Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D71/00—Bundles of articles held together by packaging elements for convenience of storage or transport, e.g. portable segregating carrier for plural receptacles such as beer cans or pop bottles; Bales of material
  • B65D71/06—Packaging elements holding or encircling completely or almost completely the bundle of articles, e.g. wrappers
  • B65D71/08—Wrappers shrunk by heat or under tension, e.g. stretch films or films tensioned by compressed articles
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
  • B26F—PERFORATING; PUNCHING; CUTTING-OUT; STAMPING-OUT; SEVERING BY MEANS OTHER THAN CUTTING
  • B26F1/00—Perforating; Punching; Cutting-out; Stamping-out; Apparatus therefor
  • B26F1/18—Perforating by slitting, i.e. forming cuts closed at their ends without removal of material
  • B26F1/20—Perforating by slitting, i.e. forming cuts closed at their ends without removal of material with tools carried by a rotating drum or similar support
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D75/00—Packages comprising articles or materials partially or wholly enclosed in strips, sheets, blanks, tubes, or webs of flexible sheet material, e.g. in folded wrappers
  • B65D75/52—Details
  • B65D75/58—Opening or contents-removing devices added or incorporated during package manufacture
  • B65D75/5827—Tear-lines provided in a wall portion
  • B65D75/5833—Tear-lines provided in a wall portion for tearing out a portion of the wall
  • B65D75/5844—Tear-lines provided in a wall portion for tearing out a portion of the wall the portion of the wall being a narrow strip, e.g. between lines of weakness

Definitions

• the invention refers to a packaging of this kind which can be easily divided into several portions, each one containing a smaller number of bottles while keeping the integrity of the packaging wrapper to make it easier carrying away thereof. Characteristics and advantages of such a kind of container are widely described in the Patent EP-B-717.712, in the name of the same Applicant, whose contents are herein totally incorporated by reference.
• the invention finally concerns a score cut equipment wherein a reel of film is processed with suitable cutting tools to provide on the film one or more lines of incisions.
• Patent EP-717.712 has provided a new type of packaging for bottles by using a packaging film wherein a plurality of linear incisions, spaced by a suitable pitch, are performed along separation lines positioned between two rows of bottles.
• This type of packaging is easily divisible along said incision lines in submultiples of at least two bottles, every bottle of each sub-multiple being firmly held in position by the of packaging portion separated therewith.
• This new type of packaging - distinguished on the market by the trade mark ZIPACK® - has solved a number of problems related to transportation and marketing of bottles packaged in heat-shrinkable plastic film packagings, nowadays largely widespread in place of previous form of transportation such as wooden or plastic made cases with internal separating frames.
• a first technical peculiarity of the ZIPACK® packaging which in certain conditions could give rise to problems, is the effective directionality of the tearing line of the film, driven by each single incision, when the detachment of a submultipie is undergoing.
• the incisions - consisting of linear cuts of some mm of length - are performed by rotary cutting devices with blades which penetrate into the film, shown in the figures from 1 to 3.
• a cutting disk T provided with cutting teeth D on its circumference (fig. 1) is mounted, coaxial and adjacent to one or possibly two supporting wheels R, R' (fig. 2), upon the film P to be cut.
• the ratio incision/uncut and the value of the pitch L can be varied modifying the dimensions and the pitch of the teeth D on the disk T.
• the incision shape when - for example due to either an inadequate maintenance or an excessive blades penetration - the size of said Y shaped rips becomes tangible, after the shrinking phase of the film, the incision shape, instead of the required buttonhole shape with sharp ends, will have an ovalized-rectangular shape characterised by a reduced capability of imparting a correct directionality to the tearing line when separating the submultiples of the packaging.
• the tearing of the packaging film might not result quite regular so that the tearing line could deviate, in one or more zones - particularly those where the packaging shows an important curvature - from the incision line provided beforehand in the film.
• a tearing of this type is not satisfactory, not only from an esthetical point of view, but also as it might require an higher tearing energy and, sometimes, could determine a not satisfactory holding of the botdes contained in the separated submultipie.
• a first object of the present invention is to provide a packaging - and a relative manufacturing method - in which the incision lines of the film show such a conformation to ensure a perfecdy regular separation of the packaging into submultiples, which means an extremely easy separation, exacdy performed along the incision line provided in the film, besides ensuring a perfect mechanical resistance of the packaging during the transportation thereof.
