FR2542282A1 - MACHINE FOR PACKAGING, HOLDING AND TRANSFERRING CARDBOARD PACKAGING BODIES AND METHOD OF ADJUSTING SUCH A MACHINE TO ADAPT IT TO PACKAGING BODIES OF DIFFERENT FORMATS - Google Patents

Abstract

1. A machine for assembling packaging bodies of cardboard or the like, of the type comprising a magazine (12) in which the packaging bodies (10) are arranged in a pile in the flattened state, a suction extraction system (14) intended successively to extract the packaging bodies at the lower part of the magazine, a first chain-conveyor (26) arranged under the magazine and equipped with drive means (50) spaced out at regular intervals along the conveyor, and a second chain-conveyor (28) arranged parallel to the first conveyor and whose upper portions are situated between and in the same plane as those of the first conveyor and are fitted with stops (86) separated by uniform intervals (d) equal to those which exist between the drive members (50) of the first conveyor (26), the chains of the first and second conveyors rolling at their downstream end around sprocket wheels (38a, 38b and 62a, 62b) carried by a common drive shaft (38c) driven step-by-step by a motor (42), said sprocket wheels being manually adjustable so that the space (1) between each drive member (50) of the first conveyor and the stop (86) of the second conveyor which immediately precedes this drive member (50) in the direction of travel of the first and second conveyors (26, 28) is equal to the length of the lower panel (18b) of the packaging body, characterized in that the motor (42) is driven step-by-step by a photo-electric cell (21) capable of stopping the motor each time a drive member (50) is positioned approximately in the vertical plane defined by the rear transverse wall (22a, 22b) of the magazine.

Description

-1 - Machine for setting volume, maintenance and -Lansl body rt

  cardboard packaging and method of reae such a machine for ada 2 ter to bodies

  dtemballa 1 e of different formats.

  The present invention relates to the setting of volume of cardboard packaging body or the like, having the shape

of a rectangular parallelepiped.

  To reduce the bulk of these packaging bodies during manufacture, storage and transport, it is usual to put them in a flattened state by folding along the hinge edges of the side panels, the flaps of end being arranged in the extension of the panels

  side to which they are articulated.

  The invention relates to a machine intended to volume such packing bodies and which can be used both by the manufacturer to perform in series packaging Mev packaging and insertion of the packaging body and insertion into it, for example of a partitioning brace, only by a user to fill the packaging thus produced, by volume maise of this packaging with or without braces

  and introduction of the products to be packaged.

  Machines are already known in the art for the mechanized placing of such packing bodies, but these machines are relatively bulky, of complicated structure and above all they are suitable only for

well-defined format of 6 packaging.

  For example, French Patent No. 1,453,183 discloses a machine for setting up flattened cardboard packaging bodies, and which comprises a first continuous chain conveyor continuously driven

  and provided with equidistant drives for training

  a second horizontal chain conveyor arranged parallel to the first conveyor but offset in the drive direction, said second conveyor being driven in the same direction as the first conveyor with a speed lower than this one; and being provided with equidistant butetters for the packaging bodies, and a third horizontal conveyor at the end of the first conveyor and under the coax, which is driven at the same speed as the engine and the engine. It is thus provided with a packing body in the flattened state, placed between a drive member of the first conveyor St a stop of the second conveyor, and with its fold lines directed transversely with respect to the conveyor. direction of advancement of the conveyors, opens gradually, since the distance between the drive member and the stop decreases gradually The arrangement is set so that when the packing body has a rectangular section , the orgae control of the first conveyor is retracted while a drive of the third conveyor comes to replace it The adjustment of the speeds must be realized with a great precision, because if one deviates one so much The packing body may be crushed between the entraining member and the abutment which encircle it. Evenly, it will be necessary to carefully adjust the entrenaze between the active faces of the training member. third conveyor and the abutment of the second conveyor so that the packaging body retains its reetangulaireo section Moreover, the adaptation of the machine for the volume setting of packaging bodies of different formats from that for which it is set, is very diffioile, if not impossible, because it would be necessary to dismantle the chains of the second and third conveyors and reassemble so that the drive members and stops are at

  the desired spacing according to the new fonat treated.

