US2943540A

US2943540A - Method of making a spirally wound container

Info

Publication number: US2943540A
Application number: US710939A
Authority: US
Inventors: Mcbain John Kenneth
Original assignee: W C Ritchie & Co
Current assignee: W C Ritchie & Co
Priority date: 1958-01-24
Filing date: 1958-01-24
Publication date: 1960-07-05
Anticipated expiration: 1977-07-05

Description

July 5, 1960 J, c m

METHOD OF. MAKING A SPIRALLY WOUND CONTAINER Filed Jan. 24, 1958 FIG.

W :A m8 m0 M NH T E N N E K N H O IU II II II .vl vnwm rll ATT'Y United States Patent 0.

i 2,943,540 METHOD OF A SPIRALLY WOUND "CONTAINER John Kenneth MeBain, Chicago, 111., assignorto W C. Ritchie & Co., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Jan. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 710,939

' 14 Claims. CI. 93-94 This invention relates generally to the art of winding tubing and more particularly, is concerned with a spirally wound container in which the wall of the container has a substantial portion thereoftransparent sons to, enable the contents of the container to be seen, and, in addition, with a method of forming the container.

It has been known to form containers of paper and chipboard or cardboard, in which the wall of the container is in' the form of spirals, but so far as I have been able to determine, the structure and method described and claimed herein have never been accomplished.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a container in which the Wall of the container is formed of spirals including a spiral of transparent material, so that the resulting container is partially transparent to enable the: merchandise packaged therein to be visible. Additionally, an object of the invention is to provide a novel method of forming such container.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a spirally wound container which has a partially transparent wall which is very economical and has unusual strength.

Other objects will appear 'as the description of the invention is set forth,-in which several difierent modifications of the invention are described as illustrative of the preferred embodiment;

In the drawings: 1

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of apparatus showing the manner in which one formrof the invention is made, the illustration being diagrammatic in order to enable a discussion of the method and resulting product.

Figs.'2 and 3 are views similar to that of Fig. 1 bug showing the manufacture of two different forms of the container.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are sectional views through the walls of the containers of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 respectively to show the construction at the joints between spirals.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a completed container.

At the outset, it is desired to point out that the container of the invention comprises a cylindrical wall which is designated generally 10 in Fig. 7 and a bottom cup-like clo-. sure12 which is glued or cemented to the botom of the cylindrical wall in any well-known manner, or which may be held on fn'ctionally or by self-adhering tape or the like. The structure which is of importance herein is the wall 10, and the method of forming the same, it being usual in the art to form the walls of containers of this type as continuous lengths of tubing, providing means for cutting the tubing to the desired lengths for the particular container.

Because of this, the description will be detailed as to the construction and formation of the walls of the various base or framework 16 which has an elongate metal mandre l '18 fixedly secured thereto, usually extending horizon- Patented July 5, 1960 tally, which would mean that Fig. 1 is a view in top plan. This mandrel is very smooth and it extends to a machine for cutting the tubing into lengths, which is not shown here.

As will be seen, there are three reels of relatively nar-v row strip material show at 20, 22 and 24 and from each reel a narrow strip or ribbon of material is led to helically engage about the mandrel 18; The particular materials in this view comprise, first, a strip 26 of flexible, trans-. parent acetate cellulose which is unwound from the reel 20; a strip of relatively stiff paper or chipboard 28 which, is unwound from the reel 22; and finally a narrow strip of calendared or smooth surface paper 30 which preferably;

has surface ornamentation in the form of color or some design,which is unwound from the reel 24.

Each of the strips is laid upon the mandrel in a spiral drawing are merely to illustrate more clearly the mannerin whichthe tubing is formed and the appearance of the bottom surfaces of the different strips.

The twisting and axial movement represented by arrow 34 is achieved by driving the strips to provide this movement as they are laid upon the mandrel. The strip 26 engages the bottom of the mandrel 18 from the right and is directedacross the top from the left. As it passes over the bottom it is fiictionally engaged by a belt36, a section of which is shown in'theview, the belt partially wrapping the strip about the mandrel 18 and driving the strip by virtue of movement of the belt 36 in the direction indi-v cated by the arrow 38. g The next strip 28 is led from reel. 22 .which is located to the left of the mandrel. 18 andv hence when the strip 28 is laid upon the mandrel 18, it engages the top thereof moving from left to right. An-

otherbelt v40 engages this strip 28 and presses the same against the mandrel 18, this belt moving in the direction,

indicatedby the arrow. 42. .The belt 40 is shown in brokenilines so that the formation of the tubing member 32 may be seen more readily.

Note. that the width of the strip 26 and the pitch of the helix with which it is laid .upon the mandrel 18 is chosen sothat the side-by-side turns of the transparent strip are slightly spaced apart. This is best shown in Fig. 4 whereina sectional view of two side-by-side turns of the transparentstrip 26 is illustrated spaced apart at 44. The

chipboard ,or stiff paper strip 28 is laid upon the previously laiddown formation centered overthe space 44 so that it 1 forms lap joints with adjacent turns of the strip 26.

The chipboard of stiff paper strip 28 is provided on its underside with an adhesivedesignated 46 which may be of any'suitable type, such as, for example, a pressure adhesive, water-soluble cement, or the like, and the strip, 28 may have been prepared with this adhesive before being secured to the reel 22. Other techniques would be included, such as passing the strip through a paste or glue machine or into contact with some form of ad hesive fountain positioned between the reel 22 and the mandrel 18. This is designated generally at 48 in broken lines, no particular form of such means being intended, it being desired merely to diagram the same.

The effect of the securement of the strip 28 is to stiffen and support the tubing member 32 being formed. The adhesive 46 may be applied on the entire undersurface of the strip 28 to provide maximum strength. The pres: ence of the space 44 will not be disadvantageous because the exposed bottom surface of the strip 28 will not usually contact the mandrel 18, but if it does, it is a simple mat- I ter to apply the adhesive 46 in areas along the edges of the strip 28 so as not to interfere with the ready sliding of the formed tubing 32 along the mandrel 18. p The last strip' 30 isshown of width -'slightl y greater than the strip 28 and is appliedby'rneans 6f 'a, similar belt 50 pressing same-against the bottom of the mandrel 18 centered over the already laid down strip 28 so as to cover and overlap the same on thegedges thereof as shown at 54 in Fig. 4. Adhesive 56 is provided on the bottom surface of the strip 30 by any suitable meanssuch as, for example, a fountain 58 shown diagrammatically in broken lines. V

Although reference has been hadjtothreegbelts 36, 40

and 50 for driving the respective strips during the fo r-.

mation of the tubing, usualtechm'ques provide for the use of pulley systems which enable the same belt member driven by a single rotary source to be directedback and forth into engagement with .all of the strips as described so that the linear movement of .the belt against all strips is identical. V

The resulting tubing 32 has great strength and utility. The wall thereof is formed as a'spiral of some ornamental paper and a spiral of transparent material side by side. The crushing and collapsing strength of the resulting tubing, as well as the containers formed therefrom, is substantially greater than the crushing and collapsing strength which one would conceive possible through the use of the flexible transparent material alone. Furthermore, the likelihood of the adjacent turns of the transparent material separating is considerably decreased, it being known that it is exceedingly diflicultto bond such materials together at the great speeds .required in this art. The container which is formedfrom this tubing has a substantial portion thereof transparent which enables the merchandise placed therein to be readily seen and examined by the purchaser. In addition this container is extremely economical to manufacture in mass-production quantities and with the ,equipment already present in most factories manufacturing paper and cardboard tubing of this kind. Thus, in the container the flexible, transparent material has been stifiened to anunexpected degree providing unusual-strength for such a material.

Two other forms of tubing are illustrated. In Figs. 2 and 5 there is illustrated a length of tubing 60 similarly formed on the mandrel 18 in which there are also three strips. The first strip which is laid uponthe mandrel 18 is a transparent strip 62 whose width and pitch are chosen so that there is a slight overlap at 64. While adhesive may be applied to the edges of the strip 62 in an attempt to adhere the overlapped portions 64, the necessity therefor is not too great. The result of the overlapped portions 64 is to slightly stiffen the resulting spiral so that a wider transparent strip may be used without loss of strength. The next strip laid down is a cardboard or chipboard stiffening member 66 followed by. an ornamental or colored strip 68 which overlaps both edges of the stiffening strip 66. It is desired to point out that the outer strip 68 which is laid down directly along the path of the stiffening strip 66 also adds to the strength of the resulting tubing formation 60. The direction of movement of the member 60 is as shown at 70.

The structure which is shown in Figs. 3 and 6 comprises a relatively economical tubing member 72 formed of two

strips

74 and 76. The strip 74 is a transparent member of acetate cellulose or the like, which is laid down in overlapped spiral formation upon the mandrel 18 in substantially the same manner as the transparent strip 62 of the formation 70. The. overlapped portions 78 may or may not be cemented together, and provide stiffness to the resulting formation. The second strip 76 is laid down in a spiral .upon the overlapped junctures, and as will be seen it is quite narrow so thatthe resulting tubing formation 72 as well as the container .10 into which it will be formed will have a much greater relative transparent area than either of the

formations

32 or 60.

This formation 72 is highly economical because the second strip member 76 may comprise ordinary commercially available industrial pressure-sensitive tape of any suitable color. Such industrial tape is now available on cellophane or other transparent media in color or with ornamental designs already applied. ,The usual spiral winding techniques are in nowise interfered with by the use of this tape, and hence it is quite economical to set up the machine for the manufacture of this tubing 72 and the resulting product is strong, useful, :and has large transparent areas.

As stated above, the containers I0 are formed by cutting the tubing members to any desired length and applying a bottom closure 12 thereto. Top closures of the same structure are also applied after the goods have been placed inside the containers.

It is believed that the invention has been fully set forth herein such as to enable those skilled in art to understand how to manufacture the containers of the invention, and to understand the construction and operation thereof.

I claim:

l. The method of producing a spirally wound .container from at least two strips of flexible material in.a substantially continuous process and the container is characterized by a cylindrical wall having majorportions thereof transparent; unwinding one of said strips under tension and at uniform speed from a reel supported laterally spaced from the axis of a.mandrel arranged horizontally and engaging the strip on a surface of the mandrel in a spiral movement, unwinding the second strip under tension and at a uniform speed from a reel supported laterally spaced from the axis of the mandrel on a side thereof opposite to that of the first. mentioned reel and engaging the second strip on theexterior of the first strip overlapping the marginal edges of adjacent turns of the first strip, said one strip being of a flexible transparent material greater in width than the second strip and the second strip'having the surface thereof next ad-. jacent the first strip adhesive coated, said strips being engaged upon the mandrel respectively from below and above the same in a spiral of substantially identical pitch.

2. The methodlas described in claim 1 in which .the pitch of spiral movement of the transparent strip and the width of said transparent strip is selected so that marginal edges of adjacent turns of the transparent strip overlap.

3. The method as described in claim 1 in which the pitch of spiral movement of the transparent strip is selected so that the marginal edges of adjacent turnsof the transparent strip are axially spaced apart, and a third strip is secured across said spaced apart edges ahead of the second strip whereby the second strip is superimposed on said third strip, said third strip being peeled from a reel laterally spaced from the axis of thermandrel on the same side as the reel carrying the transparent strip.-

4. The method as described in claim .1 in which the pitch of the spiral movement of said transparentstripis selected so that the transparent strip has the marginal edges of adjacent turns thereof overlapped, and a third strip of strengthening material is adhesively secured around said overlapped marginal edges ahead of the second strip so as to be sandwiched between said other two strips.

5. The method as described in claim -4 in which the third strip is unwound from a reel located laterally from and spaced on the same side of the mandrel axis as .the reel carrying said transparent strip.

-6. The method as described in claim 2 in which each of said strips is frictionally driven into engagementwith the mandrel.

7. The method as described in claim 3 in which each of the strips is frictionally driven-into-engagement with the mandrel.

,8. The method as described in claim 4 m which each of the strips is frictionally driven into engagement with the mandrel.

9. The method as described in claim 3 in which said third strip is wrapped on the mandrel from the same direction of movement as the transparent strip.

1-0. The method as described in claim 4 in which said third strip is helically wound on the mandrel from the same direction of movement as the transparent strip.

11. A method of producing a spirally wound container having a substantial portion of the body thereof transparent, by winding a plurality of strips of flexible material into a continuous bonded tube, which comprises: spirally Winding a first transparent strip onto a tube-forming mandrel to form an interior layer for said container and spirally winding thereon a second strip having at least its interior surface provided with adhesive and being of a width substantially less than that of said first strip, the said second strip being wound upon the first strip in overlapping relation to adjacent edges of said first strip to cover the same and bond the resulting continuous tube into an integral body.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11 in which said second strip comprises a tape member having pressure sensitive adhesive on the inner face thereof and is applied under tension as to cause adherence thereof.

13. A method as claimed in claim 11 in which there is a third flexible strip spirally wound upon said first strip prior to the winding of said second strip, said third flexible strip being narrower than said second strip and of a stifiening material to strengthen the resulting tube.

14. A method of forming a continuous spiral wound tube upon a tube-forming mandrel which comprises winding a first strip of transparent flexible material upon said tube with the edges adjacent one another, winding a second strip of flexible material having a relatively stiller character upon said first strip in overlapping relation to said edges, and winding a third strip upon the second, the third str-ip having an ornamental exterior surface and being adhesive-coated on its interior surface whereby to maintain the resulting continuous tube in bonded assembly, the first strip having a width substantially greater than the other two whereby a substantial spiral of said transparent strip is arranged along the length of said tube to expose the interior thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 278,957 Heft June 5, 1883 409,171 *Coas Aug. 20, 1889 470,738 Bayles Mar. 15, 1892 986,960 Anderson Mar. 14, 1911 1,156,332 Vaughn Oct. 12, 1915 1,740,828 Morrison Dec. 24, 1929 1,894,295 Scandore 2- Jan. 17, 1933 1,932,169 Allen Oct. 24, 1933 1,985,997 Keeran Jan. 1, 1935 2,046,138 Tucker June 30, 1936 2,130,355 Magill Sept. 20, 1938 2,176,955 Clow Oct. 24, 1939 2,192,923 Magill Mar. 12, 1940 2,262,242 Lenox Nov. 11, 1941 2,623,445 Robinson Dec. 30 1952 2,751,936 Dunlap et al. June 26, 1956