FR2481670A1 - Packing containers for paste or powder - made from sheet of thermosetting plastic and closed by sealed top sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

The packing is made from a roll of thermosetting plastic (2) supplied from the roll (3). The containers are filled and closed with a sheet (4) supplied from a separate roll (51). Each container is sealed after filling. Each of the containers is formed from the sheet by a mandril (33) in a dye. The container is filled by a dosing pump (46) before sealing. The material is heated by passing under the electrical heating elements (14). The material is fed into the machine by passing over powered rollers.

Description

Installation for packaging a product.

The present invention relates to an installation for packaging a product, preferably a liquid or powdery liquid, of the type comprising on a frame means of transport, such as gripper chains, for a thermoplastic strip unwound from a roll, a device heating comprising at least one heating resistor to bring successive zones of said thermoplastic strip to the softening temperature; a forming device for ther mofo.rmer containers from the softened thermoplastic strip and comprising at least one mold fixed on a first press plate mounted vertically movable in the frame of the installation and at least one counter mold provided a forming punch; a metering device comprising at least one metering device for dispensing a determined quantity of a product into the thermoformed containers; a support and a guide for a strip with lids intended to be sealed in a sealed manner on the strip with containers after filling thereof; a sealing device comprising at least one upper welding electrode and at least one support piece mounted on a second vertically movable press plate and associated with a fixed support member passing through said support piece, as well as a cutting comprising at least one cutting punch and a cutting die mounted on a third vertically movable press plate and associated with a fixed support element passing through said die
Such installations are widely known and are described, for example, in US patents 2,988,2a8 and 3,709,643 and French patents 1,180,058, 1,534,586 and 1,592.063. Until now, these installations are designed for produce several containers simultaneously without it being possible to vary the number of containers produced simultaneously without major and practically complete modification of the installation. In fact, currently used in forming devices are mold blocks comprising as many forming chambers as there are containers to be formed in a single operation, and in the cutting device a die provided with as many cutting cells that there are containers to be cut in a single cutting operation.

 These known installations cannot adapt to variations in demand for products, that is to say consumption of products. Of course, to a certain extent, production can be varied by varying the operating speed or the more or less long periods of plant shutdown, but it is impossible with such plants to double or triple their maximum capacity. production.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome this drawback and to propose an installation of the aforementioned type which is scalable and adaptable to variations in consumption without it being necessary, however, to exchange the constituent elements of the installation.

This object is achieved due to the fact that, in accordance with the invention, the means of transport have an adjustable position parallel to the width of the strip of containers; that the heating resistors are arranged in the heating device so as to extend
Parallel to the edges of the container strip and are adjustable in position across the width of said strip; that in the forming device 1, the mold comprises at least one unitary mold block provided with a single forming chamber and adjustable transversely to the axis of the forming chamber and parallel to the width of the container strip with respect to to the first press plate over a distance at least equal to half the width of the unitary mold block as well as at least one unitary counter-mold block adjustable relative to its support parallel to the width of said strip on a distance equal to the adjustment distance of the corresponding mold block; that the metering device comprises at least one unit metering device associated with a single container; that the welding electrode and the support piece of the sealing device each comprise at least one unitary electrode block and one unitary adjustable support piece block depending on the width of the container strip on a distance at least equal to half the width of the unit electrode block and that the cutting device comprises a unit cutting punch and a unit die both adjustable in the direction of the width of the container strip over a distance from the minus equal to half the width of the unit matrix.

 Thanks to this design, it is possible to adapt the production capacity of the installation to variations in consumption and to make said installation evolutive. Indeed, if a product programmed for a low production leads to a greater demand, we can very quickly satisfy this increased demand by adding laterally to each device of the installation a block or 818ment additional unitary and using a band with containers and a cover strip whose widths have been increased by the width of an additional unit block. It is also understandable that the means of transport, such as the gripper chains and their deflection and drive wheels, are separated by an additional distance to take account of the new width of the container strip. Thus, the production capacity of the tallation ladin can be doubled, tripled etc. up to the maximum theoretical capacity for which the frame of the installation was designed at the time of the construction of said installation.

The object of the present invention will be understood more clearly with the aid of the following description of an embodiment of the packaging installation in accordance with the invention and with the aid of the appended drawing in which
- Figure 1 is a schematic side elevation view of a packaging installation according to the invention
- Figure 2 is a schematic plan view of said installation
- Figure 3 is a schematic elevational view of a cross section at the location of the forming device according to line III-III of Figure 2
- Figure 4 is a plan view on the support plate of the unit counter molds
FIGS. Sa to 5c schematically show the arrangement and transverse juxtaposition of unitary mold blocks, one of which cohorts two forming chambers, and
- Figure 6 is a plan view on a press plate with the fixing means for the unit blocks.

