US3869844A - Methods of and devices for continuously packaging articles in thermoshrinkable plastics film - Google Patents

Methods of and devices for continuously packaging articles in thermoshrinkable plastics film Download PDF

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US3869844A
US3869844A US393481A US39348173A US3869844A US 3869844 A US3869844 A US 3869844A US 393481 A US393481 A US 393481A US 39348173 A US39348173 A US 39348173A US 3869844 A US3869844 A US 3869844A
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Prior art keywords
collections
articles
film
path
zone
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US393481A
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English (en)
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Pierre Paul Edouard
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Lara SA
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Lara SA
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Priority claimed from FR7233890A external-priority patent/FR2200821A5/fr
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B53/00—Shrinking wrappers, containers, or container covers during or after packaging
    • B65B53/02—Shrinking wrappers, containers, or container covers during or after packaging by heat
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
    • B65B35/10—Feeding, e.g. conveying, single articles
    • B65B35/24—Feeding, e.g. conveying, single articles by endless belts or chains
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B53/00—Shrinking wrappers, containers, or container covers during or after packaging
    • B65B53/02—Shrinking wrappers, containers, or container covers during or after packaging by heat
    • B65B53/06—Shrinking wrappers, containers, or container covers during or after packaging by heat supplied by gases, e.g. hot-air jets
    • B65B53/063—Tunnels
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B9/00—Enclosing successive articles, or quantities of material, e.g. liquids or semiliquids, in flat, folded, or tubular webs of flexible sheet material; Subdividing filled flexible tubes to form packages
    • B65B9/02—Enclosing successive articles, or quantities of material between opposed webs

Definitions

  • ABSTRACT A method and device for continuously packaging articles in thermoshrinkable plastics film.
  • Such a device comprises an endless chain conveyor driving equidistant trays articulated so as always to remain horizontal while following a roller path CR. This conveyor, be-
  • tween a feed station PC for the collections of articles to be wrapped and a discharge station for the collections closed and wrapped in their shrunk wrapping comprises a device for loosely wrapping each collection, a thermoshrinkage zone, an upper finishing zone and a descending cooling zone at the exit from which the collections may be handled without risk, as soon as they arrive at the discharge station.
  • This device comprises in addition a continuous reel handler for an upper film and a similar reel handler for a lower film, these films being intended for making up the wrappings of the collections of articles.
  • the invention is applicable to the techniques of providing an outer wrapping to articles, of thermoshrinkable plastics film.
  • the present invention relates to methods and devices for continuously packaging articles in thermoshrinkable plastics film and, more especially, it deals with a method for continuously packaging articles or collections (bulkings) of articles in a wrapping of thermoshrinkable plastics film, such as PVC or polyethylene film; it also relates to a device for applying this method, in the form of a single machine fitted with a tray conveyor, which is so constructed as to move continuously; upon each tray of this conveyor there are carried out, without interruption, first the receiving of an article or collection of articles, then the placing and sealing of a loose wrapping of film around the article or collection, the wrapping extending laterally on either side of it
  • thermoshrinkable film In the prior art of packaging using thermoshrinkable film, numerous types of device are known which are capable of effecting one of the aforementioned operations individually; these devices may be combined together to act in conjunction carrying out, consecutively but not continuously, these various operations for the production of packages of articles in shrunk wrappings.
  • This lack of continuity in the succession of operations is due, in fact, to the excessively large dimensions, especially longitudinally, of these devices, which does not allow them to be placed in line in view of the restricted space available in the majority of cases, both for perblown, followed by a long cooling zone, that is to say a zone where cold air or any other refrigerated fluid is projected upon the shrunk packages, these packages being considered sufficiently rigid to be handled when they leave this cooling zone.
  • each transporting element of the conveyor intended to receive a collection of articles must be in the form of a trough adapted substantially to the width and height of the collection, in order that the lower film shall follow the shape of its underside and of its sides, while it is waiting to be joined to the upper film which will follow the shape of the top of the collection of articles.
  • Another objective is to provide such a machine, which operates continuously and does not require any handling of the collections of articles from the stage where they are taken over by the machine to that where they are removed in the condition of firmly closed packages, nor any surveillance at any time, but which requires only the replacing of the reels of empty film by other, full reels, so that the feed of thermoshrinkable film may be ensured without either stopping or cutting.
  • Another objective is to provide such a machine, so constructed as to possess an advantageous characteristic in the operation of placing loose wrapping material around each collection of articles, in that it takes over the collection while it is already resting upon the lower film, which in turn rests upon a fixed feeding fork.
  • thermoshrinkage and cooling station for the wrappings is of very short length along the ground, while still providing sufficient developed length to enable these operations to be effectively carried out and to permit the handling, without risk of deformation, of the closed and wrapped collections as soon as they leave this station; this result is achieved utilizing the ascending property of hot air in the shrinkage zone and, conversely, the property of cold air of falling in the cooling zone, the shrinking zone being a portion having a steep ascending slope, close to the vertical, while the cooling zone is, by contrast, a portion having a steeply descending slope, of sufficient length to ensure effective cooling of the shrunk collections.
