WORKPIECE-ADVANCING PLASTIC FILM SEALING AND PACKAGING APPARATUS

Abstract

A workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus includes a chassis, at least one advancing device for advancing and moving a packaged object, a conveying device for conveying the packaged object, at least one pair of plastic film feeding discs, at least one plastic film sealing mechanism, and at least one heat-shrinking device. The advancing device and the conveying device are respectively arranged at front and rear ends of the chassis. The plastic film feeding discs are respectively arranged at two sides of the chassis to supply a transverse strip-like package plastic film. The plastic film sealing mechanism is arranged between the advancing device and the conveying device, so that the advancing device advances and moves the packaged object to contact the package plastic film to cause the package plastic film to wind around a sealing stie of the packaged object, and then, the plastic film sealing mechanism is operable for a sealing operation on the package plastic film wound around the packaged object. The heat-shrinking device is arranged at a rear end of the plastic film sealing mechanism to subject the package plastic film that is wound around and encloses the packaged object to heat-shrinking packaging to thereby realize a plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus having a heat-shrinking structure and featuring shortened conveyance distance and simplified sealing.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus, and in particular to a sealing and packaging apparatus that is applicable to occasional small-quantity, customized-sealing packaged objects and includes an advancing device for advancing the packaged object to achieve fixing, sealing and heat shrinking of a packaging film.

2. The Related Arts

Package films have been widely used in packaging applications for various packaged objects, particularly for sealing of the packaged objects that may have different outside contours and shapes, such as meal boxes, noodles, medicinal cuisines, salads, compact disc (CD) boxes, gifts, and so on. Due to the shapes and sizes of the meal boxes that contain therein foodstuffs, or CD boxes, or gift packs being generally different from each other, in the packaging industry, to implement an operation of sleeving a packaged object with a plastic film and depositing into a sealing and packaging apparatus for heat-shrinking to seal and package connection between a box and a cover of the packaged object, it is common practice to first place the heat-shrinkable film over the entirety or a major portion of the packaged object, followed by heat shrinking, such that the heat-shrinkable film can cover the entirety or a major portion of the packaged object for packaging and sealing.

However, such known film-sleeving sealing and packaging equipment consumes a relatively large amount of package plastic film material so as to cause an increase of packaging cost and environmental protection problems in respect of generation a large amount of waste of the package material. The known film-sleeving sealing and packaging equipment includes a multiple-station, high-expenditure and large workshop size scaling and packaging equipment that is composed of extended packaged object conveying equipment, complicated and floor-occupying sealing mechanism, and heat-shrinking equipment and is thus not useful for product scaling and packaging application for small-quantity or specific product occasional promotion or sales such as department store anniversary ceremony, company awarding activity, and supermarket sales activity. In addition to occupying a large floor area and not being industrially utilized, particularly for occasional packaged objects that have a small quality and diversified customized packaging shapes, such known film-sleeving sealing and packaging equipment, if desired to be used in occasional, small-quantity, and customized and diversified non-production line plastic film sealing and packaging applications, in addition to the high equipment cost, not economic for industrial utilization, the users have to repeatedly adjust and calibrate control parameters, such as flow of packaged product on conveyor and speed of scaling and packaging, making the operation inconvenient, and since the packaged products are subject to intermittently conveyed, sealing, and heat-shrinking operations in an occasional and small-quantity based non-consistent and non-continuous manner. The known film-sleeving scaling and packaging equipment is designed for large-quantity, non-power-interrupted, continuous scaling and packaging operations and must be kept on continuously running, so as to cause unnecessary waste of electrical power and also result in potential risk for accidental contact of an on-site operator, consumers, or children with the film-sleeving sealing and packaging equipment in idle running. If the users are concerned about saving of electrical power and protecting of on-site consumers and children, they must repeatedly turn off and on the power source of the known film-sleeving sealing and packaging equipment. In addition to increasing human labor to handle the increased tediousness of operation, which does not meet the need for industrial utilization, the known film-sleeving sealing and packaging equipment may additionally suffer burn-down or malfunction of control equipment or motors due to repeatedly turning on and off the electrical power source, making it adverse to industrial utilization.

Prior art patent documents are known, such as Taiwan Patent No. 324370, which proposes an improved structure of fully automatic box and cup sealing machine, providing a typical known sealing machine, in which a conveyor belt (15) is constrained by the conveyor belt (15) requiring a large number of molds arranged thereon, so that the entire sealing machine occupies a relatively large space and size. Further, to handle packaged objects of different shapes and fashions, such as meal box (22) or cup, molds (16) of different shapes and fashions must be exchanged and set up, so that the operation is tedious and complicated and consumes an additional amount of sealing and packaging material, equipment and human labor cost. Further, it cannot be used in small-quantity or specific product occasional promotion or sales such as department store anniversary ceremony, company awarding activity, and supermarket sales activity, and is still similar to the known prior art sealing and packaging machines that occupy a large amount of floor space and is not industrially useful, particularly for occasional packaged objects that have a small quality and diversified customized packaging shapes, such known film-sleeving sealing and packaging equipment, if the known film-sleeving sealing and packaging equipment is used in occasional, small-quantity, and customized and diversified non-production line plastic film sealing and packaging applications.

