US3406495A - Carton closer and sealer - Google Patents

Description

| Oct. 22, 1968 R. L. BENINGER ETAI- 3,496,495

I i CARTON CLOSER AND SEALER Filed Jan. 24, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 SOURCE OF AIR UNDER PRESSURE INVENTORS 0berf Z flan/hygr- /-/erbe/'/ H Weber Ma ma, wgnw, W

BY ATTORNEYS Get. 22, 1968 BENlNGER Er AL 3,406,495

CARTON CLOSER AND SEALER Filed Jan. 24. 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGS wag 5 N v I; N TO Rs gob e/"I L Bemnger Her-barf H Wfbr M M, W} h v BY AT TO RNEYS Oct. 22, 1968 BEMNGER ET'AL I 3,406,495

CARTON CLOSER AND SEALER Filed Jan. 24, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTQRS I @oer/ Z. fiexy/fiyer' BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent "ice 3,406,495 CARTON CLOSER AND SEALER Robert L. Beninger and Herbert H. Weber, Sheboygan, Wis., assignors to H. G. Weber and Company, Inc., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Jan. 24, 1966, Ser. No. 522,636 7 Claims. (Cl. 53374) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Carton sealer and closer in which cartons having adhesive applied to their flaps are successively supplied to a compression column and the flaps are closed by air or mechanical closures, as supplied to the column, and are lowered by a hydraulic cylinder and piston. The weight of the cartons in the column as passed in a downward direction serves to bond the adhesive so the cartons are ejected from the bottom of the column in a fully sealed condition.

Summary 0] the invention and objects In accordance with the principles of the present invention, there is provided a vertical guide for confining a succession of cartons in a vertical stack, a vertical piston located at the bottom of the stack for supporting and for lowering the entire stack by a distance approximately equal to the height of one carton to place the lowermost carton in a discharge position and a horizontal piston for discharging the lowermost carton from such discharge position where the cartons supplied to the top of the stack have closure flaps with freshly applied adhesive. Air under pressure is directed toward the top of the stack so that such closure flaps are moved into a closed position. As a result, a succession of cartons having closure fiaps in an open position with freshly applied adhesive are loaded into a vertical chamber at the top thereof and are removed one at a time in a sealed condition with the closure flaps in a closed position from the bottom of the vertical chamber by means of the two pistons. The cartons, therefore, pass through the vertical chamber in a downward direction so that the weight of the cartons above any given carton facilitates the creation of a bond between the panels and the given carton itself by means of the adhesive applied thereto.

It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide improved article-conveying apparatus and method.

It is another object of the present invention to provide article-conveying apparatus and method capable of efficiently sealing the closure members of articles such as cartons.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide article-conveying apparatus and method for conveying a succession of articles from a first position to a second position which is substantially lower than the first position.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide articel-conveying apparatus and method for efficiently and rapidly sealing a succession of articles.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic side elevational view of an article conveying and stacking apparatus constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged diagrammatic view of the upper portion of the article stacking and conveying apparatus shown in FIGURE 1, illustrating a form of removable lowering device for the articles;

3,406,495 Patented Oct. 22, 19 68 FIGURE 3 is a side view of a coupler for a platform of the removable lowering device shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a front elevational view of the coupler as shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the coupler shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a side elevational view of a modified form of a platform vertical elevating cylinder from that shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 7 is a plan view of a modified form of horizontal cylinder and platform from that shown in FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 8 is a diagrammatic view in perspective of the upper portion of the article conveyor apparatus and stacker guide, illustrating a modified device for initially moving the catron closure flaps toward closed positions; and

FIGURES 9 to 13 are plan views of the article conveyor apparatus with the modified flap closure devices shown in FIGURE 8, in various successive stages of op eration.

Description of the method of sealing cartons Referring now to FIGURE 1, a method of sealing cartons is illustrated in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Each of a succession of cartons or similar articles are shown as having a pair of members or closure flaps integrally connected to a corresponding carton. The closure flaps have freshly applied adhesive thereon. Thereupon, each of the closure flaps is moved into a closed position against the carton so that a bond is formed between the flap and the carton as a result of the freshly applied adhesive therebetween.

Thereupon, each of the cartons is stacked in a vertical,

position. The weight of each carton creates a pressure upon sub-adjacent cartons to facilitate the creation of the bond between each flap and its corresponding carton. Next, the lowermost carton is moved away from the stack so that the next lowermost carton moves downwardly a distance approximately equal to the height of a single carton.

Another carton is then sequentially added to the top of the stack in order that the number of cartons in the stack is maintained constant. Consequently, a series of cartons are continuously added to the top of the stack and the lowermost carton is removed from the stack so that each carton bears the weight of the entire stack of cartons during at least one interval of time for facilitating the creation of the bond between each flap closure and its corresponding carton.