 As shown in the drawing, the packaging installation is of the type which forms a container i from a thermoplastic strip 2 unwound from a roll 3, which then fills said container 1 with a product, which then , covers said container filled with a cover sheet 4, seals said cover sheet on said container and, which, ultimately, cuts the sealed container from the bins of 2 and 4.

 The packaging installation comprises a frame 5 comprising a base plate or equivalent members 6 and longitudinal side plates 7 and 8 rigidly fixed to the base plate 6. The transverse spacing of the side plates 7 and 8 is chosen so to allow this frame 5 to receive several unit blocks juxtaposed in the transverse direction, this spacing being calculated as a function of a predetermined maximum number of these unit blocks. Of course, initially, the frame is not equipped with the maximum number of unit blocks for which it has been sized. On this frame 5 are provided step-by-step transport means 9 for the thermoplastic strip 2, such as chains without end with clamps 10 and gearwheels for deflection and traction li adjustable transversely adjustable on shafts 12 one of which is driven by a motor not shown. These transport chains 10 run through the entire longitudinal extent of the installation. On the frame 5 of the installation is mounted a heating device 13- comprising several heating resistors 14 which are arranged longitudinally, that is to say parallel to the edges of the thermoplastic strip 2 and serve to carry successive zones of those -this at the softening temperature. The heating box 13 is produced in the form of a box which is articulated at its upstream end around a horizontal axis 15 carried by the lateral flanges 7 and 8 of the frame 5. The lateral edges of the heating box 13 can bear on the lateral flanges 7 and 8 of the frame 5.

It is possible to use thermoplastic strips 2 of different widths adapted to the transverse width of the series of unit blocks used in the various devices of the packaging installation. Thus, when two unit blocks are used juxtaposed transversely, the width of the thermoplastic strip 2 will be adapted to the transverse extension of these two unit blocks. It is the same with regard to the number of heating resistors 14 used. We will always have both the thermoplastic strip 2 and the different unit blocks so that the longitudinal vertical median plane 16 of the installation is a plane of symmetry both for the strip and for the different unit blocks of each device.

The heating bolt 13 can be equipped with the maximum number of heating resistors 14 or only with a number adapted to the width of the thermoplastic strip currently used. In the first case, all the heating resistors 14 which are not located opposite the thermoplastic strip are switched off. In order to place the heating resistors 14 in service well in line with the thermoplastic strip 2, the resistors 14 are transversely displaceable, either in block or individually, by a distance at most equal to, half the distance between the axes of two neighboring containers -1 of the same transverse row. In other words, the adjustment distance corresponds to approximately half the transverse width of a unitary block of a device of the packaging installation.

 immediately downstream of the heating box 13 is provided a forming device 17 serving to thermoform the container 1 from the softened thermoplastic strip 2. This forming device 17 comprises on a first press plate 18 which extends transversely and horizontally between the two lateral flanges 7 and 8 of the frame 5, at least one unit mold block l9muni of a forming chamber and fixed in an adjustable manner on said plate 18 which can receive a transverse row of several blocks of unit molds 19 and in particular three unit blocks in the example shown in FIG. 2. The row of mold blocks, unit 19 and the first press plate 18 are arranged below the thermoplastic strip 2 and the first press plate 18 is guided vertically between the lateral flanges 7 and 8 of the frame 5 and moved vertically using control jacks 20 and 21. On the upper face, the press plate 18 has a trans rib versal 22, for example, in the shape of a dovetail, capped by the correspondingly shaped groove formed in the bottom face of each unit mold block 19. In addition, each mold block 19 comprises, for example, in its longitudinal plane, on the front and quarry faces, fixing lugs 23 whose vertical holes 24 coincide, in a given mounting position, with one of the internal threads 25 provided in the form of transverse rows, on the plate of press 18. These rows of internal threads 25 constitute the fixing means for the unit blocks 19, are intended to receive bolts passing through the holes 24 of the tabs 23 of the unit mold blocks 19 and are spaced from one another, in the transverse direction of the installation, a distance equal to half the width of a corresponding unit block. 13. Of course, if the holes 24 of a unit block 19 are in the longitudinal plane of symmetry thereof, one of the threads 25 of each transverse row of threads 25 must be located in the vertical median longitudinal plane 16 of the installation. Thanks to this arrangement, the unit blocks can always be arranged symmetrically with respect to the plane 16 whatever the number of blocks used in a row of unit blocks.

A unitary mold block 19 can be associated with a distribution plate 26 which includes a circuit for supplying and discharging cooling water and which also comprises a transverse series of supply fittings 27 and another series of discharge fittings. 28. The connections 27 and 28 are superimposed in the vertical distribution plate 26 which is applied against the vertical front or rear wall of a unitary mold block 19.

