GB2317869A - Apparatus for inserting ordered groups of products into cartons - Google Patents

Abstract

A cartoning device 3 for inserting ordered groups of products (4), such as rows of teabags, into cartons 2 comprises a carton feed line 5 consisting of a single set of pick-up and transfer means (belt 23, rollers 24, and mobile gripper elements 25) capable of holding a number of cartons, in this instance, three (see Figure 6), and operating between a carton reception station 6 and a carton filling station 7; a transfer line 10 designed to allow the (e.g., vertical) transfer of the filled cartons 2 from the filling station 7 to a post-filling station 11, positioned (below and) to one side of the feed line; and, a conveyor line 8 which transfers the cartons 2 from the post-filling station 11 to the carton ejection station 9 which is located at the same end of the cartoning device 3 as the reception station 6. The carton pick-up and transfer means (23-25) moves with discontinuous movements, the magnitude of which are determined by the see of the carton and on how many rows of products (4) are required to fill it. In the embodiment shown in Figures 2 and 5, the container requires three rows of products (4) and the operator uses control means (26,27, see Figure 4) to set the distance for each movement of (23,24,25) to be one third the length of the carton 2. This setting remains until all cartons of that size have been filled. The carton follows a generally U-shaped path from reception station 6, along feed-line (23), down transfer line 10 to post-filling station 11 and back along conveyor line 8 to ejection station 9.

Description

2317869 A cartoning device for inserting ordered groups of products into

cartons The present invention relates to a cartoning device for inserting ordered groups of products into cartons.

The invention applies in particular to the packaging of ordered rows of bags of tea, camomile or similar infusable or soluble products described specifically below, although without limiting the application of the present invention.

In the automatic tea-bag packaging sector, the use of cartoning devices is known, said devices picking up a given number of tea bags from an end station of the packaging machine and inserting them into cartons.

These devices include automatic carton handling equipment which: picks up the cartons in the form of flat blanks from a loader; transfers the cartons to an erecting station which has a fixed hopper and mobile erector which operate together so as to erect the carton by raising and gluing the flaps; feeding the cartons to a filling station; and finally, transferring the cartons which are full of 2 products to a station which ejects them from the cartoning device.

The cartons are fed to the filling station in particular by a feed line fitted with mechanical or pneumatic -mechanical pick-up and transfer devices which, when the cartons stop, pick up the cartons from the reception station and move them, with a movement equal to a step P proportional to the size of the cartons, to the filling station. In the latter, during one or more stops, the product is inserted into the cartons, then a subsequent movement, again equalling step P, moves the cartons to subsequent stations, generically called post filling stations, in which the cartons again stop and are subjected to further stages of the packaging process. Thus, during alternating movements and stops, the cartons cover first the feed line, then a conveyor line located downstream and, subjected to one or more stages of the packaging process during stops, pass through the packaging machine and arrive at an ejection station, from which the finished packages go on to the final storage stage.

The devices which pick up, transfer and set down the cartons between pairs of stations consist of a 3 given number of conventional mechanical conveyors; in the type solution, these devices are of the type currently known as "comb" conveyors, arranged one after another and suitably synchronised. The pre and post-filling conveyors are all similar, although they are distributed at the filling station if two or more rows of ordered, parallel products must be packed side by side in the same carton, feeding the carton with steps equalling P/n, where n is the number of rows to be set in order. Each "comb" conveyor at the filling station is designed so that it forces the carton to move by a step different to the others and proportionally smaller depending on the total number of rows of products to be inserted in the carton.

The above-mentioned cartoning devices operate satisfactorily and are very reliable, however, the purely mechanical nature of the technology used for the automatic transfer devices makes the said devices complex and expensive to build, necessitating simplification of construction in order to make more flexible, economical packaging machines.

Moreover, the afore-mentioned devices, which use purely mechanical drives, bring the disadvantage of 4 having to effect mechanical adjustments on the cams and followers which, as well as requiring specific means, also necessitate a given tooling time in the case of carton geometric change-overs, and the consequent number of rows of products to be packaged, before it is possible to pass from a batch of homogeneous products with preset specifications to a batch of different products.

One of the disadvantages in reducing the cost of packaging machines is the fact that the conveyor means for the cartoning devices extend along a single line, which is substantially horizontal, and which crosses the packaging machine from one side to the other at a given height from the floor.

