GB1206441A - Improvements in semi-automatic packaging machines - Google Patents

Abstract

1,206,441. Semi-automatic packaging machines. J. C. T. KNIGHT. 6 Nov., 1968 [7 Aug., 1967], No. 36160/67. Heading B8C. Shallow trays are successively loaded with weighed vegetables at a loading station, carried by a conveyer to a table at a wrapping station where each tray is wrapped manually with slightly self-adhering plastics sheet, and conveyed through an oven to seal the wrapper, means being provided for stopping the conveyer when a tray is positioned over the table (to permit the manual wrapping) and for restarting the conveyer when the tray is removed from the wrapping station. In an embodiment, Fig. 1, two endless belt conveyers 2 carry loaded trays 10 from the loading station 4 to the wrapping station 6 where the belts pass over tables 12, and where a photo-electric cell 14 and lamp 16 co-operate to switch off the electric motor drive of the respective conveyer when a tray arrives. Reels 18 of plastics sheet are disposed with their axes parallel to the direction of movement of the trays, and each sheet is passed under the respective table 12 where its end is gripped by an operator at the side of the table remote from the reel. The end of the sheet is drawn over the tray and tucked under the far side, the tray is lifted and moved towards the operator to enclose the tray, and moved downwards to sever the sheet on a heated wire 22, and the edges of the sheet are folded under the tray and the tray moved on to a hotplate 23. The tray is replaced on the conveyer 2 downstream of the wrapping station 6 and is delivered to a further conveyer 24 which conveys it through the oven 8 for sealing and shrinking of the wrapper. Alternatively, the tray may be placed after wrapping on the further conveyer which may then extend between the two conveyers 2. Alternatively, a single conveyer may be used (and the further conveyer dispensed with), each wrapped tray being stationary in the oven when the conveyer is halted. The photo-cell may be replaced by a pressure-sensitive or ultra-sonic device. In another embodiment, the operator faces along the conveyer, and the reel 18 &c. extends across the conveyer.