  • this machine utilizes a chain conveyor having articulated trays and moving continuously, enabling the unwrapped articles or collections of articles to be received by the machine at the feed station, without interruption one after another, enabling them then to be passed continuously to the next station where they are fitted with their loose wrapping of thermoshrinkable plastics film, then to be conveyed, provided with their wrapping, first to the shrinkage zone and, after that, to the cooling zone, this being done without changing, anywhere along the path, the position in which they were originally fed and in which they will be discharged, tightly wrapped and ready to be handled, at the outlet from the cooling zone.
  • the method of continuously packaging articles and, notably, collections of articles in a wrapping of thermoshrinkable plastics film, based upon the use of a continuously moving tray conveyor comprises the following operations:
  • this method is based upon the use of an endless, straight-line conveyor, having articulated trays, spaced apart from one another and so designed as to remain horizontal along the totality of the path between the feed station and the discharge station; the successive operations which the method comprises are carried out uninterruptedly upon these trays, these operations being the following:
  • the lower and upper films are continuously fed without cutting and are of a width greater than the dimensions of the collection as measured perpendicularly to the longitudinalaxis of the conveyor, so that they project laterally, with respect to this axis, from these collections of articles.
  • this device for practicing the method according to the invention is constituted of:
  • a device for forming a loop of slack in the lower film between two consecutive collections situated behind the fixed feed fork in the extension of the roller path and constructed in the form of a balance arm, the free end of which can move upwards and downwards in order to raise the lower film both ahead and behind along a path exceeding the gap between two collections of articles;
  • a film reel handler supplying the upper film continuously and situated substantially vertically above the heat sealing and cutting device above the first horizontal portion of the roller path, and a similar reel handler, supplying the lower film continuously, situated behind and below the plane of the fixed feed fork, preferably laterally to the rear extension of that feed fork, this extension being occupied by a second conveyor for as- 'sembling the collections, comprising at the front and close to the fork, a feed loader designed to push each of the collections onto the fork before they are placed on a tray of the first conveyor, at the same speed as that tal position in the ascending and descending portions;
  • shrinkage device which comprises:
  • a tunnel surrounding the entry end, the ascending portion and the upper portion of the roller path being of of dimensions sufficient to permit the free passage through it of the chain conveyor with its trays carrying their loads, hot air being cycled through this tunnel;
  • a cooling assembly above the descending portion and the exit end ofthe roller path which are open to the surrounding air, this cooling assembly being so constructed as to feed cold air onto the collections of articles which have been subjected to thermoshrinkage, from the time when they leave the upper part of the tunnel.
  • This tunnel comprises, at its lower part, an air ventilation assembly opening into the curved commencement of the ascending portion close to the preheating zone, in its ascending portion lateral groups of heating resistors distributed in the progressive ther- '8 moshrinkage zone and, in its upper part, an air ventilation assembly opening into the finishing zone and, within this zone, lateral groups of resistance heaters.
  • the ventilation assembly of the lower part is constituted of at least one blower of the suction and delivery type, arranged to direct air upwards over the groupsof resistance heaters in order to surround the ascending collections of articles with progressively hotter air as they ascend and to draw this hot air out again atthe ceiling of the ascending portion by means of a recycling duct running beneath that ceiling and descending to the blower along the internal walls of this acending portion, the part of this duct beneath the ceiling being provided with numerous intake holes.
  • the ventilation assembly for the upper portion is likewise constituted of at least one blower of the suction and delivery type, arranged to direct air upwards over the groups of resistance heaters in order to provide hot air around the collections of articles advancing through the finishing zone towards the exit from the tunnel and to remove this hot air from the ceiling of this zone by means of a recycling duct running beneath the ceiling of the upper part of the tunnel and descending to the blower along the internal walls of this upper part, the portion of this duct beneath the ceiling being provided with numerous intake holes.
  • the resistance heaters in the form of finned resistors, are arranged in tiers all along the lateral internal walls of the tunnel, both in its ascending portion and in its upper portion and are placed in front of the descending ducts for recycled hot air, towards the median plane of the tunnel, in order to ensure good heat distribution.
  • each ventilation assembly delivers air into blowing ducts incorporating the heating resistors; these ducts, in the ascending portion of the tunnel, being placed in front of the recycling ducts towards the median plane of the tunnel and being perforated on the side towards this plane to constitute a hot air blowing chamber having perforated lateral and bottom walls, the ceiling of which is traversed by the perforated part of the recycling duct and, in the upper part of the tunnel, being placed in the same manner but to constitute a hot air blowing chamber completely surrounding the finishing zone and having lateral, upper and lower perforated walls, the perforated part of the recycling duct being placed beneath the ceiling of this upper part of the tunnel, in front of the chamber, close to the exit from the tunnel.
