SK279994B6 - Method and device for wrapping products in a wrapper of sheet material - Google Patents

Abstract

A close-fitting wrapper for a product (P) is produced from two sheets (1, 2), the first of which is made dish-shaped so as to surround the greater part of the product (P). The other sheet (2) is laid on the rest of the product (P) so as to assume a shape complementary to that of the product itself. After the two sheets (1, 2) have been joined peripherally to give the wrapper sealing characteristics and the edges which project beyond the region of the join have been trimmed, the wrapper formed is subjected to a shaping step which causes the first sheet (1) to cover practically the entire product (P), hiding the second sheet from view.

Description

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for wrapping a product in a package of foil material. The invention has been developed with particular reference to its possible use for packaging products such as food products, especially confectionery products. In this field of application, products (for example, round candies, hollow or filled chocolate eggs, etc.) are very often packaged in foils of a material such as aluminum.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

European patent specification no. EP-B-0082952 discloses a method that allows approximately spherical sweets to be wrapped in aluminum foil. To this end, the product placed on the aluminum foil is guided by a flexible blade device so that after the foil has taken a generally cup-like shape due to its wrapping around the product, it closes behind the product as a loose cuff or tip after the product exits the elastic formations. The tip or loose cuff thus formed is then pressed onto the product, which is thus completely enclosed in the film.

In German Pat. DE-A-3243500 is a solution described below which achieves the same effect in a slightly different manner.

The solutions described in the above documents lead to very good results, in particular as regards the appearance of the end product obtained. It is to be placed in a paper cup behind the folded walls, with the portion of the package that is pressed against the product facing down and resting on the bottom of the cup. The top of the product is thus protected by a foil wrapped smoothly around the product.

It has been found that these known solutions can be further improved, in particular as regards insulation against ambient air.

In this regard, it is generally known (see, for example, German Utility Model DE 1784647 U) to pack food products (such as chocolate or sugar-based products) in tightly-fitting packaging of foil material, for example aluminum, made by forming additional aluminum slices, each accurately copies the shape of the respective half of the product. The two sheets of the thus formed foil wrapper are then joined along the equatorial line of the product, for example by heat sealing using a coating of heat-melting material on the interconnected sides and removing the remaining portions of the aluminum foil that protrude beyond the sealing area.

However, this solution is inappropriate to use in the said area, especially if the packaged product is to be placed in a paper cup. Sealing along the equator line is truly visible and gives the product as a whole the appearance of a self-packaged industrial product. Moreover, in the confectionery sector in particular, it is desirable that the industrial product retains the appearance of being a hand-made or at least half-hand-made product, and therefore not to show the lines that are indicative of the machine's action in visible positions.

The invention is based on the object of solving a package in such a way that it retains the advantages of the two solutions mentioned, but overcomes the disadvantages mentioned above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for wrapping a product in a wrapper of foil material comprising the following steps:

- a first and a second slice of packaging material is prepared,

- the first wafer is formed into a shape substantially complementary to the shape of the product under conditions in which the first wafer, after being formed, covers most of the product,

- the product is placed in the first shaped wafer,

- the second wafer is deposited on that part of the product which has not been covered by the first wafer, so that the second wafer takes the form of a complement to the relevant part of the product,

bonding the first and second sheets together to form a completely sealed package around the product, and

finally, a first wafer is formed around the article such that the first wafer substantially covers the second wafer substantially externally.

The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the method according to the invention.

Overview of the figures in the drawing

In the accompanying drawing, FIG. 1 to 6, the individual, consecutive steps of the method according to the invention and FIG. 7 shows the final result of the packaging process comprising the steps of FIG. 1 to 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention will now be described in one embodiment thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the drawings.

In the embodiment shown, the packaged product P is a totally spherical candy. For example, it may be a candy consisting of a spherical shell of wafer, filled with a mushy or creamy filling and externally coated with chocolate, for example hazelnut or coated, optionally using shredded coconuts, chopped hazelnuts, etc., which give the overall surface P irregular appearance .

It should be pointed out, however, that the invention can be applied to products of all kinds and completely different shapes. In the confectionery industry, mention may be made of hollow or filled chocolate eggs, various chocolates, approximately flat-bottomed sweets, small foam pieces, etc.

According to the invention, two small sheets 1 and 2 of aluminum or other foil material are used to form a tightly wrapped, sealed package around the product P.

