GB2295806A

GB2295806A - Combining flows of articles

Info

Publication number: GB2295806A
Application number: GB9424615A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mark Webster
Original assignee: LABELLING AND PACKAGING SERVIC
Current assignee: LABELLING AND PACKAGING SERVIC
Priority date: 1994-12-07
Filing date: 1994-12-07
Publication date: 1996-06-12
Also published as: GB9424615D0

Abstract

Apparatus for producing a combined output flow of articles (A B) from a plurality of single input flows of articles (A, B), comprising input conveyor means (1) for providing the said plurality of input flows, a flow combining station (4) in which the individual input flows are combined, and output flow conveyor means (5) for conveying the combined flow articles produced in the flow combining station (4) away from said flow combining station (4), the flow combining station (4) including metering means (7, 8) for motoring each of the input flows of articles (A, B) and article guide means (10) for guiding at least one of the flows of articles (B) from its associated metering means (8) into a flow of articles (A) from another of said article flow motoring means (7). <IMAGE>

Description

PACKAGING MACHINERY This invention relates to packaging machinery and more particularly to packaging machinery for producing so-called "multi-packs" of articles, for example of cans or bottles.

Many types of packaging machine have been proposed hitherto for producing "multi-packs" of articles such as cans or bottles. In such machines, two or more articles are packaged together in a package for subsequent sale by a wholesaler or a retailer. The packaging can take a wide variety of forms, but in general it is designed to ensure that two or more of the articles are held together until it is desired to separate them, Separation of such articles can be by a retailer, when the retail customer purchases individual articles, or by the retail customer, when a plurality of articles is purchased as a bulk purchase, for example to secure a bulk purchase discount.

Methods of forming such multi-packs are well known in the packaging art, and a wide variety of packaging machinery has been proposed for producing such packages.

In more recent times it has been proposed to produce a special type of multi-pack which is more frequently known as a "varietypack". Variety packs are multi-pack packages which include different types of articles1 but usually articles of substantially the same overall size and shape but differing in their contents.

In the formation of so-called multi-packs of articles, supplies of the articles are fed to a packaging station in which the articles are physically brought together and then provided with a packaging material which brings the articles of the package into association with one another. This association can be effected in many ways, for example by shrink wrapping the articles together using a heat shrinkable polymeric film or by the use of a cardboard preform which is brought into locking engagement with the articles to hold the articles together in a multi-pack.

Packaging machinery for producing multi-packs is well known in the packaging art, a stream of individual articles being fed to the machine in which they are brought together into multi-packs.

More recently, it has been proposed to produce so-called variety-packs in which a selection of different articles is packaged together, for example a selection of different flavours of pet food. Random selections of such articles for varietypacks are easy to produce by merely feeding the articles at random into the packaging machinery. However, hitherto proposed packaging machinery for producing multi-packs is unable to produce variety-packs with a predetermined assortment of articles without a manual ordering of the articles before they are fed to the packaging station.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for producing a combined output flow of articles from a plurality of single input flows of articles, the apparatus comprising input conveyor means for providing the said plurality of input flows, a flow combining station in which the individual input flows are combined, and output flow conveyor means for conveying the combined flow articles produced in the flow combining station away from said flow combining station, the flow combining station including metering means for metering each of the input flows of articles and article guide means for guiding at least one of the flows of articles from its associated metering means into a flow of articles from another of said article flow metering means.

Apparatus in accordance with the present invention can be used to combine a plurality of input flows of articles into a single flow of articles. However, it is generally preferred that the apparatus combines only two input flows of articles into a single output flow of articles. The combining of input flows can be effected an various ways to produce an output flow of articles in a variety of orders of articles from the input flows according to the way in which metering of the input flows is effected. A particularly preferred mode of operation is to combine the input flows of articles to produce a single output flow of articles in which successive articles in the combined output flow are derived in turn from each of the said plurality of input flows.

It has been found particularly convenient to produce the input flows of articles using a single conveyor but with means for keeping the input flows apart prior to their being metered by the metering means.

A variety of metering means can be used. However, a preferred metering means comprises a rotatable disc or star wheel with a plurality of peripheral recesses therein for receiving successive articles in any one of said input flows of articles.

In general, the metering rate effected by the metering means controlling the rate of flow of a particular input flow of articles into the flow combining zone within the apparatus should Le slower than the potential rate of transport of those articles by the input conveyor to the metering means. This serves to reduce the risk of the metering means failing to meter articles in one input flow whilst other input flows continue to be metered, thereby leading to a failure to provide the desired flow mixing.