Description of the vertical carton sealer 0 FIGURE 1 Referring to the vertical carton sealer of FIGURE 1, there is illustrated a conveyor belt system generally indicated at 10 for conveying a series of cartons such as carton 11. Each of the cartons has a pair of closure flaps 12 integrally connected thereto and having freshly applied adhesive thereon.

Each carton is transported to a compression column 13 via the conveyor belt system 10. Thereupon, the stop 14 is released and the carton enters the compression column 13. As a carton enters the compression column 13, air jets 16 which are connected to a source of air under pressure 17 causes jets of air to close the flaps associated with each carton into close contact with the carton simultaneously with the release of carton stop 14. Once a carton leaves the conveyor system 10 and enters the compression column 13, the carton then engages an actuator switch 18. The actuator switch 18 is a limit switch that senses the presence of a carton. The source of air under pressure is responsive to the actuator switch 18 and is turned off once a carton contacts the actuator switch 18.

A lowering cylinder 19 has a platform 21 connected thereto for supporting the stack of cartons. This lowering cylinder 19 is also responsive to the actuator switch 18 to lower the entire stack by a distance approximately corresponding to the height of one carton. A lowermost carton is therefore moved into a discharge position resting upon a plurality of rollers such as rollers 22. As the lowermost carton rests upon the plurality of rollers, it engages :actuator switch 23. A transfer cylinder 24 oriented in a horizontal position is responsive to switch 23 being actuated. Thereupon, transfer cylinder 24 having a platform 26 connected thereto forces the lowermost carton along the plurality of rollers away from the bottom of the stack and onto another conveyor belt system generally indicated at 27. As the platform 26 moves toward the left or right, the tail 29, connected at right angles to the platform 26, provides a support for the entire stack.

The platform 26 engages another actuator switch 28, once the platform 26 has reached a terminal position. The discharge cylinder 24 causes the platform 26 to retract in response to the actuator switch 28 being actuated by the platform 26. Thereupon, the platfonm 26 is retracted.

As the platform 26 is being retracted by the discharge cylinder 24, the tail 29 engages an actuator switch 31. The retraction is stopped in response to the actuation of actuator switch 31; and simultaneously therewith lowering cylinder 19 causes platform 21 to be raised into a supporting position against the next carton, also in response to the actuator switch 31. In this semi-retracted position, the tail 29 supports the entire stack of cartons until the platform 21 engages the bottom surface of the next carton. The width of platform 21 is less than the width of each of the cartons to allow space for the tail 29 to support the stack simultaneously with the platform 21.

Once the platform 21 engages the bottom surface of the next carton, an actuator switch 32 senses the presence thereof. As a result, discharge cylinder 24 responds to actuator switch 32 to retract platform 26 into a fully retracted position. In this position, the tail 29 engages actuator switch 33 which in turn initiates the cycle once again.

A carton is always located in a ready condition on the conveyor belt system in order that it can be added to the top of the stack. This prepared condition does not affect the lowering cylinder 19 in any manner. The stop 14 is released to enable another carton to enter the compression cylinder 13 in response to the actuation of actuator switch 33 and also actuator switch 18 being in a norrnal condition.

The lowering cylinder 19 and its platform 21 is usually located away from the longitudinal centerline, and is usually located :at the center of gravity of the particular carton and material contained therein. Also, the compression column 13 is adjustable for length, width and depth of various cartons, and the discharge cylinder 24 is adjustable in such a manner that the platform 26 and tail support 29 is always at the shear line between a carton to be discharged and the bottom of the next carton.

The infeed height is also adjustable in view of the fact that the top of the carton in the column 13 must be several inches below the infeed height, when a new carton is to be added, and this carton height is controlled by multiples of the height of the cartons being sealed plus factors of humidity, carton tolerances, etc.

Description of the initial-loading means of FIGURES 2-5 Referring now to FIGURE 2, an enlarged view of the top portion of the vertical column or guide 13 is illustrated. A platform comprising several support members, such as support member 34, is provided for supporting a lower-most carton of a stack for initially loading the vertical column 13 with a stack of cartons. The support member 34 is suspended from a pulley mechanism 36 via a cable 37. The pulley mechanism 36 is controlled by an electrical motor or by a manually-operated crank to unwind the cable 37 from the pulley mechanism 36 to lower the supporting members and thereby the stack of cartons as each carton enters the vertical guide 13 from the conveyor system 10. Once thelowermost carton reaches the bottom of the vertical column 13, the supporting members and their associated cables are removed and the method as described above then commences.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, a removable coupler is illustrated for releasing the support members. The supporting member 34 has a slotted end portion 38 which releasably engages a pinion 39. The pinion 39 is rigidly connected to a coupling member 41 for holding the supporting member 34 in position. A fastening member 42 is attached to the coupling member 41 so that the cable 37, as shown in FIGURE 2, can be connected to the aperture 43 at the upper end thereof.