The choice of aluminum foil is considered to be advantageous because it can be easily mounted around the article and also because the surface of the article may be irregular. The inner side of the two sheets 1 and 2 to be facing the product P are preferably coated with a varnish or a layer of heat-melting material. The reasons for this measure will be explained.

The two package slices 1 and 2 need not be generally of the same dimensions. The first wafer, labeled 1, is typically much larger in size than the flattening of the opposite half (in the case of a hemispherical cap section) of product P. For clarity, the wafer 1, which is usually square or rectangular, may have dimensions that approximately sufficient to completely cover the product P and leave, without covering, the most polar or apex part opposite the wafer itself 1. As far as the wafer 2 is concerned, its dimensions can be chosen to be approximately equal to or even slightly less than a flat unfolding. the opposite half of the article P, according to the illustrated embodiment, this half is also defined by a hemispherical hat-like section.

The two halves can be considered separated by a theoretical equatorial plane Pe, which represents the maximum cross-section of product P, the same applies if product P is spherical as in the example shown (spherical candy P or praline) or if it has a different shape than for example, an egg shape or a shape depicting the outline of a character. Whatever the shape of the product P, the equatorial plane Pe passing through its region of greatest cross-section will be generally identifiable; in this context, it can also be noted that confectionery products, whatever their nature, often consist of two complementary parts (hollow or filled) that are connected along the equatorial plane Pe.

The first step in packaging the product P is that the wafer 1 is shaped (for example by stretching) into a generally cup-shaped or cup-like shape. This step is usually carried out by means of a forming tool 3, 4 comprising a die defining a cavity 3a into which the punch can enter. For a general description of possible criteria after the fabrication of such a molding tool, reference is made to the above-mentioned application no. DE-A-3,243,500th The cavity 3a and the active part (punch) of the forming tool 4 have complementary surfaces for shaping the wafer 1 by clamping it between each other. In particular, the lower part (according to FIG. 2) of the cavity 3a in the die has a shape exactly complementary to that of the half of the product to be wrapped by the wafer 1.

However, the cavity 3a and, accordingly, the drawing tool 4 is generally deeper than would be required only for shaping the wafer 1 in a manner exactly complementary to the respective product half P. This is shown in FIG. 2, which shows the position of the imagined equatorial plane Pe of the product P against the cavity 3a. As can be seen, this equatorial plane Pe is not exactly aligned with the plane of the oral cavity 3a; the plane Pe, on the other hand, is located further within the die by a distance generally indicated by the mark d in FIG. Second

It should be noted that the distance d can be, for example, of the order of 8 to 10 mm, in the case of a spherical product P having a diameter of the order of about 25 to 30 mm.

The purpose of the shape chosen for the cavity 3a and the punch is to make the aluminum plate 1 generally in the shape of a cup or cup so that it can accommodate the product P, as schematically shown in FIG. 3. In this figure, it is assumed that the product P is introduced into the cup-shaped wafer 1 if the wafer 1 is not yet in the draw-through die. However, this process is not to be regarded as an essential feature in that in the cup shape, the wafer 1 can be removed from the die and transferred to another die or other cavity formed to support the wafer 1 for insertion of the product P.

Whatever solution is chosen, the product P, once introduced into the cup-like wafer 1, is tightly wrapped by the wafer 1, well above the diametrical plane Pe.

In other words, as soon as the wafer 1 is shaped, it comprises, in addition to the hemispherical base part to be accommodated by the hemispherical lower cup section of the product P, a neck section marked la, which extends to cover the opposite (upper) hemispherical cup section of article P. when it is not adjacent to this section. However, it should be pointed out again that the reference to the hemispherical cup-shaped sections is due to the fact that the described embodiment of the invention relates to a product P consisting of a substantially spherical candy. However, the same considerations apply identically in cases where, instead of spherical sections, they are egg-shaped, elliptical or irregular sections.

By way of illustration, the wafer 1 can cover about 2/3 to 3/4 of the length of the product P relative to the vertical axis of the product P, which is an axis perpendicular to the equatorial plane Pe.

Under these conditions (namely, in the state shown in FIG. 3), a second sheet 2 is then deposited on the product P.

The wafer 2 is essentially simply placed on the upper part of the product P, projecting upwards only slightly out of the mouth of the cavity 3a and above the mouth.