A significant reduction in the cost of packaging machines would be obtained by eliminating the complex devices envisaged for the automatic change over of the reels of filter paper used to make the tea bags, by choosing a machine structure that is less sophisticated but more economical, in which the single reel is substituted manually.

In this case, in order to easily substitute the reel and at the same time guarantee sufficient running time, to minimise the strain on the reel changing personnel, it would be advantageous to position the reels close to the machine base, making the reels themselves larger than conventional reels.

However, this construction feature, at hand-height, is incompatible with the above-mentioned known conveyor means of the cartoning devices, since, unless an increase in the overall dimensions of the packaging machines is accepted, there would be geometric interference between the dimensions of the reel and the path followed by the cartons during packaging.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages with a cartoning device that allows packaging machines which are less complex and more economical to be built.

In accordance with the present invention, the said object is obtained by a device in which the product conveyor line includes a transfer line designed to move the cartons from the filling station to a first post-filling station, positioned to one side of the feed line, and from which the products packed in the cartons are sent to an ejection station located on the same side of the packaging machine as the reception station for the empty cartons.

6 An advantage of the said cartoning device is that it allows very large reels of filter paper to be housed in the packaging machine, without the risk of reel geometric interference with the path followed by the cartons along the conveyor equipment.

A further ergonomic advantage arises from positioning the reception and ejection stations on the same side of the machine, allowing the operator to control the machine more easily, without having to move from one station to the other.

Moreover, a further simplification in the construction is obtained by the fact that the equipment disclosed by the present invention envisages a single set of carton pick-up, transfer and set-down means which operate until the carton has been filled for the entire feed line, whatever the number of rows of products to be inserted in the cartons.

This is obtained by fitting the carton pick-up and set-down devices with actuator means that interface with electronic control means which can be programmed to make the cartons move by steps of various sizes depending on the number of rows of products in the cartons.

7 In addition to the advantage of reducing the number of comb conveyors on the feed line to one, with an obvious reduction in the costs, controlling the movement with the programmable electronic control means allow the adjustments for the size change over, and in particular programming of the number of rows of bags, to be effected much more rapidly, making the machine more flexible and productivity more economical.

The technical characteristics of the invention according to the above-mentioned objects are laid out in the claims below and the advantages of the disclosure are apparent from the detailed description which follows, with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention and in which:

- Figure 1 is a schematic elevation view of a product packaging machine illustrated as a whole and fitted with a cartoning device made according to the present invention; - Figure 2 is a perspective view of an example of the packaging of products obtained with the cartoning device made according to the present invention; - Figure 3 is a side perspective view of the 8 cartoning device, scaled up and with some parts cut away to better illustrate others; - Figure 4 is a block diagram of the programmable control means interfaced with the cartoning device; - Figures 5a, 5b, 5c and 5d provide a schematic view of a succession of filling stages for a carton, carried out using the device disclosed; - Figure 6 is a detail of the device disclosed, more precisely the carton pick-up grippers; this is a schematic perspective view with some parts cut away to better illustrate others.

With reference to the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 indicates as a whole (in f igure 1) an automatic machine for packaging tea, camomile or similar infusable or soluble substances in filter bags.

The machine 1 has a cartoning device 3, by which the products 4, consisting of individual tea bags (see also figure 2), are orderly inserted, arranged in a plurality of rows set side by side, inside the cartons 2, or other similar packaging.

The cartoning device 3 basically includes:

- a loading station 20, schematically represented in figure 1, through which the cartons 2 for packaging arrive at the cartoning device 3 in the 9 form of flat cardboard blanks 2'; - a conventional erecting station 21, fitted with a fixed hopper, together with which a mobile erector erects the carton 2 by raising and gluing the flaps of the blank, and which then transfers the carton 2 to a reception station 6 below; - a f illing station 7, in which the tea bags are inserted in the carton 2, followed by a series of subsequent stations, generically called post filling stations 11, in which accessory stages to the filling cycle are effected and, finally - an ejection station 9 which ejects the cartons 2 from the cartoning device 3, located on the same side of the cartoning machine as the filling is station 7.

Between the reception station 6 and filling station 7, there operates a horizontal feed line 5, which transfers the cartons 2 with the lid 22 raised, from one station to the other 6, 7 by means of stepping movements in a single direction, during which the carton 2 alternately moves and stops.

