FR2767116A1 - Packaging procedure for fruit or vegetable produce graded by size - Google Patents

Abstract

An operator is located at the packing position which is at the same level as a tray (2) which receives produce of predetermined dimensions from a calibrator (1). The operator manually loads the produce from the tray into a packing case or into the hollows of a packing sheet (9) arranged in the packing case. When full, the packing case is then placed onto the exit conveyor (3). The operator who loads the produce also forms the packing cases at the same position. They are manually formed using a jig (6) from a sheet blank (5) of cardboard or corrugated cardboard that is pre-cut or pre-creased.

Description

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR PACKAGING FRUITS OR
SIZED VEGETABLES IN A TRAY IN SEMI-RIGID MATERIAL.

 The present invention relates to a method and a device for packaging calibrated fruits or vegetables in a tray made of a semi-rigid material such as cardboard or corrugated cardboard.

 We know that, in the same packaging of this type, we generally gather, for their transport and their display for sale, fruits or vegetables having similar dimensions. Prior to packaging, we therefore sort the harvested fruits and vegetables to gather them according to different size ranges. This operation is generally carried out in so-called grading machines, of which there are various types on the market and which collect fruits or vegetables of decreasing size in successive receptacles.

 Each receptacle is assigned a worker, who is responsible for the manual packaging of fruits or vegetables of the size corresponding to these positions. For this purpose, each of these work stations is continuously supplied with cardboard or corrugated cardboard trays, for example using a swing conveyor. These trays are pre-assembled and the attendants at the various packaging stations only have to grab them, place them on a work table, generally inclined, optionally garnish them with a sheet of paper or synthetic material comprising cells for different fruits or vegetables, fill them with them, and transfer the full packaging to an evacuation system, for example to a continuous conveyor.

 Such a method gives complete satisfaction with regard to the sizing and packaging of fruits and vegetables and it is implemented on a very large scale by most of the harvesters.

 A problem arises, however, in the cardboard or corrugated cardboard packaging used in this process. Indeed, these packages are delivered to users and stored by them in the form of blanks, precut to the required shape and dimensions and pushed back, that is to say pre-folded. These blanks are then transferred, among users, to assembly platforms, where they are shaped and assembled, then stored in this form, before being subsequently distributed to the various packaging stations.

For fruit and vegetable growers, this process is therefore expensive on different levels
- first, it is necessary to provide an installation for mounting the packaging
- then, there must be a storage area for the mounted trays
- Finally, a distribution system must be installed for these trays mounted at the various packing stations for calibrated fruit, which, taking into account the dimensions of these trays and the resulting size, requires complex installation.

 The present invention aims to simplify this process and the installations that it requires by proposing a process in which the blanks of cardboard or corrugated cardboard which are precut and pushed back are delivered flat to the attendants at the packaging stations, who assemble and assemble them. - even manually, one by one, just before filling them with the calibrated fruit or vegetables distributed at this station by the grader.

 At each packaging station, the agents thus perform a double task, namely assembling the various trays and filling them as they go with the fruit or vegetables supplying this station. This results in a considerable saving at the level of the enterprise, in which it is no longer necessary to have a tray assembly station, nor a storage area for these, nor a system of distribution of these trays to packaging stations.

 The subject of the invention is therefore a method of packaging calibrated fruits or vegetables in trays made of a semi-rigid material such as cardboard or corrugated cardboard, of the type in which a person assigned to a packaging station at the level of a receptacle of fruit or vegetables of predetermined dimensions of a grader manually takes these fruits or vegetables from the receptacle and places them in a tray or in the cells of a sheet of paper or of a synthetic material arranged in this tray, before transferring the full tray to an evacuation means, this process being characterized in that the person in charge of the packaging proceeds himself to the prior assembly on site of the tray, in a manual mounting template, from '' a blank of cardboard or corrugated cardboard, pre-cut or pressed.

 Templates for mounting such trays are well known in the art and they generally comprise an opening in which (or slides between which) the pre-folded blank is pressed, this opening having such dimensions (or these slides being arranged in such a way) that the bottom of the packaging can slide there and that its side walls are simultaneously straightened perpendicular to the bottom. Shutters optionally adjoining laterally to these walls by fold lines perpendicular to the bottom can be simultaneously guided manually to come to bear against the internal face of the adjoining walls, while flaps adjoining by a fold line to the upper edge of these adjoining walls can then be folded down manually against these flaps to lock them in position, at least one stud projecting from these flaps in the direction of the bottom can be manually engaged in a cutout made in the corresponding position in the bottom to lock the tray in the mounted position.

 Other types of plate can be produced manually in templates of a different type, but close to the one whose operation has just been described.

