WO1999026777A1

WO1999026777A1 - Method and machines for creasing and in-line cutting of an untrimmed size for forming cardboard packages

Info

Publication number: WO1999026777A1
Application number: PCT/FR1998/002528
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jean-Claude Serre
Original assignee: Serre Jean Claude
Priority date: 1997-11-25
Filing date: 1998-11-25
Publication date: 1999-06-03
Also published as: AU1247399A; FR2771333A1; FR2771333B1

Abstract

The invention concerns a method and machines for creasing and in-line cutting of a solid fibreboard untrimmed size (1), corrugated or the like, for forming a package such as a regular slotted container, cardboard tray, drum-like case or part of said package having any cross section, from a flat blank (3) perfectly dimensioned and creased to provide accurate folding lines. The invention is characterised in that means are arranged such that the untrimmed size (1), extracted from a magazine (8), and transferred onto an anvil (9), is properly notched, advantageously in one operation, by one or several tools (10) such as die cutting machines, co-operating with suitable recesses (11) of the anvil (9) to release the discarded pieces of the notching and also, before, after or preferably simultaneously, creased by one or several tools (12) to mark the fibreboard compressed on the anvil (9), without cutting it, thereby providing the flat blank (3) for the package (2).

Description

PROCESS AND MACHINES FOR INLINE RAINING AND CUTTING OF A RAW FORMAT FOR FORMING PACKAGES

CARDBOARD-BASED

The invention relates to a method for obtaining a package or a part of this package, of any cross section, from a raw format of sheet material such as corrugated cardboard or compact cardboard, as well as a machine. for creasing and cutting in line of the same format for the formation of a packaging of the type of an American box (RSC), a tray or a drum box formed by a belt and one or two added caps, a box box, or a folding box, or a case, etc ... set in volume by folding, gluing, stapling, snap-fastening or the like.

Until now, all of this packaging has been formed from the sides of compact or corrugated cardboard, cut and grooved at cardboard manufacturers and, in the case of American boxes, glued and folded and then tied, before delivery on a pallet to a customer who , as and when required, put them in volume on a training machine.

In addition to the inevitable handling and storage operations between the cartoner and the client, subjecting the cartons to annoying moisture upturns, it is well known that such a technique does not provide any precision when assembling the boxes at the client. Indeed, when unstacking the cutouts to transfer them to a volume setting tool, the lateral guidance which is carried out cannot take account of the moisture uptakes which can significantly modify the dimensions of the cutouts and we cannot further correct the deviations if not the positioning errors of the creases constituting most of the time the fold lines during the volume setting operations for example on a mandrel. In general, this results in defects in the geometry of the mounted packaging which, if they often detract from the aesthetics, can seriously disturb the filling and closing of the boxes, or even the handling and stacking operations. on pallet at the time of shipment of filled cases.

Some have already proposed partial solutions to these problems of positioning cutouts on the volume setting mechanisms, such as pistons, benders, etc. This is for example the case of patent FR-88.03710 which proposes a very device complex aimed at ensuring the coincidence of the grooves of a flat cut with the edges of a forming mandrel in principle making it possible to avoid folding faults creating, as has been said, serious dimensional disorders on the mounted cases.

Besides that this solution solves only a small part of the problem, namely the formation of the belt of the boxes at best, the proposed device is extremely complex, resulting in relatively long assembly times and above all at a cost of machine quite unbearable for case packers for small or medium series.

To overcome all of these drawbacks, and in accordance with a first objective of the invention, there is proposed a method for obtaining a packaging of the American box type of any section or a part of this packaging, together called packaging, from a raw format sheet of corrugated cardboard or compact cardboard, placed in volume by folding articulated around predetermined lines in a precise manner then, gluing, stapling, snap-fastening or the like, characterized by the succession of the following stages: a) from a store, unstacking of a raw format with dimensions at least equal to the dimensions of the deployed and flat packaging, b) transfer with lateralization of the format to one or more creasing and / or cutting stations for exactly position the fold lines and the notches together forming the flat cut of the packaging, c) transfer of the flat cut, and simultaneous gluing on one and / or the other of its faces, zones necessary for mounting the packaging up to the volume setting station carried out by any known means, d) ejection of the mounted packaging.