In addition, Taiwan Utility Model M329014, which provides a packaging machine and packaging mechanism that require a receptacle box (5) and an upper mold core (413), similar to the sealing molds to carry out sealing and packaging on a packaged object, and thus suffering the problems and drawbacks of the above-described known sealing and packaging machine and the above-mentioned patent documents of being not useful for product sealing and packaging application for small-quantity or specific product occasional promotion or sales such as department store anniversary ceremony, company awarding activity, and supermarket sales activity as being constrained by the extended conveyance device (2) for conveying the packaged objects, and receptacle boxes (5) of different shapes and fashions being switched and installed to handle packaged products of various shapes and types, such as meal boxes or customized product, making the operation complicated and tedious and consuming an additional amount of sealing and packaging material, equipment, and human labor cost.

In addition, Taiwan Utility Model M299136 proposes a structure of a sealing machine, which similarly teaches using reception molds (6) that match with packaged objects of different shapes and sizes to receive and hold the packaged objects, and a film mold mechanism (4) and a hold-down mold (5) that take upward and downward motions being operated to implement sealing and packaging of the packaged objects. Similarly, in addition to the packaged objects consume an additional amount of package film, to handle sealing and packaging operations for packaged objects of various shapes and sizes, the reception mold (6) and the hold-down mold (5) must be consistently replaced to handle different shapes and sizes of the packaged objects. Thus, there are the same problems and drawbacks as the previously discussed known sealing and packaging machines and the above-mentioned patent documents for being not useful for product sealing and packaging application for small-quantity or specific product occasional promotion or sales such as department store anniversary ceremony, company awarding activity, and supermarket sales activity, particularly the occasional packaged objects being of small quantities and being of diversified shapes and fashions for customized packaging, the known film-sleeving sealing and packaging equipment, if being used in such occasional, small-quantity, and customized and diversified non-production line plastic film sealing and packaging applications, would not suit the need for industrial utilization and economic value. Further, a concern about the patent document is that for the process of disposition into the reception mold (6) or replacing the reception mold (6) and the hold-down mold (5), the hands of an operator are located under the film mold mechanism (4) and the hold-down mold (5), so that it is very easy to cause damage to the operator's safety as the hands of the operator may be hurt by unexpected downward motions of the film mold mechanism (4) and the hold-down mold (5) due to mistaken operations.

In addition, the applicant's Taiwan Utility Model M543835 discloses a plastic film sealing and packaging device, which also teaches the basic plastic film sealing and packaging technique.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus, which eliminates the problems and drawbacks of the above-mentioned patent documents or the known plastic film sealing and packaging machines that for product sealing and packaging applications for small-quantity various-shape or occasional customized products or specific products that are supplied for occasional promotion or sales such as department store anniversary ceremony, company awarding activity, and supermarket sales activity, a relatively large floor area must be occupied and an additional human labor and material cost for sealing and packaging must be consumed, making it not used in occasional, small-quantity, and customized and diversified non-production line plastic film sealing and packaging applications for small quantity of occasional packaged objects and customized and diversified shapes and fashions of packaging, and damage to operators may be caused in an operation due to downward movements of molds and sealing mechanism.

Thus, the present invention provides a workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus, which comprises:

• • a chassis;
  • at least one advancing device, the advancing device being arranged at a front end of the chassis for hand-operating to advance and move at least one packaged object in a direction toward a rear end of the chassis;
  • at least one conveying device, which is arranged at the rear end of the chassis to convey the packaged object moved out by the advancing device;
  • at least one pair of plastic film feeding discs, the plastic film feeding discs being respectively arranged at two sides of the chassis to supply a package plastic film in a transverse strip-like form;
  • at least one plastic film sealing mechanism, the plastic film sealing mechanism being arranged between the advancing device and the conveying device, wherein after the advancing device advances and moves the packaged object to contact the transverse strip-like package plastic film supplied from the plastic film feeding discs to have the package plastic film wound on a sealing site of the packaged object, the plastic film sealing mechanism implements a sealing operation on the package plastic film wound on the packaged object; and
  • at least one heat-shrinking device, the heat-shrinking device being arranged at a rear end of the plastic film sealing mechanism to subject the package plastic film sealed and wound on the packaged object to heat-shrinking packaging.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, at least one sealing height adjusting device is arranged on the bottom of the chassis, and a rear end of the advancing device is connected to a front end of the conveying device, the conveying device being connected, at a bottom thereof, to the sealing height adjusting device, so that the sealing height adjusting device is operable to adjust the advancing device and a packaged object on the conveying device to correspond to the package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs and a sealing packaging height of the plastic film sealing mechanism.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, the sealing height adjusting device on the bottom of the chassis comprises:

