Patent Application
20070277481
The present invention relates to a packaging method for formation of cartons constructed to accommodate a plurality of articles such as beverage bottles and to apparatus for carrying out such a method.
In particular, the invention relates to a carton formed from a plurality of blank integers which are each to be aligned and secured to one another in a finished package. An example of such a carton is found in UK Patent Application Number GB0408054.5 and is further shown loaded and assembled as a package in the final figure of the accompanying drawings of the present specification. Cartons comprised of multiple integers, for example two-part cartons present many advantages to the user. For example, such a construction often imparts extra strength to the carton whilst providing large areas to be printed with advertising graphics if desired. A two-part construction may also, for example, present advantages with respect to the ease of access to the articles contained in such a carton.
Consequently, a method for rapid and continuous loading and construction of such cartons presents many benefits to the user. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a method for loading and formation of a multi-part carton.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,943, to Bienaime, discloses a two-part carton whose general order of assembly is shown at
U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,061, to Le Bras, discloses a method and mechanism for application of a top gripping carrier carton to a plurality of articles such as bottles disposed within a crate. A disadvantage of this method and mechanism relative to those of the present invention lies in the fact that it is not applicable to a carton having a carton base which is formed during the loading and carton assembly process. In the present prior art specification, there is disclosed a system wherein the crate is fully formed well before the top gripping carrier is applied. It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a method of carton formation which may be applied to a carton which supports the articles contained in it on at least a pair of opposite upper and lower faces.
International Patent No 99-06280, to The Mead Corporation, discloses a packaging machine and method for continuous loading and formation of a carton for a plurality of articles such as bottles. However, this latter method and mechanism are not applicable to a carton comprising a plurality of integers. Accordingly, the advantages associated with a multi-part carton—as discussed above—are not imparted by this latter international application.
In contradistinction, the present application discloses a packaging method and apparatus which offer these benefits and which seek to overcome—or at least to mitigate—the problems presented by the prior art.
To this end, a first aspect of the present invention provides a method for continuous loading and set-up of cartons, each for holding an array of articles such as bottles, each said carton comprising a top part which includes one or more top panels and one or more side panels, and further comprising a carton base which carton base includes a main base panel and one or more wall panels; said method comprising the steps of:
Preferably, said method further comprises a preliminary step of unfolding of the said carton base from a collapsed, folded condition.
According to an optional feature of this aspect of the present invention, said step of maintaining secure alignment of said top part with said base is achieved by engagement of a securement portion attached to one of said top part and said carton base, with a complimentary securement aperture which complimentary securement aperture is defined in the other one of said top part and said carton base.
A further optional feature of the present invention provides said step of securing together said top part and said carton base is achieved by the application of an adhesive material to at least a part of one or both of said top part and said carton base.
Preferably, said step of securing together said top part and said carton base further comprises the process of applying pressure to said top part and said carton base, after application of adhesive material, on one or more of those panels to which said adhesive material has been applied.
According to an optional feature of this aspect of the present invention, said method is adapted to be applied to cartons wherein said top part includes a series of apertures adapted to receive said articles.
According to a further optional feature of this aspect of the invention, said step of offering up of the top part in alignment with said carton base is achieved by lowering the top part onto the carton base at an angle of approach which is acute to the horizontal.
Preferably, said angle of approach is in the region of 10°.
According to an optional feature of this aspect of the present invention, said step of offering up said top part in alignment with said carton base is followed by subsequent application of forming means, which forming means is so constructed and arranged as to engage one or more of said articles, thereby holding said carton and articles in careful alignment preceding the step of securing together of said top part and said carton base.
Preferably, said forming means is constructed from a resilient material, with a series of apertures defined therein, said apertures being complimentary to the shape and configuration of said articles.
More preferably, said resilient material may be any one of wood, paperboard, metal or a plastics material.
According to a further optional feature of the present invention, said step of unfolding said carton base is preceded by disposition of one or more guide flaps defined within said carton base into a set of planes substantially perpendicular to that of the folded, collapsed carton base, and pointing downwardly with respect to said carton base.
