US3816971A

US3816971A - Device for setting up and filling cardboard boxes with containers

Info

Publication number: US3816971A
Application number: US00336880A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Reil
Original assignee: Altstaedter Verpackungs Vertriebs GmbH
Current assignee: Altstaedter Verpackungs Vertriebs GmbH
Priority date: 1972-03-02
Filing date: 1973-02-28
Publication date: 1974-06-18
Anticipated expiration: 1991-06-18
Also published as: ATA120373A; GB1359446A; FR2174258A1; FR2174258B3; JPS48100294A; DE2209997C3; DE2209997B2; CH550093A; AT331187B; SE7302839L; IT976595B; DE2209997A1

Abstract

In an operation for filling containers into a cardboard box, initially a feed mechanism supplies a folded box to an inclined support surface and an angle guide displaceably mounted on a bell crank engages and opens the box. As the angle guide opens the box it displaces a gripping tip into contact with the box so that the two members combine in effecting its opening. A swivel packer supplies the containers to be packed into a guide hopper. The guide hopper is movably positionable in the direction of the height of the box and is located above the box on the support surface and guides the containers into the box. The hopper is formed of side walls and guide walls pivotally attached to the lower ends of the side walls. The guide walls are biased inwardly into the outlet path from the guide hopper for holding the containers in the hopper and, when the guide walls are spread apart, the containers can slide downwardly out of the hopper into the box.

Description

United States Patent [191 Reil [ DEVICE FOR SETTING UP AND FILLING CARDBOARD BOXES WITH CONTAINERS [75] Inventor: Wilhelm Reil, Bensheim-Auerbach,

Germany [73] Assignee: Altstadter Verpackungs-vertriebs GmbH, Pfungstadt, Germany [22] Filed: Feb. 28, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 336,880

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data [11] 3,816,971 June 18, 1974 3,543,479 l2/l970 Pugsley 53/186 Primary Examiner-Travis S. McGehee Assistant ExaminerHorace M. Culver Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Toren and McGeady [5 7] ABSTRACT In an operation for filling containers into a cardboard box, initially a feed mechanism supplies a folded box to an inclined support surface and an angle guide displaceably mounted on a bell crank engages and opens the box. As the angle guide opens the box it displaces a gripping tip into contact with the box so that the two members combine in effecting its opening. A swivel packer supplies the containers to be packed into a guide hopper. The guide hopper is movably positionable in the direction of the height of the box and is located above the box on the support surface and guides the containers into the box. The hopper is formed of side walls and guide walls pivotally attached to the lower ends of the side walls. The guide walls are biased inwardly into the outlet path from the guide hopper for holding the containers in the hopper and, when the guide walls are spread apart, the containers can slide downwardly out of the hopper into the box.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEnJum 1974 3.816 971 sum 1 0r 3' PATENTED N 8 i974 SHEET 3 BF 3 v 1 DEVICE FOR SETTING UP AND *FILLING CARDBOARD :BOXES WITH CONTAINERS SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a device for opening up folded cardboardboxes and filling containers, such as soft containers into the opened'box'and, more particularly, it is directed to adevice for opening up the folded boxes and for guiding the containersinto the opened box.

When packaging liquids, for example, in dairies, the problem often develops that the soft or yielding containers for the liquid must bepackedin larger receptacles, forexample in plastic boxes or cartons. The cartons consist of printed corrugated cardboard and hold several rows of the soft containers.

As representative of the transportation.conditionsinvolved, the cardboard boxes utilizedwill now be described.

