Abstract:
Apparatus for banding a bundle of articles covered by a wrapping, such as tableware wrapped by a napkin, a manually wrapped bundle having at least one of said articles covered by said wrapping and being fed by a user of the apparatus into contact with a pre-cut elongated band having a cohesive material coated on at least certain surfaces of the band. The apparatus cuts the band to a desired length and positions the pre-cut band in surmounting relation to a pair of counter-rotating rollers, the rollers biasing the band about the bundle as the bundle passes between the rollers. On passage of the bundle between the rollers, cohesive material-coated ends of the band are brought together to adhere said ends together and to tightly band the wrapped articles together in essentially a single operational step.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The invention relates generally to banding of discrete articles into a bundle whereby the articles are held together as a unit, the invention particularly relating to the assembly of a band having adhesive disposed thereon about tableware previously wrapped manually into a bundle covered by a napkin or the like. 
   2. Description of the Prior Art 
   Articles such as tableware are commonly assembled together and covered by a wrapping such as a napkin, linen, etc., for use at food service locations. Articles so wrapped into covered bundles are often banded by the placement of a band about the wrapped bundle, the band being tightly applied so as to maintain the articles within the wrapped bundle. Manual application of bands to wrapped bundles comprised of tableware of the like and a covering napkin formed of paper, linen or the like, is time consuming and subject to a certain degree to the skill of a person charged with wrapping and banding the articles of tableware or the like. Workers who are typically charged with the banding of wrapped bundles of tableware and the like often have a number of duties which must be discharged in food service situations and therefore have only a limited amount of time which can be devoted to wrapping of tableware within napkins followed by banding of wrapped bundles so formed. The art thus finds a need for a more rapid ability to band wrapped bundles formed of articles such as tableware and covered by a napkin or the like, it being desirable in the art to automate the banding of manually wrapped bundles in order to save time and to improve the uniformity and quality of the wrapped and banded bundles. Bands, such as are commonly formed of paper, are known in the art as being useful for holding napkin-wrapped silverware or the like together. As one example, Dunbar et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,688, discloses the folding of a napkin over silverware to form a napkin-wrapped bundle of silverware, a gummed band taken from a roll of such bands being wrapped about the napkin/silverware bundle in order to hold the napkin and the silverware together for subsequent use. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,387, Brown et al band a wrapped napkin/silverware bundle together. Banding apparatus is also disclosed by Gray et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,913, and by Medlock, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,861. Terragnoli, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,329, discloses a band having adhesive formed on portions of one surface thereof, said adhesive portions being spaced from each other and being brought into contact on assembly of the band to articles which are to be held together through the agency of the band. The apparatus disclosed in the United States patents mentioned above do not satisfy the long-felt need in the art for a simple, reliable and inexpensive device easily operable by relatively untrained personnel for applying banding to a wrapped bundle, such as tableware wrapped within a napkin or the like. The apparatus of the prior art is expensive, complex and not practically usable within a typical food service environment, such as a restaurant or the like, and therefore fails to meet particular needs of at least a certain category of users. Accordingly, the invention provides solution to this long-felt need by providing a compact, relatively inexpensive and easily operated apparatus capable of banding wrapped bundles of articles such as tableware wrapped within napkins, the resulting banded bundles being particularly useful in food service situations such as in restaurants. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention provides method and apparatus for applying a band to a wrapped bundle formed of at least one article such as an article of tableware and which is wrapped in a sheet of material such as paper, linen or the like, for example, a napkin, the bundle being intended to be held securely together by the band. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, an apparatus is provided having a continuous roll of banding material mounted thereto on a roll from which a predetermined length of the banding material is fed to a cutting blade to sever said banding material to said predetermined length. The length of banding material is fed prior to cutting to a location of the apparatus surmounting a pair of counter-rotating rollers, the rollers being mounted in abutting relation tangentially with rotary axes being parallel. Each of the rollers has at least one arcuate notch formed therein, each said notch being arranged to align with an opposing notch from the adjacent roller so that the wrapped bundle can be fed manually into that space defined by an opposed pair of notches of the pair of rollers. Feeding of the wrapped bundle in contact with the predetermined length of banding material, said length of banding material being intended to form the band which holds the wrapped bundle securely together, and thus into the space defined by the opposed pair of notches, causes the rollers to rotate a predetermined rotational distance to apply the band about the wrapped bundle and to then bias ends of the band together. While those surfaces of the banding material contacted by the wrapped bundle may not be covered with a cohesive or adhesive material, a preferred embodiment of the invention contemplates coating of full surfaces of the banding material with a cohesive material which bonds strongly to surfaces also covered by the same cohesive material. Accordingly, biasing of the ends of the band together causes said ends to adhere strongly to each other so that the band is tightly held about the wrapped bundle. As the band is being applied to the wrapped bundle, a second length of the banding material, that is, a second band, is pulled from the roll of banding material and cut to the predetermined length as said material is advanced to a position surmounting the counter-rotating rollers. The rollers then return to their initial position after the banding operation is completed. The second band is thereby positioned for application to another wrapped bundle on manual feeding of said wrapped bundle in a manner essentially identical to that described above so that the second band is applied to the second wrapped bundle. Rotation of the rollers causes a spacing to occur between the rollers when the pair of notches are displaced relative to each other a sufficient distance, the wrapped bundle having the band applied thereto thus having an opening located between said rollers through which the bundle can freely pass. 