  In addition, the machine according to the aforementioned patent requires a height adjustment of the second conveyor relative to the third conveyor according to the height

packing body.

  Another major drawback of this machine lies in the fact that the flattened packing body, which is extracted on the fly at the base of a stacked packing body magazine, has a slightly arched shape, due the weight of the stack, so that when it is between a drive member and a stop, it may bend more instead of opening to take its

parallelepipedic shape.

  The present invention aims to remedy all these drawbacks and concerns for this purpose a machine for setting volume of a packaging body of cardboard or the like,

  of the type comprising a magazine in which the packaging bodies

  are arranged in a flattened state in a vertical stack, a

  vacuum extraction system for extracting succes-

  In the lower part of the magazine, a first chain conveyor is arranged under the magazine and is equipped with drive members, such as transverse bars, regularly spaced along the conveyor and a second conveyor. chains arranged parallel and in the same plane as the first conveyor and provided with stops separated by constant intervals equal to those between the drive rods, said machine being characterized in that the chains of the second conveyor are located between the chains of the first conveyor, and in that the four chains wind at their downstream end around gears carried by a common drive shaft driven by a stepper motor, the gears of the first conveyor being wedged on said motor shaft, while those of the second conveyor are formed on a tubular body which is mounted idler around said shaft, and which can be either solidari se

  disintegrated in rotation from the latter, thanks to the

  sion of a disconnectable coupling mechanism.

  The control means step by step of the motor can be constituted by a photocell capable of stopping the motor each time a drive bar is placed substantially in the vertical plane defined by the

  rear transverse wall of the store.

  In the engaged position of the coupling mechanism, the second conveyor is driven integrally with the

  first conveyor The distance between the drive bars

  The stops are adjusted so that at each stop of the motor, a stop is placed under the magazine at the vertical 4- of the fold line separating the two lower panels of the flattened packing body located in the Wagasino. according to the invention can be adapted to the processing of different format boxes. The adjustment method consists in disengaging the second conveyor from the first, then manually rotating the second conveyor independently of the first conveyor, until one abutments come to be placed vertically above the fold line defined above, then to re-engage the second conveyor to secure it to the first conveyor rotation It follows that at each engine st st, a bar and a stop are located under the magazine at their respective locations defined above. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the stops are constituted by rollers of horizontal axis oriented transversely to the direction of travel of the conveyors, said rollers being mounted rotatably about their axis, at the upper end of vertical support arms fixed by their central part on the obhalnes of the second conveyor, a non-return device being provided to allow rotation of the roller in the direction for which the lower front wall of the flattened packaging body rolls it downhill but to prohibit its rotation

reverse.

  Thus, when the packing body at the base of the magazine is pulled down by the extraction system, its fold line located downstream bears against the inner face of the training bar which is is located in position under the magazine, while said lower front wall bears on the roller As the packaging body goes down, said front lower wall is raised to the vertical position at the same time as it rolls the roller: the packaging body gradually takes its parallelepipedal shape Once it has reached, it can not return to its flattened state since the roller can not rotate in the direction for which the wall of the packaging body which is to his touch would tend

to clear.

  According to the invention, the maintenance of the body thus formed in its parallelepipedal shape can be reinforced by the fact that the internal distance between each bar of Ventra smemnt and the next roller located downstream is chosen to be slightly smaller than the longitudinal dimension of the squared body and that the arms carrying the roller are pivotally mounted and are biased to a position

  vertical by elastic means.

  It follows that under the action of the said

  ticks, the roller prints on the wall on which it rests, a deformation towards the inside of the box, which deformation opposes the return of the box to

its flattened state.