Therefore, the supporting member 34 can be removed from the bottom of the stack of cartons by moving the end portion 38 in an upward direction to free the notched portion thereof from the pinion 39 to thereby release the supporting member 34 from the coupler 41.

Referring now to FIGURE.4, it is clearly shown that the notched end portion 38 is substantially U-shaped. Therefore, the U-shaped end portion 38 engages the cou pler 41 on either side thereof to engage both ends of the pinion 39.

Referring to FIGURE 5, it can be seen from a plan view of this coupling arrangement that the member 42 is circular in cross-section. Also, the slotted end portions 38 are mounted on each side of the terminal end of the supporting member 34.

Description of carton sealer of FIGURES 6 and 7 Referring now to FIGURE 6, a modified form of the vertical cylinder and platform 21, as shown in FIGURE 1, is illustrated. A base 44 is rigidly connected to the vertical cylinder 19. Furthermore, a plurality of spaced-apart members such as member 46 are connected to the base 44. The free ends of the spaced-apart members engage the bottom surface of the lowermost carton for supporting the stack of cartons.

The spaced-apart members are moved upward to engage the lowermost carton and in so doing pass through a plurality of spaced-apart members, such as member 47, which are associated with a similar arrangement for the horizontal cylinder 24. The horizontal cylinder can discharge the lowermost carton from the discharge position and simultaneously therewith the spaced-apart members 46 associated with the vertical cylinder 19 can move upwardly through the spaced-apart members of the horizontal piston 24 in an interleaved manner. Therefore, the piston in the vertical cylinder 19 can be moving upwardly as the piston in the horizontal cylinder 24 is retracting, which thereby causes a more efiicient and rapid operation.

The length of the spaced-apart members associated with the vertical cylinder 19 is greater than the width of the spaced-apart members associated with the horizontal cylinder 24 so that the vertical spaced-apart members can thus engage the bottom surface of the lowermost carton and support the entire stack as the horizontal spacedapart members are retracting.

In FIGURE 7 the horizontal cylinder 24 is shown as connected to a modified form of transfer platform having a base 48, which includes a plurality of spaced-apart members or fingers 47 extending horizontally therefrom. The sides of these spaced-apart members support the entire stack of cartons as the piston 24 discharges the lowermost carton. However, once the lowermost carton has been discharged, the vertical cylinder 19 causes the spacedapart members associated therewith to interleave with the horizontal spaced-apart members to engage and thus support the stack.

The method of operation for the embodiment of FIG- URES 6 and 7 is preferably in accordance with the preferred method concept as heretofore described in detail having references to FIGURE 1 of the drawings.

In FIGURES 8 to 13 inclusive, we have shown a modified arrangement for mechanically moving the closure flaps 12 into partially closed positions to accommodate a next succeeding carton to be stacked on the advance carton and move the closure flaps into closed positions, the next succeeding carton holding the flaps in closed positions by gravity to facilitate the bonding of the closure flaps with the carton by the adhesive applied to the flaps.

As shown in FIGURE 8, a pair of laterally spaced posts 49 are pivotally mounted on each side of the com pression column 13 in vertical sockets 51. The posts 49 extend upwardly of the sockets 51 and each post has a closer arm 52 engageable with a carton closure flap 12 for partially closing the flap and a vertically spaced actuating arm 53 actuated by the next succeeding carton traveling along the conveyor 10, for moving the closer arm 53 out of the way of the advance carton to accommodate the next succeeding carton to be stacked on the advance carton.

The modified form of flap closing means is shown in FIGURES 8 and 9 in an initial position with the closer arms 52 holding the closure flaps 12 of an advance carton in a partially closed position. Tension springs 54 are connected between upright frame members of the compression unit 13 and pins 55 extending radially of the pivot posts 49 and bias the arms 53 to extend over the discharge end of the conveyor 10.

