GB2066202A

GB2066202A - Adjustable apparatus for twist- wrapping of articles

Info

Publication number: GB2066202A
Application number: GB8037497A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Tenchi Kikai Co Inc
Current assignee: Tenchi Kikai Co Inc
Priority date: 1979-12-27
Filing date: 1980-11-21
Publication date: 1981-07-08
Also published as: JPS5695810A; IT1128612B; DE3040146A1; JPS581007B2; IT8049925A0; GB2066202B

Abstract

Articles (a), for example sweets, are fed at equally spaced intervals and cylindrically wrapped in a wrapping paper web (b) which is moved in the same direction as the articles by transfer belts (4, 4'). The articles are then gripped through the web by grippers (31) arranged at equally spaced intervals and moved in the same direction as the articles (a). A cutter (16, 16') cuts the wrapping paper web into successive segments each having a sufficient length to twist wrap a single article therein, whereupon such segment is twisted at its opposite ends to seal the article therein. The rate at which the wrapping paper web (b) is moved by the transfer belts (4, 4'), can be varied to change the distance between adjacent articles (a) wrapped in the wrapping paper web according to the size of the articles. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Twist wrapping of articles The present invention relates to article packaging devices, particularly to a device for changing a wrapping unit length, intended to cut a wrapping paper web into segments, each of sufficient length to wrap a single article in a continuous wrapping paper at equally spaced intervals.

U.S. Patent No. 3,342,015 issued to the present applicant discloses a machine for twist wrapping which operates by: cylindrically wrapping articles which are fed at equally spaced intervals in a long band-like wrapping paper web moving in the same direction, gripping the equispaced wrapped articles one by one by gripping means through the cylindrical wrapping paper web (said gripping means moving in the same direction as said articles) while cutting the wrapping paper web at longitudinally spaced positions before and behind the wrapped articles, to form segments each containing a single article; and applying twist seal to the cylindrical openings in each segment by twist sealing members (moving in the same direction as the articles).Although this twist wrapping machine is capable of performing twist wrapping operation at high speed and with high efficiency, it has a disadvantage due to the fixed distance between adjacent articles to be wrapped in the wrapping paper web or to the length of the paper wrapper for a single article. Since these distances are determined by the spacing and the rate of movement of the gripping means, the length of the paper wrapped for a single article cannot bead- justed according to the size of the articles to be wrapped.

We have now devised a device for changing the wrapping unit length, which can eliminate the disadvantages previously inherent in this type of wrapping machine. The device is arranged so that according to the size of such articles as candy, jelly, gum and other sweets, the wrapping unit length for a single article can be changed as desired to provide for twist wrapping which seals well and looks good.

Twist wrapping or packaging of sweets is popular because of its form and because unwrapping is easy.

However, a requirement is imposed on confection manufacturers that twist packaging results in perfect seal, to prevent entry of moisture and dust.

Perfectly sealed twist packaging necessitates cutting a continuous cylindrical wrapping paper web into segments, each having a length which matches a single article. If the segments are too short, the ends of the cylindrical paper wrapper cannot be sufficiently twisted, and conversely, if they are too long, this results in relatively loose packages.

The present invention can provide a device which enables the wrapping unit length to be altered for use with continuous automatic wrapping machines, which meet the requirement described above.

Thus, the present invention consists in an apparatus for twist wrapping articles of variable length, which comprises: means for longitudinal transport of a wrapping web; means for feeding the articles onto the moving web; means for wrapping the moving web around the articles; means for cutting the wrapped web between adjacent articles to produce individual wrapped articles, the wrapping overlapping each end of each article, and means for gripping each article and for twisting in opposite directions the two overlapping ends of wrapping of each article; in which the means for gripping can transport the articles away from the moving web at a speed which is variable with respect to that of the web.

The invention will be further illustrated, by way of example, by the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure lisa plan view showing part of a device according to the invention; Figure 2 is a side view of the device; Figure 3 is a plan view of an alternative embodiment; and Figure 4 is a side view of this alternative embodiment.

Articles a to be wrapped are fed at equally spaced intervals through a feed trough 3 by push rods 2 attached at equally spaced intervals to and moving with an endless chain belt 2. A long band-like wrapping paper webb is withdrawn from a reel (not shown) to extend under the bottom of the feed trough 3 and moving in the same direction as the articles a. The webb meets the articles as they are delivered from the feed trough 3, at a position downstream of its outlet port.