• • at least one bottom seat, which is mounted to the bottom of the chassis;
  • a plurality of screw support seats, which are each mounted to a top end of the chassis;
  • at least one pair of elevating seats, each of the elevating seats being mounted to a bottom of the conveying device the bottom, the elevating seats having two sides that are each provided with at least one screwing combination portion;
  • a plurality of screw rods, each of the screw rods having a bottom end mounted to the bottom seat, the bottom end of each of the screw rods being mounted with at least one gear, each of the screw rods having a top end inserted into each screwing combination portion of the elevating seats, a tip of the top end of each of the screw rods being mounted in the screw support seats;
  • at least one belt, which is wound around the gear on the bottom end of each of the screw rods to make the screw rods jointly form an interlinked rotation structure; and
  • at least one height adjusting wheel, the height adjusting wheel having one end connected to the bottom end of one of screw rods and an opposite end that forms at least one operating portion, the operating portion being operable for rotating the screw rod in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, so that the gear of the screw rod drives the belt to cause the gears of remaining ones of the screw rods to rotate for making each of the screw rods synchronously rotating in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction to further drive the elevating seats to cause the elevating seats to implement an upward-ascending height-increasing motion or a downward-descending height-decreasing motion, and to cause the elevating seats to drive the conveying device connected to the elevating seats and the advancing device connected to the conveying device to carry out the upward-ascending height-increasing motion or a downward-descending height-decreasing motion.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, at least one intermediate gear is arranged on the bottom seat at a location between the gears of any two of the screw rods of the sealing height adjusting device on the bottom of the chassis to allow the belt to wind around an outside surface thereof and engage an inner side of the intermediate gear, so that the tension of the belt in mating engagement with the gear of each of the screw rods is adjustable.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, the advancing device comprises:

• • at least one fixing seat, which is arranged on the bottom of the front end of the chassis;
  • at least one pair of tracks, which are arranged in an interior of the fixing seat;
  • at least one sliding seat, which is mounted on the tracks and is movable frontwards or rearwards along the tracks, a connecting portion being formed on an upper end of the sliding seat;
  • at least one surface plate, which is mounted on the fixing sea to receive the packaged object to place thereon, the surface plate being formed with a track hole, through which the connecting portion of the sliding seat extends to expose on the fixing seat; and
  • at least one advancing plate, which has a bottom connected to the connecting portion of the sliding seat, the advancing plate being hand operable for advancing and moving the packaged object on the surface plate in a direction toward the rear end of the chassis.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, at least one sensing switch is arranged at one side of the sliding seat of the advancing device to detect an extreme position of the sliding seat for the frontward movement thereof.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, the sensing switch of the sliding seat of the advancing device comprises a microswitch.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, the track hole of the surface plate of the advancing device comprises an elongated hole.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, at least one grip is provided on the advancing plate of the advancing device for hand holding to advance and move the packaged object in a direction toward the rear end of the chassis.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, at least one film tension adjusting device is arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis to adjust a tension of the package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, the film tension adjusting device arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis comprises:

• • at least one connecting seat, which is mounted to a lower end of the chassis;
  • at least one tension adjusting arm, which has an upper end pivotally connected to the connecting seat and a lower end that is provided with a plurality of scroll bars to receive the package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs to wind thereon;
  • at least one fixing seat, which is arranged above the chassis; and
  • at least one elastic element, which has two ends respectively connected to the upper end of the tension adjusting arm and the fixing seat, in order to provide a spring force for adjusting the tension of the package plastic film through upward and downward movements of the tension adjusting arm.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, at least one connecting axle is mounted to the upper end of the tension adjusting arm of the film tension adjusting device arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis, and a fixing axle is provided on the fixing seat so that the two ends of the elastic element are respectively connected to the connecting axle and the fixing axle.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, the elastic element of the film tension adjusting device arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis comprises a spring.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, at least one plastic film direction-changing device is arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis to re-direct the package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs into a transverse strip-like form.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, the plastic film direction-changing device arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis comprises:

• • at least one fixing board, which is fixedly connected to the chassis and is located above the plastic film feeding discs;
  • a plurality of guide rollers, which are arranged under the fixing board to receive the package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs to wind thereon;
  • and

at least one plastic film direction-changing board, which is connected to one side of the fixing board and is located above the guide rollers to re-direct the package plastic film wound on the guide rollers into the transverse strip-like form.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, the plastic film sealing mechanism comprises:

