GB2092502A - Cutting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Cutting apparatus, for the dividing up of the strip of packaged articles (29) into individual articles comprises a horizontally displaceable carriage (11) which carries cutting means and control means. The cutting means comprises a steel cutter (27), which is fastened to a vertically movable upper crosshead and has the outline of a transverse row of individual packaged articles (29), and a planar base plate (28), which is arranged on a bridge (22) and with which the cutter (27) co-operates. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Cutting apparatus The present invention relates to cutting apparatus and has particular reference to apparatus which may be arranged downstream of an intermittently operable film packaging machine supplied with a strip of film from a roll and individual articles lying thereon or downstream of a thermal moulding machine which deforms a strip of film portion by portion, the apparatus serving for the dividing up of the strip of packaged articles into individual articles.

Cutting devices for this purpose are known, for example, from DE-AS 2351069, which discloses a longitudinal cutter through which multiple packaged articles are drawn and separated in longitudinal direction, the cutter being arranged at the input end of the device. A horizontally displaceable carriage carries a clamping device for gripping packaged articles during advance of the packaging strip through the length of a group of packaged articles, and a transverse cutting element in the form of a blade. The carriage also carries control means so that it stops at predetermined places during reverse travel against the direction of advance and executes transverse cuts.

It is a disadvantage of this device that it cannot be used for the production of foil packages or deepdrawn blister packages with rounded-off corners, as it can only divide up articles to have sharp corners, which is not always acceptable to the market. The device is relatively expensive due to the required longitudinal cutter and a clamping device on the carriage is necessary for transort of packaging strip.

In DE-GM 7904734 there is disclosed a device by which a group of packaged products can be advanced and separated. However, this device is not equipped for the division of the groups into individual packaged articles and this must take place, if required, in a separate device.

There is accordingly a need for cutting apparatus enabling separation of individual packaged articles with, if so desired, rounded corners, the apparatus preferably having a simple construction and being operable without an unduly high cutting force.

According to the present invention there is provided cutting apparatus for separating individual film packaged articles from a packaging strip in which the article packages are arranged in transverse rows, the apparatus comprising a carriage which in use is horizontally displaceable along such strip and which is provided with cutting means comprising a support bridge, a substantially planar base plate arranged on the bridge, an overhead carrier element vertically movable relative to the bridge, and a cutting band arranged on the carrier element to be co-operable wifth the base plate for cutting packaged articles from the strip and having a cutting profile corresponding to a separation outline of the article packages in at least one such transverse row of the strip.

In a preferred embodiment, the cutting band comprises a steel tape cutter for separating the individual packaged articles from the strip row by row. The transverse and longitudinal cutters of the prior art devices are dispensed with. The separation outline of the individual packaged articles can be varied and can include rounded corners.

Such a steel tape cutter may have the advantage that the blade is very narrow and high so that it can pass between closely adjacent walls of packaging blisters. Conversely, when a lowerable transverse cutting blade is used for transverse cutting as in the known apparatus, the blade must for reasons of stability have a certain thickness and the packaging blisters must be separated by correspondingly wide flat rims, which are essential for the cutting operation but not otherwise needed.

Clamping means on the carriage are not essential, since the transport of the packaged articles can be effected by the carriage with the steel tape cutter lowered. This penetrates into the strip of packaged articles over almost the entire width thereof and securely entrains the strip. Additional lateral clamping devices are of advantage only in exceptional cases, for example when heavy articles are foilpackaged and must be transported.

Expediently, the base plate arranged opposite the cutting band is mounted not rigidly, but slightly yielding. Advantageously, a checking device with two feelers and associated switching elements can be provided to prevent damage of the packaged articles in the event that the cutting band descends at the wrong place.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure l is a schematic partly-sectional elevation of cutting apparatus according to the said embodiment; Figure 2 is a cross-section, to an enlarged scale, of a carriage of the apparatus; and Figure 3 is a plan view of a strip with a plurality of packaged articles separable from the strip by the cutting apparatus.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown cutting apparatus comprising reversible drive motor which is arranged in a support frame 1 and which drives a roller 4 by way of a chain 3, and a chain wheel 6 by way of a chain 5. The chain wheel 6 is mounted on a shaft 8 which carries a chain wheel 9, the chain wheel 9 thus being rotated on rotation of the chain wheel 6. A chain 7 extends around the chain wheel 9 and a further chain wheel 10, and a carriage 11, which is displaceably mounted on horizontal guides 12, is fastened to the chain 7.

A transport belt 13 extends over the roller 4 and deflecting rollers 14 to 20, the rollers 17 to 20 being mounted on the carriage 11. Afree-wheel mechanism 21 is incorporated in the drive of the roller 4 so that the roller 4 is driven by the chain 3 only during rotation of the motor 2 in one direction, the roller 4 being stationary during reverse rotation of the motor.