According to this process, cardboard manufacturers do not only eliminate the prior creasing and cutting operations and, where appropriate, the folding / gluing operations for American or semi-American cases, by delivering raw formats of corrugated or compact cardboard with dimensions that the same customer can easily easily optimize to avoid multiple storage. Thus, we still suppress the operation of ligating and repalettising the cuts in cardboard boxes and incidentally we also delete the test cuts and even the forms of test cuts necessary today for the development of each machine of volume setting. Insofar as, in accordance with the method, the creasing and / or cutting operations are developed just before the volume setting operations, it is clear that one necessarily obtains an almost absolute dimensional precision of the flat cuts intended for the forming boxes: in fact, the first operation after unstacking a raw format, consists of cutting it to the exact dimensions corresponding to the final packaging. This completely exempts moisture absorption during the transport and storage of the cardboard. Similarly, the creasing of the format being carried out just before its transfer to the volume setting mechanisms, it is quite easy to adjust the creasing and cutting means so that its fold lines are strictly compatible with these mechanisms such as mandrels , pistons, folders, etc ..., which simplifies them and naturally reduces incidents of volume build-up.

It is well understood that good dimensional accuracy of the packaging makes it easier to fill and close it, as well as the handling and stacking operations on a pallet in particular; this also contributes to improving the mechanical resistance of the boxes: since the folded areas are not chewed following squareness or positioning faults, with the double advantage of improving the aesthetics of the assembled box, and of being able, for equal resistance, to reduce the quality of the material and therefore its price. According to another characteristic of the process which has just been described, it is possible without difficulty to decouple the transfer operation of the flat blank leaving the creasing / cutting station, from the volume setting operation which can be carried out by n any form forming machine such as those described in patents FR-97.13963, FR-97.13964, FR-9313965 in the name of the applicant; these machines can then be supplied alternately either with traditional cuts supplied from a specific store or with cuts made online as is proposed in the invention.

According to another characteristic of the invention aimed at simplifying the formation of packaging while considerably increasing the assembly precision, it is provided that on the creasing and / or cutting station (s), the cutting operations are carried out in a single pass tool, these operations being advantageously combined with the creasing operations preferably carried out simultaneously. On the other hand, it is expected that the cardboard scraps resulting from the cutting will be ejected simultaneously, that is to say in the same tool movement without the need to move or transfer the format under the 'tool. This simultaneous cutting and shelling operations will be specified below.

In the American document US-5,596,250, mention is made of an in-line creasing / cutting device intended to produce trays with cells, in particular from sheets or rolls of paper; in addition to the fact that these creasing / cutting operations in line in no way respond to the concerns of the present invention which only concerns the production of boxes of the American box type, made of corrugated or compact cardboard, the cutting provided for in this prior document is conventionally obtained by stamping on a flat anvil; this requires a subsequent peeling step to clear the issues of notching; this double operation lengthens the manufacturing times and implements punching pressures significantly higher than the pressures required by die-cutting techniques as will be detailed below.

Other characteristics and advantages will emerge more clearly from the description which will be given of several variants of machines implementing the method according to the invention, which description will be given by way of nonlimiting examples with reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation in elevation of a line of creasing-cutting in line implementing the method according to the invention for the particular manufacture of a tray-lifter or a cover of a drum case, for example,

- Figure 2 is a schematic top view of the machine shown in Figure 1, - Figure 3 is a schematic elevational view of a simplified machine implementing the method according to the invention particularly suitable for the manufacture of drum case belts or the like,

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of the machine shown in FIG. 3,

- Figure 5 shows on a larger scale and along the section V / V of Figure 3 a set of two grooving rollers operating on the machine shown in Figures 3 and 4, - Figure 6 is a representation on a larger scale of a cutting tool combined with the creasing tool according to a section VI / VI of FIG. 2, at rest (solid lines) and in action on the cardboard (thin mixed lines). - Figure 7 is a top view corresponding to the previous figure shown on the same scale, of the grooved and notched format.