 With the process according to the invention, therefore, the packaging stations associated with each receptacle of the grader are thus no longer supplied with assembled and assembled packaging, but simply with precut and pressed blanks, stacked for example on handling pallets. .

 The manual assembly of a packaging using a template requires a time much less than a minute, and the resulting additional cost is incommensurate with the savings made compared to the previous techniques mentioned above.

 The invention also relates to a device for the implementation of this method, this device comprising a grader for fruit or vegetables of a type known per se, comprising various receptacles for fruit or vegetables of determined dimensions and being characterized in that at least one of these receptacles is associated with a manual mounting template for a fruit and vegetable tray from a pre-cut blank and pressed into a semi-rigid material such as cardboard or corrugated cardboard.

 This device can naturally be equipped in a known manner with at least one means for removing the packaging produced on site, after filling thereof, for example with a continuous conveyor.

An embodiment of the invention will be described below in more detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In these drawings, which are schematic views intended simply to illustrate the invention, and which are not limiting
Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of the device, illustrating the phase of manual shaping and assembly of a tray at a packaging station of a grader
Figure 2 is a plan view of a blank of corrugated cardboard usable on this template
Figures 3 and 4 are schematic views, in cross section, of the plates, illustrating two phases of their manual mounting, for the type of plate of Figure 2
Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 1, illustrating the filling of the plates, after their assembly.

 FIG. 1 schematically represents a grader 1 for fruit or vegetables, which sorts the harvested products and collects them according to their sizes in different receptacles 2, from each of which attendants fill corrugated cardboard trays, which are then evacuated by a conveyor continuous 3.

 In accordance with the invention, the corrugated cardboard trays are not distributed all assembled at each packaging station, but in the form of a stack 4 of blanks 5 precut and repressed, which are shaped manually, in a template 6, by the packing person.

 A blank 5 of corrugated cardboard, precut and repressed, able to be shaped using such a template is shown, for example, in Figure 1. It comprises a rectangular bottom 10, two longitudinal walls parallel 11, articulated on this bottom by fold lines and able to be erected perpendicular to the bottom, and two parallel transverse walls 12, articulated on the bottom 10 by fold lines perpendicular to the previous ones and also capable of being erected perpendicular to the bottom.

 Flaps 13, articulated at the ends of the walls 11 by fold lines perpendicular to the bottom 10, are intended to come to bear against the internal face of the walls 12. Flaps 14, articulated on the wall 12 by parallel fold lines at the bottom 10, are intended to be folded against the flaps 13, which are thus pinched between the flaps 14 and the adjoining partitions 12. A lug 15, projecting laterally from the middle part of each flap 14 can be engaged in a cutout 16 provided in corresponding position in the bottom 10, at the base of the walls 12, to lock the assembly in the mounted position.

 Such a blank 5, which has only the value of an example, can be easily shaped in the template 6, which has a cross section of shape and dimensions similar to those of the bottom 10. The blank 5 will be pressed manually by the conditioning assistant in the template 6, the curved walls 7 forming slides straighten the walls 11 and 12 (see Figure 3). These walls and the flaps 13 are guided in their movement by the packaging attendant and, when they have reached the required position, it suffices for him to manually fold down the flaps 14 and to engage the adjoining studs 15 in the cutouts 16 provided in the bottom, to lock the tray in a mounted position (Figure 4).

 These operations are easily carried out by the person in charge of the packaging, who then only has to place the fruits 8 in the tray thus produced, possibly after having placed therein a preformed sheet 9 comprising cells, the full tray then being placed on the conveyor 3, which discharges it.

 The method and the device in accordance with the invention therefore bring significant savings to fruit and vegetable harvesters in their packaging operations.

Claims (2)

 1. Method for packaging fruit or vegetables sized in trays in a semi-rigid material such as cardboard or corrugated cardboard, of the type in which a person assigned to a packaging station at a receptacle (2) of fruits or vegetables of determined dimensions from a grader (1) manually takes these fruits or vegetables (8) from the receptacle and places them in a tray or in the cells of a sheet (9) of paper or a synthetic material placed in this tray, before transferring the full tray to a discharge means (3), this process being characterized in that the person responsible for the packaging proceeds himself to the prior assembly on site of the tray, in a template ( 6) for manual mounting, from a blank (5) of cardboard or corrugated cardboard, pre-cut or pressed.  2. Device for implementing the method according to claim 1, this device comprising a grader (1) for fruit or vegetables of a type known per se, comprising various receptacles (2) for fruit or vegetables of determined dimensions and being characterized in that at least one of these receptacles (2) is associated with a template (6) for manual mounting of a fruit and vegetable tray from a blank (5) precut and pushed back in a semi-rigid material such as cardboard or corrugated cardboard.