ITBO20090270A1 - WRAPPING MACHINE AND WRAPPING METHOD TO CREATE A RIGID CIGARETTE PACKAGE. - Google Patents

Abstract

A packing machine (17) and method for producing a rigid packet (1) of cigarettes having an inner package (3) defined by a group (4) of cigarettes wrapped in a sheet (25) of flexible wrapping material; an outer container (2) housing the inner package (3) and formed by folding a rigid blank (42) about the inner package (3); and a collar (13) located between the inner package (3) and the outer container (2) and folded at least into a U about the inner package (3). The packing machine has a first packing wheel (27) having at least one peripheral first pocket (29); a feed station (30), in which the collar (13) is fed, flat, to the first pocket (29); a transfer station (31) located downstream from the feed station (30) to transfer the inner package (3) into the first pocket (29) while at the same time folding the collar (13) into a U about the inner package (3); and a gumming device (63) located at the transfer station (31) to apply gum to a wall (66) of the inner package (3) that rests on a corresponding wall of the collar (13) when the collar (13) contacts the inner package (3).

Description

"Packing machine and wrapping method to make a rigid cigarette pack."

TECHNIQUE SECTOR

The present invention relates to a packing machine and to a wrapping method for making a rigid cigarette packet.

ANTERIOR ART

Rigid cigarette packets with hinged lid are the most popular cigarette packets currently on the market as they are simple to make, are easy and practical to use, and offer good protection to the cigarettes contained inside.

A rigid packet of cigarettes with a hinged lid comprises an internal wrapping (consisting of a group of cigarettes wrapped in a sheet of metallized paper) and a rigid outer wrapping that houses the inner wrapping inside. The outer casing includes a cup-shaped container, which houses the group of cigarettes and has an open upper end, and a lid, which is also cup-shaped and is hinged to the container along a hinge to rotate, with respect to the container itself, between an open position and a closed position of the open end. A collar is normally provided, which is folded and connected to the inside of the container to partially protrude outside the open end and engage a corresponding internal surface of the lid when the lid is placed in the position of closure.

The X2, X3 and X6 packaging machines produced by the company G.D S.p.A. they include a horizontal wrapping wheel (that is, mounted to rotate around a vertical rotation axis), in which a collar is coupled to each inner wrapping which is then folded into a "U" around the inner wrapping itself. The wrapping wheel comprises a plurality of peripheral pockets which are advanced stepwise by rotating intermittently around the axis of rotation to pass in succession a collar feeding station, in which each pocket receives an extended collar, a feeding station of the internal wrapping, in which an internal wrapping is inserted inside each pocket around which the previously fed collar folds in a `` U '' manner, and finally an unloading station, in which each inner wrapping coupled to a collar folded in a "U" shape, it is extracted from a pocket and transferred to a subsequent wrapping wheel.

When necessary, glue is applied between the collar and the inner wrapping to glue a front wall of the collar to a front wall of the inner wrapping; in this case, the X2, X3 and X6 packing machines comprise a gumming station which is arranged along a feed conveyor which carries the collars in succession to the collars feeding station and applies at least one point of glue to each collar. It has been observed that along the stretch of the path of the collars between the gumming station and the feeding station of the internal wrapping there are numerous traces of glue coming from the collars, detaching from the collars due to the accelerations to which they are subjected the collars during handling, and undesirably dirty the packing machine; consequently, during machine stops, the packing machine must be cleaned to remove traces of glue with an evident increase in maintenance costs. Furthermore, when the packing machine is stopped (for example for maintenance or cleaning) the glue present in all the collars between the gumming station and the feeding station of the internal wrapping dries; consequently, when the packing machine is restarted, all the collars included between the gumming station and the wrapping feeding station must be rejected with waste of materials and with an aggravation of the control procedures. It is important to note that it is not always possible to discard only the collars with the dried glue, but sometimes it is necessary to discard the packets of cigarettes containing these collars at the exit of the packing machine with a further waste of materials.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a packing machine and a wrapping method for making a rigid cigarette packet, which machine and method are free from the drawbacks described above and, at the same time, are easy and economical to implement.

