Patent Application
20060063655
The present invention refers to a device for folding flaps of box blanks having crease lines transverse to the travelling direction of the blanks, for use in a folder-gluer. The device comprises a rotary member rotatable around an axis transverse to the travelling direction, provided with at least one folding member.
Devices for folding flaps of folding boxes with a folding member mounted on a transverse rotary shaft and comprising a single folder in the shape of a hook are well known. Another well known similar device comprises two hook-shaped folders which are symmetrically arranged with respect to the axis of the transverse rotary shaft. This or these folders are mounted on a central hub which is laterally movable along the transverse rotary shaft. The box blank travels above the rotary folding member and the folders will fold the flap from the rear while the box blank is travelling. Consequently, the folder should move at a higher speed than the box blank.
In order to fold the flap, the end of the folding hook must contact the flap to be folded in a favorable area situated at about two thirds of the flap length taken from the transverse crease line around which the flap must be folded. The transverse shaft of the rotary folding member is situated at a given distance from the passage plane of the blanks and, in order to work in the favorable area of the flap to be folded, it is necessary to either adapt the length of the hooks or to position shims on the central hub supporting the folding hooks. A device of this kind is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,185. The main drawback of this device is the adjustment time required and the difficulty of positioning the folding hook in the favorable folding area.
To obviate the drawbacks of the aforesaid solution, FR 2,597,027 describes a device wherein a plurality of motors are controlled by a pulse converter that converts the values of the movement curves calculated by a function generator receiving data from a detector of passage of the blanks and the settings relating to the characteristic dimensions of these blanks. Each of these various motors acts according to different degrees of mobility of the device, and the motors allow optimizing the movement of the folding hooks.
However, such a solution is relatively complex and hence expensive. This complexity is mostly due to the fact that the folding device occupies a determined position on the folder-gluer, whereas the dimensions of the cardboard blanks may substantially vary. Also possible are blanks having transversely aligned flaps to be folded which are of different lengths. This implies to provide two devices on a common transverse support which are adjusted according to the respective lengths of the flaps.
The object of the present invention is to at least partly obviate the aforesaid drawbacks.
To this aim, the object of the present invention is a device for folding flaps of box blanks having crease lines that are arranged transversely to the moving direction of the blanks, for a use in a folder-gluer.
The device of the invention is simple. It can be mounted on any support adapted to the folder-gluer, which can be positioned inside of any free space in the machine. In fact, the device is entirely autonomous. The support on which it is mounted does not have any other function since the device is driven by a motor synchronized with the drive mechanism of the folder-gluer and not directly by this drive mechanism.
As will be seen from the following description, due to the great ease of mounting the device wherever there is space between the frames of the folder-gluer, this device offers new application possibilities in contrast to prior art folding devices.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings illustrate, schematically and by way of example, an embodiment of the folding device according to the present invention.
The device according to the invention comprises an elongate housing 1 having two large parallel surfaces interconnected by relatively narrow lateral faces. One of the large parallel surfaces of the housing 1 carries a drive motor 2 having a shaft which extends inside this housing. A toothed pulley 3, situated in the housing 1, is wedged at the end of this shaft. The toothed pulley 3 is engaged with an endless loop toothed belt 4 engaged with a second toothed pulley (hidden by the walls of the housing 1), secured to a shaft 5 rotating in the walls of the housing 1. One end of the shaft protrudes outside the housing 1.
In the present example, the end of the shaft 5 carries two folding arms 6 that are in the shape of hooks, which are symmetrically arranged with respect to a plane containing the longitudinal axis of the shaft 5. These folding arms 6 are secured to the shaft 5, so as to be driven by it when the motor 2 drives the belt 4 engaged with the toothed pulley 3. Obviously, by adapting the speed of rotation of the motor 2, the use of only one hook-shaped folding arm would be possible.
The two elongated lateral faces of the housing 1 each have a respective dovetail slide 7, 8. These slides 7, 8 are selectively used for mounting the housing on the folder-gluer.
The screw cradles 12 are aligned along an axis that is perpendicular to the axis on which the clamping arms are aligned, to form adjustable fixing means in two orthogonal directions.
Owing to the described device, the housing 1 thus has an adjustment possibility according to two degrees of mobility, one transverse with respect to the support crossbar 10 engaged with the clamping arms 13, the other vertical along one of the slides 7, 8 engaged with the screw cradles 12.
In order to ensure synchronization between the drive motor 2, the folding arms 6 and the drive mechanism 9 of the box blanks in the folder-gluer, the device according to the invention includes a laser cell 14 intended to detect the passage at a precise reference position of a rear edge of each box blank. This laser cell 14 is connected to a control housing 15 of the drive motor 2 (
The collected information allows controlling the motor 2 in a synchronous manner with the forward speed of the box blanks and their passage frequency at the detection place which depends on the length of the box blanks in their travelling direction F in the folder-gluer.
The control housing 15 must further receive information about the characteristics of the blanks in order to ensure programming of the drive motor. This information is introduced by the machine operator. However, the programming mode is not a part of the present invention and is not described here.
As can be easily understood from the previous description, the described folding device operates autonomously so that it can practically be arranged at any free space on a folder-gluer. Besides, owing to its linking mode, its position can be adjusted according to the length of the flaps of the box blanks to fold. It is even possible, to position two folding devices so that they fold two flaps having transversely aligned crease lines, but the lengths of which are different, by simply varying the distance h between the axis of the shaft 5 of the folding arms 6 and the plane P of the travelling path of the box blanks (
By way of example,
Another possibility of the device according to the present invention is to use the folding arms 6 for holding the transverse crease line around which the flap is folded from inside the fold. In fact, if the crease line, during the folding operation and under the action of the force exerted on the folding flap from outside the fold, takes a convex shape inside the fold, the folding of the flap is no more possible. This risk is eliminated if the crease line is held at the beginning of the folding operation. This is possible with the device according to the present invention since there is nothing to prevent positioning of this device above the plane P of the path of the box blanks.
Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 04405602.6 | Sep 2004 | EP | regional |