As a carton 11 is moved by the conveyor for discharge on the top of a next preceding carton, the front wall of the carton will engage the actuating arms 53 and pivot said arms in a counterclockwise direction, as shown in FIGURES l0 and 11. As the carton is moved into position to drop onto the next advance carton, the carton will be advanced to a position adjacent the end frame members of the compression column 13. During this travel of the carton the actuating arms 53 will come into engagement with the side walls of the carton, pivoting the closer arms 52 in counterclockwise directions outwardly of the carton closure flaps 12, as shown in FIGURE 12. The carton may then drop onto the advance carton and the stack of cartons may be lowered to accommodate the stacking of a next succeeding carton thereon. As the carton is lowered to a position Where the arms 53 are disposed above the top of the carton, the tension spring 54 will move the actuating arms 53 in clockwise directions and maintain the closer arms 52 in engagement with the side walls of the carton until the carton is lowered to a position where these arms are above the top of the carton, at which time the springs 54 will return the closer arms 52 to the position shown in FIGURES 8 and 9, holding "the flaps 12, 12 partially closed until the next succeeding carton is advanced by the conveyor 10 to cam the closer arms 52, 52 away from the carton and to accommodate the dropping of a next succeeding carton thereon.

In the attached set of claims, the term panel should be interpreted to include a closure flap either integral or separate from the remainder of the carton.

It will be apparent that many modifications and variations of the present invention may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts thereof.

We claim as our invention:

1. An article closing apparatus of the class described in which each article has a panel associated therewith having adhesive applied thereto for adhesively securing said panel in a closed position, comprising:

substantially vertical guide means defining a substantially vertical chamber generally conforming to and confining a succession of articles in a vertical stack, substantially vertically reciprocal means at the lower end of said chamber having an upper position and a lower position and having an article support for engaging the lower one of a stack of articles in said guide means in said upper position of said reciprocal means and for lowering the stack of articles to position the lowermost article in a discharge position as said reciprocal means moves from its upper position to its lower position, transfer means movable from an initial position through said discharge position to move the lowermost article out of said discharge position and to a position out of alignment with said chamber of said guide means, said transfer means including:

support means for supporting a next lowermost article of said stack while said transfer means moves through said discharge position to accommodate movement of said reciprocal means from said lower position to said upper position so the next lowermost article is supported by said reciprocal means as said transfer means returns to its initial position, and closer means for moving each panel into a closed position as each article enters said guide means, to accommodate a next succeeding article to be supported on the panel of the preceding article and facili' tate the creation of an adhesive bond between the panels and the associated articles, by the weight of the articles thereon. 2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said closer means includes a source of air under pressure and at least one air jet coupled to said source for directing the air against the successive panels as the successive articles enter said guide means. 3. The structure of claim 2, wherein the apparatus further includes initial-loading means for initially filling said guide means with a given number of articles to form said stack. 4. The structure of claim 1, wherein said closer means further includes a mounting pivotally mounted at the top portion of said guide means to contact the panel of the top-most article to move the last-mentioned panel toward the associated top-most article and to subsequently rotate away from said last-mentioned panel as a subsequent article enters said guide means so that said last-mentioned panel is moved into a closed position. 5. The structure of claim 4, wherein said closer means further includes at least one other arm actuated by said subsequent article as it passes to the stack of articles for rotating the firstmentioned arm to rotate away from the top-most article to accommodate another article to be stacked thereon. 6. The structure of claim 5, wherein said closer means further includes a mounting post rotatably mounted at the top portion of said guide means and supporting said arms to extend radially therefrom over the path of travel of the cartons for transmitting rotational movement from said other arm to said first-mentioned arm, and wherein a spring is connected to said post for causing said post to return to an initial condition as a next succeeding article enters said guide means, 7. The structure of claim 1, wherein a conveyor is provided at the top of said vertical guide means for successively supplying articles thereto, wherein laterally spaced guides successively guide the articles from said conveyor to said vertical guide means, wherein the closer means includes a pivotally movable closer arm and an upwardly and angularly spaced actuator arm therefor disposed adjacent each of said guides, vertical pivot shafts on each side of said guides forming mountings for each set of closer actuator arms, said arms extending radially inwardly from said shafts toward the center of said vertical guide 7 8 means and being angularly spaced to position said ac- References Cited gl itgraalrns closer to said conveyor than said closer UNITED STATES PATENTS wherein spring means bias said shafts and arms to ex- 2,682,983 7/1954 Ashcroft 2148-5 X tend toward the center of said vertical guide means, 5 2,912,806 11/1959 Bowman X whereby an article as discharged from said conveyor first 2,934,221 4/1960 Tonna 2148-5 X engages said actuator arms and moves said actuator arms 3,201,915 8/1965 Yanulaltls 53 374 in the direction of travel of the article to thereby move FOREIGN PATENTS said closer arms in the same direction over an advance article, and then hold said closer arms out of engagement 'th th t' 1 b t 'th m d rm 10 Y e 6 Y engageme e es C TRAVIS s. MCGEHEE, Primary Examiner.

hole to accommodate the dropping of a next succeeding article thereon. R. L. FARRIS, Assistant Examiner.

929,432 6/1963 Great Britain.

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