• a second technical problem considered by the Applicant has been to achieve an easy and clear separation of the packaging submultiples even in the bottom portion of the packaging, i.e. where the two free strips of the length of packaging film are overlapped and sealed each other.
• being the alignment of the two overlapped free strips never perfect, sometimes it may happen that the incisions of one of the free strips actually overlap to an uncut zone of the other free strip, so as to be partially sealed during the shrinking phase, making less quick and effective the separation of the packaging submultiples.
• the incision lines on one of the two said free strips consist in two wide buttonholes, sufficientiy large to completely overlap to the normal incision lines provided on the other free strip, so avoiding their sealing.
• one band of film along each incision lines is subject to a corona treatment, so as to reduce the superficial reactivity thereof and prevent the subsequent sealing of the free strips in correspondence with said bands, thus maintaining the open-state of the incisions.
• a second object of the present invention therefore is to provide a new type of packaging - and the relative manufacturing method - where the separation of the submultiples occurs in a quick and clear way along all the perimeter of the packaging, including the bottom portion thereof, without any necessity of modifying the existent manufacturing methods of the packaging or performing any additional treatments to the film other than providing the incision lines.
• a third object of the present invention is then to provide a packaging with an easy- opening feature - and the relative manufacturing method - which do not require the use of any additive or special material, in addition to the heat-shrinkable film normally used to produce a traditional packaging, and which, moreover, do not give rise to film stripes or scraps when the easy-opening operation takes place.
• a fourth object of the present invention is finally to provide a cutting equipment apt to perform incision lines in an heat-shrinkable plastic film, and to be successfully used in the manufacturing methods of the botdes packaging according to the present invention.
• fig. 1 is a front view of a penetration cutting device according to the prior art, which can be used to perform the incision lines on a ZIPACK® packaging
• fig. 2 is a lateral view, partially in section, of the cutting device of fig. 1
• fig. 3 is a plan view illustrating an incision line performed in a film length, through the cutting device shown in fig. 1 and 2
• fig. 4 is a front view of a score cut device according to the prior art
• fig. 1 is a front view of a penetration cutting device according to the prior art, which can be used to perform the incision lines on a ZIPACK® packaging
• fig. 2 is a lateral view, partially in section, of the cutting device of fig. 1
• fig. 3 is a plan view illustrating an incision line performed in a film length, through the cutting device shown in fig. 1 and 2
• fig. 4 is a front view of a score cut device according to the prior art
• FIG. 11 is a lateral view, partially in section, of a score cut device provided with a resilient supporting wheel having a variable diameter, which can be used to perform incision lines in a packaging according to the present invention
• fig. 12 is a lateral view, partially in section, of the cutting device of fig. 11 in a different working position
• fig. 13 is a plan view illustrating an incision line performed in a film, through the cutting device shown in figures from 7 to 12
• fig. 14 is a front view of a score cut device having a plurality of cutting discs, which can be used to perform incision lines in a packaging according to the present invention
• fig. 15 is a lateral view, partially in section, of the cutting device of fig. 14; fig.
• FIG. 16 is a plan view illustrating an incision line performed in a film, through the cutting device shown in figs. 14 and 15;
• fig. 17 is a perspective schematic view of a packaging divisible into separable sections, according to the present invention;
• fig. 18 is a perspective schematic view of a packaging with an easy-opening feature, according to the present invention;
• fig. 1 is a schematic front view of a cutting equipment according to the present invention; and
• fig. 20 is a lateral view of the cutting equipment of fig. 19.
• the Applicant Having accurately studied the formation mechanism of the film cutting as well as that of the heat-shrinking of the packaging, the Applicant has succeeded in finding out the defects - illustrated in the preliminary section of the present description - belonging to the traditional cutting devices used to perform incision lines in films used for producing
• ZIPACK® packaging i.e. penetration cutting devices.
• the Applicant has therefore carried out a market search, even in market sectors far off that one of the present invention, in order to verify the availability of other cutting methods which would be free from the above mentioned disadvantages.
• a cutting device of such a type is schematically illustrated in figs. 4 to 6.
• the cutting tool consists of a disc T, yet direcdy leaning, through its teeth D, on a contrast roll C with the interposition of the film P to be cut.