• • at least one driving portion, which is arranged above the chassis, the driving portion being provided, in an interior thereof, with at least one pair of toothed racks that are arranged 180-degree opposite to each other and at least one gear, the gear being in mating engagement with one end of each of the two toothed racks to form the two toothed racks into an interlinked structure;
  • at least one sealing drive device, which is arranged above the driving portion, the sealing drive device comprising an action rod that is reciprocally and linearly movable to transversely extend or contract; and
  • at least one pair of sealing blades, top portions of the sealing blades respectively corresponding to and connected with ends of the two toothed racks in the interior of the driving portion that are not in mating engagement with the gear, one of the sealing blades being connected to the action rod of the sealing drive device to be driven by the reciprocal transverse linear extension or contraction movement of the action rod of the sealing drive device, and by means of the interlinked structure between the gear and the toothed racks of the driving portion, the two sealing blades are drivable and controllable by the sealing drive device to simultaneously move inward to close on each other to perform a sealing operation, for combining together in an inward direction, on the transverse strip-like package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs, or, after sealing with the package plastic film, the sealing drive device drives the sealing blades to retract outward back to an original position.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, the sealing drive device of the plastic film sealing mechanism comprises a pneumatic cylinder.

In the above workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, a controller is arranged on the bottom of the chassis to control operation of the conveying device, the plastic film sealing mechanism, and the heat-shrinking device.

The of the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention is that a combination of the advancing device, the conveying device, the plastic film feeding discs, and the heat-shrinking device enables formation of a structure of a plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus having a shortened conveyance path, with the entire volume occupying less space to be applicable to product sealing and packaging for small-quantity shape-varying or occasional customized product or specific product for occasional promotion or sales, and particularly, the present invention provides a simple and safely operating advancing device, which allows an on-site operator to operate in a one-to-one manner at a product sealing and packaging site for small-quantity shape-varying or occasional customized product or specific product for occasional promotion or sales for such as department store anniversary ceremony, company awarding activity, and supermarket sales activity to completely eliminate the problems and drawbacks of the prior art and the above-mentioned patent documents that the plastic film sealing and packaging machines occupy a relatively large amount of floor area and space, consume an additional amount of sealing and packaging human labor and material cost and are not useful in occasional, small-quantity, and customized and diversified non-production line plastic film sealing and packaging applications for small-quantity and customized packaging of diversified shapes, and during the operation, the molds and sealing mechanism may hurt the operator during the downward movement to cause concern of potential risk, and may further improve the industrial utilization and economic value thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, taken from a different angle, showing the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a first partial perspective view demonstrating an operation of adjusting the height of a conveying device by a sealing height adjusting device on a bottom of a chassis of the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a second partial perspective view demonstrating an operation of adjusting the height of a conveying device by a sealing height adjusting device on a bottom of a chassis of the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view, showing the structure of an advancing device of the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view similar to FIG. 5, demonstrating a safe operation of advancing by the advancing device of the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a partial perspective view, showing a plastic film sealing mechanism of the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention in a state of implementing a sealing operation;

FIG. 9 shows a first example of application of the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 9, showing a state where a packaged object is advanced and moved by an advancing device to get into the plastic film sealing mechanism;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 9, showing a state where the advancing device separates from the plastic film sealing mechanism and the plastic film sealing mechanism carries out a sealing and packaging operation on the packaged object;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 9 but taken from a different angle, showing a state in which the packaged object, after being subjected to sealing and packaging applied to the packaged object by the plastic film sealing mechanism, moves into the heat-shrinking device for heat-shrinking packaging;

FIG. 13 shows a second example of application of the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to the present invention; and

FIG. 14 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 13 but taken from a different angle, showing a state in which the packaged object, after being subjected to sealing and packaging applied to the packaged object by the plastic film sealing mechanism, moves into the heat-shrinking device for heat-shrinking packaging.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring firstly to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4, the present invention provides a workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus 100, which comprises a chassis 10. At least one sealing height adjusting device 11 is provided on a bottom of the chassis 10. The sealing height adjusting device 11 is not limited to any specific type, and one that comprises at least one bottom seat 111, a plurality of screw support seats 111A, at least one pair of elevating seats 112, a plurality of screw rods 113, at least one belt 114, and at least one height adjusting wheel 115 is taken as an example for illustration in the present invention, wherein the bottom seat 111 is mounted to the bottom of the chassis 10; the screw support seats 111A are each mounted to a top end of the chassis 10 (as shown in FIG. 2); the elevating seats 112 have two sides that are each provided with at least one screwing combination portion 112A; each of the screw rods 113 has a bottom end mounted to the bottom seat 111, and the bottom end of each of the screw rods 113 is mounted with at least one gear 113A; each of the screw rods 113 has a top end inserted into each screwing combination portion 112A of the elevating seats 112, and a tip of the top end of each of the screw rods 113 is mounted in the screw support seats 111A.

