SK283034B6 - Carton and divider panel - Google Patents

Abstract

A divider panel (60) for separating stacked articles (A) in a packaged carton (100a) having two or more tiers of articles (A) where the panel (60) comprises deformable means (62, 62b, 62c, 62d) which is adapted operably to nest between stacked articles (A) on adjacent sides of the panel (60).

Description

Technical field

The invention relates to separating cartons for separating at least two rows of stacked products from each other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

From the patent 5246113 (Schuster) it is known to provide a carton for wrapping a double layer of articles when the composite articles are stacked end to end. Schuster also describes the use of a partition panel between the ends of stacked products. Two types of partition panels are described, comprising in both cases a substantially planar, rectangular piece of paperboard. In one embodiment, the panel comprises deformable portions adjacent the ends of the stacked articles, and in both embodiments, the panel includes an end tab that serves to position the panel adjacent the first article row prior to forcing the upper article row through the partition panel to a position above the lower article row.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These drawbacks are largely overcome by the solution according to the present invention relating to a dividing panel for separating stacked products with at least two product lines whose tops and bottoms are not fixed together, comprising a surface consisting of at least one substantially continuous ring-shaped element positioned to operably engage the tops and bottoms of the articles.

In a preferred embodiment, the uninterrupted annular shaped element is defined by an inner circular cutout and notch assemblies forming an outer circuit.

In another preferred embodiment, the notch assemblies are discontinuous and form at least one hinge.

In another preferred embodiment, the at least one end of the at least one notch assembly is bent inwardly.

In another embodiment, the at least one side cutout is at the outer edge of the surface to facilitate alignment with respect to the first of the rows of stacked articles.

In another embodiment, the means for cooperating with the articles comprises firstly stacked articles to maintain the position relative to the surface.

Advantageously, the article-cooperating means comprise at least one fastening tab extensible from a surface positioned to engage a distance between adjacent articles and a first row of stacked articles.

It is also advantageous if the fastening tab is formed continuously and hingably attachable to the surface.

In a further preferred embodiment, the at least one cut-out comprises at least one longitudinally oriented end of the surface in alignment with the opening of the fastening tab defined by the fastening tab.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be explained in the accompanying drawings. 1 is a schematic, perspective view of a machine that is useful for packaging cartons according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 to 5 are schematic, perspective views of the arrangement of articles and partition panel according to the invention in the various stages of the packaging process.

Fig. 6 is a schematic, perspective view of a first embodiment of a dividing panel according to the invention in the product bonding phase during the packaging process shown in FIG. First

Fig. 7 is a schematic, perspective view of a first embodiment of a dividing panel according to the present invention during the punch wheel operation during the packaging process.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a partition panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of a second embodiment of a partition panel according to the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a plan view of a third embodiment of a partition panel according to the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a plan view of a fourth embodiment of a partition panel according to the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a plan view of a fifth embodiment of a partition panel according to the present invention.

Fig. 13 is a plan view of a stencil blank for manufacturing a carton according to the present invention.

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of a carton made of the stencil blank shown in FIG. 13th

Fig. 15 is a plan view of a second stencil blank for manufacturing carton according to the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a carton made of the stencil blank shown in FIG. 15th

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In FIG. 1, a carton packaging machine 10 according to the present invention is shown. Generally speaking, the machine takes over the supplied supply of products such as beverage cans and arranges these products into an arrangement in the upper and lower feed paths. To arrange the articles in the lower feed path, a partition panel is added, which is subsequently manipulated so that its deformable parts are correctly positioned on tops of the articles. Thereafter, the topsheet of the articles is deposited on the partition panel so as to abut the articles on the bottom articles in a situation where the bottom of each top article is disposed in a deformable portion of the partition panel located at the top of the bottom article. The stacked, divided, double layer of articles is then wrapped with a carton, which in this example is a carton of the full-package type.