Preferably, after said step of loading of said articles onto said carton base, said guide flaps are then passed through an angle of approximately 180° so as to engage the edges of said articles within said carton base.
According to an optional feature of this aspect of the present invention, said process of disposition of the one or more guide flaps into said set of planes substantially perpendicular to said carton base comprises the engagement of said one or more guide flaps by a rotationally motile series of laminas through one or more guide flap engagement apertures defined in one or more panels of said carton base.
A further optional feature of this aspect of the present invention provides that the carton blank is supplied in a folded, collapsed condition, such that the area occupied by the carton remains substantially constant throughout the process of the carton's construction.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for continuous loading and set-up of cartons, each for holding an array of articles such as bottles, each said carton comprising a top part which includes one or more top panels and one or more side panels, and further comprising a carton base which carton base includes a main base panel and one or more wall panels; said apparatus comprising:
Preferably, there is further provided means for unfolding of the carton base from a collapsed, folded condition.
According to a further feature of this aspect of the present invention, said means for maintenance of secure alignment of said top part with said carton base further comprises means to engage a securement portion provided in one of said top part and said carton base, with a complimentary securement aperture in the other.
Preferably, said means for securing together said top part and said carton base further comprises means for the application of an adhesive material to at least part of one or both of said top part and said carton base.
More preferably, said means for securing together said top part and said carton base still further comprises means for applying pressure to said top part and said carton base together, after the application of adhesive material, upon one or more of those panels where adhesive material has been applied.
According to a further feature of this second aspect of the present invention, said apparatus is further adapted to accommodate cartons wherein said top part includes a series of apertures adapted to receive said articles.
A still further feature of this aspect of the present invention provides that said means for offering up said top part in alignment with said carton base is adapted to ensure that the angle of approach of said top part towards said carton base is acute to the horizontal.
Preferably, said means for offering up said top part in alignment with said carton base is further adapted to ensure that said angle of approach is in the region of 10°.
According to another feature of this aspect of the present invention, there further comprises forming means, which forming means is so constructed and arranged as to engage one or more of said articles, thereby holding the carton and articles in careful alignment preceding the step of securing together said top part and said carton base.
Preferably, said forming means is constructed from a resilient material, with a series of apertures defined therein, said apertures being complimentary to the shape and configuration of said articles.
More preferably, said resilient material is chosen from wood, paperboard, metal or a plastics material.
According to a further feature of this aspect of the present invention, there is further provided means for the disposition of one or more guide flaps defined within said carton base into a set of planes substantially perpendicular to that of the folded, collapsed carton base, and pointing downwardly with respect to said carton base.
Preferably, there is further provided means to fold said guide flaps through a further angle of approximately 180°, so that said guide flaps may engage the edges of said articles.
More preferably, there is further provided a series of guide tracks complimentary to the form of said guide flaps, so constructed and arranged as to engage the said guide flaps as the carton base is progressed through the apparatus, in order to maintain alignment of said carton base.
According to a further feature of this aspect of the present invention, said means for disposition of said guide flaps takes the form of a rotationally-motile series of one or more laminas so constructed and arranged as to engage one or more panels of said carton base.
According to a still further feature of this aspect of the present invention, the apparatus is so constructed and arranged as to allow the carton blank to be supplied to the apparatus in a folded condition such that the area occupied by the carton remains substantially constant throughout the process of the carton's construction.
