US2684616A

US2684616A - Carton blank setting-up mechanism

Info

Publication number: US2684616A
Application number: US224202A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert J Hickin
Original assignee: OHIO BOXBOARD CO
Current assignee: OHIO BOXBOARD CO
Priority date: 1951-05-02
Filing date: 1951-05-02
Publication date: 1954-07-27
Anticipated expiration: 1971-07-27

Description

July 27, 1954 Filed May 2, .1951

'R. J. HlCKlN 2,684,616

CARTON BLANK SETTING-UP MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet l i? :5 f J a Q Zmnefitor (Ittomeg y 7, 1954 R. J. HICKIN 2,684,616

CARTON BLANK SETTING-UP MECHANISM Filed May 2, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 zliij J 3,1,1? 2

v 31wento1 t July 27, 1954 Filed May 2, 1951 R. J. HICKIN CARTON BLANK SETTING-UP MECHANISM s ShetS-Sheet s HIHIIII';

Patented July 27, 1954 CARTON BLANK SETTING-UP MECHANISM Robert J. Hickin, Rittman, Ohio, assignor to The Ohio Boxboard Company, Rittman, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 2, 1951, Serial N 0. 224,202

4 Claims.

fixed die cavity of proper size and shape and pro-- vided with proper means for plowing the side and end wall members, and securing flaps, into appropriate erected cooperative assembly to carton form, and for proper performance of this op eration it is essential that the carton blanks be accurately registered in relation to the die cavity and plunger.

As will later appear, endwise register of the carton blanks is most commonly accomplished by a feeder mechanism which deposits the blanks successively and in timed relation to the reciprocation of the plunger upon horizontal supporting and guiding rails properly adj ustably located with respect to the die cavity and plunger and having upstanding guide members for en agement with the end edges of the blanks. Lateral register is accomplished by mechanism which engages one side edge of the blanks to push the blanks into register with the die cavity, and usually to push the opposite side edge of the blanks into abutting contact with stop means properly adjusted in relation to the die cavity and. plunger.

Obviously, the effectiveness of these positioning means for proper endwise and lateral register of the carton blanks depends, to an appreciable extent, upon the successively fed blanks being uniform and in flat condition when they are brought into engagement with the positioning means. However, it is very difficult to keep paperboard blanks in uniform flat condition as they have a tendency to curl or warp in varying degree according to atmospheric and storage conditions, and this is particularly true of blanks made from laminated paperboard material, especially when the laminae have different physical properties. Moreover, the blanks, even when all are die cut from the same paperboard stock, do not warp or curl uniformly or in a consistent manner. In the stack of blanks in the feed hopper from which they are fed to the machine some may be fiat, others slightly curled or warped and still others excessively curled or warped.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide mechanism which, in cooperation with the means for registering the successively fed blanks in relation to the die cavity and plunger of the setting-up machine, will function to fiatten curled or warped blanks so that operation of the registering means will be effective.

To this end the invention comprises means actuated in timed relation to the successive feed of individual blanks to the horizontal supporting and guiding rails, and hence in timed relation to the reciprocation of the plunger, for 1 orcing curled or warped blanks fiat against the horizontal blank-supporting portions of such rails, thereby to insure the desired registration of the blanks with respect to the die cavity and plunger, all as will be explained hereinafter more fully and finally claimed.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side View of a carton forming or setting-up machine of more or less conventional type with mechanism embodying the features of the invention operatively associated therewith and shown in inoperative retracted position,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the bed portion of the machine, including the die cavity forming means, with a conventional carton blank superimposed thereon, parts of the mechanism of the invention being shown in the inoperative position illustrated in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the parts or" the mechanism of the invention in operative position,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional elevation taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. l, and showing the mechanism of the invention in inoperative (full line) position and operative (broken line) position, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail sectional elevation in part similar to Fig. 4 but illustrating the mechanism of the invention in full and broken lines, respectively, in operative and inoperative relation to a curled or warped carton blank.

As shown, the more or less conventional carton forming or setting-up machine has an open framework including upright members I secured in erected condition by appropriately spaced cross braces 2 and stringers 3, the latter providing a rigid bed portion to carry the members constituting the die cavity and the means for plowing the parts of the carton blanks into set up condition. These members include side wall plow plates 4, end wall plow members 5 carrying end flap plow members i; and guide plates 1 (Figs. 1 and 4) for maintaining the end wall parts of the carton in proper associated plowed-up condition. A plunger 8 is reciprocated by drive means (not 3 shown) connected with a drive shaft 9 (Figs. 1 and 4.)

Carton blank supporting and guiding rails having upright flanges l l are adjustably secured to the stringers 3 so that they may be located for proper endwise register of carton blanks with respect to the die cavity when such blanks are successively deposited upon them by appropriate feeding means (not shown). Lateral register of the blanks with respect to the die cavity may be afforded by adjustable stop means l2 into abutting engagement with which one lateral edge of a carton blank is pushed by a feed member (not shown) which engages the other lateral edge of the blank. In order to prevent sagging of the carton blanks intermediate their ends which rest upon the supporting and guiding rails Ii1ll, levelers l3 are provided having their upper, carton blank contacting surfaces substantially in the same plane as the supporting and guiding rails l0. These levelers l3 serve also to aid in the function of plowing the carton side Walls into set up condition.

The parts of the machine thus far described are of rather conventional well-known form.

As representative of a type of carton blank for operation upon which the just described machine is adapted and in the manipulation of which the mechanism of the invention is effective, attention is directed to Figs. 2, 3 and 5. This particular carton blank is made, preferably by die cutting, from a fiat sheet of paperboard material and is provided with appropriate cuts and folding scores defining a bottom wall a, side walls b, end walls 0, and end securing flaps d formed as foldable extensions of the side walls I).