  According to an advantageous development of the invention, the magazine is equipped at its base with a retaining system for retaining the stack of packing bodies in the magazine and releasing only the lower packing body of the stack, at the time of its extraction This system can be constituted for example by a pinion driven in a reciprocating rotational movement, by motor means synchronized with the reciprocating movement of the extraction system, said pinion attacking two parallel racks arranged on both sides. other axis of the pinion and which end at one end by support portions, the entire system being mounted horizontally on the side of the upstream transverse wall of the store so that one of the support portions is slightly below the lower packing body of the stack and that the other support portion is slightly below the level of the packing body which is immediately above The synchronization is set to

  that when the extraction system starts its des-

  cente, the pinion rotates in the direction for which the lower support portion retracts from the magazine and the upper support portion enters the magazine

  to be placed under the edge of the penultimate packing body

  age, and when the extraction system starts to rise, the pinion rotates in the opposite direction, reversing the position

support portions.

  The machine according to the invention is so much simpler than that according to the patent FR 1 453 183 sensionn previously since it comprises only two conveyorso Moreover, it allows to put in volute packaging body

  different formats and with the exception of

  In contrast to the machine according to this patent, no height adjustment is necessary In addition, the bending defect reported previously for the known machine does not exist in the machine according to the invention, since the body packaging does not arrive flat on the conveyors to be laterally compressed, but it takes its form squared progressively as

let him go down.

  Advantageously, the shaping can be initiated

  thanks to a convex presenter at the lower

  top of the store to the right of the lower front wall

packing body flattened.

  An embodiment will now be described in detail by way of nonlimiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic elevational view of the machine according to the invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of the machine, along section line IIII of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows an enlarged view of the restraint system of Figure 1; Figures 4 to 6 are elevational views illustrating three successive phases of the forming process of the

packing body.

  In these figures, the packaging bodies are designated by the general reference 10, the magazine containing the vertical stack of packing bodies by referenced 12, the extraction system of the packaging bodies by the reference 14 and the means of conveying crates put in volume,

by the general reference 16.

  As already indicated above, the flattened packing bodies 10 comprise part, four-panels 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d intended to form the side walls of the package, ees panels being hinged together by fold lines 20, and secondly, end flaps, not shown, intended to form the bottom and the upper part of the package When the package is flattened, the flaps end are arranged

  in the extension of the corresponding panels.

  The magazine 12 consists of four vertical angles

  shims 22a, 22b, 22c and 22d between which are slid flattened packing bodies 10 arranged so that their fold lines are directed perpendicular to the direction of movement f of the conveying means The angles 22a and 22b disposed upstream relative to said direction of movement are fixed, while the angles 22 e and 22 d can be moved closer to or spaced angles 22 a and 22 b to adapt the cross section of the store to

  format of the packaging bodies to put in volume.

  The packaging body stack is retained, upstream, by a retaining system 24 which will be described in detail later, and downstream, by a pre -former 25 fixed to the

  base of angles downstream 22 e, 22 d.

  The extraction system 14 is disposed under the magazine, directly below the lower downstream panels 18b of the flattened packaging bodies. It comprises four suction cups 23 connected to a vacuum circuit not shown and carried by a plate 27 which a cylinder system 30 can move to

up and down.

  The conveying means 16 consists of two chain conveyors each comprising two parallel chains 32a, 32b and 34a, 34b respectively, the chains 34a, 34b being disposed between the shafts 32a, 32b and defining

  with these at their upper part a horizontal plan

zontal common conveying.

  The chains 32a, 32b of the first conveyor wind up at the upstream end of said conveying plane, around pinions 36a, 36b connected by a shaft 36c and located upstream of the store 12 with respect to the conveying direction. and at the downstream end, around motor pinions 38a, 38b linked by a driving shaft 38e.

  pinion 40 which is rotated by a motor 42 co O ia-

  The channels 32a and 32b are wound under said conveying plane around idler gears 46 and tension gears 48 which can be moved so as to allow adjustment of the tension of the chains They are connected to the intervals of the channels d, by means of bars of arrangement 50 arranged trams

  towards the direction of the convoyurs.