The opened or set up cardboard boxes are positioned on a conveyor inclined to the horizontal and, by means of known cam shafts, the boxes are located in predetermined positions under swivel packaging machinesso that a row of soft containers can be introduced into a cardboard box in the holding position. If five rows of soft containers are to be housed in the cardboard box, the box is supported on an intermittently operating conveyor which is associated with five cams formoving the box into five different positions for receiving the five rows of containers.

ln such a filling or packing operation, large numbers of items are usually transported, that is, a'high throughput of soft containers is moved into position for loading and, correspondingly, large numbers of cardboard boxes must be keptin stock forpacking the containers. lt is customary to store the cardboard boxes in a folded state so that they have a thickness equal to twice the wall thickness of the box. To fill the soft containers into a cardboard box, the box must be opened or set upbefore the filling operation commences. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to opening or setting up the cardboard boxes and to filling the soft containers into the boxes.

[t has been known to use automatic machines for setting up and filling cardboard boxes. ln the known machines. the folded cardboard boxes are moved continuously along a conveyor belt striking against cams, guide shoes,rails.and the likewhich open up the folded cardboard box in a number of steps. The folded cardboard boxes are constructed from aformedblank which automatically forms a bottom for the box when the side walls are pulled apart with the cover remaining open on the side opposite the bottom.

A disadvantage of these known devices is the considerable size of thedevice, that is the cardboard box must frequently cover a considerable distance as his converted from its folded state into its opened state.

Further, in addition to assembling the cardboard boxes, another problem is experienced in providing a practically jointless loading of the soft containers into the cardboard boxes.

Various devices for loading boxes or cartons are known, for example, box packers, swivelpackers and the like. Inthe following description a swivel packer is used merely by way of example. The swivel packer di- 2 rects the soft containers, received from a conveyor, into the shipping recepticles.

In a known arrangement, the swivel packer transports thesoft containers froma conveyor toapacking machine in which a shipping cartonis positioned on another obliquely arranged conveyor. The swivel packer is pivotally mounted onia frame and isrdisplaced bya pneumaticallyoperated means. The swivel packer includes a swivel tunnel head, side pl.ates, an end stop and a pivotwhichextends in the inlet direction of the conveyor supplying thecontainers, and a curved guide plate located below theside platesfor guiding the bottoms of the containers.

When the soft containers are being loaded intoshipping receptacles, suchasplastic boxes, there isless of a problem, since thesoftcontainers safely reach the bottom of the shipping receptacle after being released from the swivel packenbecause of their loose stacking.

When cardboard boxes are usedas the shipping receptacles, however,there is a different problem because the containers are packed tightly between the walls of the box so that each exerts a slight pressure on the other. This arrangement is used so that less storage space is required for stacking the filled cardboard boxes and also because the tightly arranged so-called jointless stacking provides protection against damage to the containers and also to the cardboard boxes.

The problem in filling the soft containers into a cardboard box is that the containers mrust beheld close together after they arereleased from the swivel packer and the last row of soft containers introduced into the box must be adequately iguided into the limited space provided for it.

The above described problems have not been satisfactorily solved with thepresently known machines.

Therefore, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a device for setting up or opening folded cardboard boxes and for filling containers into the cardboard boxes so that the setting up and filling operations can be carried out in a reliable manner and at high production rates.

The invention is distinguished by the arrangement for introducing a folded cardboard box onto a support surface where it is opened up and positioned under a guide hopper which can be lowered into the box for properly filling it with the containers. By combining the features of opening the box and loading it in a single machine ensures that the operation can be carried out automatically in a singleunit. When the folded cardboard box is positioned onthe support surface which forms the filling station, an angle :guide mounted on a bell crank is displaceable into contact with a folded edge of the box so that by pressing the angleguide against the box it will open up automatically.

By means of the guide hopper, thesoft containers are guided from the swivel packer to a position where they can be properly deposited into the boxQWith the guide hopper it is possible to position the containers so that they do not contact the upper edge of the box as they are lowered into position or they do not land on an adjoining soft container already positioned within the box. The guide hopper is supported so that it can be lowered into the cardboard box forming a guide for the containers as they are dropped into position. Due to the combination of the membersfor opening a cardboard box and for feeding containers into the cardboard box the problems previously experienced are reliably and safely solved without the need for cumbersome controls.