After metering the input flows, article guide means deflect at least one flow of articles from a first metering means towards and into the flow of articles from a second metering means.

Apparatus in accordance with the present invention is preferably used to provide the input flow of articles for a packaging machine. Such packaging machines can be used to package a succession of articles in a single row, or more preferably two of such flows of articles can be brought along side each other and then packaged together whilst in their separate rows. When two adjacent flows of packages are to be packaged together, it is often preferred to meter each of the flows to ensure that the packaged produced contain the desired combination of articles.

An embodiment of apparatus in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows a plan view thereof.

The illustrated apparatus is shown producing a combined flow of cans A and B from two separate flows of cans, each of these separate flows consisting of only one type of such can A or B.

An input conveyor 1 provides separate flows of cans A and B, the individual cans being fed on to the conveyor 1 in known manner (not shown). The respective flows of cans A and B are retained on the conveyor 1 by outer guide rails 2, and the flows of cans A and B are kept apart whilst on the input conveyor 1 by a centre guide rail 3.

The respective flows of cans A and B are combined in a flow combining section shown generally at 4. The combined output flow of cans A and B from the flow combining section 4 are then fed in a single stream by an output conveyor 5. The combined flow of cans A and B is guided along the output conveyor 5 by output guide rails 6.

The flow combining section 4 includes two star wheels 7 and 8 which are rotated about a vertical axis in the sense shown by arrows I. Each of the star wheels 7 and 8 has eight peripheral recesses 9 therein into which cans A or B respectively are fed in turn by the input conveyor 1 as the star wheels 7 and 8 are rotated. The star wheels 7 and 8 act as a metering device to control the flow of the individual cans A and B, both in their respective flows and through the flow combining section 4.

The rates of flow of the respective flows of cans A and B through the flow combining section 4 is controlled by the speed of rotation of the star wheels 7 and 8, the input conveyor 1 attempting to feed the cans at a slightly faster rate than the star wheels 7 and 8 release them to the output conveyor 5.

Cans of type A as shown in the drawing flow along the input conveyor 1, engage the star wheel 7, and then engage the output conveyor 5 in a substantially linear path. However, in order for cans of type B to join the flow of cans of type A to form a single flow on the output conveyor 5, the cans of type B are guided by a mixing guide rail 10 which causes them to deviate from their otherwise substantially linear path along the input conveyor 1 and through engagement with the star wheel 8. The guide rail 10, which extends into one of the output guide rails 6, is at acute angle to the direction of flow of the cans B, an angle of approximately 20 having been found advantageous.

However, it is appreciated that some experiment will usually be required in order to find a particularly preferred angle of deflection for the flow of cans B.

In order to combine two flows of cans A and B to produce a single alternating flow of such cans, the input conveyor 1 is run at a speed approximately half that of the output conveyor 5.

The star wheels 7 and 8 are driven at equal and opposite rotational speeds in the sense shown by the arrows I and, as described above, they feed cans A and B from the input conveyor 1 to the output conveyor 5 at a slightly slower speed than the respective cans are fed to them by the input conveyor 1. This ensures a continuous flow of the respective cans A and B to the flow combining section 4 so that adjacent peripheral recesses 9 of the star wheels 7 and 8 are always filled with a can. The output conveyor 5 is, however, run at a speed which ensures that after they have been combined into a single stream the cans do not back up into the combining section 4 and thereby disrupt the flow merging process.

In order to achieve more precise control oQer the apparatus, the respective speeds of the input conveyor 1 and the output conveyor 5, and the speed of rotation of the star wheels 7 and 8, can be controlled independently of each other. This is achieved by providing sensors at various positions along the length of the respective flow paths of the individual streams of cans both before and after the flows have been combined.

Input flow sensors 20, 21 are set to detect a gap between cans in the respective flows of cans A and B. If a gap is detected between adjacent cans by either of the input sensors 20,21 in either of the flows, the star wheels 7 and 8 are stopped as it indicates that an inadequate supply of cans exists to ensure accurate alternate feeding of cans by the star wheels 7 and 8.

A sensor 22 is used to sense the presence of a gap between adjacent cans A and B as they leave the flow combining section 4. If a gap is not detected, the star wheels 7 and 8 are stopped as it indicates that a jam of cans may have occurred in the flow combining section 4. Other sensors 25, 26 are positioned to detect that a can has left one or other of the star wheels 7 and 8, failure to detect a can also indicating a possible jam.

