FR2658785A1 - Method and installation for lining (filling) a container with a flexible string (chain) of products packaged as individual units - Google Patents

Abstract

- Packaging of doses of products in individual sachets. - The installation comprises: . a frame (12) carrying a vertical column (14) which is telescopic and adjustable in terms of position, . a support bracket (jib) (17) fitted on the column and carrying a movable system with balancer (18), capable of being driven in a first alternating (reciprocal) displacement in a horizontal direction (x-x') and in a second displacement of the pendular alternating stepping type, . means (28) for driving the advance progress (forward movement) of the string carried by the system, . and means (35, 38, 37) for guiding the path of the string along the column, the support bracket and the system. - Application to spices.

Description

METHOD AND INSTALLATION FOR FILLING A CONTAINER WITH A
FLEXIBLE STRAP OF PRODUCTS PACKED IN INDIVIDUAL UNITS
The present invention relates to the production of elementary units of various products, in the form of sachets or doses formed automatically in the form of a continuous chain.

 To ensure the packaging in sachets or individual doses of various products, in particular pulverulent, granular or other, it has been recommended to constitute such doses or sachets by fractional filling with a strip of suitable flexible material, generally in tubular form, which is segmented by staggered sealing pads intended to ensure the sealed closure of the individual doses or sachets and to allow the separation of two successive sachets which can thus be relatively divided.

 Such a packaging method has proved particularly advantageous by the possibility of involving continuous, fully automated manufacturing, making it possible to produce sachets or doses of reproducible nature, both in form and in mass and / or composition.

 If the above advantages are manifestly acquired, packaging in the form of strings still presents various implementation difficulties. Among these difficulties, mention should be made of unitary distribution at the places of use, from a continuous chain and, upstream of such use, the absolute necessity of being able to package such a chain in a container capable of '' ensure a function of storage, transport and subsequent feeding of automatic bag distribution lines.

 Up to now, it can be considered that such a function is not assumed, mainly because of the impossibility of ensuring the storage and the proper filling of a rosary continuously produced inside a container.

 Up to now, the packaging of a continuously produced rosary has been carried out by accordion folding in a suitable box or container whose width is substantially equal to that of the rosary. This method is not satisfactory because the capacity of the containers is low and does not suit the throughput of production or use machines.

 The present invention aims to remedy the above drawbacks by proposing a machine, or even an installation, as well as an implementation method making it possible to ensure, at the outlet of a machine for manufacturing a packaging chain, the automatic filling of large capacity containers capable of allowing subsequent recovery by dispensing systems for sachets or elementary doses cut continuously from the endless scrolling of a chain from a container-store.

To achieve the above objective, the invention aims, first of all, a filling process consisting of
- take charge of a continuous rosary with a
mobile pendulum system, capable of being animated
of a first alternative movement according to a
horizontal direction and a second displacement
of the type step by step, alternative, pendulum,
- place the system directly above a container
whose width is greater than that of
rosary and whose length is oriented
parallel to the direction of travel
horizontal,
- cause the scrolling, at constant speed, of the
rosary by a part of installation of the system,
- move the system in the first direction of
horizontal reciprocating according to a
race go over the entire useful length of the
container,
- detect the limit switch to order the
pendulum movement of one step in one direction
system,
- move the system in the second direction of
horizontal reciprocating according to a
return race,
- detect the return limit switch to order
the pendulum movement of one step always in
the same way,
- maintain the previous conditions of
sequential operation up to cover all
the width of the container by displacement
successive commuters by one step to form, in
the container, a rosary bed,
- renew the same operating conditions
sequential after reversing the direction of
pendulum displacement to constitute a second
rosary bed,
- and proceed as follows until filling of the
container.

The subject of the invention is also a packing installation capable of implementing the above method and comprising, for this purpose
- a frame carrying a vertical column,
telescopic, adjustable in position,
- a suitable bracket on the column and carrying a
mobile pendulum system, capable of being animated
of a first alternative movement according to a
horizontal direction and a second displacement
of the step-by-step type, pendulum alternative,
- scrolling training means of
rosary carried by the system,
- And means for guiding the path of the
rosary along the column, the gallows and
of the system.

 Various other characteristics will emerge from the description given below with reference to the appended drawings which show, by way of nonlimiting examples, embodiments of the subject of the invention.

 Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of an installation according to the invention.

 Figs. 2 and 3 are views taken, respectively, along the lines II-II and III-III of FIG. 1.

 Fig. 4 is a plan view illustrating an alternative embodiment.

 Fig. 5 is a partial perspective showing a characteristic construction detail of one of the elements according to FIG. 5.

 Fig. 6 is a cross section corresponding, substantially, to line VI-VI of FIG. 1.