The belt 114 of the sealing height adjusting device 11 is wound around the gear 113A on the bottom end of each of the screw rods 113 to make the screw rods 113 jointly form an interlinked rotation structure. The height adjusting wheel 115 has one end connected to the bottom end of one of the screw rods 113 and an opposite end that forms at least one operating portion 115A. The operating portion 115A is provided for rotating the screw rod 113 in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction (as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4), so that the gear 113A of the screw rod 113 drives the belt 114 to cause the gears 113A of the remaining ones of the screw rods 113 to rotate for making each of the screw rods 113 synchronously rotating in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction to further drive the elevating seats 112 to cause the elevating seats 112 to implement an upward-ascending height-increasing motion or a downward-descending height-decreasing motion. Further, at a location between the gears 113A of any two of the screw rods 113, at least one intermediate gear 116 is arranged on the bottom seat 111 to allow the belt 114 to wind around an outside surface thereof and engage an inner side of the intermediate gear 116 (as shown in FIG. 3), so that a tension of the belt 114 engaging with the gear 113A of each of the screw rods 113 is made adjustable. A controller 12 is mounted on the bottom of the chassis 10.

Referring to FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, at least one advancing device 20 is provided, and the advancing device 20 is arranged at a front end of the chassis 10 for hand-operating to advance or move at least one packaged object 200 in a direction toward a rear end of the chassis 10 (as shown in FIG. 9). The advancing device 20 is not limited to any specific type, and one that comprises at least one fixing seat 21, at least one pair of tracks 22, at least one sliding seat 23, at least one surface plate 24, and at least one advancing plate 25 is taken as an example for illustration, wherein the fixing seat 21 is arranged on the bottom of the front end of the chassis 10; the tracks 22 are each arranged in an interior of the fixing seat 21; the sliding seat 23 is mounted on the tracks 22 and is movable frontwards or rearwards along the tracks 22; a connecting portion 231 is formed on an upper end of the sliding seat 23, and at least one sensing switch 232 is arranged at one side of the sliding seat 23 to sense an extreme position of the sliding seat 23 for the frontward movement thereof. The sensing switch 232 is not limited to any specific type, and a microswitch is taken as an example for illustration in the present invention.

The surface plate 24 of the advancing device 20 is mounted on the fixing seat 21 to receive the packaged object 200 to place thereon (as shown in FIG. 9). The surface plate 24 is formed with a track hole 241, through which the connecting portion 231 of the sliding seat 23 extends to expose on the fixing seat 21. The track hole 241 is not limited to any specific type, and an elongated hole is taken as an example for illustration in the present invention.

The advancing plate 25 of the advancing device 20 is connected, at a bottom thereof, to the connecting portion 231 of the sliding seat 23. At least one grip 251 is arranged on the advancing plate 25 is provided with for hand holding to operate to advance or move the packaged object 200 on the surface plate 24 in a direction toward the rear end of the chassis 10 (as shown in FIG. 9). When the sliding seat 23 of the advancing device 20 is moved by means of hand operating the advancing plate 25 to reach an extreme position at a rear end wall of the fixing seat 21 so as to bring the sensing switch 232 into contact with the rear end wall of the fixing seat 21 (as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7), the sensing switch 232 detects and sends out an extreme contact signal to the controller 12.

At least one conveying device 30 is arranged at the rear end of the chassis 10. The conveying device 30 is connected to the rear end of the advancing device 20 to convey the packaged object 200 that is moved out by the advancing device 20. The conveying device 30 is connected, at a bottom thereof, to the elevating seats 112 of the sealing height adjusting device 11 on the bottom of the chassis 10 so that the conveying device 30 and the advancing device 20 are both adjustable in height through ascending or descending caused by a clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of the height adjusting wheel 115 of the sealing height adjusting device 11.

At least one pair of plastic film feeding discs 40 are provided, and the plastic film feeding discs 40 are respectively arranged at two opposite sides of the chassis 10 to supply a package plastic film 300 in a strip-like form in a transverse direction. At least one film tension adjusting device 41 is arranged between the plastic film feeding discs 40 and the chassis 10 to adjust a tension of the package plastic film 300 supplied by the plastic film feeding discs 40. The film tension adjusting device 41 is not limited to any specific type, and one that comprises at least one connecting seat 411, at least one tension adjusting arm 412, at least one fixing seat 413, and at least one elastic element 414 is taken as an example for illustration in the present invention, wherein the connecting seat 411 is mounted to a lower end of the chassis 10; an upper end of the tension adjusting arm 412 is pivotally connected to the connecting seat 411; a lower end of the tension adjusting arm 412 is provided with a plurality of scroll bars 412A to receive the package plastic film 300 from the plastic film feeding discs 40 to wind thereon; at least one connecting axle 412B is mounted to an upper end of the tension adjusting arm 412; the fixing seat 413 is arranged above the chassis 10, and the fixing seat 413 is provided with a fixing axle 413A; the elastic element 414 is not limited to any specific type, and a spring is taken as an example for illustration in the present invention, and two ends of the elastic element 414 are respectively connected to the connecting axle 412B on the upper end of the tension adjusting arm 412 and the fixing axle 413A of the fixing seat 413 to provide a spring force for adjusting the tension of the package plastic film 300 through minor upward and downward movements of the tension adjusting arm 412.