Transfer belts 4 and 4' are installed along both sides of the path of the articles a and the webs, in parallel relation. The belts 4 and 4' extend around belt pulleys 5 and 5' and belt guide rollers 6,7 and 6' 7', respectively. The belt pulleys 5 and 5' are driven at the same speed and in the same direction by a stepless speed change unit 8, through a chain belt 9 and chain wheels 10, on the belt pulley shafts.

Belt guide means 11 extends along a side of the belt 4 opposite to the side which is in contact with the articles and the web, and serves to prevent said belt 4from escaping outward. A belt guide means 11 is similar but divided into parts to provide belt guiding pushers associated with the belt 4'. These belt guiding pushers are urged by springs 12 to cause the belt 4' to press the articles from outside through the wrapping paper web with substantially equal pressure irrespective of the size of the articles.

The distance between the belts 4 and 4' can be adjusted by adjusting the relative position of the guide means 11 and 11'. Base plates 11A and 12A support the guide means 11 and 11' and can be moved on a table T and adjustably fixed by means of fixing bolts and nuts, so that the distance between the belts 4 and 4' can be adjusted to allow the articles to move properly with the wrapping paper web.

Figure 1 shows position adjusting elongate holes 34 in the base plates, and Figure 2 shows fixing bolts 35.

A horizontal receiver plate 13 is provided under the articles a and passing between the belts 4 and 4'.

A guide plate 14 is provided for curling one edge of the wrapping paper web over overthe articles, and a guide plate 15 is provided for curling the other edge over the articles.

Shearing means 16, 16' are provided at the end of the delivery of the transfer belts 4 and 4' for cutting the cylindrically curled wrapping paper web into wrapping unit lengths or segments, each containing a single article.

The shearing means 16 and 16' may be of the same construction as those disclosed in U.S. Patent No.3,342,015, and may be so arranged as to cut the wrapping paper web in synchronism with the rate of movement and action of the gripping means 31 which grip the cut paper wrappers contacting the articles.

The gripping means 31 grip the articles and transport them for twist packaging, by means of an.

endless chain belt 32 driven in the same direction as the belts 4 and 4'. The gripping means 31 and the endless chain belt 32 may also be of same construction as those disclosed in U.S. Patent No., 3,342,015.

The operation of the embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2 will now be described. The articles a are delivered at equally spaced intervals through the feed trough 3 by the push rods 2, and are moved onto the webb which is withdrawn and bent into a U-shape. the articles are then fed into the transfer belts 4 and 4', together with the wrapping paper web. The equally spaced articles are moved by the belts 4,4' along with the U-shaped wrapping paper web, during which time one edge of the U-shaped wrapping paper web is curled over the articles by the guide plate 14 and the other edge is curled over the articles by the guide plate 15. The wrapping paper web advances in cylindrical form.This wrapping paper web has the articles a wrapped therein at intervals determined by the rate of feed of articles by the endless chain belt 1, and by the rate of movement of the wrapping paper web by the belts 4 and 4' driven bythestepless speed change unit 8. Thus, if the speed of the transfer belts 4 and 4' is reduced, the speed of the webb is also reduced, and the distance between adjacent articles is reduced; conversely, an increase in speed results in greater spacing.

The articles a held in the cylindrical wrapping paper webb delivered by the transfer belts 4 and 4' are successively gripped through the web by the gripping means which move at a lower speed than that of the transfer belt and at somewhat greater (but equally spaced) intervals than the distance between adjacent articles a, and concurrently therewith. The cylindrical wrapping paper web is cut at longitudinally spaced positions before and after each wrapped article by the shearing means 16 and 16'. The individual cylindrical paper wrapped articles are moved, gripped by the gripping means 31, at the rate of movement of the gripping means 31. During this movement, as disclosed in U.S. Patent No.

3,342,015, the gripping means are turned through 90 and twist wrapping members 33 opposed to and adapted to act on the open ends of the cylindrical wrappers apply a twist seal to the open ends.

