ITMO20130039U1 - CARTON CUTTING AND CUTTING EQUIPMENT FOR PACKAGING CERAMIC TILES - Google Patents

Description

DESCRIPTION

CUTTING AND DIE CUTTING APPARATUS FOR CARTONS PACKAGING OF BATTERIES

OF CERAMIC TILES

PRESENTATION

The present invention relates to an apparatus (devices and machines assembled and coordinated in a single functional structure) for cutting and punching cartons for the packaging of stacks of ceramic tiles starting from unprocessed cartons in sheets as are generally found for generic uses (typically for pallets with dimensions of approximately 100 x 130 cm).

The type of die-cut packaging is characterized by the fact that these wrap the perimeter sides of the stack of tiles, leaving the lower and upper faces partially uncovered; the dies are generally used for medium-large tile formats, currently the most requested.

LIMITS OF KNOWN TECHNOLOGY

The present invention realizes very important conditions which make it possible to insert one or more of these apparatuses inside the ceramic factories, while it is currently customary to rely on external firms specialized in this sector for the supply of packaging; in order to minimize the costs of the dies, ceramics are generally forced to order in batches of a minimum of a few thousand pieces and more.

This situation is heavily penalizing from an economic and management point of view, as for the production of tiles in small series there are stocks of oversized and unused dies for relatively long times; in addition to the costs of logistics, there is also the problem of aging of the dies that have been in storage for a long time (humidity, etc ...) and consequent waste of unused materials.

On the other hand, the aforementioned companies specialized in packaging have machinery and plants whose manufacturing process is based on the known technique with die-cutting machines where the cutting tool consists of a cutting profile having the shape of the finished die suitable for producing large batches without machine stops for the replacement of cutting parts and start-ups.

Said machines are obviously not convenient for ceramics since a high number of blades would be required in addition to them to cover any type of packaging with unsustainable costs.

The problems described will be increasingly pressing in the future as the current trend is to produce only on the basis of sales and furthermore for market needs the products will be increasingly customized and divided into medium / small batches.

AIMS AND ADVANTAGES

The invention aims to obviate the aforementioned drawbacks by providing a cardboard die-cutting apparatus whose cutting devices consist of a certain number of movable blades with serial processing along the perimeter of the cardboard boxes previously cut in the same machine; said apparatus will be easily adaptable to any type and format of tiles without having to replace parts and with completely automatic operation; further advantage will be the complete use of blank cartons without scraps or scraps.

A part of the present invention comprises (albeit with various modifications) devices and means as already described in the report of the B.M.U. with filing date 20 March 2013, N. M02013U000008 entitled APPARATUS FOR THE PACKAGING OF FULL CYCLE CERAMIC TILES of the same

In particular, mainly some cutting devices and the part of the carton lifter are taken from the previous one; however, for reasons of clarity, all the details of this will be described in a complete and autonomous way.

LIST OF DRAWINGS

The present invention and its advantages will be better described and illustrated with the aid of the following figures which show a typical and non-exclusive embodiment thereof.

FIG.1A: simplified top plan view of the entire apparatus of the present invention; FIG.1B: simplified side view from (VI) of the previous figure;

FIG.1C: detail of an accumulation of finished blanks on a pallet;

FIG.2A: simplified front view from (V2) of FIG.1A;

FIG.2B: enlarged front view of a detail of FIG.2A;

FIG.2C and FIG.2D: detail of two superimposed and glued punches;

FIG.3A: simplified perspective and out-of-scale view of the die-cutting station of the present invention;

FIG.3B: front view of some devices of FIG.3A;

FIG.3C: enlarged detail of FIG.3B; _

from FIG.4A to FIG.4G: types of punches and packages produced with the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG.5A, FIG.5B and FIG.5C: plan view and details of a possible constructive solution of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS PARTS OF THE APPARATUS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION In FIG.1A the apparatus of the present invention is shown divided into different parts where in each one certain processes are carried out and in particular:

- part (A): device for accumulating and lifting blank cartons;

- part (B): cutting and positioning of cartons to be punched;

- part (C): workstation with die-cutting devices;

- part (D): transport of the dies to the pallet of the finished product;

- part (E): storage stations for the finished blanks.

Part (A) mainly includes (see also FIG.1B and FIG.2A):

- a lifting device (A1) for a stack of cartons (PC) of commercial size; - a second trolley-mounted lifting device (A2), typically with suction cups, of the individual cartons (SC);

- two guides (A4) to center the accumulation of the cartons.

Part (B) mainly includes (see also FIG.2A):

- a bearing frame (Bl) to support the various devices of parts (A) and (B);

- a pair of idle pressure rollers (B2) for advancing and keeping the cardboard stationary (SC) in the cutting phase;

- a pair of blades (B3) of which the upper one has a vertical movement for cutting;

- a transport (B4), typically with belts, for positioning the cut cartons (FL) in the positions determined by the mechanical stops (B5);

- a pair of pressure rollers (B12) for crushing ends of the cut cardboard;

- a pair of faired lifting devices (B6), typically with suction cups, for the positioning on the shelves (B7) of the cut cartons (FL) awaiting the punching operations;

- a pair of heads (B10) for applying glue to the cut cartons.

