Patent Grant
10239650
The present invention relates to boxes made of corrugated board, comprising walls, a bottom and a top, the lower face of the bottom being provided with recesses and the top comprising tongues on its upper face, in line with the recesses, of complementary shape.
It also relates to cutouts or sets of cutouts for forming such boxes, as well as to a method and device for manufacturing boxes from said cutouts or said sets of cutouts.
It has a particular important, although not exclusive, application in the field of boxes which can be stacked on pallets, which may have a tendency to slide with respect to one another during their handling or during the transport phases.
Systems are already known for centering boxes, making it possible to avoid their sliding by lateral studs cooperating with orifices placed on the edges, or close thereto.
Such systems are fragile and do not withstand repeated handling.
Packaging units are also known (FR-A-2.311.717), the lid of which is formed by tabs, some of which have a shape complementary to that of notches formed in the bottom, which is also formed by tabs, allowing interlocking and therefore lateral blocking.
Other than the fact that such an embodiment requires a blank shape with a double set of tabs, it is not suitable for low grammage and does not always allow perfect vertical stacking because of offsets which may exist during the formation of the box.
A box is also known which has a top with tongues held in the side walls and adhesively bonded onto the upper face thereof, by folding about the folding line between walls and tabs.
Although such a box allows good centering and excellent blocking, it generally leads to weakening of the walls.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a box, a set of cutouts, and a device and a method for mounting, which meet practical requirements better than those previously known, in particular because on the one hand it proposes centering of the boxes on one another, allowing perfect stacking of the boxes, and on the other hand it allows simple and inexpensive formation of the boxes.
With the invention, it will therefore be possible to avoid any sliding of the packaging units when they are stacked on one another during their palleting, and thus to permit the use of lightweight grammage, and to do so while avoiding the use of expensive palleting accessories which entail additional handling.
The configuration of the boxes furthermore allows optimized load-bearing of the weights of the upper boxes on the lower boxes, by allowing excellent centering of the walls in line with one another.
To this end, the present invention provides in particular a packaging box comprising walls, a bottom and a top, the lower face of the bottom being provided with at least two recesses and the top comprising at least two tongues adhesively bonded onto its upper face, in line with the recesses of complementary shape, characterized in that the recesses and/or the tongues are entirely located inside the corresponding face or faces.
The term “entirely located inside” is intended to mean that all these edges, whether they are cut out or connected to the board, are inside the face, that is to say at least several mm from the folding or separation line between walls and bottom and/or top, and for example at at least 5 mm inside the face with respect to said folding line, or advantageously and for example at at least 1 cm, at least 2 cm or at least 5 cm.
Advantageously all the recesses and all the tongues are entirely located inside the corresponding face.
In advantageous embodiments, one and/or other of the following arrangements is furthermore implemented:
“Central with respect to the flaps” is intended to mean that they are located on a line separating the flap into two equal parts, which are perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis of the series of flaps;
The invention also provides a cutout or a set of cutouts for forming a box as described above.
It also provides a method for producing a box as described above, characterized in that after unstacking the cutout or cutouts from a vertical magazine, the cutouts are moved horizontally in order to bring them finally (that is to say at the end) into the position for shaping the box, and during the travel the tongues with adhesive previously applied are automatically turned over and pressed against the corresponding upper face of the main flap in question in order to adhesively bond them thereon.
It also relates to a device for carrying out the above method.
The invention also provides a device for producing a box of corrugated sheet board material from a cutout or a set of cutouts, the cutout or the set of cutouts comprising a series of main flaps and adjacent tabs capable of forming a rectangular bottom and a top, the lower face of the bottom being provided with at least two recesses, and the top comprising at least two tongues capable of being adhesively bonded onto its upper face, in line with the recesses of complementary shape, said box being arranged in order to be mounted automatically on a shaping station, characterized in that, the recesses and/or the tongues being entirely located inside the corresponding face or faces, the device comprises means for advancing the cutouts flat, one by one, from a stack of cutouts,
means for applying adhesive onto the tongues and/or the opposing surface on the upper face of the box,
and means for folding the tongues through 180° in order to apply them onto said surface of the upper face during the transfer to the shaping station.