As hereinbefore stated, carton blanks of this and other types have a tendency to curl or warp, as shown for example in broken lines in Fig. 5, and this departure from their desired flat condition often makes difficult their automatic proper register over the die cavity for proper operation upon them of the forming members of the die cavity when they are forced into and through such cavity by the reciprocating plunger 3.

In order to insure proper register the mechanism of the present invention, now to be described, functions to flatten a curled or warped blank against th supporting and guiding rails Ill, and hold it thus flattened, while the feed member (not shown) pushes against the trailing edge e of the blank to move it, while its end edges are guided by the upright flanges ll of the supporting and guiding rails it, until it is laterally registered over the die cavity and preferably with its leading edge 9 evenly abuttingly contacting the stop members l2.

This mechanism of the invention, in the embodiment shown, includes a rock shaft Hi mounted in adjusted axial relation by collars l5 in a bearing bracket it, and carrying clamped or otherwise axially and circumferentially adjustable crank arms l'i adjacent to its ends, these crank arms being provided with fingers l8 thus oscillatable with the rock shaft it from inoperative retracted position, as shown in full lines Figs. 1, 2 and i, and broken lines Fig. 5, to operative depressed position, as shown in full lines Figs. 3 and 5, and broken lines Fig. i. As will be noted by reference to Figs. 3 and 5, particularly, the fingers 18 are so arranged that, when in th operative depressed position, they will overlie and press upon the end portions of the deposited carton blanks.

Oscillation is imparted to the rock shaft [4 in timed relation to reciprocation of the plunger 8 by means of a rock lever I9 fixed on the rock shaft l4 and connected by a link 20 with one arm 2! of a bell-crank lever 22 oscillatable upon a fixed trunnion 23, the other arm 24 of the bell-crank lever 22 being adjustably connected by clevises 25 on a link 26 with a rock lever 2'1, Figs. 1 and 4, carrying a cam-follower roller 23 which follows a peripheral cam 29 under the influence of a biasing spring 39, Fig. 1. When the roller 28 follows the circular portion SE of the cam 29 the rock shaft I4 will be maintained in such adjustment as to hold the fingers iii in retracted inoperative position, Figs. 1, 2 and 5, but when the roller 28 travels in the depression 32 of the cam 29 the spring 3%] will cause the fingers it) to assume their operative depressed position to exert an adequate but resiliently enforced pressure upon the underlying carton blank, Figs. 3 and 5.

it is believed that the operation of the mechanism of the invention will be broadly apparent from the foregoing, but it may be specifically described briefiy as follows: A carton blank will be taken from a stack thereof by suitable feed mechanism, such as a suction feeder (not shown) and deposited upon the supporting and guiding rails i6, being properly registered thereby endwise of the die cavity by the upright flanges I i but probably not being laterally registered with its leading edge if abutting the stop means l2. lhe feed mechanism having receded, the cam will now have rotated st'ifficiently to permit the cam follower roller 28 to enter the de ression under the infiuence of the biasing spring 3% whereupon the rock sha t It will be oscillated through the levers and l izages 2i, 2d, 2!, 2G and iii to depress th fingers 58 into operative position so that, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, they will press the car-ton blank firmly against the supporting and guiding rails it to remove the curl or warp from the blank and thus insure that when the feed member (not shown) is now actuated it will properly engage the trailing edge e of the blank to push it into correct lateral register over the die cavity. When the blank has been thus registered over the die cavity the cam will have rotated through an arc suiilcient to cause the follower roller 28 to rise onto the circular portion 3| oi the cam surface, thus returning the fingers It to their retracted inoperative position, and the plunger 8 will, as it now descends, engage the bottom wall a of the carton blank and force it into the die cavity to plow up and assemble the side and end walls I) and c and end securing flaps d.

It will be unders ood that the carton blanks may be so warped or curled as to bow upwardly, as shown in broken lines Fig. 5, or they may take a reverse warp or curl. In either case, or even when the curl or warp is longitudinal rather than lateral, the fingers l8 will serve their desired purpose inasmuch as, for proper register of the blanks over the die cavity, and hence their register with the plunger, the trailing edge e of the blank will be so properly flattened out as to be engageable by the feed member (not shown) which is mainly responsible for properly laterally registering the blanks.

Various changes and modifications are considered to be within the principle of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a carton blank setting-up mechanism of the fixed die cavity and reciprocating plunger type, blank supporting means, longitudinal and lateral blank registering means, said supporting and registering means being associated with said die cavity and adjusted relatively to the boundaries thereof in position to properly support and register a fiat carton blank therewith, and means for insuring proper location of a warped or curled carton blank with respect to said supporting and registering means and hence with respect to said die cavity and plunger in the same manner as a normally flat blank would be so located, including intermittently actuated means for exerting pressure upon the blank to force the same fiat against said supporting means for longitudinal and lateral register with said registering means just prior to engagement of the plunger with the blank.

2. Mechanism as claimed in claim 1, in which said pressing nzeans include fingers movable into and out of contact with said blank at areas bordering said die cavity and overlying certain of said blank supporting means.

3. Mechanism as claimed in claim 2, in which the fingers are mounted upon an oscillatable shaft to which osciliation is imparted in timed relation to the reciprocation of said plunger.

4. Mechanism as claimed in claim 2, in which means are provided for yieldingly urging said fingers into pressure exerting contact with the n-lank, and means for positively moving said fingers out of contact with the blank, and means for effecting such yielding and positive movement of the fingers in timed relation to the reciprocation of the plunger.