The fact that the upper products are deposited on the lower products itself will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2 to 5, does not mean that the stacked products will be reliably fixed in the carton during storage or transport, in this respect the products should be kept tight in the full carton. It will be appreciated that the partition panel 60 also ensures that the tops and bottoms of the downstream products do not rub against each other in a wrapped carton, which would otherwise create nasty marks at the ends of at least one of the products. For example, when articles A are made of aluminum, a more sustained abrasion of the downstream ends of the stacked articles may result in a nasty alumina-containing deposit at one end. In addition, the movement of the articles may result in damage to the ends of the articles including tearing off the ring at the end of the can.

Turning more closely to the components of the machine 10 shown in FIG. 1, it can be seen that the two lower product feed rows 38 are fed into the machine by a conveyor 36. The product feed A in the rows 38 is controlled by a pair of so-called star wheels. The feed mechanism 16 draws the dividing panels into the insert 60 from the column 13 in the storage cabinet 12, which in this example includes an additional device 14 for accommodating a plurality of inserts. The feed mechanism 16 may include, for example, suction plates that remove the front partition panel 13 from the storage cabinet and move it to the appropriate position following the tops of the articles A in the lower rows.

As seen in FIG. 2, the dividing panel 60 comprises side slits 64 which allow the panels to be moved by the attached chain 42, which is guided near the tops of the articles A on each side of the rows 38. In this sense, the synchronization of the chain 16 to allow the articles and the partition panel 60 to be assembled together so that the deformable portions 62 of the panel 60 assume the appropriate position on the tops of the article A in the assembly.

The product and divider panel assemblies are then transported along the lower displacement path to the intermediate embossing wheel 18, which forces the retaining tabs 66 defined on the liner 60 from the plane of the divider panel to be wedged between the tops of adjacent panels in the lower assembly. In this example, the articles A are cans having an upper edge R having a smaller diameter than the diameter of the main body of a substantially cylindrical can. Therefore, the fastening tabs 66 may be positioned in the gap between the skirts of adjacent articles, thereby keeping the partition panel 60 in place during movement of the lower article assembly.

The embossed extruder 18 is shown in more detail in FIG. 6, where it can be seen that the device comprises a cylindrical wheel which is driven by drive means (not shown) which actuate radially protruding fingers rotating about a central axis of the wheel. The shaped end portion of each finger presses downwardly on the upper surface of the fastening tab 66 of the partition panel 60 during rotation. The end portions may preferably be rounded to ensure easy entry and exit of the fingers from the openings surrounding the tabs 66 in the panels 60.

The product assembly shown in FIG. 3 is then moved to the punch wheel 20 shown in FIG. The punch wheel comprises a cylindrical wheel which is rotatably driven about the cylinder axis by drive means (not shown). The cylindrical surface of the wheel comprises two rows of hollow cylindrical cups having a flange corresponding to the base of the product. The movement of the punch wheel 20 is again synchronized with the movement of the lower product assemblies and the interposed dividing panels, so that the individual cups deform by crimping or squeezing the deformable portions 62 in the panels 60, resulting in these deformable portions 62 settling on the product tops. 5, the articles A comprise an upper end having a longitudinal recess with respect to the upper edge R. Accordingly, the deformable portions 62 form a cup-like structure between the edge R and the end of the article. This arrangement is shown in FIG. 4. Therefore, the partition panel 60 may be held in position on the article bottom assembly by either or both of the tabs 66 and the deformable portions 62. In addition, the retaining chain 42 may continue to cooperate with the slots.

64, thereby ensuring that the individual partition panels 60 are accurately positioned with respect to the article assembly.

At this point, the top assembly is positioned on top of the assembly shown in FIG. 4. In this example, the two upper rows 44 of products are moved by the conveyors 22. These rows may be guided on fixed guideways not shown in the accompanying drawings. The supply of these product lines 44 can be controlled by the star wheel 46 and consequently the movement of both the top and bottom assemblies can be controlled by the device 48, such as a vertically oriented star wheel. In this example, the device 48, which performs alignment of the upper and lower pairs of articles, includes star wheels (not shown) positioned on both sides.

The evenly measured recesses in the top and bottom plates of each star wheel affect the alignment of the top and bottom product such that the top product moves away from its support and the star wheel rotates to form a sufficiently efficient hole through which the top product engages in the dish delimited by the deformable portion. 62 on the top of the lower product. By repeating this procedure, the stacked assembly is formed as shown in FIG. 5. The number of products in the stacked groups may of course be any of the stacking pair, namely three or four stacked products, etc. the assemblies may of course comprise any suitable number of rows.

