Article bagger

The present invention provides a machine for bagging a plurality of small items in a single bag. The machine comprises a bag support for holding a plurality of flattened open topped bags stacked against one another in an upright position, a pneumatic bag opener for blowing down into and opening the bags individually at the bag support, a bag stretcher for stretching the opening of the bags, a feed chute for feeding the articles to the stretched opened bags, a gripper for gripping on the bags after feeding and pulling them sideways from the bag support to a bag closure applicator.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to an article bagging machine particularly 
designed for the bagging of individual portioned creamer cups. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In the creamer cup industry, where individual portions of cream are 
contained in a single small cup, these cups, according to standard 
practice, are bulk packages in cardboard boxes. This is both an awkward as 
well as an expensive method of packaging the individual cups. 
Many other small products are bulk packaged in cardboard boxes in the 
manner described above and therefore there is a need for a replacement, 
inexpensive and convenient method of bulk packaging small articles. 
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
The present invention comprises a packaging machine which, rather than 
using cardboard boxes, uses plastic bags, i.e. a bagging machine. The 
bagging machine of the present invention comprises a bag support for 
holding a plurality of flattened opened topped bags stacked against one 
another in an upright position, a bag opener for opening the bags 
individually at the bag support, a bag stretcher for stretching the 
opening of the bags, feed means for feeding the articles to be packaged to 
the stretched opened bags, gripping means for gripping the bags after 
feeding and for pulling them sideways off of the bag support and 
preferably to a bag closure applicator for closing the tops of the bags.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION ACCORDING TO THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT 
INVENTION 
FIG. 1 shows a bagging machine generally indicated at 1. FIG. 4 shows an 
indexing machine generally indicated at 3. The present invention in its 
broadest aspect relates to the bagging machine. However, a further aspect 
of the present invention incorporates the combination of the indexing and 
bagging machines to form a unitary indexing and bagging machine. 
In light of the above, reference is first had to FIGS. 4 and 5 of the 
drawings where the indexer comprises an upper collector 5 fed from a large 
supply of individual articles and in this case single serving coffee or 
creamer cups. The collector operates in a conventional manner to index a 
specified number of the cups which are then collected on a collector tray 
6. This collector tray includes a movable claw-like stop 7 which sits in 
the stop position seen in FIG. 4 until the specified number of cups have 
been collected on the tray. At that point the claw is retracted by control 
piston 8 as seen in FIG. 5 so that the cups drop into collector baskets 9. 
These collector baskets are set up in groups such as group 9a to receive 
the indexed number of cups which will then be used for a single bag 
filling. A series of V-shaped deflector bars 11 also seen in FIG. 4 are 
provided for an even distribution of the cups between the baskets in group 
9a. 
All the baskets are pivotally mounted to a drive system and in this 
particular case a chain drive as seen in FIGS. 1 and 4 of the drawings. 
Each group of baskets, after having picked up its quota of cups moves from 
the indexing region 3 in the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 1 up a 
tower 13. As the individual baskets clear over the top of the tower they 
are deflected by means of deflectors 12 provided on each of the baskets 
and catching on the tower causing them to dump their loads onto a 
downwardly twisting chute 14. The lower end of this chute, best seen in 
FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawings, feeds directly to a bag preset to receive 
the cups as described later in detail. 
The chute itself is designed for maximum efficiency and cleanliness. More 
particularly, it is formed by a plurality of spaced apart rounded ribs or 
rails 15 secured at spaced junctures by brackets 16. This arrangement 
minimizes friction between the cups and the chute and provides an 
automatic drainage of liquid spilling from any damaged cups that might 
otherwise pass down the chute. In other words, the drainage occurs 
directly through rather than down the chute and does not spill into the 
bag. 
Chute 15 feeds down into a collector or funnel 17, the front wall of which 
is provided with a bag support, known in the trade as a wicket plate, 
generally indicated at 21 in FIGS. 1 and 7. Also directed down into the 
collector is an air nozzle 19. 
Bag support or wicket plate 21 comprises a pair of prong-like members 23 
for receiving a plurality of stacked bags or wicketed 29. These bags, best 
seen in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings, are provided at their upper ends 
with a pair of openings 31 on the lengthened back panel of the bags for 
fitting over the prong-like members 23. Here it should be noted that the 
mouth of each bag, although pressed tightly together is not sealed shut 
which allows opening of the bag by means such as a suction cup or a 
pneumatic bag opener again to be described later in detail. Also note that 
the back panel of the bag is provided with a downward slit 33 directly 
above each of the openings 31. The function of these will also be 
described later in detail. 
After a number of the bags have been placed over prong-like members 23 a 
weighted guard and bag guide 25 having a handle 27 is fitted over and 
covers the prongs. This weighted guide tends to push the bags inwardly 
towards collector 17 wherein the most inwardly positioned bag, i.e. the 
bag to the front of the stack, is exposed to compressed air blown out from 
nozzle 19 to open that particular bag. The timing of the operation is such 
that the bag is opened prior to the feeding of the cups from the chute. 