Part (C) mainly includes (see also FIG.3A and FIG.3B):

- a pair of pressure rollers (Cl) of which the upper one with the possibility of vertical displacements, and the lower motorized one;

- a pair of idle toothed wheels (C3) for the creasing operation operating in the lower part of the cartons;

- a pair of motorized wheels with central recess (C2) in contrast to the previous ones operating in the upper part of the carton; in FIG.3A for clarity of presentation, only two of the four wheels (C2) are shown;

- a central blade (C4) equipped with vertical movement for the punching of the central and facing edges of the cartons (FL) being processed;

- a pair of external blades (C5) for punching the outer edges of the cartons equipped with scissors movements aligned with the previous one (C4);

- a series of lower counter-blades (C6) and (CI 1) of which the two external ones are adjustable in width; - a second series of blades (C7) and (C8), of which the upper one vertically movable for cutting the pair of punches (FU).

Part (D) mainly includes:

- a transport system (DI), typically with a belt for the blanks being processed; its support frame is not shown in the figure for reasons of clarity;

- a printing system (D2) to characterize the type of packaging (brand, aesthetics, commercial codes, etc ...);

- a pair of devices for picking up the waxed punches (D3), typically with suction cups, equipped with vertical and horizontal movements;

- a frame with sliding guides (D4) for the devices (D3), not shown in FIG.1B. Part (E) mainly includes:

- a first station with motorized roller conveyor for empty pallets (El);

- a second station with motorized roller conveyor for accumulating pallets (E2) equipped with a lifting device (E4);

- a third station with roller conveyor (E3) to receive the full pallets from the previous one.

DESCRIPTION OF THE OPERATION OF THE APPARATUS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION. The process of forming the dies begins in part (A) and ends in (D); following this order, the various steps and processes can be listed as follows:

- insertion of a stack of blank cardboard on the shelf (A1) taking care that the internal corrugations are oriented as shown in the detail of FIG.2A (positioning of the cardboard correct for subsequent folding operations);

- insertion of the cardboard between the spaced pressure rollers (B2) by means of the lifting device (A2) with advancement that adheres to the lowered upper blade (B3); in this way you will have the perfect alignment of the cardboard during cutting;

- lowering of the upper roller and rotation of the lower one (B2) for step-by-step advances of a level (AF) corresponding to the width of the die to be cut;

- cardboard cutting using the blades (B3);

- further advancement of the cardboard cut by means of the transport system (B4);

- crushing of the terminal parts of the cartons by a level (SC) see also FIG.2B; with this process the surface discontinuity of the blanks that will be glued is minimized, as shown also in FIG.2C and FIG.2D.

- transport of the cut cartons (FL) by means of transport (B4) in three positions determined by the mechanical stops (B5); the first and last are withdrawal positions while the intermediate one is only for transit;

- picking up a pair of cut cardboard boxes (from the first and third position) by means of the suction cup devices (B6) and positioning them on the shelves (B7); during this transfer indicated with the line (BV) in FIG. 2, the front part of the cartons passes over the heads (B10) which spray glue; said cartons are positioned between the pressure rollers (Cl), see also FIG.3A.

With the described operations, the first phase is completed, that is, cut cardboard boxes arranged in pairs ready to enter the punching station with the internal edges approached at a distance (DC) and parallel; this arrangement between the internal edges will be maintained for any format of cartons being processed.

The die-cutting operations in station (C) are performed as follows, see also FIG.3A:

- the front part of the previously described pair of cartons (FL) is positioned on the terminal part of the two cartons already present (FU), and partially processed, with a predetermined overlap (SC) as shown in FIG.2C; in this way the glue compressed between the two faces by the pressure rollers (Cl) will join them definitively.

At this point the most important part of the process can begin which is the die-cutting which will take place according to the following phases:

- the first process carried out is that of creasing by means of the lower toothed wheels (C3) that press the cartons into the hollow of the upper ones (C2) to create a series of small aligned holes that will facilitate the folding of the external flaps in the final packaging phase from other machines, see also FIG.3B;

- the second process is that of punching performed simultaneously by the action of the pair of the upper blades (C5) and (C4) and by the lower ones (C6) and (Cl 1) as shown by the detail of FIG.3A and by the various figures of the series 4; the external blades (upper and lower) are adjustable in width to adapt to the various sizes of the dies;

- the last process is the simultaneous cutting of the pair of dies performed by the pair of blades (C7) and (C8).

The cartons that come out of the die-cutting station were then transformed into finished dies as shown for the two types of FIG.4B and FIG.4E.

The pairs of blanks are then transported by the belt (DI) to a suitable position for picking up; during the movement the printing device (D2) will apply (if required) writings and decorations identifying the product.