  • the tunnel is provided with a lock, at its entry and at its exit, in the form of slotted, hanging curtains, to permit the passage of the trays and their
  • the cooling assembly above the descending portion is constituted of a ventilation assembly constructed to direct jets of cold air onto each of the shrink-wrapped collections of articles in order to give them the best possible environment to accelerate their cooling.
  • HO. 1 is a diagram illustrating how FIGS. 1A and 18 should be joined together to provide a diagrammatic overall view of the packaging device for packaging collections of articles in thermoshrinkable plastics film wrapping, forming the subject of the present invention
  • FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the feed station for the collections of articles, before they are wrapped,
  • FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the discharge station for the closed and wrapped collections of articles after the operation of thermoshrinkage and cooling of the thermoshrunk wrappings,
  • FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are diagrammatic representations of the successive stages of the operation of loosely wrapping the collections of articles, before the thermoshrinkage operation,
  • FIG. 9 is a section, along BB of FIG. 1B, of the upper part of the tunnel constituting the finishing zone; here again, as in FIG. 8, the roller path and the chains have been omitted,
  • FIG. 10 is a detail of the curved portion of the roller path between the horizontal bottom portion at the tunnel entry and the commencement of the ascending portion of this tunnel showing, in addition, the chain conveyor and the articulation of the trays onto this conveyor.
  • the device according to the invention is constituted, generally speaking, of:
  • a device 10 for forming a loop 11 of slack in the lower film 12 between two consecutive collections of articles, situated behind the feed fork FC and serving also to place each collection of articles in a correct position upon the tray on which it rides;
  • a film reel handler 13 feeding the upper film 14 continuously and mounted above the device 9;
  • a similar reel handler 15 feeding the lower film 12 continuously and situated behind and below the plane of the feed fork FC and to the side of the axis of the conveyor;
  • a collectionforming conveyor 16 comprising at the front, close to the fork PC, a feed loader 17 designed to push each of the collections P onto this fork, before they are engaged by a tray 2, this feed loader 10 being assisted by the device 10 in positioning this collection of articles upon this tray.
  • thermoshrinkage device proper is constituted, generally speaking, of the roller path CR, substantially in the form of an inverted, open U, followed by the conveyor 1 having articulated trays 2 for transporting the collections P, the right hand arm of this U (in FIG. 1A) being sleeved in a hot air tunnel T constituting an ascending thermoshrinkage zone, the other arm situated to the left (in FIG. 1B) and open to the surrounding air having above it a cooling assembly 32 which subjects it to cold air ventilation; this constitutes a descending cooling zone, at the exit S of which the collections P are sufficiently rigid to be handled.
  • the roller path CR has its entry end E and exit end S connected together, starting from the entry, by an ascending portion 4 having a very steep slope which nevertheless is less than the vertical, an upper horizontal portion 5, and a descending portion 6, having a lesser slope than that of the ascending portion.
  • the tunnel surrounding the entry end E, the ascending portion 4 and the upper portion 5 of the roller path. is of sufficient dimensions to permit the free passage through it, as seen in FIGS. 9 and 10, within its heating assemblies 110, 111, of the conveyor chain 1, with its trays 2 carrying the collections P of articles.
  • the cooling assembly 32 above the descending portion 6 and the exit end S of the roller path CR, open to the surrounding air, is constructed so as to feed cold air onto the collections P which have been subjected to the shrinkage operation, after they leave the upper part 5 of the tunnel.
  • the conveyor 1 is constituted of two lateral chains guided on return pinnions 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 so as to follow a path substantially close to that of the roller path CR.
  • These chains support, transversely between them, the trays 2 by means of transverse shafts 116, arranged at equidistant spacing from one another and serving at each of their ends as a substitute for the articulation pin for the links of the corresponding chain.
  • Each shaft 116 supports in a freely pivoting manner the front portion of its corresponding tray 2, and also two lateral crank assemblies situated at the sides and close to each of the chains respectively and between them.
  • Each crank assembly comprises three cranks 117, 118, 119, rigidly connected together and having the form of a three-branched fork.
  • the free ends of the cranks 119 are connected together by a rollerR passing transversely beneath the tray and supporting it, while each of the cranks 117 and 118 carries, cantilevered at its end remote from the shaft 116, a guide roller G intended for cooperating with the roller track defining path CR, each roller being opposite to the other; that is to say, for example, the roller of crank 117 is on the chain side, while the roller of crank 118 is on the side towards the median part of the tray, so that they may cooperate with lengths of roller tracks respectively 121, 122, offset laterally relative to one another depending upon the slope of the track in such a way that the roller R, joining together the ends of the two cranks 119, always supports the tray 2 in a horizon tal position in the ascending and/or descending portions of this roller path.