Implementing the process according to the invention and with reference to the drawings, in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, there will now be exposed a first machine variant for creasing and cutting in line of a raw format 1 of corrugated cardboard, although compact cardboard or the like can be used , for the formation of a packaging of the tray-type 2 or revolving box cover, etc. It is understood that such a machine could be easily adapted for any other packaging 2 whether they are boxes of the RSC type (abbreviation of the English term Regular Slottered Case), i.e. boxes of the American type with four or more sides (eight for example) or semi-American or even folding boxes, cases but also all parts of these same packages such as, for example, the bottom caps or the closure of drum boxes.

All these packages, which can have any cross section, are generally obtained from a flat cut 3, corresponding to the dimensions of the deployed package, grooved and cut to respectively provide fold lines 5 favoring the volume of packaging 2 and notches 6 at least necessary for any flaps 7 of packaging 2.

According to one of the aims of the invention, such a machine is characterized in that means are arranged so that the raw format 1 extracted from a destacking magazine 8 and transferred to an anvil 9 fixed on which it comes to rest preferably at flat and horizontally, or on the one hand suitably notched, preferably and advantageously in a single tool pass, by means of one or more cutting tools 10 of the punch type, cooperating with suitable recesses 11 of the anvil 9 to clear the notches falling and for said raw format 1 to be on the other hand, beforehand, successively or preferably simultaneously, grooved by one or more tools 12 of suitable shape and dimensions, coming in a vertical movement perpendicular to the plan of format 1, mark without cutting, the cardboard of compressed format on the fixed anvil 9. It goes without saying that the same result could be obtained with an anvil 9 movable vertically and fixed cutting and creasing tools.

According to a first variant of a machine implementing the method, the cutting tool 10 is for example made up of an inclined cutting part 101, carried by a blade holder 102 (fig. 6) of length and thickness respectively equal to the length and to the width of a notch 6, coming to cooperate in a vertical punching movement with the recesses 11 provided at the right of each tool 10 and over the entire thickness of the fixed anvil 9 so that the blade holder 102 of the tool 10, after progressive penetration of its inclined blade 101, can come exactly to coincide and slide inside the recess 11; advantageously, this device makes it possible not only to produce any notch 6 in a simple vertical movement of the tool 10 but also to simultaneously repel the resulting notching drop, through the recess 11, the lower part of which is advantageously flared to facilitate the evacuation of the fall downwards (fig. 1).

Thus, one achieves in a single pass, and the cutting of the notches 6 and their peeling without transfer of the format to a specific station. It will be noted in this regard that such a cutting tool requires only a few pounds of pressure to perform the cutting and shelling, whereas currently in cardboard manufacturers, the shaping of the cutouts flat by slicing on dead plate

(technique known as the Anglo-Saxon term flat) requires pressures of several tonnes to perform the pre-cutting, by imposing, in addition, a transfer of the cutting to a shelling station, therefore an additional operation.

According to the same machine variant, the creasing tool 12 comprises an active part having the general shape of a rod 121 of substantially semi-circular cross section extending linearly at the bottom of a strip 122 of length equal to the length of each crease 5 which it is desired to print on the surface of the format 1; for this, it suffices to vertically lower the strip 122 until it contacts the upper surface of the carton at the point where a fold line is desired; it then suffices to continue vertically the stroke of the strip 122 over approximately half the thickness of the cardboard (as shown in thin dashed lines in Figure 6), resting on the anvil 9. The tool 12 is then reassembled , leaving an imprint on the cardboard corresponding to the profile of the rod 121 as shown in FIG. 6 at 123 and 124.