 According to fig. 1 to 3, the installation for implementing the method of the invention is located at the outlet of a machine 1 intended for the production of a continuous string 2. In known manner, the chain 2 is segmented by pads 3 isolating elementary sachets 4 each filled, at least partially, with a dose of conditioned product. By way of example, the invention finds a preferred application in the field of the production of doses of food ingredients, such as spices, herbs, to be subsequently dispensed, in particular in receptacles, tips or packaging boxes.

 The machine 1 can be of any suitable type and include one or more continuous production tracks for a chain. Such a machine can be considered as known in the art and is therefore not the subject of a specific description. Those skilled in the art know that such a machine includes a hopper 5 for bulk storage of the product or products to be packaged in elementary sachets. Such a machine comprises, below the hopper 5, a unit 6 for conditioning one or more tracks and a conveyor belt 7 for possible evacuation of the bags cut out from the unit if necessary.

 The installation according to the invention, designated by the reference 10, is arranged at the outlet of the machine 1, so as to allow the filling of a removable container 11, representing a temporary storage unit for delivery, transport, or even subsequent feeding of the dispensing machine of such sachets or elementary doses.

 According to fig. 1 to 3, the packing installation comprises a frame 12 of any suitable shape, more particularly constituted by a barrel rising from a sole 13 allowing fixing in situ. The frame 12 supports a vertical, telescopic column 14, the position of which relative to the frame 12 can be adjusted by means of a drive member 15 of any suitable type. By way of example, the motor 15 comprises a pinion, a gear or a toothed wheel 16 intended to cooperate, through the frame 12, with a rack or the like presented by column 14. It should be considered that any other known means of the technique can be implemented to allow controlling a relative movement in one or the other direction of the arrow 1 of the column 14 relative to the frame 12.

 Although not shown, the column 14 and the frame 12 may have, in cross section, any suitable geometric shape, of revolution or not, and comprise, at the interfaces, rings or the like for guiding and relative centering.

 The column 14 supports, by its upper part, a cantilever bracket 17, defining a horizontal direction x-x ', preferably rectilinear, extending parallel to one of the horizontal dimensions of the container 11. The bracket 17 ensures the suspension of a mobile system 18 which is capable of being driven by a first reciprocating movement in a horizontal direction f2 parallel to the axis xx 'and by a second displacement, of the pendulum reciprocating step type, according to either direction of arrow f3 (fig. 2).

 The system 18, which can be qualified as a pendulum type, comprises a chassis 20 which is suspended from the bracket 17 by means of a pivot axis y-y 'parallel to the axis x-x'. Preferably, the axis y-y 'is materialized by means of two pins 21 interposed between the frame 20 and, for example, two hanging chairs 22 secured to the bracket 17.

 The chassis 20 is therefore immobilized axially on the bracket 17 but can be driven in angular pivoting in one or the other direction of the arrow f3, by means of a motor member 23 of the type operating step by step. The drive member 23 may, for example, be constituted by a jack interposed between the chassis 20 and the bracket 17.

 The chassis 20 is intended to delimit a track V for supporting and guiding a carriage 25 movable parallel to the axis y-y '. To this end, the chassis 20 can be constituted by an open or closed profile or by a box construction delimiting a rail or several slides for the carriage 25.

In all cases, the carriage 25 is produced in a complementary manner, so as to be able to roll in one or the other direction of the arrow f2 while being driven in displacement by means of a control member 26 with double sense of rotation.

 The carriage 25 provides rigid suspension of a pendulum arm 27 which is provided, at its lower end portion, with a means 28 for driving, scrolling and laying of the chain 2. The means 28 preferably comprises: a duo of cylinders whose parallel axes are oriented perpendicular to the direction of horizontal alternating movement along the axis y-y '. The duo of cylinders comprises a first cylinder 29, said to be driving, driven in rotation by a transmission 30 from a drive member 31 carried by the pendulum arm 29. The duo of rollers comprises a second roller 32 which is preferably presser. The rollers 29 and 32 are located at the lower end of the pendulum arm 27, the length of which is, in all cases, greater than the depth of a container 11.

 The installation further comprises means for guiding the path of the chain 2 along the column 14 of the bracket 17 and the pendulum arm 27. These path guide means comprise an input roller 35, of the idler type , an inflection roller 36 and a guide passage 37 carried by the arm 27, between the roller 36 and the duo of rollers 29 and 32.

 Preferably but not necessarily, the input roller 35 is associated with an output roller 38 between which is located a magazine 39 for accumulating a reserve of a length of string 2 greater than twice the length L of the container 11. The magazine 30 is preferably formed by the two rollers 35 and 38 carried by the column 14 and by a deflection roller 40 intended to be moved, inside a slide 41, between two high and low extreme position detectors 42 and 43, intended to control the sequential operation of the installation. In all cases, the magazine 39 is preferably incorporated into the column 14, although different structural arrangements can also be envisaged.

