US2630206A

US2630206A - Box blank conveying mechanism

Info

Publication number: US2630206A
Application number: US227473A
Authority: US
Inventors: Walter P Fergnani
Original assignee: POST MACHINERY CO
Current assignee: POST MACHINERY CO
Priority date: 1948-06-26
Filing date: 1951-05-21
Publication date: 1953-03-03
Anticipated expiration: 1970-03-03

Description

March 3, 1953 w. P. F'ERGNANI 2,630,206

-- BOX BLANK CONYE-iflG MEiCl-[AIIISM- Original Filed June 26, 1948 INVENTOR. WALTER P FERGNANI m ATTORNEYS March 3, 1953 w. 'P. FERGNANI BOX BLANK- conysymc MECHANISM Original Filed June 26. 194s 2 SHEETS-Sl-EET 2 INVEN TOR WALTER P. FERGNANI A TORNEYS Patented Mar. 3, 1953 BOX BLANK CONVEYING MECHANISM Walter P. Fergnani, Beverly, Mass., assignor to Post Machinery Company, Beverly, Mass,v a corporation of Massachusetts Original application June 26, 1948, Serial No.

35,385, now Patent No. 2,584,855, dated February 5, 1952. Divided and this application May 21, 1951, Serial No. 227,473

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a machine for feeding flat box blanks successively from a stack to and along a predetermined path and folding the blanks into overlapped and sealed relation during their passage through the machine, as disclosed in my copending application serial No. 35,385, filed June 26, 1948 and now Patent No. 2,584,855, and of which this application is a division.

The invention disclosed in this application comprises blank feeding carrier belts arranged to engage opposite faces of the blanks and to a novel arrangement of rolls and plates for supporting these belts and holding them in proper alignment. This arrangement includes alternately disposed belt supporting rolls and supporting brackets carried by and disposed between the plates for carrying the rolls and providing uniform and substantial supports for the belts. The belts serve the purpose of firmly holding the traveling blanks while the end flaps thereof are being folded by adjacent mechanism.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the blank carrying and holding belts,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the bracket supported rolls,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figs. 1 and 4,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of the carrier belt supporting rolls,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of the lower bracket supporting means.

In Fig. 1 is illustrated a pair of endless carrier belts l5 having opposed cooperating reaches disposed to engage and feed blanks i2 therealong. Mechanism disclosed in my said Patent 2,584,855 m adapted successively to feed the blanks from a stack to the receiving end Id of the belts. The belts are narrow and the blanks extend outwardly from both sides thereof. The upper belt 15 is shorter than the lower belt and mechanism is disclosed in said application for folding the end flaps of the blanks while firmly held by and traveling with the belts l5 through the field A indicated in Fig. 1.

It is essential that the blanks shall be firmly supported during the folding operation (at A, Fig. 1) if the final product is to be square and of true uniform shape. The following described novel mechanism is provided for so supporting the cooperating inner reaches of the carrier belts 15 that they will thus firmly engage and support the blanks therebetween during travel through the folding field A. Disposed above and below these reaches are a series of supporting rolls l0 and 12 respectively supporting the two belts at the outer faces of their inner reaches. The upper rolls 10 are carried by and between a pair of sheet metal plates 13 attached to and depending from a supporting plate 14. The rolls are supported in pairs on brackets 16. Each bracket 16 is of the shape illustrated in Fig. 2 and supports a roll at each of its two opposite sides. The rolls are in staggered relation, slightly overlap at their inner margins and are of a combined width substantially equal to that of the belt.

The rolls 12 are supported in like manner in pairs on brackets 11 each pivotally carried on the top end of a rod 18 mounted for vertical longitudinal movement in a supporting plate 80. A compression spring 8| normally lifts the bracket upwardly to a position limited by check nuts 82. The rolls are of ball bearing construction and each is supported on the larger end of a stud 84 having its other end threaded into the bracket. A pair of sheet metal plates 85 is carried by each bracket 11 and secured by screws 86 threaded into the ends of the studs. Pins 8'! prevent rotation of the studs. The plates 85 and 13 are so relatively positioned that they overlap the edges of the belts l5 when the rolls are in contact with the belts.

The adjusted and spring pressed bottom rolls 12 in cooperation with the top rolls 10 are adapted to give firm and continuous support to the blank carrying reaches of the belts l5 throughout the blank folding field A. It will be furthermore apparent that the overlapping rols give support to the belt across its entire width and that the novel supporting of the rolls on the studs 84, in turn supported in the brackets between the side plates, provides very compact and substantial belt supporting units. The nuts 82 can be adjusted to a degree giving the desired support to the bottom belt and the required gripping effect on the blanks.

Having thus disclosed my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is-- 1. In a machine of the class described, a pair of carrier belts having superposed reaches for engaging and conveying a blank along a predetermined path therebe-tween, two series of rolls in opposed relation respectively engaging the outer faces of the two belts along said reaches, roll supporting plates at the ends of the rolls, studs disposed between and supported at their ends on the plates, and a bracket anchored to one end of each stud and to the opposite end of an adjacent stud, one of said rolls being rotatably mounted on each stud between the bracket and the more remote plate.

2. The machine defined in claim 1 in which each roll is narrower than its engaged belt and alternate rolls are of a combined and overlapped width substantially equal to the width of the belt.

3. The machine defined in claim 1 in which the roll supporting plates are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the width of the belts and each two cooperating plates overlap the edges of the adjacent belt.

4. The machine defined in claim 1 in which the cooperating plates of one series are fixed, and means supporting the plates of the other series for adjustment in the direction of the fixed plates.

5. The machine defined in claim 4 in which the fixed plates carry a plurality of said brackets and the plates of the other series comprise a plurality of pairs of plates each pair of which carries a single bracket therebetween.

6. The machine defined in claim 5 in which 4 said means includes a support rearwardly of and parallel with the belt engaged by the adjustable rolls and the two plates of each pair of plates overlap and are in guiding engagement with opposite sides of said support.

7. The machine defined in claim 6 in which said means includes a plurality of rods mounted for longitudinal movement in said support, each rod being pivotally connected at one end to the adjacent roll supporting bracket between the two rolls carried thereby, a compression spring for moving each rod in the direction of the belts, and screw threaded means for adjusting and holding each rod in the opposite direction.

WALTER P. FERGNANI.

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

UNITED STATES PATENTS Fiorc July 25, 1944