• the teeth D have in this case an external profile perfecdy circular with an edge not particularly sharpened, so as not to engrave the surface of such a contrast roll C.
• the cutting disc T is mounted on a mobile holder S, pneumatically controlled so that the disk T will exercise a predetermined constant pressure on the contrast roll C.
• This type of score cut device performs cuts of high quality, since there is no relative movement between the film P and the teeth D apart from the simple compression along the cutting line; in this way it is not possible that the short rips or lateral tearings typical of the penetration cutting method take place.
• Normally score cut devices are used for continuos cuttings, by means of a disk T provided with a single edge perfecdy circular; their use has been further extended to obtain incision lines of the kind illustrated in fig. 6, in which the ratio incision/uncut is extremely high. To reach such a result short interruptions or interspaces are provided on the outline of a disk T with a continuos edge, so as to determine the formation of teeth D with a circular profile on that disk.
• such a stroke is not only limited, as in the previous versions, to 2-3 mm millimetres of maximum run, but it is finely adjustable through a micrometric regulation so as to allow the disk to run the only necessary stroke to go through the whole film, cutting the same, thus without allowing any further advancing of the cutting disk in the interspace between two subsequent teeth and therefore without giving rise to the above mentioned problems, i.e. the beating of the disk T in correspondence with said interspaces.
• both the cutting disk T and the contrast roll C rotate idle (devices with a mechanical connection between the disk T and the roll C, as well as powered versions, in fact are not generally used due to higher cost and device complication) so that their rotation is ensured only by the film P movement, it is quite clear that in case the contact between disk T and roll C should be regularly and repeatedly lost in correspondence with each interspace between subsequent teeth (where such an interspace would be sufficientiy wide to generate an incision line with the desired uncut length, driving on the cutting disk could become highly irregular, determining as a consequence an unacceptable unevenness in the formation of the incision lines.
• FIG. 7 A first embodiment of such a cutting device is illustrated in figs. 7 and 8.
• a cutting disk 1 - of a kind suitable for score cut, but with quite wide interspaces between its teeth 2, suitable to perform incision lines for a ZIPACK® packaging - is provided with a cam disk 3 of the same diameter, coaxial and fixedly connected in rotation thereto.
• the cams 4 of the cam disk 3 are positioned exacdy in correspondence with the interspaces between teeth 2 of the cutting disk 1 (as it appear in fig.
• the cams 4 have a thickness sufficientiy wide to guarantee a good support of the cutting disk 1 between two subsequent teeth (as clearly shown in fig. 1) without, however, determining any deterioration of the film P on which they lean on; to this purpose, they preferably have their edges adequately smoothed. In this way the cutting tool, consisting of the set of disks
• the circumferential extension of the cams 4 can be higher of the one of the corresponding interspaces of the disk 1) without that the functionality of the cutting tool would be substantially compromised; however such a solution, presendy, is not preferred.
• a second cam disk 3' (of which only the outline is indicated in fig. 8) can be placed on the other side of the disk 1, in case one likes to obtain a perfecdy symmetrical construction of the cutting tool.
• the external diameter of the supporting wheels 5 is equal to or slighdy higher than the cutting disk 1 diameter, in relation to the resiliency degree of the elastomeric covering 7, in such a way that, when the holder of the disk 1 (not illustrated) is pushed at its working pressure against the contrast roll C, the covering 7 of the supporting wheels 5 yields sufficientiy so as to allow the cutting disk 1 and in particular its teeth 2 to go completely through the film P which has to be cut.
• the above described supporting wheel 5 achieves also a second very important function, which is to ensure a correct and continuous driving of the cutting device, and therefore of the cutting disk 1, thanks to the motion of the film P, with which the supporting wheel 5 keeps a continuous contact.
• Such an additional function keeps its importance even in case the stroke end of the cutting disk 1 is controlled - by the way with a more cosdy solution - through a micrometric stop regulation, such as to mechanically prevent the longitudinal movement of the cutting disk 1 from extending beyond the value needed to cut the film P.
• the supporting wheel 5 is essential to keep the continuity of contact with the film P between two subsequent teeth of the cutting disk 1 so as to avoid a possible reciprocal sliding between the film P and the cutting tool which would negatively affect the position and the quality of the incisions.
