NL1006385C1 - Packaging, manufacturing device and filling device therefor. - Google Patents

Description

W-lp

PACKAGING, MANUFACTURING DEVICE AND FILLING DEVICE THEREFOR

The invention relates to a package comprising a container of plastic material formed from a plate in a vacuum-formed or injection-molded process. The holder has an opening which can be closed with a card.

Such packages are generally known and are used, for example, for packaging flower bulbs, cultivation soil with seed, tools, toys, toothbrushes and the like. In these known packages, the card is glued to a flange of the holder extending around the opening by means of a heat-sensitive glue.

Opening the container is difficult. The card should be cut or cut along the edges. The cut-off edge thereby contains a number of different materials, such as the material of the card, which is usually thin cardboard, the plastic material of the holder and the heat-sensitive glue. Such waste consisting of a number of different types of material cannot be made suitable for reuse, which is undesirable from an environmental point of view and, moreover, can lead to considerable environmental charges for the person who markets the filled packaging.

The object of the invention is to provide a package of the type described in the preamble with which this drawback is remedied.

This object is achieved with the packaging according to the invention as characterized in claim 1. The package can be easily closed and opened again by sliding the card over the opening. After 1006385 2 opening and using the packaging, only pieces of waste, each consisting of one material, remain, namely the holder and the card. These pieces of waste are therefore suitable for reprocessing, so that the packaging 5 according to the invention is very environmentally responsible and is therefore subject to at most a small environmental charge.

The rebate can be formed by two adjacent ridges in a wall of the container, but the measure of claim 2 is preferably applied. This provides a good wide rebate in which the card can be reliably locked up.

A good closure of the package can be achieved with the measure of claim 3. The card 15 can be slid into the groove on the third, open side.

If it is to be prevented that the package is opened undesirably, for instance in self-service shops, the measure as set out in claim 4 is advantageously applied. After the card has been slid into the rebate, the engaging means engage and the card can no longer be easily removed, so that the contents of the packaging remain inaccessible. To open the package by the end consumer, the card can simply be pulled out of the gripping means, any damage to the card being no problem.

The invention also relates to and provides an apparatus for vacuum-forming a package as described above. This device comprises a vacuum-forming machine with a vacuum-forming die which has at least one shape complementary to the interior and the rebate of a container to be formed. Preferably, molded parts corresponding to the rebate are herein retractable. As a result, it is possible to make the rebate deep, while the molded packaging can be removed from the mold, after the rebate moldings have retracted 100 63 ft 5 3. A deep rebate is beneficial for reliably recording the closing card.

The invention further relates to and provides an apparatus for injection molding a package according to any one of claims 1-4, comprising an injection mold, which is complementary to the shape of the interior, the exterior and the rebate of a shapes holder. The container formed by the injection molding operation, as a result of the molding of the injection mold, exhibits the desired properties with the rebate to provide space for the card in this way. Preferably, in accordance with the vacuum-forming technique, the moldings corresponding to the rebate are retractable. In this way, dismantling the injection mold to release the container therefrom is simple. Additionally or alternatively, the injection mold comprises at least two parts which are movable relative to each other parallel to the card in the condition provided on the container. In this way, the parts of the injection mold are disassembled in the same way as it would be for the card, which has to be slid into the groove to close the container. In this preferred embodiment, the injection mold will comprise at least three parts, since tub or container holders require one molded part in the interior thereof, which remains in place when, after injection molding, the two remaining molded parts are mutually shifted in the direction corresponding to the freedom of movement of the plate.

The invention also relates to and provides an apparatus for filling packaging according to the invention. This device is characterized in claim 10. The cards can be slid into the packages with great speed, whereby a high capacity of the filling device can be achieved. In particular with regard to the prior art, in which the card was applied to the packaging with a heat-sensitive adhesive 1006385 4 in the manner described, a very large capacity improvement can be obtained.

The capacity can be further increased by applying the measure of claim 11. The packages transported next to each other can be filled simultaneously and removed after inserting a card.

