The present invention relates to a cigarette packing machine for producing rigid, hinged-lid packets.
Rigid, hinged-lid packets of cigarettes are currently the most marketed, by being easy to produce, easy and practical to use, and by effectively protecting the cigarettes inside.
A rigid, hinged-lid packet of cigarettes comprises a group of cigarettes wrapped in a sheet of foil packing material; and a rigid outer package housing the group of cigarettes. The outer package comprises a cup-shaped container housing the group of cigarettes and having an open top end; and a cup-shaped lid hinged to the container along a hinge to rotate, with respect to the container, between an open position and a closed position opening and closing the open end respectively. A collar is normally folded and connected to the inside of the container, so as to project partly outwards of the open end and engage a corresponding inner surface of the lid when the lid is in the closed position.
In some cigarette packing machines, such as the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,268A1, the collars are fed into seats on a packing wheel by a feed unit, which receives a continuous strip of collars unwound off a reel, and transversely cuts the individual collars off the strip. However, to produce certain types of packets of cigarettes (normally comprising non-standard collars) the packing machine must be able to operate with a stack of superimposed collars, as opposed to a continuous strip of collars wound into a reel; which means an existing machine (such as G.D. packing machine X3000 or X6) must be adapted to also operate with a stack of superimposed collars. Adapting an existing machine in this way is a highly complex job, on account of the numerous structural and dimensional factors involved, and the need, obviously, to still ensure adequate access to all the component parts of the packing machine for maintenance and cleaning.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cigarette packing machine for producing rigid, hinged-lid packets, designed to also operate with a stack of superimposed collars, and which, at the same time, is cheap and easy to produce.
According to the present invention, there is provided a cigarette packing machine for producing rigid, hinged-lid packets, as claimed in the attached Claims.
A number of non-limiting embodiments of the present invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Number 1 in
When lid 4 is in the closed position, container 2 is in the form of a rectangular-section parallelepiped comprising a top wall 5 and a bottom wall 6 opposite and parallel to each other; a front wall 7 and a rear wall 8 opposite and parallel to each other; and two parallel, opposite lateral walls 9.
Four longitudinal edges 10 are defined between front wall 7, rear wall 8, and lateral walls 9; and eight transverse edges 11 are defined between front wall 7; rear wall 8, and lateral walls 9.
In the
In a different embodiment, packet 1 may resemble the packet of cigarettes described in patent application EP1066206A1, and comprise an outwardly convex front and rear wall, each of which has a flat central portion, and two curved, creased lateral bands connecting the flat central portion to two flat lateral walls of the packet at sharp longitudinal edges. In a further embodiment not shown, packet 1 may resemble the packet of cigarettes described in patent application WO03026984A1, and comprise an outwardly convex front and rear wall, each of which comprises a flat central portion, and two curved, creased lateral bands connecting the flat central portion to two flat walls of the packet at sharp transverse edges. Clearly, changes may be made to the above embodiments of packet 1, such as forming partly convex walls, or only one convex wall as opposed to two opposite convex walls.
As shown in
As shown in
Packet 1 also comprises a slide 17, which partly contacts rear wall 8 of container 2, has a top portion glued to lid 4, and has a hinge 18 of lid 4 to allow lid 4 to rotate with respect to container 2. Slide 17 only rests on rear wall 8 of container 2, so as to slide freely with respect to rear wall 8, and, preferably, is located underneath rear wings 16 of collar 12 (i.e. between rear wings 16 of collar 12 and inner package 3), and slides freely with respect to container 2, inner package 3, and collar 12.
In a preferred embodiment, slide 17 has two tabs 19 folded squarely with respect to slide 17 and against lateral walls 14 of collar 12, and which serve to limit upward slide of slide 17. More specifically, upward slide of slide 17 is arrested upon tabs 19 contacting rear wings 16 of collar 12.
As shown in
Blank 20 has two longitudinal fold lines 21, and a number of transverse fold lines 22 defining, between the two longitudinal fold lines 21, a panel 7′ forming a top portion of front wall 7 (more specifically, the portion forming part of lid 4); a panel 5′ forming top wall 5; a panel 8′ forming rear wall 8; a panel 6′ forming bottom wall 6; and a panel 7″ forming a bottom portion of front wall 7 (more specifically, the portion forming part of container 2).
Each panel 7′, 7″, 8′ has two lateral wings 9′, which are located on opposite sides of panel 7′, 7″, 8′, are separated from panel 7′, 7″, 8′ by longitudinal fold lines 21, and provide for forming lateral walls 9. Each wing 9′ of panel 8′ has two tabs 23 located at opposite ends of wing 9′, and which provide for internally reinforcing top wall 5 and bottom wall 6 respectively.
