Abstract:
A packing machine comprising a rotary assembly ( 2 ) which is adapted to receive articles ( 4 ) travelling along a path which is adjacent one region of the periphery of the assembly, and means ( 26 ) for receiving foil ( 14 ) or other wrapping material, at a different peripheral region, the foil then being oriented in a tangential plane; the assembly further comprising means for reorienting the foil into a plane which is perpendicular to said tangential plane ( 20 ) at a subsequent rotary position, where it is suitably aligned with a cooperating article wrapping means ( 40, 32 ).

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to packing machines, for packing or wrapping articles and particularly to a packing machine for an article or bundle of articles which is to be wrapped in a wrapping material, hereinafter referred to generally as foil, ready for insertion into a container. 
     Where large numbers of articles are being produced at high speed, and are required to be packed into containers, it is desirable for the packing process to be carried out as quickly and smoothly as possible, without too many interruptions to the flow of articles. The speed of such operation is, however, generally restricted by the need to perform certain operations with the mechanism stationary, particularly when two separate elements making up the final package are brought together. 
     One example of a prior type of machine in which a specific effort has been made to overcome such problems, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,952, which is designed to pack articles such as cigarettes supplied in a continuous stream to an upper layer, whilst open ended packets are formed at a bottom layer, and in which a middle layer contains a mechanism which pushes the bundles into the packet, closes them and delivers them in one continuous stream. The machine is designed to rotate continuously about a vertical axis past a continuous supply of cigarettes and a continuous supply of each of the packing materials. However, known machines of this kind suffer from considerable complexity, particularly because there are a large number of radially reciprocating parts in the construction, and this will necessarily place an upper limit on the possible speed of operation of the machine. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In a preferred form of the invention, the machine comprises a rotary assembly which is adapted to receive articles travelling along a path which is adjacent one region of the periphery of the assembly, and means for receiving foil or other wrapping material, at a different peripheral region, the wrapper then being oriented in a tangential plane; the assembly further comprising means for reorienting the wrapper into a plane which is perpendicular to said tangential plane at a subsequent rotary position, where it is suitably aligned with a cooperating article wrapping means. 
     Preferably the perpendicular plane is a packing machine in which the perpendicular plane is also perpendicular to the axis of the assembly. 
     Preferably the means for receiving the wrapper comprises a pad having an aperture, the pad being pivotable to a position in which the aperture is aligned with a wrapper forming pocket, and at which articles are passed through the aperture to pick up the wrapper and carry it into the pocket. 
     Preferably, the rotary mechanism comprises a plurality of article wrapping stations, each comprising a wrapper forming pocket having an entry aperture which, in its operative position, is axially aligned with the aperture in a corresponding wrapper receiving pad, and an exit aperture from which the folded wrapper article is ejected. 
     Preferably the folded foil bundle is then received in a further former device and the wrapper forming pocket is then arranged to be moved to a position in which it is clear of the entry of the further former device, to allow the trailing end of the wrapped article to be engaged by suitable closure means. In a preferred arrangement, the wrapper receiving pad and the forming pocket are arranged to pivot between the required positions as they rotate around the drum by means of linkages connected to a crankshaft. 
     The invention also extends to a packing machine comprising a rotary assembly, said assembly including means for receiving a wrapper oriented in a substantially tangential plane at a first rotary position of the assembly, means for reorienting the wrapper at a second rotary position, into a plane which is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the assembly, means for advancing an article to be wrapped in an axial direction so as to intercept a wrapper in said perpendicular plane and become partially wrapped therein, and means for receiving said partially wrapped article. 
     Accordingly, the present invention may be used in a packing machine which is adapted to work on a continuous basis, and can readily be adapted for dealing with articles or materials of widely diverse character, which operates to insert articles into containers whilst the containers and the articles are moving in concert with one another. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a material flow schematic of an apparatus according to the invention, illustrating the path of products through the process; 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the apparatus, illustrating the motion of the main parts; 
     FIG. 3 is a more detailed perspective view of the drum and forming pockets of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a radial cross-section of the drum of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective cross-section of a preferred alternative form of the foil pad mechanism; 
     FIG. 6 is a further enlarged perspective view of the mechanism of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 6 a  is an axial cross-section through the mechanism of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 6 b  is an underneath perspective view of the mechanism of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view showing the co-operation between the drum and its input conveyor; 
     FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view of a foil pad; 
     FIG. 9 is a side view of the foil pad of FIG. 8; and 
     FIG. 10 is a partly sectional view of the foil pad of FIG.  8 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring firstly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the apparatus comprises a rotating drum  2  which receives groups  4  of articles to be packaged at a first peripheral region  6  of the drum, the articles, in this case cigarettes, being conveyed in pockets  8  on a conveyor. As shown, this conveyor passes close to one peripheral edge of the drum, as described in more detail with reference to FIG. 6 below; and during processing, the articles will be moved in an axial direction, whilst they are being carried around the drum, in the order indicated by the station numbers  1 - 10  with the assembled packages leaving the drum approximately one third of the way round the drum at region  10 , and from the opposite peripheral edge of the drum assembly. The articles are then conveyed away from the drum by a further conveyor  12 . 