This movement is obtained using carton 2 pick-up, transfer and set-down means, there being only one set of said means for the entire feed line 5, these being moved alternately between the two stations 6, 7 so as to carry the individual cartons 2 forward on the approach strokes to the filling station 7, then effecting the no-load return stroke to the reception station 6.

In particular, (see figures 3 and 6) these means consist of a belt 23 wrapped around two rollers 24 so as to form a ring, one of the said rollers being motor-powered, and the means integrally supporting two jointed, mobile gripper elements 25, on the horizontal plane, above the belt 23 so that they can make contact with the opposite vertical sides of the carton 2a.

The motor-powered roller 24 is driven by actuator means which include an electronically controlled motor 27, interfaced with programmable control means 26 (functional block diagram in figure 4) so as to set variable steps for the cartons 2, which may be programmed according to a preset sequence depending on the number of rows of products in the carton 2, relative to the filling station 7, at the start of the packaging stages.

This feature allows different steps to be set for the carton 2 depending on the preset type of packing envisaged in the carton (i.e.: cartons envisaged with one or more rows of products 4): in 11 other words, a series of cartons 2 in which the packing of a single row of products 4 is envisaged will have a feed step which equals its length L during the stage which sees its transfer from the reception station 6 to the filling station 7, whilst a series of cartons 2 in which, for example, three rows of products must be packed, are fed by approximately one third of a step (equal to one third of their length L) to allow successive filling of a carton 2 at the filling station.

In particular, the solution which uses grippers 25 is illustrated schematically in figure 6; the grippers 25 consist of a pair of profiles 25a, positioned symmetrically opposite one another. Each profile 25a has a plurality of seats whose dimension L equals the corresponding width of the carton 2 (see also figure 2). In the embodiment illustrated, three seats 25b are shown, although this depends on the required machine architecture and productivity relative to the various rhythms of the different stations (carton erection, bag row filling, ejection, etc.).

During movement at the transfer station 6, all of the cartons 2, illustrated with a dashed line in figure 3, are supported from below by a support 12 table 25s (defined by two horizontal parallel bars) fixed between the above-mentioned grippers 25.

In order to subsequently release the filled cartons 2 from the grippers 25, to allow them to be fed to the post-filling stations 11, the profiles 25a turn about an axis X, formed by pins 25p, and parallel with a feed direction and sense F of the cartons 2.

The profiles 25a turn in both directions as indicated by the arrows Fl, illustrated in figure 6, between a position in which the profiles are locked, in which they are opposite one another and hold the carton 2, and a turned release position, in which the profiles 25a are distanced from one another.

is An example of the successive stages caused by the movement of the parts described is illustrated in figure 5, in which it is imagined that they must transfer the empty cartons arriving in succession from A in the said direction F towards the filling station 7, schematically illustrated as a row of bags; it is also supposed that, in this example which refers to the package in figure 2, there are three rows of bags.

In figure 5a, the empty carton A is fed in, whilst the previous cartons B and C are already held 13 between the grippers.

During the subsequent stage, see figure 5b, the grippers 25 move in direction F by a value H, so as to carry the carton C to the filling station 7 by a portion Cl equal to a third of the width L of the carton: in this configuration, the carton is supported from below by bars 25s.

Then, when the first row Cl has been set down inside the carton 2, the grippers 25 move another step (L/3), into the configuration illustrated in f igure 5c, in which the second row C2 is set down.

Finally, the carton 2 moves to the configuration illustrated in figure 5d (again moving by step L/3) where the third row C3 is set down, completely filling the carton. At this point, the carton 2 is released by the afore-mentioned rotation of the profiles 25a and is picked up by elements described later in this text. Then, the belt control means invert the direction of movement and, in direction F2, the grippers 25 return with a single stroke to the loading position for a new carton A, as shown in figure 5a.

Downstream of the filling station 7, the cartoning device 3 envisages a conveyor line 8 which extends between the filling station 7 and the ejection 14 station 9.