According to a third aspect a continuous loading and set-up of cartons, each carton for containing a group of similar articles, such as bottles, arranged in rows, the carton being formed from first and second parts of a two part blank, the first part comprising a bottom panel and opposing end walls for forming a carton base and the second part comprising a top panel containing apertures and opposing side walls for forming a top part, said method comprising the steps of:
According to a fourth aspect an apparatus for continuous loading and set-up of cartons, each carton for containing a group of similar articles, such as bottles, arranged in rows, the carton being formed from first and second parts of a two part blank, the first part comprising a bottom panel and opposing end walls for forming a carton base and the second part comprising a top panel containing apertures and opposing side walls for forming a top part, said apparatus comprising:
An exemplary, non limiting embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
a is a perspective view, showing a carton base, in a collapsed, folded condition, of a carton constructed by a packaging method according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
b is a perspective view of the carton base of
c is a perspective view of the carton base of
a shows a top and side perspective view of the unfolding means for preparing the carton base of
a is a perspective view of the loaded carton base of
The present embodiment provides a method and a packaging machine for carrying out the method for constructing and loading a two part carton to contain articles such as bottles.
According to a preferred execution of the present method, the blank of the carton base is first supplied in a folded collapsed condition substantially as shown in
The carton constructed by the method and apparatus of the present embodiment further comprises a top part 40, which is illustrated in
It is envisaged that the carton base and top part blanks 10, 40 can vary depending upon the shape and/or quantity of articles to be packaged and consequently, a machine in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention is adjustable in numerous respects, so that it can process a wide variety of such blanks and is not limited to the specific example above. Indeed, a machine of the present invention may be used to package cartons containing articles other than bottles, and the top part may not necessarily comprise apertures for accommodating bottle necks. It is therefore envisaged that the method employed by the present invention may also be adjustable in order to accommodate a variety of carton arrangements.
Turning to the construction of the carton, there is shown in
The folded carton bases 10 are each fed onto a track and a conveyor means 64 is used to progress the folded carton bases 10 through the packaging machine in a forward direction F. The track is provided with a pair of guide tracks 54, which are also shown in
After passing through infeed means 80, the carton base 10 is progressed through the construction apparatus preferably, though not necessarily exclusively, by use of a conveyor means 64. After progression through the infeed means 80, carton base 10 moves through carton base unfolding means 82. Carton base unfolding means 82 is so constructed and arranged as to facilitate unfolding of the carton base 10 from the folded collapsed condition as shown in
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, an article buffer means 66 [as described hereinafter] also fulfils this latter function of maintaining the wall panels 14 and 16 in a configuration substantially perpendicular to the conveyor means 64.
After progression through the carton base unfolding means 82, the carton base 10, held in the substantially U-shaped configuration, as illustrated in
The article buffer means 66 support the incoming bottles as they are loaded into the open carton base 10. The article buffer means 66 are housed on a working/return reach 65 which conveys the article buffer means 66 synchronously with the moving carton bases 10. Once a carton base 10 is fully loaded with bottles, the article buffer means 66 is fully retracted and returned back upstream in the direction R, by the working/return reach 65, in preparation of engaging bottles being loaded into a subsequent carton base 10. The article buffer means 66 also ensures that the loaded cartons are aligned and correctly positioned on the main base panel 12 of the carton base 10. The article buffer means 66 further exerts a stabilizing influence on the articles, so as to seek to prevent them from falling over within the carton base 10 as it is being formed.
A similar storage and delivery means is provided for the top parts 40 in the packaging machine. The infeed of the carton top parts 40 is positioned upstream of the delivery of the carton bases 10 and is positioned above the track upon which the carton bases 10 are conveyed. Before application of the top part 40 of the carton to the loaded carton base 10, said top part 40 preferably undergoes a series of pre-folding operations. This series of sequential pre-folding operations is illustrated in
The delivery of the pre-folded top-part into the loaded carton base 10, precedes folding of the corner panels 18, 20, 22, 24 and securement panels 26, 28, 30, 32 inwardly of the carton base 10 by folding wheels 130 as shown in
After pre-folding, the top part 40 is progressed through top part alignment means 72 which maintains each said top part 40 in substantial alignment with a loaded carton base 10 progressing in the forward direction F; this is done in such a way that each top part 40 is lowered onto a loaded carton base 10 as shown in
In this embodiment of the invention a forming means 67, is provided which engages one or more of the bottles B being loaded onto the carton base 10. The application of the forming means 67 is shown in
The forming means 67 is preferably constructed of a resilient material such as wood, metal or a plastics material, though it need not be limited to one of these specific materials, and may be constructed of any resilient material without implying departure from the scope of the present invention.