Advantageously, the stack of cutouts being vertical, the means for advancing the stack comprise a plate for elevating the stack to a plane for taking the top cutout,
and the device comprises pre-unstacking means arranged in order to separate the top cutout from the rest of the stack and means for aligning said cutout in order to frame it and keep it separated from the rest of the stack in position for gripping by the unstacking means after removal of the pre-unstacking means.
In an advantageous embodiment, the device comprises means for holding at the upper part of the stack when the bottom cutout of the stack has reached a determined level, and means for automatically placing a new stack below the remaining part of the previous stack, which is capable of ensuring continuity of the unstacking.
Advantageously, the means for holding at the upper part comprise free catches pivoting between a position for sliding along the stack of cutouts and a position for supporting the bottom of the stack under the effect of gravity.
Also advantageously, the device comprises means for telemetric measurement of the position (pi) of the top cutout and means for calculating the trajectory of the unstacking means as a function of said position (pi), which are arranged in order to control the movement of said unstacking means between a position for taking the cutout and a position for positioning on a determined workstation, and for calculating during the movement time the trajectory for the next cutout position (pi+1), and so on.
In another advantageous embodiment, the device comprises means for assisting the separation of the top cutout from the rest of the stack by blowing grazing air onto the top of the cutout.
Also advantageously, the unstacking means comprise an on-board system provided with a robotized arm for moving said cutout to a subsequent station, with a view to shaping it, before returning empty to take the next top cutout, said robotized arm comprising the means for folding through 180°.
Advantageously, the device comprises at least two magazines and/or stacks of cutouts, from which at least two top cutouts are taken in order to have adhesive applied to them and be placed on one another in order to form a box in at least two parts.
In one advantageous embodiment, the device comprises a station for shaping by winding the cutouts around a determined volume.
The invention will be understood more clearly on reading the following description of embodiments, which are given by way of nonlimiting example.
It refers to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In the rest of the description, the same reference numbers will generally be used to denote elements which are identical or similar.
Two of the main flaps 2 and 4 form the bottom 6 and the top 7, which is represented on the parallelepipedal boxes 8 of
The blanks are for example made of thin corrugated board, for example with a thickness of from 2 to 3 mm.
The other two flaps 3 and 5 form the opposing side walls 9 of the box.
The sequence of flaps is provided with a first set of tabs 10 on one side and a second set of tabs 11 on the other side, said tabs being of a rectangular shape known per se and capable of at least partly forming two other side walls 12 of the boxes 8, which are adjacent to the opposing first walls 9.
According to the invention, the lower face of the bottom 6 and the upper face of the top 7 respectively have, for one, two recesses 13 of substantially square shape and, for the top 7, two tongues 14 with shapes complementary to the recesses and arranged in order to be adhesively bonded by turning over onto the upper face of the top 7, in line with the recesses 13 of complementary shapes, as shown in
Thus, when the upper box 15 is placed on the lower box 16, the recesses will interlock on the tongues adhesively bonded onto the upper face of the top, allowing centering and wedging of one box with respect to the other, which will therefore avoid their relative sliding during their transport.
In the example of
This folding line 19 is aligned with the side 20 of the corresponding recess 13, said recess being located on the other side of the alignment line 21 with respect to the tongue, which makes it possible to obtain coincidences for the centering when this tongue is turned over.
This will be specified further with reference to
In other words, tongues and recesses are located on either side of a line 21, so that when the tongue is turned over about this line, which coincides with the folding line 19, the recess and the tongue which are turned over through 180° will be able to be in line with one another and coincide between two boxes placed on one another.
The tabs of the sets 10 and 11 are for their part formed in a manner known per se, by rectangular portions connected by folding lines 25 to the corresponding flaps, namely first tabs 26 which are intended to form an internal part of corresponding flaps 12 and are connected by said folding lines 25 to the flaps 2 and 4 comprising the recesses or the tongues and the tabs 27, which are for their part connected to the flaps 3 and 5 intended to form the walls 9 of the packaging, said tabs being adhesively bonded onto the first flaps and intended to form the walls 12 of the box by being joined at their junction 28 so as to form a complete wall.
The flap or tab 31 comprises the recess 33, which is for example rectangular, the edges of which are parallel to the folding lines and are arranged in the flap at respective distances d1 and d′1 from the first folding lines 34 and 35 (with adjacent flap or tab) so that the recess is entirely inside the flap or tab 31 (i.e. for example d1 and d′1 greater than 5 mm and/or very much greater than the thickness of the board, for example greater than two times the thickness).