In accordance with the present invention, a packing machine and a wrapping method are provided for making a rigid cigarette packet according to what is stated in the attached claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings, which illustrate a non-limiting example of embodiment, in which:

â € ¢ Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a rigid packet of cigarettes in a closed configuration;

â € ¢ Figure 2 is a front perspective view of the rigid packet of cigarettes of Figure 1 in an open configuration; â € ¢ Figure 3 is a rear perspective view of the rigid packet of cigarettes of Figure 2;

â € ¢ Figure 4 is a schematic perspective view with parts removed for clarity of a preferred embodiment of a cigarette packing machine made according to the present invention and suitable for making the packet of cigarettes of Figures 1, 2 and 3 ;

â € ¢ Figure 5 is a plan view, schematic and with parts removed for clarity, of a collar feeding station of the packing machine of Figure 4;

â € ¢ Figure 6 is a plan view, schematic and with parts removed for clarity, of a transfer station between two wrapping wheels of the packing machine of Figure 4;

â € ¢ figure 7 is a plan view and enlarged scale of a detail of figure 6; And

â € ¢ Figure 8 is a front perspective view of an internal wrapping coupled to a collar of the rigid packet of cigarettes of Figure 1.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION In figure 1, the number 1 indicates as a whole a rigid packet of cigarettes, which comprises an external container 2 made of cardboard or rigid cup-shaped cardboard and an internal wrapping 3 housed inside the container 2. The internal wrapping 3 encloses a group 4 of cigarettes (shown in figure 4) with a parallelepiped shape and has an upper and frontal opening for the extraction of cigarettes that can be opened by tearing at the moment of the first use of the 1 pack of cigarettes. The external container 2 has an open upper end 5 and is provided with a lid 6, which is cup-shaped and is hinged to the container 2 along a hinge 7 (illustrated in figure 3) to rotate, with respect to the container 2 itself, between an open position (illustrated in Figure 2) and a closed position (illustrated in Figures 1 and 3) of the open upper end 5.

The lid 6, when in its closed position, gives the outer container 2 a rectangular parallelepiped shape having an upper wall 8 and a lower wall 9 parallel and opposite to each other, a front wall 10 and a rear wall 11 parallel and opposite to each other , and two side walls 12 parallel and opposite to each other.

The package 1 also includes a collar 13, which is fixed (usually by gluing) folded in a â € œUâ € shape inside the external container 2 to partially protrude outside the open upper end 5 and engage a corresponding internal surface of the lid 6 when the lid 6 itself is arranged in the aforementioned closed position. The collar 13 is made of cardboard or rigid cardboard and comprises a front wall 14, which is arranged in contact with the front wall 10 of the external container 2, and two side walls 15, which are arranged on opposite bands of the wall 14 front and are arranged in contact with the side walls 12 of the external container 2.

According to a preferred embodiment, the collar 13 is provided with a pair of claws 16 which protrude laterally to engage the lateral walls of the lid 6 by interference in order to keep the lid 6 in the closed position.

In figure 4, the number 17 indicates as a whole a cigarette packing machine of the type X2, X3 or X6 produced by the company G.D S.p.A.

The packing machine 17 comprises a line 18 (only partially illustrated and of a known type) for forming the groups 4 of cigarettes, and a first transfer wheel 19 which is rotatable in pitch about its own axis 20 of horizontal rotation to receive the groups 4 in succession and transfer the groups 4 themselves to a second wrapping wheel 21 at a transfer station 22. The second wrapping wheel 21 is mounted rotatably in pitch about its own rotation axis 23 parallel to the rotation axis 20 and comprises a plurality of peripheral pockets 24, each of which receives a group 4 of cigarettes together with a relative sheet 25 of flexible wrapping of metallized paper, which is fed to the transfer station 22 from a feed line 26. The second wrapping wheel 21 folds each wrapping sheet 25 around the relative group 4 of cigarettes to form an internal wrapping 3.

