US2590127A

US2590127A - Package end sealing mechanism

Info

Publication number: US2590127A
Application number: US686842A
Authority: US
Inventors: Sandberg Oscar
Original assignee: Lynch Corp
Current assignee: Lynch Corp
Priority date: 1946-07-29
Filing date: 1946-07-29
Publication date: 1952-03-25
Anticipated expiration: 1969-03-25

Description

March 25, 1952 o, SANDBERG 2,590,127

PACKAGE END SEALING MECHANISM March 25, 1952 o. SANDBERG 2,590,127

' PACKAGE END- SEALING MECHANISM Filed July 29, 1946 2 SHEETS- SHEET 2 INVENToR. 06' bar ,lfzdby Patented Mar. 25, 1952 PACKAGE END SEALING MECHANISM Oscar Sandberg,

Defiance, Ohio, assignor to Lynch Corporation, Anderson, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application July 29, 1946, Serial No. 686,842

My present invention relates to a mechanism for properly sealing the ends of round packages o f cookies or the like. A method of wrapping and sealing such packages is disclosed and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 722,149 now abandoned.

One object of the invention is to provide an effective means for turning in and sealing the ends of packages which are wrapped by means of a wrapper around round cookies or the like and then folded at the ends with four flaps in the manner disclosed in my opending application Serial No. 654,079, led March 13, 1946, now Patent No. 2,567,405, granted September 11, 1951, so as to produce a neat package issuing from a wrapping machine.

Another object is to provide means to closely fold projecting corners of a wrapper over the ends of a package wrapped in a wrapping machine by means of mechanism that rolls the package beneath corner folding angles, thereby producing neat end folds in the completed package.

Still another object is to provide a belt type conveyor and means to deposit wrapped packages thereon, the conveyor being so related to the corner folding angles that it produces the above mentioned rolling action.

`A further object is to provide heat for the corner folding angles, transmitted thereto from electric heaters or the like for sealing the corner folds by the application of heat thereto, the wrapper itself being of such material that its folds will seal with respect to each other under the application of heat thereto.

Still a further object is to provide corner` folding angles which are so mounted that they provide predetermined pressure on the wrapped package as it rolls under them and likewise predetermined pressure against the ends for further producing a neatly folded package from the wrapping machine.

With these and other objects in view, my inven` tion consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my de-v vice whereby the objects contemplated are attained, 'as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein: y.

Figurel is a plan view of the discharge end of a wrapping machine of the type shown in my above mentioned copending application with my corner folding and sealing mechanism added thereto.

' Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same.

4 Claims. (Cl. 53-149) Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 2 showing the mechanism in normal position.

Figure 4 is a similar View showing the parts in the position that they assume when a package is being corner-folded and sealed thereby.

Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of my corner folding and sealingmechanism as taken on the line 5 5 of Figure 2, and

Figures 6 and 7 are Perspective views of the ends of packages showing the package respectively before and after the corners are folded down and sealed by my corner folding and sealing mechanism.

On the accompanying drawings I have used reference numerals I0 to indicate stationary rods forming part of the frame of a wrapping machine and extending from the discharge end of the machine. The supporting rods IU are suitably braced by angular brace rods I3 which extend down to the frame of the machine and carry bearings I2 which support a conveyor shaft I4 corresponding to the shaft |82 in my copending application and which in the present case is driven by means of gears I6 and I8. The gear I8 is secured to a sprocket 20 which in turn is driven by a chain 22 from the shaft 34 of my copending application, the direction of rotation of the sprocket being clockwise. Thus through the gears I6 and I8 the shaft I4 rotates counter-clockwise.

The shaft I4 carries a conveyor sprocket 24 from the packaging machine after a wrapper has been wrapped around the cookies or other commodity and the ends of the wrapper tucked in for completing the wrapping of the package as disclosed in my copending application.

The chain 22 drives a srocket 30 on a shaft 32. The shaft 32 carries two pairs of transfer fingers 34 adapted to engage the packages as they come from the conveyor chain 26 and move them across a stationary plate and on to a conveyor belt 38.