It is obvious that the profile of the rod 121 can be of any shape that is desired and in particular it can be discontinuous over the entire width of the creasing tool 12 to subsequently determine discontinuous lines of folds.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention and with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, provision is made to associate the notching 10 and creasing 12 tools in the same vertical drive kinematics, calculated so that the cutting edge 101 of the or cookie cutters 10 first enters the cardboard of format 1, cutting it by sinking into the recesses 11 provided for this purpose in the anvil 9 deep enough so that, in the same movement, the rod 121 of the creases 12 come to mark the surface of the cardboard 1 and then trigger the recoil of the tools 10,12 to release and transfer the flat blank 3 thus formed towards the volume setting area of the tray-maker or the cap as it will be explained further.

Deposited one by one from a store 8, each raw format 1 of cardboard is first cut in width and in length strictly to the dimensions of the package 2 deployed and laid flat; to do this, cutting tools 10 are used as set out above.

Format 1 is then cut and grooved on a fixed anvil 9 by means of respectively cutting tools 10 and creasing 12 formed and used as described above. After notching and creasing, the format 1 then becomes the flat cut 3 corresponding to the packaging 2; this cut-out 3 comprises in the center, delimited by fold lines obtained by creases 12, a panel 14 constituting the bottom or the closure of the fitted tray-lifter 2. Coming from the panel 14 and articulated thereto by means of the fold lines 52 , 53, long flaps 71 and short flaps 72 delimited by two notches 6 allowing the tray 2 to be formed by a horizontal transfer of the flat blank 3 below a plunger 15 for setting volume (FIG. 1 and 2); during the transfer of the cut, is deposited on the short flaps 72, lines of glue 16 by interposing nozzles of glue 17 on the transfer path; as soon as the cutout 3 comes into abutment (fig. 1) on the volume-forming tool, a first presser 18 in the shape of a transverse bell, cooperating with the piston 15 pushes down the panel 14 of the cutout 3 gradually constrained the long flaps 71 coming in vertical position. Two other lateral pressers 19 and 20, acting in the horizontal plane according to the arrows P in FIG. 2, then come to bend at 90 ° the end parts 73 of the long flaps 71, detached from the short flaps 72 by notches 6 and articulated to the flaps long 71 thanks to fold lines 51; in this position, the end portions 73 now being in a vertical position and in a plane perpendicular to the long flaps 71, a third presser perpendicular to the first 18 (not shown in the drawings) in the shape of a bell, constrains the short flaps 72 previously glued 16, against said end portions 73 thus terminating the tray 2. This can then be ejected and transferred by a simple conveyor 21 to a packing station or volume setting of drum boxes, to constitute the cap.

It is obvious that for the volume of the tray 2, we could have proceeded more conventionally by introducing a flat cut 3 directly prepared at a cardboard box in the usual way; for this it is useful to be able to decouple the creasing-cutting stations in line from the volume setting station, with the advantage of using either the traditional method or the online method by the process according to the invention.

According to another variant of machines implementing the method with reference to Figures 3, 4 and 5, there will now be described a circular creasing tool 25 ensuring on raw formats 1 pre-cut to the dimensions of the package 2 deployed flat , creasing in the direction of transfer of said formats 1, intended to constitute fold lines 5 facilitating its subsequent setting in volume. Such a device is particularly suitable for making belts 26, for example of corrugated cardboard, for mounting drum boxes or the like.

In accordance with FIG. 4 representing a top view of a schematic production line, the formats are unstacked one by one from a magazine 8 and then, according to an optional step not shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the format 1 is cut to dimensions external of the flat deployed package 2; the format is then guided horizontally under a set 25 of four creasing rollers mounted frontally in the same vertical plane to produce four parallel creases 27,28,29,30 across the width of the format 1 delimiting four panels 31 to 34 and a junction tab 35, which will then suffice to fold, for example around a mandrel 36, in order to obtain a joined belt as for example described in patent FR-97.13964.

