JP2003530278A - Method and apparatus for transporting drinking straws - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: A drinking straw 1 is surrounded as a strip 3 of a straw 1 at a certain distance from each other and in parallel between two plastic films 2. The strips 3 are supplied in a shipping box 4 as aligned piles with parallel layers without lateral displacement. The inner width of the box 4 corresponds to the width of the strip 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for packaging and transporting strips of drinking straws in a shipping container, the straws being a distance from each other and parallel to one another in a series of straws. Supported as strips on a plastic film.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Cardboard boxes are used for packaging continuous strips of straw, usually directly from a strip making machine. The boxes are shipped to a factory for filling the package with liquid foods, usually beverages such as juices, for later consumption by individual consumers.

A straw attachment device is located downstream of the liquid food packaging machine to which the strips of straw are fed from an open box. The sealed film portions between the straws are cut to produce individually wrapped straw portions, and each filled package is provided with a straw attached by, for example, a hot melt adhesive.

The continuous strips of drinking straws are fed into a cardboard box with a standard method in what is now considered to be almost messy in some respects. The size of the box is
Approximately 600 x 600, selected to suit normal storage and transportation equipment
The size is 600 mm.

The strips of straw are fed to the box by a reciprocating arm, where the strips are distributed to areas within the box. This means that the adjacent layers of the strips in the box are oblique or at an angle to each other, in other words the straws of different layers are arranged obliquely to each other.

The internal volume of the box is thereby utilized in a very poor way, where the costs of shipping and storage will be unnecessarily expensive. Another significant drawback is that the straws may otherwise be curved or damaged, because they are not well supported by the underlying straws. Straws made from plastic materials are rather thin-walled and are often relatively fragile, especially after their manufacture.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the above-mentioned drawbacks are caused by the straw strip without lateral displacement.
It is avoided by being fed as a coherent stack with parallel layers into a shipping box with an internal width corresponding to the width of the strip.

It is also within the scope of the invention to have one or more such deposits in the box. In such a case, the internal width of the box corresponds to the combined width of the stack.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the opposite ends of the straw strips are sealed together to form a continuous closed loop strip of straws that are joined together.

[0010]     (Detailed Description of Examples)   The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A drinking straw is generally designated 1 in the drawings. They are shown merely as tubes, but they could also be, for example, the plug-in type tubes now commonly used. In a manufacturing plant, a drinking straw 1 is usually enclosed between two continuous plastic films 2, which are sealed together around the straw to produce a continuous strip 3 of enclosed straw. Four such strips 3 are shown in side view, for example in FIG. The straws 1 are arranged parallel to one another and separated.

A continuous strip 3 of straws is packaged in a box and transported to a factory where, for example, beverages or other liquid foodstuffs are filled into packaging containers. A straw application machine is located downstream of the liquid food packaging machine and straw strips feed the straw application machine from an open box. In the straw application machine, the sealed film parts between the straws are cut to produce individually wrapped straws, which are filled for immediate use by the consumer, for example by heat fusion. Stick to the container.

Traditionally, a continuous strip 3 of straws is fed in a standard box, which is virtually random. Suitable such standard boxes for normal transportation and storage equipment are:
It has the following dimensions: length 600 mm, width 575 mm, height 620 mm. The strips 3 are fed into the box by means of a reciprocating arm in order to distribute the strips over the area of the box, which means that the packaging pattern as suggested in FIG. 1 is obtained. The straw 1 of one layer can be arranged at an angle to a straw such as the underlying layer.

This means that the internal volume of the box is very poorly used and that a large amount of air is transported resulting in unnecessarily high transport and storage costs. Furthermore, the virtually messy packaging of straws means that the straws may be damaged during shipping and storage, which is because they are not entirely supported by the straws underneath and bend. Because it is easy to become. (The straws are relatively soft, especially after their manufacture.)

2-5 show an improved method of packaging and transporting the straw 1 of the continuous strip 3.

FIG. 3 shows a box 4 used according to the invention. Its most important feature is that its internal width is suitable for the width of the straw. In the actual case shown in Figure 3, the outer width of the box is 115 mm, while its length is 1150 mm and its height is 60 mm.
0 mm, which can make it suitable for current transportation equipment. Moreover, its size, in particular its small width, allows for a better utilization of the storage space.

Since the packaging of the continuous strips of straw 3 in the box 4 is no longer messy, the straw 1 in the box is shown schematically in FIG. 2 not only in one layer but in all layers through the box 4. So that they are parallel to each other. Furthermore, the spacing between successive straws 1 in a continuous strip 3 of straws is usually larger than the outer diameter of the straws 1 (even in the messy packaging of today's wider boxes), which means that one layer of straw 1 It is meant to fit between the previous and / or the next layer in the box.

This is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In both cases of these figures, four layers of continuous strips 3 of straw 1 are shown. For clarity, the four layers are shown separated from each other, while they are shown in the manner shown in FIG.
Are shown together in.

4 and 5 show that one of the two plastic films is substantially flat, while the other is wrapped around the individual straws. This means that the straw of one layer fits into the gap of the straw of the other layer when two facing layers contact each other, as shown in the upper or lower part of FIG. 4, respectively. is doing.