  • Each tray 2 comprises in addition, at its rear portion. two lateral rollers G1 for cooperating with the horizontal lengths 123 of the roller track in the horizontal and descending portions of the roller path and while the cranks 117 and 118 are not working to support the tray in a horizontal position, it being noted that when these cranks work the rollers G1 are unsupported.
  • the ascending portion 4 in which the preheating and thermoshrinkage operation is carried out, and also the horizontal portion of the roller path in which the thermoshrinkage finishing operation is carried out, are situated in the sleeveshaped tunnel T, following this roller path.
  • This tunnel T constituting the ascending thermoshrinkage zone comprises three consecutive heating zones, a preheating zone Z1, corresponding substantially to the horizontal entry portion E and to the curved commencementof the ascending portion 4 of the roller path, a progressive thermoshrinkage zone Z2 corresponding to the ascending portion 4 and to the curved commencement of the upper portion 5 of the roller path, and a thermoshrinkage finishing zone Z3 corresponding tothis upper portion 5.
  • This tunnel supports, at its lower portion, an air ventilation assembly 24, opening substantially into the preheating zone Z1, in its ascending portion lateral groups 125 of heating resistors distributed on either side of the progressive thermoshrinkage zone Z2 and, in its upper portion, an air ventilation assembly 28 opening into the finishing zone Z3, this zone comprising, at the sides, groups 127 of heating resistors.
  • the ventilation assembly 24 for the lower part is constituted of two blowers V1 and V2, of the suction and delivery type, which are constructed respectively on the one hand to supply air upwards onto the lateral groups 125 of resistance heaters contained in the ascending ducts 128 perforated by numerous blowing holes so as to direct jets of hot air (indicated by the arrows) onto the collections of articles P and, secondly, to re-extract the hot air collected by a recycling duct 1 29 situated beneath the ceiling of the tunnel (and perforated in this region) and redescending along the internal lateral walls of the tunnel to discharge at each of its bottom ends into the respective intake of each blower.
  • the hot air is thus continuously recycled, thus tending to reduce the consumption of electricity by the resistance heaters.
  • the ventilation assembly 28 for the upper part or finishing zone Z3, is also constituted of two blowers V3 and V4, of the suction and delivery type, which are constructed respectively, on the one hand to feed air upwards onto the lateral groups 127 of resistance heaters contained in the ascending ducts 130 connected together across the top beneath the ceiling of the tunnel by a duct portion 131, these ducts 130 and 131 being perforated with numerous blowing holes to direct jets of hot air (indicated by the arrows in FIG.
  • thermoshrinkage zone 22 all around the collections of articles undergoing finishing thermoshrinkage and, secondly, to re-extract the hot air collected by a recycling duct 132, situated beneath the ceiling of the tunnel close to the exit from the tunnel (and perforated in this portion) and redescending along the lateral internal walls of the tunnel to dis- 1 charge at each of its bottom ends into the respective inlet of each blower.
  • a recycling duct 132 situated beneath the ceiling of the tunnel close to the exit from the tunnel (and perforated in this portion) and redescending along the lateral internal walls of the tunnel to dis- 1 charge at each of its bottom ends into the respective inlet of each blower.
  • the hot air is thus continuously recycled in this finishing zone Z3.
  • the tunnel T is provided, at its entry and at its exit, with a lock 133 in the form of a slit curtain, to permit the passage of trays with their collections of articles.
  • the cooling assembly 32 mounted above the descending portion is constituted of a number of blowers (not shown) constructed to feed jets of cold air, indicated by the arrows, onto the collections P in order that these collections shall be well cooled, that is to a sufficiently low temperature for the shrunk plastics film to have readopted its initial properties and for it thus to be capable of being handled without risk of deforming, when it leaves the exit S of the roller path.
  • roller track in this descending portion 6 below the cooling assembly is constructed to support only the rear rollers G] of the trays 2, a counter-rail 134 being nevertheless provided to prevent these trays from tending to tip over forwards as they descend and thus not to retain their horizontal position as far as the exit S.
  • each tray 2 is constituted by ribs 33 for supporting the collecting P of articles which it bears, these ribs being arranged parallel to the axis of the conveyor and parallel to one another, and separated from one another by a gap wider than the width of each arm 34 of each of the forks FC and FD and slightly higher than the height of these, so that the upper plane through the ribs is slightly above the plane of a fork when they are brought by their tray 2 to the horizontal level at the feed and discharge station, so that, at the feed fork FC (FIGS. 4 and 5) they raise and entrain the lower film 12, upon which there rests a collection of articles, and that at the discharge fork FD (FIG.
  • the sealing and cutting jaws device 9 is constituted of a balance arm 35 supportingan upper jaw36 and a lower jaw 37 reciprocating with their welding and cutting blades facing one another. These jaws are so arranged that, when the balance arm 35 is inclined in the direction opposite to the direction of motion of the conveyor, as indicated by the arrow F1 and seen in FIGS. 4 and 7, they grip between them the upper film 14 and lower film 12 between two successive collections of articles, heat seal them together and-cut their joint in two during the oscillation of the balance arm 35 in the direction of movement of I the conveyor, while the balance arm is in the position shown in FIG.