According to a particular embodiment of the grooving rollers shown on a larger scale in FIG. 5, each assembly 25 superimposes a grooving roller 37, preferably mounted on a horizontal axis 38 below the format 1 and a pressure roller 39, mounted on an axis 40 collinear with the axis 38 and in the same vertical plane as the latter. The grooving roller 37 is provided on its peripheral edge 371 a ring 372, similar to the ring 121 of the creasing tool 12 in the previous variant; this rod 372, of cross-section for example semi-circular, comes to mark below the underside of the format 1 maintained vertically in pressure by the edge 391 of the pressure roller 39. The distance between the two axes 38 and 40 of the rollers being adjusted so that the penetration of the rod 372 of the creasing roller 37 takes place over approximately half the thickness of the cardboard in order to avoid any unnecessary weakening thereof and, on the contrary, to provide an effective fold line. Naturally, the ring 372 of the creasing roller 37 could be of any shape or section to punctually create specific imprints; one could even imagine that the rod 372 has interruptions creating, for all practical purposes, discontinuous grooves on format 1.

According to a characteristic combination of the method according to the invention, this latter variant of machine is combined with a creasing machine for in-line cutting as described in the first variant for the manufacture of caps for drum cases. It is thus possible to manufacture online not only flat cutouts for the belt 26 of a drum case for example, the bottom cap of which is advantageously obtained from a flat cutout produced on a cutting-creasing line such that described in the various embodiments of the first variant.

Of course, it would be possible, without departing from the scope of the invention, to produce more complex machines incorporating at the same time punch die cutting stations, creasing stations by vertical stamping possibly associated with cutting operations as well as creasing by rollers. -rainers making it possible to execute the fold lines in the transfer direction of the raw formats, reserving for the vertical creases to carry out the fold lines in the transverse direction with respect to the same transfer direction. Such combinations will for example be necessary for manufacturing RSC type packaging or folding boxes or cases, etc ...

Finally and according to a particular characteristic of machines using rollers-grooves 37,39, the raw format 1 extracted from a destacking magazine 8 is then transferred at a speed V, preferably by pushing, to one or more sets 25 of rollers- creases 37 rotating at a tangential speed equal to V in the direction of format 1 drive, the number of sets of creasing rollers 37 being, moreover and in principle, equal to the numbers of fold lines 27.30 required in one same direction, when setting the volume of the packaging that one wishes to achieve.

In direct relation to this last characteristic, each set 25 of grooving rollers 37, 39 is made up, as we have seen, of a first roller 37 provided on its peripheral edge 371 or at least on part of it, with a rod 372 capable of marking the cardboard to produce one of its fold lines 27.30 said cardboard being in abutment on the smooth edge 391 of a second roller 39 arranged in line with the first 37 in the same vertical plane, the two rollers 37.39 being driven in the opposite direction so that their tangential speed at the points of contact with the cardboard is equal and in the same direction as the transfer speed V of format 1.

Naturally, it is possible to replace the support roller 39 with smooth edge 391 by any other means, for example fixed, provided that it constitutes a vertical reaction element allowing the grooving roller 37 to deposit its imprint.

All the variants of machines implementing the process according to the invention taken individually or in combination to constitute more or less complex formers are remarkable for their simplicity of operation and the rusticity of their manufacture, which makes them particularly competitive in particular for speed volume machines.

Claims

1 - Process for obtaining a packaging of the American box type of any section or part of this packaging, together called packaging, from a raw format in sheet of corrugated cardboard or of compact cardboard, put in volume by folding articulated around precisely predetermined lines, then gluing, stapling, snap-fastening or the like, characterized by the succession of the following stages: a) from a magazine, unstacking of a raw format of dimensions at least equal to the dimensions of the packaging deployed and laid flat, b) transfer with lateralization of the format to one or more creasing and / or cutting stations in order to exactly position the fold lines and the notches which together form the flat cutting of the packaging, c) transfer of the flat blank, and simultaneous gluing on one and / or the other of its faces, of the zones necessary for mounting the packaging up to the volume setting station carried out by any means con naked, d) ejection of the mounted packaging.

2 - A method according to claim 1 characterized in that in step c_ we decouple the transfer of the flat cut from the volume setting operation to be able to alternately use traditional flat cuts supplied from a store specific or line cutouts formed in step b.

