Patent Application
20080223803
This application claims the priority of German Patent Application No. 10 2007 013 548.5, filed on Mar. 17, 2007, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention concerns a shaft tray for receiving rod-shaped products, including a tray body formed by a rear wall, two substantially parallel and spaced-apart side walls and a bottom wall, forming a receiving chamber for the products, the receiving chamber being divided into individual shafts by shaft walls running parallel to the side walls.
Such shaft trays are used in particular in the tobacco-processing industry in the processing of rod-shaped products. Cigarettes, filter rods or the like are kept in receptacles, the so-called trays, in particular for transport and for storage. In the process the receptacles can be designed as standard trays with a single receiving chamber for all products, or as shaft trays in which the products lie in several shafts separate from each other. For further processing of the stored products, they are discharged to subsequent apparatuses such as e.g. packing machines or the like or funneled into an existing mass flow.
With respect to the logistical processes, that is, in particular with respect to filling and emptying the trays/shaft trays, there are certain requirements in relation to the design of the tray body and shaft walls. Thus it is necessary, for example for a trouble-free filling and/or emptying operation, for the mutually opposed side walls in the whole cross-section of the receiving chamber or the mutually adjacent shaft walls in the whole cross-section of the shaft formed as a result to run generally parallel to each other, to prevent the turning of products, the so-called non-aligned filter rods. To put it another way, the receiving chamber or the individual shafts should have a generally square or rectangular cross-section. Trays with a single continuous receiving chamber which are usually made by injection moulding for the sake of easier handling and in particular for economic reasons are known. These trays which are usually designed in one piece meet the above requirement in spite of the mould-release bevels which are necessary with injection moulding, as the bevels are negligibly small compared with the size of the tray body or the receiving chamber. This is different in the manufacture of shaft trays by injection moulding. As already mentioned, the surfaces which are in contact with the products and are called the working surfaces below, are parallel and spaced apart within the shafts, namely run parallel to each other with the mutually facing or adjacent shaft walls. In the manufacture of shaft trays by injection moulding with the shaft walls arranged inside the receiving chamber, however, considerable problems arise because the shaft walls must for example taper from the rear wall into the region of the open front wall, to form the mould-release bevels. This means that the cross-section varies within a shaft. However, this effect is undesirable for a trouble-free and continuous filling and emptying operation. Also, the manufacture of one-piece shaft trays by injection moulding would require an elaborate design of the corresponding tool with complex temperature behaviour, which greatly increases the manufacturing costs and is therefore uneconomical.
From German utility model 1 915 446 is known a shaft tray which is composed of a rear wall, two side walls and several shaft walls. The side walls and the shaft walls are designed in one piece with the rear wall. A bottom wall is constructed separately and can be moved back and forth for opening and closing shafts by openings formed in the side walls and shaft walls. A base body of this kind in one piece consisting of rear wall, side walls and shaft walls cannot however be made economically for the reasons stated above.
From GB 694,334 is known a tray which is designed as a chamber or shaft tray. The base body is composed of a bottom wall and two side walls which extend upright from the bottom wall and are curved at the free end. To form the chambers or shafts, L-shaped partitions are provided, which are fixed in the region of the bottom plate. These trays however have the drawback that they ensure only inadequate guiding and securing of the products within the shafts. In particular due to the attachment of the partitions to the bottom wall, the partitions are guided only inadequately, which leads to parallelism between the partitions not being achieved. Furthermore, such a tray can be made in larger numbers only uneconomically.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to propose a simple shaft tray which is economical to manufacture in larger numbers.
This object is achieved by a shaft tray of the kind mentioned hereinbefore by the fact that the shaft walls are designed so that they can be mounted separately from the tray body, receiving means and/or fastening means for receiving and/or fastening the shaft walls to the tray body being formed at least in the region of the rear wall of the tray body. The modular design of the shaft tray allows manufacture both of the tray body and of the shaft walls by injection moulding. Each component part, in particular the shaft walls as well, can be made with parallel spaced-apart effective surfaces, because the necessary mould-release bevels can be laid in regions which do not affect the parallelism of the side walls and shaft walls to each other. Furthermore, the receiving and/or fastening means in the region of the rear wall of the tray body stabilise the shaft tray, which also contributes to the effective surfaces running parallel to each other during the filling or emptying operation as well.
An appropriate development of the invention provides that the receiving means in the region of the rear wall of the tray body includes vertically extending slots for passage of the shaft walls. Firstly this has the advantage that the tray body itself is in one piece. Secondly, the assembly of such shaft trays is particularly easy.
Preferably the shaft walls have, on their side facing towards the rear wall of the tray body, flange-like webs which are constructed in one piece with the shaft walls in such a way that the shaft walls are prevented from completely slipping through the slots. The webs serve on the one hand as a stop for simplifying assembly and on the other hand allow easy and secure fastening in the region of the rear wall of the tray body.
An advantageous embodiment is characterised in that the receiving means in the region of the rear wall of the tray body includes grooves for receiving corresponding projections of the shaft walls, the grooves being formed on the side of the rear wall of the tray body facing towards the receiving chamber. As a result, easy mounting of the shaft trays from the front is possible.
Advantageously, the receiving means in the region of the rear wall of the tray body includes grooves for receiving corresponding projections of the shaft walls, the grooves having undercut portions for form-locking reception of the projections. This design likewise ensures easy assembly. Furthermore, a secure and stable connection is ensured by the form-locking connection.
