NL1022685C2 - Improved method and device for covering flower bunches. - Google Patents

Description

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IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COVERING FLOWER FORESTS

The invention relates to a method and device for encasing flower bunches and the like, wherein on the one hand the flower bunches are supplied by means of a conveyor belt to a guide member to be released above an open cover that is supplied on the other hand, whereafter the flower bunch with further enclosed cover is further discharged. and can be placed in shipping boxes.

A similar method and device is known from European patent application no. 0 590 269 A1, filed 30-07-93, entitled: "Article packaging system" of applicant Highland Supply Corporation, 1111 Sixth Street, Highland, Illinois 62249 (USA inventors CRAIG Frank, 90 Inez, Valley Park, Missouri 63088 (USA); STRAETER, Joseph G. 3817 Praire Road, Highland Illinois 62249 (USA) and WEDER, Donald E., 621 Main Street, Highland Illinois 62249 20 (USA).

This is a modular system for packaging articles for shipping, in particular pot plants, which are placed in a decorative cover and are then automatically placed in a protective sleeve, after which the glued plants are ready for application in a shipping box, whereby the various components of the system can also be adapted to the different packaging requirements and circumstances, such as odors, gas tightness, etc.

The method for packaging an article, which can often be a pot plant or in general a botanical item, comprises a number of steps such as: applying or supplying an article with an external surface, and 1 022 68 5

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thereafter the application of a decorative envelope around the external surface of the article to form an attractive coated article, and thereafter the automatic application of a sleeve around the already decorative article and also the device is claimed for carrying out this specific method.

In this invention, the pot plant in question is enveloped and then held above an opened cover, which is then sealed for, for example, shipping.

The method and device described above have drawbacks with regard to the packaging of flower bunches in the sense that flower bunches have to be loosened from a horizontal location as a forest to be brought into a vertical position and subsequently, without losing the cohesion of the forest 15 an opened sleeve must be slid or dumped, which is not possible with the known devices and methods.

In practice, the hoisting in or packaging of large numbers of loosely packed flower bunches takes place mainly by hand, which is very time-consuming or the flower bunches are supplied via a conveyor belt to a sloping downwardly draining chute, after which the flower bunch falls into an open sleeve. and after which a binding wire is wound around the stems of the flower bunch with a binding machine. The latter method is also not very fast for efficiently processing large numbers of flower bunches.

The object of the present invention is to provide such a method and device, to which the above-mentioned drawbacks do not arise and which device works efficiently, which can encase very large numbers of flower bunches in a short time and which device can be marketed in an economically very responsible manner. .

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To this end, a method with associated device has been developed in a very inventive manner such that said flower bunches are supplied transversely to the direction of movement with a first conveyor belt which is arranged approximately horizontally, called the forest line, on which the flower bunches are laid at a suitable mutual distance L to then falling at the end of said first conveyor belt via a lifting conveyor belt onto a second conveyor belt or conveyor belt placed perpendicular to the first conveyor belt, wherein said conveyor belt rotates through an angle α from the approximately horizontal to the vertical position, wherein said conveyor belt compartments are formed by means of side partitions and transverse partitions into which a flower bunch has always been thrown, with the rotation of the infeed belt passing through an angle α the compartments go from the horizontal to the vertical position and are closed by a vertical plate to a box-shaped cell space, after which it is foolish The bulkhead turns away and the flower bunch with its stems falls onto a trap door, which then opens and the flower bunch falls into an already opened sleeve, after which the flower bunch in the sleeve is wrapped around the stems with a tape or tape and the flower bunch thus encased further is transported by means of conveyor belts to collection boxes for further shipment of the encased flower bunches.

The advantage is an efficient method to cover large numbers of flower bunches with a relatively compact machine.

Furthermore, the device according to the invention is further developed such that it comprises the following components, such as a first conveyor belt and an up-feed belt, a second conveyor belt or feed belt placed perpendicularly thereto, provided with side and transverse partitions with height for

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H forms compartments into which the flower bunch has fallen, wherein said feed belt is passed from the horizontal to the H vertical position and runs along a vertical plate, so that a box-shaped cell space is created with the flower bunch in it, after which the transverse partition under the flower bunch is rotatable and the flower bunch lands on a trap door, which can be opened and the flower bunch ends up in an open sleeve, whereafter further processing takes place and removal via conveyor belts takes place to the packaging of the flower bunches, wherein the material of the device can be stainless steel.

The advantage is a compact machine or device for carrying out the method in the most efficient manner.

The invention is further explained below with reference to a preferred embodiment shown in the drawing.

Hereby shows:

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of the casing procedure with the device 20 according to the invention for carrying out the specific method for casing large numbers of flower bunches;

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the device I for encasing the flower bunches; and FIG. 3A and 3B schematically in oblique projection the trap door member in closed (Fig. 3A) and in open condition (Fig. 3B).

Figure 1 schematically shows the entire procedure for encasing large numbers of flower bunches with the special device 1 according to the invention. The procedure starts with the laying on by person 2 of the flower bunches 3 transversely to the conveyor belt or forest line 4, namely with a suitable spacing determined by drivers not shown on the forest line. The width of said conveyor belt is approximately 800 mm with a view to the flower bunches.