It is possible in opening the cardboard box from its folded condition that the box may bend or break due to the force employed in opening it. Accordingly, care must be taken that the side walls of the folded cardboard box are safely pulled apart.

In accordance with the present invention, the operation of opening the folded cardboard box is effected by the pressing action of an angle guide mounted on a bell crank which is directed against one folded end of the box and, as it opens the box, the angle guide cooperates with a pivotally mounted lever incorporating a gripping point or tip which combines with the angle guide in opening the box. Based on the position of the angle guide, the lever with its gripping tip assumes a certain position in engagement with one side wall of the box and as the angle guide opens the box the tip assures that one side wall is safely lifted from the other. As the box is opened, the gripping tip penetrates into one side wall and pulls it to the outside as the lever pivots to its original position.

In one advantageous arrangement of the invention, the gripping point or tip is movably displaceably mounted in the free end of the lever, that is the end opposite the end at which it is pivoted. Normally, the gripping tip is retracted within the lever, however, as the angle guide opens the box it contacts the lever and causes the gripping point to project outwardly from its free end. The gripping tip can consist of one or a number of juxtaposed and/or superposed pegs of round or square cross-section or of one or several needles. To assure that the gripping point or points engage the side wall of the cardboard box at the correct time, the angle guide and the lever are arranged to control the movement of the gripping point. The gripping point, which advantageously is mounted on the lever by means of a linkage, is movably displaced by a cam control, for example, by a control wheel mounted on the angle guide which controls the movement of the linkage supporting the gripping point and also displaces the lever in such a way that it is lifted in a predetermined manner from the folded cardboard box on which its free end rests. These advantageous measures are achieved, in accordance with the present invention, by actuating the gripping point on the lever by means of the angle guide secured on a pivotally mounted bell crank.

The operation of the bell crank and also of the lever can be effected in a simple and known manner by pneumatic or hydraulic drives which are very reliable and require a minimum of attendance. Another feature of the invention is the arrangement of the guide hopper or funnel for directing the soft containers into the proper position in the cardboard box. The guide hopper is formed of side walls secured to a holding arm so that the hopper can be moved upwardly and downwardly in the direction of the height of the container. At the lower ends of each of the side walls a pivotally mounted guide wall is provided which is biased inwardly into the path of the containers from the hopper. The arrangement of the hopper is notable by the manner in which the guide walls are arranged. The force directing the guide walls inwardly can be provided by weights, springs or lever so that the outlet from the hopper has a smaller rectangular surface or area than its inlet through which the soft containers are introduced into it from the swivel packer. As a result, when the guide hopper is lowered into the cardboard box each of its side walls is introduced for a certain distance below the upper edge of the box into the space into which the soft containers are to be deposited while maintaining the bottom edges of the guide walls in their inwardly biased positions. The guide walls of the hopper can then be opened or displaced from one another so that the outlet opening from the hopper is equal to its inlet opening. Thus, the soft containers can slide easily and safely into the desired position within the cardboard box. Based on the foregoing description, it can be seen that the device for setting up the folded cardboard boxes and for filling the soft containers into the boxes eliminates the problems previously experienced, and a compact and safe apparatus is afforded which can carry out the entire operation in a relatively small space.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view which illustrates schematically the device embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the device taken along the line AA in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detail view of FIG. 2 with an additional member indicated; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken through the axis of the guide hopper.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 illustrates the overall arrangement of the device formed in accordance with the invention. At the top of the device, a swivel packer 1 is provided so that the soft containers 2 can be introduced by gravity into the cardboard box 3. An intermittently operated conveyor 4 is provided for removal of the assembled and filled cardboard boxes. Located below the conveyor 4 is an inclined member 50 on which the folded cardboard boxes 3' are stacked. Positioned below the inclined member 50 is a feeding mechanism 6 for directing individual ones of the folded cardboard boxes 3' from the inclined member upwardly into position to be opened. Therefore, it can be noted from FIG. 1 that the cardboard boxes are moved upwardly into a filling station positioned above the conveyor and the soft containers 2 are dropped downwardly into the filling station.