The packing machine 17 also comprises a third wrapping wheel 27, which is rotatable in pitch about its own axis 28 of vertical rotation and transversal to the axis 20 of rotation. The third wrapping wheel 27 comprises a plurality of peripheral pockets 29 which are advanced stepwise by rotating intermittently around the rotation axis 28 to pass in succession a station 30 for feeding collars 13 of pre-weakened cardboard, in which each pocket 29 receives an extended collar 13, a station 31 for transferring the internal wrappers 3, in which an internal wrapping 3 is inserted inside each pocket 29 around which the collar 13, fed in and finally a transfer station 32, in which each internal wrapping 3 coupled to a collar 13 folded into a "U" is extracted from a pocket 29 and transferred to a subsequent fourth wrapping wheel 33.

The collars 13 are fed to the feeding station 30 through a feeding line 34; in particular, the collars 33 are obtained in a known way from a continuous cardboard strip unwound from a reel 35.

The fourth wrapping wheel 33 is rotatable in pitch about its own rotation axis 36 parallel to the rotation axis 28, it is structurally similar to the third wrapping wheel 27, and has a plurality of peripheral pockets 37. Both in the pockets 29 of the third wrapping wheel 27 and in the pockets 37 of the fourth wrapping wheel 33, each of the internal rectangle parallelepiped-shaped wrappers 3 is cut, i.e. with a smaller lateral surface facing outwards and with its longitudinal axis (always parallel to the axes of the relative cigarettes) in a transverse position to the axes 28 and 36 of rotation and tangential with respect to the periphery of the relative wrapping wheel 27 and 33.

The fourth wrapping wheel 33 and the third transfer wheel 27 are partially superimposed on each other at the transfer station 31, and the internal wrappers 3 are transferred from the third wrapping wheel 27 to the fourth wrapping wheel 33 by means of a vertical displacement and parallel to the rotation axes 28 and 36. At a transfer station 38, each internal wrapping 3 coupled to a U-folded collar 13 is transferred from a pocket 37 of the fourth wrapping wheel 33 to a pocket 39 of a fifth wrapping wheel 40. The fifth wrapping wheel 40 is mounted rotatably in pitch around its own axis 41 of horizontal rotation and parallel to the axis 20 of rotation; the fifth wrapping wheel 40 receives each internal wrapping 3 and the relative collar 13 together with a relative rigid blank 42 fed to the transfer station 38 by a feed line 43. The fifth wrapping wheel 40 is designed to fold each blank 42 around its internal wrapping 3 to make a pack 1 of cigarettes, in which the inner wrapping 26 is housed inside an outer container 2 (illustrated in Figures 1-3) obtained by folding the blank 42.

The packets 1 are fed in succession from the fifth wrapping wheel 40 to a sixth transfer wheel 44 at a transfer station 45. In particular, each packet 1 that reaches the transfer station 44 is arranged, on the periphery of the fifth wrapping wheel 40, flat, i.e. with a larger lateral surface than the relative internal wrapping 3 facing outwards and with the longitudinal axis of the relative internal wrapping 3 (parallel to the relative cigarettes) parallel to the rotation axis 41 of the fifth wrapping wheel 40 itself.

The sixth transfer wheel 44 is rotatable in pitch around its own axis 46 of horizontal rotation and transversal to the axis 41 of rotation of the fifth wrapping wheel 40; at the transfer station 44, the sixth transfer wheel 45 receives the packets 1 in succession from the fifth wrapping wheel 40 and transfers the packets 1 themselves to a drying area 47 (not schematically shown) at a station 48 of transfer. The drying zone 47 constitutes an outlet of the packing machine 17 and feeds the packets 1 towards a subsequent cellophane wrapping machine (not shown) which applies an overwrapping of transparent plastic material around each packet 1.