• a second version of the first embodiment of the invention is shown in the figs. 11 and 12 and provides, in addition to the above mentioned advantages of the first version, a second additional function.
• the supporting wheel 5 consists of a metallic core 6 provided with a circumferential cavity in which it is lodged an elastomeric gasket 17, ring shaped and hollowed inside, ensuring to the cutting tool the same continuous supporting function ensured, in the first version, by the elastomeric covering 7.
• the cutting device of this second version allows - as already anticipated - a second additional function, thanks to the fact that the metallic core 6 of the wheel 5, and as a consequence the elastomeric gasket 17, can assume the two different positions shown in figs. 11 and 12 under the action of the electromagnet 9 placed around the mobile nucleus 8, apt to longitudinally slide with respect to the supporting shaft (not illustrated) of the cutting device.
• the electromagnet 9 When the electromagnet 9 is activated, the nucleus 8 moves from position d (fig. 11) to position d ⁇ (fig.
• the above mentioned electromagnetic control is characterised by both an high speed performance and a low inertia, and therefore it is perfecdy suitable to perform the cyclical interruption of the incision lines even at an high working speed, as necessary in one of the embodiments of the packaging according to the present invention described in the following.
• the supporting wheels according to the two versions above described having the peripheral rim made from an elastomeric material, can also be profitably used in conjunction with the cam disk of the first embodiment of the present invention.
• a coupling will allow to achieve a very good driving effect of the film and to exploit the interesting opportunities of spaced cutting offered by the supporting wheel with variable diameter, yet maintaining the mechanical positioning precision typical of the cam disk.
• the distance i (fig.16) between the two disks 1 and 1' is in the order of some millimetre, and more precisely is comprised between a minimum value of about 1 mm and a maximum value approximately equal to the length of the uncut p existing between two subsequent incisions of the same incision line; preferably such a distance is included into the range of 2-3 mm.
• the disks 1 and 1' have the same number of teeth 2 and 2' set out with an identical pitch, and are reciprocally mounted in such a way so that the teeth of one of the two disks take a configuration perfectly alternate with respect to those of the adjacent disk, as shown in fig. 14.
• the particular incision line obtained with the above described cutting device of the second embodiment of the invention, is illustrated in fig. 16.
• the maximum value of the pitch L of the teeth 2, 2' is 2 mm longer than the double cutting length t of a tooth so that, during the rotation of the cutting tool between one tooth and the subsequent one of the adjacent disk, there will not be an interval s longer than about 1/100 of the diameter of the cutting disk, i.e. about 1 mm in the case of standard cutting disks with a diameter of 100 mm.
• the teeth 2, 2' can have, for example, a length of 4 mm and a pitch length up to 10 mm.
• the packaging formed using this type of incision lines proves to be much more stable during the heat- shrinking as well as during the transportation, as all the tensions on the film P are subdivided among a double number of incisions and, consequendy, the stress on each single incision is substantially reduced.
• the packaging produced with the above mentioned incision line demonstrate to ensure a complete detachment of the packaging submultiples, even in the bottom area of the packaging - where, in relation with what has been said in the introductory section, the most critical conditions take place - without the necessity to apply any special treatment to the film P or to modify in any way the packaging manufacturing method.
• a convenient application for this type of incision lines is, for example, that of using them for packages with an easy- opening feature; as a matter of fact, due to the higher wideness of the tearing area, the access to the packaging, in order to take the bottles out, results much easier.
• a packaging with an easy-opening feature can also be obtained according to the third embodiment of the present invention, which provides a cutting device consisting in just two cutting disks associated but reciprocally positioned at a distance much higher than the one discussed at in the second embodiment, for example of 2-3 cm, so as to generate two incision lines distant enough to be independent and not cooperating each other.
• this cutting tool as the one described in relation with the second embodiment, may or may not be associated with one or two supporting wheels provided with a peripheral rim made from an elastomeric material to ensure a correct and continuous support to the cutting tool when the support provided by the cutting disks should not be sufficient because of the specific ratio incision/uncut of the same disks.
• the supporting wheel will be just one, positioned between the two cutting disks, so as to usefully become also their spacer element.
• the two incision lines could also be of the type obtained with both the cutting devices above described, so as to be either single or double lines, obtaining in the last case - even in this type of application - the same additional advantages already seen and above described.