The carriage 11 consists of a bridge 22, an upper crosshead 23, a lower crosshead 24 and columns 25 connecting the crossheads and slidably engaged in the bridge. A toggle lever drive 26, which can be of a known construction and therefore is not more closely described, is mounted between the lower crosshead 24 and brige 22 and is operable to vertically displace the crossheads relative to the bridge with a requisite degree of force. A steel tape cutter 27, which co-operates with a stamping or base plate 28 mounted on the bridge 22 to separate individual packaged articles 29 from a strip 30, is fastened to the crosshead 23. If required, a sprung holding-down device 31, which engages the side edges of the strip 30, is connected to the crosshead 23.

The plate 28 can be mounted to be yieldabie through a range of about 5 to 10 millimetres, for example by being supported by springs 32 and guided by pins 33. The position of the plate 28 is sensed by a feeler 34, while a feeler 35 senses the height position of the crosshead 23 and thereby the height position of the cutting edge of the cutter 27.

Starting from the position shown in Figure 1,the device operates as follows: With the crosshead 23 lowered, the carriage 11 travels to the right, whereby it entrains the band 30 and draws it to the extent of the length of a multiple of the packaged articles, out of a film wrapping machine or thermai moulding machine, which is designated by 36. Acontrol device ensures that the carriage stops at the right place.

During movement of the carriage 11 to the right, the roller 4 is driven so that the transport belt 13 runs towards the right and the individual packaged products, which rest on the belt, are transported further.

When the carriage 11 has reached the end of its travel to the right, the cutter 27 travels upwardly and the carriage 11 is driven to the left in a step L from a setting I to a setting II (Figure 3) by reverse rotation of the motor 2. During this movement, the roller 4 does not rotate and the transport belt 13 remains still. If required, this can be achieved through a furtherfree-wheel mechanism in a bearing of one of the deflecting rollers 14to 16. In setting II, a cutting operation is carried out so that a row of individual packaged articles is separated from the strip. The carriage is then moved to a setting Ill, cuts, travels to a setting IV, cuts, travels to a setting V, cuts and then remains at this setting with the crosshead 23 lowered so that it can draw the next plurality of packaged articles to the right after completion of the packaging operation.

In order, in the event of an incorrect setting of the carriage 11 relative to the strip 30, to avoid cutting by the cutter through the middle of packaged articles and thereby damaging the articles as well as possibly the cutter itself, the base plate 28 is yieldingly mounted and the position of plate 28 relative to the upper crosshead 23 is sensed by the feelers 34 and 35. If the plate 28 lowers before the upper crosshead 23 has been sensed by the feeler 35, the downward movement of the cutter 27 is stopped at once. The running-on travel must in that case be less than the spring travel of the plate 28, so that breakage can be avoided. Of course, the feeler 35 can also sense the position of the cutter 27 or of a part fastened to the crosshead 23.It can also sense the position of the lower crosshead 24, the position of the cutting edge of the cutter relative to the plate 28 being decisive.

The plate 28 should yield only when the tape cutter meets the surface of the strip 30; if it yields earlier, the drive 26 is switched off because an article then lies between cutting edge and the surface of the strip 30.

The exact advance of the carriage 11 is effected through a control device, for example a control cam 37, which contacts adjustable switches 38 to 42, is fastened to the carriage 11. It is readily possible by this means to adapt to different sizes of the packaged articles.

Since the multiple packaged articles are stamped out strip by strip, the required cutting force is smaller than that needed to cut out ail of the packaged articles at once.

If the individual packaged articles are relatively small, it is of course possible to structure the cutter 27 so that it can separate two transverse rows of individual packaged articles in each stroke.

Claims (5)

1. Cutting apparatus for separating individual film packaged articles from a packaging strip in which the article packages are arranged in transverse rows, the apparatus comprising a carriage which in use is horizontally displaceable along such strip and which is provided with cutting means comprising a support bridge, a substantially planar base plate arranged on the bridge, an overhead carrier element vertically movable relative to the bridge, and a cutting band arranged on the carrier element to be co-operable with the base plate for cutting packaged articles from the strip and having a cutting profile corresponding to a separation outline of the article packages in at least one such transverse row of the strip.

2. Cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base plate is yieldingly mounted on the bridge by resilient means.

Cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 2, comprising means for sensing the position of the base plate relative to the cutting edge of the cutting band and controlling movement of the carrier element in dependence in the sensed position.

4. Cutting apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising holding means resiliently mounted on the carrier element to hold down a portion of the strip to be cut by the cutting band.

5. Cutting apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.