  • the balance arm readopts its oscillation in the direction of motion of the conveyor and, also, of the collections of articles, and the upper jaw 36 continues to descend and the lower jaw 37 to ascend, until they press the films against each other, while the balance arm is in the position shown in FIG. 5, the sequence of operations then continuing in the same order as previously described. It should be noted however that, during these operations, as the collections are taken over in succession by the trays 2, the loopforming device for forming the bulge or wave in the lower film 12 between two successive collections, comes into play at the same time as the loading device 17 in the sequence of steps represented in FIGS. 4 to 7, the lower film being first raised as in FIG.
  • each of the reel handlers for the upper film and the lower film is of the type described in French patent No. 2,198,476, filed on Sept. 1, 1972 in the name ofthe applicant, for apparatus for continuously feeding a strip from a reel to a machine; a general description of this apparatus is therefore all that will be given here.
  • Each of the reel handlers I3 and is constituted of a roller cradle designed to support a reel of film BU which is being used, and a reserve reel of film BR, of heat sealing cutting jaws dcvicc M, comprising a central reversible jaw carrying the free end of the reserve film and two fixed jaws.
  • eachreel handler is such that, when its film in use comes to its end, its reversible jaw assisted by the corresponding fixed jaw joins the free end of the reserve film to this tail end of the used film, the tensioning device releasing film during this operation, so that there is no cessation of feed of film by the film feeder.
  • a method for continuously packaging collections of articles in a wrapping of thermoshrinkable plastics film utilizing a conveyor moving continuously and carrying the unwrapped collections of articles uninterruptedly one after another and delivering them, wrapped and closed and ready to be handled, comprising the steps of:
  • thermoshrinkage zone transporting said series of loosely wrapped collections of articles sequentially through a preheating zone, then through a thermoshrinkage zone along an upwardly directed path, then through a thermoshrinkage finishing zone and, finally, through a cooling zone along a downwardly directed path to a discharge station where the collections, wrapped tightly and closed, may be immediately handled.
  • thermoshrinkable plastics film comprising:
  • a conveyor continuously movable along a path extending from a feed staion to a discharge station, means between said stations for loosely wrapping articles on said conveyor; means defining a preheating and thermoshrinkage station encompassing an upwardly directed portion of said path; means defining a thermoshrinkage finishing station at a horizontal portion of said path extending from the upper end of said upwardly directed portion, and a station along a portion of said path extending downwardly from said horizontal portion for cooling the shrunk wrappings;
  • an oscillating device at said feed station having means for heat sealing and cutting lower and upper films of material for forming a loose wrapping for each article;
  • a film reel handler feeding an upper film continuously to overlie said articles and a similar reel handler for feeding a lower film beneath said articles.
  • a device wherein said conveyor is an endless chain conveyor having equidistantly spaced pivotally mounted trays thereon on transverse axes, and means for holding said trays horizontally ori' ented throughout the length of said path.
  • rollers so positioned as to run along horizontal portions of said track means and to maintain each tray in the horizontal position along horizontal portions of said path.
  • said upwardly and downwardly directed portions of said path and said recited horizontal portion are generally in the form of an inverted open U, one of the arms of this U being sleeved by a hot air tunnel, constituting an ascending thermoshrinkage zone, while the other arm is open to the surrounding air but having above it a cooling assembly which subjects it to cold air ventilation and constitutes a descending cooling zone, at the exit from which the articles are sufficiently rigid to be capable of being handled.
  • said upwardly directed portion of each path is of very steep slope, and said downwardly directed portion is of a lesser slope.
  • thermoshrinkage finishing zone extending along said upper portion.
  • thermoshrinkage zones including lateral-groups of resistance heaters distributed therein and, in its upper portion, an air ventilation assembly opening into the finishing zone and, within this finishing zone, lateral groups of resistance heaters.
  • said firstnamed ventilation assembly comprises at least one blower, of the suction and'delivery type, arranged to feed air upwards onto the groups of resistance heaters to provide progressively hotter air to the collections as they ascend and to re-extract this hot air at the ceiling of the ascending portion, by means of a recycling duct extending beneath the ceiling and descending to the blower along the internal walls of the ascending portion, the portion of this duct beneath the ceiling being provided with numerous intake holes.
  • a device comprising at least one blower, of the suction and delivery type, arranged to feed air upwards onto the groups of resistance heaters to provide hot air to the collections advancing through the finishing zone towards the exit from the tunnel, and to re-extract this hot air at the ceiling of this zone, by means of a recycling duct extending beneath the ceiling of the upper part of the tunnel and descending to the blower along the internal walls of the upper portion, the portion of this duct beneath the ceiling being provided with numerous intake holes.