The conveyor belt 38 is trained around drums 4B and 42 mounted on

shafts

44 and 46 and delivers completed packages to a take-away platform 4I. The shaft 44 is driven by a sprocket 48 and a chain 50, the chain also extending around a sprocket 52 as best shown in Figure 1. The sprocket 52 is secured to the shaft I4.

Another pair of stationary rods 54 extend from the frame ofthe wrapping machine and a yoke 56 is mounted thereon. The rods 54 are also sup-I ported from the rods I0 by brackets 5I.` The yoke 56 carries a third stationary rod 58 adapted to support a pair of angle-shaped corner folding and sealing angles 66 and 62. The means of support consists of an arm 64 for the angle 60 secured rigidly to the rod 58 by means of set screws 66, and a pair of arms 68 for the angle 62 mounted for oscillatory movement on the rod 58. The arms 68 are confined between collars 16.

The arm 64 carries an angle l2 and the arms 68 carry an angle 14. Slidable in the horizontal anges of the angles 'l2 and I4 are vertical rods 16. The lower ends of these rods are attached as by welding to the angles 6U and 62. There are two of the rods 'i6 for each

angle

60 and 62.

Springs 13 are interposed between the angles 60 and 'l2 and between the

angles

62 and 14. These tend to lower the angles 6l] and 62 and the lowering movement is limited by stop collars 80 in the form of nuts that can be adjusted on the rods for changing the stop limit.

The arm 64 being stationary and the arms 68 being oscillatably mounted on the rod 58 results in the angle 6B being stationary and the angle 62 arranged for floating movement. The angle 62 is biased toward the angle 60 by a spring connection 82 between the arm 64 and one of the arms 68 and the limit of proximity of the angle 62 to the angle 60 is determined by a stop screw 84. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the stop screw 84 is threaded in a perforated ear 86 of the arm 64 for adjustment purposes and the adjustment may be retained by a lock nut 88.

My copending application discloses a wrapping machine for wrapping a wrapper around al plurality or stack of round cookies and then tucking in the ends in such a way Vthat four flaps result. In Figures 6 and '7 I show the package (indicated in general at P) thus wrapped and the flaps numbered in the order that they are folded (I', 2, 3, 4). It will be noted that, due to the round shape of the package, the base corners or folds of the flaps result in substantially pointed projections of the wrapper indicated at 90.

Aside from being unsightly these projections 90 occur at folded portions of the wrapper which are not properly sealed by the sealing mechanism of the wrapping machine. The machine does however seal the central portions of the flaps I, 2, 3 and 4 very well. In order to neatly fold down the projections 96 and accomplish a really complete sealing operation on the entire package and produce a package that is neat, the projections or corners 90 also should be folded down over the ends of the package and sealed.

This is accomplished in my present mechanism by transferring each package from the conveyor chain 26 to the belt 38 by means of the transfer fingers 34 which as shown in Figure 1 rotate through slots 35 of the horizontal flanges of the angles 6D and 62. These fingers also serve to force the packages into position between the angles and under their horizontal flanges against the bias of the

springs

82 and 18, respectively.

The action that then takes place is a rolling action because the upper stretch of the conveyor belt 38 is travelling to the left in Figure 2 whereas the horizontal anges of the

angles

60 and 62 are stationary. The packages will accordingly be rolled under the angles at half the speed of the belt. The belt itself is supported against sagging by means of a stationary supporting plate 39. The pressure of the springs 82 fold the corners or projections 90 neatly against the ends of the package as shown in Figure 7 and in the order noted (5, 6, 7, 8). At the same time the springs I8 serve to cause the horizontal flanges to smooth A-out the wrapper around the periphery of the package.

The

angles

60 and 62 are provided with electric heaters 6| and 63 respectively. These are preferably energized with electric current under the control of a thermostat (not shown) so as to maintain the

angles

60 and 62 at a predetermined temperature. The wrapper for the package P being of the type that seals with the application of heat is thereby sealed at the corners as these corners are rolled down by passing between the vertical flanges of the

angles

60 and 62.

