US3435585A - Apparatus for packing and wrapping - Google Patents

Description

April 1, 1969 E. N. 'cioLEs I APPARATUS FOR PACKING AND WRAPPING I Filed Oct. 7. 1965 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Sheet 4 0:2

K135i!" "1', 1969 E. N. coLEs 3,435,585

APPARATUS FOR PACKING AND WRAPPiNG 7 Filed Oct. 7, 1965 I Sheet 2 of 2 5 INVENTOR 6A1: Nam-w Cues ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,435,585 APPARATUS FOR PACKING AND WRAPPING Eric Neville Coies, London, England, assignor to Wix of London Limited, London, England, a limited company of the United Kingdom Filed Oct. 7, 1965, Ser. No. 493,825 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Oct. 9, 1964, 41,326/ 64 Int. Cl. B6511 61/18, 11/28, 49/14 U.S. Cl. 53-133 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A wrapping apparatus includes an intermittently rotated drum having article receiving recesses movable with the drum between feed and discharge positions, and transversely positioned suction ports located between the recesses. A wrapper Web is releasably engaged by the suction ports which pulls the web about the drum. At the feed station a pusher advances an article into a recess which is then advanced and covered by the web and stopped at the discharge position and an ejector member pushes the article out of the recess and pulls the web with it, a cutter slitting the web along a line trailing the recess.

This invention relates to a method of, and apparatus for, packing or wrapping articles in which a continuous strip of material is fed into an apparatus which applies the wrapping material to an article to be wrapped (and may apply a tear strip), effects severance of a predetermined length of wrapping material, folds the wrapping material round the article to be wrapped, and ejects the wrapped article onto a conveyor or like means.

In an apparatus of this type, the wrapping material may be cut into predetermined strips or lengths on a combined application and severance conveyor and then ejected together with an article to be wrapped to initiate the wrapping thereof by forming the strip into a U-shaped formation around the article and then depositing the article and the U-shaped strip into a guide path leading through a so called folder box where the wrapping of the article is completed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus of this character which occupies a minimum of floor space and is particularly suitable for the wrapping of articles having delicate or recessed ends.

According to the present invention there is provided a method of wrapping or packing articles which comprises the steps of introducing an article into a chamber in a conveyor, the said chamber having an opening which exposes a surface of the article therein; leading material for wrapping the article onto the conveyor ahead of the article to be wrapped; retaining the wrapping material in contact with the conveyor While moving the conveyor from a feed station at which it receives the article to an ejection station, the wrapping material being drawn over the exposed surface of the article during such movement; severing the wrapping material at a position between the feed ejection stations to provide a length of wrapping material sufiicient to wrap the article; ejecting the article from the conveyor at the ejection station so that the wrapping material extends not only along the said exposed surface of the article but also in a U-formation over the end surfaces in front of and behind the said exposed surface, there being also additional material not in contact with any of the said surfaces; and folding the additional material to complete the wrapping. The article can be ejected against the tension of the wrapping material which is severed after the article has been ejected.

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Alternatively, the wrapping material can be severed before the article is ejected.

According to another aspect of the invention, an apparatus for wrapping or packing articles comprises a conveyor provided with an internal chamber adapted to receive an article to be wrapped, the said chamber being open to the surface of the conveyor; means for moving the conveyor to position the chamber first at a feed station and then at an ejection station; means for inserting an article to be wrapped into the chamber when at the feed station, the inserted article having a surface exposed by the opening in the chamber; means for feeding wrapping material to the surface of the conveyor; means for holding the wrapping material on the surface of the conveyor whereby movement of the conveyor towards the ejection station will draw the wrapping material over the surface of the conveyor and over the exposed surface of the article being moved from the feed station to the ejection station; means for ejecting the article from the chamber at the ejection station whereby material is drawn around the exposed surface and adjacent surfaces of the article so as to provide a partly wrapped article; means for severing the wrapping material at a position between the feed station and the ejection station; and means for advancing the partly wrapped article ejected from the conveyor to complete the Wrapping of the article. If desired, the apparatus may have clamping means inside the conveyor; clamping means outside the conveyor; means for closing both clamping means onto the article to be wrapped in the chamber at the ejection station, and, means for moving the clamping means, while still closed, to remove the said article from the ejection station.

In the accompanying drawings are diagrams illustrating the working of an apparatus according to the invention.

FIGURES 1 to 5 inclusive illustrate various stages in the formation of a wrapping around an article in accordance with one embodiment of the invention and,

FIGURES 6 and 7 illustrate two stages in the formation of a package according to another embodiment of the invention.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 1 to 5 wrapping material, which may conveniently be a film W of regenerated cellulose or of suitable plastics material, is fed from a spool (not shown) to a severance conveyor 1 via a series of draw IOllfill' 2 and guide rollers 3. If desired, a tear strip T can be applied to the material W before it arrives at the draw rollers 2. For convenience of description, the wrapping material is hereinafter referred to as film. The film and the tear tape pass through a clamping device 4 before they arrive at a severance conveyor 1.