The stacked assembly may be transported as a unit using, for example, a conventional conveyor to a carton packing station, with the lower product group remaining at the bottom.

In this example, the stacked article assembly is wrapped with a full-size carton to form a separate packaging carton 100 or 100a, as shown in FIG. 14 and FIG. 16. Referring to FIG. 1, the machine 10 comprises a container box 24 with a container 26 of stencils 90 or 90a for making cartons. One template carton blank may each be removed from the front of the cartridge 26 by means of a feeding mechanism 28 similar to that described above 16. The carton blank may thus be moved from the magazine box 24 to the feed chain 30, which may have, for example, clips to be attached. cooperating portions of the carton and moving it to the extended printing chain 34. The device at the front portion 50 of the suspended print chain 34 first presses the top panel 93, 93a of the carton onto the upper ends of the top products. Thereafter, the sides 92 and 94 of the carton 100, 100a are folded down, for which a folding wheel 32 is used. Subsequently, the sides of the carton are guided by a lateral clip chain 52 according to the control 54 for expanding the shoes holding the products. product, where these means 97, 97a are positioned by pressing the sides of the carton 92 and 94 to the sides of the stack of the assembled articles. The hinged push chain 34 may continue to suppress the top of the carton to the article assembly while the locking mechanism 56 performs folding of the panel base portions 91 and 95 to the bottom of the stacked article assembly.

Fig. 8 shows a plan view of one embodiment of a partition panel 60 according to the invention. As previously described, the partition panel comprises a set of deformable portions 62, side slits 64 and fastening tabs 66. In addition, the partition panel comprises end slits 76, which, as seen in FIG. 6, they can be used for the continuous processing of consecutive dividing panels in the phase of passing through the extruder wheel 18, since adjacent slots 76 form holes 77 into which the ends of the fingers of the extruder 18 enter.

The deformable portion in this example comprises groups of foldable flaps 74. Each flap is defined by an inner circular slot 68 and a pair of radial slots 72. The effective fold line is made in this example by providing a series of slots 70 serving as hinges in partition panel 60, of paperboard.

FIG. 9 shows a plan view of another embodiment of a partition panel 60a. This panel is substantially similar to panel 60, so that the same components are identified by the same reference numerals with the addition of the letter and. In this case, the fold line of the flap 74a is not specifically delimited, and the deformable cup shapes may be formed using a similar device as the punch wheel described above.

Fig. 10 shows an embodiment of a partition panel 60b according to the present invention. In this case too, similar components are marked with the same reference marks with the addition of the letter b. In this example, the deformable portions 62b encircle the rounded flaps 74b whose toothed inner edge is delimited by a corrugated line 68b. The flaps need not have predetermined fold lines and, for example, a punch wheel as described above may be used to form the cup shape. However, it is more preferred that the flap 74b is positioned substantially on the outer diameter of the rim of the article, as schematically shown by the dashed line in FIG. 10. In this case, the flaps 74b will be able to form a partition between the ends of the stacked articles.

Fig. 11 shows another embodiment of a partition panel 60c according to the present invention. Again, the partition panel preferably comprises side slits 64c and end slits 76c. In this case, however, the deformable flaps are not applied in the deformable portion, and a circular cutout in the panel is simply made instead of the deformable portion. The diameter of the hole so formed should be smaller than the diameter of the product hem R so that the cup shape can be made using a similar device as the punch wheel that deforms the paperboard into a cup-shaped, nest-like shape. Of course, this shape can also be created by applying a load to the stacked articles themselves, which can preferably be done prior to closing the whole packaging carton, if such carton is used. Preferably, fastening tabs 66c are also provided.

In FIG. 12, yet another embodiment of a partition panel 60d of the present invention is shown. In this example, side slits 64d and end slots 76d may be employed. In addition, fastening tabs 66d could be used but are not shown. The deformable portion 62d comprises a movable flap 74d which is defined by a continuous inner circular cutout 68d and an interrupted outer substantially circular cut 70d. The outer notch 70d has inwardly directed end portions that can be used to make the deformable portion 62d easier and more deformable and to limit possible tearing. The flap 74d is hingably coupled to the rest of the panel by hinges 75d that are formed by the broken outer notch 70d.