The flap of the package where it wraps around the cookies and terminates as at the line 92 in Figures 6 and 7 is further heat-sealed by the horizontal flanges of the

angles

60 and 62. The angles thereby serve to iron out the wrinkles from the wrapper as well as seal it and particularly at the projections 90 so that the resulting package is very neat in appearance and is assuredly sealed percent.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my device without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a folding mechanism for the ends of round packages, a pair of angle-shaped members, a belt conveyor opposing the horizontal flanges of said angle-shaped members for rolling packages between their vertical flanges which are engageable with the ends of the package, means for maintaining the portion of the belt conveyor opposing the horizontal anges in a Straight line, an initial conveyor for delivering packages to said belt conveyor, a rotating shaft provided with ngers for engaging the packages and transferring them from the initial conveyor to said belt conveyor, and means to spring bias said horizontal flanges toward said belt conveyor and said vertical fianges toward each other to press against the package during the rolling operation.

2. In a folding and sealing mechanism for the ends of round packages, a pair of angle-shaped members, a conveyor opposing the horizontal flanges of said angle-shaped members for rolling packages between the ilanges of said angleshaped members and said conveyor, means for maintaining the portion of the belt conveyor opposing the horizontal flanges in a straight line, an initial conveyor for delivering packages to said first mentioned conveyor, a rotating shaft provided with fingers for engaging the packages and transferring them from said initial conveyor to said first mentioned conveyor, means to spring bias said horizontal flanges toward said conveyor and said vertical flanges toward each other and to thereby so engage the p-ackage during the rolling operation that it is rolled between said horizontal flanges and said rst mentioned conveyor and the peripheral corners of the package wrapper are smoothed out thereby, and means to heat said vertical flanges for heat sealing the package.

3. A device for use in improving the appearance of a generally cylindrical article having flat end faces and enclosed in a tubular wrapping of heat sealable material having its ends folded over said article end faces in the form of inwardly directed overlapping sealed flaps, said wrapping having projections at the base corners of said ilaps and having wrinkles at the ends of the tubular wrapping portion. said device comprising a .conveyor for displacing said article along a transverse axis thereof, a heating element along each side of said 'conveyor each including an elongate heat transmitting member of L -shaped cross sectional form each having a first leg extending over` said conveyor and spaced therefrom and a second leg extending transversely toward an edge of said conveyor, said conveyor functioning to effect rolling Contact of the ends of said tubular wrapping with'said first legs and sweeping contact of said folded wrapping ends, rst means resiliently urging one of said heating elements toward the other heating element, second means resiliently urging both heating elements toward said conveyor, and a rigid member supportingv said conveyor against yielding under the influence of force transmitted through said article from said second resilient means whereby said contacts effect compression of said wrapping and as said article is displaced by said conveyor projections are folded in and heat sealed one at a time and simultaneously said wrinkles are successively ironed out.

4. In a device for wrapping a generally cylindrical article having flat end faces and including means for forming around said article a tubular wrapping of heat sealable material having ends projecting beyond said end faces and means for folding said wrapping ends over said article end faces in the form of inwardly directed overlapping sealed flaps, said article being held stationary as each end flap is being formed, and the resulting wrapping having projections at the base corners of said flaps and having wrinkles at the ends of the tubular Wrapping portion, the improvement comprising a conveyor for displacing said article along a transverse axis thereof, a heating element movably positionedalong each side of said conveyor, each including an elongate heat transmitting member of L-shaped cross sectional form, each having a first leg extending over said conveyor andspaced therefrom and a second leg extending transversely toward an edge of said conveyor, said conveyor functioning to effect rolling contact of lthe ends of said tubular wrapping with said first legs and sweeping contact of said folded wrapping ends with said second legs, and means resiliently urging said members against said conveyor` and also resiliently urging said members toward each other to effect said contacts compressively, whereby as said article is displaced by said conveyor said projections are folded in and heat sealed one at a time and simultaneously said wrinkles are successively ironed out.

OSCAR SANDBERG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS