Abstract:
A cartoning machine to arrange a predetermined number of objects fed on one or more rows by a belt conveyer in boxlike containers, able to operate in unison with production machines running at very high speed and having a simple, reliable construction comprising several heads ( 55 ) to grip the objects which are arranged on at least one working station and are put into rotation to take the objects from the feeding rows and to lay them down into cartons carried on a second belt conveyer placed at 180 DEG from the first conveyer.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to a cartoning machine to enclose in boxlike containers a predetermined number of objects arranged on one or more rows. In particular the machine described and illustrated herein is of the type capable of enclosing containers of liquids such as bottles in cartons to be shipped and stored. Such machine, so-called rotatable cartoning machine by those skilled in the art, should operate in unison with filling and capping machines running at very high speed. Therefore, it is necessary that also the rotatable cartoning machine operates at the very high speed compatible with the feeding rate of the containers to be enclosed in cartons in order to avoid an undesirable slowing down in filling the cartons to be shipped. 
   The present invention seeks to provide a cartoning machine or, as mentioned above, a rotatable cartoning machine having a simple construction and a low cost and being able to meet the packing quickness required by industry today. 
   As well known to those skilled in the art, the packing of a variety of even different items with different size to be shipped and stored is performed in cardboard boxes. Therefore, such boxes have extremely varying size and capacity even for the same kind of products. As far as the present Patent Application is concerned that relates only by way of illustration to the packing of liquid containers such as bottles in cardboard boxes, it should be appreciated that a great variety of containers such as bottles for drinks, mineral water, fruit juice and the like as well as containers with or without handle containing detergents, cleansing agents and the like can be taken into consideration. It follows that a rotatable cartoning machine capable of operating only with such containers should be extraordinarily flexible to be adapted to the great variety of containers, bottles and the like used in the industry today and having, for example, a great variety of heights, shapes, size etc. above all with regard to containers for detergents, cleansing agents and the like which very often are provided with handle and/or dispensing devices causing their width to change in addition to the change in height due to the different capacities of the containers imposed by commercial requirements. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Therefore, the present invention seeks to provide a rotatable cartoning machine with a simple, cheap structure capable of operating at high speed according to very different cartoning requirements, with the containers to be packed being fed to a belt on either one row or more rows. 
   The machine according to the invention will be here described to operate with containers fed on only one row, however, as mentioned in greater detail thereafter, it will be able to operate with containers fed on more rows by simple modifications of the gripping means. 
   The essential novel feature of the machine according to the invention is its flexibility as the cartoning heads can operate with packing cartons receiving the bottles on one or more rows, such heads being of the type for one row, multiple rows, or also for the content of the whole packing cartons in case of compatibility with the feeding rate of the upstream machine. 
   The present Patent Application discloses a rotatable cartoning machine operating on line with a filling machine for liquid containers and provided with cartoning heads which take bottles on one row and lay down them into cartons with a capacity of six to twenty bottles. 
   The machine consists of a parallelepiped body with square base carrying a rotating driven central shaft in a vertical position to which an assembly of at least one cartoning head, each provided with a plurality of grippers, is connected by a square body, each cartoning head being placed on one side of such square body parallel to another side of the square body carrying the other cartoning head. 
   Each cartoning head has a plurality of mechanically operated grippers arranged on one or more rows, as better seen thereafter, each of them being carried at the same level of the rows of containers fed by the upstream production machine and being able to catch and lift a bottle. The head is then lifted, shifted or rotated, or both shifted and rotated, so as to be located above the carton receiving the containers that are then laid down by the opening of the grippers. 
   The actions of lifting, shifting, rotating are provided by controlled mechanical means. 
   In a first embodiment such means consists of pneumatic cylinder and piston assemblies. 
   In a second preferred embodiment such means consists of a cam and idle pulley assembly. Such cam has a generally circular shape in horizontal projection and is driven and shaped so as to perform in parallel both bottle taking and laying down operations, thus allowing a perfect balancing of the load. 
   Both such embodiments will be described in greater detail thereafter. 
   Another important feature of the machine of the present application is the capability of the grippers belonging to the several heads to rotate about their own axis to enclose generally objects, particularly containers, having a non-circular or elongated section into the cartons. The rotation of the grippers is performed by controlled mechanical means. 
   In a first embodiment such means consists of pneumatic cylinder and piston assemblies. 
   In a second preferred embodiment such means consists of mechanical devices. 
   Both such embodiments will be described in greater detail thereafter. 
   Another important feature of the machine according to the invention consists of the construction and shape of the belt conveyer on which the bottle packing cartons rest. Such belt conveyer is suitably inclined to cause the bottles to settle on rows against the walls of the carton, thus avoiding any turnover when the same are released by grippers. Suitable mechanical means driven for example by a pneumatic cylinder and piston assembly allows the cartons to be shifted on the belt and new rows of bottles to be enclosed sequentially in the cartons. 
   Still a further feature of the cartoning machine is the interchangeability of the grippers. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will now be described in greater detail in the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
       FIG. 1  is a view in axonometric projection of the cartoning machine, with partially broken away portions, operating with containers (bottles) fed on one row for their arrangement in 12-bottle cartons and showing a first embodiment for operating the cartoning heads; 
       FIG. 1A  is a view in axonometric projection simplified with respect to FIG.  1  and showing a second preferred embodiment for operating the cartoning heads; 
       FIG. 2  is a vertical section of the cartoning machine of  FIG. 1  showing the arrangement of the driving means of the cartoning heads; 
       FIG. 3  is a top view of the cartoning machine of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIGS. 4 and 5  are fragmentary side elevation views showing the arrangement of the support frame of the gripper heads of the bottles to be enclosed in the packing cartons; 
       FIG. 6  is a detailed view showing mechanical means for adjusting the centre distance of the gripper heads; 
       FIGS. 7 and 7A  show schematically the security and setting cam in a plan view and in the vertical plane, respectively; 
       FIGS. 8 and 8A  show another solution for the movement of the gripper heads of the bottles to be enclosed in the cartons. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   With reference to  FIG. 1 , the rotatable cartoning machine consists of a frame  10  shaped as a parallelepiped with square base having four uprights  10 A, four upper beams  10 B and two diagonal crosspieces  11  at the upper side which carry a vertical main shaft  14  driven by an electrical motor ME 1  to rotate stepwise in either direction. Shaft  14  rotates stepwise by predetermined angles and stops during its working cycle at the operating stations associated therewith and according to the arrangement of the grippers carried by the cartoning heads of the machine. In this embodiment there are four stations laying down bottles into the cartons by rotation of the shaft by 180 DEG from the gripping point. 
   A station-holder turret  15  ( FIG. 3 ) consisting of four rugged beams forming a square  13  A, B, C, D with extensions projecting by 90 DEG from its corners, at the four sides of which four stations or cartoning heads  16  A, B, C, D equal to one another are disposed. Therefore, the detailed description of only one of the latter will be given herebelow. 
   In a first embodiment each head  16  ( FIGS. 2 ,  4  and  5 ) includes a frame  30  ( FIG. 4 ) consisting essentially of two side uprights  31  connected by an upper girder  32  and encircled by a first upper beam  36  and a second lower beam  46  both movable in the vertical plane parallel to themselves. As shown in  FIG. 4 , body  33  of the cylinder of a pneumatic long-stroke cylinder and piston assembly is secured to each upright  31 , the ends of the two parallel spaced members forming the upper beam  36  being secured to the upper end of piston  35 . As shown, the two beams  36 ,  46  encircle both the body of the two upper carriages  22  to guide the vertical movements of the beams and the side uprights  31 . In addition, a guide  148  for both upper carriages  22  and a pair of lower carriages  20  is secured to each upright  31 . Secured at a central position between the parallel members  36  is the head of piston  39  of a further pneumatic cylinder and piston assembly  38  disposed vertically and supporting and moving the lower beam  46  of head  16  with respect to the upper beam  36 . The lower carriages  20  ( FIG. 4 ) carry couplings  48 C to which the ends of two parallel rods  49  are connected, such rods running along the lower side of three separated portions shaped as plates  41 A,  41 B,  41 C which form as a whole the lower beam  46 . Connected to the lower surface of each plate are two supports  50  generally shaped as overturned triangles having at each upper angle ( FIG. 6 ) an opening  51  with such a diameter as to receive the rods  49  and to allow the supports to slide smoothly thereon. Integral with the lower portion of each support.  50  ( FIG. 6 ) is a projection  52  to which flat members  53  carrying grippers  54  at the lower side to grip the bottles are connected. The grippers  54  can be of the known type driven pneumatically between open and closed positions and will not be further described herebelow. 
