreciated, the previous systems for joining containers are closer to the limit of elastic deformation of the plastic material. In fact, in the apparatus such as that shown in US-A-4,250,682 a machine is shown that hooks a support strip and assembles the support strip with a plurality of articles that move in close proximity to it. . The apparatus in document US-4.25o.682 has a rotating drum with stretching members of the support for hooking, stretching and placing the support strip on the upper parts of the articles that move below such that the material of support is retained under the hoop of the article. Similarly, in another teaching (EP0456357) it is claimed that a support strip hitch assembly is used to elastically deform the engaged support strip for assembly with articles.

Since recycled materials are more likely to have inclusions and other defects, which can compromise the resistance of the material that stretches towards an elastic limit, the industry has previously not been able to accept such materials, increasing the financial burden on the industry of packing. The present invention not only provides a solution that uses less material and is therefore more "environmentally friendly" than the previous solutions, the raw material for the present invention can certainly comprise recycled material or at least have a significant content of Recycled material.

Packaging method (unify)

The method of applying the perforated film according to the present invention can be conveniently formed by various methods. A presently preferred method will be described with reference to Figure 8c, which, for convenience, will be assumed to receive a can, not shown, from the right; the inner edge of the finger 84 of the opening is pushed towards the bottom of the ring (upper flange) of a can; the adjacent lateral fingers 81, 83 of the opening below are arranged on the corresponding portions of the flange of the can until the inner edge of the opening facing the first hooked side of the opening is adjacent to the flange, whereby the continuous pressure it allows the inner edge of the last finger 82 of the opening to be engaged with a bottom side of the flange, thereby allowing the perforated film to be engaged there simply with safety. It will be appreciated that since no significant forces are required to allow the openings to be placed on the containers, then the machinery does not need to be so massive and that three or more containers can be easily retained by a film according to the invention; Previous systems cannot reliably use more than two containers in a procedure such as a fast-moving production line.

Although the first example is a square opening, it will be appreciated that a generally three-finger opening can be provided, which generally comprises an equilateral triangle configuration, and provides a design with the smallest fingers with a retention security. It will be appreciated that many polygonal shapes that work according to the described method can be configured, although, a regular four-sided opening is likely to be more readily accepted generally. Containers of other cylindrical shapes can be retained; it may be appropriate to have five, six or more fingers or tongues per opening. It has been found that ten is a convenient number for large domestic containers.

Referring now to Figure 9, a portion of film 90 is shown, with six openings next to each other, the openings 91 being a second regular quadrilateral shape. Additional openings or slits 92, together with circular openings 93, are sized and positioned to aid in the maintenance of the monocoque film form, once the containers have been retained by the film. The circular opening 93 can be formed in different ways or can be replaced by several smaller openings, conveniently separated from each other. In this film the shape and position of the openings is such that the depressions between the fingers correspond to the corners of the curved sides, the distance between opposing depressions being 110% of the diameter of the container on the flange.

Figure 10 shows an additional portion of film 100, which generally has 101 square openings, which have fingers 102-105 separated by small depressions 106-109. Depressions are more pronounced with respect to the depressions in Figures 9 and 11, but may be in other ways with respect to a requirement not to induce tears in the film. Again, the distance between opposite depressions is approximately 110% of the diameter of the container on the flange. Figure 11 shows a further embodiment, in which each side of a generally square opening comprises distinct sections 111-114 of arc; Depressions can be considered to exist in the center of adjacent arches 115-118. Figure 11a shows a variant of the arcuate quadrilateral design in which a substantially square opening acts with tongue elements having an arcuate tongue facing inwards. Figures 11b-11d show the variant of Figure 11a in use.

A significant advantage of the present invention is that only the mechanical properties of the material are required to be strong enough to hold the cans, and not to resist the rigors and high stretching of the standard application procedures found in prior art. This not only has significant advantages in manufacturing processes (reduced opening forces cause less wear of the application machines and thereby further reduce operating costs), and also allows the use of cheaper plastics to be used. In fact, recycled plastics such as Post Consumer Waste of low grade (for example, low density polyethylene - LDPE) that also meet the perennial demand of market requirements can be employed due to the fact that basic consumables are cheaper.