If the length of the articles to be wrapped is greater than that of the previously wrapped articles, it is necessary that the wrapping unit length of the wrappers be increased. Thus, the stepless speed change unit 8 is adjusted to speed up the transfer belts 4 and 4' so as to increase the distance between adjacent articles. In this case, the speed of the push rods 2 moved by the endless chain belt 1 remains unchanged. Since the wrapping paper web is moved faster, the cutting timing of the shearing means 16 and 16' which cut the wrapping paper web between articles must be correspondingly advanced to cut the wrapping paper webs.

With the cutting timing of the shearing means 16 and 16' thus advanced, the operation of the gripping means 31 must be synchronized accordingly. More particularly, the gripping timing of the gripping means 31 is adjusted (by means not shown) so that at the same time as the shearing means 16 and 16' cut the wrapping paper web at a position between adjacent articles, the gripping means 31 grips the article disposed at the centre of the wrapper.

Figures 3 and 4 show a modified embodiment of the invention.

As in the preceding embodiment, articles a are fed onto a feed trough 23 and delivered at equally spaced intervals onto a wrapping paper webb by pusher rods 22 attached to an endless chain belt 11.

The articles are then cylindrically wrapped on a horizontal receiver plate 113 by guide plates 24 and 24' and are gripped and transferred by transfer belts 114 and 114'. The arrangement for driving belt pulleys 25' by a stepless speed change unit 18 through a chain belt 19 and chain wheels 110 and 110' may be the same as in Figure 1.

The arrangement of the belt guide means 111 and base plate 1 1Afor the transfer belts, and the arrangement of the belt guiding pusher means 111' and base plate 1 12A including springs 112 may be the same as in Figure 1. A further description will therefore be omitted.

In this embodiment, shear means 116 and 116' disposed adjacent to the deliver end of the transfer belt means 114 and 114' are followed by second transfer belts 117 and 117' to be described below.

The second transfer belts 117 and 117' extend around belt pulleys 118 and 120 and guide pulleys 119 and 121, respectively, so as to move along both sides of the path of movement of the wrapping paperweb and articles which have passed between - the first transfer belt means 114 and 114'. The belt pulleys 120 and 118 are fixed on a drive chain wheel shaft and driven by a chain wheel 122 via a transmission system comprising a chain belt 123 and chain wheels 124, 125 and 125'. A guide plate 126 is provided for the belt 117', and press guide plate 127 is provided for the belt 117', urged by springs 128. Article guides 129 and 130 prevent articles between the belts 117 and 117' from escaping vertically.

Gripping means 131 are moved in the path of movement of the articles a being fed by the belts 117 and 117', at the same equal intervals and the same constant speed and in the same direction as the articles themselves. The gripping means grips the articles being fed by the belts through cylindrical paper wrappers to take them out one by one from the delivery side of the transfer belts. A twist sealing means 133 is provided opposed to the open ends of cylindrical paper wrappers gripped by the gripping means and able to move along the path of move mentofthegripping means 131 at the same speed and in the same direction as the gripping members, during which movement the twist sealing means apply a twist seal to the open ends of the paper wrappers.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 3 and 4, the cylindrical wrapping paper webb delivered from the transfer belts 114 and 114' is cut into wrapping unit lengths of segments which, together with the articles they hold are fed between the second transfer belts 117 and 117', moving at the same speed as the gripping means 131. Since the rate of movement of the second transfer belts is lower than that of the first transfer belts 114 and 114', slippage takes place between the belts 117, 117' and the articles wrapped in the wrapping paper web; but when the cylindrical web is cut between adjacent wrapped articles by the shearing means disposed between the first and second transfer belts, the cylindrical paper wrappers and the articles are transferred at the rate of movement of the second transfer belts 117 and 117'.

Before they are delivered from the transfer belts, they are gripped by the gripping means 131 and transferred by the latter, during which transfer, as is known in the art, the gripping means 131 is turned through 90 and the twist members 133 opposed to and adapted to act on the open ends of the cylindrical paper wrapper apply a twist seal to the open ends.