 The installation described above is intended to ensure the filling of a container il whose width L (fig. 2) is greater than the width of the chain 2.

 The commissioning of the installation described above involves the various sequential steps which follow.

 The container 11 is immobilized in an abutment position, so that, for example, its length is arranged parallel to the axis xx 'and that the pendulum arm 27 can be engaged inside this container by telescopic movement of the column 14 controlled by the motor 15. The carriage 25 is placed in a waiting position in which the arm 27 is, for example, immobilized inside the container 11 and close to the wall of the latter determining the starting point for sequential operation of the mobile system 18.

 A first operating mode consists in supplying the chain 2 continuously by providing for forming a buffer accumulation loop 39 intended to absorb the fluctuations in the relative speeds between the machine for manufacturing the chain 2 and the installation 10. The means 28 are then controlled in rotation by means of the motor 31, so as to cause the scrolling in the direction of arrow f5 of the chain which follows the routing means 38, 36 and 37.

 The motor 26 is controlled so as to drive the first movement of the mobile system 18 in a so-called forward stroke, corresponding to the movement of the pendulum arm 27 of the wall 11a of the container in the direction of the opposite wall îîb. As this development progresses, the end part of the pendulum arm 27 deposits, on the bottom of the container 11, the chain 2 which is delivered via the duo of rollers 29, 32.

 When the arm 27 reaches the opposite wall îîb, the supply of the drive member 26 is reversed, so as to return the pendulum arm 27 in a return stroke towards its original position.

 Simultaneously, the motor member 23 is controlled to cause the chassis 20 to pivot by one step in one direction, so as to offset the return stroke of the pendulum arm 27 which deposits, in a slightly laterally offset manner, in zig- zag, the chain 2 delivered by the duo of rollers 29 and 32.

 As shown in fig. 1, the above sequential operation is reproduced after each round trip and allows to deposit, on the bottom îîc, a rosary bed in the form of zig-zag back and forth bands. When the entire surface of the bottom 11 has been covered, the pendulum arm 27 has moved from an extreme position, as illustrated in phantom on the left side of FIG. 2, at an opposite extreme pendulum position, as shown in solid lines in the same figure.

 At this stage of the sequential operation, the drive member 15 is controlled to raise the column 14 by a measure corresponding to the thickness of the rosary bed deposited on the bottom 11c.

 A sequential operation identical to that described above then occurs with, however, reversing the pendulum movement step by step of the arm 27 to lead it from the position illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 2 to the position shown in phantom. This pendulum stroke makes it possible to constitute a second bed superimposed on the first inside the container 11 and thus to correctly fill the latter by simply moving the pendulum arm 27 in rectilinear alternating stroke subjected, at the end of each stroke, to a displacement of a pendulum step.

 The above continuous operation can advantageously be replaced by an intermittent operation involving, first of all, the constitution of the accumulation loop 39 detected, in particular, by the low information sensor 43 controlling the sequential operation of the system 18 subjected, each time, to a round trip intended to consume the previously formed accumulation loop.

 In such a preferred operating mode, the length of the loop 39 is at least equal to the linear measurement of deposition of the chain 2 on a back and forth travel of the system 18 in the direction of alternative horizontal movement.

 The running speed, imposed on the chain 2 by the duo of rollers 29, 32, is constant and allows, during the decelaration prior to the reversal of the direction of movement, to have a momentary extra length allowing, during the inversion, the formation of a fold capable of covering the entire useful length of the container.

 Fig. 4 shows, in plan view, an alternative embodiment in which a machine 1, of the multi-track type, provides, for example, three strings 2, 21 22 supported by three installations 10, 101, 102. In such a case, each way of guiding the path, constituted by the roller 35, then involves, according to FIG. 5, a roller 35a mounted on a yoke 50, capable of turning on a pivot 51 making it possible to obtain automatic compensation for the angle of presentation of the bead 2 relative to the direction x-x 'or y-y'.

 Fig. 6 shows an alternative embodiment in which the installation is provided to ensure, automatically or not, the cutting of the chain 2 at the end of filling of a container, such as 11. In such a case, the arm 27 supports the duo of rollers 29, 32, respectively motor and presser. One of the two rollers, for example the driving roller, is hollowed out in its central part to present a groove 53 in which the rotating shaft 54 of a driving member 55 carried by the arm 27 can be placed. The end of the shaft 54 supports a knife 56 capable of passing from an extreme position, illustrated in solid lines, to a second extreme position, materialized in phantom, and between which the knife 56 sweeps the passage section of the rosary 2 between the rollers 29 and 32.

 The knife 56 is arranged downstream immediately at the outlet of the rollers 29 and 32, so that a cut of the chain, intervening at the end of filling, keeps said chain in engagement between the rollers 29 and 32 which are thus able to always ensure scrolling as soon as the power supply to the drive member 31 intervenes.