At least one plastic film direction-changing device 42 is arranged between the plastic film feeding discs 40 and the chassis 10 to re-direct the package plastic film 300 from the plastic film feeding discs 40 for supplying in a strip-like form in the transverse direction (as shown in FIG. 1). The plastic film direction-changing device 42 is not limited to any specific type, and one that comprises at least one fixing board 421, a plurality of guide rollers 422, and at least one plastic film direction-changing board 423 is taken as an example for illustration in the present invention, wherein the fixing board 421 is fixedly connected to the chassis 10 and is located above the plastic film feeding discs 40; each of the guide rollers 422 is arranged under the fixing board 421 to receive the package plastic film 300 from the plastic film feeding discs 40 to wind thereon; the plastic film direction-changing board 423 is connected to one side of the fixing board 421 and is located above the guide rollers 422 to re-direct the package plastic film 300 wound on the guide rollers 422 into a strip-like form in the transverse direction.

Referring to FIG. 8, at least one plastic film sealing mechanism 50 is arranged between the advancing device 20 and the conveying device 30. The plastic film sealing mechanism 50 is not limited to any specific type, and one that comprises at least one driving portion 51, at least one sealing drive device 52, and at least one pair of sealing blades 53 and 54 is taken as an example for illustration in the present invention, wherein the driving portion 51 is arranged above the chassis 10, and the driving portion 51 is provided, in an interior thereof, with at least one pair of toothed racks 511, 512 that are arranged 180-degree opposite to each other and at least one gear 513, and the gear 513 is in mating engagement with one end of each of the two toothed racks 511, 512 to form the two toothed racks 511, 512 into an interlinked structure.

The sealing drive device 52 of the plastic film sealing mechanism 50 is arranged above the driving portion 51, and the sealing drive device 52 comprises an action rod 521 that is reciprocally and linearly movable to extend or contract in a transverse direction. The sealing drive device 52 is not limited to any specific type, and a pneumatic cylinder is taken as an example for illustration in the present invention.

The sealing blades 53 and 54 of the plastic film sealing mechanism 50 are not limited to any specific type, and an arrangement of paired electrically-heating sealing blades is taken as an example for illustration in the present invention, wherein top portions of the sealing blades 53 and 54 are respectively corresponding to and connected with ends of the two toothed racks 511 and 512 inside the driving portion 51 that are not in mating engagement with the gear 513, and one of the sealing blades, such as sealing blade 53, is connected to the action rod 521 of the sealing drive device 52 and is driven by the reciprocal transverse linear extension or contraction movement of the action rod 521 of the sealing drive device 52, and by means of the interlinked structure between the gear 513 and the toothed racks 511 and 512 of the driving portion 51, the two sealing blades 53 and 54 are drivable and controllable by the sealing drive device 52 to simultaneously move inward to close on each other to perform a sealing operation, for combining together in an inward direction, on the transverse strip-like package plastic film 300 from the plastic film feeding discs 40 (as shown in FIG. 8), or, after sealing with the package plastic film 300, the action rod 521 of the sealing drive device 52 extends to drive the sealing blades 53 and 54 to retract back to a position for no sealing operation as shown in FIG. 1.

At least one heat-shrinking device 60 is arranged at a rear end of the plastic film sealing mechanism 50 to subject the strip-like package plastic film 300 wound on the packaged object 200 to heat-shrinking packaging, so as to have the package plastic film 300 thermally shrunk on and packaging a sealing site 210 of the packaged object 200 (as shown in FIG. 12).

Operation control for the motion s of the conveying device 30, the plastic film sealing mechanism 50, and the heat-shrinking device 60 shown in FIGS. 1-8 are all controlled by the controller 12 arranged on the bottom of the chassis 10, of which detailed steps and processes for controlling sealing and packaging will be described below.

Referring to FIGS. 9, 10, 11, and 12, a first example of application for the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus 100 according to the present invention is provided, wherein a packaged object 200 is placed on the surface plate 24 of the advancing device 20 and in front of the advancing plate 25 (as shown in FIG. 9), and an operator may hand-hold the grip 251 of the advancing plate 25 to advance or move the packaged object 200 frontwards to move in a direction toward the rear end of the chassis 10 to pass over the sealing blades 53 and 54 of the plastic film sealing mechanism 50, and then, the packaged object 200 is brought int contact with the package plastic film 300 that is transversely wound around a surface of the packaged object 200 and the sealing site 210 (as shown in FIG. 10). At this moment, the sensing switch 232 of the sliding seat 23 of the advancing device 20 gets into contact with the rear end wall of the fixing seat 21 (as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7), and the sensing switch 232 detects and sends out an extreme contact signal to the controller 12, and the controller 12 controls the sealing blades 53 and 54 of the plastic film sealing mechanism 50 to simultaneously move inward to approach and close on each other to carry out the sealing operation on a rear end of the package plastic film 300 wound around the surface of the packaged object 200 and the sealing site 210 shown in FIG. 9, making the package plastic film 300 completely transversely wound around the sealing site 210 of the packaged object 200 (as shown in FIG. 11). The advancing plate 25 of the advancing device 20 isolates, for protection, the sealing blades 53 and 54 of the plastic film sealing mechanism 50 and the fingers and palm of the operator operating the advancing plate 25 to achieve the purposes of safe operation for the operator, not allowing the hand of the operator to be pinched by the sealing blades 53 and 54 of the plastic film sealing mechanism 50, and the package plastic film 300 is completely transversely wound around the packaged object 200 at the sealing site 210 and is forced to move rearward by the sealing operation performed on the package plastic film 300, as shown in FIG. 10, onto the conveying device 30 to allow the conveying device 30 to subsequently convey the packaged object 200 into the interior of the heat-shrinking device 60 for heat-shrinking operation (as shown in FIG. 12), allowing the package plastic film 300 to thermally shrunk and covering on the surface of the packaged object 200 and the sealing site 210.