As illustrated in Figure 5, the line 34 for feeding the collars 13 comprises a belt conveyor 49 which advances the collars 13 in succession towards the feeding station 30. The belt conveyor 49 comprises two parallel belts, on which protrusions 50 are applied which define seats inside which the collars 13 are housed. In correspondence with the feeding station 30 there is a transfer device 51, which picks up a collar 13 from an outlet end of the belt conveyor 49 and places it in a pocket 29. The transfer device 51 comprises a motorized arm 52 rotatably mounted around an axis 53 of vertical rotation parallel to the axis 28 of rotation of the wrapping wheel 27, and a suction gripping head 54 which is supported by the arm 52. In use, the transfer device 51 is cyclically movable by rotating around the rotation axis 53 between a pick-up position (illustrated with a solid line in Figure 5), in which the suction head 54 picks up a collar 13, and a release position (illustrated with a partially dashed line in the figure 5), in which the suction head 54 releases the collar 13. According to a preferred embodiment, the arm 52 is mounted to rotate also around a further rotation axis 55 which is horizontal and perpendicular to the axis 53 of rotation; in use in the withdrawal position the arm 52 initially rotates around the axis 55 of horizontal rotation to extract the collar 13 engaged by the gripping head 54 from the corresponding seat of the belt conveyor 49 and in the release position the arm 52 rotates around the € ™ horizontal rotation axis 55 to deposit the collar 13 engaged by the gripping head 54 in the corresponding pocket 29.

According to what is illustrated in Figure 6, each collar 13 is laid flat on an upper wall 56 of a corresponding pocket 29 of the wrapping wheel 27; in order to hold the collar 13 in the correct position in contact with the pocket 29, the pocket 29 can include projections and / or recesses which define a seat in which the collar 13 is housed. Furthermore, between the feeding station 30 and the station 31 fixed profiles can be provided for transferring the collar 13 in the correct position in contact with the pocket 29.

In the transfer station 31 each internal package 3 is extracted from the corresponding pocket 24 of the wrapping wheel 21 and is then inserted into a pocket 29 of the wrapping wheel 27. This transfer requires that the internal wrapping 3 is extracted from the pocket 24 horizontally and radially (i.e. perpendicular to the rotation axis 23 of the wrapping wheel 21) by a pusher 57 until the inner wrapping 3 is vertically aligned with the pocket 29; at this point the internal wrapping 3 is pushed vertically and axially (ie parallel to the rotation axis 28 of the wrapping wheel 27) inside the pocket 29 by a pusher 58 and by a cooperating counter-pusher 59 with the pusher 58. The pusher 58 and the counter pusher 59 clamp together the internal wrapping 3 (without the interposition of the collar 13) engaging two opposite walls of the inner wrapping 3 itself and then move together to insert vertically and axially (ie parallel to the rotation axis 28 of the wrapping wheel 27) the wrapping 3 inside the pocket 29. It is important to note that the counter-pusher 59 is shaped so as to to reproduce in negative the shape of the collar 13 in such a way as to pass laterally to the collar 13 and therefore not to impact against the collar 13 during the up / down movement.

Entering the pocket 29, the internal wrapping 3 impacts against the collar 13 resting on the upper wall 56 of the pocket 29 and therefore determines the U-shaped folding of the collar 13 which fits inside the pocket 29 together with the ™ 3 inner wrapping itself.

In the transfer station 31 a support and guide body 60 is provided (also illustrated in Figure 7) which has the function of supporting and guiding the movement of the internal wrapping 3; the support and guide body 60 comprises a horizontal support surface 61, on which the internal wrapping 3 slides during the exit from the pocket 29 and a vertical channel 62, inside which the wrapping 3 inside slides during insertion inside pocket 29.