Because the portion of the product P that protrudes from the mouth of the cavity 3a is small (having a limited continuous height), the wafer 2 can remain at least approximately in the desired position without being preformed to assume a shape exactly complementary to that of the portion of the product P that protrudes from the cavity 3a.

Instead, the wafer 2 is shaped only in the next step, namely when the slices 1 and 2 are brought to a position where they fit precisely to each other along the contour of the mouth of the cavity 3a and are joined by the efficiency of the connecting device 6 (and possibly also trimmed).

In this regard, it should be noted that although FIG. 4 shows a single tool, both described steps (joining and trimming) can also be performed in two consecutive steps using two different tools.

The connection of the two slices 1 and 2 is intended to ensure that the wrapper of these slices formed around the product P is sealed against the exterior in order to prevent the product P from coming into contact with the air and possibly to its deterioration. The joint can only be formed by mechanical bonding (for example by local folding), gluing by the applied material or even (which is the preferred solution) by heat sealing, preferably by melting the heat-fusible coatings on the inner sides of the sheets 1 and 2 (direct heat or ultrasonic vibration fields).

This can be achieved, for example, by means of a heat-sealing tool of the conventional type used, for example, to apply aluminum foils coated with a hot-melt material to portions of cup-shaped crucibles containing liquid or pasty products (e.g. yoghurts or the like).

The edges which have been connected to each other can be cut by a hollow connecting device 6, the cutting edge of which is indicated in FIG. 4, it extends along a line that surrounds the outside edge of the mouth of the cavity 3a (which is a circle in the embodiment shown, wherein the product P is spherical).

For example, the coupling device 6 may advantageously be formed by a sonotrode for attaching an ultrasonic face to perform the connection at the same time as trimming. Similarly, the bonding can be performed together with trimming and heating of the cutting tool to induce local melting of the heat-melting material deposited on the aluminum foil.

In any case, it can be stated that the tool that first acts on the mated edges of the sheets 1 and 2 (typically a welding tool) finally also simultaneously forms the upper sheet 2 around the cup-like upper part of the product P that protrudes from the cavity 3a. In this way, a completely closed and tightly fitting wrapper is formed around the product P by a single forming operation (that is, the operation performed on the wafer 1 in the step shown in Fig. 2), but forming the wafer 2 is not achieved as a result of a particular forming operation but simply when joining the wafer The solution according to the invention thus saves one of the partial operations of shaping the package which is carried out in the prior art solutions.

With regard to the packaging of the product P into the wafer 1, the fact that the first wafer 1 is shaped deeply beyond the equatorial plane Pe allows the dimensions of the second wafer 2 to be greatly reduced, thus achieving overall savings in the packaging material.

Furthermore, the described solution according to the invention has proved to be very good in terms of the need to prevent the package formed as a connection of the slices 1 and 2 around the product P to retain more air between the outer wall of the product P and the inner wall of the closed package. it could lead to some deterioration of the product or possibly to bulging of the finished packaging.

Upon completion of the bonding and cutting of the sheets 1 and 2 (FIG. 4), the product P, wrapped in the sheets 1 and 2 joined along their peripheral edges, is fed to a device 10 substantially similar to that described in European Patent Publication No. EP-A-0407. EP-D-0082952nd For this purpose, the product P is removed from the cavity in which it has been deposited to join the sheets 1 and 2 (in this specification it is assumed that this cavity corresponds to the cavity 3a in which the sheet 1 was initially formed, but this choice is not necessarily ) and introduced into the upper opening 11 of the device 10 with the wafer 1 pointing downwards.

As further described in said European patent, the device 10 consists of a supporting structure, in which the opening 11 (which in the embodiment shown is circular and has a vertical axis), from which a plurality of flexible tongues 12, e.g. wherein the tongues are resiliently loaded such that, in the absence of external forces, they converge towards the vertical axis of the opening 11 to positions generally consistent in an arrangement comparable to that of the artichoke outer leaves.

The product P, wrapped in the slices 1 and 2, with the wafer 1 facing downward, is guided vertically from top to bottom through the opening 11 under the action of the pushing member 13. The elastic tongues 12 move away from each other and so that the wafer 1 is tightly seated on a half section (upper half at the position shown in Fig. 5), which was initially opposite the wafer 1. Thus, a spur or tip is formed behind the product P exiting the device 10, closing the wafer 1 the wafer 2, as in FIG. 5 is shown by a dotted line.