Referring to FIGS. 13 and 14, a second example of application of the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus 100 according to the present invention is provided, wherein a packaged object 200′ has a shape different from the packaged object 200 in the example of application shown in FIGS. 9-12, wherein based on the differences of the shape and size of the packaged object 200′ and that of the height of the sealing site 210′, the height adjusting wheel 115 of the sealing height adjusting device 11 on the bottom of the chassis 10 is operated for rotating clockwise or counterclockwise to adjust the package plastic film 300 for properly aligning with the height position of the sealing site 210′ of the packaged object 200′, and then, the package plastic film 300 may take steps and ways of operation for sealing similar to those applied to the package plastic film 300 shown in FIGS. 9-12 for sealing the sealing site 210 of the packaged object 200, so that the package plastic film 300 can correctly seal the sealing site 210′ of the packaged object 200′ having different shape and height (as shown in FIG. 13), for then being subjected to heat-shrinking operation in the interior of the heat-shrinking device 60 (as shown in FIG. 14), allowing the package plastic film 300 to thermally shrink and wind and cover the surface of the packaged object 200′ and the sealing site 210′. In other words, the workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus 100 according to the present invention is operable for correctly sealing of packaged objects 200 and 200′ having different shapes and sizes and having sealing site 210 and 210′ at different heights for subsequent performance of heat-shrinking packaging on the package plastic film 300.

The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus 100 according to the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1-14, wherein the description and drawings are provided for easy explanation of the technical contents and technical measures of the present invention, and the preferred embodiments so described provide only a fraction of the present invention and are not intended for constraining the scope thereof, and further any equivalent substitute and modification of structure and component of the details of the present invention are considered failing within the scope of the present invention as defined solely by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus, comprising: a chassis;at least one advancing device, the advancing device being arranged at a front end of the chassis for hand-operating to advance and move at least one packaged object in a direction toward a rear end of the chassis;at least one conveying device, which is arranged at the rear end of the chassis to convey the packaged object moved out by the advancing device;at least one pair of plastic film feeding discs, the plastic film feeding discs being respectively arranged at two sides of the chassis to supply a package plastic film in a transverse strip-like form;at least one plastic film sealing mechanism, the plastic film sealing mechanism being arranged between the advancing device and the conveying device, wherein after the advancing device advances and moves the packaged object to contact the transverse strip-like package plastic film supplied from the plastic film feeding discs to have the package plastic film wound on a sealing site of the packaged object, the plastic film sealing mechanism implements a sealing operation on the package plastic film wound on the packaged object; andat least one heat-shrinking device, the heat-shrinking device being arranged at a rear end of the plastic film sealing mechanism to subject the package plastic film sealed and wound on the packaged object to heat-shrinking packaging.

2. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one sealing height adjusting device is arranged on the bottom of the chassis, and a rear end of the advancing device is connected to a front end of the conveying device, the conveying device being connected, at a bottom thereof, to the sealing height adjusting device, so that the sealing height adjusting device is operable to adjust the advancing device and a packaged object on the conveying device to correspond to the package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs and a sealing packaging height of the plastic film sealing mechanism.

3. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sealing height adjusting device on the bottom of the chassis comprises: at least one bottom seat, which is mounted to the bottom of the chassis;a plurality of screw support seats, which are each mounted to a top end of the chassis;at least one pair of elevating seats, each of the elevating seats being mounted to a bottom of the conveying device the bottom, the elevating seats having two sides that are each provided with at least one screwing combination portion;a plurality of screw rods, each of the screw rods having a bottom end mounted to the bottom seat, the bottom end of each of the screw rods being mounted with at least one gear, each of the screw rods having a top end inserted into each screwing combination portion of the elevating seats, a tip of the top end of each of the screw rods being mounted in the screw support seats;at least one belt, which is wound around the gear on the bottom end of each of the screw rods to make the screw rods jointly form an interlinked rotation structure; andat least one height adjusting wheel, the height adjusting wheel having one end connected to the bottom end of one of screw rods and an opposite end that forms at least one operating portion, the operating portion being operable for rotating the screw rod in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, so that the gear of the screw rod drives the belt to cause the gears of remaining ones of the screw rods to rotate for making each of the screw rods synchronously rotating in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction to further drive the elevating seats to cause the elevating seats to implement an upward-ascending height-increasing motion or a downward-descending height-decreasing motion, and to cause the elevating seats to drive the conveying device connected to the elevating seats and the advancing device connected to the conveying device to carry out the upward-ascending height-increasing motion or a downward-descending height-decreasing motion.

4. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein at least one intermediate gear is arranged on the bottom seat at a location between the gears of any two of the screw rods of the sealing height adjusting device on the bottom of the chassis to allow the belt to wind around an outside surface thereof and engage an inner side of the intermediate gear.

5. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the advancing device comprises: at least one fixing seat, which is arranged on the bottom of the front end of the chassis;at least one pair of tracks, which are arranged in an interior of the fixing seat;at least one sliding seat, which is mounted on the tracks and is movable frontwards or rearwards along the tracks, a connecting portion being formed on an upper end of the sliding seat;at least one surface plate, which is mounted on the fixing sea to receive the packaged object to place thereon, the surface plate being formed with a track hole, through which the connecting portion of the sliding seat extends to expose on the fixing seat; andat least one advancing plate, which has a bottom connected to the connecting portion of the sliding seat, the advancing plate being hand operable for advancing and moving the packaged object on the surface plate in a direction toward the rear end of the chassis.

6. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 5, wherein at least one sensing switch is arranged at one side of the sliding seat of the advancing device to detect an extreme position of the sliding seat for the frontward movement thereof.

7. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the sensing switch of the sliding seat of the advancing device comprises a microswitch.

8. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the track hole of the surface plate of the advancing device comprises an elongated hole.

9. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 5, wherein at least one grip is provided on the advancing plate of the advancing device.

10. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one film tension adjusting device is arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis to adjust a tension of the package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs.

11. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the film tension adjusting device arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis comprises: at least one connecting seat, which is mounted to a lower end of the chassis;at least one tension adjusting arm, which has an upper end pivotally connected to the connecting seat and a lower end that is provided with a plurality of scroll bars to receive the package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs to wind thereon;at least one fixing seat, which is arranged above the chassis; andat least one elastic element, which has two ends respectively connected to the upper end of the tension adjusting arm and the fixing seat, in order to provide a spring force for adjusting the tension of the package plastic film through upward and downward movements of the tension adjusting arm.

12. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 11, wherein at least one connecting axle is mounted to the upper end of the tension adjusting arm of the film tension adjusting device arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis, and a fixing axle is provided on the fixing seat so that the two ends of the elastic element are respectively connected to the connecting axle and the fixing axle.

13. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the elastic element of the film tension adjusting device arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis comprises a spring.

14. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one plastic film direction-changing device is arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis to re-direct the package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs into a transverse strip-like form.

15. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the plastic film direction-changing device arranged between the plastic film feeding discs and the chassis comprises: at least one fixing board, which is fixedly connected to the chassis and is located above the plastic film feeding discs;a plurality of guide rollers, which are arranged under the fixing board to receive the package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs to wind thereon; andat least one plastic film direction-changing board, which is connected to one side of the fixing board and is located above the guide rollers to re-direct the package plastic film wound on the guide rollers into the transverse strip-like form.

16. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plastic film sealing mechanism comprises: at least one driving portion, which is arranged above the chassis, the driving portion being provided, in an interior thereof, with at least one pair of toothed racks that are arranged 180-degree opposite to each other and at least one gear, the gear being in mating engagement with one end of each of the two toothed racks to form the two toothed racks into an interlinked structure;at least one sealing drive device, which is arranged above the driving portion, the sealing drive device comprising an action rod that is reciprocally and linearly movable to transversely extend or contract; andat least one pair of sealing blades, top portions of the sealing blades respectively corresponding to and connected with ends of the two toothed racks in the interior of the driving portion that are not in mating engagement with the gear, one of the sealing blades being connected to the action rod of the sealing drive device to be driven by the reciprocal transverse linear extension or contraction movement of the action rod of the sealing drive device, and by means of the interlinked structure between the gear and the toothed racks of the driving portion, the two sealing blades are drivable and controllable by the sealing drive device to simultaneously move inward to close on each other to perform a sealing operation, for combining together in an inward direction, on the transverse strip-like package plastic film from the plastic film feeding discs, or, after sealing with the package plastic film, the sealing drive device drives the sealing blades to retract outward back to an original position.

17. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the sealing drive device of the plastic film sealing mechanism comprises a pneumatic cylinder.

18. The workpiece-advancing plastic film sealing and packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a controller is arranged on the bottom of the chassis to control operation of the conveying device, the plastic film sealing mechanism, and the heat-shrinking device.