Fig. 13 shows a plan view of a stencil blank 90 according to the present invention. The carton blank 90 comprises a first base panel portion 91, a side panel 92, an upper panel 93, a second side panel 94, and a second base panel portion 89. These panels are hingedly connected in succession when a tapered strip of known prior art is applied between the base panels and the side panels. of the type that can form formations for holding the bottom of the articles, as seen in the practical form of FIG. 14. In addition, the top panel and the side panels are hingedly connected by known shoulder panels, which in turn may comprise product holding portions or shoulder holding portions 97, as shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14. On the assembled carton 100 shown in FIG. 14 can be seen that the base panel portions 91 and 95 are folded in a known manner to form a base wall of the carton which is held in total using known fastening means 98 that are disposed on both base panel portions. The side walls 92 and 94 of the panel are logically longer than known cartons, and also the parts holding the bottoms and tops of the articles are more closely separated, as is customary, and in fact the associated pairs may carry other products on top of one another .

In FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 are cartons that can wrap a total of two sets of six products arranged in rows of three. In another example shown in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, the carton 100a is adapted to wrap two stacked assemblies of eight articles arranged in rows of four. Also in this example, the same parts that are used in the carton 100 are marked with the same reference numbers with the addition of the letter and. However, the individual cartons may have a handle that may take one of many forms, such as the types shown in the drawings.

Although the cartons presented herein contain only two stacked assemblies or layers of articles, it is possible to produce a carton that encapsulates three or more such layers. The number of stacked assemblies can be varied, logically from one up.

Claims (14)

PATENT CLAIMS A dividing panel for separating stacked products having at least two product lines whose tops and bottom is not fixed together comprises a surface, characterized in that the surface consists of at least one substantially continuous annular shaped element positioned for operable engagement of the tops and bottom products. A dividing panel according to claim 1, characterized in that the uninterrupted annular shaped element is defined by an inner circular cutout (68) and a plurality of notches (70) forming an outer circuit. Dividing panel according to claim 2, characterized in that the notch assemblies (70) are interrupted and form at least one hinge. Dividing panel according to claim 4, characterized in that at least one end of the at least one set of notches (70) is bent inwards. A dividing panel according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises at least one side cut-out (64) at the outer edge of the surface to facilitate alignment with respect to the first of the rows of stacked products. 6. The dividing panel of claim 1, further comprising means for cooperating with the articles in the first row of stacked articles to maintain position relative to the surface. A dividing panel according to claim 6, characterized in that the product-cooperating means comprise at least one fastening tab (66) extensible from a surface positioned to engage a distance between adjacent products and a first row of stacked products. A dividing panel according to claim 7, characterized in that the fastening tab (66) is formed continuously and hingedly attachable to the surface. A dividing panel according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises at least one cutout (76) disposed at least one longitudinally oriented end of the surface in alignment with the opening of the fastening tab (66) defined by the fastening tab (66). A dividing panel according to claim 1, characterized in that the surface comprises at least one cut-out (64a, 64b, 64c, 64d) disposed on the outer edge to align the surface with respect to the at least one row of stacked products. A dividing panel according to claim 10, characterized in that the surface comprises means for cooperating with the products in the first row of products to maintain the position relative to the surface. Dividing panel according to claim 11, characterized in that the product-cooperating means comprise at least one fastening tab (66a, 66b, 66c, 66d) extensible from said surface, positioned to engage a distance between adjacent products and a first row of stacked products . Dividing panel according to claim 12, characterized in that the fastening tab (66a, 66b, 66c, 66d) is formed continuously and hingedly attachable to the surface. Dividing panel according to claim 12, characterized in that the at least one cut-out 76a, 76b, 76c, 76d) is disposed in the at least one longitudinally oriented front end of the surface aligned with the opening of the fastening tab (66a, 66b, 66c). 66d) defined by a fastening tab (66a, 66b, 66c, 66d).