GB773979A - Method and apparatus for packing filled bags within bales - Google Patents

Abstract

773,979. Baling bags. ST. REGIS PAPER CO. Jan. 15, 1954, No. 1310/54. Class 94(1). A method for tightly packing a plurality of bags filled with pulverent substantially non- resilient material into a bale comprises assembling a group of such bags in juxtaposition such that the transverse cross-section of the group has a maximum dimension in a predetermined direction, compressing the group in the direction of the maximum dimension to reduce the transverse perimetrical girth of the group ; inserting the group into a bale having an internal girth substantially equal to the reduced girth of the group and thereafter increasing the girth of the group of bags within the bale thereby tightly to fill the bale. As shown the bags are fed in pairs, comprising a group, 34, 35, Fig. 12, by a slow-moving conveyer 29 to a high-speed conveyer 28 which separates a pair from the next successive pair and moves it forward to a bag-receiving station 20a the oncoming bags operate micro-switches 30, 37 and 38 in turn to stop first the slow conveyer 29 and then the fast conveyer 28 until delivery of the next pair of bags is required. The bags 34, 35 are then pushed sideways on to the bale loading station 20b by means of the press-plate 22 of a shuttle ram 23 actuated by a manual control 42. At the limit of their travel the bags are compressed between the press plate 22 and a stop plate 24 which plates may be tilted from the vertical as shown in Fig. 5. The bags thereby compressed are then packed into a bale 51 by means of a packing ram 25 actuated by movement of the shuttle ram 23 past a micro-switch 49. The packing ram 25 moves the bags 34, 35 in a direction parallel to their longitudinal axes through a throat member 52 comprising an upper and lower duck bill 53, 54, Fig. 9, over which the open mouth of the bag bale 51 is stretched. The upper duck bill 53 which is pivoted to the lower one 54 is unlatched therefrom and a bale clamp released by the packing ram plate 26 as it approaches the end of its stroke. The baled bags are then transported by a conveyer 57 under a compression roll 66 which tends to restore the bags within the bale to their transverse substantially rectangular formation. After this compression the bale is discharged e.g. onto a transverse conveyer which may transport it to a bale-closing station. Control valves 69, 69a engaged by the packing ram plate 26 at the extreme end of its stroke retract the shuttle and packing rams to their initial positions. An arm 22a on the shuttle ram engages on its return a micro-switch 22b which starts up the conveyers 28, 29 for the next cycle. Instead of sloping press-plates 23, 24, vertical plates may be utilized but preferably in conjunction with an overhead platen which reduces the swelling of the top bag surfaces when under compression by the ram 23.