In the transfer station 31 there is a gumming device 63, which is arranged below the horizontal support surface 61 of the support and guide body 60 and comprises at least one nozzle 64 facing upwards so as to be able to apply glue (typically at least one strip 65 of glue as illustrated in Figure 8) on a front wall 66 of the internal wrapping 3 in correspondence with the area that comes into contact with the front wall 15 of the collar 13 to glue the wall 15 anterior of the collar 13 to the anterior wall 66 of the internal wrapping 3. To allow the rubberizing device 63 to apply the glue on the front wall 66 of the internal wrapping 3, the horizontal support plane 61 of the supporting and guiding body 60 has a central through slot 67 arranged in correspondence with the nozzle 64; It is important to note that the central slot 67 is not limited in a neighborhood of the nozzle 64 but extends up to the vertical channel 62 downstream of the nozzle 64 to prevent the strip 65 of glue applied by the nozzle 64 it smears against the horizontal support surface 61, soiling the horizontal support surface 61 itself. In other words, the strip 65 of glue present on the front wall 66 of the internal wrapping 3 must not rub against any surface and therefore the central slot 67 must be extended downstream of the nozzle 64 up to the vertical channel 62.

The packaging machine 17 described above has numerous advantages, since it allows glue to be applied between each internal wrapping 3 and the corresponding collar 13 in a simple and efficient manner.

In particular, in the transfer station 31 there is normally free space between the wrapping wheel 21 and the wrapping wheel 27 which can easily be used to house the gumming device 63 without the need for structural modifications (in this way, the device 63 can also be easily installed in an existing packing machine 17, possibly by simply replacing the existing support and guide body 60 with a similar support and guide body 60 having the central through slot 67).

Furthermore, the glue is applied on the internal wrapping 3 immediately before the inner wrapping 3 comes into contact with the collar 13, and therefore even in the event of a sudden stop of the machine at most only one internal rubberized wrapping 3 is discarded.

Finally, by rubberizing the internal wrapping 3 in close proximity to the area in which the inner wrapping 3 comes into contact with the collar 13, the contamination of the packaging machine 17 is reduced to a minimum with traces of glue that detach in unwanted way from the inside 3 wrapping. In this regard, it is important to note that thanks to the reduced distance between the gumming area of the internal wrapping 3 and the area where the inner wrapping 3 comes into contact with the collar 13, it is possible to use hot glues that they dry very quickly; these glues tend to remain in contact with the wall to which they have been applied and therefore smear much less than cold glues. Using hot glues which dry very quickly, in correspondence with the wrapping wheel 40 the collar 13 is already fixed to the internal wrapping 3, thus reducing the risk of unwanted displacement of the collar 13 during the folding of the blank 43 and therefore increasing the final quality of 1 packets of cigarettes.

Claims (13)