The severance conveyor 1 is a cylindrical drum which is intermittently rotatable .about a horizontal axis. The drum 1 is provided with a plurality of rows of suction ports (not shown) arranged to extend transversely across the cylindrical surface of the drum. Suction is applied to these ports from the inside of the drum by way of suction connections 5. The suction applied through the ports serves to hold the film on the surface of the drum so that as the drum rotates film is pulled from a source of supply and lies on the surface of the drum. The drum 1 has a pair of diametrically opposed chambers 6 each of which is adapted to receive a rectangular article to be wrapped. The drum is arranged to stop each time it has rotated through a distance of When the drum stops, the two chambers 6 are one above the other. The top chamber is then at a receiving station and the bottom chamber is then at an ejection station. An arcuate guide 7 is arranged adjacent the cylindrical surface of the drum between the two stations. A substantially rectangular article A to be wrapped is advanced into the chamber 6 at the receiving station from a feed conveyor. The article is .advanced into the chamber by a feed pusher 8. When the article is fully inserted in the chamber, the feed pusher 8 returns to its starting position and the drum is rotated through 180. As the drum rotates, film is drawn over the cylindrical surface of the drum so that the opening into the chamber is covered by the film, i.e. the film extends over the outer or exposed surface of the article in the chamber 6. When the drum 1 has completed such rotation i.e. when the chamber into which the article has moved from the upper or receiving station to the bottom or ejection station, the drum is stopped. At this point, an ejection device inside the drum presses against the article in the chamber to eject the article from beneath the drum as shown in FIGURE 2. In so doing, a U-shaped strip of material will be formed round the article the base of the U being the portion of material contacted with the exposed surface of the article during the rotation of the drum and the arms of the U extending along and above the adjacent surfaces of the article. A cutting device 9 then acts to sever the portion of material on the drum.

In so doing the knife enters a slot 10 in the drum. It will thus be seen that the article is ejected against the tension of the wrapping material. The knife 9 is so positioned that when it cuts the film, a length of material is left behind the article at the receiving station and a further length of material will be left on the conveyor to form a portion ahead of the next article to be advanced to the feeding station.

After the film has been cut by the knife 9 the trailing portion of material so produced is folded over the top of the ejected article by any suitable folding device not shown. The partially wrapped package is then advanced by a pusher device (not shown) into a folder box in which the wrapping of the article is completed. The completely wrapped articles can then be removed on any suitable conveyor (not shown).

FIGURES 6 and 7 illustrate a slightly modified method and apparatus. In this modification, when an article A arrives at the ejection station, a clamp 11 inside the drum closes onto the article A at the ejection station. A second clamp 12 outside the drum also rises to close onto the exposed surface of the article thereby clamping the portion of film extending over the exposed surface onto the article A. The cutting device 9 then operates to sever the film. When this has taken place, the article is lowered from the drum while still held between the clamps .11 and 12.

It will be appreciated that in this embodiment the film around the article being ejected is not under tension. With this embodiment, the portion of film in front of the ejected article is longer than the portion of material behind the ejected article. It will be seen that in the arrangement of FIGURES l to 5 the leading portion of material is shorter than the trailing portion. When the article has been lowered from the drum as shown in FIG. 7, a flap folder which is not shown in the drawings is advanced towards the trailing end of the article to fold the trailing flap around the trailing end of the article and over part of what is now the upper surface of the article. During this process, the film is held in tension by suction means applied to the film through the trailing flap folder and the upper part of the leading flap folder. The upper clamp 11 then rises to return to the interior of the drum.

A pusher device which is not shown on the drawings follows behind the flap folder and pushes the article off the lower clamp and through guides 13 arranged to fold the leading portion of the film round the front end and front upper surface of the article. The leading and trailing portions of the film now on the upper surface of the article are arranged to overlap. The overlapping portions of the film are then heat sealed together. The drum is then ready for the next cycle of operation.

As each partially wrapped package is advanced by the pusher mechanism from the lower clamp 12, it pushes against the partly wrapped package formed by the previous cycle of operation of the machine. As this partly formed package advances it passes through a device for folding film down onto the sides of the package and for heat sealing the film so folded onto the sides of the package. Although in this embodiment the scaling is effected under heat, it will be appreciated that other methods of sealing can be employed.

It will be appreciated that the invention can be used not only to provide a wrapping in which Wrapping material extends over all the surfaces of an article, but can also be used to provide a wrapping which extends in the form of a sleeve over only some surfaces of the article.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for wrapping or packaging articles, comprising a conveyor provided with an internal chamber adapted to receive an article to be wrapped, the said chamber being open to the surface of the conveyor; means for moving the conveyor to position the chamber first at a feed station and then at an ejection station; means for inserting an article to be wrapped into the chamber when at the feed station, the inserted article having a surface exposed by the opening in the chamber; means for feed ing wrapping material to the surface of the conveyor; means for engaging at least a section of said wrapping material and permitting the longitudinal movement thereof upon the application of a predetermined longitudinal force thereto for holding the wrapping material on the surface of the conveyor whereby movement of the conveyor towards the ejection station will draw the Wrapping material over the surface of the conveyor and over the exposed surface of the article being moved from the feed station to the ejection station; and means initially actuated while said holding means is in holding engagement with at least sections of said wrapping material forward and rearward of said chamber for ejecting the article from the chamber at the ejection station whereby material is drawn around the exposed surface of the article so as to provide a partly wrapped article; means for severing the wrapping material at a position between the feed station and the ejection station; and means for advancing the partly wrapped article ejected from the conveyor to complete the wrapping of the article.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a clamping member inside the conveyor; a clamping member outside the conveyor; means for closing the clamping a members onto the article to be wrapped when the chamber is at the ejection station; and means for moving the clamping members still closed, to remove the said article from the chamber whilst at the ejection station.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein a drumlike conveyor is intermittently rotatable and has two internal chambers for receiving articles to be wrapped, the said chambers being diametrically opposed to each other and being opened at the peripheral surface of the drum.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 having means 0 for applying a tear tape or strip to the wrapping material before it contacts the article to be wrapped.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,035,379 5/1962 Cloots 531-389 X 3,075,325 1/1963 Liedtke 53389 X 1,703,043 2/1929 Kronqvist 53-209 X 1,964,411 6/1934 Beutel 53234 2,653,430 9/1953 Vogt 5334 3,119,211 1/1964 Gagg 5314 3,338,026 8/1967 Billi 53209 X THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

NEIL ABRAMS, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

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