GB1030189A - Carton closing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1,030,189. Carton closing machines. KEYES FIBRE CO. April 12, 1965 [May 1, 1964]. No. 15584/65. Headings B8C and B8P. Apparatus for closing cartons comprises latching means for inserting tongues (e.g. on a lid) in apertures, which includes inserting members moved along the path of the cartons by the cartons themselves and means to extend the members laterally into the carton path. Cartons.-The invention is described as applied to egg cartons 12 of 6 x 2 capacity with an integral or attached lid 14. The lid may be of plastics and attached to the body by a flange 26. A flange 28 carries five tongues 30 which are pressed into recesses 20, Figs. 3, 10 (not shown), formed in the front wall between the egg pockets. The lid may be separate and have flanges and tongues on both sides, in which case the tongue inserting mechanism is duplicated (not shown). Closing apparatus.-The cartons are advanced continuously by a belt 36 and the lid 14 folded down by a plough 52. Ploughs 56, 58 then engage opposite sides, the former to fold down the flange and the latter to apply counter pressure. A belt 64, moving slightly faster then the belt 36, holds down and advances the lid to correct back drag due to the plough 52. In one embodiment of tongue securing device, a starwheel having a carton engaging rounded tip 136 at the end of each of twelve fingers, is mounted for free rotation between plates 90, 92. Slidable radially by plate cam means along all but two diametrically opposite of the fingers, are the inserting members 144, see also Fig. 7 (not shown). A spring-loaded arm 114 carries a detent which enters either of two diametrically opposed recesses in the wheel to ensure that, in the rest position, a finger not carrying an inserting member will be positioned in the path of the carton. When this is engaged by the carton, the wheel rotates so that the following five fingers each enter a space between the egg pockets and the inserting members slide outwardly of the fingers to press the tongues home. In a second embodiment (Figs. 11-17, not shown), the fingers and inserting members are integral and carried on an endless chain. Along the chain's upper reach, the integral members are projected outwards by a cam track, both to engage the cartons and to press in the tongues. The chain is driven, as before, by contact between the carton and fingers.