As a result, as clearly shown in FIG. 5, the total thickness of the two layers is the same as the thickness of one layer, or four layers are approximately the same as the thickness of the two layers. Become.

In a standard box of the above size, about 35,000 straws are packaged,
On the other hand, a box of the same size and with one stack of straws is also 2000
It can hold zero straws. This means that a volume savings of up to 65% is obtained with the packing according to the invention, which means that a volume gain of 65% is obtained with the packaging according to the invention, which is about 5% total. Cost savings can be achieved. Such cost savings are crucial in the highly competitive mass production sector.

Another significant advantage means that the problem of straws being deformed or damaged in conventional boxes is eliminated even when the boxes are under rough shipping conditions. .

According to the device of FIG. 6, both ends of the strip 3 of the drinking straw 2 are substantially the straw 1.
Are sealed together, for example at 6, to form a closed annular strip 7 of interconnected straws which are arranged in a shipping container 4 having an inner width corresponding to the length of

The two ends are sealed together after the straight strips have been placed in the box to form a stack of layers as described above, but the end 11 is on the end wall 12 of the box. Adjacent to the bottom layer along, the free end of this portion 11 is then sealed to the free end of the top layer once the deposition is complete.

This arrangement eliminates the problem of finding the free ends of the strips when opening the box, which means that if straight (ie not closed loop) strips are used.
During transportation, the ends of the strips on the top layer move and fall between the inside of the box and the straws contained therein, making it extremely difficult to position the ends of the straw strips It also takes time.

With the device of FIG. 6, the user does not have to worry about finding the end of the straw strip. It is sufficient to hold the closed loop strip 7 at a convenient point and then cut the strip 7 so that the straw can be subsequently processed.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show a special embodiment of a straw strip, labeled 13, wherein the straw 1 is not completely enclosed between the plastic films 2 but rather the plastic film 2 is a straw 1. With a width less than the length of the straw 1 and the opposite ends 15, 16 of the straw 1 are sealed together at intervals to form a number of axially projecting sleeves 14. This arrangement is particularly suitable for automatic straw processing equipment.

The present invention is not limited to the illustrated and described embodiments of a single straight deposition box. It can be sized for one or more such deposits.

[Brief description of drawings]

[Figure 1]   Schematic illustration of the current method of packaging and transporting strips of drinking straws.

[Fig. 2]   FIG. 6 is a similar view according to the method of the present invention for packaging and shipping straw strips.

[Figure 3]   Figure 3 is a perspective view of a box for packaging and shipping straw strips according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of straw strip packaging showing four long strips or layers of strips spaced from one another.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of straw strip packaging showing four similar long strips or strip layers placed together in a box.

[Figure 6]   7 is a schematic explanatory view of a packaging method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of a special embodiment of a drinking straw strip suitable for packaging according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of a special embodiment of a drinking straw strip suitable for packaging according to the present invention.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (81) Designated countries EP (AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, I T, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE, TR), OA (BF , BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GW, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG), AP (GH, G M, KE, LS, MW, MZ, SD, SL, SZ, TZ , UG, ZW), EA (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ, TM), AE, AG, AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BR, BY, B Z, CA, CH, CN, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DK , DM, DZ, EE, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IS, J P, KE, KG, KP, KR, KZ, LC, LK, LR , LS, LT, LU, LV, MA, MD, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MZ, NO, NZ, PL, PT, R O, RU, SD, SE, SG, SI, SK, SL, TJ , TM, TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, US, UZ, VN, YU, ZA, ZW F-term (reference) 3E003 AA01 AB05 DA03                 3E043 AA01 AA03 BA08 FA01

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method of packaging and transporting a drinking straw (1) in a transport box (4), the straws being a series of straws (1) spaced and parallel to each other by a plastic film (2). In the above method in which the strips (3) of straws are carried as strips (3), the strips (3) of straws, or a large number of strips (3) as one or more aligned stacks with parallel layers without lateral displacement A method of packaging and transporting a drinking straw in a carton (4), characterized in that it is supplied in a carton (4) having an inner width substantially corresponding to the width of the thing. 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the straws (1) in one layer of the strips are placed in the space between the straws of adjacent layers. 3. A straw (1) having opposite ends of the strip connected to each other.
Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises the step of sealing them together so as to form a closed loop strip (7). 4. A device for packaging and transporting a drinking straw (1) in a transport box (4), the straw being a series of straws (1) spaced apart and parallel to each other by a plastic film (2). In the above device carried as a strip (3), the transport box (4) has an internal width substantially corresponding to the width of the straw strip (3) or a large number thereof, Device for packaging and transporting a drinking straw in a shipping container (4), characterized in that it enables it to be delivered as one or more aligned stacks with parallel layers without lateral displacement. 5. The strips (4) are sealed together so that the opposite ends of the strips are sealed together to form a closed loop strip (7) of the straws (1) connected together. 5. The device of claim 4, having an internal width that substantially corresponds to the length of). 6. The straw has a width less than the length of the straw (1).
Surrounded between a sheet of plastic film (2), the film is sealed at a distance to form a number of evenly spaced sleeves (8) containing the straw (1), and from there the straw. Device according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the opposite ends (15, 16) of (1) project.