US1402223A - Apparatus for grouping commodity-containing units for packaging - Google Patents

Description

M. FOGDE AND L. P. SOUTHWICK.

APPARATUS FOR GROUPING COMMODITY CONTAINING UNITS FOR PACKAGING. APPLICATION FILED MAY 23, I919 RENEWED SEPT.2I, I92l.

1,402,223, A Patented Jan. 3, 1922,

2 SHEETSSHEET T.

V a i 10 521 J g g s BYfiz 87166 $500761? A7 M.

ATTORNEYS M. FOGDE AND L. P. SOUTHWICK. APPARATUS FOR GROUPING COMMODITY CONTAINING UNITS FOR PACKAGING.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 23, 1919. RENEWED SEPT.2I, 192].

SHEET 2.

commodity i? "FTS MATHIAS FOG-DE AND LAWRENCE P. SOUTHWICK, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO STOKES &' SMITH COMPANY, OF

rear users,

PHILADELPHIA,PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR GBOUPING COMMODITY-CONTAININQ UNITS FOR PACKAGING.

Application filed May 23, 1919, Serial No. 299,287.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, MATHIAS Focus and LAWRENCE P. SOUTHWICK, respectively a subject of the Government of Russia and-a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county ofv Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Grouping Commodity-Containing Units for Packaging, of which the following is a specification. This invention relates to improvements in the grouping of commodity containing units for packaging purposes, being a continuation in part of our companion application filed November 27th, 1918, Serial No. 264,335.

It is the general practice in packaging containing units, such for instance, as packages of cigarettes, etc, to locate the units in rows'with each row having a predetermined number of such units. For instance, one form of package utilized in the cigarette trade contains ten units arranged in two rows of five units each, the ten units being placed in a packaging container which may be in the form of a carton.

While the present invention is capable of use in various relations, it is especially designed for the packaging of units containing tobacco'products,,and in describing the invention the description will be based more particularly upon this use; and in this-connection the invention may not be considered as applicable for use in connection with the apparatus disclosed in the prior patent granted 7 to us October 23rd, 1917, No. 1,244,488.- The present invention, when applied to the machine of the patent, serves to avoid handling of the units which receive their final treatment in the apparatus of the patent, and thereby decreases the cost of packaging through the fact that handling of units is reduced to a minimum as a preliminary to their being. positioned within a carton. I

In explanatiom'itwmay be noted that the apparatus of the patent referred to is de signed to apply the "revenue stamps to the individual units of the package, and in producing this result, the apparatus operates concurrently upon a plurality of such units, these units thus being operated upon being considered as a charge for the apparatus Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 3, 11922. Renewed September 21, 1921. Serial No. 502,179

made to be of a predetermined number, of units, ten for instance, in the apparatus disclosed in the patent, the units of the charge being arranged 'on an intermittently movable support, with the units in substantial alignment, the general arrangement being such that the line of units is seated on one of the unit ends, the stamp being applied to the opposite end of the unit which forms the upper face of the charge, adjacent units having their side edges in proximity or in contact, so that the front and rear faces of each unit are exposed when in row formation. Without describing the detailed operation of the apparatus of the patent, attention may be called to the fact that the charge of this type is first located in a position to receive the individual stamps on the upper end faces of the upstanding units, after which the charge is bodily advanced out of the path of movement of the stamp applying mechanism to a position where a supplemental mechanism is operated to carry the ends of the stamp downward into contact with the front andrear faces of each unit, this operation being provided while the units are in their charge formation. One form of supplemental mechanism for this purpose is disclosed in the patent, and another form is disclosed in the application, Serial-No. 264,335, above identified: In each case, the charge remains on its support until the application of the individual stamps to the several units is completed, after which the charge is shifted from the support, the said companion application disclosing a preferred way in which this shifting-action is produced, this being had by the use of a plunger having a length to be concurrently operative on all of the units of the charge, the plunger movements being arranged so as to cause the charge to be shifted in a direction transverse to the direction of advance of the charge support, the units remain ng in their upended position during the shifting action.