   In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the axes of the counter-rotating rollers lie in a horizontal plane, a first one of the rollers rotating in a clockwise direction with the other roller rotating in a counter-clockwise direction. The circumferential surface of each of the rollers essentially moves downwardly such that the wrapped bundle is manually fed in a downward direction to contact the band, that is, the predetermined length of the banding material, which is disposed in surmounting relation to the rollers. Disposition of the axes of the rollers in a horizontal plane is preferred due to the desirability for maintaining the length of banding material in place over the rollers without a need to hold the banding material, only gravity being necessary to maintain the length of banding material at the appropriate location. The predetermined length of banding material is centered above the juncture between the rollers so that the ends of the length of banding material mate on operation of the apparatus. 
   The cohesive material preferably applied over full surfaces of one side of the banding material is preferably a low-tack material, it being understood for the purposes of this disclosure that the cohesive material can take the form of any suitable adhesive material capable of bonding to itself. A cohesive material is preferred, however, since a true cohesive material will essentially only bond to itself. Since some of the cohesive material coated onto surfaces of one side of the banding material will contact the wrapped bundle, it is desirable that the cohesive material not adhere to the wrapped bundle especially in applications of the invention wherein a wrapper enclosing items such as tableware takes the form of a napkin or the like. For purposes of this disclosure, the term “cohesive material” is taken to include any suitable cohesive or adhesive material. The coated surfaces of the banding material are disposed on that side of the banding material opposite the location of the counter-rotating rollers. The configuration of the counter-rotating rollers causes end portions of the pre-cut lengths of banding material to be mated together. Since the cohesive material employed has little or no tack to surfaces not coated with the same cohesive material, little or not cohesive material remains on any portion of the wrapped bundle that might contact the cohesive material once the band is removed at a later time. As noted, a wrapped bundle according to a preferred practice of the invention takes the form of eating utensils wrapped in a napkin or the like which will be used by a user of the utensils, it being desirable that extraneous material not adhere to the napkin. 
   Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide method and apparatus for applying a banding material to an article and particularly to a wrapped bundle formed of at least one article of tableware having a napkin or the like wrapped thereover. 
   It is another object of the invention to provide an inexpensive and volumetrically compact apparatus capable of automatic feeding of predetermined lengths of banding material from a roll of banding material to a location surmounting biasing surfaces capable of applying the banding material to an article such as a bundle of tableware utensils wrapped in a napkin or the like. 
   It is a further object of the invention to provide apparatus capable of applying bands having cohesive material disposed on one surface thereof to an article such as a wrapped bundle formed of at least one tableware utensil and a sheet such as a napkin, the apparatus applying in essentially a single operational step one of said bands to said wrapped bundle to securely hold said wrapped bundle together. 
