US1411514A - Carton-filling machine - Google Patents

Description

G. P. RASCK AND L. WEEKS. CARTON FILLING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED 0011a, 1920.

1,4 1 1 ,5 1 4 atented Apr- 4, 1922.-

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G. P. RASCK AND L. WEEKS.

CARTON FILLING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED 0e18, 1920.

1,41 1,5 1 4. Patellted Apr- 4, 1922.

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UNITED STATES fATENT OFFICE.

CARTON-FILLING- MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

Application filed October 8, 1920. Serial No. 415,668.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Gnoncn P. RASOK and Leo l Vnnns, citizens of the United States, and residents of Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Carton- Filling Machine, of which the following is a specification.

Theobjects of our invention are to provide a machine of simple, durable and inexpensive construction, especially designed for automatically placing tablets, pills, capsules and the like into paper cartons.

More particularly it is our object to provide a machine of this class which may be run at high speed and without danger of breaking or mutilating the stock being worked on, or the cartons being filled.

Our invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects con templated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in our claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawin 's, in which Jigure 1 shows an end elevation of a carton filling machine embodying our invention.

Figure 2 shows an enlarged, detail sectional View, illustrating a part of the tablet container, inclined carton supporting table, and the means for forcibly removing tablets from the container and discharging theminto the cartons.

F igure 3 shows an end elevation of the upper portion of our improved machine, with a part of the tablet container broken away to show the interior construction.

Figured shows a top or plan view of the complete machine; and

Figure 5 shows a detail sectional View il lustrating the weight actuated mechanism for advancing the cartons. 1

Referring to the accompanying drawings, we have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate 'the main frame of the machine. Mounted on top of the main frame is the tablet container, which comprises a lower small compartment 11 and an upper large compartment 12. The upper compartment 12 has inclined bottom members 13, extending downwardly and inwardly toward the center of the container, the ends thereof being spaced apart a comparatively slight d-is-' tance from the longitudinal center, as illuspitman 24.

trated in Figure 3 and for purposes hereinof the tablets, pills or capsules to be worked on. This slide 15 is mounted in suitable guides 17 for longitudinal reciprocating motion; The number of openings 16 provided in the slide corresponds to the number of tablets that it is desired to place in one carton.

For automatically operating the slide 15 and other parts of the machine, we have provided a motor 18 connected with a drive shaft 19. This drive shaft has a Worm 20 thereon, in mesh with a Worm gear 21 on the shaft 22. This worm gear is provided with a crank pin 23 to which is connected a A lever 25 is fulcrumed t0 the machine and extended upwardly, and has the pitman 2 L pivoted to it, whereby the upper end of the lever may be reciprocated. The upper end of said lever is connected by a link 26 to the slide 15, so that during the ously reciprocated.

Adjacent to the lower end of, the tablet container 11 is a carton platform 27, inclined downwardly and toward the front of the -maohine at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees. This carton platform has a shoulder at 28, extending upwardly and substantially at right angles to the platform 27, and against which the closed ends of the cartons rest.

The cartons with which this device is intended to be used are of the ordinary folded paper carton type commonly used in the sale of tablets, pills, capsules, etc., and are indicated in the drawings by the numeral 29.

The cartons are fed to the machine as follows: On the carton platform 27, at

one side of the tablet container, is a carton feeding chute indicated generally by the refoperation of the motor the slide iscontinuthis carton container tapered'as shown and described,'isas follows: When these paper cartons are placed in the container, one end is open and the flaps forming the end unfolded, while the other end is closed and the flaps forming it lie in overlapping positions, thus reinforcing the closed end and tending to cause it to maintain its normal outline. The open end, however, being in its unfolded position, is easily crushed and somewhat flattened out. Therefore, when the cartons are piled one above the other in this manner, with one end open and the other closed, the closed ends will stand higher than the open ends. Hence if the lower carton was in position lying fiat against the inclined carton table 27, the upper cartons in the container would be more nearly in a horizontal position and hence they would tend to bind in the container unless the upper end of the container was larger than the lower. However, by the construction shown this tendency to bind has been avoided.

The means for progressively feeding the cartons from the carton container to the point where they are'to be filled is as follows:

Mounted on the inclined carton table 27 is a sliding block 31, having a pin 32 ex tending downwardly therefrom through a slot33. This pin is attached to a rope 34 passing'overpulleys35 and 36 to direct its movement in the direction parallel with the under surface 'of the inclined table top 27. On one end of this rope is a weight 37, and the other end is attached to the lever 25 at the point marked 38. By this arrangement it is obvious that during each movement of the lever25 the rope will be pulled in one direction, and during the opposite movement of the lever25 the rope will be pulled by the weight in the opposite direction, so'that for each reciprocation of the lever 25 the block 31 is moved to engage the undermost carton in the carton container, and push it one carton space in a direction toward the point where the cartons are filled. The length of movement of the block 31 may be regulated by adjusting the position of attachment of the rope 34 with the lever 25.

