FI93628C - Large consumer packaging for pasty substances, packaging method and unloading device - Google Patents

Description

93628

Large-scale consumer packaging of pasty substances, packaging method and unloading device - Storkonsumentförpackning för pastaartade ämnen, förpackningsförfarande och utmatnings-anordning 5

The present invention relates to a large consumer package for pasty substances, to a method for packaging a substance in a large consumer package and to an unloading device.

10 The purpose of large consumer packaging is to serve consumers who use large quantities of a substance by facilitating the handling, storage and handling of the packaging material used. Applications are all objects that use food or other difficult-to-pump or non-pumpable products (eg 15 pasty, solid, sticky, tough, non-pumpable, etc.) that require protection from a suitably sized transfer unit or package (containment, hygienic or chemical protection, protection from light, oxygen or moisture in both directions, etc.).

20 Specific examples are margarines for bakeries, such as rolling margarines, jams, marmalades and fillings for the bakery and confectionery industry, and mayonnaise-type products, pastes and emulsions for the food industry. Other types of non-food products are also possible, for example detergents for laundries, paints, adhesives and resins for the construction and furniture industries.

Currently, margarine is delivered to the mass consumer in 30 pallets of 2.5 kg pieces in laminated paper wrappers.

The wrappers must be opened and removed and a piece of margarine placed in the hopper for further feeding into the process. The method is cumbersome and time consuming and requires staff for unloading.

The margarine can also be delivered without a wrapper in a container from which it is unloaded by gravity or unloading device 35 2 93628 into the feed screw. The method does not produce packaging waste and does not require manual unloading of the product, but on the contrary, the method requires large investments, technical changes to the packaging head, the return system of the containers.

5

All of these known methods are cumbersome for the producer and / or consumer in terms of handling the product, its dosing, or waste problems, in addition to which the systems most often require manual work on unloading 10 and dosing. This is a significant drawback when it is taken into account that in the case of margarine, for example, the quantities of substances to be treated in batches of one thousand kilograms may be involved.

British Patent Specification No. 1,536,476 describes a method and apparatus for filling a "sausage casing". The patent is primarily aimed at filling the sausage, but the publication also mentions that it is suitable for handling viscous substances such as fats and margarines.

20 However, the publication does not in any way address the problems of large consumers and how they could be solved. The filled products shown in said publication correspond to the individual packages shown above.

The object of the present invention is to avoid the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide the user with an easy-to-use and labor-saving system which does not require the opening of wrappers, the transport, opening and return of jam containers or container traffic. In production, the same 30 products can be packaged with the same equipment and materials.

The package according to the invention is characterized in that it consists of a flexible continuous tubular paste-like shell of a substance closed at both ends for packaging a large amount of substance. In practice, the length of the packaging hose in relation to its diameter or height is at least 3,93628 multiples of ten. The hose material is preferably a seamless or similar plastic film hose. The diameter of the hose can be circular or similar, in which case it is a tubular product. Alternatively, the hose may be more or less flattened, whereby its cross-section deviates from the circle, it may e.g. be rectangular. As it is a considerably long package, it is folded or rolled into a support frame, which is thus delivered to the consumer for use. In use, the hose is pulled from the 10 support devices as the packaged product is used.

The invention also relates to a method for packaging a pasty substance in a form that is easy for the large consumer to handle, which method is characterized in that a rather large amount of pasty substance is filled into a continuous flexible hose.

To facilitate the practical handling of the long hose, the filled hose is placed in a support frame. The frame can be, for example, a suitably sized box or a roller stand, which as such is delivered to the large consumer. At the time of use, the frame also serves as a storage space and a storage space from which the product is unloaded in a suitable amount as required. The frame / box can be disposable, recyclable or returnable.

25

The invention also relates to a device for unpacking the contents of the above package. The device is characterized in that the device consists of a peeling unit 30 with at least one cutting blade cutting the package shell, through which the tubular package is fed, and members guiding the cut shell parts away from the product path, and possibly thereafter a cutter for cutting the peeled material into pieces.

In a preferred embodiment, the peeling unit consists of a frame through which the package is fed and in which at least one blade, preferably two opposite blades, protrudes from the inner surface of the frame 93628 _ τ 4 towards its inner part.