The prcsentinvcntion becomes operative with thislateral shifting of the charge, and has for its purpose the grouping of the charge units into the row formations which the units are to have in the carton, thls result being obtained by practically reta1n to cause the automatic segregation of the number of units which are designed to form a row in the carton from the charge row, and thus make it a simple matter for the operator to position the row within the carton without individual packing of units,

that the charge row carries a number of units sufficient for two of the carton rows, so that in the forming of groups, the action automatically produces more than a single row of the units for the package. Other objects of the invention are to provide a construction which is simple and eflicient in operation, durable in construction,

and which can be manufactured 'and installed at a relatively low cost.

To these and other ends, the nature of which will be readily understood as the invention is hereinafter disclosed, said invention consists in the improved construction ax d combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts in each of" the views,

Fig. 1, is a, vertical sectional View of a portion of astamping apparatus with the one form of our present invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2, is a top plan view of part shown in Fig. 1.

F ig, 3, is a sectional view showing a different form of the present invention applied in position.

Fig. 4, is a top plan view of the structure of Fig. 3.

. Fig. 5, is a perspective view showing one arrangement of units in a carton. I

In the drawings, 10 indicates a portion of the frame of a stamping apparatus, 11 indicating a support for the charge units, this support being shown as in the form of a belt or endless carrier carrying projections 11 between which the units of a charge are positioned, these units being indicated at a and shown as arranged with their side'edges in contact.

In Figures 2 and 4 we have shown ten units as forming the charge, the latter being located opposite the face of a plunger closed in the companionapplication, Serial No. 264,335 in. which this operating structure is more particularly claimed. We have also shown, in Fig. 1, fragments ofthe structure employed in applying the ends of the stamps to the opposite faces of the units, this structure also being claimed in the said application. And in Figs. 1 and 3, we have shown an end view of a unit in position on the support 11 ready to be shifted therefrom by the moving of plunger 12 toward the left in Figs. 1 to 4.

' As will be understood, for instance, from Fig. 2, this moving of the plunger toward the left shifts the entire 'row of ten units in a direction transverse to the direction of advance of the support-indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4--on to the upper face of frame 10, thus leaving the top of support 11 free from the charge, the su port, if an endless band frame, then gradua ly reaching the position where it receives another charge. The length of movement of plunger 12 is sufficient to carry a charge row off its support and sufficiently beyond the latter to permit of the operation of the stamp applying structure of Fig. 1 on the succeeding charge row, the movement, for instance, may -be sufiicient to place the-charge row either director by stage movement as pres ently described, in the position shown by unit 6 in Fig. 1, in position under a suitable yielding element 13, the plunger returning to permit of the positioning of the succeedin" charge in stamp applying position,

Vhere the movement to position b is provided by stages, the shifting movement pro-.

vided by the plunger wouldplace the char e row at a point in advance of this position whereupon theshifting of the succeeding charge would then place the charge in the position of unit I). i It will be understood, of course, that as each charge is shifted later-, "ally it advances the previously shifted charges accordingly, and where the arrangement of Figs. 1 and 2 is employed, the element 13 tends to prevent return movement of these shifted charge units.

14 designates the table secured to frame 10 in suitable manner and on to which the shifted rows of units are delivered-by this successive action of plunger 12. As heretofore referred to, this shifting of units by plunger 12 operates to shiftall the units of the charge concurrently, so that in the particular instance shown, each plunger movement serves to deliver a row of ten units on to table 14:. However, it is not desirable to supply the trade with packages of'the length such as would be required where the number of units in a row is ten. For this reason, it is the general practice to provide rows of five units each, and to produce this result, the charge units are divided int two groups, this result being obtained by locating a finger 15 or other suitable device at a point on the table and extending above a top plane thereof opposite the point where the group division of units should take place within the row. As a result, the shifting of the charge causes the five units on each side of the finger to be shifted into separate compartments of the table, the row formation of a group being maintained, the successive rows delivered gradually building up an accumulation on the upper face of the table as shown for instance in Fig. 1.

In the particular embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, provision is made for shiftable supporting abutments for the advanced row of the accumulation of this compartment, this being in the form of a member 16 having a projecting portion 16 extending through a slot at the bottom of compartment, member 16 being movable on a rod 17 below the table. By means of a weight 18 or other suitable structure, member 16 is caused to move toward the front of the slot whenever a row of units is removed, and moves toward the rear of the slot as the accumulation increases.