This time, it is also located, with respect to the folding lines 36 and 37 perpendicular to the former, at distances d2 and d′2 for its cut-out end sides, here again so that the recess is entirely inside the flap or tab in question, in that sense as well.
For its part, the flap 32 comprises the tongue 38 intended to be folded through 180° onto the external wall 39 (arrow 40) so as to obtain (see
From the point of view of its arrangement in the flap 32, this tongue is laterally located at the distances d1 and d′1 with respect to the folding lines with adjacent flaps and/or tabs 46 and 47 corresponding to the folding lines 34 and 35 of the flap from which the recess 33 is cut out.
The distance existing between the folding line 45 of the tongue 38 and the folding lines 48 and 49, capable of respectively being located in line with the folding lines 37 and 36 of the flap or tab arranged in order to form the bottom 31, are such that, when the tongue is folded, its end 50 (cut-out edge 43) is at the distance d′2 from the folding line 48, and therefore in line with its equivalent 37, the folding line 45 being for its part located at the distance d2 from the folding line 49, which will allow coincidence, as can also be seen clearly in
Here, the tongues 54 are arranged so that their folding line 55 with the upper face of the top is located at a distance equal or substantially equal to the width of the tongue from the junction line 25 between corresponding tab 26 and flap 57.
For their part, the recesses 58 will quite clearly be located on the other side of the line 59, as represented in
As in the case of the blanks of the previous embodiments, the series of flaps is of course terminated by an adhesive bonding tongue 24, which will make it possible to form the box in a manner known per se.
The set 65 of flaps comprises two flaps 66, each provided with at least one tongue 67, the set of flaps 64 for its part comprising at least one recess 68 capable of cooperating with the tongue after the latter has been folded about the folding line 69 in order to be adhesively bonded onto the upper face 70 of the box. This folding line 69 is aligned with one of the sides 71 of the recess 68 in correspondence, the latter being located on the other side from the cutout 67 of the tongue with respect to this alignment.
In
The situation could, of course, be the reverse, given that the recesses would then be located on the other side of a line 73 drawn in extension of the folding lines 69, 69′. Here, the tongues are small squares, for example with a side length of from 2 to 3 cm.
In the embodiment of
In the embodiment of the cutout 74 of
More precisely,
More precisely, the tongues 67 are in this case arranged around a folding line 69 which is parallel to the longitudinal axis 72 of the blank, so that, when the tongue is folded inward, its end edges coincide with the folding or junction line 25 between tab 82 and corresponding flap 61. The recess is for its part with one of its edges 67 in coincidence, or substantially in coincidence, with the folding line 25 between tab and flap.
The embodiment of
The tabs 94 comprise tongues 95, which will be able to be turned over through 180° about the folding line 96 and adhesively bonded onto the upper surface 97 of the packaging, so that they can subsequently cooperate with the recesses 98 located on the other side of the alignment of the folding line 96 in order to be placed opposing during the placement of one box on the other, as shown in
This type of box is advantageously mounted around a mandrel, and permits extremely rapid shaping rates.
The first cutout comprises tongues 102 which can be turned over about their folding line 103, and the second cutout comprises recesses 104 capable of cooperating with the turned-over tongues 102.
The second cutout 101 comprises a series of three flaps 105 connected together by first folding lines 106 provided on either side respectively by means of second and third junction lines 107 of a first 108 and a second 109 series of tabs, the central flap of the series of flaps comprising the recesses and the central flap of the tray comprising the tongues.
The situation could, of course, be the reverse.
In this case, the tongues 115 located on the central flap 116 of the tray are arranged in order to be folded about a folding line 115′ located at a distance from the junction line with the tab of the tray corresponding to the width of the tongue 115.
Further to the particular characteristics of the invention associated with the positions of the tongues and of the recesses, it is of course possible to supplement the packaging and/or box in question with other arrangements, for example those represented with reference to
Here, corner pieces 117 are provided, formed by cutouts of the side edges of the tabs 118 on which the tongues 119 have been placed, at the corner with the junction of the flaps 120 corresponding to the tabs on which the tongues 119, arranged to cooperate with the opposing recesses 121 located on the other side of the line 122 corresponding to the folding line of the tongue 119, are fixed.
