Claims
- 1. A machine for automatically packaging articles into expanded honeycomb and into a container comprising means for locating a container at a loading station of the packaging machine to be filled and moving the container out of the loading station after it has been filled, means for providing a separator sheet into the container at the loading station, means for disposing a prescribed number of articles to be packaged as a layer in the container in a nested relationship in an article loading position, an article controlling housing assembly, means for automatically providing above said loading station a honeycomb expander tray on which is located an open honeycomb section for receiving articles and for removing the tray after the honeycomb section has been removed therefrom, means for moving the housing assembly and for lifting said articles from their article loading position, depositing them in said open honeycomb and subsequently lifting the filled honeycomb from said tray and then depositing the same in a container.
- 2. A packaging machine as set forth in claim 1 in which the means for locating the container at the loading station and for moving the container out of the loading station includes a conveyor which when actuated moves the container into the loading station, means for stopping the container at a prescribed location in the loading station, and means for lifting the container into the desired proximate location relative to said expander tray to receive the filled honeycomb and separator sheet, and for lowering the container after it has been filled.
- 3. A packaging machine as set forth in claim 1 in which the means for disposing a prescribed number of articles in a nested relationship includes means for loading articles to be packaged on a carrier assembly disposed outside of the loading station, means for moving said carrier assembly into and out of the loading station of the packaging machine, a carriage assembly for holding the articles to be packaged adjacent the carrier assembly, guide means for guiding the articles from said carriage assembly onto the carrier assembly into the desired position relative thereto, and track means for guiding the carrier assembly into and out of the loading station in the prescribed sequence during the operation of the machine.
- 4. A packaging machine in accordance with claim 3 in which the carriage assembly includes a plurality of chute sections and means for retaining the articles in the carriage assembly as it is moved into the machine.
- 5. A packaging machine in accordance with claim 4 in which the means for retaining the articles in the carriage assembly includes end stop means and a bottom support.
- 6. A packaging machine in accordance with claim 3 in which the carrier assembly includes a plurality of cup members for receiving the articles to be packaged.
- 7. A packaging machine in accordance with claim 6 including means for adjusting the position of the cups into a nested relationship for accurately locating the articles relative to the expanded honeycomb provided for same.
- 8. A packaging machine in accordance with claim 7 in which the housing assembly includes a vacuum housing depending therefrom a plurality of cups constructed and arranged to engage the articles located on the carrier assembly, and wherein the means for moving the housing assembly includes cylinder means for raising and lowering said vacuum box into and out of contact with said articles, and further including means for providing a suction in said housing whereby when the cups engage the articles air acting to flow into the vacuum box will cause a pressure differential tending to hold the articles in position relative to the cups and for admitting atmospheric air to said vacuum box to release the articles from the cups when the filled honeycomb is deposited in the box to be filled.
- 9. A packaging machine in accordance with claim 8 in which the means for providing a separator sheet includes a first suction cup assembly located adjacent the loading station, and means for operating said first suction cup assembly to contact the upper sheet of a stack of separator sheets and subsequently dropping a sheet into the bottom of said expander tray, and second suction cup assemblies connected to said vacuum housing engaging the separator sheet and raising it along with the expanded honeycomb.
- 10. Method of automatically packaging articles in a shipping box including the steps of disposing articles in a nested relationship, providing in a loading station an expanded honeycomb section, raising the articles while maintaining the nested relationship, depositing the articles in the expanded honeycomb, raising the filled honeycomb, providing a separator sheet and depositing the filled honeycomb into a box.
- 11. A method as set forth in claim 10 wherein the step of disposing the articles in a nested relationship includes the steps of initially placing a preselected quantity of articles in a carriage assembly, adjusting a carrier, retaining the articles in said carriage assembly, moving the carriage assembly above the carrier, and then depositing the articles in the carrier.
- 12. A method as set forth in claim 10 wherein the articles located in the carrier are repositioned to conform the location to that of the expanded honeycomb section.
- 13. A method as set forth in claim 10 in which the step of providing an expanded honeycomb in the loading station consists of first depositing a compressed sheet of honeycomb into a tray disposed outside the loading station, expanding the honeycomb and retaining it in the expanded condition in the tray while moving the tray into the loading station.
- 14. A method as set forth in claim 11 in which the steps of raising the articles off the carrier, placing the articles into the expanded honeycomb, then raising the articles, and expanded honeycomb and depositing the articles and expanded honeycomb into the box includes the steps of first gripping the articles to remove them from the carrier and moving the articles to a raised position, removing the carrier and lowering the articles into the expanded honeycomb and then raising the articles and expanded honeycomb off the expander tray in which it has been located and then removing the expander tray.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 6,085, filed Jan. 25, 1979, and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,802.
This is a continuation-in-part application of Ser. No. 876,841, filed Feb. 10, 1978 and now abandoned.
This invention relates to a machine for automatically packaging articles of various types in containers wherein they will be placed in separate compartments, so they can be shipped great distances without damage. In the particular embodiment to be described and illustrated, the machine will be employed in the packaging of fruit.
The packaging of fruit for shipping over large distances must be done in such a manner that the fruit will not contact each other. A fruit in a container, if not positively separated and retained in a spaced apart relationship, will over the course of its travel rub against each other literally thousands of times, which will tend to bruise the fruit, resulting in substantial loss.
