The present invention relates to the field of the machines for producing mass consumption products, in particular sticks for stirring drinks, such as coffee, tea, cappuccino, milk, and similar, in particular, but not exclusively of the type dispensed by drink vending machines. The invention also refers to a method for producing drink stirring sticks made of paper material.
As it is known, generally to stir the drinks such as coffee, tea, cappuccino, in particular to facilitate sugar, or any other sweetening substance, to be dissolved, but also to accelerate their cooling, in the case of hot drinks, the traditional spoon made of metal has been replaced almost anywhere by a stirrer made of plastic, i.e. a flat oblong element. In particular, the drink stirring sticks are provided to the user together with the drink almost in all the public places such as the cafe, the bar, the restaurants, etc. because besides providing significant safe running costs for the shopkeeper with respect to the traditional spoons made of metal, they avoid the need to collect them after their use and to wash them in a dishwasher. In addition to the above, the stirring sticks represent the ideal solution for drinking the take-away drinks both in public and private places, such as offices, companies, and recreational places in general.
Substantially for the same reasons the drink stirring sticks have had a wide diffusion also in the vending machines of drinks that are installed in public, or private places. In this case, the drink vending machines, in particular for coffee, tea, cappuccino, milk, and similar drinks, further to a device for supplying the drink, normally provide a dispenser for dispensing glasses made of plastic, or paper, and stirring sticks which are used by the user to stir the drink within the glass.
Recently, thanks to an increased general sensitivity towards the environmental problems, it has been attempted to produce stirring sticks made of wood, or made of paper material with a low environmental impact. Therefore, some lines for producing stirring sticks made of paper material, or wood, have been proposed.
However, the sticks made of paper material that are produced at the moment have many drawbacks.
In the first place, the present flat stirrers made of paper material, once that they have been introduced into the drink, tend to absorb the same and, therefore, to lose partly, or completely, their rigidity, making considerably more difficult to stir the drink by the user, up to compromising its organoleptic properties because “dissolving” some fragments of the stirrer can come off and pollute the drink making it practically undrinkable.
An example of a vending machine provided with a dispenser of flat stirrers made of disposable material having the aforementioned drawbacks is described in WO2020/225669. In this case, the stirrer dispenser dispenses the stirrers starting from a flat strip made of a disposable food material which is wound to form a roll. The stirrer dispenser provides to unwind the disposable material forming a flat strip that is cut by a blade once that a determined length is reached in order to obtain a flat stirrer, which is, then, dispensed by the vending machine.
A first drawback of the solution described in WO2020/225669 is the high size of the roll, which has to be positioned within the vending machine together with the devices that are provided to carry out the unwinding of the strip of material and its cut in order to obtain the stirrer.
A further drawback is that the blade is close to the catching zone where the user grabs the stick. This solution, in fact, is not able to assure the necessary safety conditions, because the user could stretch out his/her hand up to reaching the cutting blade and actuate the same, or touch its cutting profile and then endanger his/her safety. Furthermore, the unwinding and cutting devices described in WO2020/225669 do not seem to be efficient and able to produce a disposable stirring stick rigid enough to avoid that the same could deteriorate and sufficiently quickly to be compatible with the performances that are normally requested for a drink vending machine.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a machine for producing drink stirring sticks that is able to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art machines.
It is, in particular, an object of the present invention to provide a machine for producing drink stirring sticks that is able to produce stirring sticks with a high rigidity and that are able to withstand to stresses such as those to which they are normally subjected during their use.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing drink stirring sticks having analogous advantages.
These and other objects are achieved by a machine for producing drink stirring sticks made of paper material comprising:
Other features of the invention are described in the dependent claims which define particular embodiments of the present invention.
In particular, the separation unit can comprise, furthermore, a cutting device provided with said, or each, cutting member configured to cut the web or sheet made of paper material. More in particular, the or each cutting member can be configured to obtain a cut web or sheet made of paper material provided with a plurality of cutting lines, for example weakening lines, or pre-cut lines, or tear-off lines, but also clean-cut lines, each of which perimetrically delimiting a respective elongated portion having a longitudinal axis. Alternatively, the or each cutting member can be configured to obtain a cut web or sheet made of paper material provided with a plurality of clean-cut lines, each of which perimetrically delimiting a respective elongated portion having a longitudinal axis.
Advantageously, each longitudinal axis of each curved elongated portion can be parallel to the predetermined feeding direction.