Another favorable development is characterized in claim 12. With this measure it is possible to include in each package the same assortment with a certain fixed composition of different or the same products.

The invention will be further elucidated in the following description with reference to the attached figures.

Fig. 1 schematically shows an apparatus for manufacturing packaging according to the invention.

Fig. 2 shows a partial section according to II-II in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a finished package according to the invention.

Fig. 4 shows a filling device according to a first embodiment.

Fig. 5 shows a filling device according to a second embodiment.

In the figures, like parts are designated with like reference numbers.

For the manufacture of packages according to the invention, a per se known vacuum forming device is mainly used, the parts of which are known per se for the sake of simplicity not shown.

In such a device 1, a plastic plate 2 is heated above the softening temperature by means of a heating device 3. Then, the heated plate 2 is brought into contact with a mold 4, which in this exemplary embodiment comprises six molds 5 of containers for the packaging according to the invention.

1006385 5

As Fig. 2 shows in more detail, a number of vacuum channels 6 are formed in the mold 4, which debouch at the surface of the mold 5. These vacuum channels 6 are brought into contact with a vacuum source where 5 plasticized plates 2 are drawn closely against the periphery of the molds 5.

In each mold 5, which is complementary to the interior of a container to be formed, a number of retractable molded parts are included which correspond to a rebate of the shaped container 10 to be further described. Each retractable molded part has a plate-shaped part projecting outside the wall of the mold, around which parts 8 of the plate 2 are sucked.

After the plate 2 has cooled to such a temperature that it has become sufficiently rigid again, the retractable molded parts 7 are withdrawn from the molded rebates, after which the plate 2 with the molds arranged therein can be removed from the mold 4.

As further schematically shown in Fig. 1, the six holders 10 are then punched out of the plate 2, respectively. cut. In Fig. 2, 9 denotes the line along which the holder is released from the plate 2.

In addition to detaching the holders 10 from the plate 2 all around, parts 11 are punched therefrom, which leave an opening 25 in a protruding part of the holder 10, with a shape corresponding to a so-called Eurolock.

Fig. 3 shows one of the shaped containers 10. Here it can be clearly seen that the container 10 comprises an opening 16 with a rebate 13 which forms an integral part with the container 30 on three sides.

In this preferred embodiment, the rebate 13 is formed by a flange 15 extending along the opening and a strip 14 connected to the edge of the flange 15 facing away from the opening 16, extending at a small distance parallel to the flange 15. The rebates 13 can receive a card 17, which can be slid into this rebate 13 from the open side. In order to easily slide the card 17 into the rebate 13, the strips 14 are chamfered at 18. In the elongated flange 19, along the side of the opening 16 where there is no rebate, a protrusion 20 is formed where the relevant edge of the card 17 will hook behind 5, as soon as it has been completely inserted into the rebate 13. The engaging means formed by this projection 20 can thus lock the card 17 in the fully retracted position, so that undesired removal of the card 17 is made difficult.

The device 25 shown in Fig. 4 comprises a conveyor track 26 which, in this exemplary embodiment, displaces four rows of holders 10 in a conveying direction 27.

At the left end of the conveyor track 26 as seen in Fig. 4, four empty containers 10 are placed in a manner not shown in more detail, each of which during transport through the conveyor track 26 is placed under a nozzle 30 of a feed device associated with the particular row of containers. 29 by moving. With the aid of a screw conveyor 31 20 arranged in the feed device 29, the material 32 to be received in the holders 10 is metered into these holders via the nozzle 30.

Since use is made of four separate supply devices 29, each of which provides the containers in one longitudinal row with material 32 to be packaged, packages with four different contents can be prepared simultaneously.

After the containers 10 have been filled, a transverse row of four of these filled containers is moved on a transverse conveyor 28, with which these containers are transported to a closing device 33 (not shown in more detail), where the cards 17 are slid into the grooves of the containers and are locked by the engaging means. The packages formed can then, for example, be packed in boxes for shipment.