   The assembly consisting of members  53  and grippers  54  carried under such members forms the gripper head  55  so that each station  16  has three gripper heads in the embodiment illustrated and described herein. 
   As shown in the illustrated embodiment, grippers  54  of the several gripper heads  55  are disposed on one row. 
     FIG. 1A  shows a second preferred embodiment according to the present invention of the means capable of moving in a vertical direction, shifting and rotating turret  15  and the relative cartoning heads  16 . In this embodiment, turret  15  is connected by not shown uprights to guide idle pulleys  202  resting on a suitably shaped rail or cam  200  which is in turn connected to a rotating loop  201  driven by a motor ME 2 . 
   In operation, motor ME 1  causes turret  15  to rotate and one of the cartoning head  16  to be disposed above the gripping station where the containers arrive from the filling machine. The grippers of the head catch the containers and then motor ME 1  is driven again causing the turret to rotate, for example, by half turn; during such rotation idle pulleys  202  follow the profile of cam  200  drawing and first lifting turret  15  which is then lowered again after a rotation of 180 DEG to bring the head gripping the containers above the cartons to be filled. In this position, turret  15  along with the cartoning head carrying the containers is returned to the lower portion of the cam so that the containers can be released in the cartons to be filled. 
   In this embodiment, the assembly connected to frame  30  carrying the gripper heads is a simple rigid square body that can be inclined by little pistons  203  ( FIG. 1A ) secured to frame  10 . In this embodiment, by rotating at the same time both turret  15  and cam  200 , each in a suitable direction, it is possible to lower the cartoning heads  16  at each quarter of a revolution so that four cartoning heads are disposed at the same time each on one side of turret  15 , all in operative condition, i.e. one head in loading position, a second head moving towards the unloading position, a third head in unloading position, and the last head moving towards the loading station. 
   By a suitable shaping of both cam  200  and turret  15  it is possible to have more than four cartoning heads operating at the same time. 
     FIG. 2  shows a further feature of the invention having two pneumatic cylinder and piston assemblies  60  disposed in each station between members  61  of turret  15  and the inside of uprights  31 . 
   Cylinders  63  of pneumatic assemblies  60  are secured to the lower portion of members  61  while the annular heads of the respective pistons  64  are threaded in pins  65  integral with support  66  which is secured to the inner walls of the two uprights  31  that are hinged so as to rotate only by a small angle with respect to the vertical so that the rotation of the uprights driven by assemblies  63  causes the gripper head  55  ( FIG. 2 ) to be inclined with respect to the horizontal plane. 
   As already mentioned, the lower beam  46  of each frame is formed by three separated coplanar portions  41 A,  41 B,  41 C all slideable along rods  49  and connected to one another ( FIG. 5 ) by two pneumatic cylinder and piston assemblies  74 , the cylinder of which being secured to support  75  integral with the upper portion of member  40  and the piston  73  being secured at its end to a vertical tab  72  projecting from the upper portion of the side members  41 A,  41 B. It is self-evident that the two pneumatic cylinder and piston assemblies  74  have the function of varying by their stroke the distance between the side members  41 A,  41 B and central member  41 C. Of course, the movement of the side members  41 A,  41 B will be followed by the side gripper heads  55 A,  55 B with respect to the central gripper head  55 . In the operation of the machine, the pneumatic assemblies  74  have the function of separating the side gripper heads  55 A,  55 B from the central gripper head  55  in order to lay down the three bottles of each gripper head in three side by side cartons, with the contacting walls of them having a predetermined thickness. 