The conveyor line 8 includes a first vertical section, called the transfer line 10, in which the cartons 2, after being fed out of the filling station 7, effect a first movement, across the feed line 5, which takes them to a post-filling station 11 below. In the subsequent horizontal section 30 of the conveyor line 8, between the first post filling station and the ejection station 9, the cartons 2 are subjected to a movement similar to that of the feed line 5, but in the opposite direction with a stepping movement equal to the length L of the cartons (without row sub-steps L/n), which gradually leads to their expulsion from the cartoning device 3. For this purpose, there may be gripper means identical to the above-mentioned grippers 25 illustrated in figure 6.

Observation of figure 3 reveals that the transfer line 10 includes a downfeed device 31 which operates between the filling stations 7 and the first post-filling station 11 and has a carton reception table 32 equipped with carton holder means, actuated by vacuum nozzles 33, and mounted so that it projects horizontally from a vertical guide 34. The table 32 is attached to the output end of an actuator mechanism 40 which includes jointed mobile levers 35, powered in such a way that it is synchronised with the feed line 5, and controlled by programmable control means 26, so as to alternately raise and lower the table 32 along the guide 34, allowing the successive transfer of cartons 2 from the filling station 7 to the horizontal section 30 of the conveyor line 8.

The embodiment illustrated, therefore, allows the use of an electronic control for the movements of the grippers 25, allows adjustment of the gripper stroke to the required value, both in the direction of carton filling (direction F), and in the return direction (direction F2): in this way, a single device may be used (grippers 25 with relative control), simplifying the machine architecture and rationalising the stages necessary to adapt it to size change-over requirements.

As regards the architecture, the solution disclosed, which envisages two lines, one above the other, for transfer and post-filling, it is particularly suited to the architecture of a packaging machine, located upstream and not illustrated in the details, using reels 100 with large diameter located at hand-height, this being a 16 solution which would prevent the use of conventional cartoning lines positioned on the same line, as indicated in the introduction.

The invention described can be subject to modifications and variations without thereby departing from the scope of the inventive concept.

Moreover, all the details of the invention may be substituted by technically equivalent elements.

17

Claims (1)

1. Claims

   A cartoning device for inserting ordered groups of products into cartons including: a feed line for the cartons including carton pick-up and transfer means which operate between a reception station and filling station for the cartons, there being discontinuous movements in steps of variable length; a conveyor line for the cartons from the filling station to an ejection station which ejects the cartons from the cartoning device; characterised in that the conveyor line includes a transfer line, this being designed to effect a first carton movement from the filling station to a post-filling station, the latter being positioned to one side of the feed line, and in that the ejection station is located on the same side of the cartoning device as the reception station 2) The device according to claim 1, for packing cartons with one or more rows of products, 18 characterised in that there is a single set of pick-up and transfer means for the cartons for the entire feed line, said means being powered by actuators which interface with the programmable control means so as to set variable steps for the cartons according to preset sequences, in both directions, depending on the position of the carton relative to the filling station, and depending on the number of rows of products.

   3) The device according to claim 1, characterised in that the post-filling station is located below the filling station, the conveyor line also including alternating mobile downfeed means which operate in synchronism with the feed line to transfer the cartons from one of the said stations to the other.

   4) The device according to claim 1, characterised in that the ejection station for the cartons is located below the reception station.

   5) The device according to claim 1, characterised in that it includes a downfeed device along the conveyor line, including a carton reception 19 table, this being equipped with carton holder means, said table being mounted so that it projects horizontally from a vertical guide and moved by motor-powered actuators in synchronism with the feed line so as to successively transfer the cartons from the filling station to a postfilling station below.

   6) The device according to claims 1 and 2, characterised in that part of the pick-up means consist of gripper elements or means, these including a pair of profiles positioned symmetrically and opposite one another; each of the profiles having a plurality of seats, each seat having a dimension equal to the corresponding width of a carton.

   7) The device according to claim 6, characterised in that there is a fixed support table between the profiles, said table being designed to support the cartons as they are moved by the grippers at a reception station and as the cartons are moved towards a filling station.

   8) The device according to claims 2 and 6, characterised in that each of the profiles pivots about a pin, allowing the profile to rotate, in both directions, about an axis parallel with the direction of the preset steps by which the cartons move; said profiles being able to turn between a position in which they are locked, where the profiles are opposite one another and hold the carton in the seats, and a turned release position, in which the profiles are distanced from one another and so release the carton.

   9) The device as in the foregoing claims and as described and illustrated herein with reference to the accompanying drawings and for the objects stated herein.