Panel 7′ has a lid 4 reinforcing flap 24 separated from panel 7′ by a fold line 25. When folding blank 20—more specifically, at the initial folding stage of blank 20, before blank 20 is applied to inner package 3—reinforcing flap 24 is folded 1800 about fold line 25 onto panel 7′. In a different embodiment not shown, panel 7′ has two lid 4 reinforcing flaps 24 separated from panel 7′ by two oblique fold lines 25, which are oppositely inclined, and slope at a 45° angle with respect to both longitudinal fold lines 21 and transverse fold lines 22. When folding blank 20—more specifically, at the initial folding stage of blank 20, before blank 20 is applied to inner package 3—reinforcing flaps 24 are folded 1800 about oblique fold lines 25 onto panel 7′.
It is important to note that, in blank 20, lid 4 is connected to container 2 at rear wall 8, so, when forming packet 1 of cigarettes, a cut must be made along 4 from container 2 at rear wall 8. Preferably, blank 20 is cut along parting line 26 at rear wall 8 to completely separate lid 4 from container 2. Alternatively, blank 20 may be weakened (e.g. by an intermittent cut) along parting line 26 at rear wall 8, to form a tear-off line of parting line 26, along which the user tears lid 4 off container 2 when unsealing packet 1 of cigarettes.
Number 27 in
Packing machine 27 also comprises a horizontal packing wheel 35 rotating in steps about a vertical axis 36, and having a number of peripheral pockets 37, each of which is supplied downwards with an inner package 3 from a pocket 31 of packing wheel 29, and then upwards with a collar 12 from a feed unit 38. Each collar 12 is fed flat to pocket 37 of packing wheel 35, and is folded about package 3 when package 3 is pushed out of pocket 37.
Packing machine 27 also comprises a horizontal packing wheel 39, which rotates in steps about a vertical axis 40, is located below packing wheel 35, and had a number of peripheral pockets 41, each of which is supplied downwards with an inner package 3, complete with a collar 12, from a pocket 37 of packing wheel 35, and then downwards with a slide 17 from a feed unit 42. It is important to note that packing wheel 35 overlaps packing wheel 39, so that a pocket 37 of packing wheel 35 is superimposed over and aligned perfectly with a pocket 41 of packing wheel 39, and inner package 3 can be transferred vertically from pocket 37 of packing wheel 35 to pocket 41 of packing wheel 39.
Packing wheel 39 is equipped with fixed (helical) folding devices (not shown) located downstream from feed unit 42 in the rotation direction of packing wheel 39, and which fold rear wings 16 of each collar 12 onto inner package 3 and over slide 17. Tabs 19 of each slide 17, on the other hand, are folded onto inner package 3 and onto lateral walls 14 of collar 12 as inner package 3 is transferred from pocket 41 of packing wheel 39.
Finally, packing machine 27 also comprises a vertical packing wheel 43 rotating in steps about a horizontal axis 44, and having a number of peripheral pockets 45, each of which receives a blank 20 from a feed unit 46 (
Downstream from packing wheel 43, a vertical transfer conveyor 47 successively receives and transfers packets 1 of cigarettes from packing wheel 43 to a horizontal drying conveyor 48.
As stated, when forming each packet 1 of cigarettes, a cut must be made along parting line 26 (
As shown in
Collar 12 feed unit 38 also comprises a vertical feed wheel 55 rotating in steps about a horizontal axis of rotation 56, and having a number of peripheral suction seats 57. Feed wheel 55 is located between pickup wheel 50 and packing wheel 35 (i.e. over pickup wheel 50 and beneath packing wheel 35) to receive collars 12 successively from pickup wheel 50 and feed collars 12 upwards to packing wheel 35.
In a different embodiment not shown, feed unit 38 comprises a further vertical hopper housing a stack of coupons (e.g. vouchers or leaflets) and having a bottom outlet located over pickup wheel 50, upstream from vertical hopper 49 in the rotation direction of pickup wheel 50. The further hopper provides for also supplying coupons, each of which is inserted inside a packet 1 of cigarettes, between inner package 3 and collar 12. If the further coupon hopper is also provided, each suction seat 52 of pickup wheel 50 has two different suction areas, one for retaining a collar 12, and the other for retaining a coupon. This configuration is made possible by virtue of the different shape and size of collar 12 and the coupon, so that bottom portions of a collar 12 superimposed on a coupon are always left exposed by the coupon.