  These bars are carried above the conveyor plane of the

  they are fixed by their extremities on the e

  upper mity of platelets vertical supports 52 whose base is articulated on axes 549 56 equipping the chalnes. In order to avoid any stress on the legs when the support plates pass over the gables, at least one of the axes passes through a lumen 58 v elongated in the direction of movement of the shafts, which is pierced in each of the shafts. The stepwise movement of the motor can be controlled by any appropriate means, for example whenever the inner face 50 'of a bar cuts off the light beam of a photocell 21 placed at the door. aplomb

  plane defined by the upstream angles 22a, 22b of the store.

  Thus, at each stop of the motor, a bar 50 will be exactly positioned with its face 50 t in the plane

  brackets 22a, 22b, as shown in FIGS.

  This position of the entrainment bars is invariable

  whatever the format of the processed packaging body.

  The chains 34a, 34b of the second conveyor are wound at their upstream end about pinions 60a, 60b connected by a shaft 60c, which are mounted under the magazine, slightly downstream of the extraction system 14 A to their downstream end, the chains 34a, 34b are wrapped around

  sprockets 62a, 62b interconnected by a tubular body 64.

  The second conveyor also has idler gears

  66 and tension gears, not visible in the figures.

  In accordance with the invention, the set of gears 62 to 9-62b and the tubular body 64 are mounted idler around the drive shaft 380 of the first conveyor, so that the second conveyor can be made independent in rotation

of the first conveyor.

  To make it integral in rotation, it is planned a

  coupling mechanism which can be of any suitable type.

  In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, it is constituted by a clutch comprising two coaxial disks 70, 72, rotatably mounted about their respective axes. The faces of the disks which are opposite are

  equipped with complementary teeth which may

  kick into each other when an electronic control system

  magnetic drive axially moves one of the disks to bring it into contact with the other On the opposite faces to those which have the teeth, the disks 70, 72 carry pinions 74, 76 which are respectively connected by

  endless transmissions 78, 80 to gears 82, 84 respectively.

  The operation of this clutch system will be explained by means of the drive shaft 38 and the tubular body 64.

thereafter.

  The chains 34a, 34b of the second conveyor are connected at regular intervals equal to those separating the bars, by abutments constituted by rollers 86 of horizontal axis directed transversely to the direction of advance f of the conveyor Each roller is mounted rotating around its geometric axis, materialized by two sections

  stem protruding at the center of its end faces.

  These rod sections are mounted journalled in holes formed at the upper end of two vertical elongated plates 88, they themselves pivoted in a vertical plane parallel to the cat 34 n, 34 k, about an axis 90 (Figure 1) worn by the latter and which passes through said plates in the vicinity of their part

  These latter are recalled to their vertical position.

  by means of a return spring 92 which is stretched between the lower end of the plates and a fastening element 93 integral with one of the chains 34a or 34b. In this position, the rollers 86 are The anti-return system (not shown) is shown to prevent a turntable roll about their axis in the direction of the watch's eagmiles on the face. 1, but to allow their free rotation in the opposite direction The reason for this measurement will appear

thereafter.

  The retaining system 24 of the packaging bodies comprises, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a pinion 96 driven in rotation for example by a rotary jack and which drives two racks 98, 100 disposed parallel to each other on both sides. the other side of the gables so that they have opposite movements in the direction of one of the racks ends at one end

blade 102, 104.

  The retaining system is mounted at the base of the magazine outside thereof, on the side of the upstream angles 22a, 22b and is arranged so that the blades are above one of the other and that one or the other at the same time protrudes inside the store to support a body

packing.

  The rotary cylinder which controls the pinion 96 is fed by the same source of hydraulic fluid as the cylinder 30 of the extraction system so that when the jack 30 expands upwards, the pigeon 9 rotates in the direction of the needle. a watch in FIG. 3 and when the jack

  retracts, the pinion turns in the opposite direction

  the restraint system will be explained later.

  Since the machine according to the invention has been completely described, its mode of adjustment will now be explained as a function of the size of the packaging body to be put in volume.

as well as its operation.