As has been described so far, according to the invention, articles and a band-like wrapping paper web are transferred by transfer belts whose transfer speed can be set at any desired value lower than that of the gripping means, while the wrapping paper web is cylindrically wound around the articles. The articles can be set at desired spaced intervals, determined by the article feed rate and the preset speed of the belts. The web is then cut into wrapping unit lengths or segments which are transferred to the twist sealing section by the gripping means.In the conventional twist wrapping operation, since the band-like wrapping paper web is withdrawn at the same speed as that of the gripping means for individual wrapping, the wrapping distance between adjacent articles relative to the wrapping paper web, i.e., the length of the paper wrapper for a single article is invariably determined by the distance between adjacent grippers, so that it has been impossible to change the length of the paper wrapper per article to accommodate different sized articles. The invention eliminates this drawback.

Thus, various lengths of paper wrappers required for various sizes of sweets produced in any one factory can be properly selected, as required, by adjusting the rate of movement of the transfer belts. Therefore, the versatility which could not be hoped for in the past and which enables a single wrapping machine to cut a wrapping paper web into any desired wrapping unit lengths for different sizes of pieces of a confaction can be imparted to this type of twist wrapping machine.

Claims

1. An apparatus for twist wrapping articles of variable length, which comprises: means for horizontal transport of a wrapping web; means for feeding the article onto the moving web; means for wrapping the moving web around the articles; means for cutting the wrapped web between adjacent articles to produce individual wrapped articles, the wrapping overlapping each end of each article; and means for gripping each article and for twisting in opposite directions the two overlapping ends of wrapping of each article; in which the means for gripping can transport the articles away from the moving web at a speed which is variable with respect to that of the web.

2. A device for changing the wrapping unit length for use with article twist wrapping machines which comprise: equal distance feed means for feeding articles at equal spaced intervals onto a wrapping paper web being longitudinally fed, article wrapping means which, after bending said wrapping paper web into a U-shaped cross-section, curls it into a cylindrical form and moves it with articles wrapped therein, cutting means for cutting the wrapping paper web with articles wrapped therein, at longitudinally spaced positions between adjacent articles, into segments and means for twisting and sealing the ends of said segments, said device being characterized by comprising:: transfer belt means whose drive speed is adjustable and which extend on both sides of the path of movement of the cylindrically curled wrapping paper web with articles held therein at equal spaced intervals, and gripping means disposed downstream of said transfer belt means and moving faster than said transfer belt means in the same direction as the latter, with the grippers spaced apart a greater distance than the distance between adjacent articles.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein the respective drive pulleys for the endless belts are driven by a single speed change unit through transmission means, and said transfer belt means includes endless belts driven in the same direction.

4. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein belt guide means is provide inside one endless belt, while belt guiding pusher means which urge the other endless belt by springs toward said support means are provided inside the other endless belt.

5. A device as set forth in claim 4, wherein the distance between the opposed endless belts can be adjusted by adjusting the relative position of said belt guide means and said belt guiding pusher means.

6. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein the gripping members are arranged on an endless belt at equal spaced intervals, and at the same time as said gripping member grips an article, the wrapping paper web is cut by shearing means.

7. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein the transfer belt means are adjusted by a speed change unit so that their rate of movement is lower than that of the gripping members, thereby changing the rate of movement of the wrapping paper web and hence the distance between adjacent articles to be wrapped.

8. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein second transfer belt means which are driven at the same speed as the gripping means are disposed between the shearing means and the gripping means.

9. A method of changing the wrapping unit length in article twist wrapping machines, comprising the steps of feeding articles at equal spaced intervals onto a wrapping paper web moving in a longitudinal direction, cylindrically curling said web during the movement thereof, successively gripping the thus wrap'ped articles through the cylindrical wrapping paper web by equispaced gripping means moving along the path of movement of the articles while cutting said cylindrical wrapping paper web into wrapping unit lengths or segments, transferring said segments by said gripping means while turning them through a right angle, and applying twist seal to both ends of each segment by twist sealing means moving at constant speed, said method being characterized in that said wrapping paper web is transferred by transfer belt means whose speed can be adjusted to any desired value that is lower than the rate of movement of said gripping means and in that after the articles are wrapped in the wrapping paper web at spaced intervals which are determined by the relation between the feed distance of the articles and the rate of transfer of said transfer belts, the wrapping paper web is successively cut into wrapping unit lengths or segments.

10. An apparatus according to claim 1, substantially as herein described with reference to any one of the accompanying drawings.

11. A method according to claim 9, substantially as herein described with reference to any one of the accompanying drawings.