In particular, between the folding device and the cutting device an advancing device can be provided arranged to cause the web or sheet made of paper material to advance along a predetermined advancing direction parallel or orthogonal to the predetermined feeding direction.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the folding device can be positioned downstream of the cutting device. In particular, the folding device can be configured to fold the web or sheet made of paper material to cause the plurality of curved elongated portions to be detached at the aforementioned cutting lines, such as weakening lines, or tear-off lines, or clean-cut lines.
According to an alternative embodiment of the invention, the folding device can be positioned upstream of the cutting device. In particular, the folding device can be configured to fold the web or sheet made of paper material along a plurality of folding lines, in such a way to fold the web or sheet made of paper material in a plurality of portions or strips of sheets. More in particular, the cutting device can be configured to cut each portion or strip of sheet, in such a way to make on the same at least one respective weakening line perimetrically delimiting a respective curved elongated portion.
Advantageously, the aforementioned curved elongated portions can have a substantially “U-shaped” transversal cross section.
In particular, the aforementioned folding device can comprise a first and a second counter-rotating folding rolls arranged to rotate about a respective rotation axis orthogonal to the feeding direction. More in particular, the aforementioned first and second folding rolls can be respectively provided with a plurality of protruding portions and a plurality of recessed portions alternating with each other.
Preferably, the plurality of protruding portions and the plurality of recessed portions can have shapes complementary to each other and can be configured to penetrate to each other at the aforementioned folding zone in such a way to apply the aforementioned folding action on the web or sheet made of paper material.
According to a possible embodiment of the invention, the plurality of protruding portions and the plurality of recessed portions can be oriented longitudinally to the first and second folding rolls.
In particular, the plurality of protruding portions and the plurality of recessed portions longitudinally oriented to the first and second folding rolls can be oriented parallel to the predetermined advancing direction, if the folding device is positioned downstream of the cutting device.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the plurality of protruding portions and the plurality of recessed portions longitudinally oriented to the first and second folding rolls can be oriented orthogonally to the predetermined feeding direction, if the folding device is positioned upstream of the cutting device.
In particular, the or each cutting member can be positioned on a first and a second counter-rotating folding rolls arranged to rotate about a respective rotation axis. More in particular, the first and second counter-rotating folding rolls can be arranged to fold the web or sheet made of paper material to cause the web or sheet made of paper material same to be cut by the or each cutting member. In this way, with a single device it is possible to make the aforementioned cutting lines and to detach the curved elongated elements at the cutting lines.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method for producing drink stirring sticks made of paper comprises the steps of:
The invention will be now illustrated with the following description of an exemplary embodiment thereof, exemplifying but not limitative, with reference to the attached drawings wherein:
the
As diagrammatically shown in
Advantageously, the machine 1 comprises, furthermore, a separation unit 200 positioned, at least partly, along the aforementioned predetermined feeding direction 110. In particular, the separation unit 200 can be configured to fold the web or sheet made of paper material 100 in such a way to separate a plurality of curved elongated portions 105, i.e. the sticks, from the worked web or sheet made of paper material 100. More in particular, the aforementioned curved elongated portions 105 can have a substantially “U-shaped” transversal cross section, or however can be shaped in such a way to have a predetermined radius of curvature r (
As diagrammatically shown in the embodiment of
Advantageously, the folding device 40 can be equipped with a first folding member 41, for example a first folding roll, provided with at least one protruding portion 43 and a second folding member 42, for example a second folding roll, provided with at least one recessed portion 44. In particular, the or each protruding portion 43, and the or each recessed portion 44 have shapes that are complementary to each other. More in particular, the or each protruding portion 43, and the or each recessed portion 44 can be arranged to be positioned adjacent to the respective sides 101 and 102 of the web or sheet made of paper material 100 to apply a folding action on the same at a folding zone 45.
According to a possible embodiment of the invention, the separation unit 200 can, furthermore, comprise a cutting device 20 provided with at least one cutting member 25, diagrammatically indicated in
More in particular, as diagrammatically shown in
In particular, depending on the type of cutting device 20 that is used, it is possible to obtain a determined shape of the elongated portions 103 and, therefore, of the curved elongated portions 105 that are obtained at the end of the folding step.