• the incision lines are no more positioned in the middle zone between two adjacent bottle rows, but on the contrary closer to the necks of the same botdes as shown in fig. 18. In such a way, it is therefore possible, after one has opened the packaging in correspondence with the said lines, to take away with much more easiness the loose bottles from the packaging itself.
• the periodical interruption of the incision lines can be obtained either with a temporarily detachment of the cutting disks from the film P during the cutting operation of the same film, or using a cutting disk with an higher diameter with respect to the one of the disks previously described, whose external circumference will have a length identical to the one of the film lengths used for manufacturing the packaging. In both cases, during the packaging process it will be then necessary - using a method widely known and already used for advertising printing synchronisation - to synchronise the cutting operations of the film lengths so as to insure that the portion of film with the incisions will be positioned in the required zone.
• a first alternative is to use the same pneumatic device which maintains under pressure the cutting tool on the film P using, for instance, a double effect piston to achieve the quick rising and lowering of the cutting tools together with an appropriate control system to activate the piston movements in relation with the advancing speed (often variable) of the film.
• the cutting disks will correspondingly have a diameter included between 335 and 350 mm, so that their external circumference will be exacdy the same as the length of the film lengths.
• the positives characteristics of the above described third embodiment of the invention do not limit themselves to the form where the incision lines are extended only to a portion of the packaging.
• the film P is of a double width so as to allow the feeding of a double path packer, where the film P is divided longitudinally in correspondence with its middle line.
• the number of incision lines to be performed on the film is two for each packaging, so that for a double size film P is in all four.
• the unit is provided with four cutting devices D, adjustably positioned on a common transversal bar, as shown in fig. 19.
• the supporting bar of the devices D is fixed, while the single cutting devices are movable in a direction perpendicular to the supporting bar itself and to the contrast roll C positioned below the same, under the action of the respective pneumatic pressure devices (not illustrated).
• the film P is unwound from a supplying reel A and is rewound on a receiving reel B, after having passed on a series of rolls M including, where necessary, two dancer rolls N and finally on the contrast roll C.
• the contrast roll C is in contact with the cutting devices D and in particular with the cutting disks 1 thereof.
• the reel B is put into rotation as its drive shaft is properly powered; normally the motorization do not provide, for simplicity sake, a speed control system, so that the rewinding of the film takes place at a constant angular speed and, consequendy, at a linear speed increasing as the diameter of the reel B grows up.
• insuring a continuous contact between the film P in movement and the cutting tool - should this last include either a cam disk 3 or a supporting wheel 5 - it is possible to avoid any reciprocal sliding between the film P and the cutting tools, thus obtaining a cutting with characteristics of a very high regularity. It is possible, where required, to design a cutting equipment provided with constant speed, which equipment however will obviously be more sophisticated and expensive. Such a result can be achieved, for example using to rewind reel B, a motorization equipped with a speed control system controlled by a film speed measurement system associated with roll C.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Forests & Forestry (AREA)
• Packages (AREA)
• Auxiliary Devices For And Details Of Packaging Control (AREA)
• Wrappers (AREA)
• Closing Of Containers (AREA)
• Containers And Plastic Fillers For Packaging (AREA)

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• 2001
  • 2001-12-20 ES ES01830790T patent/ES2327490T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2001-12-20 AT AT01830790T patent/ATE432228T1/de active
  • 2001-12-20 PT PT01830790T patent/PT1321379E/pt unknown
  • 2001-12-20 EP EP01830790A patent/EP1321379B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
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  • 2001-12-20 DK DK01830790T patent/DK1321379T3/da active
• 2002
  • 2002-12-18 EP EP02791849A patent/EP1497198B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
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  • 2002-12-18 JP JP2003554534A patent/JP4414227B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2002-12-18 AU AU2002358159A patent/AU2002358159A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-12-18 MX MXPA04005998A patent/MXPA04005998A/es active IP Right Grant
  • 2002-12-18 WO PCT/EP2002/014509 patent/WO2003053804A2/en active Application Filing
  • 2002-12-18 BR BRPI0207415-0A patent/BR0207415B1/pt active IP Right Grant
  • 2002-12-18 RU RU2004122096/12A patent/RU2314241C2/ru active
• 2004
  • 2004-07-13 HR HRP20040640AA patent/HRP20040640B1/hr not_active IP Right Cessation

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