These corner pieces are, for example, formed by a part 123 projecting from the extension of the junction line 124 between tab and corresponding flap on the side of the exterior of the cutout and cooperate with the corner of the opposing box above, around which it is interlocked.
One or more embodiments of the device and method according to the invention, making it possible to form the boxes as described above, will now be described with reference to
Specifically, these pose a manufacturing problem in particular when turning over the tongue, which has to be done efficiently, rapidly and at a high rate from a tongue grip which is centered and/or positioned inside one of the flaps and/or one of the tabs.
This is possible only by virtue of cutout gripping means arranged in order to be adapted to bring said cutouts particularly precisely and repetitively, and at a high rate, in front of the location for processing and/or shaping, for example around a mandrel.
More precisely,
The device 130 comprises means (described below) for advancing the stack as it is being unstacked, and means 133 for unstacking the cutouts by suction.
The stack of cutouts 132 being vertical, the means of advance comprise a plate (described below with reference to
The unstacking means 133 comprise a system 134 formed by a horizontal arm 135 provided, for example, with three parallel branches 136 for supplying compressed air and for positioning six suckers 137, for example two per branch, for gripping by suction, in a manner known per se.
The arm 135 can be moved horizontally, for example by means of a chain and/or an electric motor (not represented) between the position for gripping the cutouts above the magazine and the subsequent step, for example folding around a mandrel 138.
Application by the guns 139 of liquid adhesive under pressure, of the type known by the term “hot melt”, is provided, the box being formed by compression on the mandrel by presser means 140 (lower pusher plate 141 capable of being deployed vertically, lateral pusher cylinders 142, etc.).
In the example described here, the cutout 143 comprises eight flaps, namely four main flaps separated by small intermediate flaps forming cut corners and terminated by a tongue for adhesive bonding onto the end intermediate flap.
As specified above, the flaps are provided on either side on the cutouts according to the invention with tabs intended to form the bottom and the top of the box.
Recesses 144 and tongues 145 are provided on two of the main flaps of the cutout 143.
The means 133 for advancing the stack comprise an elevator plate 147, for example formed by two angle pieces 148 for horizontal support of the last cutout at the bottom of the stack 132 and a vertically pushing cylinder 149, controlled by an automaton 150 ensuring programmed raising of the plate as the cutouts are removed, which is controlled by optical measuring means 151.
More precisely, these optical means are associated, by means known per se, with means 151 of the laser reader type for telemetric measurement of the position pi of the top cutout and means 152 (microprocessor) for calculating the trajectory of the unstacking means 133 as a function of the position pi, arranged in order to control the movement of the unstacking means between a position for gripping the cutout and a position for positioning on a determined workstation, such as the mandrel, and in order to calculate in masked time, that is to say during the movement time, the trajectory for the next cutout position (pi+1), and so on.
The time diagram followed is, for example, of the following type:
The pre-unstacking means 146 comprise a horizontal robotized arm 153 provided with at least four suckers 154 for gripping the cutout, the arm being fixed to a vertical rod 155 which is off-center with respect to the stack and arranged at the side of the latter.
The rod 155 guided and fixed by a sleeve 156 to a chain 147 for actuation between a gripping position 158 (in dots and dashes in
More precisely, the alignment means 162 comprise, on either side of the volume occupied by the vertically mobile stack 132 of cutouts, two chutes 163, for example formed by two tubes having a C-shaped cross section, of which the opening of the branches lies on the side of the stack and in which at least two sliding catches 164 are respectively mounted movably in translation parallel to the branches of the C, these catches being formed by metal tongues provided in the upper part 165 with a lug 166 for wedging the periphery 167 of the blank, in order to frame it precisely and hold it on said catches in abutment positioning once they have moved from their release position 168 in dots and dashes (see
They are controlled by the automaton 150 in order to move said catches between their abutment position and their release position.
During the pre-unstacking, the top cutout is separated from the stack below by using means (not represented) for blowing from the top onto the cutout being separated, which allows it to be detached effectively with a high rate (more than thirty or forty, or even fifty cutouts per minute).
