The present invention relates to a cassette for receiving a number of flexible packs, the formation of said packs into a group and delivery of said group into an outer pack, wherein different parts of said cassette can be moved relative to one another from a pick-up position when receiving said flexible packs to a formation position for the formation of said group of packs.
Such a cassette is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,801. This publication describes the formation of a group of packs by placing one or more rows of packs next to one another in an upright position in a cassette. A side wall of the cassette is made so that it can rotate and after filling of the cassette the packs lying in a slightly slanting position are placed in a straight position. The bottom of the cassette is then swung to one side and the flexible packs move into an outer pack such as a box.
During the packing of flexible packs such as packs for potato crisps, snacks and other products the problem is that the outer pack cannot always be filled in the optimum manner because of the changing shape of the flexible pack. On the other, hand, in the case of many products it is not possible to remove bulges in flexible packs by applying pressure because the product in the flexible packs could be damaged as a result of this.
In shops products are increasingly being sold from the box. That is to say, a group of products is placed directly on the shelf from the box, or a large part of the box is opened, so that the consumer can remove the products. In such a case it is important for the consumer to see immediately that part of the pack that most arouses the desire to purchase. For that reason, bearing this objective in mind, it is necessary when packing different rows of packs in a group to take into account the orientation when introducing the flexible packs into the same box. It may be necessary in this case for certain flexible packs to be oriented in a different way from the rest of the flexible packs.
The aim of the present invention is to eliminate the abovementioned problems.
This aim is achieved according to a first aspect of the invention with a cassette of the type described above by the features of claim 1.
According to the invention provision is made for a placing position and a formation position, which can be the transfer position. Owing to the fact that these positions differ from one another, the flexible pack can be put in the optimum position for placing and arranged in formation and transferred in the optimum position for putting into an outer pack.
For instance, in a particular variant of the present invention it is possible to position the flexible packs horizontally in the pick-up position. That is to say, in contrast to the state of the art, there is no longer the risk of the contents “bulging”, but the product will naturally be distributed uniformly over the whole pack during the placing operation. By positioning the packs in two positions, it is also easily possible to make the most important side of a flexible pack different in each of those two pick-up positions. According to the present invention, each of the pick-up positions is then changed and the sub-groups consisting of the packs that have been placed in the pick-up position are moved towards one another. During the movement towards one another further packs can be added. It is, however, also possible to arrange packs in a specific orientation earlier, that is to say before they are put in the pick-up position, and it is moreover possible after formation of the sub-groups to add to the group thus obtained by putting in further packs. These different packs which are not included in the sub-groups can have a different orientation. In this way the capacity of an outer pack can be utilized in the optimum manner and, for example, provision can be made there is always a pack on the outside of a group of packs which has the part with the most relevant information facing the person who opens the pack.
According to a further aspect, the present invention relates to a cassette for receiving a number of flexible packs, the formation of said packs into a group and delivery of said group into an outer pack, wherein different parts of said cassette can be moved relative to one another from a pick-up position when receiving said flexible packs to a formation position for the formation of said group of packs, wherein in the transfer position said cassette comprises a bottom and two opposing side walls, wherein said bottom comprises two bottom parts that can be moved relative to one another, wherein each side wall is joined to a bottom part. According to this aspect of the present invention, which can be used independently of the first aspect, provision is made for at least two pick-up positions for the flexible packs from a feed facility. In this position [sic] the packs can be positioned in the optimum way.
By rotation through at least 60° and preferably by rotation through at least 80° and more particularly approximately 90°, an essentially different orientation of the packs is obtained, with the result that the force of gravity acts in an essentially different direction.
According to the present invention the pick-up position is obtained by a combination of a side wall and a bottom part. This preferably forms a sort of scoop-like construction, by means of which it is possible to place a sub-group of packs from a first pick-up position in a second formation position. According to a particular embodiment of the invention this formation position is also the delivery position. Transfer can be realised by, for example, moving the formed group of packs along the bottom of the cassette using a pushing member. Other ways of moving the group of flexible packs formed according to the invention are also possible. For instance, it is possible for the bottom parts to yield in some way, as a result of which the packs move downwards by the force of gravity. It is also possible for the group to be gripped laterally and, for example, to be removed upwards. Another possibility is that after formation of the group the cassette, and more particularly the parts described above, such as the bottom parts and side wall parts, perform a further movement so as to move into a transfer position.
According to a particular embodiment of the invention the bottom parts perform a rotational movement. For this purpose they can be attached to one another by some mechanism, such as a rod mechanism or roller/groove mechanism. According to a preferred embodiment, the bottom parts are either hinged to one another or hinged to a support plate located between them. More complex movements consisting of a combination of a rotation and translation are also possible. In this context, one example that can be mentioned is movement of the bottom parts in the linear direction relative to one another. These can move towards one another or away from one another during the orientation from the pick-up position to the formation position. Further packs can be fed in during this movement.
According to a further advantageous embodiment of die invention the bottom parts and/or side walls are provided with gripping means such as suction cups for flexible packs. This is particularly important if movement of the flexible packs adjacent to the bottom parts or side walls is undesirable and there are concerns about this risk.
The present invention also relates to a system for packing flexible packs, wherein the cassette described above is used in combination with a feed for packs and a carrier for the outer packs. According to a particular embodiment a robot can be provided in the feed. More particularly, the robot is of a multiple design, that is to say the sub-groups concerned are formed simultaneously in the cassette.
The invention also relates to a method for packing flexible packs with the characterising features of claim 14.
According to yet a further aspect, the present invention relates to a method for packing flexible packs, comprising placing packs in a cassette and forming a group of packs by moving said packs inside said cassette and transferring the group thus formed into an outer pack, wherein said flexible packs are placed in said cassette in two sub-groups with different orientations, and said sub-groups are moved towards one another. If the movement of said sub-groups comprises a rotation, the rotation of the sub-groups concerned is at least approximately 45° relative to one another.
The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the illustrative embodiments shown in the drawing, in which:
a-2c show a detail of the cassette shown in
a-3c show the cassette shown in
a-4c show an alternative to the cassette shown in
a-6c show a variant of the cassette shown in
A system according to the present invention is shown by 1 in
The mode of operation of the cassette 7 according to
With robot 3 as shown in
a-3c show a variant of the formation of a group according to
a-4c show a variant of the cassette according to the invention. In this case the bottom parts 22 are connected by means of a hinge 21 to a support plate 24 positioned between them. Side wall parts 23 are adjacent to the bottom parts 22. This variant of the cassette is indicated by 17. As can be seen from
Variants of the invention will immediately be apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the above description. Such variants can consist of combinations of what has been described above or combinations with other movements known in the state of the art. This relates in particular to the movement of the cassette as a whole into one of the positions shown here and the performance of a further movement of the bottom parts. These and further variants fall within the scope of the appended claims. In addition, rights are expressly requested for variants that fall exclusively under the subclaims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/NL06/50016 | 1/26/2006 | WO | 00 | 7/28/2008 |