The flower bunches undergo further processing on this conveyor belt 4, such as the binding and shortening of the stems, etc. at the sections 5 and 6. The flower bunches then go on a lifting belt 7 to the actual packing machine or device 1 according to the invention, the operation of which is shown in Figure 2. Afterwards discharge 8 of the cased flower bunches takes place and further processing takes place on the forest line 9 such as providing Chrysal at 10, taping at 11 and providing a sticker at 12. All packaged or cased flower bunches 3 end up on a collection belt 13 and can be packed on a table 14 in boxes by persons 15 and 16.

Figure 2 shows a schematic side view of the actual device 1 according to the invention.

From the lifting conveyor 7 (see figure 1) the flower bunches 3 fall onto the feeding conveyor 17 which rotates from the horizontal position A to a vertical position B, i.e. rotation through angle α of approximately 90 degrees. The feed-in belt 17 is approximately 20 cm wide and provided with upright plates or side plates 18 on the sides to prevent lateral fall of the flower bunches 3. To form compartments 20, transverse partitions 19 are also provided. The flower bunches 3 therefore fall onto the input belt 17 in the compartments 20 and are thus rotated from the horizontal position 30 into the vertical position and then a box-shaped cell space 22 is formed by the vertical plate 21. The flower bunch 3 then falls with its stems by turning away the transverse partition 19 onto the trap door member 24, which is still in the closed position and then opens H (see Figures 3A and 3B) and the H flower bunch falls into the already opened cover 25 and the whole H is further finished according to the course described under figure 1.

In figures 3A and 3B the trap door member 24 is schematically shown in oblique projection in closed (figure 3A) and in open position (figure 3B). The H trap hatch member 24 consists of two conical halves 26 and 27, which are welded in the plate parts 28 and 29. The H 10 plate parts 28 and 29 are again fixed by screws 30 on the rotatable shafts 31 and 32. The shafts 31 and 32 can rotate in directions X and Y causing the trap door 24 to open and move from the state in Figure 3A to the H state in Figure 3B. According to the invention, the device 1 with the associated method 15 results in a highly efficient casing machine for flower bunches 3.

Finally, it should be explicitly stated that a preferred embodiment has been described above and that further modifications are of course possible without departing from the scope of this patent specification.

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Claims (10)

Method for encasing flower bunches, etc., wherein on the one hand the flower bunches are supplied by means of a conveyor belt to a guide member to be released above an open sleeve that is supplied on the other hand, whereafter the flower bunch with enclosed sleeve is further discharged and can be placed in shipping boxes Characterized in that said flower bunches (3) are supplied transversely to the direction of movement with a first conveyor belt (4) arranged approximately horizontally, called the forest line, on which the flower bunches (3) are laid at a suitable mutual distance L to 15 then falling at the end of said first conveyor belt (4) via a lifting conveyor belt (7) onto a second conveyor belt or conveyor belt (17) placed perpendicular to the first conveyor belt (4), said conveyor belt (17) being angled α rotates from the approximately 20 horizontal to the vertical position, wherein on said input belt (17) by means of side partitions (18) ) and cross dividers (19), compartments (20) are formed into which a flower bunch (3) is always thrown, with the rotation of the infeed belt (17) passing through an angle α the compartments (20) go from the horizontal to the vertical and is closed by a vertical plate (21) to a box-shaped cell space (22), after which the transverse partition (19) turns away and the flower bunch (3) with its stems falls onto a trap door (24), which then opens and the flower bunch 30 falls into an already opened sleeve (25), whereafter the flower bunch (3) is wrapped in the sleeve (25) at the stems with a tape or tape and the flower bunch (3) thus encased is further transported by means of conveyor belts (8, 9 , 13)! U e d d Η Η to collection boxes for further shipment of the cased flower bunches (3). Method according to claim 1, characterized in that H is the width of the first conveyor belt (4) and uplift H 5 belt (7) approximately 700 mm and the mutual distance of the H flower bunches L can be taken approximately 500 mm . Method according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the angle α can be approximately 90 degrees. Method according to claims 1-3, characterized in that said opened cover (25) is supplied by an automated cover feeding machine adapted to the encasing process. Method according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the band or tape wrapped around the encased stems of the flower bunch 15 (3) is supplied by an automated belt machine adapted to the encasing process. 6. Device for carrying out the method according to the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises the following components, such as a first conveyor belt (4) and an uplift belt (7), a second conveyor belt or feed belt (17) placed perpendicularly thereto provided with side and cross partitions (18, 19) with height for forming compartments (20) into which the flower bunch (3) has fallen H, said input belt (17) being passed from the horizontal to the vertical position and along a vertical plate (21) runs, so that a box-shaped cell space (22) is created with the flower bunch (3) in it, after which the transverse partition (19) can be rotated under the flower bunch (3) and the flower bunch (3) on a trap door (24) ), which can be opened and the flower bunch ends up in an opened sleeve (25), whereafter further processing takes place and removal takes place via conveyor belts to the package of the flower bunches (3), the material of the device (1) can be stainless steel. Device according to claim 6, characterized in that said height H of the side or cross dividers is approximately 100 mm and the distance between the transverse dividers (19) is approximately 700 mm. 8. Device as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that said first conveyor belt (4) and lift conveyor (7) is approximately 800 mm wide and the second conveyor belt or feed belt (17) is approximately 200 mm wide. 9. Device as claimed in claims 6-8, characterized in that said trap door member (24) consists of two conical halves (26, 27) which open simultaneously with the opened cover (25) supplied below, so that the flower bunch (3) with the stem side falls into the sleeve (3). Device according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the device (1) with covers feeding machine, binding machines and the like is mutually fully automated. F) j =. * "".