The present invention relates to packaging equipment. In particular the invention relates to an apparatus and methods for forming, gluing, and filling preformed cartons, particularly cartons which have concave sides.
Current systems for handling products and packages, such as cartons, commonly to use conveyors to move and assemble cartons from blanks, and to then move and transfer products into the formed, glued cartons in an inline process. The conveyors typically include elements, such as carton or product lugs, chains, gears, oscillators, and the like, all of which are typically linked together by a drive system, such as a motor driven chain drive system. The various elements which comprise the packaging equipment combine to form a piece of apparatus called a “cartoner”.
Typical cartoners are generally referred to as “horizontal” or “vertical” cartoners, the distinction being in the manner in which they operate, with horizontal cartoners typically being relatively long machines which are loaded with blank cartons at one end. As they move down the conveyor, the carton blanks are formed and glued into partially formed cartons which lie on their sides. Product is loaded into the partially formed cartons which are “horizontally” oriented, and then their flaps are tucked, glued, and sealed. The fully formed cartons, loaded with product, are then passed to a final station where they are removed for storage or shipping.
As is known by those familiar with the cartoner industry, some so-called “horizontal” cartoners, such as those made by Langen Packaging, Inc. of Mississauga, Canada, can also be “tilted” upwards to about forty-five degrees. Similarly, there are so-called “vertical” cartoners which form cartons from the blanks such that they have a vertical orientation when they are filled.
Each of the known prior art cartoners, whether horizontal, “tilted”, or vertical, is designed to form a carton from a blank, tuck in (and glue) the various flaps, and provide an area (or station) at which a partially formed carton having an open end can be filled with product, either manually or automatically. After the partially formed cartons have been filled, cartoners typically provide a further area in which the remaining flaps of the filled carton are glued and sealed, and then, ultimately removed from the machine, manually or using a conveyor system, whereby fully formed cartons, filled with product, ultimately leave the cartoner.
Based upon their design and operation, cartoners are capable of handling the foregoing operation with up to several thousand cartons being formed and filled in every shift.
As is generally understood, a standard design for a carton is a generally rectangular box, such as those used for products found on the shelves of supermarkets and other stores, filled with everything from cereals to golf balls. A problem which has existed with the cartoners of the prior art, however, is that they are generally limited to handling cartons having only a limited type of shape, while recent market studies have shown that consumers perceive certain shapes, such as a tapered carton having concave sides, as being premium packages which contain premium products.
The heretofore known cartoners have been unable to form cartons from blanks which would provide the formed cartons with such tapered, concave sides.
Referring first to
With continued reference to
Referring, now, to
With reference to
The way the cartoner 10 of the present invention is able to accomplish the loading and sealing of a carton 12 having concave sides 14, 16 requires numerous modifications to “standard” cartoner machines. In the following explanation of the present invention, a “horizontal” cartoner machine is described, although those skilled in the art will, of course, recognize that the invention is not limited solely to horizontal cartoners.
With reference to
At the same time, the blank 30 is positioned between a leading capture lug 48 and a trailing capture lug 50 (See,
The vacuum sucker cups 34 urge the leading edge of the blank 30 into the leading capture lug 48 until it is fitted into the leading capture lug 48 as shown in
With reference to
Referring to
As the blank 30 continues to move, the elongated plow rod 54 holds both the rear leading and the rear trailing minor flaps 58, 62 closed, as shown in
Referring next to
With reference to
Then, the partially formed carton blank 30 passes through a section of the cartoner 10 in which the inner major flaps 76 undergo a pre-breaking process while oscillators 84, which move with the blank 30 on each side (See,
Next, the major outer flaps 80, 82 are pre-broken over the top of the carton pre-break plates 88 using rods 94, as shown in
Then the outside major flaps 80, 82 are released from the rollers 96. The curved metal cam operated pusher pre-break plates 88 pull away from the carton blank 30 thereby reopening pre-broken outside major flaps 80, 82. Rods fit into position through cutouts 90, thereby holding the inside major flaps 76 closed.
Finally, glue (typically hot melted glue) is applied to the flaps, and the outer major flaps are reclosed by rods and rollers 97 and held in position by traveling pressure blocks 98 while the hot glue sets. As shown in
With reference to
While the invention has been described in connection with specific embodiments and applications, the inventor does not intend to restrict the description to the examples shown. Persons skilled in the art will recognize that the above apparatus and methods may be modified or changed without departing from the general scope of the present description, the intention of the inventor being to include all such modifications and alterations in so far as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.
This application is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 13/176,641 filed Jul. 5, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,419,602, entitled Cartoner for Cartons Having Concave Sides, which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 12/885,464 filed Sep. 18, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,998,049 issued Aug. 16, 2011 entitled Cartoner for Cartons Having Concave Sides, which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 12/240,736 filed Sep. 29, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,791 issued Oct. 26, 2010, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/975,820 filed Sep. 28, 2007. The entire contents of all four applications/patents are incorporated by reference herein.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20130203575 A1 | Aug 2013 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60975820 | Sep 2007 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13176641 | Jul 2011 | US |
Child | 13804216 | US | |
Parent | 12885464 | Sep 2010 | US |
Child | 13176641 | US | |
Parent | 12240736 | Sep 2008 | US |
Child | 12885464 | US |