  The adjustment of the machine is carried out as follows: the downstream angles 22c, 22d are moved away from or closer to the upstream angles 22a, 22b so as to adapt the cross section of the magazine 12 to the surface of the flattened packing bodies When the engine is stopped, the relative angular position of the second conveyor is then adjusted relative to the first conveyor 11 by separating the two discs 70, 72 and then rotating the second conveyor 28 manually. until the inner gap 1 between the rollers 86 and the drive bars 50 is substantially equal to the size of the upstream bottom panel 18b of the flattened package body, in position in the magazine, and finally reapplying the two discs against each other in order to make the two conveyors

  stopping of the conveyors, a bar 50 and a roller 86 are

  will be properly positioned under the store.

  The operation of the machine is as follows:

  starts the engine 42 This drives through, through

  the transmission 44 and pinion 40, the shaft

  motor 38c and therefore also the first conveyor-32a, 32b.

  The movement of the motor shaft is transmitted through

  the pinion 82, the transmission 78, the pinion 74, the disks 70, 72 in the engaged position, the pinion 76, the transmission 80 and the pinion 84, to the tubular body 64 and therefore to the second conveyor, which therefore turns into synchronism

  and at the same speed as the first conveyor 32a, 32b.

  When a bar 50 arrives in the plane of the upstream angles 22a, 22b, it cuts off the light beam emitted by the photocell 21, which causes the motor 42 and the conveyors 26, 28 to stop. 4, the cylinder 30 of the extraction system begins its recovery The blade 104 of the lower rack is then in the advanced position under the lower packaging body, while the blade 102 of the upper rack is in the retracted position, so the whole body stack

  packaging then rests on the blade 104 and on the pre-

shaper 25.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the suction cups 23 come into contact with the packaging body to be extracted. As soon as the jack starts its downward movement, the pinion 96 is rotated clockwise, thus bringing the upper blade 102 in the advanced position under the penultimate packing body of the stack, and the lower blade 104 in the retracted position The lower packing body -12 thus libdré is driven by the vern 30 to the basl During its descent, it is oeofo-mé first by the preconfoimateur 25 which acts on the pomeau 18 oe the manner of a cam (Figure 6), then by the gleot 86, that said panel 18 c runt in lo sense clockwise as the wrapping body descends when the jack 30 arrives at the end of its lower stroke, it causes the pinion 96 to rotate in the opposite direction of the clock needles, which brings the system of retained in its starting position Llustrêe In Fig. 4, ready for a new dispensing cycle. In order to prevent the wrapped wrapping body which is shown in broken lines in Fig. 6, to disengage from bar 50 and roller 86 to to take its flattened shape, it is provided selel'ivention, to adjust the inner gap 1 between each banrre and the pebble assoeié, a value slightly less than the dimension of the panel 18b measured in the direction of conveying In this manner, when the packing body is in the squared state (Figure 6), the roller 86, which is returned to its vertical equilibrium position by the spring 92, curves the panel 18c against which it leans towards the inside of the body It is understood that such deformation prevents

  the packing body to resume its flattened position.

  The return to the flattened position is also prevented by the provision of a non-return system which prevents the roller 86 from rotating in a clockwise direction, which is precisely the direction in which the panel 18 would tend to come off from between the pebble and the

associated training bar.

  The two conveyors then moving en bloc at the same speed, driving the crate in a squared position and stopping it is opposite a device for inserting a preassembled brace, or facing a filling device in which the products to be packaged are

introduced in a supine position.

  At the same time, the bar 50 and associated roller 86 next take position under the store, ready to drill a new packing body, following a cycle

  identical to the one just described.

