US2917887A - Apparatus for packing rectangular block-shaped articles - Google Patents

Description

D. R. P. JACKSON Dec. 22, 1959 APPARATUS FOR PACKING RECTANGULAR BLOCK-SHAPED ARTICLES 3 Shets-Sheet 1 Original Filed April 14, 1958 INVENTIOR ya /4; W44 1* 5$; Y

Dec. 22, 1959 D. R. P. JACKSON 2,917,887

APPARATUS FOR PACKING RECTANGULAR BLOCK-SHAPED ARTICLES Original Filed April 14, 1958 C 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 /N VE N TOR WM ggqj 14 B a/m Dec. 22, 1959 D. R. P. JACKSON 2,917,887

APPARATUS FOR PACKING RECTANGULAR BLOCK-SHAPED ARTICLES Original Filed April 14, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 lNVE/V TOR z/aiin 64 iM Max A TTORNE Y5 United States atgm O APPARATUS FOR PACKING RECTANGULAR BLOCK-SHAPED ARTICLES Dona d Ri hard at k a k n, Deptford, London, n

land, assignor to Molins Machine Company Limited, London, England, a British company Original application April 14, 1958, Serial No. 723,173. Divided and this application May 18, 1959, Serial No. 813,883

. 1 Claim. ((11. 53-230) This application which is a division of my prior co: pending application Serial No. 728,173, filed April 14, l958, concerns improvements in apparatus for packing rectangular block-shaped articles in cartons and is pri marily intended for packing numbers of cigarette packets .it between upper and lower folding surfaces whereby it is formed into a U about the batch and trailing portions of the upper and lower limbs of the U are then folded to form the blank into a tube. it is then necessary to fold the end flaps extending from the leading'and rear panels of the tube and hitherto this operation has been effected by separate devices.

A n object of the invention is to provide a single device comprising two organs which effect both of these folding operations, one organoperating on one carton and the other on the succeeding carton. The single device can be constructed in a very compact manner, as will appear hereafter, and because of this and because the cartons may be moved along between the said surfaces in abutting relationship the apparatus is simplified and shortened, the latter point being important because 9f the ar size o e c tons used t on n packets of cigarettes and the fact that the complete folding and sealing operations need to take place over three successive cart ns and fu the sp ce s ne d d fo drying e fo d d fl pshe in ntien wil e. o e fu y described w h etcrease t9 the accompanyin d a n s, in ic Figure 1 is a section l e evation o th appara u s me parts being broken away or sectioned and some omitted for clarity; 1 f

Figure 2 is a fragment of Figure 1 with the parts in a different position;

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3, Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a plan of the tucking and folding devices shown in Figure l;

Figure 5 is a plan of an outer blank.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 5, blanks ii are stacked in a magazine 2, each blank standing on the edge 3, Figure 5, with the inner surface of the blank, i.e. the

1 surface which will ultimately be the interior surface of the outer, facing the outlet of the magazine. As will be seen from Figure 1 the blanks stand almost vertically, being supported by a base plate 4 of the magazine and side guides 80 for controlling the sides of the blank. The upper part of the blank stack is supported by a roller 81 freely mounted on a shaft 16 referred to below.

At the sides of the magazine are abutments 83 which ice engage the blanks near cut-out portions and past which the blanks need to be pulled during feeding.

A sucker 5 is arranged to engage the leading blank near to its lower edge and pull it to enable the edge 3 to move pas-t a small ledge 6, whereafter the sucker swings outwards and upwards past a rotating feed roller 7 until it reaches the position shown in chain lines in Figure 2. The result of the sucker movement is to bring the front face of the blank into contact with the roller 7 whereupon a co-operating roller 8 moves into contact with the rear face of the blank and the latter is forthwith fed downwards in a vertical path.

In order to assist the necessary forward movement of the stack of blanks towards the feeding position and generally to loosen the blanks so that they feed easily, the bottom of the magazine is provided with a joggling device consisting of a pair of strip-like plates 9 supported on bearers 10 which are in turn supported by shafts 11 which are eccentrically mounted so that as they rotate they give the plates 9 a movement wherein any point on a plate moves through a circle corresponding to the eccentric throw. Thus the blanks are joggled up and down and urged forwards to the extent of this movement. The base plate 4 is slotted to permit the plates 9 to pass through it.

On the forward shaft 11 is a cam 12 which engages a follower 13 on a cam rod 14, the upper end f he rod being pivoted to a lever 15 which is pivoted on a shaft 16. The lever 15 is rocked by the action of the cam 12 in combination with that of a spring 15A. To the shaft 16 is attached another lever 17 which supports the sucker 5. The other end of the lever 15 is pivoted to alink 18 whose lower end is pivoted to a lever 19 which oscillates on a pivot 20. The free end of the lever 19 carries the co-operating feed roller 8.-

The sucker motion briefly outlined above is obtained by the swingingmovement due to the lever 17 in combination with movements derived from other mechanism now to be described. To the lever 17 is attached a bracket 21 to which is pivoted one arm 22 of a bell-crank lever to whose other arm 23 the sucker is fixed. At the bend of the bell-crank there is pivoted a rod 24 which is urged upwards by a spring 25 and downwards by a pivoted lever 26 which engages a roller 27 at the top of the rod 24. The lever 26 is pivoted at 28 and oscil lated by a cam 29 which engages a follower 30 on the lever. The operative. face of the lever 26 is curved as shown and may thus be regarded as a cam, the curvature permitting the lever to engage the roller 27 in the desired manner as the roller itself shares the swinging movement of the lever 17. r In the beginning of thesucker action; a rocking; movement of the sucker is caused by the movement of the bell-c ank lever 22-23., It causes the suekerto impart a fairly sharp bendtothebottom from the magazine the joggling motion feeds the remaining blanks forward and the ledge 6 resists any tendency for the second blank to be pulled out by the suction on the first.

