The present invention relates to a unit for feeding stacked packing material to a packing machine.
The present invention may be used to advantage in a packing machine for producing packets of cigarettes combined with coupons, to which the following description refers purely by way of example.
In the tobacco industry, packing machines for producing packets of cigarettes combined with coupons are used, in which the coupons are fed to a packing line by a revolving loader normally located over the packing machine and normally having longitudinal grooves housing respective stacks of coupons. The loader is rotated about a longitudinal, normally vertical axis to selectively align the grooves with the input of a normally vertical hopper, which receives one stack of coupons at a time, and has an output fitted with an extracting device for extracting and feeding the coupons one at a time to the packing line.
Feeding the coupons as described above has various drawbacks, on account of the fairly limited capacity of the loaders, which must therefore be replaced repeatedly during each operating cycle and require continual use of skilled labour. Moreover, given their size and weight, assembly of the loaders, which is normally performed by hand over the packing machine, calls for considerable effort on the part of the fitters and, at times, also stoppage of the packing machine.
A packing machine has been proposed comprising a loading station having a coupon input and a power take-off; and a coupon truck store having a number of containers for respective stacks of coupons, and connectable removably to the loading station to cooperate, when connected to the loading station, with the power take-off and successively move the containers through an unloading position, in which each container is engaged by an extracting device for extracting and transferring the relative stack to the coupon input. The total loading capacity of the coupon stack feed unit of the truck store described above, however, is relatively small in proportion to the total size involved.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a unit for feeding stacked packing material to a packing machine, designed to eliminate the above drawbacks and which, in particular, is cheap and easy to produce.
According to the present invention, there is provided a unit for feeding stacked packing material to a packing machine, as claimed in the attached claims.
A non-limiting embodiment of the present invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Number 1 in FIGS. 1 to 3 indicates as a whole a packing material feed unit for feeding stacks 2 of coupons to a packing machine (not shown). Feed unit 1 comprises a number of containers 3 arranged to define a group 4 of containers 3; group 4 comprises a number of side by side columns 5 of containers 3, each column comprising a number of superimposed containers 3 (
Feed unit 1 also comprises a conveying device 6 for feeding group 4 of containers 3 along a path P1 in a travelling direction 7; and a pickup station 8 located at the end of path P1 to remove one container 3 from group 4 of containers 3. A conveying device 9 is located at pickup station 8 to feed each container 3 along a path P2 having a vertical initial portion perpendicular to path P1. A feed station 10 is located along path P2, where the stack 2 of coupons inside a container 3 is expelled from container 3 and fed to the packing machine. Downstream from conveying device 9, a belt conveyor 11 extends from feed station 10 to receive and feed a stack 2 of coupons to the packing units (not shown) of the packing machine, and is preferably integrated in the packing machine.
Conveying device 6 comprises a horizontal surface 12 supporting group 4 of containers 3 in sliding manner; and a feed device 13 for pushing group 4 of containers 3 along path P1, at the end of which, pickup station 8 removes from the bottom of a column 5 of containers 3 the container 3 resting directly on horizontal surface 12. More specifically, pickup station 8 comprises a through hole 14 formed through horizontal surface 12; and a closing device 15 movable between a closed position preventing passage of a container 3 through hole 14, and an open position permitting passage of a container 3 through hole 14.
As shown in
Conveying device 9 comprises a drum 19 rotating about a horizontal axis of rotation 20 perpendicular to the
In the
In an alternative embodiment shown in
Return station 29 is located along path P1, on the opposite side to pickup station 8, and reinserts the empty container 3 inside group 4 of containers 3, at the bottom of a column 5 of containers 3, and directly onto horizontal surface 12. Return station 29 comprises a through hole 35 formed through horizontal surface 12; and a closing device 36 movable between a closed position preventing passage of a container 3 through hole 35, and an open position permitting passage of a container 3 through hole 35.
Conveying device 28 comprises a rotary drum 37, which is located beneath through hole 35, comprises a pusher 38 movable perpendicularly to an axis of rotation 39 of drum 37, and has a number of peripheral seats 40, each for receiving an empty container 3. More specifically, drum 37 rotates between loading station 32, where it receives an empty container 3 inside a respective peripheral seat 40 by means of an upward movement of pusher 34, and return station 29, where it moves container 3 through hole 35 onto horizontal surface 12 by means of an upward movement of pusher 38.
In a further embodiment shown in
Feed unit 1 as described above is cheap and easy to produce, and is extremely compact in relation to its considerable storage capacity.
Given its numerous advantages, feed unit 1 as described above may also be used to advantage on other automatic machines for packing products other than cigarettes, and for supplying the automatic machines with any type of packing material other than coupons. For example, feed unit 1 as described above may be used for feeding labels to a bottling machine or food labels to a food packing machine.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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BO2004A000670 | Oct 2004 | IT | national |