In the system according to the invention, the product is packed for a long time in a flexible disposable hose which forms the shell of the product. The hose may be a single long hose closed only at its ends or alternatively divided into shorter sections according to the need for use. Thus, the length of the hose varies, but its length is considerable, always several tens of times its diameter or height. For example, if margarine is packaged in such a hose, the usual amount for a large consumer may be 800 kg. The long hose is placed in a transport frame on the pleats or wrapped in a roll. Alternatively, the hose can be wrapped around a spool. The tubes may be a flattened tube to provide a matte wider package. Such a package provides a fairly tight pleated package.

Flexible materials known per se can be used as the packaging material, and the choice of material is made according to the application and needs. The base body of the material can be, for example, a cheap LD polyethylene film, to which, if desired, a suitable protective layer can be laminated to protect the contents from oxygen, light, moisture, solvents, dirt, dust, microbes, etc. The surface of the material can be printed or suitable. pattern. The tubular shape requires a relatively small amount of material, in addition to which the diameter of the pipe can always be selected according to the application and need. Variable diameter does not complicate the use of packaging, as current packaging machines already allow different diameters.

The hose can be made of blown film, resulting in a seamless tube. Alternatively, 35 or more seamed films may be used, in which case a flattened tube form may be used in addition to the tubular shape.

5,93628

A hose filled with a substance, in this case hose means hoses of a shape other than circular in cross-section, is placed in a support frame on the pleats for transport or alternatively it is threaded into a helical shape. The transport frame may be made of wood, cardboard or plastic, in which case, for example, the cardboard frame may be disposable and the plastic may be a reusable plastic. The frame is preferably of a standard shape and size.

10

The paste-like substance is delivered to the user in the frame described above, in which the goods are unloaded from the hose in the application with the unloading device according to the invention, which will be described in more detail below. With the unloading device, the product is unloaded directly from the transport frame, and the packaging material is directed to the side in the collection containers. For more solid products, a wire cutter can be installed at the unloading head, which cuts the product into pieces of the desired length.

The advantages of the package and method according to the invention are a wide choice of packaging materials, a wide variety of suitable materials is available, taking into account all kinds of special wishes regarding the package and its contents, such as post-pasteurization and oxygen impermeability.

The invention is well suited for non-pumped towers and difficult-to-pump products, in which case no special transport containers are required, so the invention does not require large investments, neither on the producer's nor the user's side. In addition, the packaging is easy to use and saves work. The method does not require the opening of wrappers and the transport of product packages for opening and return. In production, in addition, 35 very different products can be packaged with the same equipment and materials.

6,93628

The invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figures 1-4 show various practical forms of a package according to the invention, Figure 5 shows a basic solution of a unloading device according to the invention, and Figure 6 shows a cross-section of a peeling unit.

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of a package according to the invention, in which a tubular hose 15 is folded into a box-like frame. The hose with its frame is delivered to the consumer for use.

Figure 2 shows the embodiment according to Figure 1, with the exception that the hose is screwed into the frame in a threaded form.

Figure 3 shows a package in which the hose is wrapped on a spool resting on a support rack, which can be placed in its entirety in a support frame to facilitate transport.

Figure 4 a) shows a packaging option in which the hose is not a tubular but a wide non-woven flat product which is easy to fold and with which the support frame is effectively filled. In this embodiment of the invention, the product is packaged in the form of a strip-like sheet or web, the dimensioning of which can be adapted to the object. In this way, for example, the width of the product can be adapted to the width required by the bakery, whereby in addition the thickness of the material can be determined so as to obtain the required metric weight for each application. From the package, the web-like product can be applied directly to the target in the desired width and amount.

7 93628

In the embodiment of Figure 4 b), the mat-free package is wrapped on a reel, from which the required amount of product can be easily unloaded by pulling a length corresponding to the amount of product from the reel.

Figures 5 and 6 show an unloading device according to the invention, which in principle consists of a belt conveyor 3 and a peeling unit 4 and a wire cutter 9 possibly connected to it.