The blank is fed downwards'in the manner indicated in Figure 2 across the path of a group of packets marked 31. As shown, the packets are superimposed in two rows and there are in the apparatus being described five packets to each row making ten packets in all. This is the usual number when packets each hold twenty cigarettes but, of course, the apparatus can be made to pack any number of packets in any reasonable number of rows.

A pusher 32 which is moved to and fro by a lever 33 pushes the group of packets against the blank, the leading face of the group contacting the panel 34, Figure 5,

of the blank. The blank is thus bent into U form as it moves between a pair of rollers 35 and then between top and bottom plates 36 and 37 of the blank folding apparatus. During this movement the small flaps 46, Figure 5, are folded into contact with the end faces of the group but the method will be described later. As soon as the group has reached the position Where the group is marked 31A an ocillating tucker 38 pivoted at 39 moves up and folds the panel 40, Figure of the blank so that it lies in contact with the rear face of the group. Immediately afterwards a top tucker 41 pivoted at 42 moves down and folds the larger panel 43, Figure 5, so that it overlies the panel 40. In this particular example these panels are not sealed together though, of course, they could be by applying adhesive to either panel in any usual manner. However it has been found more expedient to seal the panels in a separate machine.

While the top tucker is still holding the panel 43 in folded position, that is, overlying the panel 40 a pair of folders, one of which is shown at 44, and fixed on a shaft 45, have moved in the direction of the arrow 44A to the position shown in Figure 1 and have bent the small flaps 47, Figure 5, so that each flap moves into contact with a side face of the group.

The folders 44 rotate with the shaft 45. The motion is so timed that after they have performed the folding of the flaps 47 the edges 48 of the folders are in such position (i.e. substantially vertical) that as the next blank is fed and folded to the U form its flaps 46 are folded as they contact the edges 48. The flaps 46 of the blank just described have, of course, already been folded in this manner.

As the partly finished carton in engagement with the tuckers 38 and 41 is moved further to the left by the succeeding carton to the position where the packets are marked 31B, the cover flaps 50, Figure 5, encounter fixed folders 59 which bend the flaps to the position shown in Figure 3 and then adhesive is applied to the lower face of the flaps. Adhesive is applied by an oscillating foot 53 which is pivoted at 54 and has a roller 55 which engages a cam 56. A spring 57 pulls the lever to hold the roller 55 against the cam and the combined effects of cam and spring cause the foot 53 to move into a gum pot 58 and then out and up into contact with the inner face of flap 50. Then folder plates 49 are moved down to complete the folding of the flaps 50 and these fix the flaps 46 and 47 in position by adhering to them. Side plates mounted below the folders 60 prevent the folded flaps 46 and 47 from moving from their folded position during the carton movement from the position marked 31A to the position marked 31B beneath the folder plates 49. The various movable tuckers and folders are operated by the devices about to be described with reference also to Figure 4.

i The tucker 38 is operated by a cam 61 engaging a roller 62 mounted on the tucker arms 63, a spring 64 urging the roller 62 against the cam.

The tucker 41 is carried on an arm 65 and has a roller 66 at the end remote from the tucker. A plate 67 on an arm 68 pivoted at 69 presses on the roller 66 when the arm 68 is appropriately moved on its pivot 69 by a cam lever 70 having a roller 71 which engages a cam 72. Springs 73 urge the tucker 41 downwards for the tucking operation.

The folder plates 49 are also operated by the plate 67 in conjunction with springs 74. As seen in Figure 4 the plates 4? are fixed to levers 75 pivoted at 76 and having rollers 77 at the end remote from the plates. The rollers are pressed by the plate 67 in the same manner as roller 66.

The pusher 32 is guided in its forward movement by a guide 78 over which rides a roller 52 attached to the pusher. The downward dip of the guide permits the pusher to pass between the rollers 35 and carry the group to the position 31A. On the return movement the pusher roller 52 runs over a trap cam 51 to cause the pusher to be raised by movement about a pivot 79 to permit a new group to be fed into position in front of the folding devices. On the forward stroke the roller 52 runs beneath the trap cam which then swings on its pivot 82 in the usual way.

To promote an understanding of the invention, reference has been made to the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings, and specific language has been employed to describe the same. It will nevertheless be appreciated that limitation of the scope of the invention is not thereby intended, such alterations and modifications of the illustrated structure being contemplated as would normally occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

What I claim as may invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In apparatus for packing a group of rectangular blockshaped articles in cartons 'by folding a carton blank around a group of articles by moving said group through a predetermined path against a blank and thereafter into folding devices which fold the blank into a U about the group as the first stage of the folding operation, said carton blanks having panels for respective engagement with the leading and trailing faces of the group when the group is moved against the blank and the blank is folded about the group, and having at each side of each of said panels a laterally extending flap adapted to be folded against the side faces of the group, a pair of folding members disposed at opposite sides of the path' of movement of the groups, said members being pivoted on an axis transverse to said path for rotation from an inoperative position to a position in proximity to the respective side faces of the advancing groups to engage and fold forwardly against the side faces of a group the flaps adjacent the trailing face of such group, said members having portions thereafter engaged by the flaps adjacent the forward face of the succeeding group as it advances to fold rearwardly the last named flaps against the side faces of such succeeding group. 1

No references cited.

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