The top part 40 and the carton base 10 is secured in the mutually aligned position by securement means 76, substantially as is illustrated in
The securement wheel 69 may optionally be first used to move the corner panels 18, 20, 22 and 24 and securement panels 26, 28, 30 and 32 in such a way so as to substantially engage the outer edge of the articles B. At this stage the side panels 48 and 50 are maintained out of contact with the edges of said articles B and, more preferably, are maintained at an angle substantially perpendicular. Secured alignment of said top part 40 and said carton base 10 is now achieved by engagement of securement tabs A4 defined in securement panels 26, 28, 30 and 32 with the securement apertures A5 in the reinforcing panels 44, 46. The security of this alignment is advantageous as it prevents loss of form of the carton should it need to be accelerated through the construction apparatus before permanent securement of said top part 40 to said carton base 10. Subsequently, the partially constructed package 100 is progressed through permanent securement means 78. In other embodiments of the invention where the carton structure differs from that herein described it is envisaged that the locking mechanism employed may be omitted from the carton design and the forming means 67 may be employed to maintain the carton formation before completing the construction of the carton.
To complete the construction of the carton, the guide panels G1 and G2 are moved through an angle of approximately 180° such that they can act as a barrier to outward movement of the articles B loaded in the carton base 10. Once the carton base has been loaded and the top part 40 secured in place the guide tracks 54 are no longer required to hold the guide panels G1 and G2 in a downward folded position. The guide tracks 54 therefore terminate and a means such as a folding wheel or static guide is provided to cause the guide panels G1 and G2 to be folded upward as the carton base 10 is conveyed within the packaging machine. The guide panels G1, G2 are moved approximately 180°, such that they may contact the bottles in the outer rows, held within the loaded carton base 10, in preparation of being glued to the side panels 48, 50. The side panels 48, 50 are then released from being held substantially parallel to the main base panel 12 and a permanent securement means 78 is used to fold down the side panels 48, 50 to adhere the side panels 48, 50 to the securement panels 26, 28, 30 and 32 as well as to the guide panels G1, G2.
In this embodiment the permanent securement means 78 takes the form of gluing apparatus. More preferably, adhesive is applied to the securement panels 26, 28, 30 and 32 as well as to the guide panels G1, G2, and the side panels 48, 50 are folded down into abutment with them. Compression and then smoothing of the first and second side panels 48, 50 is then preferably applied to achieve permanent securement of said top part 40 to said carton base 10 giving the finished package 100.
Gluing apparatus in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in
It should be understood that various changes may be made within the scope of the present invention, for example, the size and shape of different components being adjusted to accommodate articles or cartons of differing size or shape. The carton may be adapted to accommodate more than one article in a different array, and the method and apparatus of the present invention may be adapted accordingly.
It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example articles other than bottles may be loaded into the cartons and therefore apertures provided in the top panel may be omitted or sized to accommodate the different articles. The buffering means used to control the loading of bottles into the carton base may not be required if other articles are loaded or indeed other means of ensuring that the loaded articles are aligned within the carton base may be employed instead, for example are restricting bar aligned with the carton edge may be used to prevent the articles from moving outside the carton base perimeter
It will be recognized that as used herein directional references such as “top”, “base”, “end”, and “side”, do not limit their respective components to such orientation but serve merely to distinguish these panels one from another. Any reference to foldable connection should not necessarily be construed as referring to a single fold line only; indeed, it is envisaged that hinged connection may be formed from one or more of the following: a score line, a frangible line or a fold line. Any of these options may be chosen without departing from the copy of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0421075.3 | Sep 2004 | GB | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US05/33944 | 9/22/2005 | WO | 3/22/2007 |