     FIG. 2 also illustrates schematically the arrangement for receiving and manipulating the foil which is to be used in wrapping the articles, and as shown, a web of foil  14  is fed in known fashion onto a receiving roller  16 , on which pre-cut sections  18  are held in position by suction, for successive transfer onto foil receiving pads  20 ,  22 ,  24 ,  26  etc. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, the drum  2  is rotating in a clockwise direction, so that the successive foil receiving pads  20 ,  22 ,  24  etc pass the foil receiving position, and the mechanism is so arranged that, as each foil receiving pad approaches the receiving position, it is tilted downwards from a previously radially extending orientation (not shown) until it reaches the tangentially oriented position  26  for alignment with the roller  16 . As the rotation continues the pads are progressively returned to the radially extending position  20  ready to co-operate with incoming groups of articles at the region  6  of the drum. The various orientations of the pads are seen from the other side of the drum in the more detailed perspective view of FIG.  3 . As an alternative, the foil may be rotated through 90° about an axis parallel to the drum axis so that it then lies in a radial plane, which will of course imply corresponding changes in orientation of the mechanism at region  6  and subsequent stages. 
     Each foil receiving pad has a central aperture  30  (FIG.  1 ), and in the radially oriented position  28 , (FIGS.  1  and  3 ), the aperture is aligned with the entry aperture of a corresponding foil forming pocket  32 . 
     At this position each incoming bundle of articles is aligned with the aperture  30  of the foil receiving pad  28 , whilst it is in the radially oriented position described above and as illustrated in more detail in the cross-sectional view of FIG.  4 . As shown in FIG. 7, the collation pockets  34  carrying the incoming bundles are carried on a toothed belt  35  which co-operates with corresponding teeth  37  formed on radial projections  39  of the drum  2 . As the belt approaches,the drum the pockets are interposed between the projections  39  so as to be aligned with a pusher  40 , mounted on a reciprocating carriage assembly  42  which is movable in the axial direction as indicated by the arrow X in FIG.  4 . 
     Transfer of an incoming bundle of articles to the drum  2  need not be by way of the pocketed belt  35 . In particular, an axially offset pocketed drum may be provided to transfer bundles. 
     The pocketed belt arrangement is more clearly illustrated in the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6. In this position, the bundle of articles is aligned with the aperture  30  of the foil receiving pad  28 , whilst the foil  18  is held on the outer surface by suction. FIGS. 6 and 6 a  also show the pivotal mounting  68  of the foil receiving pad. When the mounting  31  of the foil former pocket  32  is axially oriented, the pocket entry is aligned with the exit of the aperture  30 , and the exit of the foil former pocket will then be aligned with the entry of a receiving pocket  44  (see FIG.  1 ). Thus, in operation, when the pusher  40  is actuated, starting from the axially inward position of FIG. 5 the bundle of articles  34  is pushed through the aperture  30 , carrying the foil  18  into the foil former pocket  32  so that it is folded around the bundle, and passes into the receiving pocket. The pusher then occupies the outward position of FIG.  6 . From this position, the wrapped bundle will be transferred after closure is completed (see below) to a position in which it engages with a waiting packet, for example as shown at  46  in FIG.  1 . 
     It will be appreciated that, when the initially wrapped bundle is received in the receiving pocket  44 , the trailing end  48  will still be open, and must be folded around the end of the bundle. Thus it is then necessary for the end to be engaged by foil closure tooling, and to achieve this it is necessary to move the foil former pocket  32  so as to clear the trailing end  48 . As illustrated in the arrangement of FIGS. 6,  6   a  and  6   b  the foil former pocket mounting  31  is pivotally mounted at  50 , onto the support drum, and is connected by a connecting rod  54  to a rotatable crank  55  mounted on a crankshaft  57 . Thus, after the pusher  40  has been retracted, the crank  55  rotates to cause the former pocket mounting  31  to be tilted downwardly in the direction  56  so as to clear the end  48  of the open package. 
     The tilting movement of the foil pad  28  is achieved as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 b  by means of a further connecting rod  58 , which is similarly actuated by means of a further crank arm  70 . 
     FIG. 6 a  also illustrates how the supply of vacuum is connected to the foil pad  28 , in order to enable it to pick up and release the foil. As illustrated in the drawing, a vacuum inlet  72  communicates with an axial passage  74  in the drum, and the passage  74  is in turn connected by means of a radial passage  78  to a rotary union  80  in the pivot  68 . A drilled port  82  connects this union to the body of the foil plate  28 , as shown in detail in the enlarged view of FIGS. 8 to  10 . 
     As best seen in FIGS. 8 and 10, the foil pad  28  is of a laminated construction, the main body  84  being cut away and recessed so as to provide the central aperture  30 , and four vacuum cavities  86 ,  88 ,  90  and  92 , each of which communicates with the foil receiving face of the pad, via suction ports  94  formed in a cover plate  96 . 
     As best seen from FIG. 8, the two vacuum cavities  88  and  90  are both connected to the vacuum passage  82  by means of the cut away  98 , whilst the two cavities  86  and  92  are connected by a passage  100 , with the cavity  86  being connected to a separate vacuum source by means of port  102 . This allows for independent control of the suction at the outer ends of the foil, via cavities  86  and  92 , and the inner regions, via cavities  88  and  90 . In this way, the pick up and release of the foil can be accurately controlled at the required stages of operation of the apparatus.