If one of the connections 27 and 28 is located in the vertical median plane 16 of the packaging installation, it suffices to arrange the other supply or discharge connections 27, 28 at equal distances at mid-range. width of a corresponding unit block 19 in order to be able to supply all the mold blocks of a transverse row, each of these blocks also having in its longitudinal plane of symmetry a supply connection and a discharge connection. Of course, the unused connections 27 and 28 will be closed off with leaktight plugs.

 Above the thermoplastic strip -2, the forming device 17 comprises at least one unitary block of counter mold 29 which is fixed in an adjustable manner transversely on a support plate 30.

The fixing means for the unitary countermould block 29 on the support plate 30 are similar to the means for fixing the unitary mold blocks 19 on the first press plate 18. However, as certain middle parts of the support plate 30 are perforated, two longitudinal dovetail-shaped grooves 31 are provided, located on either side of the middle part of the support plate 30 and receiving a dovetail-shaped rib secured to the upper face of each unitary counter-mold block 29. The support plate 30 is fixed, by means of feet, to the lateral flanges 7 and 8 of the frame 5. In the cavity 32 of each unitary counter-mold block 29 is provided a forming punch 33 which, when forming the container 1, descends into the forming chamber of the unit mold block 19. The rear end of the forming punch 33 is provided with a control rod 34 which sealingly traverses the upper part of the block countermold 29 and a through hole formed in the support plate 30. Some of through holes 35 are oblong and extend transversely and have a length which is equal to the sum of the half-width of a block unit 29 and the diameter of the control rod 34 of the forming punch 32 of the counter mold block 29. Thus, it is possible to move the counter mold block 29 laterally over its adjustment distance corresponding to its half-width without the need to remove the forming punch 33 and its control rod 34. One of the oblong passage holes 35 is disposed relative to the axis of symmetry 16 of the packaging installation for such that one of its ends is near but on one side of this plane while the other of its ends is distant and from the other side of said plane.

 The upper end of the control rod 34 is secured to a transverse connecting plate 36 supported laterally by the ends of the rods of two vertical control cylinders 37 and 38 fixed to the lateral flanges 7 and 8 of the frame 5. Furthermore , the transverse connecting plate 36 can be guided by guide columns 39,40141,42 which are also fixed to the lateral flanges 7 and 8 of the frame 5. In a similar manner to the support plate 30, the plate transverse link 36 also includes oblong holes 43 for the passage of the upper end of the control rod 34 which is fixed there by a nut and a lock nut 44,45. Of course, the oblong holes 35 of the support plate 30 and the oblong holes 43 of the transverse connecting plate 36 are superimposed and completely coincide.

Downstream of the forming device 17 is provided a metering device 46 comprising at least one metering unit block of known design 47. This unit metering block 47 is also mounted so as to be adjustable transversely on a support plate 48 of design similar to the plate support 30 of the forming device 17. Several metering blocks, 46 can be juxtaposed so as to form a transverse row.

 Downstream of the metering device 46 are provided guide rollers 49.50 for the cover strip 4 drawn from a roller 51.

Downstream of the guide roller 50 and the metering device 46 is provided a sealing device 52 which seals the strip with lids 4 tightly on the edges; receptacles 1 contained in the thermoplastic strip 2. This sceilage device comprises, above a transverse row of receptacles 1, at least one unit block of heated electrode 53 mounted so as to be adjustable transversely on a transverse support plate 54 which is fixed to the lateral flanges 7 and 8 of the frame 5. The method of mounting the unit electrode blocks 53 on the corresponding support plate 54 is similar to that of unit counter-mold blocks 29 on the support plate 30 and that of mold blocks 19 on the first press plate 18. Below the thermoplastic strip 2 provided with containers 1 and in front of the unit blocks of heated electrode 53 is provided at least one unit block support piece 55 of tubular shape and mounted, by its bottom, on a second press plate 56 using ribs and transverse grooves-in the form of a dovetail 57 located on either side of the middle part of the second press plate 56. The means for fixing each unit block of support piece 55 to the second press plate 56 are similar to those used for mounting unit mold blocks 19 on the first press plate 18. The means for vertical displacement of the second press plate 56 are similar to those used for the vertical displacement of the first press plate 18 and are also constituted, for example, by jacks.

 The bottom of each unitary block of support piece 55 is crossed by the rod 58 of a support member 59 which normally supports the bottom of the containers 1. This support member 59 is normally installed in a fixed position and does not move with the second press plate 56. Given that in the context of the present invention the unitary blocks of support piece 55 are required to be moved for their transverse adjustment by a distance corresponding to the half-width d 'A unitary block, - the support member 59 and its rod 58 whose lower end carries a foot 60 resting on the base plate 6 of the frame 5 must also be unlaced in the same way. In order to make this movement possible without too much difficulty, the second press plate 56 has in its median transverse part oblong holes similar to the oblong passage holes 35 and 43 of the support plate 30 and of the transverse connection plate 36 .

