GB1460743A - Packaging apparatus for loading a product into a sleeve - Google Patents

Abstract

1460743 Packaging products in sleeves JA CANNINGS Ltd 18 Nov 1974 [6 Dec 1973] 56681/73 Heading B8C Packaging apparatus for loading a product 30 into a sleeve 32 comprises a carriage 22 adapted to receive the sleeve and the product end-to-end, means for transporting the carriage from a loading station 24, where it receives the sleeve 32 and the product 30, to a discharge station 26 where the package, comprising the product within the sleeve, is discharged, a mechanism 44, 46, 54, 60 on the carriage 22 adapted to align the product 30 with the open end of the sleeve 32 and to advance the product into the sleeve, and operating means 70, 76 located between the loading and discharge stations so that the product is aligned with, and loaded into, the sleeve as the carriage moves between the stations 24, 26. A plurality of carriages 22, each comprising a base plate 28, is carried, in succession, from the loading station 24, to the discharge station 26, by two parallel endless chains (16), Fig. 1, not shown, a high pressure jet acting upon the package at the discharge station 26 to move the package sideways on to a take-out conveyer, not shown. Each carriage 22 has a fixed wall 40 which carries an arm with a soft foam pad 36 to pick-up the lowermost product in a hopper, not shown, and a pair of elements 38 which are raised to pick off the lowermost of a stack of flattened sleeves in a magazine, not shown, the product and the sleeve both being deposited on to the base plate 28 at the station 24 as the carriage moves in the direction X, Fig. 4, and a cam follower 58, Fig. 2, on a spring-loaded bell-crank and slide mechanism 56, 46, engages a cam 70, Fig. 4, to move a wall 44 away from the wall 40. When the wheel 58 leaves the cam element 70 the bar 44 moves back towards the wall 40 so that the flat sleeve is erected and the product is aligned with the open sleeve. Continued movement of the carriage 22 in the direction X causes a ramp section 86 to push the erected sleeve beneath a bridge 42 from which jets of compressed air issue to open fully the erected sleeve. Simultaneously, a cam follower wheel 64 rides along the section 76 of a cam element 74 to move a bar 60, Fig. 2, in the direction of a slot 62 and advance the product fully into the sleeve. As the follower wheel 58 moves along a cam section 72 the bar 44 is withdrawn slightly in a direction away from the wall 40 to release the grip upon the package so that the latter is ready for discharge, the follower wheel 64 moving along the cam section 78 to retract the bar 60.