The completion of the work will take place as follows:

- the suction cup devices (D3) with appropriate movements will deposit the pairs of blanks on a pallet placed on the roller conveyor at (E2); the roller conveyor is equipped with vertical step-by-step movements by means of the lifting device (E4) to keep the device unloading surface constant in height (D3); the various planes of punches will be offset as shown in FIG.1C to give stability to the accumulation;

- the completed pallet will be evacuated to the station (E3) by means of the motorized roller conveyor of the station (E2);

- from the station roller conveyor (El) a new empty pallet will arrive for the station (E2), to start a new loading cycle.

In FIG.4B and FIG.4E the two types of punches possible with the apparatus of this patent are shown: that of FIG.4B is for medium-small formats where the package (SM) can be obtained from a single die, those of of FIG.4E are for medium-large formats where the package (SG) is made up of two dies.

In this series of figures are shown:

- FIG.4A: a generic cut cardboard (FL) whose dimension (LC) is that of the virgin cardboard, see also FIG.1B; the dimension (AF) corresponds to the transversal dimension of the die;

- FIG.4B: a finished die (FM) typical for medium / small length formats (LF1); also indicated are the two creasing lines (CD) and the overlapping height (SC) of the two cartons that compose it, shown separately in FIG.4C and FIG.4D;

- FIG.4D: the first cardboard completed in the processing (die-cutting and creasing); the heights (LI) and (L2) refer to the edges to be folded and (HP) corresponds to the height of the stacks of tiles to be packaged;

- FIG.4C: the second carton that completes the punch (together with that of FIG.4D) with the indication of the position of the glue (CL); the dimension (F2) corresponds to the piece of cardboard left over (second cut) that will form the first part of the next one - FIG.4E: a finished punch of length (LF2) for large-format packaging of width (AF1); in this case it is noted that the punching points are two per side instead of the previous four.

As already described, various processing devices of the apparatus have suitable adjustments, which can be automated to prepare the most varied types of punches compatible with any packaging machine present on the market and already present in ceramic factories; this is the inventive concept, not die-cutting machines with die-shaped blade like the finished die (fixed and not modifiable) but a processing with different adjustable tools (blades, creasing wheels, glue applicators, etc.) assembled in a single apparatus for quantities in batches foreseen by production. FIG.5A shows a plan view of the entire apparatus of the present invention according to a possible constructive solution; FIG.5B and FIG.5C show two enlarged details of the punching station with the blades (in FIG.5B) and the creasing wheels in FIG.5C in evidence.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications or variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept, furthermore all the details can be replaced with other technically equivalent ones.

Claims (7)

CLAIMS 1. Apparatus for cutting and punching unprocessed commercial type cartons (typically in rectangular sheets) for the packaging of ceramic tile stacks mainly composed of the following sub-coatings: a) a system for accumulating and lifting blank cartons; b) a system for cutting and positioning cartons to be punched; c) a workstation with die-cutting devices; d) a system for transporting the dies to the pallet of the finished product; e) storage and handling stations for finished blanks. 2. Cutting and punching apparatus according to claim 1) characterized in that systems a) and b) are mainly composed of: - a lifting device (A1) for a stack of cartons (PC) of commercial size; - a lifting device (A2) for the individual cartons (SC); - two guides (A4) for aligning and centering cartons; - a bearing frame (B1); - a pair of pressure rollers (B2), one of which is vertically movable and one is motorized; - a pair of blades (B3) of which the upper one has vertical movement; - a transport (B4), for positioning the cut cartons (FL) in the positions determined by the mechanical stops (B5); - a pair of pressure rollers (B12) for crushing the ends of the cut cartons; - a pair of wheeled lifting devices (B6), for positioning the cut cartons on the shelves (B7) (FL); - a pair of heads (B10) for applying glue to the cut cartons. 3. Cutting and punching apparatus according to claim 1) characterized in that the punching station c) is mainly composed of: - a pair of pressure rollers (Cl), of which the upper one vertically movable and the lower one fixed and motorized; - a pair of idle toothed wheels (C3) for the creasing operation; - a pair of wheels with motorized central recess (C2) overlapping the previous ones (C3); - a pair of central blades (C4) and (Cl 1), the first in the upper position with vertical movements for the simultaneous punching of the two facing edges of the cartons; - a pair of blades (C5) with scissors movements within (C6) for the punching of the external parts of the pairs of cartons; 4. Cutting and punching apparatus according to claim 1) characterized in that the transport system d) is mainly composed of: - a transport system (DI); - a printing system (D2) for the dies in transit; - a pair of punch pick-up devices (D3), equipped with vertical and horizontal movements; - a frame with sliding guides (D4) for the devices (D3). 5. Cutting and punching apparatus according to claim 1) characterized by the fact that the storage and handling stations e) are mainly composed of: - a first station with motorized roller conveyor for empty pallets (El); - a second station with motorized roller conveyor for accumulating pallets (E2) equipped with a lifting device (E4); - a third station with roller conveyor (E3) to receive the full pallets from the previous one (E2). 6. Cutting and punching apparatus according to claim 3) characterized in that the creasing wheels (C2) and (C3) and the punching blades (C5) and (C6) are adjustable in width. 7. Cutting and punching apparatus according to claim 1) characterized in that the processing and displacements from the punching station take place in pairs of parallel and aligned cartons (FL).