 The above structural arrangements, as well as the filling process, make it possible, in particular by implementing an intermittent sequential operating phase, to have perfectly identifiable outward and return travel information, safety setting up and return stroke of the arm 27, in relation to the length of the loop or of the accumulation reserve 39, of a possibility of cutting to length at will for a complete or partial filling of a container 11 and a possibility to proceed, easily and easily, to the establishment or replacement of a container 11, in particular between two intermittent operating phases separated by the constitution of the loop or accumulation reserve.

 The cutting means also make it possible, from a continuous chain, to fill different containers, either brought to station successively, or previously arranged together at said station when, for example, each of them has a length multiple of the maximum stroke of the carriage 25 back and forth according to arrow f2.

 The sequential operation, controlled by the various motor organs, is placed under the dependence of a console 57 carried by the frame or the barrel 12 and allowing, in a conventional manner, the establishment of a manual or fully automatic operation.

Claims (12)

 1 - Method of filling a container with a flexible chain of products packaged in individual units,  characterized in that it consists of  - take charge of a continuous rosary with a  mobile pendulum system, capable of being animated  of a first alternative movement according to a  horizontal direction and a second displacement  of the type step by step, alternative, pendulum,  - place the system directly above a container  whose width is greater than that of  rosary and whose length is oriented  parallel to the direction of travel  horizontal,  cause the scrolling, at constant speed, of the  rosary by a part of installation of the system,  - move the system in the first direction of  horizontal reciprocating according to a  race go over the entire useful length of the  container,  - detect the limit switch to order the  pendulum movement of one step in one direction  system,  - move the system in the second direction of  horizontal reciprocating according to a  return race,  - detect the return limit switch to order  the pendulum movement of one step always in  the same way,  - maintain the previous conditions of  sequential operation until covering all  the width of the container by displacement  successive commuters by one step to form, in  the container, a rosary bed,  - renew the same operating conditions  sequential after reversing the direction of  pendulum displacement to constitute a second  rosary bed,  - and proceed so on until the filling of the  container.  2 - Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the system is continuously driven in horizontal movement back and forth.  3 - Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the system is intermittently driven in horizontal movement back and forth.  4 - A method according to claim 3, characterized in that, the system being stopped, we accumulate in a buffer store a length of string at least equal to the linear measurement of travel back and forth of the system in the direction of horizontal movement, then the intermittent movement of the system is controlled on the outward and return stroke.  5 - Method according to claim 3, characterized in that, after filling the container, the rosary is cut immediately downstream of the laying part of the system when the movement stops and in that this stop is used to change the full container to an empty container.  6 - Installation for filling a container with a flexible chain (2) of product packaged in individual units,  characterized in that it comprises:  - a frame (12) carrying a vertical column (14),  telescopic, adjustable in position,  - a bracket (17) adapted on the column and  carrying a mobile pendulum system (18),  even to be animated with a first move  alternating in a horizontal direction  (x-x ') and a second displacement of the step-by-step type  step, pendulum alternative,  - means (28) for driving the scrolling  rosary carried by the system,  - And means (35, 38, 37) for guiding the  path of the rosary along the column,  of the stem and the system.  7 - Installation according to claim 6, characterized in that the system (18) comprises  - a frame (20) suspended on an axis of rotation  horizontal (y-y '), coupled to a driving member  (23) stepping rotation drive and  delimiting a support and guide track (V)  parallel to said axis,  - a carriage (25) mounted on the track and carrying a  motor member (26) with two directions of rotation,  - and a pendulum arm (27) suspended from the chassis  and provided, at its lower terminal part, with a  scrolling drive means (28) and  laying of the rosary.  8 - Installation according to claim 7, characterized in that the frame (20) is constituted by a profile suspended under the bracket (17) by two pins (21) coaxial along an axis parallel to the direction of the bracket.  9 - Installation according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the means (28) for driving the scrolling of the chain consists of a duo of rollers with parallel axes, perpendicular to the direction of horizontal movement of the system, the l 'at least one (29) is motor and of which the second (32) is presser.  10 - Installation according to claim 6, 7 or 9, characterized in that the drive means (28) is associated with a cutting mechanism arranged downstream of the duo of rollers (29, 32).  11 - Installation according to claim 10, characterized in that the cutting mechanism comprises a knife (56) mounted on a rotating shaft (54) housed in a groove (53) of one of the rollers (29, 32) of the duo and coupled to a motor member carried by the arm.  12 - Installation according to claim 6, characterized in that the column (14) is associated with a buffer store (39) in which is accumulated a rosary reserve (2) of length at least equal to that of linear displacement alternative of the system (18) in the horizontal direction (x-x ').