GB2055741A - Method and apparatus for attaching articles to a support card - Google Patents

Abstract

In attaching a bag 8 to a card 2, a first reciprocating pusher j advances to deflect a tongue 3 out of the plane of the card. The bag 6 falls through a bag guide towards the card so that its sealed leading end 9 is received between the tongue and card. The first pusher j retracts and a second pusher c' advances to press the tongue back and thereby trap the end 9 of the bag. A portion b' of the bag guide swings away together with the second pusher, and the bag flips over, aided by a bar d which moves with the guide portion b'. The bag thus hangs from its point of attachment to the card. The process is repeated for successive bags to attach them to successive tongued positions on the card. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Method and apparatus for attaching articles to a support card This invention relates to mounting articles on a display card, and is particularly applicable to displaying bagged items of merchandise.

Our U.K. Patent No. 1250565 describes a display card in which there is provided a set of tongues each capable of being pressed out of the plane of the card so as to receive between it and the card a portion of an article to be displayed, the card having a set of tabs each facing a tongue and adapted to co-operate with the tongue to pinch said portion of the article.

Each article can thus be attached to the card by an edge portion being inserted under a tongue and pinched between the tongue and the tab. The card can thus contain an array of such articles suspended from their top edges, and conveniently arranged in shingled form. Hitherto, the articles have been attached to the card manually, which is time consuming and labour-intensive. The present invention is concerned with apparatus for attaching the articles to a card, and with the method embodied in the use of the apparatus.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for attaching an article to a card of the kind described, which comprises an attachment station, conveying means for presenting a card at the attachment station with the tongues directed rearwardly with respect to the direction of travel, first pusher means for deflecting a tongue of a card at the attachment station out of the plane of the card, means for delivering an article to the attachment station so that a portion of the article enters between the deflected tongue and the card, second pusher means opposed to the first pusher means and arranged to deflect the tongue together with said portion of the article back through the plane of the card so that said portion of the article is pinched between the tongue and its associated tab, and means for flipping the article over about its point of attachment to the card so that it extends from that point in the direction of travel of the card. Preferably the conveying means is arranged to move the card stepwise so that adjacent tongues in a row of tongues are presented in succession to the position in the attachment station opposite the pusher means. The article can be delivered downwardly under gravity or under power into the attachment station, and may then fall under gravity when flipped about its point of attachment to the card.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, one embodiment will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figures 1 to 4 show the attachment of bags to a display card in the manner described in our Patent No. 1250565 Figure 1 showing a portion of the display card without any bags attached, and Figures 2,3 and 4 showing various stages in the attachment of a single bag to the card; and Figures 5to 10 show diagrammatically the principal functional parts at the attachment station of apparatus of the present invention, in successive stages in attaching a bag to the support card.

Referring to the drawings, and first to Figure 1, a card 2 is punched with cuts 6 to form rows of tongues 3 and second tabs 4, each tab 4 facing a tongue and fitting into a recess 5 in the profile of the tongue.

Both tongues 3 and tabs 4 can be pressed out of the plane of the card 2 but the tabs 4 to a lesser extent than the tongues 3 owing to the fact that each tab 4 is shaped as a small segment of a circle.

Figures 2,3 and 4 show how the filled bags are held in position. The bags 8 are closed by crimped areas 9 and 10 at the top and bottom respectively. In Figure 2 the back of the bag is shown with the central portion of the crimped area 9 placed behind the tongue 3. In Figure 3 the bag has been folded over the tongue 3 about the line ii so that the front of the bag is now displayed. In Figure 4 the folded top of the bag 8 has been pushed behind the tongue 4 whereby the said folded top is pinched between the tongue 3 and tab 4. This is brought about by applying pressure on the top portion of the bag. This could be carried out before or after folding the bag about the line 11. When all the bags are arranged on the background there will be four rows of bags, each row having six bags in shingled formation.

If desired the tongues may be arranged differently on the background member. Moreover the shape of the tongues 3 and tabs 4 can be varied, and instead of one such tab 4 a multiplicity of tabs can be provided depending on the article to be held. If the article is bulky two tongues 3 and tabs 4 can be provided for each article so that the bag instead of being held at one place in the centre of the top edge can be held at two positions on the top edge.

Referring to Figures 5 to 10 of the drawings; a support card 2 is delivered with its bottom edge leading, to the attachment station of the apparatus by means of an endless conveyor s which passes around a roller r, which rotates about axisx. The card is positively located on the roller, for example by means of pins on the roller passing through suitably positioned apertures in the card, so that the position of the card is precisley determined in relation to the working components of the apparatus at the attachment station, and the card is constrained to follow the curvature of the roller through 90" in passing from the horizontal position to the vertical position at which it leaves the roller and conveyor.

The conveyor and roller are moved stepwise, suitably be means of a ratchetp on the roller acted on by a reciprocating pawl q. Each indexing movement advances the card by the distance between adjacent tongues in a row of tongues on the card. Thus, on each indexing movement a tongue 3 is placed adjacent a tongue deflector memberj. The sequence of operations in the apparatus can be controlled by means offluidic links, but it could obivously be controlled alternatively by other known means, such as mechanical linkages with cams and clutches, or by electromechanical devices with electrical or electronic control.