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As discussed above, since the materials do not need to be stretched to particular Smites, the thickness of the basic product can also be reduced, that is, the thickness can be 300 pm (or less): the problem of presence or not of inclusions has no consequences. A preferred thickness for such material for prior systems in an unstretched state has been in a range of about 16 mils (400 pm) to about 17.5 mils (445 pm). The present invention allows the use of material that can be purchased at much more favorable prices than the specified high quality material.

A preferred method of application uses a single roll in the application method as will be described in detail hereinbelow; only one machine can be used in the manufacturing industry; Since large stretching forces are not required, the lever arm and / or hydraulic operations can be minimized and the resistance of the machine does not need to be large, as a direct result compared to systems that stretch the plastic to and beyond its Elastic limits. The use of simpler and cheaper machines will also allow the system to work with lower manufacturing concerns and therefore increase markets.

Figures 12a-12f show an overlap of the edges of an unstretched opening on a cord 126 of a container 122. Figure 12a shows a first application stage associated with retaining several containers with a perforated plastic sheet material. An inner edge 121 of the tongue of the opening abuts against an edge of the lower side of a cord 126 of the container. Figure 12b shows how, in relation to perforated plastic sheet material 100, an application roller will rotate with respect to a container passing underneath in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the roller. The roller is not shown, although it is shown that the material has an arched profile and will be discussed in greater detail with respect to the machinery below.

As the roller continues to move, with reference to Figures 12c and 12d the side edges 123 and 125 of the opening elastically diverge to surround the sides of the container cord 126. It will be appreciated that this figure is a cross section of a part in the plane of the cord 126 and a side perspective view of a part of the can 122. The application forces AF, which act from a center of the application roller, are relatively soft - no forces are present that stretch the plastic sheet material beyond its elastic limit. Figures 12e and 12f show the corresponding plan and side view of the application procedure as the edge 127 is received by the flange of the container 126 - as shown, the application roller is shown when the container passes under the axis of the roller.

As discussed above, in view of the reduced forces required to assemble containers, the energy requirements of the system are reduced and energy consumption is reduced. For example, having the film system applied to containers in widths of 6-12 rows, then the packing stations can be made more compact and simplify the distribution since larger format widths deny a need to divert containers after the application ready for the tray packaging procedure. An additional advantage of having a wider operating width is that the total speed of the machinery can be reduced. Compared to a two-row packaging system, the operating speed is one third to one sixth of the speed of such two-row container systems. This will have concomitant advantages in the useful life, reliability (standby times are expensive) and cost in the conveyor belt, motors and support equipment. Likewise, the demands on the material are reduced, also allowing the use of lower grade material.

Packaging plant that includes a unifying machine

With reference to Figures 13a and 13b, side and plan views of an otherwise standard conveyor belt system 130 for transporting containers in the form of cans 139 of refreshing beverages or the like are shown. In particular, with reference to Figure 13b, the cans 139 are fed along a conveyor belt to an accumulation position 134 (advancing in a direction indicated by arrow 138). In the accumulation position, the containers are carried towards each other in close proximity in preparation for the application of the perforated retention sheet, made by the roller 132 receiving sheet 110 of the sheet material system 133. The controlled cutting apparatus between the labeled units 136 allows appropriate container sizes to be produced. With reference to Figure 13b, the mandrel 135 of sheet material can cooperate with another mandrel (not shown) to provide a continuous sheet material to the roll 132. As is known, the seamless connection of separate sheets can be made to provide effective continuous operation, or at least almost continuous operation, of the system.

Figure 14 shows, respectively, the side and detail view of the application drum and the arrangement of the conveyor belt of the production line. Figures 16-20 show unified cans with a further example of a support material according to the invention.

The application drum that pushes the support material onto the containers to be unified may have a plurality of serrated projections configured to interact with a sheet of support material to facilitate proper downward pressure on the support material and help to elastically form a three-dimensional structure of the support material on top of the containers.