R I V E N D I C A Z I O N I 1) Cigarette packing machine to make a rigid packet (1) of cigarettes, which includes an internal wrapping (3) consisting of a group (4) of cigarettes wrapped in a sheet (25) of flexible wrapping, a container (2) ) that houses the internal wrapping (3) inside and is obtained by folding a rigid blank (42) around the inner wrapping (3), and a collar (13) that is placed between the inner wrapping (3) and the outer container (2) and is folded at least to â € œUâ € around the inner wrapping (3); the packing machine (17) comprises: a first wrapping wheel (27) having at least a first peripheral pocket (29); a feeding station (30) in which the collar (13) is fed stretched to the first pocket (29); And a transfer station (31) arranged downstream of the feeding station (30) to transfer the wrapping (3) inside the first pocket (29) causing the simultaneous â € œUâ € folding of the collar (13 ) around the internal wrapping (3); the packing machine (17) is characterized by the fact that it comprises a gumming device (63), which is arranged in the transfer station (31) to apply glue to one wall (66) of the internal wrapping (3) which rests against a corresponding wall of the collar (13) when the collar (13) comes into contact with the internal wrapping (3). 2) Packaging machine according to claim 1, wherein the gumming device (63) is arranged in the transfer station (31) next to the first wrapping wheel (27). 3) Packaging machine according to claim 1 or 2 and comprising a second wrapping wheel (21), which is provided with at least a second pocket (24), is suitable for making the internal wrapping (3) by folding the sheet (25) of flexible wrapping around the group (4) of cigarettes, and transfers the wrapping (3) inside the first wrapping wheel (27) to the transfer station (31). 4) Packaging machine according to claim 3, wherein the gumming device (63) is arranged between the first wrapping wheel (27) and the second wrapping wheel (21). 5) Packaging machine according to claim 3 or 4, in which the first wrapping wheel (27) rotates in pitch around a first axis (28) of vertical rotation and the second wrapping wheel (21) rotates in pitch around a second axis (23) of horizontal rotation perpendicular to the first axis (28) of vertical rotation. 6) Packaging machine according to claim 5, wherein the transfer station (31) comprises: a first pusher (57) which horizontally and radially extracts the internal wrapping (3) from the second pocket (24) until the inner wrapping (3) is vertically aligned with the first pocket (29); and a second pusher (58) that pushes the wrapping (3) vertically and axially inside the first pocket (29). 7) Packaging machine according to claim 6, in which the transfer station (31) comprises a counter-pusher (59) cooperating with the second pusher (58) to clamp the internal wrapping (3) without the interposition of the collar (13). 8) Packaging machine according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the transfer station (31) comprises a support and guide body (60) which has the function of supporting and guiding the movement of the internal wrapping (3) and comprehends: a horizontal support surface (61), on which the internal wrapping 3 slides as it exits the first pocket (29); And a vertical channel (62), inside which the wrapping (3) passes inside during insertion inside the first pocket (29). 9) Packaging machine according to claim 8, wherein the gumming device (63) is arranged below the horizontal support plane (61) of the support and guide body (60) and comprises a nozzle (64) facing towards at the top so as to be able to apply glue to one wall (66) of the internal wrapping (3). 10) Packaging machine according to claim 9, in which the horizontal support plane (61) of the support and guide body (60) has a central through slot (67), which is arranged in correspondence with the nozzle ( 64) and extends up to the vertical channel (62) downstream of the nozzle (64). 11) Packaging machine according to any one of claims 1 to 10 and comprising a line (34) for feeding the collars (13), which in turn comprises a belt conveyor (49) which advances the collars (13) in succession towards the feeding station (30). 12) Packaging machine according to claim 11, and comprising a transfer device (51), which is arranged in correspondence with the feeding station (30) and takes the collar (13) from an outlet end of the belt conveyor (49) ) and rests the collar (13) itself in the first pocket (29) of the first wrapping wheel (27); the transfer device (51) comprises: a motorized arm (52) which is mounted to rotate around a third axis (53) of rotation parallel to the first axis (28) of rotation of the wrapping wheel (27) and to a fourth axis (55) of rotation perpendicular to the third rotation axis (53); And a suction head (54) which is supported by the arm (52). 13) Wrapping method for making a rigid cigarette packet, which comprises an internal wrapping (3) consisting of a group (4) of cigarettes wrapped in a sheet (25) of flexible wrapping, an outer container (2) which houses inside the wrapping (3) inside and is obtained by folding a rigid blank (42) around the inner wrapping (3), and a collar (13) that is placed between the wrapping (3) internal and external container (2) and is folded at least to a â € œUâ € around the internal wrapping (3); the wrapping method includes the steps of: feeding the stretched collar (13) to a first peripheral pocket (29) of a first wrapping wheel (27) in a feeding station (30); And transfer the internal wrapping (3) inside the first pocket (29) causing the simultaneous â € œUâ € folding of the collar (13) around the internal wrapping (3) in a transfer station (31) arranged downstream of the feeding station (30); the wrapping method is characterized by the fact of including the further step of applying glue to a wall (66) of the internal wrapping (3) which rests against a corresponding wall of the collar (13) when the collar ( 13) comes into contact with the internal wrapping (3) by means of a gumming device (63) arranged in the transfer station (31).