   In case bottles or generic containers with elongated section have to be enclosed in a carton, it is normally necessary to rotate the bottles from the incoming position at the cartoning station to another position which is more suitable to their arrangement in the cartons, and at last to settle them. 
   These operations are advantageously carried out by means of a mechanism shown in  FIGS. 8 and 8A . Frame T carrying grippers is provided with a support  100  in which a carriage  101  slides carrying in turn one end of a rod  102  which is connected at the opposite end to a rotating cylinder  103  carrying grippers to catch a bottle BTL. Rotating cylinder  103  is pneumatically controlled to perform an axial rotation by a desired angle to bring the bottle from the position shown in  FIG. 8  to a second position rotated with respect to the first position and shown in FIG.  8 A. 
   Rod  101  passes through a slot  105 ′ of a strap  105 . 
   Strap  105  is connected by a rod  102 ′ to a second strap  104  also provided with a slot  104 ′. 
   In operation, after the rotation of the three bottles from the position of  FIG. 8  to the position of  FIG. 8A , carriage  101  is shifted on support  100  to the left. Rod  101  crosses the whole slot  105 ′ until its left (in the Figure) edge is reached. A further shift of rod  101  causes strap  105  and rod  102 ′ connected thereto to further shift to the left until rod  102 ′ has crossed slot  104 ′ in the same way. 
   Now, all of the three bottles are settled to one another as shown in FIG.  8 A. 
   A similar mechanical way of shifting can be used to modify the distance between carriages  41 A,  41 B,  41 C (FIG.  5 ), if necessary. 
   Another important feature of the machine according to the invention is the arrangement of a further pneumatic cylinder and piston assembly  80  ( FIG. 2 ) which is disposed between upright  10 A and packing carton belt conveyer  82  and the drive of which causes the cartons to shift transversally on the belt conveyer so as to allow rows of bottles to be enclosed in the cartons. Finally, in the first embodiment, secured inside frame  10  is a cam  90  having a circular shape in the projection to the horizontal plane ( FIG. 7 ) and the shape shown in  FIG. 7A  in the projection to the vertical plane. Idle pulleys  91  A, B, C, D are running on the four sides of turret  15  at the four stations  16  A, B, C, D. Pulleys  91  rest on cam  90  and serve as security measure to avoid the falling down from the turret  15  in case of breakdown of the cylinder and piston assemblies  34  because of lack of compressed air. The layout of cam  90  with high and low sections reflects the vertical shift of turret  15  in its operation. The operation of the machine includes four steps: in the first step, frame  30 B ( FIG. 3 ) of station  16 A is lowered to bring the gripper head  55  A, B, C into contact with the row of bottles FBTL and the operation of the latter causes nine bottles to be gripped, while at the same time frame  30 D of station  16 C is lowered to lay down any bottle present in the gripper head of such station into the underlying cartons SCD by operating in succession both the cylinder and piston assemblies  74  to separate the underlying gripper heads  55  A, B, C and the assemblies opening such heads. Turret  15  is then rotated by 90 DEG so that the gripper heads  55  A, B, C of station  16 D take bottle BTL of the rows and lay down at the same time any bottle present in the gripper heads of station  16 B into cartons SDC and so on, with the turret  15  being stopped every 90 DEG and with the alternative contemporaneous step of gripping and laying down the bottles by the pairs of stations  16  A, C and  16  B, D placed at 180 DEG from each other. 
   of course, the machine is provided with an encoder and a suitable software controlling both the operation of the several pneumatic cylinder and piston assemblies described above by suitable valves of the known type and the rotation angles of turret  15  by like rotation angles of shaft  14 .