An up speed sensor 23 and a down speed sensor 24 detect the presence or absence of a gap between adjacent cans at two points along the length of the output conveyor 5. If a gap is sensed between adjacent cans by the up speed sensor 23, which is near to the output of the conveyor 5, the speed of rotation of the star wheels 7 and 8 is increased in order to close up the gap.

This ensures a continuous feed of cans from the output conveyor 5. If no gap is sensed between adjacent cans by the down speed sensor 24, which is upstream of the up speed sensor 23, the speed of rotation of the star wheels 7 and 8 is decreased in order to prevent cans backing up into the flow combining section 4.

As will be appreciated, the presence or absence of a gap between adjacent cans at the up speed sensor 23 will depend upon the rate at which the packaging or other machine receiving the output flow from the apparatus in accordance with the present invention draws cans from it. The speed of the packaging or other machine and the apparatus in accordance with the present invention which feeds it with a combined flow of articles should therefore in general be matched in order that the apparatus in accordance with the present invention provides the packaging or other machine with a constant supply of articles with a back up onto the output conveyor 5 without the articles backing up into the combining section 4.

The two star wheels 7 and 8 are driven from a single motor at equal rotational speeds. However, the speed of rotation of the star wheels 7 and 8 is controlled independently of the speed of either the input conveyor 1 or the output conveyor 5. This enables the speed of rotation of the star wheels 7 and 8 to be increased or decreased relative to the speeds of the input and output conveyors to ensure adequate separation and combination of flows of adjacent cans in the flow combining section 4 whilst having adjacent cans abutting on the input conveyor 1 as they progress to the star wheels 7 and 8, and also as they leave the output conveyor 5.

The above described control of the relative speeds of the various parts of the apparatus is preferably effected using a microprocessor with control signals being supplied by the various sensors.

As will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the apparatus can be set into a start up mode in which the sensors which control various parts of the apparatus can be overridden.

In this manner, articles can be positioned within the apparatus so that when the various sensors are activated, they don't give error messages.

The output of alternating cans from the above described apparatus can then be fed for example to a packaging machine or it can be used as an inflow of cans to similar apparatus in accordance with the present invention, for example to provide a flow of four different types of cans ABCD by using two of the above described mixing apparatus and then combining their respective flows in a similar manner to that used in each individual apparatus.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, various features of the hereinbefore described embodiment of apparatus in accordance with the present invention can be changed without departing from the inventive concept of the present invention.

For example, the star wheels 7 and 8 can be replaced by other metering devices, e.g. control rods which are actuated to release successive cans in each of the respective streams.

It is also possible to change the ratio of numbers of cans combined in the flow combining section 4, for example by changing the relative rotational speeds of the star wheels 7 and 8. Doubling the speed of rotation of one star wheel compared with that of the other enables a combining ratio of 2:1 to be obtained.

It will also be appreciated that the apparatus can be used to produce a combined flow of various types of article and not only cans.

Claims

1. Apparatus for producing a combined output flow of articles from a plurality of single input flows of articles, the apparatus comprising input conveyor means for providing the said plurality of input flows, a flow combining station in which the individual input flows are combined, ad output flow conveyor means for conveying the combined flow articles produced in the flow combining station away from said flow combining station, the flow combining station including metering means for ntetering each of the input flows of articles and article guide means for guiding at least one of the flows of articles from its associated metering means into a flow of articles from another of said article flow metering means.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein two input flows of articles are combined into a single output flow of articles.

3. Apparatus according to either of the preceding claims, wherein the plurality of input flows of articles are combined to produce a single output flow of articles in which successive articles in the combined output flow are derived in turn from each of the said plurality of input flows.

4. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the said plurality of input flows of articles is produced by a single conveyor means with means for keeping the input flows apart prior to their being metered by the metering means.

5. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the metering means comprise a rotatable disc with a plurality of peripheral recesses therein for receiving successive articles in any one of said input flows of articles.

6. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the article guide means deflects a flow of articles from a first metering means towards and into the flow of articles from a second metering means.

7. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the rate of metering by the metering means is slower than the rate of transport of articles by the input conveyor means.

8. A packaging machine including apparatus according to any of the preceding claims.

9. A packaging machine according to claim 8, wherein two combined flows of articles produced by apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 7 are themselves metered to produce two adjacent flows of articles which are then packaged together.

10. Apparatus for producing a combined output flow of articles from a plurality of single input flows of articles, the apparatus being substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.