US3166960A

US3166960A - Mechanical apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3166960A
Application number: US164884A
Authority: US
Inventors: Charles C Roessler
Original assignee: American Manufacturing Co Inc
Current assignee: American Manufacturing Co Inc
Priority date: 1962-01-08
Filing date: 1962-01-08
Publication date: 1965-01-26
Anticipated expiration: 1982-01-26

Description

Jam `26, 1965 c. c. RoEssLER 3,166,960

MECHANICAL APPARATUS Filed Jan. 8, 1962 INVENTOR.

Pfg. 7 cHARLlEs c. RoEssLER ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,l66,960 MECHANICAL APPARATUS Charies C. Rcessier, Warminster, Pa., assigner to American Manufacturing Company, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 8, 1962, Ser. No. 164,884 Claims. (Cl. 81-9.1)

This invention relates to a novel seal crimping tool and in particular to a scaling tool for use with nonmetallic strapping materials.

Metallic strapping materials and metallic seals for fixing the ends of the strap together are well known in the packaging art. While metal strapping has many uses it also has many disadvantages. For example, metal does not easily go around right-angle corners of packages and therefore, when packages are standing, there is a point of maximum pressure applied to the metal strap at the edge. Furthermore, the metal used for metal strapping is relatively thin and therefore lthe edges are relatively sharp. If metal strapping suddenly is released from its seal or is broken during movement of the package, for example, it may strike a workman withcon;l siderable force thereby possibly causing serious bodily injury. Another disadvantage of metal strapping is that when it is removed from bound packages it is diiiicult to store it conveniently before disposal thereof or to salvage any of the scrap material. v

Accordingly it has been proposed to utilize a strapping material made of synthetic plastic such as oriented librous polypropylene. This plastic material is meltextruded, cooled, and thereafter stretched from between six to ten times its initial extruded length while being subjected to a temperature in the range between 250- 300 Fahrenheit. The stretching operaiton enables the strap to be applied under tension to the package to be bound without further stretching due to that tension. Thereafter, when the seal has been aixed the strap will not become loose. This plastic strapping material is capable of great llexibility so that it can go around the rightangle edges of packages with more compliance than metal strapping. Furthermore, unlike metal strapping it does not disigure the container due to corrosion, nor does it present the same danger to workmen should the strapping become released during movement, for example.

Since this material is highly oriented andV fibrous, it preferably should be sealed by appropriate seals and sealing techniques well-adapted to its particular characteristics.

In the prior art, the seal was usually a generally U- shaped metal device having a base and two parallel sides. The seal was placed around overlapping ends of the metal strapping after it had been tensioned by a special tool. When the sealing or crimping tool was placed around it and the jaws of the tool were closed, the sides of the seal were pressed inward toward one another at against the strapping and, in addition, pressure was exerted by the crimping tool on the seal and strap :in a direction transverse to the plane of the strapping. This transverse pressure caused deformation of the seal and the strap which it surrounded at certain points in a direction transverse to the plane of the strap. Sometimes this deformation actually resulted in flaps being cut into the seal and the enclosed metal strapping. These apsjwhich were angled downwardly, locked the metallic strap with the metallic seal to prevent slippage of the ends of the strap out of the seal. For metallic strapping materials this method was quite effective but for .plastic strapping it is not well suited.

As stated above, plastic strapping material, especially highly-oriented fibrous materials such as polypropylene,

ididd Fatented Jan. Z5, 1965 ice are made by stretching them after melt-extrusion. This stretching orients the molecules of the plastic material and prevents it from appreciable ifurther stretching during the strap-tensioning operation so that the strap remains taut. Since the strapping material is relatively less strong in a direction transverse to its longitudinal axis than it is in the longitudinal direction, subjecting it to stresses or cutting flaps in i-t will cause the strapping material to disintegrate and to shred when the strapping material undergoes high tension. Thus, conventional seal-crimping devices cannot be successfully used with plastic strapping material -to maintain the seals against the tensions usually employed with such strapping rnaterials.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a novel seal-crimping device for use with non-metallic strapping materials.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel crimping device for seals to be used to fasten plastic strapping materials together.

Yet another aim of the invention is to provide a novel seal crimping device for crimping seals to be used with iibrous plastic strapping materials.

Still other objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from an examination of the specications, claims, and drawings herein.

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of the novel crimping device with the handles in the maximum outward position.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view of my novel device with one of its cover plates removed to show its internal structure more clearly when the handles have been moved toward one another a considerable amount.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of the device taken along the section line 3 3 oi FIGURE 2 in the direction of the arrows shown therein.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view of the device taken along the section line 4 4 of FIGURE 2 in the direction of the arrows shown therein.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view of the device taken along the section line 5 5 of FIGURE 2 in the direction of the arrows shown therein.

FIGURE 6 is a partial side elevation view of part of the jaws shown when the handles have been moved toward one another to the maximum inward position.

FIGURE 7 shows a before and after view of a seal processed by my novel crimping device.

These and other objects of the invention are accomplished according to my invention by providing a tool which produces a number of substantially identical corrugations in the seal and the material enclosed thereby, the corrugations being transverse to the longitudinal axis of the strap. The device comprises a pair of handles which, through intermediate linkage, are connected to two sets of opposed upper jaws. When the handles are closed the linkage causes the jaws to come down over the upper edges of the seal and to press the opposite sides of the seal toward one another and down over the overlapping strap ends. Further movement of the handles of the closed position causes means associated with the jaw linkage to move another set of jaws up against the back ot the seal and to push the seal and the overlapping strap contained therein between the spaces between the upper jaws. By so doing, there are formed in the seal a series of transverse parallel corrugations, which are considerably deeper than deformations produced by conventional strapping devices. However, no cutting of the plastic strapping matcrial occurs so that there is no weakening of the bond under the tensions required for taut binding of packages.

As stated above, the crimping produced by my invention is done in a two-step operation although only one continuous movement of the handles is required to eiect it.l As seen in FlGS. 1, 2 and 3, there are two cylindrical handles 32a and 32!) to which three rigid members 30a, 33h and Stic are attached as by bolts as Shown in FlG. 1. The members 36in, Sil-b and 30e pivot about a pin or shaft 4@ which is spun on in apertures in the'outer plates and 12 which are substantially parallel to one another and are generally shaped like a shield. Two

other pins

21 and 23, arranged parallel to one another, are spun on in apertures in the plates lil and l2. Also, two

parallel pins

13a and 13b pass transversely through the plates lill and 12 and have nuts screwed onto their ends as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

The member Stia has an aperture in its upper end through which pivot pin 3S extends and to which levers 23h and 28C are coupled. The members Sub and 39C have aligned apertures through which pins 33a and 33h pass and to which levers 28a and 28d are pivotally coupled. To cach of the members 28o and 28h are coupled a pair of S-shaped members 26a and 17a, and to each of the levers 23h and 28C are coupled corresponding members 2511 and l'lb, by means of a vertically movable pivoting pin 31. The ends of pin 31 ride up and down within the

opposed slots

8 and 9 in the plates 12 and it) respectively in the manner to be explained below.

To the pair of members 17a and 26a are coupled three movable upper jaw members 14a, 14h and 14e by means of movable pivot pin 2,7. To the pair ot members lb and Zdb are coupled, by means of a movable pin 29 which passes through them all, an opposing set of

upper jaws

15a, 15b and 1de. It will be seen that when the upper jaws are in their open positon as shown in FG. 1, the pin 31 is toward the bottom of the

slots

8 and 9 and the two sets of opposing upper jaws are so positioned that their lower active edges i6 do not touch the upper edges of the seal 1S shown in an end-on view.

Movement of the handles 32a and 32h toward one another causes the pins 33 and 35 to move toward one another and thereby causes the pair of linkage members 28a and 28d and the yother `pair of links 28h and 28C to move to a vertical position thereby forcing the pin 3l upward in the

slots

9 and 8. By this construction a mechanical advantage of about 50:1 is obtained. Upward vertical motion of the pin 31, in turn, forces up the ends oi` the members 17a, 1715, 26a and 26h which are coupled thereto. The other ends ofthese latter members move outwardly in response thereby causing the jaw members 14a, Mb, 14e and 15a, i511, 15e to pivot on their respective pivot pins 21 and 23 in opposing clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. As a result the jaw edges lo come down on the sides 18a of the seal 13 forcing them to be folded over toward one another. FIGURE 2 shows the relative positions of the upper jaw sub-assembly elements when this action is completed. It should be noticed that at the end or" this iirst inward movement of the handles 32a and 32h no corrugations have yet been made in the seal 1S; only the sides have been folded over the enclosed overlapping ends of the plastic strap.

Lower jaw operation (Ence the sides 18a ofthe seal i8 have been folded over, the jaw members 14o, db, 14C and i511, 15b, 15C

Vdo not alter their position. Their active edges 16 serve to maintain the position of the seal 18 against further upward movement. However, as the handles 32a and 32h are pressed even further toward one another, it will be seen by reference to FIGS. 2 and 6 that the pin 31 engages the lower arcuate edge of rigid linkage member Z4 whose upper end is sandwiched between two substantially identical and generally rectangular jaw members 2i) and 22 having tapered upper edges similar to the lower edges 16 o the upper jaws. The lower edge of the members 2i? and 22 rest on

pins

13a and 13b as shown in FIGS. l and 2. The pin 2S passes through all three

members

24B, 22 and 24. Two springs Ma and 1lb are curled around the pin 25 and anchored at their ends to the fixed

pins

13a and 13b. These springs tend to force the pin 2S downward and thereby tend to torce the

handles

32a and 32b apart when the crimping operation has been completed. On further inward movement of the handles 32a and 326, the pin 3l forces the member 24 and the two jaw members 2d and 22 upward against the back of the seal 1S forcing parts of the seal and the straps contained therein upward in the spaces between adjacent ones of the upper jaw members 14o, 1.4!; and 14C and 15o, 15b, 15C thereby producing a corrugated seal as shown in part B of FIG. 7. it will be noticed that the crimped seal has t 'o humps in the upper direction and three humps in the lower direction. The seal may be of steel and have a length of 11/1 inches, for example. The peak-to-peak height of the seal may be on the order of iglli". It has been found that this number of corrngations with this depth in a seal of this length, when used with 1/2" polypropylene strap is quite satisfactory for most strapping operations.

The seal shown in FlG. 7 is known as a butt-type open seal but it should be understood that other seals such as the closed, overlappedside type may also be used, if desired.

By constructing a crimping device in accordance with my teachings herein, a corrugated seal may be fastened about a plastic strap with a single inward movement of the handles. This construction permits the attainment of suflicient mechanical advantage for ordinary laborers to be able to produce deep corrugations in the seal with a device of competitive size and weight.

Other applications and modications may occur to those skilled in the art from a perusal of the specification and drawings herein without departing from the essence of the invention. Consequently, I desire my invention to be limited only by the claims herein.

I claim:

1. Apparatus -for fastening a seal about strapping material comprising:

first means including a rst plurality of pivoting jaw members having spaces lbetween them for folding the sides of said seal toward one another over said strapping material until they are substantially parallel to the back of said seal, said first means also including movable linkage means coupled to said jaws for transmitting motion thereto, and

second means including la second plurality of jaw members which are slidably positioned between the jaw members of the rst plurality of pivoting jaw members for engagement by said linkage means and movable responsive to the movement of said linkage means beyond a predetermined point and constructed and arranged to exert pressure at predetermined points on the back of said seal to force said seal and its contents in the region of said points into the spaces between said first jaw members thereby to :produce a plurality of corrugations in said seal and its contents.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said iirst and second plurality of jaw members are parallel and have respective active edges adapted to be disposed substantial-ly transverse to the longitudinal axis of said seal and wherein said corrugations are accordingly substantially transverse to said axis.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said rst plurality of jaw members includes two sets of oppositely-disposed jaw members and wherein said second plurality of jaw members includes one less jaw member then is in each of said sets of iirst jaw members.

4. Apparatus for fastening a seal about strapping material comprising:

a first plurality of pivoting jaw members having spaces between them,

a plurality of handle members,

a plurality of interconnected rigid linkage members coupled between said first plurality of jaw members and said handle members, said linkage members being constructed and arranged to cause said rst jaw members to press the sides of said seal inward over said strapping material until they are substantially parallel to the base of said seal when said said planar members including apertures in which pivoting means for said pivoting jaw members are disposed and also including a plurality of slots in which said common movable pivot pin is constrained to move,

said planar members also including an aperture in which means for pivoting said handles are disposed.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said planar members have oppositely disposed inset po-rtions between said rst and second pluralities of jaw members on which said seal may be set before said handles are moved.

9. The apparatus according to claim wherein said means `for moving said second jaw memhandles are moved toward one another a predetermined distance.

a second plurality 0f jaw members mounted in the spaces between said rst jaw members for free sliding movement toward and in a direction normal to the back of said seal, and

means directly moved by said linkage members when bers in said vgiven direction includes a rigid member said handles are moved toward one another more having one end sandwiched between said second jaw than said predetermined distance for moving said members and coupled thereto by a pin, second jaw members in said direction until they said rigid member having an arcuate indentation in its force parts of said seal and its contents into the opposite end for engaging said common movable spaces between said first jaw members, thereby propivot pin passes through said iirst, second, third and ducing a plurality of corrugations in said seal and vfourth pairs of links. its contents. l0. The apparatus according to claim 9 5. The apparatus according t0 claim 4 wherein said wherein means are provided for biasing said pin which rst plurality of pivoting jaw members includes two sets is coupled to said rigid member and to said second of parallel opposing jaws, jaw members in a direction opposite said given diwherein said plurality of linkage members includes rCOD thereby tending 0 InOVS Said handles away first and second pairs of links, each pair being confrom one another. nected pivotally to one of said handle members, and References Cited by the Examiner third and fourth pairs of links pivotally connected to UNITED STATES PATENTS said rst and second pairs of links by a common movable pivot pin passing through them all, each 1 andler et al' eldon 1-224 X of said third and rfourth pairs of links being respec- 1 290 707 1/19 B k tively pivotally coupled t0 a different one of said roo s' 1,893,901 1/33 McGregor et al. V0 Sets 0fPPSmg1aYVS- 35 1,901,903 3/33 Edwards. 6 Th? apparatus icofdmg t0 Clam 5 2,055,257 11/34 Maynard er a1. 1 224 x whereln each of sa1d two sets of parallel opposlng Jaws 2,315,596 4/43 Childress.

includes three jaw members, 2,415,896 2/47 Marsh er a1. wherein said second plurality of jaw members includes 494,3 86 1/50 Gillman.

two jaw members. 2,680,979 6/54 Childress.

7. The apparatus accord-ing to claim 5 with the addition of two planar members disposed parallel to one another and substantially enclosing said first and second pluralities of jaw members,

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

WALTER H. SCHEEL, Examiner.

Claims

1. APPARATUS FOR FASTENING A SEAL ABOUT STRAPPING MATERIAL COMPRISING: FIRST MEANS INCLUDING A FIRST PLURALITY OF PIVOTING JAW MEMBERS HAVING SPACES BETWEEN THEM FOR FOLDING THE SIDES OF SAID SEAL TOWARD ONE ANOTHER OVER SAID STRAPPING MATERIAL UNTIL THEY ARE SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE BACK OF SAID SEAL, SAID FIRST MEANS ALSO INCLUDING MOVABLE LINKAGE MEANS COUPLED TO SAID JAWS FOR TRANSMITTING MOTION THERETO, AND SECOND MEANS INCLUDING A SECOND PLURALITY OF JAW MEMBERS WHICH ARE SLIDABLY POSITIONED BETWEEN THE JAW MEMBERS OF THE FIRST PLURALITY OF PIVOTING JAW MEMBERS FOR ENGAGEMENT BY SAID LINKAGE MEANS AND MOVABLE RESPONSIVE TO THE MOVEMENT OF SAID LINKAGE MEANS BEYOND A PREDETERMINED POINT AND CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED TO EXERT PRESSURE AT PREDETERMINED POINTS ON THE BACK OF SAID SEAL TO FORCE SAID SEAL AND ITS CONTENTS IN THE REGION OF SAID POINTS INTO THE SPACES BETWEEN SAID FIRST JAW MEMBERS THEREBY TO PRODUCE A PLURALITY OF CORRUGATIONS IN SAID SEAL AND ITS CONTENTS.