10 Approximately 700 kg of product, for example margarine, is filled into a tubular shell 2 folded into a support frame 1. Both ends of the hose are closed. A suitable diameter for the pipe is about 65 mm, whereby the length of the hose is about 200 m (with a 100 mm hook the length is about 90 m). Both ends have "umbilical cords" to facilitate starting of the device. The frame 1, which is of standard shape and size, is made of cardboard.

The umbilical cord formed by the packaging hose 2 is threaded through the unloading device-20 and the device is started, whereby the end of the tube is guided to the initial end of the belt conveyor 3. The belt conveyor consists of two belts that are compressed against each other by spring force, one of which is Pull and the other is free-running.

The belts are electrically operated. The total length of the belt conveyor 3 25 can be, for example, 1000 mm.

From the belt conveyor 3, the hose 2 is guided to a peeling unit 4, which consists of a pipe sleeve which is hinged and opened in the longitudinal direction of the pipe. The inside diameter of the sleeve is somewhat larger than the outside diameter of hose 2.

Extending from the inner surface of the sleeve 4 towards the center point are two opposite cutting blades 5. The blades 5 are adjustable and detachable for re-sharpening. The blades 5 are shaped so that in addition to the cutting of the hose material, the blades spread the shell parts to the sides. After the sleeve 5, the cut shell parts are guided through two pairs of rollers 6 to the waste box 8 93628. The pairs of rollers 6 are driven by an electric motor and their transmission ratio corresponds to the feed speed of the belt conveyor 3 or is slightly higher. After the pairs of rolls 6 connected to the shell unit 4, the contents of the hose package are transferred in the case shown in Fig. 5 5 to a wire cutter 9, where the rod 7 is cut into suitable pieces 10 which are collected in a feed hopper 11 for further use.

The unloading device can be provided with control means so that its operation 10 is fully automatic and the adjustment and control means control the operation of the conveyor 3, the peeling unit 4 and its roller pairs 6 as well as the cutter and control the amount of material entering the hopper 11.

Figures 5 and 6 above show a peeling unit 4 using two opposite cutting blades 5.

It is clear that the number of blades can be varied. Also with a single blade 5 the pipe wall can be cut, open. If it is desired to increase the discharge rate or if the diameter of the 20 hoses is larger, the number of blades can be further increased.

If the shape of the hose is other than tubular, the shape of the peeling unit 4 must be selected accordingly. For example, 25 if a mat-like package is treated (Fig. 4), two blades 5 are preferably used, which are located in the edge areas of the mat and open the packages at their edges. The upper and lower films of the package thus opened are guided sideways from their path, whereby the web-like material is as such ready to be applied to the target. In the preferred case, the width and thickness of the web are dimensioned according to the application to achieve a suitable length weight.

Claims (12)

93628 A large consumer package for pasty substances, feeling -5 t u characterized in that the package for packaging a relatively large amount of material consists of a flexible continuous tubular material (2) closed at both ends. A package according to claim 1, characterized in that the length of the package with respect to the diameter or height is at least several times several times, preferably at least 100 times. A package according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the filled hose (2) is placed in a support frame or rack (1) for transport. Packaging according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the packaging material is a seamless or sealed plastic film hose. Packaging according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hose (2) is disposable. 25 Packaging according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hose (2) is folded or wound on a roll into a support frame (1). Packaging according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the continuous tubular packaging (2) is divided into compartments. A method of packaging a paste-like substance for a large consumer in an easy-to-handle form, characterized in that a rather large amount of paste-like substance is filled into a continuous flexible hose (2), the ends of which are closed. 93628 Method according to Claim 8, characterized in that the paste-filled hose (2) is placed in a support frame (1) for transport, storage, unloading and handling. 5 Device for unpacking the contents of a package (2) according to claim 1, characterized in that the device consists of a peeling unit (4) with at least one cutting blade (5) cutting the packaging shell (2), through which the tubular package is fed, and side-by-side guides. members (6) and optionally thereafter a cutter (9) is provided for cutting the peeled material into pieces. Device according to Claim 10, characterized in that the peeling unit (4) consists of a frame through which the package is fed and from the inner surface of which at least one blade (5), preferably two opposite blades (5), protrudes towards its inner part. 20 Device according to Claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the lateral guide members of the cut shell parts are two pairs of guide rollers (6). «93628