   Further objects and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent in light of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view taken from above and to one side of a banding apparatus configured to the invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view taken from above and to an opposite side relative to the view of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating the electromechanical components of the apparatus; 
       FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the banding apparatus taken from above and to one side of the apparatus; 
       FIG. 5  is an exploded view of the banding apparatus taken from above and to the side opposite that shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
       FIG. 6A  is a detail perspective view of portions of the apparatus intended for severing of lengths of banding material and for mating of ends of such severed lengths together about a wrapped bundle; 
       FIG. 6B  is a perspective view illustrating opposing rollers and a wrapped bundle disposed immediately above a strip of banding material as occurs on initiation of movement of the bundle into engagement with the rollers; 
       FIG. 6C  is a perspective view of the wrapped bundle with a portion of the strip of banding material formed thereabout and with rollers having rotated sufficiently to cause respective notches formed in the rollers to become opposed; 
       FIG. 6D  is a perspective view of the wrapped bundle with the strip of banding material cinched about the wrapped bundle as occurs on further rotation of the rollers and completion of the banding operation; 
       FIG. 6E  is a perspective view of a cinched strip of banding material absent the wrapped bundle; and, 
       FIG. 6F  is a perspective view of a prior art band typically used in a banding a wrapped bundle. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring now to the drawings and particularly to  FIGS. 1 through 5  and  6 A through  6 D, a banding apparatus configured according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is seen at  10  to be formed of a housing  12  generally configured as a rectangular solid with an arcuate side wall  14  at one end ordered by a projecting boss  16  having an idler roller  18  mounted thereto. The idler roller  18  carries a roll  20  of banding material  22 , the banding material preferably being formed of a paper substrate having a cohesive material  24  formed on one surface thereof. As the banding material  22  is pulled from the roll  20 , that surface of the banding material  22  having the cohesive material  24  formed thereon is exposed. The cohesive material  24  is a known material having low tack qualities when contacted with surfaces other than surfaces coated with the same adhesive. Such materials often have a latex base although it is preferred according to the invention to utilize materials of this nature which are free of latex. While the idler roller  18  is not driven, it is desirable that rotation of the roller  18  is subject to at least frictional resistance so that the banding material  22  will not spool off of the roller  18 . Such frictional resistance can be caused by the provision of a cap  25  over the roller  18  which can contact the roll  20  to provide a desired degree of force on the roll  20  to prevent undesired unreeling of the roll  20 . 
   The banding material  22  is seen to be fed through a cutting station  26  by means of drive roller  28 , the drive roller  28  being driven through a predetermined partial rotation to feed a predetermined length of the banding material  22  to a cutting blade  30  which is sequenced to cut the banding material  22  on discontinuation of feed of the banding material  22  by the drive roller  28 . The banding material  22  is severed by the cutting blade  30  as said material  22  passes from the cutting station  26  such that severed segment  32  is located immediately outwardly of the cutting station  26  and in surmounting relationship to counter-rotating rollers  34  and  36 . Each of the rollers  34 ,  36  are formed with arcuate notches  38  and  40  respectively above which the severed segment lies thereover and is cradled and maintained in place by guides  42  and portions of the rollers  34 ,  36  adjacent said notches  38 ,  40 . 
   The cutting station  26  is seen to be formed of a housing  44  which is hinged such that said housing  44  can be moved to a position whereby the cutting station is opened up for necessary maintenance and other operations. The housing  44  is seen to mount a roller  46  which freely rotates such that the banding material  22  moves between the drive roller  28  and said roller  46 . Flattening guides  48  extend along the path of travel of the banding material  22  within the cutting station  26  and function to maintain the banding material  22  in an essentially flat configuration. An interior housing body member  50  which forms a portion of the housing  44  mounts major portions of the guides  48  and is provided with an angled planar surface  52  which extends upwardly immediately downstream of the path of travel of the banding material  22 , the planar surface  52  acting to prevent jamming of the banding material  22  as said material  22  is being fed through the cutting station  26 . 
   The cutting blade  30  pivots in a conventional manner and is housed within a space  56  defined by the body member  50  and wall portions of the housing  44 , the blade  30  being freely movable within said space  56 . Actuation of the cutting blade  30  is timed by means of electronics (not shown) on circuit board  57  with the movement of the drive roller  28  such that a predetermined length of the banding material  22  is cut to form banding strip  58 . It is to be understood that the banding strip  58  can be cut to any desired length depending upon the degree of rotation of the drive roller  28  as can be selected in a manner known in the pertinent art. It is further to be understood that the banding apparatus  10  functions only with the housing  44  of the cutting station  26  maintained in a closed position, the housing  44  being shown in an open position in certain figures for purposes of illustration of the structure of the invention. 