In the swivel packer l a frame not designated with a reference numeral provides a pivot 11 on which a swivel tunnel head 12 is mounted. Positioned on the frame is a pneumatic cylinder 13 with its piston rod connected to the tunnel head 12 so that the head swivels about the pivot 11 in response to the movement of the piston rod in the cylinder 13.

Arranged about the lower end of the tunnel head 12 are

side plates

14 and 15 which have their longitudinal direction extending parallel to the pivot 11 and the side' plates represent a lateral guide for the soft containers 2 held in the swivel packer 1. In the U-shaped part of the tunnel head 12, operating arms are arranged for control switches, not shown. The containers 2 are introduced to the swivel packer by a conveyor, not shown, and the leading soft container commences the swivel operation over an end stop.

Below the

side plates

14, 15, a curved guide plate 16 is secured to the frame. The guide plate extends in the longitudinal direction of the side plates and its curvature extends transversely of the inlet direction. The length of the arc of the guide plate 16 is equal to the arc length traversed during the rotational movement about the pivot 11 reduced by the width of the swivel body, that is, the distance between the

side plates

14 and 15. 1

Located below the swivel packer l and supported on the frame is the intermittently operable conveyor for the assembled cardboard boxes 3. As indicated in FIG. 1, a cardboard box 3, in the opened condition, bears against a first cam 17 of a cam shaft 18. The inclined position of the conveyor 4 is determined by the angular position of the tunnel head 12. The angle of traverse is illustrated in FIG. 2 by the two broken lines which extend through the pivot 11. In the position of the broken line angularly displaced from the vertical, the space between the

side plates

14 and 15 is aligned with the space in the cardboard box 3 into which the containers 2 are to be introduced.

The assembled box 3 rests on an inclined plate or surface member 19, note the arrangement as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. A gap or space is provided between the first cam 17 and the adjacent edge of the inclined plate 19 through which a folded cardboard box 3' can be introduced into the filling station above the conveyor 4 by means of the feeding mechanism 6 which is actuated by a pneumatic drive 20.

A guide hopper 21 is shown in FIG. 1, partly in broken lines, below the pneumatic cylinder 13 and is supported on holding arms 22 which effect a raising and lowering movement of the hopper by way of pneumatic drives, not shown.

In FIG. 2 an angle guide 23 is shown, though it does not appear in FIG. 1, which is secured to abell crank 24. The bell crank is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends about the axis 27 and its end opposite the end connected to the angle guide is, in turn, connected by a piston rod 25 to a pneumatic cylinder 26. When the piston rod 25 is moved by the cylinder 26, the bell crank can be pivoted between a first position, shown in full line, and a second position shown in dashed lines. The angle guide is displaced to the dashed line position when the cardboard box 3 is filled with the soft containers and is displaced from the filling station.

The manner in which a cardboard box is opened from its folded position is shown in FIG. 3 where the angle guide 23 is located in an intermediate position between the two end positions shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3, the angle guide 23 has just engaged the lefthand outer edge of the partly unfolded cardboard box and is pressing it in the righthand direction. As the angle guide moves rightwardly the roller 28 mounted on the outside of the angle guide and made, for example, of polytetrafluoroethylene, presses against a linkage 29 and rolls along a contact surface 31 on a swivel lever 32. The linkage 29 is pivotally supported on the lever 32. Further, a tension spring 33 is connected to the lever and to the linkage which biases the gripping tip 30 inwardly of the free end 36 of the swivel lever, that is the opposite end of the lever from the end which is pivotally mounted. The contact of the roller 28 with the linkage 29 causes the gripping tip 30 to project outwardly from the free end of the lever. Therefore, as the bell crank 24 moves the angle guide 23 in the direction of the arrow 34, the swivel lever is caused to be displaced in the direction of the arrow 35. When the lever 32 moves in the direction of the arrow 35 its free end 36 moves upwardly as viewed in FIG. 3.