As shown in
Slide 17 feed unit 42 also comprises a vertical feed wheel 64 rotating in steps about a horizontal axis of rotation 65, and having a number of peripheral suction seats 66. Feed wheel 64 is located over pickup wheel 59 and alongside packing wheel 39, so as to feed slides 17 to packing wheel 39. More specifically, each slide 17 is fed from a suction seat 66 of feed wheel 64 to a pocket 41 of packing wheel 39 by a horizontal feed arm 67, which rotates back and forth about a vertical axis of rotation 68 to move a suction pickup head 69 cyclically from a suction seat 66 of feed wheel 64 to a pocket 41 of packing wheel 39, and vice versa.
It should be pointed out that feed wheel 55 is located beneath packing wheel 35 to feed collars 12 upwards into pockets 37 of packing wheel 35; whereas feed wheel 64 is located alongside packing wheel 39 and connected to feed arm 67 to feed slides 17 downwards into pockets 41 of packing wheel 39.
In a different embodiment shown in
As shown in
Feed unit 46 also comprises a vertical intermediate wheel 74 rotating about a horizontal axis of rotation 75, and having a number of suction seats 76; and a belt feed conveyor 77 having a belt 78, which is looped about two end pulleys 79 and located partly beneath packing wheel 43. More specifically, belt 78 of feed conveyor 77 has a number of projections, which push blanks 20 along a feed path defined by fixed guide rails.
In actual use, each suction pickup head 73 of pickup wheel 71 engages the bottom outlet of hopper 70 to withdraw a blank 20 from the stack; the blank 20 is then transferred by suction pickup head 73 of pickup wheel 71 to a suction seat 76 of intermediate wheel 74, and then from suction seat 76 of intermediate wheel 74 to feed conveyor 77; and, finally, feed conveyor 77 feeds blank 20 into a pocket 45 of packing wheel 43.
A known roller or spray gumming device (not shown) is located at intermediate wheel 74 to gum each blank 20. A folding device 80 is also located at intermediate wheel 74 to prefold reinforcing flaps 24 of lid 4 of each blank 20 about oblique fold lines 25. For example, prefolding of the two reinforcing flaps 24 comprises folding the two reinforcing flaps 24 about oblique fold lines 25 by an angle of at least 90° and generally no more than 100-110°. Folding reinforcing flaps 24 of lid 4 of each blank 20 is completed by a further folding device 81 having fixed folding rails (or fixed helical folding devices). In
Folding device 80 is essential to fold reinforcing flaps 24 of each blank 20 a hundred and eighty degrees about oblique fold lines 25 onto panel 7′. That is, oblique fold lines 25 being oppositely inclined lengthwise of blank 20, at least one of the two reinforcing flaps 24 could never be folded 1800 by a fixed folding rail (which cannot fold against the travelling direction of blank 20). By means of folding device 80, on the other hand, both reinforcing flaps 24 are prefolded at least 90° with respect to blank 20, and folding is then completed by the folding rails of folding device 81.
In a preferred embodiment, folding device 80 comprises a vertical folding wheel 82 rotating about a horizontal axis of rotation 83, and supporting a number of folding bodies 84 equally spaced about the periphery of folding wheel 82. Each folding body 84 comprises a wedge-shaped, triangular-section folding head; and a connecting rod fitted movably to folding wheel 82 and operated by a cam actuating system (not shown). It is important to note that the folding head has a triangular section to match the shape of oblique fold lines 25, about which the two reinforcing flaps 24 are folded.
In actual use, each folding body 84 is inserted between the two reinforcing flaps 24 to position the folding head on blank 20; and folding body 84 is then lowered with respect to blank 20, so that the folding head folds the two reinforcing flaps 24 ninety degrees with respect to blank 20.
Collar 12 feed unit 38 as described above has numerous advantages: it provides for withdrawing collars 12 from a stack of superimposed collars, and can be integrated quickly and easily in an existing packing machine (in particular, G.D. packing machine X3000 or X6), while at the same time impairing none of the structural or dimensional factors involved, and ensuring adequate access to all the component parts of the packing machine.
Moreover, by virtue of slide 17 feed unit 42, packing machine 27 can efficiently produce the
Finally by virtue of folding device 80, the two reinforcing flaps 24 of each blank 20 can be folded easily and effectively 180° about the two oblique fold lines 25, despite at least one of the two oblique fold lines 25 calling for folding against the travelling direction of blank 20.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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BO2006A 000587 | Aug 2006 | IT | national |