R MIEDICATIONS

  Apparatus for volume forming a carton body or the like, of the type comprising a magazine (12) in which the packaging bodies (10) are arranged in a flattened state in a pile, extraction (14) with suckers for successively extracting a packing body at the bottom of the magazine, a first chain conveyor (26) arranged under the magazine and which is

  equipped with drive elements, such as trans-

  versales (50), regularly spaced along the conveyor and a second conveyor chain (28) arranged parallel and in the same plane as the first conveyor and provided with stops (86) separated by constant intervals (A) equal to those between the drive bars, said machine being characterized in that the chains (34a, 34b) of the second conveyor are between the channels (32a, 52b) of the first conveyor, and in that that the four chains wind at their downstream end around pinions carried by a common motor shaft (38c) driven by a motor (42) commanded 'step by step', the pinions (38a, 38b) of the first conveyor ( 26) being keyed on said motor shaft while those (62a, 62b) of the second conveyor (28) are formed on a tubular body (64), which is mounted idler around said shaft, and which can be either secured or uncoupled in rotation from the latter, thanks to the forecast

  a disconnectable coupling mechanism (70, 72).

  2. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said coupling mechanism comprises two toothed coaxial disks (70, 72) arranged face to face with their teeth facing and rotatably mounted around their respective axes, said disks being respectively connected in movement, by means of motion transmission means (78; 80), to a pinion (82) wedged on the drive shaft (38c) and to a pinion (84) integral with the tubular body (64), means control means being provided for applying the discs against each other so as to make the second conveyor in motion

  first, or to separate them from each other.

-

  3. Machine according to one of claims 1 and 2,

  characterized in that the motor step control means are constituted by a photoelectric cell (21) capable of stopping the motor (42) each time a drive bar (50) is placed substantially in the vertical plane defined by the rear transverse wall (22a, 22b) of the magazine

  4 E Machine according to one of the preceding claims,

  characterized in that the stops are constituted by rollers (86), of horizontal axis oriented transversely to the direction of travel of the conveyors, said rollers being rotatably mounted about their axis, at the upper end of support arms (88) 9 themselves mounted pivoting on the chains (34a, 34b) of the second conveyor, and recalled to the vertical position by rétenressors (92), a non-return device being provided to allow the rotation of the roller in the direction for which the front lower wall (18 c) of the flattened packaging body rolls it in

  descending, but to prohibit its rotation in the opposite direction.

  Nachine according to one of the preceding claims,

  characterized in that the internal distance (1) between each drive member (50) and the next downstream roller (86) is set to be slightly less than the size of the squared packing body, measured in the

conveying direction.

  Machine according to one of the preceding claims,

  characterized in that it comprises a retaining system (24) for retaining the packing body stack in the magazine and releasing only the lower packing body of the stack at the time of its extraction O 7. Machine according to claim 6: characterized ee said retaining system is constituted by a pinion (96) entralné in a reciprocating rotational movement, by motor means, synchronized with the reciprocating movement of the extraction system, said pinion attacking two parallel racks (98, 100) arranged on either side of the axis of the pinion and which end at one end by support portions (102, 104), the entire system -16 - being mounted horizontally on the side the upstream transverse wall of the magazine (22a, 22b) so that one of the support portions (104) is slightly below the level of the lower packaging body of the stack and the fourth support portion ( 102) is slightly e The machine according to one of the claims 6 and 7, characterized in that said pinion (96) is rotated by a rotating vrin. fed to the feed circuit of the feeder extraction system when the latter starts descent from a high position, the pinion (96) rotates in the direction for which the lower support portion (104) retracts from the store and the upper support portion (102) enters the store

  to be placed under the edge of the penultimate packing body

  when the extraction system starts to rise, the pinion (96) rotates in the opposite direction, Interverting the

position of the support portions.

  9. Machine according to one of the preceding claims,

  characterized in that it comprises a convolute oonvex (25) located at the bottom of the store (12) to the right

  from the lower front wall of the flattened packing body.

  10. Method of adjusting the machine according to one

  of the preceding claims, to adapt it to bodies

  of different formats, caraoterized in what it consists: to move the downstream transverse wall (22 c, 22 d) of the store relative to the upstream transverse wall (22 a, 22 b) which remains fixed, so adapting the section of the magazine to the surface of the packaging body to volume; separating the disks (70, 72), thereby allowing the second conveyor (28) to rotate by hand alone until the internal gap (1) between any bar and the associated roller (86) immediately downstream of it, substantially equal to the size of the rear bottom panel (18b) of the new packaging body, and re-engaging the disks (70, 72)