  • resistance heaters are in the form of finned resistance heaters and are arranged in tiers all along the internal lateral walls of the tunnel, both in its ascending portion and in its upper portion and are placed in front of the descending hot air recycling ducts, towards the median plane of the tunnel, in order to ensure good heat distribution.
  • each ventilation assembly is arranged to deliver air into ducts having resistance heaters therein; said ducts, in the ascending portion of the tunnel, being situated in front of the recycling ducts towards themedian plane of the tunnel and being perforated, in the side towards this plane, to constitute a hot air blowing chamber having perforated lateral and lower walls, the ceiling of which is traversed by the perforated portion of the recycling duct and, in the upper part of the tunnel, being situated in the same manner but to constitute a hot air blowing chamber completely surrounding the finishing zone and having perforated lateral, upper and lower walls, the perforated portion of the recycling duct being situated beneath the ceiling of this upper part of the tunnel, in front of the chamber and close to the exit from the tunnel, this tunnel being, in addition, provided with a lock at its entry and at its exit. in the form of hanging, slotted curtains, to permit the passage of the trays and their collections of articles, in order to limit the hot air losses.
  • a device wherein the descending portion of said path, in'which cooling is' carried out, is situated so as to be exposed to the surround ing air and having thereabove a cooling assembly constituted of a ventilation assembly arranged to direct jets of cold air onto each of-the collections having shrunk wrappings to accelerate their cooling.
  • each tray of the conveyor is constituted of ribs for supporting the article resting upon it, said ribs extending parallel to the direction of travel of the conveyorand parallel to one another, separated from one another by a gap exceeding the width of each arm of each of fixed forks and slightly higher than the height of said arms, whereby the upper plane of said ribs are slightly above that of a fork when they are brought by their respective tray to the horizontal at the feed and discharging stations, so that at the feed fork they raise and entrain the lower film with an article resting upon it and that at the discharge fork they lower and deposit the article with its shrunk wrapping upon the fork, without ever completely passing through the arms of these forks.
  • said 05- cillating device comprises a balance arm supporting an upper jaw and a lower jaw reciprocating with their respective heat sealing and cutting blades opposite each other, means for actuating said jaws so that, when their balance arm is inclined in the direction opposite to the direction of motion of the conveyor, they grip between them the upper and lower films between two successive articles, heat seal them and cut their joint during the oscillation of the balance arm in the direction of mo-- tion of the conveyor, when it is substantially in a position close to its median vertical position, they open and move apart from each other when the balance arm continues its oscillation in the same direction until the lower jaw is at a lower position close to the axis of oscillation of the balance arm and the upper jaw is at a position above the collections, this upper jaw then lowering the upper film onto the collection of articles to be wrapped while the balance arm makes its reverse oscillation to return to its initial position, at which instant the lower jaw bears up against the underside of the loop of lower film and the upper jaw bears down on the upper film
  • each film reel handler is constituted of a roller cradle arranged to support a reel of film in use and a reserve reel, ofa heat sealing and cutting device comprising a central reversible jaw, carrying the free end of the reserve film and two fixed jaws, situated on either side of this reversible jaw outside but adjacent the path of the film in use and to the path which will be that of the reserve film when it is being used, and of a film tensioning device for the film in use, means for directing this film via a direction changing assembly towards the corresponding film feeder of the packaging device, the construction of this reel handler being such that, when the film in use comes to an end, the reversible jaw, assisted by the corresponding fixed jaw, joins the free end of the reserve film to the tail end of the used film, the tensioning device liberating film during this operation so that there is no cessation of feed of film by the film feeder.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Containers And Plastic Fillers For Packaging (AREA)