The frameshown in Figs. 1 and 2 is designed for use where a group row is placed in a carton manually, and to permit of this being quickly done, it is advantageous to so arrange a row relative to other rows as to permit its ready withdrawal from the accumulation bodily. In the frame shown in these views, this result is obtained by a combination of two features, one feature being to give the table top a configuration at an intermediate point such as will tend to cant each row as it passes over this portion of the table, so that the most advanced rows of the accumulation. will extend in directions in clined to the vertical and thus provide a sort of step appearance at the top of the accumulation, as indicated in Fig. 1, thus practically exposing the front and rear face portions at'the top of the units of the most advanced row in a manner to permit an operator to readily grasp the entire row by spreading the fingers, the row being lifted, from position and placed bodily within the carton or container. The other feature is one which deals moreparticularly with the ends of the rows, and this is provided by locating these portions of the table top on which the accumulations rest on two diiferent planes, one above the other, as shown, for instance, in Fig. 1. As a result, the rows which pass over that portion of the table located above finger 15 in Fig. 2 will be on a higher plane than those which pass over the portion of the table below said finger in said view, hence the division of the groups is not only visually indicated by the presence of the finger and the spacing between the two groups of-a charge row, but will be further distinguished by reason of the fact that the units of one group will be located on a horizontal plane from the units of the other group, thus making it asimple matter for the operator t grasp the proper number of units without necessitating actual counting of a row.

For purposes of convenience in such manual removal f group rows, one of the table portions may be shorter than the other, as indicated in Fig. 2, thus enabling the operator to more readily grasp the units of a row on the table of greater length.

While we have shown this particular frame as provided in two compartments, and it is preferred to concurrently deliver to both, it will be understood, of course, that a charge may consist of a number of units sufficient only to be usable in connection with one of the compartments, and in such case, it may be desirable to provide the invention' in the form of but asingle table por tion which, however, carries the feature of automatically inclining each row to the vertical as it passes into position among the accumulated rows in order to produce this step appearance at the top.

While the arrangements of Figs. 1 and 2 provide for this grouping of units and ina manner which permits of ready packaging operations, we may, and in some cases prefer to employ a structure of the type of Figs. 3 and 4, a structure designed more particularly to place the two groups of a charge row in superposed relation, as indicated for instance in Fig. 5; in such position, it is possible to locate a carton over the mouth of the compartment containing the diflerent rows and upon withdrawal 'otthe carton remove.

the desired number of units at a single operation. This result is obtained. by so arranging the bottoms of the two compartments of the table as to cause them to be located on two'planes spaced apart a dis tance' sufficient to freely receive a group row on the bottoinof the latter compartment and shift the units of a row' laterally so as to place them beneath the units of a row in the other compartment.

In producing a structure capable of meeting these conditions, the bottom of one compartment is laid downward from frame 10, while the bottom of the other compartment is laid upward from such plane, the diverging bottoms gradually reaching a point where the distance in these planes is in excess of the vertical length of a unit. When the bottoms reach these planes. it is then only necessary to arrange the side walls of the two compartments on such lines as to cause the'lateral shifting of the rows of the two compartments and bring the mouths of the two compartments one above the other or in vertical alignment. For instance, the rows of the compartment above finger 15 1n Fig. 4, are gradually raised to produce the upper accumulation of Fig. 3, while the rows below said' finger in Fig. 4 gradually drop until reaching the plane of the lower accumulation in Fig. 3, whereupon the outward ivalls of the compartments-indicated at 20-causc the rows to be shifted inward as they are advanced. by the. successive movements of plunger 12, the moyements continuing until the superposed relation of rows shown in Fi 3 is provided.

find in this. form we prefer-to employ a plurality of yieldable fingers 21 at the top and bottom and sides of the open mouth of the double compartment structure-as seen in Fig. 4, for instance-the rows passing into position relative to thesefingers; These era1ly, and-,a discharge frame into which units are movable when shifted, the discharge frame having compartments or chutes 'which open at their receiving ends in the same horizontal plane but which open at "their discharge ends in vertically spaced planes.

As will be understood from the above description each frame. is adapted to group a predetermined number of units in a row i from a charge which embodies a greater as reserving the right to make any and all number of units than the number of such group row, the units of one group being segregated from those of the other group while retaining the row formation in each group, the several groups being delivered on to a chute or table in which the units of one group are on a different plane from the units of the other group, the planes of the several groups being vertically spaced.