During the operation of the pre-unstacking and unstacking means, the stack 132 of cutouts is emptied and the plate formed by the angle pieces 148, which support the last cutout, rises. There comes a time when it is in a position such that the means 170 for holding in the upper part of the stack can be automatically triggered. These means consist, for example, of catches 171 formed by a piece which is free and/or mobile in rotation with respect to an axle 172 secured to a rod 173 secured to the chassis 174 of the device.
The catches have an end lug 175 arranged to slide along the edge of the stack.
The lug 175 has, for example, a substantially triangular cross section forming a tip for contact with the edge of the stack 176.
When the tip of the lug 175 is no longer in contact with the edge of the stack, because it is too high, the catch pivots about its axle 172 (cf.
It is then arranged in order to be placed in a horizontal abutment position (in dots and dashes 176), on which the last cutout can rest, releasing the plate formed by the angle pieces 148.
It is then possible to relower it by actuating the pusher cylinder vertically as far as its initial position. A new stack of cutouts may then be placed on the plate, for example by pushing it from a pallet. It is then sufficient to raise the stack until it comes in contact with the lugs 175, which will then pivot until the last cutout of the rest of the stack above comes in contact with the first cutout of the stack below.
A stack is thus fully reconstituted without a break in loading for manufacturing boxes according to the invention.
The device comprises means for applying adhesive onto the tongues as described above, and/or the surface capable of being placed in opposition after folding.
Three types of embodiment of the means 182 (
In the embodiment of
The adhesive bonding of the tongues is completed on the path to the shaping station by pressurizing (station C) the tongues by means of a tool 189 comprising a plate 190 and a backing plate 191. The cutout may subsequently be brought to the shaping station.
The cylinders 185 and the counter-pressure means 191 are onboard the unstacking means 192 of the type described with reference to the preceding figures.
For its part, the cutout is still held by means of the gripping suckers 193 of the unstacking means 192.
This involves wrapping upwards. The cutout 184 is gripped by the unstacking means 192 then, after adhesive application at 194, the tongue is separated by means of a piece 195, mounted articulated about an axle 196 secured to the unstacking means 192, between a release position above the cutout (station B) and a position for pressing the tongue onto the lower face of the cutout (station C) by means of rotation (arrow 197). This piece has a hook shape with an end part 198 making it possible to compress the tongue onto the cutout from below.
Counter-pressure means (not represented) are also provided.
Lastly,
The means 184 comprise vertical folding cylinders 199, which push the tongue from below, which is then taken up by the pressing cylinders 200 from above with an angle at 45°, for example, with respect to the vertical.
These operations are carried out continuously, for example at the time of transferring the cutout.
The operation of a device for forming boxes according to the embodiment of the invention more particularly described here will now be described more particularly with reference to
Starting from a cutout taken from the vertical stack 132, made of corrugated sheet board material and comprising the recesses and the tongues entirely located inside the flaps, as described above, and after unstacking said cutout from the vertical magazine, it is moved horizontally to bring it to the shaping position. After gripping of the cutout extremely precisely by using the particular alignment and pre-unstacking device allowing such precision and/or using telemetric measuring means making it possible to calculate the trajectory exactly, and by detaching the cutout by blowing, the cutout is moved in order to apply thereon, during movement, adhesive lines either on the tongue or on the part which will be in contact with the tongue after folding, then said tongue is pressed onto the corresponding upper faces of the main flap in question by means of one of the devices as described above, selected as a function of the desired forming speed.
The box is then shaped around the mandrel, as described with reference to
As is evident, and as moreover emerges from the description above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments more particularly described. Rather, it encompasses all variants thereof, and particularly those in which the means for folding the tongues and applying adhesive are different, or those in which the tongues are located on the bottom of the box and the recesses are arranged on the top.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 00337 | Feb 2012 | FR | national |
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| 6234385 | Espinoza | May 2001 | B1 |
| 6257411 | Bacques | Jul 2001 | B1 |
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| 20140113789 | Aganovic | Apr 2014 | A1 |
| 20150021226 | Jacomelli | Jan 2015 | A1 |
| 20150083788 | Moreau | Mar 2015 | A1 |
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| 202010010168 | Oct 2010 | DE |
| 1153841 | Nov 2001 | EP |
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| Entry |
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| Mar. 3, 2016 U.S. Non-Final Office Acton—U.S. Appl. No. 14/375,849. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170080664 A1 | Mar 2017 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14375849 | US | |
| Child | 15266560 | US |