  • Attitude Control For Articles On Conveyors (AREA)
US393481A 1972-09-04 1973-08-31 Methods of and devices for continuously packaging articles in thermoshrinkable plastics film Expired - Lifetime US3869844A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

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Cited By (22)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4047359A (en) * 1976-09-01 1977-09-13 Firma Heinrich Kuper Device for packaging an object in foil
US4250692A (en) * 1978-12-22 1981-02-17 Laurel Bank Machine Co., Ltd. Apparatus for binding paper sheets
US4319443A (en) * 1979-09-28 1982-03-16 Nordson Corporation Film wrapping machine
US4706444A (en) * 1985-11-11 1987-11-17 Baumer Di Mario Gambetti Apparatus for wrapping continuously moving articles with heat-shrinkable material
US4738079A (en) * 1987-04-07 1988-04-19 Lantech, Inc. Method and apparatus for severing packaging material between successive wrapped loads during a continuous wrapping process
US5062217A (en) * 1990-11-13 1991-11-05 Ossid Corporation Selective sequential shrink apparatus and process
US5203146A (en) * 1991-07-29 1993-04-20 Baumer S.R.L. Machine for the packaging of articles of any size in sheets of, in particular, a heat-shrinking material
US5203144A (en) * 1991-04-03 1993-04-20 Baumer S.R.L. Machines for packaging articles with heat-shrinking material
US5400570A (en) * 1993-05-17 1995-03-28 Bennett; Charles J. Method and apparatus for heat shrinking film around a product
US5899048A (en) * 1993-09-23 1999-05-04 W.R. Grace & Co.-Conn. Shrink tunnel
EP1073589A1 (de) * 1998-01-27 2001-02-07 Alain Cerf Vorrichtung zum umhüllen mit folie
US6381919B2 (en) 1998-11-03 2002-05-07 Klockner-Bartelt, Inc. Modular packaging machine with web tension control
US6393809B2 (en) 1998-11-03 2002-05-28 Klockner Bartelt, Inc. Servo-controlled pouch making apparatus
US20040009030A1 (en) * 2002-05-07 2004-01-15 Kudalkar Vijay Balkrishna Arrangement for making textured film solid cleanser holders
US6701696B1 (en) * 1999-04-15 2004-03-09 Minipack-Torre S.P.A. Packaging machine of the tunnel type for carrying out packaging with a heat-shrinkable film
US20090013649A1 (en) * 2005-12-09 2009-01-15 Deutsche Mechatronics Gmbh Shrinking process for producing solid, transportable and printable containers and a device for carrying out a shrinking process of this type
US20100024364A1 (en) * 2006-08-09 2010-02-04 Tuchwat Schagidow Method of operating a shrink wrapping machine in a container filling plant for disposing portions of patterns at a substantially predetermined location and orientation on each shrink wrapped flat of containers, before and after a roller exchange, and apparatus therefor
EP2354014A1 (de) * 2010-02-02 2011-08-10 Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. Vorrichtung und Verfahren zur Herstellung von mindestens einer in einer Hülle aus wärmeschrumpfendem Material gewickelten Mehrfachverpackung, zusammengesetzt aus einer Vielzahl von Verpackungen
US20140196409A1 (en) * 2013-01-15 2014-07-17 Alain Serf Restraining Flaps of an Insert
US20170253359A1 (en) * 2016-03-01 2017-09-07 Msk - Verpackungs-Systeme Gmbh Method and apparatus for shrinking a heat-shrink film applied around an, in particular palletized, goods stack
CN108058398A (zh) * 2017-12-13 2018-05-22 新乐华宝塑料制品有限公司 一种全自动化浴帘机
CN114516451A (zh) * 2022-02-24 2022-05-20 镇江市之远塑料科技有限公司 一种筹码全自动包装设备及其使用方法

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2164911B (en) * 1984-09-17 1989-06-01 Kureha Chemical Ind Co Ltd Apparatus for heat shrinking plastics film used for wrapping
DE102011052101B4 (de) 2011-07-25 2023-10-05 Krones Aktiengesellschaft Schrumpfvorrichtung mit Gebindekühlung
DE202014101672U1 (de) 2014-04-09 2014-04-16 Krones Aktiengesellschaft Schrumpfvorrichtung mit Gebindekühlung
DE102014105057A1 (de) 2014-04-09 2015-10-15 Krones Aktiengesellschaft SCHRUMPFVORRICHTUNG MIT GEBINDEKÜHLUNG UND VERFAHREN ZUM ERZEUGEN EINES GLEICHMÄßIGEN, HOMOGENEN KÜHLMITTELSTROMS
EP3129735B1 (de) 2014-04-09 2018-05-09 Krones Aktiengesellschaft Schrumpfvorrichtung mit gebindekühlung und verfahren zum erzeugen eines gleichmässigen, homogenen kühlmittelstroms

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US2951325A (en) * 1956-12-07 1960-09-06 Nat Dairy Prod Corp Sealing and severing mechanism
US3342306A (en) * 1964-01-09 1967-09-19 Fabbri Ermanno Conveyor with troughs of variable depth
US3389478A (en) * 1966-03-03 1968-06-25 Anderson Electric Corp Apparatus for thermally conditioning articles and the like
US3597852A (en) * 1970-01-02 1971-08-10 Deering Milliken Res Corp Coin conveyor and shrink oven
US3727324A (en) * 1970-09-18 1973-04-17 Despatch Ind Inc Shrink tunnel for palletized loads