In particular, in a first example, which is diagrammatically shown in
As diagrammatically shown in the alternative embodiment of
Preferably, the cutting device 20 can be configured to make the elongated portions 103 in such a way that the same have the longitudinal axis 125 parallel, or substantially parallel, to the direction along which are moved, in particular to the feeding direction 110 (see for example
In the embodiment that is shown as example in
In a possible embodiment, between the folding device 40 and the cutting device 20 can be provided an advancing device 30, for example a belt conveyor, or a roller conveyor, arranged to cause the cut or folded web or sheet made of paper material 100′, 100″, depending on that the folding device 40 is respectively positioned downstream, or upstream, of the cutting device 20, along a predetermined advancing direction 130. This can be parallel or orthogonal to the aforementioned predetermined feeding direction 110. In particular, in case that the advancing direction 130 is orthogonal to the feeding direction 110, a push member can be provided, which is not shown in the figures for reasons of clarity. For example, the push member can be provided with a back and forth motion along a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction 110 and to be configured to cause the worked web or sheet 100′, or 100″, made of paper material, to move from a first to a second conveyor. Alternatively to the case described above, the movement of the cut or folded web or sheet made of paper material 100′, 100″, from the feeding direction 110 to the advancing direction 130 can be obtained by a curved linking portion, which is not shown for simplicity.
In a further alternative embodiment, the movement of the cut web or sheet made of paper material 100′, or folded 100″, from the feeding direction 110 to the advancing direction 130 can be carried out by a transfer device, in particular provided with catching members arranged to catch, for example from the above, the cut or folded web or sheet made of paper material 100′, 100″ from the upstream conveyor, which causes the movement along the feeding direction 110, rotating the same by 90° and releasing the same on the downstream conveyor, which causes its movement along the advancing direction 130. For example, the transfer device can be a carousel device arranged to take a cut or folded sheet or web 100′, 100″ at a time, from the upstream conveyor and after having rotated the same about an axis orthogonal both to the feeding direction 110 and to the advancing direction 130, to discharge the rotated sheet or web on the downstream conveyor.
In particular, as diagrammatically shown in
In the alternative embodiment of the invention that is diagrammatically shown in the FIGS. from 9 to 13, the aforementioned folding device 40 can be positioned upstream of the cutting device 20. In this case, the folding device 40 can be configured to fold the web or sheet 100 made of paper material along a plurality of folding lines 107, in such a way to fold the web or sheet 100 same in a plurality of portions or strips of sheets, 108 in such a way to obtain a web or sheet made of paper material 100″ (see
As diagrammatically shown, for example, in the
In the alternative embodiment that is diagrammatically shown in the FIGS. from 9 to 13, in which the folding device 40 is, instead, positioned upstream of the cutting device 20, as described above, the plurality of protruding portions 43 and the plurality of recessed portions 44 which are longitudinal to the first and second folding rolls 41 and 42 can be, instead, oriented orthogonally to the predetermined feeding direction 110.
In the embodiments of the invention that are described above with reference to the FIGS. from 1 to 13, both in the embodiment of the invention which provides that the folding device 40 is positioned downstream of the cutting device 20, and in the alternative embodiment which, instead, provides that the folding device 40 is positioned upstream of the cutting device 20, the protruding portions 43 and the recessed portions 44 are oriented longitudinally to the folding rollers 41 and 42. However, it is also foreseen the possibility that the or each protruding portion 43, and the or each recessed portion 44 can be arranged circumferentially to the folding rollers 41 and 42.
In an embodiment provided, but not shown for simplicity, the or each cutting member 25, in particular a blade, advantageously a die cutting member, can be positioned on at least one between the first and second counter-rotating folding rolls 41 and 42. In this case, the first and second counter-rotating folding rolls 41 and 42 are arranged to fold the web or sheet made of paper material 100, analogously to what is described above with reference to
In the
In the embodiment that is diagrammatically shown in
In the alternative embodiment of
As diagrammatically shown in the enlargement of
In the further alternative embodiment, which is diagrammatically shown in
In another embodiment of the invention that is diagrammatically shown in
The foregoing description of a specific embodiment will so fully reveal the invention according to the conceptual point of view, so that others, by applying current knowledge, will be able to modify and/or adapt for various applications such an embodiment without further research and without parting from the invention, and it is therefore to be understood that such adaptations and modifications will have to be considered as equivalent to the specific embodiment. The means and the materials to realise the different functions described herein could have a different nature without, for this reason, departing from the field of the invention. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102021000020903 | Aug 2021 | IT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IB2022/057109 | 8/1/2022 | WO |