In FIG. 4 a sectional view is shown through the guide hopper 21. In this figure. only three of the four side walls are shown, that is the two longitudinally extending

walls

37, 38 and the rear end wall 39. At its lower end each of the side walls has a pivotally connected guide wall 37', 38' and 39'. Weights 40 secured on levers are connected to the guide walls and bias them inwardly into an inclined position in the path of the outlet of the containers from the hopper.

The device, in accordance with the present invention, works in the following manner:

The containers 2 are conducted by a conveyor, not shown, into the tunnel head 12 passing between the two

side plates

14, 15. When the tunnel head has been filled the forwardmost soft container will actuate the contact, not shown, which controls the pneumatic cylinder. The pneumatic cylinder swivels the tunnel body 12 about the pivot 11 in the clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. I. When the end of the clockwise movement is reached, the bottom of the swivel packer 1, that is the guide plate 16, is displaced from below the containers 2. I

At this time the guide hopper 21 is in a lowered position, that is below the position shown in FIG. 1, so that the soft containers sliding past the curved guide plate move into the hopper between its

side walls

37, 38, 39. The articulated guide walls 37', 38", 39 ensure suitable guidance for the containers into the position they are to assume in the bottom of the box 3. As the containers slide downwardly through the hopper, the

guide walls

37, 38, 39' are spread apart and the row of soft containers slides downwardly and is safely positioned on the bottom of the cardboard box 3. After each container loading step, the box is displaced downwardly along the inclined surface 19 to receive another row of containers until the bottom of the box is filled with the containers. When the box is completely filled it is released by the cam shaft and slides, in a manner not shown, to a delivery station.

From the stack of folded cardboard boxes 3 arranged on the inclined support 5, the box on the extreme right, as viewed in FIG. 1, is pushed upwardly by the feeding mechanism 6 through the gap between the forward cam 17 and the inclined plate 19, above the plane of the conveyor.

When the folded box has been displaced upwardly by the feeding mechanism the setting up or opening operation can be performed which is illustrated best in FIGS. 2 and 3. The angle guide 23 is pivoted by means of the bell crank 24 actuated by the piston rod 25 and the cylinder 26 about the axisof rotation 27 in the direction of the arrow 34, note FIG. 3. Initially, the lever 32 with its gripping tip 30 retracted, rests with its free end 36 on the upper side wall of the cardboard box. Shortly after the angle 23 has engaged the left edge of the cardboard box and started to open it up, the roller 28 on the angle guide contacts the opposite end of the linkage 25 from the gripping tip and pushes the tip 30 outwardly of the free end 36 of the lever and into the upper side wall of the cardboard box. As the bell crank continues to pivot in the direction of the arrow 34, the roller rolls along the cam surface 31 of lever 32 and causes it to turn in the direction of the arrow 35. As a result, the lever 32 by means of the gripping tip 30 withdraws the upper side wall of the cardboard box and ensures that the box is set up or opened in a reliable manner. In this way it is possible to open up the box without having the pressure or force of the angle guide 23 against the edge of the cardboard box cause it to be damaged or destroyed because of bending or breaking.

As the lever 32 is pivoted, the roller 28 will pass over the corresponding surface of the linkage 29 and the action of the spring 33 retracts the gripping tip 30 into the free end of the swivel lever 32.

With the box in the opened condition the operation of filling it with the soft containers can be commenced.

While a support member can be used for the folded boxes 3, the conveyor 50, as shown in FIG. 1, supports the folded boxes and the conveyor can be either of the chain or belt type. The conveyor 50, during the downward movement of the feeding mechanism 6, moves over freewheeling means by a multiple of the thickness of the cartons 3' in the rightward direction as shown in FIG. 1. This movement ensures the proper positioning of the folded boxes 3'. The advantage of this arrangement is that, when the support surface for the folded boxes is completely filled, no die or other construction element pressing the boxes 3' down has to be removed. Further, the need for a separate feeding mechanism is avoided.

