GB1585335A - Machine for sealing parallelepiped boxes of fixed height - Google Patents

Description

(54) MACHINE FOR SEALING PARALLELEPIPED BOXES OF FIXED HEIGHT (71) I, AUGUSTO MARCHETTI, of Italian nationality, of Piazza Sicilia, 7-Milan, Italy, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a machine for sealing parallelepiped boxes of fixed height.

Sealing machines for parallelepiped boxes are known, comprising a support surface for the boxes, conveyor means for feeding the boxes along said support surface, and a taping head disposed above said support sur face and arranged to engage with the top of each box fed between the taping head and the support surface, to apply an adhesive sealing tape thereto.

A particular type of such machines is the type designed for sealing boxes of fixed height. In this type of machine, the taping head is supported by a pair of lateral up rights at a fixed height which can be adjusted as required according to the height of the boxes to be sealed.

A machine of this type is illustrated in the British patent application No. 48143/76 of November 18, 1976 (Specification No.

1,512,749) and comprises a taping head slidably coupled to said lateral uprights via a pair of screw means (one per upright) kinematically connected together in such a manner that when one of them is operated (usually manually), the other is caused to operate simultaneously in the same direction.

According to the present invention, there is provided a machine for sealing parallelepiped boxes of fixed height, comprising a support surface for the boxes, conveyor means for feeding the boxes along said support surface, and a taping head disposed above said support surface and arranged to engage with the top of each box fed between the taping head and support surface to apply an adhesive sealing tape thereto, said taping head being displaceable along a pair of uprights dis posed laterally to said support surface by means of screw means housed in one of the uprights and provided with control means, wherein said taping head is coupled to the other upright via a slidable member housed and guided in a vertically displaceable manner in said other upright.

In this manner, the second screw means provided up to the present time is replaced by a more simple and economical slidable element, and the need for a motion transmission between one screw means and the other is dispensed with, to the obvious advantage of machine simplicity and cost.

The characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be more evident by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective diagrammatic view of a machine according to the invention; Figure 2 is a cross-section through said machine on a vertical plane passing through the two support uprights for the taping head.

The machine shown on the drawings comprises a base frame 1, which supports a set of idle rollers 2 constituting the support surface for the boxes to be sealed. These latter are fed from one end of said support surface to the other by a pair of conveyor belts 3 driven by a motor, not shown on the drawings, and arranged to engage on opposite sides with the corresponding side walls of the box to give this latter the necessary feed thrust.

Above the centre of the support surface defined by the rollers 2, there is disposed a taping head 4 of conventional known type, which is slidably supported in an adjustable vertical position by a pair of fixed lateral uprights 5 constituted by tubular sections of rectangular cross-section with vertical facing slots 6 along which support arm 7 projecting laterally from the taping head slide.

One of the two arms 7 has its free end rotatably housed in the respective upright 5 (with guide rollers 8) and supported via a tubular spacer 9 on a slidable parallelepiped block 10 traversed and engaged by a threaded rod 11. This latter also freely traverses the spacer 9 and arm 7, and is constrained to the upright 5 which houses it in such a manner that it can be rotated about its axis by operating a control handle 12 disposed at the top of the upright.

The other arm 7 is rigid with a slidable member 13 housed in the other upright 5, and is guided by this latter in its vertical movement by pairs of idle rollers 14 and 15 with their axes perpendicular and which cooperate with the walls of the upright (Fig.

1).

The method of adjusting the height of the taping head 4 is obvious. This is done by operating the handle 12 to make the threaded rod 11 rotate about its axis and cause the block 10, spacer 9 and arm 7 resting on this latter to move vertically together. The slidable member 13 merely follows and guides this movement, to determine an equal displacement of the other arm 7 and hence of the taping head 4.

If required, and as provided in the aforesaid patent application No. 48143/76 of Nov.

18, 1976 (Specification No. 1,512,749) a spring or another resilient element can be disposed between the spacer 9 and the underlying slidable block 10 to allow the position of the taping head to be automatically adapted to a limited extent to any boxes having a height slightly exceeding the expected height.

WHAT I CLAIM IS:- 1. A machine for sealing parallelepiped boxes of fixed height, comprising a support surface for the boxes, conveyor means for feeding the boxes along said support surface, and a taping head disposed above said support surface and arranged to engage with the top of each box fed between the taping head and support surface to apply an adhesive sealing tape thereto, said taping head being displaceable along a pair of uprights disposed laterally to said support surface by means of screw means housed in one of the uprights and provided with control means, wherein said taping head is coupled to the other upright via a slidable member housed and guided in a vertically displaceable manner in said other upright.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said slidable member is provided with pairs of idle rollers with their axes perpendicular to each other and which cooperate with corresponding walls of said other upright to guide the vertical displacement of said slidable member.

3. A machine as claimed in the preceding claims, sustantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (3)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. spacer 9 and arm 7, and is constrained to the upright 5 which houses it in such a manner that it can be rotated about its axis by operating a control handle 12 disposed at the top of the upright. The other arm 7 is rigid with a slidable member 13 housed in the other upright 5, and is guided by this latter in its vertical movement by pairs of idle rollers 14 and 15 with their axes perpendicular and which cooperate with the walls of the upright (Fig. 1). The method of adjusting the height of the taping head 4 is obvious. This is done by operating the handle 12 to make the threaded rod 11 rotate about its axis and cause the block 10, spacer 9 and arm 7 resting on this latter to move vertically together. The slidable member 13 merely follows and guides this movement, to determine an equal displacement of the other arm 7 and hence of the taping head 4. If required, and as provided in the aforesaid patent application No. 48143/76 of Nov. 18, 1976 (Specification No. 1,512,749) a spring or another resilient element can be disposed between the spacer 9 and the underlying slidable block 10 to allow the position of the taping head to be automatically adapted to a limited extent to any boxes having a height slightly exceeding the expected height. WHAT I CLAIM IS:-

1. A machine for sealing parallelepiped boxes of fixed height, comprising a support surface for the boxes, conveyor means for feeding the boxes along said support surface, and a taping head disposed above said support surface and arranged to engage with the top of each box fed between the taping head and support surface to apply an adhesive sealing tape thereto, said taping head being displaceable along a pair of uprights disposed laterally to said support surface by means of screw means housed in one of the uprights and provided with control means, wherein said taping head is coupled to the other upright via a slidable member housed and guided in a vertically displaceable manner in said other upright.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said slidable member is provided with pairs of idle rollers with their axes perpendicular to each other and which cooperate with corresponding walls of said other upright to guide the vertical displacement of said slidable member.

3. A machine as claimed in the preceding claims, sustantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.