US3736723A (en) * 1971-05-19 1973-06-05 Emhart Corp Film wrapping machine
US3766708A (en) * 1970-11-13 1973-10-23 Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co Apparatus for fastening a superposed mass of sheet-like materials

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2951325A (en) * 1956-12-07 1960-09-06 Nat Dairy Prod Corp Sealing and severing mechanism
US3342306A (en) * 1964-01-09 1967-09-19 Fabbri Ermanno Conveyor with troughs of variable depth
US3389478A (en) * 1966-03-03 1968-06-25 Anderson Electric Corp Apparatus for thermally conditioning articles and the like
US3597852A (en) * 1970-01-02 1971-08-10 Deering Milliken Res Corp Coin conveyor and shrink oven
US3727324A (en) * 1970-09-18 1973-04-17 Despatch Ind Inc Shrink tunnel for palletized loads
US3766708A (en) * 1970-11-13 1973-10-23 Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co Apparatus for fastening a superposed mass of sheet-like materials
US3736723A (en) * 1971-05-19 1973-06-05 Emhart Corp Film wrapping machine

Cited By (27)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4047359A (en) * 1976-09-01 1977-09-13 Firma Heinrich Kuper Device for packaging an object in foil
US4250692A (en) * 1978-12-22 1981-02-17 Laurel Bank Machine Co., Ltd. Apparatus for binding paper sheets
US4319443A (en) * 1979-09-28 1982-03-16 Nordson Corporation Film wrapping machine
US4706444A (en) * 1985-11-11 1987-11-17 Baumer Di Mario Gambetti Apparatus for wrapping continuously moving articles with heat-shrinkable material
US4738079A (en) * 1987-04-07 1988-04-19 Lantech, Inc. Method and apparatus for severing packaging material between successive wrapped loads during a continuous wrapping process
US5062217A (en) * 1990-11-13 1991-11-05 Ossid Corporation Selective sequential shrink apparatus and process
US5203144A (en) * 1991-04-03 1993-04-20 Baumer S.R.L. Machines for packaging articles with heat-shrinking material
US5203146A (en) * 1991-07-29 1993-04-20 Baumer S.R.L. Machine for the packaging of articles of any size in sheets of, in particular, a heat-shrinking material
US5400570A (en) * 1993-05-17 1995-03-28 Bennett; Charles J. Method and apparatus for heat shrinking film around a product
US5899048A (en) * 1993-09-23 1999-05-04 W.R. Grace & Co.-Conn. Shrink tunnel
EP1073589A1 (de) * 1998-01-27 2001-02-07 Alain Cerf Vorrichtung zum umhüllen mit folie
EP1073589A4 (de) * 1998-01-27 2003-04-23 Alain Cerf Vorrichtung zum umhüllen mit folie
US6393809B2 (en) 1998-11-03 2002-05-28 Klockner Bartelt, Inc. Servo-controlled pouch making apparatus
US6381919B2 (en) 1998-11-03 2002-05-07 Klockner-Bartelt, Inc. Modular packaging machine with web tension control
US6701696B1 (en) * 1999-04-15 2004-03-09 Minipack-Torre S.P.A. Packaging machine of the tunnel type for carrying out packaging with a heat-shrinkable film
US20040009030A1 (en) * 2002-05-07 2004-01-15 Kudalkar Vijay Balkrishna Arrangement for making textured film solid cleanser holders
US20090013649A1 (en) * 2005-12-09 2009-01-15 Deutsche Mechatronics Gmbh Shrinking process for producing solid, transportable and printable containers and a device for carrying out a shrinking process of this type
US7946100B2 (en) * 2005-12-09 2011-05-24 Khs Gmbh Shrinking process for producing solid, transportable and printable containers and a device for carrying out a shrinking process of this type
US20100024364A1 (en) * 2006-08-09 2010-02-04 Tuchwat Schagidow Method of operating a shrink wrapping machine in a container filling plant for disposing portions of patterns at a substantially predetermined location and orientation on each shrink wrapped flat of containers, before and after a roller exchange, and apparatus therefor
EP2354014A1 (de) * 2010-02-02 2011-08-10 Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. Vorrichtung und Verfahren zur Herstellung von mindestens einer in einer Hülle aus wärmeschrumpfendem Material gewickelten Mehrfachverpackung, zusammengesetzt aus einer Vielzahl von Verpackungen
US20140196409A1 (en) * 2013-01-15 2014-07-17 Alain Serf Restraining Flaps of an Insert
US10071827B2 (en) * 2013-01-15 2018-09-11 Alain Cerf Restraining flaps of an insert
US20170253359A1 (en) * 2016-03-01 2017-09-07 Msk - Verpackungs-Systeme Gmbh Method and apparatus for shrinking a heat-shrink film applied around an, in particular palletized, goods stack
CN108058398A (zh) * 2017-12-13 2018-05-22 新乐华宝塑料制品有限公司 一种全自动化浴帘机
CN108058398B (zh) * 2017-12-13 2023-11-14 新乐华宝塑料制品有限公司 一种全自动化浴帘机
CN114516451A (zh) * 2022-02-24 2022-05-20 镇江市之远塑料科技有限公司 一种筹码全自动包装设备及其使用方法
CN114516451B (zh) * 2022-02-24 2024-03-26 镇江市之远塑料科技有限公司 一种筹码全自动包装设备及其使用方法

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Publication number Publication date
GB1421977A (en) 1976-01-21
DE2320424A1 (de) 1974-03-14

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