   Once the banding strip  58  is severed from the banding material  22  and is caused to lie in surmounting relation to the rollers  34 ,  36  within the guides  42  as aforesaid, a wrapped bundle  60  or desired assemblage of articles can be banded according to the invention as can best be seen in  FIGS. 6B through 6D . Since the primary intent of the present invention is to band an assemblage of tableware utensils wrapped within a napkin, the wrapped bundle  60  is taken to comprise such an assemblage. However, it is to be understood that the wrapped bundle  60  can take other forms without departing from the scope of the invention. As is seen in  FIG. 6B , the wrapped bundle  60  is caused to contact the banding strip  58  centrally thereof, central portions of the banding strip lying immediately above the notches  38 ,  40  of the rollers  34 ,  36  the notches  38 ,  40  being aligned along lowermost lateral edges thereof to form a space at  62  into which the wrapped bundle  60  in contact with the banding strip  58  can be displaced in order to contact the rollers  34 ,  36  and thus actuate the banding operation. On contact with the wrapped bundle  60 /banding strip  58  with the rollers  34 ,  36 , the banding apparatus  10  is actuated via electronics of conventional nature including a microswitch associated with the electronics on the circuit board  57  as well as conventional mechanisms for driving of the rollers  34 ,  36  so that the rollers  34 ,  36  are caused to undergo a rotation of a degree dependent upon the length of the banding strip  58 . During this rotation as will be discussed relative to  FIGS. 6B through 6D , a complete banding cycle is accomplished in essentially a single step along with a subsequent return of the rollers  34 ,  36  to the position shown in  FIG. 6B  such that a subsequent banding operation can then be undertaken. 
   As can be seen in  FIG. 6C , the rollers  34 ,  36  are seen to have rotated to a degree such that lateral edges of the notches  38 ,  40  are aligned at respective sides of said notches, the wrapped bundle  60 /banding strip  58  being then held between that space defined by the aligned and opposed notches  38 ,  40 . Continued rotation of the rollers  34 ,  36  cause medial portions of the banding strip  58  to wrap fully about the bundle  60  with upper lateral edges of the notches  38 ,  40  acting to bring portions of the banding strip  58  together immediately prior to subsequent joining together of end portions of the banding strip  58 . The rollers  34 ,  36  then rotate further relative to the position shown in  FIG. 6C  such that an opening is provided which permits the wrapped bundle  60 /banding strip  58  to move downwardly of the rollers  34 ,  36  and into an enlarged receiving space formed in the housing  12  immediately below said rollers  34 ,  36  as seen in  FIG. 6D . Circumferential surfaces of the rollers  34 ,  36  act to cinch end portions of the banding strip  58  together at locations substantially adjacent to the wrapped bundle  60  with distal end portions of the banding strip  58  not being in contact. As noted, further rotation of the rollers  34 ,  36  causes circumferential portions of the rollers  34 ,  36  to press distal end portions of the banding strip  58  together with discharge of the wrapped bundle  60  configured as the banding strip  58  now forming band  68  snuggly secured thereto, the wrapped bundle  60  then being banded according to the intent of the invention such that the resulting assemblage can then be used in a manner known in the art. As can be seen in  FIG. 6D , the rollers  34 ,  36  rotate back to the position seen in  FIG. 6B  via conventional mechanisms including control mechanisms as referred to herein as soon as the banded bundle  60  passes through said rollers, thereby placing the apparatus  10  in position to band a subsequent wrapped bundle. Banding according to the intended use of the apparatus  10  is therefore capable of being rapidly accomplished with a minimum of training of persons charged with performance of the task of banding articles such as are represented by the wrapped bundle  60 . 
   Referring now further to  FIG. 6E , the band  58  is seen separately and without having the wrapped bundle  60  held thereby so as to further illustrate the structure of the band  58  as having ends of said banding strip adhered together. A prior art band is seen in  FIG. 6F  for comparison with the band  58 , the prior art band being formed of a strip of material rolled over itself and which must have adherent material formed on both sides or otherwise formed on the prior art band to accommodate the adherent processing thereof. 
   It is to be understood that the invention can be practiced other than as is explicitly described herein and shown in the drawings. Control mechanisms suitable for producing the desired results are known in various arts and can be employed in implementation of control functions and the like necessary to an appropriate functioning of the banding apparatus  10 . Still further, it is to be seen that a handle can be positioned at any desired location of the apparatus  10 , the apparatus  10  being readily movable from storage positions to a position on a table, counter or the like such that banding operations can be accomplished when necessary with the apparatus  10  being storable in a non-use location when not required. The apparatus  10  is further seen to provide consistent banding of wrapped bundles more quickly than is possible through manual operation. In essence, the invention described herein provides function and convenience not previously available in the art. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not limited by the explicitly disclosure provided herein but is to be defined according to the definitions provided by the appended claims.