Figure 5 shows a position in a cycle of operations, in which the card, which is shown as having a bag 8 already attached to it from a previous cycle, has been indexed to the next position so that the adjacent tongue 3 is against the tongue deflector memberjwhich has been advanced by means of pneumatic cylinder m, linked to the memberj through a parallelogram linkage consisting of a rod k and parallel arms 1, so that the memberj pushes the tongue 3 out of the plane of the card as shown. A further bag 8 which is to be attached to the card is delivered downwardly between a rear guide a and a front guide b, so that the sealed end 9 is at the lower edge of the pack.The delivery may be under gravity, or the bag 8 may be delivered between two endless belts, or by a gripper which grips its leading edge.

As shown in Figure 6; the pack 8 comes to rest with the sealed end 9 between the card and the open tongue 3. Then, the cylinder m is operated to withdraw (in the direction indicated by the arrow A) the tongue as indicated in Figure 7.

As shown in Figure 8, a pneumatic cylinder c is then operated to cause a presser member c' to advance (in the direction indicated by the arrow B) pushing the tongue 3 back through the body of the card, in so doing trapping the end portion 9 of the pack at the back of the card behind the tab 4. The presser member c' is then withdrawn.

As shown in Figure 9, a main actuating pneumatic cylinder h is then retracted. This is connected through linkages e and fto a portion b' of the front guide so as to pivot this portion b' in the direction indicated by the arrow D. The cylinder c is attached to the front guide portion b' and moves with it Similarly a horizontal bar dwhich is also fixed to the front guide portion b', and which normally lies on the side of the rear guide a remote from the front guide b, moves with the front guide portion b' through an appropriately located aperture in the rear guides, and bears upon the bag 8, causing itto flip over about the line 11 so as to hang from the point of attachment to the card in overlapping relationship with the bag already on the card, as shown in Figure 10. the cylinder is also connected to the pawl q, so that the retraction of the cylinder causes the ratchet to move, indexing the card to the next position, as shown in Figures 9 and 10.

Thereafter, cylinder mis returned, so that front guide portion b', cylinder c and bar dall resume their normal position, and the tongue opening cylinder m is operated to advance the tongue deflector member jto open the next tongue. The sequence is thus repeated until the complete row of tongues has been filled, at which time the control mechanism will stop the bag-attaching part of the sequence and allow the card to pass through and out of the machine.

Similarly, when a card is introduced into the machine the control sequence is arranged not to allow any part of the operation to occur until such time as the tongues are in line with the tongue deflector memberj.

The drawings show the attachment of one bag to a card, but the illustrated components will normally be extended laterally or repeated side-by-side so that three, four, or indeed any number of bags can be simultaneously attached to a card, or even to two or more cards arranged side-by-side.

The cards need not be passed around a roller at the attachment station, but may be arranged to pass in a horizontal, vertical or other straight line or curved path through the apparatus.

Claims (7)

1. Apparatus for attaching an article to a card of the kind in which there is provided a set of togues each capable of being pressed out of the plane of the card so as to receive between it and the card a portion of an article to be displayed, the card having a set of tabs each facing a tongue and adapted to co-operate with the tongue to pinch said portion of the article, so that each article can be attached to the card by an edge portion being inserted under a tongue and pinched between the tongue and the tab; the apparatus comprising an attachment station, conveying means for presenting a card at the attachment station with the tongues directed rearwardly with respect to the direction of travel, first pusher means for deflecting a tongue of a card at the attachment station out of the plane of the card, means for delivering an article to the attachment station so that a portion of the article enters between the deflected tongue and the card, second pusher means opposed to the first pusher means and arranged to deflect the tongue together with said portion of the article back through the plane of the card so that said portion of the article is pinched between tongue and its associated tab, and means for flipping the article over about its point of attachment to the card so that it extends from that point in the direction of travel of the card.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the conveying means is arranged to move the card stepwise so that adjacent tongues in a row of tongues are presented in succession to the position in the attachment station opposite the pusher means.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the article is delivered downwardly under gravity or under power into the attachment station to then fall under gravity when flipped about its point of attachment to the card.

4. Apparatus for attaching an article to a card substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.

5. A method for attaching an article to a card of the kind in which there is provided a set of tongues each capable of being pressed out of the plane of the card so as to receive between it and the card a portion of an article to be displayed, the card having a set of tabs each facing a tongue and adapted to co-operate with the tongue to pinch said portion of the article; which method comprises pressing a said tongue out of the plane of the card, advancing a said article towards the opening thus established in the card until an edge portion of the article is located between the opening and the tongue, pressing the tongue back into the card so as to trap said edge portion between the tongue and the card, and flipping the article over through substantially 180 about its point of attachment so that it hangs therefrom with its trapped edge portion turned over.

6. A method according to claim 5 wherein the article comprises a bag, a flexible edge portion of which is trapped by the tongue.

7. A method according to claim 5 substantially ass described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.