In particular, when the tongues 12 are resiliently closed behind the descending product P (for a detailed description of the methods and criteria for carrying out this activity, reference is made to the description of EP-B-0082952), they close the wafer 1 and the wafer 2 behind it. thereby forming a formation of foil material which can be overturned so as to fit tightly on the product P as indicated by the mark 14 in FIG. 6. The folding of the sheet material formation (formed partly by the wafer 2, which fits tightly with the product P and partly by the wafer 1, which in turn is folded on the wafer 2), is performed by a tilting tool 15 which is axially displaceable around the pushing member 13. provided at the lower end with a cup-like cavity 15a whose shape exactly matches that of the upper part of the article. For the description of the criteria which regulate the movement of the pusher 13 and the tilting tool 15, reference is again made to the description of the European patent cited several times.

Upon completion of the flipping of the film wrapper, the article P may be placed in a paper cup 16 with folded walls according to the criteria shown in FIG. 7. Advantageously, when viewed from the outside of the cup 16, only the wafer 1 is visible in this position. This wafer not only covers half of the product P, but covers virtually the entire product P, while closing the wafer 2 inside. as well as the inverted formation 14 which is against the lower wall of the cup 16 is not visible.

Moreover, the closing line along which the slices 1 and 2 are connected is not visible from the outside.

In this way, the product retains the desired final appearance without the connecting lines being visible from the outside while being stored in a package that can form a permanent barrier against the outside air.

Claims (21)

1. A method of packaging a product in a wrapper of foil material, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: - a first and a second slice of packaging material is prepared, - the first wafer is formed into a shape substantially complementary to the shape of the product under conditions in which the first wafer, after being formed, covers most of the product, - the product is placed in the first shaped wafer, - the second wafer is placed on that part of the product which is not covered by the first wafer, so that the second wafer takes on a shape complementary to that part of the product, bonding the first and second sheets together to form a completely sealed package around the product, and finally, a first wafer is formed around the article such that the first wafer substantially covers the second wafer substantially externally. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wafer has substantially larger dimensions than the second wafer. The method of claim 1, for packaging articles, each having an equatorial plane, theoretically dividing the article into two sections, each of which may lie against a first or second wafer, wherein the first wafer is shaped such that runs from the relevant section of the product a certain distance (d) beyond the equatorial plane. 4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the first sheet, after shaping, covers the article stored therein, within two thirds to three quarters of the length of the article relative to an axis generally perpendicular to the equatorial plane. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the first sheet is formed by molding. Method according to claim 1 or 5, characterized in that the first sheet is drawn by drawing. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the second wafer is deposited on the product substantially without a preforming operation. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the first and second sheets are joined together airtightly by a joining process selected from the group consisting of: - mechanical forming, - sticking by application of material from outside, - heat sealing, - cementing by ultrasound. Method according to claim 1 or 8, characterized in that the first and second sheets are coated with a layer of hot melting material on their sides, which must be joined together. SK 279994 Β6 Method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that it comprises the step of removing those portions of the first and second wafer that extend until the joining area. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the de-stripping step is performed simultaneously with joining the first and second sheets. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the first and second sheets are made of a metallic material, preferably aluminum. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the further shaping step is carried out by guiding the product wrapped in interconnected first and second wafer through an opening defined by radially clamping formations, thereby forming a tip or loose collar behind the product. 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the tip or loose cuff is generally pressed onto the article. An apparatus for carrying out the method according to claim 1, comprising a forming device for shaping a first wafer around the article (P), characterized in that it comprises: - a forming device (3, 4) for shaping the first wafer (1) into a shape substantially complementary to the shape of the product (P), - a coupling device (6) for attaching such a second wafer (2) to form a substantially closed package around the article (P). Apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that the forming device (3, 4) comprises a die and a press. Apparatus according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that the forming device (3, 4) comprises a drawing tool. A device according to any one of claims 15 to 18 17, characterized in that the coupling device (6) is selected from the group consisting of: - mechanical forming apparatus, - gluing device by application of material from outside, - heat sealing means, - ultrasonic coupling device. A device according to any one of claims 15 to 19 18, characterized in that it comprises means (6a) for removing these portions of the first and second sheets (1, 2) which extend beyond the connection area. Device according to claim 19, characterized in that the coupling device (6) is arranged to remove those portions of the first and second wafer (1, 2) that extend beyond the joint area. Device according to claim 15, characterized in that it comprises a tilting tool (15) for pressing the tip or loose sleeve onto the article (P).