It will be appreciated that since the containers can be arranged in 6+ width lines, then different lines can be packaged differently using known techniques, adding variability to the line procedure.

of production. Additionally, it will be possible, with appropriate channeling, to make an exchange with other products (brands) so that a perceived need for other machines / systems is not necessary. The support material is formed, for example, by die cutting, from a single sheet of resilient polymeric material, such as low density polyethylene. Known support material of high quality plastic sheet, such as low density polyethylene, has been formed.

Claims (13)

5 10 fifteen twenty 25 30 35 40 Four. Five fifty 1. A machine for applying a film of unifying containers to containers by the use of a roller (132), the film comprising unifying containers a plastic sheet material (80) having several openings (80a) to hold several containers together , the openings extending in at least a first direction, in which the openings have a center and in which the edges defining the openings have a geometry comprising a plurality of tongues (81-84) facing the center, the tongues being defined by more internal edges separated by depressions (85-88), the depressions defining a background at a maximum point from the center; in which the innermost edges and the bottoms are, respectively, on the first and second circumference relative to the center, the second circumference being equal to or greater than a circumference of the cord of a container; the configuration of the openings being such that, when placed around a container, the innermost edges of the tabs engage with said cord of such container as the depressions are pushed up and down and the material (80) of perforated sheet elastically forms a three-dimensional structure, in which the machine comprises a conveyor belt system (130) for transporting containers; the conveyor belt system being operative to feed the containers to an accumulation position (134) and operative to transport the containers to an application station comprising said roller (132) for the application of the perforated sheet to the containers, receiving the Roller in use perforated sheet material of a supply system (133) and pushing the perforated sheet material over the containers such that each container is received in an unstretched opening whereby the sheet material forms the three-dimensional structure. 2. A machine according to claim 1 wherein the conveyor belt and roller are positioned and operated such that as the conveyor belt moves the containers the flanges of the containers are presented to the perforated plastic material (Fig. 12a, b) , and an inner tongue edge (121) of the opening abuts against a bottom edge of a bead (126) of the container, and as the roller continues to move (Fig. 12c, d), the side edges (123, 125 ) of the opening elastically diverge to surround the sides of the cord (126) of the container until the inner edge of the opening in front of the first hooked side of the opening is adjacent to the flange and causes an inner edge of the inner tongue edge of the opening engages with the bottom side of the flange (Fig. 12e, f), to thereby secure the perforated film on the can. 3. A machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the conveyor belt moves the containers to an accumulation position (134) before being presented to the application station. 4. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, in which there is a cutting apparatus, said cutting apparatus being operative to allow producing appropriate container sizes. 5. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a plurality of cooperating sheet supply mandrels (135) are provided to thereby produce a continuous supply of sheet to the roller (132), to allow a connection no seams of separate sheets to provide effective continuous operation of the system. 6. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the support film is made of the group comprising polyethylene, polyethylene derivatives and plastic materials with similar mechanical properties. 7. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the support film is a plastic film less than about 350 pm thick. 8. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the openings of the support film are sized to fit around cylindrical wall cans. 9. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the openings of the support film are sized to fit around narrowed or narrow ring cans. 10. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the openings of the support film are sized to fit around a cord around the neck of a bottle. 11. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the material comprises a piece of perforated film of a single row. 12. A machine according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the material comprises a piece of multifila perforated film. 13. A method for unifying containers, for example cans, using the machine of any one of claims 1 to 12, comprising the steps: receive a can; pushing an inner edge of a tongue (84) of an opening towards a lower edge of the can ring; accommodating the adjacent lateral tabs (81, 83) of the opening on the corresponding flange portions of the can until the inner edge of the opening in front of the first hooked edge of the opening is adjacent to the flange; Y cause an inner edge of the last tongue (82) to engage with a bottom side of the flange, to thereby secure the perforated film with the can, in which the thrust of an inner edge of a tongue and the accommodation of the Adjacent tongue tabs are made by the use of a machine application roller (132) whose roller cooperates with the upper edge of the container (cord, ring or flange) to locate and present a portion of the inner edge of an opening of the Laminate film of support material to the upper edge and progressively move that edge portion below the upper edge of the container until the entire edge of the inner opening is located below that upper edge of the container.