As will be understood, the specific structural formation which may be utilized in carrying the general practice of the inven tion may be varied within comparatively wide limits, and We desire to be understood changes or modifications in the diiferent structures disclosed, in'so far as the same may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the accompanying claims and broadly construed.

I What we claim is:

1. In apparatus for grouping commodity containing units for packaging, wherein a predetermined number of units form a row in the package and wherein such row is segregated from' a charge embodying a greater number of units than the number contained in said row with the charge units groups with at least one of the groups constituting the desired package row, said latter group having its units extending in a plane spaced from the units of another group to segregate and present the selected group in position to be bodily located within the package.

2. 'In apparatus for grouping commodity containing units for packaging, wherein a predetermined number of units form a row in the package and wherein such row is segregated from the charge. embodying a number of units equal to a plurality of such pack age rows with the charge units arranged and supported in row formation, means for supporting the charge row, means for shiftin the charge row bodily from the support and in a direction approximately transverse to the direction of length of the charge row,

and a chute formation located in the path of travel of the chute units said chute formation including a finger adapted to segregate the charge row into group rows during shifting movements of the charge row, said chute formation having a configuration to cause units of one group to be supported in accumulated position on a plane vertically spaced from the plane on which the units of another group are positioned.

3. In a machine of the character described, a combination with means for supporting a row of commodity containing I units, and means for shifting said row of units laterally, of a discharge frame into which the unitsare movable when shifted, said discharge frame having chutes opening at their receiving ends in laterally spaced relation and opening at their discharge ends in the same vertical plane.

5. In a machine of the character described,

the row of commodity containing units, and

' means for shifting said row of units laterally, of a discharge frame into which the units are movable when shifted, said discharge frame having chutes opening at their receiving ends in juxtaposed relation, said chutes curving inwardly toward one another and inclining vertically intheir lengths and terminating at their discharge ends in superposed relation.

6'. In a machine of the character described, the combination with a main frame, and means for laterally shifting a row of units on said frame, of a discharge frame secured to the main frame and having a receiving end of the full width of the shifted row of units, said discharge frame having a pair of chutes, the base of one of which inclines upwardly and the base of the other of which inclines downwardly, adjacent the main frame, each of said chutes receiving half of the row of units and being curved in its length toward the center of the discharge frame, said chutes terminating at the discharge end of the frame in vertically spaced and aligned relation.

7. In a machine of the character described, a combination with means for supporting a row of commodity containing units and means for shifting said row of units laterally, of a discharge frame into which the units are movable when shifted, said discharge frame having chutes opening at their receiving ends in the same horizontal plane and opening at their opposite or discharge ends in vertically spaced planes and means at the discharge ends of the chute for temporarily supporting the unit container.

8. In a machine of the character described, means for feeding a row of articles in the direction of the length of the row, means for laterally shifting successive groups of units from the row into a discharge frame and concurrently separating the shifted units into subordinate groups in such manner that the shifting operation will advance the groups carried by the discharge frame.

9. In a machine of the character described, means for supporting a row of articles means for shifting a portion of the row laterally, means for separating the-shifted portion into groups and means for arranging the groups in position for packing.

10. In a machine of the character described, means for supporting an elongated article in vertical position, means for laterally shifting the article and a yieldable element pressing upon the upper end of the article when shifted, to retain it in vertical position.

11. In a machine of the character described, a chute adapted to convey articles in rows with a plurality of articles in each row, from receiving to delivery end of said chute, said delivery end having spaced portions with apertures therebetween corresponding to the individual articles in a row located at said delivery end, to facilitate the removal of articles carried by the chute.

1'2. In a machine for feeding and arranging articles such as rectangular packages, means for advancing a row of articles, means for feeding successive sections of the row laterally, each section including a similar plurality of articles,-a support for supporting and guiding SHCCGSSlXGlIY-ZEGC]. sections, and separated article-holding devices at the discharge end of said support arranged to engage the ends of the individual articles of each advancing section and to facilitate grasping the articles for removal.

13. In mechanism for feeding and arranging articles, such as rectangular packages, two arranging chutes having aligned entrances and curved laterally and vertically to provide discharge openings, one of which is located above the other, the discharge ends of the chutes being arranged to receive a container for the articles, means for advancing a row of articles opposite the chute entrances, and means for moving the articlerow into the entrances and dividin the row into sections, one of which passes into each of the chutes.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

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