 A cutting device 61 is provided downstream of the sealing device 52. This cutting device 61 comprises below the thermoplastic strip 2 at least one unitary block of cutting die 62 mounted transversely adjustable on a third plate press 63-which is vertically movable. The unitary die block 62 is constituted by a vertical tubular element whose upper internal edges constitute cutting edges and whose bottom is mounted on the third press plate 63 in a way similar to the transversely adjustable mounting of the unitary block of support piece 55 on the second press plate 55. A support element 64 mounted on the upper end of a rod 65 is associated with the unitary matrix 62.

The rod 65 carries at its lower end a foot 66 resting on the base plate 6 of the frame 5 and passing through an oblong hole. provided in the third press plate 63 similarly to the second press plate 56. Above the thermoplastic strip 2 and in front of the unit block 62 is provided at least one unit block of cutting punch 67 whose upper rod is mounted on a transverse support plate 68 which can be animated by a low vertical cutting mold. The method of mounting the upper end of the rod 69 carrying a unitary block of cutting punch 67 is similar to the mode of mounting the rod 34 of the forming punch 33 on the transverse connection plate 36. We see in the figure 1 that the cut containers are then discharged by an endless conveyor belt 70.

 In some cases, it may be advantageous to use unit blocks 71 which comprise two forming chambers, or two cells of the cutting die, etc. These double unit blocks 71 can be combined with single unit blocks 72 so that the modifications to be made to the installation when a change or increase in production capacity can be accomplished very quickly (see FIGS. 5a). in Figures 5c).

The embodiment described above can undergo a certain number of modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention, the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims (7)

1. Installation for packaging a product which is preferably liquid, pasty or powdery, of the type comprising on a frame means of transport, such as endless chains with clamps, for a thermoplastic strip unwound from a roll; a heating device comprising at least one heating resistance for bringing successive zones of said thermal mopiastic strip to the softening temperature, a forming device for thermoforming containers from the softened thermoplastic strip and comprising at least one mold fixed on a first press plate mounted vertically movable in the frame of the installation and at least one counter-mold provided with a forming punch; a metering device comprising at least one dispenser for dispensing a determined quantity of a product into the thermoformed containers, a support and a guide for a cover strip intended to be sealed in a sealed manner on the container strip after the filling thereof a sealing device comprising at least one upper welding electrode and at least one support piece mounted on a second press plate vertically mobile and associated with one. fixed support member passing through said support piece, thus a cutting device comprising at least one cutting punch and a cutting die mounted on a third vertically movable press plate and associated with a fixed support element passing through said die, characterized in that the means of transport have an adjustable position parallel to the width of the container strip; that the heating resistors are arranged in the heating device so as to extend parallel to the edges of the container strip and are adjustable in position across the width of said strip; that in the forming device, the mold comprises at least one unitary mold block provided with a single forming chamber and adjustable transversely to the axis of the forming chamber and parallel to the width of the container strip, with respect to to the first press plate over a distance at least equal to half the width of the unitary mold block1 as well as at least one unitary counter-mold block adjustable relative to its support parallel to the width of. said strip over a distance equal to the adjustment distance of the corresponding mold block; that the metering device comprises at least one unit metering device associating a single container; that the welding electrode and the support piece of the sealing device each comprise at least one unit electrode block and one unitary ring block adjustable according to the width of the container strip over a distance at least equal to mid -width of the unitary electrode block and that the cutting device comprises a unitary punch block and a unitary die block both adjustable in the direction of the width of the strip of containers over a distance at least equal to half the width of the corresponding unit block. 2. Packaging installation according to. claim 1, characterized in. that each press plate has fixing means for; The unit blocks of mold, support piece and die which are spaces from one another in the transverse direction of installation of a distance equal to half width of a corresponding unit block. 3. Packaging installation according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that each support plate comp-orte fixing means for the unit blocks of counter-mold, electrode and cutting punch which are separated from each other. from each other, in the transverse direction of the installation, by a distance - equal to half the width of a corresponding unit block. 4. Packaging installation according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the heating resistors of the heating box are movable transversely either in block or individually by a distance at most equal to half the distance between the axes of two neighboring containers of the same transverse row. 5. Packaging installation according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each support plate comprises at least one transverse oblong hole whose length is equal to the sum of the half-width of a unitary block and the diameter of the control rod for the punch of a counter-mold block.  6. Packaging installation according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the unitary mold blocks are associated with a single distribution plate which comprises.a row of supply fittings and a row of outlet fittings , the fittings of the same row both spaced from each other by a distance equal to the half-width of a unitary mold block. 7. Packaging installation according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it comprises at least one double unitary unit associated with a single unitary unit.