There are currently several kinds of packaging methods being employed, and, in one way, or another, they suffer from various disadvantages. A typical packaging operation is one in which a plurality of fruits, such as, apples, grapefruits, etc., are merely placed at random in a container, and the container is sealed and transported from where the fruit is grown to a store where it is sold to the ultimate consumer. It can be appreciated that when fruit is loosely disposed in a container in this manner, the moving around and subsequent abrasive action to which the contacting fruits are subjected due to their constant rubbing against one another when carried on vehicles, such as, trains, trucks, etc., will result in substantial damage to the fruit. In some instances, the damage has run as high as ten, twenty percent, or even more, which obviously is a serious disadvantage.
Another way fruit is being currently packaged is to put it in plastic trays that may, or may not be covered by a thin plastic sheet. These trays are then individually put into larger boxes, one on top of the other until the box is full. While this is better than loosely packaging the fruit, this is still not fully satisfactory, since the bottom of all trays, but one, will repeatedly rub against an adjacent row of fruit and cause damage.
Obviously any packaging method that would completely separate the individual fruits from each other and keep them always apart would be very desirable. Such an arrangement would prevent the substantial damage that inevitably occurs when boxes of fruit are subjected to the constant battering they receive when the boxes are continuously shaken during transport.
Packaging fruit in this manner has long been recognized as being desirable, but heretofore there has been no way of doing this in an automatic, efficient, high speed, economical manner. Where honeycomb has previously been used, this has been done essentially by hand, and needless to say this is a slow method and a relatively costly procedure. Essentially, it has been accomplished by manually expanding a honeycomb material and holding the honeycomb in an expanded condition while the fruit is manually inserted. The industry has long been looking for a fully automatic damage preventing packaging system that is low in cost, operates at a high speed, and is relatively simple in design. The desired aim is to provide total internal protection for the product being packaged. That is to say, the article must be protected from pressures that would act to bruise or crush the product. A machine that could automatically package products in honeycomb capsules in a lost cost, high speed, efficient manner would be the answer to the industry's needs.
The advantage of using honeycomb material is that it provides a very strong configuration and has a very high strength-to-weight ratio compared to other products on the market. The origin of the term "honeycomb" is derived from the mass of hexagonal cells of wax built by honey bees and has become to mean a pattern resembling that of a honeycomb. The high column strength of honeycomb results in the loads being carried by the honeycomb material being distributed over a series of braced columns. It is this inherent structural geometry that makes honeycombs such desired material for use in packaging. The honeycomb cells act to isolate the articles disposed therein from adjacent articles. In the instant application, the honeycomb material is made up of a relatively high density Kraft paper, but it can, of course, be made of recycled paper, plastic, or other suitable materials.
The present invention is capable of accomplishing just what the packaging industry has been looking for. The machine embodying the present invention will automatically serve to load a box with multiple layers of fruit wherein each of the fruits will be encapsulated in its own cell and fully protected from damage by contact with other fruits in the container. To this end, a layer of fruit is placed into cells of an expanded honeycomb disposed on a separator sheet. The loaded honeycomb and separator sheet assembly is then placed in a container, such as, a shipping box.
An obvious advantage of using honeycomb structural packaging material, which along with a separator sheet fully encapsulates the article being packaged, is that it prevents crushing damage from above. This permits greater stacking height while substantially eliminating the possibility of damaging fruit contained in the bottom boxes of a stack of same.
Generally speaking, the following action takes place, although not necessarily in the sequence referred to. The following description is just intended to provide a narrative description of the operation that takes place. Specific details of the various components of the machine and the operations thereof will be set forth in a later description when discussing the drawings illustrating the invention.
The fruit to be boxed is placed in a described orientation on a carrier assembly which in the illustrated embodiment is designed to receive the requisite number of fruits, in this case apples, which will ultimately become a layer of fruit in a box. The layer of apples is initially located on the carrier in a location spaced from a loading station and is then moved into the loading station where it is to be deposited into cells of an expanded honeycomb structure. When the carrier assembly is first moved into a position adjacent the loading station, the apples are placed in a plurality of cup-shaped receptacles that are subsequently positioned to provide nesting, so the apples will be properly located in the honeycomb. The properly located apples are then moved into the loading station, where they are individually gripped and held in a cup assemblage in a raised position to permit the carrier on which the apples are located to be returned for receiving another layer of apples. During, or in any event, at or prior to the full raising of the apples off the carrier, an expanded honeycomb structural separator and a bottom separator sheet assembly previously deposited in an expander tray are located below the raised apples to receive them.
The formation of the expanded honeycomb will now be described.
The honeycomb separator for receiving the fruit is taken from a supply of compressed honeycomb and placed into an expander tray on top of a separator sheet placed there during an earlier operation. The honeycomb is expanded in the expander tray to open the cells for receiving fruit. The expander tray is pivotally mounted and when it receives the separator sheet it is located outside of the loading station and after the separator sheet is compressed, and subsequently expanded honeycomb is disposed therein, it is located in the loading station above the box to be loaded. After the carrier on which the apples are located has been removed from the loading station, the previously gripped and raised apples are lowered into the cells of the expanded honeycomb on top of the separator sheet. The assemblage of the fruit, expanded honeycomb and separator sheet is then raised by a vacuum assembly, after which the expander tray is moved out of the loading station. The assemblage is then free to be placed in a box disposed therebelow. After the first layer of fruit has been placed in the box, the series of steps will be repeated to place another layer of fruit into the box until it is filled. The filled box is then moved away and another box is placed in position and filled.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
| 1105105 |
Nov 1955 |
FRX |
| 1314057 |
Apr 1973 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
6085 |
Jan 1979 |
|
Patent Grant
4435941
