Classifications

• • 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
  • B65B43/00—Forming, feeding, opening or setting-up containers or receptacles in association with packaging
  • B65B43/26—Opening or distending bags; Opening, erecting, or setting-up boxes, cartons, or carton blanks
  • B65B43/265—Opening, erecting or setting-up boxes, cartons or carton blanks

Definitions

• Plastic trays are known which are used in particular for the transport of fruit and vegetables and in which the side walls are connected to the floor via a film hinge in order to be able to be folded against the floor and so during the
• the invention has for its object to provide an automatic opening device for collapsible crates of the type described in the introduction, which makes it possible, after removing individual crates in the collapsed state from a stack, to open them by opening the side walls and then to stack them again in the collapsed state .
• the invention proposes a device for opening which by
• Mechanism is loaded, which takes the folded crates individually from a stack and which is coupled at the exit with a stacking mechanism for opened crates; furthermore, in order to maintain a single linear advancement direction of the trays, proposed that the unfolding process takes place in an elevated position with respect to the loading and exit movement of the trays and that in a first moment, after the advancement of the trays in the longitudinal direction, by means of
• Swivel arms provided with gripping elements which act on the opposite lateral edges of the two longitudinal side walls, are opened up while in a subsequent second moment the transverse side walls are opened up by swivel arms with their gripping elements acting on the upper edge of these walls.
• one of the gripping elements of the swivel arms which causes the longitudinal walls to be opened, is fixed or can be fixed in different positions, while the other gripping element is actuated by a small pneumatic cylinder in such a way that it can exert a slight pressure on the side wall in order to provide a pushing force in the direction against the stationary gripping element.
• gripping elements of this arm always act at the same height, regardless of the height of the side wall.
• the swivel arms for opening the transverse side walls are adjustable in order to be able to be adapted to the side wall height, furthermore they are provided with a gripping element which is actuated by a pneumatic piston.
• the axes of rotation of these, preferably pneumatically operated, swivel arms are arranged coaxially with the axis of the corresponding film hinges;
• the invention proposes that the axis of rotation of the swivel arms for opening the transverse side walls be offset slightly downwards, thereby causing the snap-in of the
• Hook-in elements is favored by slightly depressing the transverse side walls in the direction of the floor during the last opening phase, which allows the hook-in elements to engage and snap in. This effect, what is achieved by the offset between the hinge axis and the axis of the swivel arm, is particularly important for crates with higher side walls because they also have hooking elements in intermediate areas.
• the invention does not rule out the passage of the trays through the opening device in the transverse direction, also in this case the opening device will always open the longitudinal side walls of the tray in a first phase and open the transverse side walls in the subsequent phase.
• the gripping elements of the swivel arms leave the side walls free and the crate is lowered again to the level of the feed movement in order to be transported further to the stacking.
• Fig.l shows a folding device according to the invention for foldable crates in
• FIG. 2 shows the cross-section of the opening device for foldable crates shown in FIG. 1, with one crate open in the upper position and with another crate in the lower position in order to be conveyed further for stacking.
• This lifting mechanism consists essentially of an arm 3a with a guide 3b, which is vertically displaceable on the vertical tube 3c by the pneumatic cylinder 3b; on the opposite side, the same arm 3a is guided by a fork 3g on the vertical tube 3f.
• the folded tray 8 is lifted 8c vertically into the opening position, where the longitudinal side walls 81 are opened up by means of the swivel arms 7a in a first moment; the axis of rotation 7 of the swivel arms is coaxial with the axis of the corresponding film hinges of the walls on the bottom 8d of the tray 8.
• the swivel arm 7a has two gripping elements 7b which act laterally on the opposite lateral edges of the longitudinal side wall 81.
• Gripping elements is non-adjustable (support) or is adjustable according to several predetermined positions, while the second gripping element 7f is actuated by a pneumatic cylinder in such a way that the side wall 81 is pressed against the non-adjustable gripping element and is thereby held.
• the swivel arm 7a is swiveled in the direction 7e by the pneumatic cylinders 7c in order to bring about the opening of the longitudinal side walls 81.
• the swivel frames 6c come into operation for opening the transverse side walls 8b which are driven by the cylinders 6e.
• These swivel frames 6c are mounted in such a way that their axis of rotation 6 is somewhat lower, with respect to the axis of the hinge by means of which the
• Transverse side walls 8b are articulated to the bottom 8d of the tray.
• the swivel frames 6c are provided with a gripping element 6b at the end of an angle arm 6a.
• the angle arm 6a is adjustable and corresponding to the different height of the transverse side walls 8b of the tray is moved 6g by a cylinder to grip the transverse side wall 8b at the upper edge.
• Gripping elements 6b and 7b free the side walls in order to be able to be pivoted back into the starting position by means of the arms 6a and 7a, which are moved by the cylinders 7c and 6e. Then the opened crate 8 is lowered vertically by the movement of the arm 3a driven by the cylinder 3d, until the support guides 3 for the crate 8 again with the guides 4 of the outlet from the opening station B and with the subsequent guides 4a of the stacking station for the opened ones Rise, are aligned.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Rigid Containers With Two Or More Constituent Elements (AREA)
• Making Paper Articles (AREA)
• Closing Of Containers (AREA)
• Supplying Of Containers To The Packaging Station (AREA)
• Agricultural Machines (AREA)
• Carriages For Children, Sleds, And Other Hand-Operated Vehicles (AREA)
• Air Bags (AREA)
• Stacking Of Articles And Auxiliary Devices (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=11346672

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Cited By (8)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (2)

• 1994
  • 1994-12-23 IT IT94BZ000064A patent/IT1278344B1/it active IP Right Grant
• 1995
  • 1995-12-19 ES ES95942178T patent/ES2116784T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1995-12-19 AT AT95942178T patent/ATE163608T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1995-12-19 WO PCT/EP1995/005025 patent/WO1996020113A1/de active IP Right Grant
  • 1995-12-19 DE DE59501557T patent/DE59501557D1/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1995-12-19 EP EP95942178A patent/EP0746500B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime

Patent Citations (2)

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