During the setting up of the cardboard box 3, the opening action exerted by the angle guide 23 can be directed against the righthand wall (FIG. 2) of the surface member 19 acting as a supporting wall for the opposite end of the box 3.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the inventive principles, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principals.

What is claimed is:

1. Device for setting up or opening folded cardboard boxes and filling the opened boxes with containers, for example, soft containers, comprising a swivel packer for arranging the containers in rows and moving the containers into position to be loaded into a cardboard box, said swivel packer includes side plates for laterally guiding the containers, a curved guide plate located below said side plates and arranged to support the containers as they are moved into position to be loaded into the cardboard box, and drive members for operating the swivel packer, wherein the improvement comprises a support member for supporting opened cardboard boxes in a filling position, a mechanism for feeding folded cardboard boxes to said support member, an

angle guide, pivotally displaceable means for supporting said angle guide so that said angle guide can be diplaced into a position for engaging a folded cardboard box on said support member and for opening the box so that it can be filled with the containers, and a guide hopper located above said support member and movably displaceable in the direction transverse to said support member for guiding the containers from said swivel packer into the cardboard box.

2. Device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means for pivotally displacing said angle guide comprises a bell crank attached to said angle guide, a swivel lever arranged in the path of movement of said angle guide as it opens the cardboard box so that it is contacted by said angle guide, a gripping tip movably displaceably mounted in said swivel lever and arranged to project outwardly from said swivel lever for engaging and holding the cardboard box during the opening operation.

3. Device, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said swivel lever is pivotally mounted at one end and is free at its opposite end, a linkage pivotally mounted on said swivel lever and extending therealong toward the free end of said swivel lever, said gripping tip secured to the end of said linkage adjacent the free end of said swivel lever, and means attached to said linkage for biasing said gripping tip inwardly of the free end of said swivel lever, said linkage located at its end opposite the end bearing said gripping tip in the path of said angle guide so that it is contacted by said angle guide as it commences to open a cardboard box and is pivotally displaced for projecting said gripping tip outwardly from the free end of said swivel lever.

4. Device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said guide hopper comprises a holding arm, four side walls secured to said holding arm and defining the interior of said guide hopper, a downwardly projecting guide wall pivotally secured to the lower end of each of said side walls so that each said guide wall pivots about an axis parallel to the lower end of said side wall from which it projects, and means for biasing said guide walls inwardly into the outlet path from said guide hopper.

5. Device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said mechanism for feeding cardboard boxes is located below said support member, said support member is located at an angle to the horizontal, a cam positioned adjacent to and spaced from the lower side of said support member so that a gap is formed therebetween for feeding folded cardboard boxes upwardly to said support member, and said mechanism includes a conveyor for supporting a plurality of folded cardboard boxes, said conveyor is inclined in the same direction as said support member for positioning the cardboard boxes for displacement to said support member.

6. Device, as set forth in claim 3, wherein a roller mounted on said angle guide is arranged to contact said linkage and said swivel lever for displacing said gripping tip and pivoting said swivel lever.

Claims

1. Device for setting up or opening folded cardboard boxes and filling the opened boxes with containers, for example, soft containers, comprising a swivel packer for arranging the containers in rows and moving the containers into position to be loaded into a cardboard box, said swivel packer includes side plates for laterally guiding the containers, a curved guide plate located below said side plates and arranged to support the containers as they are moved into position to be loaded into the cardboard box, and drive members for operating the swivel packer, wherein the improvement comprises a support member for supporting opened cardboard boxes in a filling position, a mechanism for feeding folded cardboard boxes to said support member, an angle guide, pivotally displaceable means for supporting said angle guide so that said angle guide can be diplaced into a position for engaging a folded cardboard box on said support member and for opening the box so that it can be filled with the containers, and a guide hopper located above said support member and movably displaceable in the direction transverse to said support member for guiding the containers from said swivel packer into the cardboard box.