We preferably provide above the cartons on. the table, a guide plate 39 under which the cartons may slide and which prevents them from buckling up. 7

The means for removing the tablets 15 in the slot 16 and for placing them in the cartons, is as follows: 1

Fixed tothe exterior of the tablet container 11, on the side adjacent to the carton table, is a brush 40 having yielding, resilient bristles, and this brush is so positioned that as soon as the slide 15 projects beyond the tablet container 11 these bristles will partly enter the openings 16 and thus forcibly engage the tablets therein and push the tablets downwardly through the openings 16. Immediately beneath the brush 40 is a funnel-shaped .tablet receiving and guide device 41, tapered from a maximum at its upper end to a minimum at itslower end, the latter end being placed adjacent to the open cartons to direct the tablets into the cartons. The upper end is placed directly beneath the brush 40, and is arranged close to the bottom of the slide 15. On the interior of the tablet container 11 is a second brush 43, for the purpose of causing the tablets to lie flat within the o enings 16.

In ractical operation the tablet container 11 an 12 may be filled with'the tablets to be put in the cartons. On account of the high speed at which this device is run, it is desirable to have a comparatively large number of tablets to save the trouble of continually refilling the tablet container. It is, however, objectionable to have an undue pressure upon the tablets resting on the slide 15.

We have overcome this difficulty by providing the upper tablet container 12 with a slotted inclined bottom which supports a great deal of the weight of the tablets contained in the upper compartment, and et maintains the bottom compartment 11 enough at all times to rovide 'suflicient pressure to insure the filling of all of the openings 16 during each reciprocation of the slide 15. The brush 43 on the interior of the tablet compartment brushes oil the surplus tablets from the top of the slide 15, and presses all ofthe tablets that are within the holes 16 fiat within the holes, so that during each'reciprocation there is one tablet in each hole. In this way the number of tablets is accurately measured for each carton.

Inorder to operate this machine at the desirable high rate of speed, we have found it very advantageous to have the carton table top inclined at substantially the angle illustrated and described, for the reason that when in this position the cartons can easily be held and supported with one end open, and the funnel-shaped receiving and guide device 41 will accurately direct the tablets into the cartons. It is, of course, true that without the brush 40 the tablets would fall by gravity from the openings 16 as soon as the slide 15 passed be ond the exterior of thetablet container. owever, this movement by gravity would be entirely too slow for our purposes, and furthermore tablets might stick in said opening. For this reason we have provided the brush 40 to cooperate with the open upper end of the funnel-shaped device 41, and by this arrangement the bristles instantly force the tablets out of the openin and lnto the device 41 as soon as the sli c has passed beyond the tablet container, and by this arrangement of the brush 40 the funnel-shaped device 41 and the inclined table top for the cartons, we are enabled to operate the slide 15 at high speed and accurately fill each carton with the desired number of tablets without injury to the tablets or the cartons.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a carton filling machine, the combination of a receptacle for stock, means for supporting cartons to receive the stock, a slide in the stock receptacle having openings therein to receive the stock and pro ject it beyond the stock receptacle, resilient means arranged to engage the stock in the openings when the same is projected beyond the stock receptacle, and forcibly and rapidly eject same from the openings, and means for directing the forcibly ejected stock into the cartons.

2. In a carton filling machine, the combination of a stock receptacle, means for supporting cartons adjacent thereto, a slide having openings therein in the stock receptacle, a brush so arranged that its bristles will engage and forcibly eject stock from the openings in the slide as soon as it has been projected beyond the container, and means for directing the stock into the carton.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a stock receptacle, a slide havin openings therein mounted in the receptacle to receive the stock and to conduct it to a point exterior of the receptacle, resilient means exterior to the receptacle for engaging the stock and forcing it out of said openings, a carton table inclined clownwardly and forwardly from the stock receptacle, and designed to receive cartons with their open ends extending upwardly toward the stock receptacle, a funnel-shaped device between the stock receptacle and the cartons, for receiving the stock and conducting it into the cartons, and means operated in unison for reciprocating the slide and advancing the cartons one carton space upon the return movement of the slide.

4:. In a device of the class described, the

combination of a stock receptacle, a slide having openings therein mounted in the receptacle to receive the stock and to conduct it to a point exterior of the receptacle, resilient means exterior to thereceptacle for engaging the stock and forcing it out of said openings, a carton table inclined downwardly and forwardly from the stock receptacle, and designed to receive cartons with their open ends extending upwardly toward the stock receptacle, a funnel-shaped device between the stock receptacle and the cartons, for receiving the stock, and conducting it into the cartons, and means operated in unison for reciprocating the slide and advancing the cartons one carton space upon the return movement of the slide, said means comprising a motor, a lever reciprocated by the motor and connected with the slide, a rope connected to the lever, pulleys over which the rope passes, a weight connected to the pulley, and a carton advancing reciprocating block connected to said rope.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of a carton table inclined at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees, a carton receptacle open at its upper and lower ends on said table, and means at the bottom of said carton receptacle for successively pressing the lower carton in the receptaclelaterally across the inclined table.

, 6. In a device of the class described, the combination of a carton table inclined at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees, a carton receptacle open at its upper and lower ends on said table, and means at the bottom of said carton receptacle for successively pressing the lower carton in the receptacle laterally across the inclined table, said receptacle being tapered from a maximum at its upper end to a minimum at its lower end, to prevent the cartons from binding therein.

Des Moines, Iowa, September 25, 1920.

GEORGE P. RASCK. LEO WEEKS.

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