A preferred development is distinguished in that at least two shaft walls are joined together by a transverse wall running parallel to the rear wall of the tray body, to form an insert element with two or more walls. Due to this development the number of parts can be reduced, simplifying assembly. A further advantage lies in that the shaft walls have a high rigidity due to the transverse wall, which ensures parallelism of the effective surfaces of the shaft walls.
A further preferred embodiment is distinguished in that the tray body is constructed in several pieces. As a result, the individual parts/components are each made smaller, which allows smaller tools for manufacture and therefore incurs lower costs.
Advantageously, individual rear wall sections and individual bottom wall sections are constructed in one piece to form L-shaped wall segments. As a result the number of shafts is variable, as more or fewer wall segments can be joined together due to the modular design.
A preferred development of this embodiment provides that the shaft walls are located between the wall segments. Thus in a particularly simple manner the width of the shaft trays can be varied by altering the wall thickness of the shaft walls.
Further appropriate and/or advantageous features and developments follow from the subsidiary claims and the description. Particularly preferred embodiments are described in more detail with the aid of the attached drawings. The drawings show:
The shaft trays shown are used for storing and transporting rod-shaped products of the tobacco-processing industry, in particular for receiving cigarettes, filter rods or the like.
All of the
The shaft walls 17 are made separately from the tray body 11 as component parts and accordingly can be mounted on the tray body 11 separately and subsequently. For this purpose, in the region of the rear wall 12 of the tray body 11 are formed receiving means 19 and/or fastening means 20 for receiving and/or fastening the shaft walls 17 to the tray body 11. In addition, receiving means 19 and/or fastening means 20 for receiving and/or fastening the shaft walls 17 to the tray body 11 can also be formed in the bottom wall 15 of the tray body 11. The design and fitting of the receiving means 19 and fastening means 20 are detailed below. With the receiving and/or fastening of the shaft walls 17 at least in the region of the rear wall 15, a stable arrangement of the shaft tray 10 is achieved in spite of the modular design. Due to the fact that the shaft walls 17 can be connected to the tray body 11 preferably over their whole length, that is, from top to bottom, parallelism of the shaft walls 17 to each other and in relation to the side walls 13, 14 can be ensured.
The shaft walls 17 in the mounted state are of completely planar construction at least in their lateral working surfaces facing towards each other or the side walls 13, 14. The surfaces which are in contact with the products are referred to as the effective surfaces. In other words, the regions of the shaft walls 17 which form the shaft-like receiving chamber 16 are of planar and parallel construction, so that rectangular or square cross-sections are formed over the full height and depth of the shafts 18.
Preferably the shaft trays 10 or, to be more precise, the tray body 11 and the shaft walls 17 are made of plastic. Particularly preferably, the materials are polystyrene (PS) or acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS). Of course other plastics or other materials such as e.g. aluminium can also be used to make the shaft trays 10. For the method of manufacturing the shaft trays 10, that is, at least the tray bodies 11 and the shaft walls 17, injection moulding is particularly suitable. Accordingly, the component parts of the shaft tray 10, and in particular also the shaft walls 17, have the so-called mould-release bevels or casting bevels. However, the mould-release bevels are formed in regions of the shaft walls 17 which have no contact with the products. This means that the mould-release bevels are formed in regions of the shaft walls 17, for example in the region of receiving means 21 and/or fastening means 22 of the shaft walls 17, which lie outside the receiving chamber 16. In addition to the preferred injection moulding method, naturally other common manufacturing methods can be employed as well.
The receiving means 19 and 21 in the region of the rear wall 12 of the tray body 11 or in the region of the shaft walls 17, and the fastening means 20 and 22 in the region of the rear wall 12 of the tray body 11 or in the region of the shaft walls 17, can be constructed separately or in one piece with the rear wall 12 or shaft walls 17. Preferably the receiving means 19, 21 and the fastening means 20, 22 are formed integrally with the rear wall 12 or the shaft walls 17 or formed in them. The shaft walls 17 can be attached to the tray body 11 in different ways. For the choice of common connections by way of example, screwing, gluing, riveting, welding, insertion or the like may be mentioned. Also, several of the above or comparable connection techniques may be combined.
As already mentioned above, some of the embodiments described below have a one-piece tray body 11. With the shaft tray 10 shown in
The shaft walls 17 corresponding to the tray body 11 according to
The shaft tray 10 shown in
The shaft walls 17 have projections which are designed as receiving means 21 corresponding to the grooves 29 and which are for example constructed as flange-like webs 30. The webs 30 are constructed in one piece with the shaft walls 17 and run transversely to the actual shaft wall 17, so that the shaft walls 17 in the region of the receiving means 21 are T-shaped. The webs 30 fit flush in the grooves 29, so that the rear wall 12 has a smooth surface between the shaft walls 17 on the side facing towards the receiving chamber 16. The fastening means 20, 22 are e.g. bolts 31 on the webs 30 or holes 32 or the like in the region of the grooves 29. With this embodiment too, the fastening means 20, 22 can be designed in any other known way.
A further embodiment constructed basically on the same fundamental principle can be seen in
A further embodiment of the shaft tray 10 is shown in
An embodiment of the shaft tray 10 shown in
In the embodiment according to
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2007 013 548.5 | Mar 2007 | DE | national |