3 - Method according to claim 1 characterized in that on the creasing and / or cutting station (s), the cutting operations are carried out in a single tool pass, these operations being advantageously combined with the creasing operations performed preferably simultaneously.

4 - Process according to claim 3 characterized in that the cutting and shelling operations which correspond to them are carried out in the same tool movement, that is to say without displacement or transfer of the format. 5 - Machine for creasing and cutting in line of a raw format (1) in compact, corrugated or similar cardboard, for the formation of a package (2) of the RSC type, tray, drum case, box box, box folding, case ..., or a part of this packaging, called packaging assembly having any section, from a flat cut (3) perfectly dimensioned and grooved to provide rigorous fold lines favoring a setting precise volume of the packaging, using tools (12) of suitable shape and dimensions which, in a movement perpendicular to the plane of the format, mark without cutting it, the compressed cardboard on the anvil (9) characterized in that means are arranged so that the raw format (1), extracted from a unstacking magazine (8), and transferred to an anvil (9), on which it rests, either, beforehand, successively or preferably simultaneously, suitably notched, advantageously in a single p asse, by one or more tools (10) of the cookie cutter type, cooperating with corresponding recesses (11) of the anvil (9) to clear the notches falling and thus provide the flat cut (3) of the 'packaging (2).

6 - Machine according to claim 5 characterized in that the notching (10) and creasing (12) tools are associated in the same drive kinematics (13), comprising means so that the cutting edge (101) of the or cookie cutters (10) first penetrate into the carton (1), cut it out by disappearing into the recesses (11) provided for this purpose in the anvil (9), deep enough so that in the same movement , the crease (s) (12) mark the surface of the cardboard, and trigger the recoil of the tools (10,12) to release and transfer the flat blank (3) thus formed to the volume setting area of the packaging . 7 - Machine for creasing and cutting in line of a raw format (1) in compact, corrugated or similar cardboard, for the formation of a packaging of the RSC type, tray, drum case, box box, folding box, case ..., or of a part of this packaging, called packaging assembly having any section, from a flat cut (3) perfectly dimensioned and grooved to provide rigorous fold lines favoring a precise volume setting of the packaging, characterized in that means are arranged so that the raw format (1), extracted from a unstacking magazine (8), is transferred to an anvil (9) on which it rests to be suitably notched, advantageously in a single pass, by one or more tools (10) of the cookie cutter type, cooperating with suitable recesses (11) of the anvil (9) to release the notching falls and either, before or successively, grooved by one or more assemblies ( 25) of grooving rollers (37,39), the number of sets of grooving rollers being in principle equal to the number of fold lines (27,30) necessary for the volume of the packaging in the same direction given.

8 - Machine for creasing and cutting in line of a raw format (1) in compact, corrugated cardboard or the like, for the formation of a packaging of the RSC type, tray, drum case, box box, folding box, case ..., or a part of this packaging, called a packaging assembly having any section, from a flat cut (3) perfectly dimensioned and grooved to provide rigorous fold lines favoring a precise volume setting of the packaging, characterized in that means are arranged so that the raw format (1) extracted from a unstacking magazine (8) is then transferred at a speed V preferably by pushing towards one or more sets (25) of rollers -raineurs (37,39) rotating at a tangential speed equal to V, in the direction of format drive (1), the number of sets of roller-creasing (37) being in principle equal to the number of fold lines (27-30) necessary for the volume of the packaging llage (2) in the same given direction.

9 - Machine according to any one of claims 7 or 8 characterized in that each set (25) of grooving rollers (37,39) consists of a first roller (37) provided on its peripheral edge or at least on a part thereof, with a rod (372) of cross section capable of marking the carton (1) to produce a fold line (27 to 30) , of the flat cut (3) said cardboard (1) being preferably supported on the smooth edge (391) of a second roller (39) disposed in line with the first roller (37) in the same vertical plane, the two rollers (37,39) being driven so that their tangential speed at the points of contact with the carton (1) is equal and in the same direction as the transfer speed V of the format (1).