In the device 35 of Fig. 5, a number of supply stations 38 are arranged one behind the other in the conveying direction 37 of the conveying track 36. As a result, each container 10 supplied in FIG. 5 to the left end of the conveyor track 36 passes each of the supply stations 38, so that material 39 can be fed into each container 10 from each of these stations.

In this way it is possible to include an assortment with a certain fixed composition in each filling. For example, in the case of flower bulbs, it may be desirable to pack a certain number of bulbs 41 of different colors. The feed stations 38 are then adjusted such that dosing members 40 each deposit the desired number of objects in the container.

After the containers 10 have passed all supply stations 38 and thus contain the desired number of objects in the desired composition, the filled container 41 arrives on a transverse conveyor 43 which again transports the filled container to a closing station 42, where a card 17 in the groove of the holder 10 is slid.

It will be clear that the invention can be carried out in many different ways. Thus, the shape of the holder and thereby the shape of the opening can be chosen within both limits. Instead of rectangular, the holder could also be, for example, a circle part, the rebate then extending at most semicircular. The optionally applied means for locking the card can be designed in many different ways. Thus, the card can be locked in the manner described by dropping it behind a projection, but it is also possible to provide openings in the card in which hook-shaped projections of the holder engage in the retracted state of the card.

Furthermore, in the foregoing description, attention has only been paid to vacuum forming technology, with which the container can be manufactured. However, as stated above and in the appended claims, an injection molding process can also or alternatively be used. Also in such an injection molding process, use can be made of a mold which is provided with movable or retractable mold parts corresponding to the mold parts 7 in Fig. 2 to form the holder. In addition or alternatively, use can be made of 5 additional moldings, which at least comprise flanges with dimensions corresponding to the card, so that the rebate can be formed by injection molding around it, after which the respective molded article with the flanges is removed in the same manner is slid, as if it were a card 10. For this purpose, an additional molded part is necessary in the case of, for example, container- or tub-shaped or at least hollow holders, which remain in the interior thereof, and are only removed with the flanges after the molded part has been extended.

The containers formed by means of the vacuum-forming technique or by means of injection molding are cheap, strong and homogeneous and, after use thereof, form a single type of waste, completely separated from the material of the card, whereby an environmental advantage is obtained.

The card itself can be of any suitable material such as thin cardboard, plastic, metal sheet and the like.

1006385

Claims (12)

Packaging comprising a container of plastic material vacuum-formed or injection-molded with an opening and a card that can be applied to the opening, wherein the holder 5 is integral with the holder along at least two opposite sides of the opening. is formed in which the card is scrollable. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein the rebate is formed by a flange extending along the opening 10 and a strip connected to the edge thereof facing away from the opening, extending at a distance parallel to the flange. Packaging according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the opening is rectangular and the rebate is formed on three sides. Packaging as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, comprising engaging means for non-slidable locking of the card in a position thereof retracted into the groove. A device for vacuum-forming a package according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a vacuum-forming mold with at least one shape complementary to the interior and the rebate of a container to be formed. 6. Device as claimed in claim 5, wherein mold parts corresponding to the rebate are retractable. 7. A device for injection molding a package according to any one of claims 1-4, comprising at least one injection mold, which is complementary to the shape of the interior, the exterior and the rebate of a container to be formed. 8. Device as claimed in claim 7, wherein moldings corresponding to the rebate are retractable. 1006385 An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the injection mold comprises at least two parts which are movable relative to each other parallel to the card in the state arranged on the holder. 10. A packaging filling device according to any one of claims 1-4, comprising a transport conveyor for the packagings, at least one supply station along the conveyor for packaging material and a card insertion station for inserting one with the material-filled packaging sliding from a card. 11. Device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the transport path is designed such that a number of packages can be transported side by side and a number of supply stations are arranged side by side. Device as claimed in claim 10, wherein a number of supply stations are arranged one behind the other in the transport direction. 1006385