GB1243465A - Improvements in and relating to packaging machines - Google Patents

Abstract

1,243,465. Cutting apparatus. DOUGHBOY INDUSTRIES Inc. 21 Jan., 1969 [22 Jan., 1968], No. 3311/69. Heading B4B. In a packaging machine having a station at which a moving, formed wrapping web 70 enclosing spaced-apart articles is sealed and cut off between adjacent articles, a pair of oppositely disposed sealing dies 20, 24 are mounted on separate, rotary shafts 18, 22 and arranged to intermittently engage the web therebetween as they are rotated into alignment with each other, and there are drive means for importing rotational movement to the sealing dies, a recess 74 within one of said sealing dies 20, a movable cutting knife 72 housed within the recess and held therein in a normal position wherein its cutting edge does not project outwardly beyond the peripheral surface of the die, an operating mechanism connected to and operable to move the knife relative to the die out of the recess 74 and through the web in a cutting motion, an opening within the other sealing die 24 to receive the knife as it cuts through the web, and trip means for actuating the knife operating mechanism when the sealing dies are rotated to a position in direct alignment with each other in engagement with the opposite sides of the web. As shown, the shafts 18, 22 are mounted in bearing blocks 10 ... 16, the blocks 10, 12 being adjustable vertically to maintain the desired pressure between the sealing die heads 20, 24 and the shafts 18, 22 being coupled by gears 48, 50 and driven through an epicyclic gear train having an eccentric drive gear 25, the shaft 26 of which is connected to a hub 28 on a main drive-shaft 30, the arrangement being such that the crimping and sealing dies 20, 24 will be rotating at maximum speed when directly opposite each other and in face-to-face engagement with the wrapping web 70 and then rotate at a decreasing speed so that the packaged article passes completely by the dies before the latter again engage the web. The knife 72 is supported by links 76, 78 out of the slot 74, being held in the normal retracted position thereof by a spring 82, the link 76 carrying a roller 90, which upon rotation of the die heads, contacts a vertically and laterally adjustable member 92 whereby the knife is swung to sever the web. In modifications, (a) a number of packaged articles pass between the sealing dies before the knife is actuated to sever the web, the knife being operated by a member 92 brought into and out of the path of the roller 90 by a pneumatic piston-cylinder device used in conjunction with apparatus which signals the passage of the articles, and (b) the knife is operated by a cam fixed to the shaft 22. The dies 20, 24 may be knurled or roughened to crimp the wrapper at the same time as sealing of the wrapper by adhesive material or heat.