The complete opening of each bag is done with more than just the compressed 
air which provides an initial separation of the bag mouth as best seen in 
FIG. 8 of the drawings. Here it will be noted that the bag is actually 
formed whereby the front panel of the bag is lower than the back 
supporting panel of the bag allowing the front panel to be blown into the 
dotted line position in FIG. 8 without affecting any of the bags in the 
rear of the stack, i.e. the back panel on the bag acts as a deflector to 
guide the opening of the front panel and to prevent an air flow from 
nozzle 19 past the most forward bag in the stack. After the bag has been 
initially opened by the air flow as shown in FIG. 8, it is then further 
stretched open by means of a stretcher assembly, generally indicated at 
35, the components of which can be well seen in FIG. 7 in perspective and 
the operation of which is best shown in FIGS. 10 through 12 of the 
drawings. More particularly, the stretcher assembly comprises a pair of 
pivotal flaps 37 and 39 which are adjustable in spacing between one 
another according to the bag size. These flaps are in the up position as 
shown in FIG. 7 during the initial blow opening of the bag and which then 
pivot to the down position as shown in FIG. 10 for a wide open stretching 
of the bag. They not only act as guide members to ensure proper feed from 
chute 14 into the stretched open bag but also in the case of a relatively 
light load, such as creamer cups, provide support or hold the bag from 
above without any assist from beneath the bag. 
The actual pivoting or up/down movement of flaps 37 and 39 is controlled by 
means of a lever assembly comprising pivotally coupled piston 43 and arm 
45 which move the two flaps and in particular flap 39 as shown in FIG. 12 
of the drawings. Note that the two flaps have a downward tapering which 
eases their fitting into and out of the bag. 
After the supply of cups has been fed down into the bag it is then pulled 
off the stretcher assembly by a finger like gripper 47 mounted to a 
sliding carriage 49. Gripper 47 slides in an up position horizontally with 
carriage 49 as shown in FIG. 10 of the drawings directly through slot 41 
of flap 39 still in its down position. The gripper, once reaching its FIG. 
11 position, is then pivoted downwardly to a vertical extending position 
by piston 51 and pivot mount 53 seen in FIG. 7 to grip on and actually 
pierce the bag as shown in FIG. 12 of the drawings. The slide carriage 
with the gripper remaining in the down position is then moved away from 
the bag support area pulling the upper part of the bag off of the bag 
support at which point the lower heavy part of the bag then drops down 
onto and is carried by conveyor 55. Again, having reference to FIG. 12 it 
will be seen that as the finger gripper pulls the upper end of the bag, 
flap 37 is timed to move back to its up position as does flap 39 allowing 
the bag to clear past the two flaps. 
As earlier described, each of the bags is suported by fitting prong-like 
members 23 through holes 31 on the taller back panel of the bag. As also 
described, the bag is weakened at 33 directly in line with each of the 
holes. This weakening does not affect the bags ability to support itself, 
but does provide a tear region which gives way with the added force 
applied to the bag by means of gripper 47. With this arrangement, as can 
be seen in FIG. 13 of the drawings, the bag is simply pulled off of prongs 
23 giving way at 33 without leaving any part of the bag on the bag support 
and therefore not interfering with the next bag to be presented for 
filling. 
The bag being pulled away as shown in FIG. 13 is carried by the gripper and 
the conveyor to a pair of rotating brushes 57, shown in both FIGS. 1 and 
13 of the drawings. These brushes which are bristled for handling the bag 
rotate in opposite direction, i.e. towards one another, and are angled so 
as to both collapse the neck of the bag and to assist conveyor 55 in 
passing the bag along to a closure applicator 59. Each of the brushes has 
a frustoconical end region providing a gap between the brushes for initial 
insertion of the bag between the brushes and the brushes themselves are 
adjustable in position to provide the required amount of pressure on the 
bag depending on its weight for carrying it to the closure applicator. 
As will be appreciated, many different kinds of closure applicators can be 
used with the particular applicator being shown comprising a KWIK LOK.TM. 
applicator for securing about the neck of the bag which, as described 
above, has been precollapsed or bunched by brushes 57 specifically for the 
application of the closure. 
The timing of all of the components including the opening and feed to the 
bag, the pulling or removal of the bag from the bag support and the 
transporting of the bag to the closure applicator is controlled through 
control panel CP as seen in FIG. 1 of the drawings. 
As earlier described, chute 14 is designed for automatic draining in the 
event of inadvertant spillage from the cups. As a further cleaning feature 
of the machine, each of the baskets 9 for carrying the cups to the feed 
chute has a perforated bottom 10 as shown in FIG. 6 of the drawings. This 
perforated bottom not only provides a self draining feature, but also 
allows cleaning of the empty baskets by a spray bar 61 as seen in FIG. 1 
of the drawings positioned to clean the baskets prior to returning to the 
pick-up point from the cup indexer. 
Two particularly unique features of the present invention are the spreading 
and supporting of the bag by the bag stretcher and the sideways pulling of 
the bag from the bag support. With respect to the first feature, this 
substantially reduces complications by not having to provide some type of 
timed moving surface beneath the bag as it is being loaded. With respect 
to the second feature, the sideways as opposed to forward or rearward 
removal of the bag from the bag support, eliminates the bag material on 
and fouling of the inner ends of the prongs on the bag support. 
It will now be seen how the present invention provides a simple yet 
efficient means for bagging milk cups using inexpensive yet easily handled 
plastic bags. It will be further appreciated that this bagging technique 
can equally as well be used with other typically small articles. Further, 
although various preferred embodiments of the invention have been 
described in detail, it will be understood that variations can be made to 
those embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention or 
the scope of the appended claims.