US2403149A - Bag filling apparatus - Google Patents

Description

y R. 'J. WILLIAMS ET AL v2,403,149

BAG FILLING APPARATUS Filed NOV. 15, 1943 39 FIG. I. /5 3/37 Patented July 2, 1946 BAG FILLING APPARATUS Russell J. Williams,

Arthur S. Littlefield, to Bemis Bro. Bag

Richmond Heights, and

St. Louis, Mo.,- assignors corporation of Missouri ApplicationNovember 15, 19.43, SerialNo. 510,262

1 Claim.

This invention relates to bag filling apparatus, and with regard to certain more specific features, to filling chutes for filling bags with solid slabs of material, boxes, cartons and the like.

Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision of convenient means for mounting and holding open bags in position to receive articles which it is desired to package; and the provision of apparatus of the class described which will conveniently release the bags for removal and closure. Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the elements and combinations of elements, features of construction; and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the structures hereinafter described, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claim.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is illustrated one of of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a plan view on a reduced scale showing our chute applied to the end of a gravity roller conveyor;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation scale; and,

Figs. 3 and 4 are further enlarged detail sections taken respectively on lines 3-3 and 6-4 of Fig. 2.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

In filling paper bags and the like with-closely fitting slabs of material such as synthetic rubber, there is usually considerable confusion on the part of the operator rectangular bag mouth shape which will easily receive the slabs without requiring, an undue size of bag ,which would leave slack material of Fig. 1 on a. larger around the article after packaging. Difiiculty is also encountered in slowly enough gravitating the slabs to the bag bottoms without damaging the bags. The invention avoids these dififlculties and speeds packaging operations.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, there is shown at numeral .l a. gravity type roller conveyor, the lower end of which is on a support 3. Down this conveyor come slabs of material (synthetic rubber slabs for example) which need to be packaged at high speed in bags such as indicated at 1 without damage to the bags. To provide for this we arrange an operatively fixed sloping slide platform 9 located at about a 45 to 60 degree angle to the datum D.

various possible embodimentsin producing a precisely .and the adjacent side wall I5.

at E9. The lower ends of mpany, St. Louis, Mo., a

At BI is shown a right-angular trough-shaped uide member which has a fiat bottom 53 and vertical side walls 95. the bottom I3 is curved as shown at I? to provide a fulcrum for the oncoming slabs 5. The upper ends of the walls 65 are flared outward as shown these walls are tapered downward toward the bottom l3 as indicated at 2|. The lower wedge ends 27 are not flared.

The bottom I3 is supported above the platform 9 by means of laterally located supports 23. This is done in such a way as'to allow space 25 between the bottom !3 and said platform t. Thus a partially opened bag may readily be applied to the lower wedge portions 27 on the walls 55. Then, as the bag is pushed up, its bottom wall is accommodated between the guide bottom l3 and the platform 9 while it is expanded into rectangular shape.

In order to hold a bag in the attained position above described which Fig. 2, the lateral supports 23 are provided with forwardly directed lugs 29 on which pivot clutch dogs 3!. The pivots are shown at 33. The lugs 23 are attached by laterally adjustable bolt-andslot connections 36.

Each dog 3| carries on its inner end (toward the adjacent wall it) a wedge-shaped clutching segment 35, having a. bag-guiding tail piece 37. On the other end each dog carries a release finger 39. Clockwise rotation of the dog shown in Fig. 3 causes contact between its clutch member Counter-clockwise rotation separates said contact. Motion of the bag upward over the walls l5 causes its mouth end to be guided by the tail piece 3?] to a. position in between the clutch member 35 and the wall I5. The direction of the bag motion for such action is shown by the arrow in Fig. 3 in connection with the dotted-line. showing of the bag wall. Reverse motion of the bag tends automatically frictionally to close the olutch35. Thus a bag, When once applied, is held in position against axial force applied to it by an entering article which seats against its bottom.

To rotate the dog 3| to release position a bail 4| is pivoted behind and above the dogs as indicated at 43. The bail has two collinear pivots on opposite sides of the guide or chute II and loops under the platform 9. At its upper end it carries cams 44, which, when the bail is swung for-- position shown in Fig. 2, 39 to move the dogs 3| The bale is easily reached The upper inlet end of is shown by solid lines in operator working near the I bracket 23 by the slot and der control. It

-. by gravity but is platform 9. The lugs 28 being'adjustable on the bolt combination'all allow for taking up any wear of the clutch 35 and also allow for initial adjustments for variations in bag wall thicknesses.

After a bag has been sl pped up into position, as shown in solid lines in Fig. 2,

anoncoming slab is tilted onto the fulcrum I1 and slidesdown between the guide wall l5 into the bag and against its bottom. 7 The slope of the apparatus is arranged so that the velocity of the slab is low enough to avoid damage to'the bag bottom (and to avoid tearing at the clutches 35) This action seats the slab (0r bundle of slabs) in the bag and shapes the bag automatically, its mouth having already been properly shaped by the chute. Next, the operator pulls forward filled bag slides down under frictional control to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2. From this position it may be tilted upward for closing and removal. a

Advantages of the invention are a convenient means for bringing a bag mouth up over the chute, whereupon the bag is automatically opened into proper slab-receiving, rectangular shape of the mouth, and wherein it is automatically held until conveniently filled simply by tilting an article and allowing it to slide down unthe bale 4|, causing the clutches 35 to release, whereupon the will be noted that the slab does side of a bag, side walls scent is also an advantage. In addition, the bail is quite easily reached for release of .the filled bag.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As many changes could be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim:

Bag filling apparatus comprising an operatively fixed slide platform sloping up from a datum toward an article-receiving point, an operatively fixed chute mounted on said platformnear its upper end and comprising a bottom spaced over and substantially parallel to the platform to accommodate between it and the platform one on the chute tapered at their lower ends to function as Spreaders for a I bag mouth, the bottom of which mouth is placed on the platform and moved up under the chute bottom while the sides of the mouth become placed fiatwise outside of said side walls and the top of the mouth spans between said walls, fric-' tion clutch means at the outsides of said walls and biased thereto, both of said clutch means when biased freely admitting said mouth sides but preventing retraction of the bag'when loaded, being thereby operable automatically to hold a bag applied to the chute from the bottom, and manual means for simultaneously overcoming the biases of the clutch means for simultaneously releasing both of said automatic clutch means at the will of an ope ator.

I RUSSELL J. WILLIAMS.

S. LITTLEFIELJ).

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