A PACKAGE AND A PROCEDURE FOR PACKING BAGS INTO A ROLL

Abstract: The present invention relates to a delivery package (30) of a maxi bags (10) and a method for packing maxi bags into a delivery package (30). A delivery package (30) consists of maxi bags (10) placed overlappingly on top of the other, said bags being rolled around a rolling core (20) into a roll package. The edge portions of the maxi bags (10) have been folded prior to being conducted to a rolling core (20) so that in longitudinal direction the maxi bags (10) are essentially of equal thickness, whereby in each maxi bag layer of a delivery package (30) the undesired thickness of the thick handle part of the lifting loop structure (13) of the maxi bags (10) has been made uniform in order to produce a stable delivery package (30).

Description: A package and a procedure for packi ng bags i nto a ro l l The present invention relates to a delivery package for maxi bags. The invention also relates to a procedure for packing maxi bags to form delivery packages. In the state of art it is generally known in manufacturing paper bags to produce bag rolls of paper bags, i.e. paper bag delivery packages so that the finished paper bags placed overlappingly one on top of the other are rolled around a rolling core, and in the course of the rolling, i.e. in the course of forming a delivery package, the paper bag layers are tied with the aid of two continuous cords or hoops surrounding the bag roll. The technique described above has also been used in packing plastic sacks into a delivery package. Small bags have long been filled completely automatically. On the other hand, automatic filling of maxi bags has not been known in the state of art, even though automatic filling of maxi bags is technically possible. In order to succeed in filling automatically maxi bags, the maxi bags should be delivered to the users thereof in a precisely organized manner in one way or another, i.e. in a delivery package of a given type, so that the grip of a robot or a collector means is always able to find a subsequent maxi bag to be filled. In maxi bags, particularly in maxi bags provided with gathered lifting loops, the gathered lifting loop structure generates a considerable thickening compared with the rest of the maxi bag structure. Such maxi bags cannot to date have been packed into a roll package, i.e. into a delivery package, because it has proved to be impossible to make a stable roll package. In maxi bags like these the gathered lifting loop structure is also in general surrounded with a separate handle, whereby when maxi bags are rolled around a rolling core so that the lifting handle is placed in the middle and the maxi bags are placed one after the other overlappingly one on top of the other, the end result would be a very uneven roll package owing to the thick and nar¬ row handle portion, which, along with the increasing diameter of said roll package, would no longer stay in gathered form, but would spread apart. The objective of the present invention is to provide a delivery package of maxi bags which is sufficiently stable. A specific aim of the invention is to provide a delivery package of maxi bags enabling automatic maxi bag filling. One more aim of the invention is also to provide a method for packing maxi bags into delivery packages, enabling the provision of a sufficiently uniformly thick and stable roll package, so that automatic maxi bag filling is simultaneously made feas¬ ible. The aims of the invention are achieved by means of a delivery package of maxi bags, which is mainly characterized in that the delivery package consists of maxi bags placed overlappingly one on top of the other, said bags being rolled around a rolling core into a roll package so that the edge portions of the maxi bags have been folded prior to conducting to the rolling core so that the maxi bags are longitudinally sub¬ stantially of the same thickness, whereby the undesired thickness of the thick handle part of the lifting loop structure of maxi bags has been made uniform in each maxi bag layer in order to produce a stable delivery package. The procedure of the invention is mainly characterized in that (a) the maxi bags are placed in a packing line overlappingly one on top of the other and conducted through folding guides in folding position, said guides folding the edge portions of the maxi bags longitudinally in order to produce a maxi bag of substantially equal thickness, and (b) the maxi bags folded in the edge portions are conducted to a rolling core and are rolled around the rolling core into a roll package. The insight in a maxi bag delivery package and in the procedure for packing the same into delivery package is to make even the undesired unthickness of the handle part of the maxi bags by folding the edge portions of the maxi bags so with the folding guides that, in its entire length, the maxi bag is substantially of equal thickness. Each layer produced from maxi bags positioned overlappingly one on top of the other has been tied with at least one cord or hoop. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, only the topmost maxi bag layer of a delivery package is tied with at least one cord or hoop. With the delivery package of maxi bags and the procedure for packing said maxi bags, a plurality of significant advantages are achieved. The delivery package becomes stabile and sufficiently compact, whereby a sufficient number of maxi bags can be packed into a small volume. Therefore, the storing and transport costs are low. Treating complete maxi bags delivery packages is easy and rapid and, in addition, when filling maxi bags later, a complete delivery package can be so unpackaged that the automatic filling of maxi bags is simultaneously possible, resulting in considerable savings in filling said maxi bags. As a matter of fact, maxi bags can be filled also manually, as is a general practice. Since in the maxi bag delivery package according to the invention the maxi bags are positioned on a roll, taking out one maxi bag has been made much easier. Hereby, the unpacking from a roll can easily be arranged to take place so that the maxi bag is every time released in the same location, where a robot arm finds it easily and is thus able to move the maxi bag to the filling station. The invention is described more in detail, referring to a preferred embodiment of the invention presented in the figures of the accompanying drawings, to which the inven¬ tion is not, however, intended to be exclusively confined. Fig. 1 presents in elevational view a maxi bag known in the state of art. Fig. 2 presents a cross-section of a maxi bag shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 presents schematically a preferred embodiment of the procedure of the invention in top view. Fig. 4 shows a completed maxi bag delivery package of the invention in elevational view. Fig. 5 shows the delivery package according to Fig. 4, in top view. The maxi bag known in itself, presented in Figs 1 and 2, is in general indicated by reference numeral 10. The maxi bag 10 comprises an envelope 11, a bottom 12, a lifting loop structure 13, and a filling aperture 14. In the present embodiment, the lifting loop structure 13 consists of two separate lifting loops gathered into one and surrounded with a handle part 15. The inner bag 16 is depicted with a broken line in Fig. 1. The joining 17 of the handle part 15 of the lifting loop structure 13 to the inner bag 16 is in Fig. 1 depicted with broken lines. As is best seen in Fig. 2, the handle part 15 of the maxi bag 10 is considerably thicker than the rest of the structure of the maxi bag 10. For reasons of clarity, the inner bag 16 is not shown in Fig. 2. In the procedure according to the invention, the maxi bags 10 are positioned in overlapping position one on top of the other on a packing line and the maxi bags first pass through a folding station or a bending station, whereby the folding guides 19 of the folding station fold the edge portions of the maxi bags 10 inwards, so that the maxi bags 10 are in longitudinal direction substantially of equal thickness, as is shown in Fig. 3. In an embodiment as shown in Fig. 3, maxi bags are fed to go forward so that the bottom 12 of the maxi bag 10 is in the feeding direction. This is not, however, necessary because the maxi nags 10 may equally be fed so that the lifting part of the maxi bag 10 is in the feeding direction. The embodiment according to Fig. 3, however, offers the remarkable advantage that from a complete delivery package 30 maxi bags 10 can be unpacked so that the top parts of the maxi bags 10 is first unpacked, whereby the filling of maxi bags 10 is easier and it can be automated. The maxi bags 10 folded inwards in the edge portions travel as a uniform overlapping flow to a rolling core 20 to be rolled around the rolling core 20. In Fig. 3 the mouth part of the inner bag 16 is indicated by reference numeral 18. At the packing station each maxi bag layer is surrounded by one or more continuous cords or hoops 21, whereby a delivery package, i.e. roll package 30, is produced as shown in Figs 4 and 5. In embodiment according to Fig. 3, two pieces of cords or hoops 21 are provided, but the invention is not critical to the number thereof. Using continuous cords or hoops 21 is preferable because each maxi bag layer of a complete delivery package 30 is then as tight and compact as possible, whereby a delivery package 30 large in diameter is sufficiently tight and stable. Using con¬ tinuous cords or hoops 21 around each maxi bag layer is not inevitable, instead, a maxi bag delivery package 30 can be so produced that each separate maxi bag layer is not surrounded with cords or hoops 21 , but only the topmost layer of a complete maxi bag delivery package 30 is surrounded with cords or hoops 21. The maxi bag delivery package 30 according to the invention can be treated with ease and speedily in a fill-in place e.g.as follows. An automaton included in the fill-in ap¬ paratus unpacks from a delivery package, that is, from a roll package 30, one maxi bag 10 at a time and conveys said maxi bag 10 to a fill-in station. No additional measures are needed now regarding the arrangement of maxi bags 10 in filling them with bulk goods. No methods exist today which would make an automatic filling-in of maxi bags completely without any need of manual operation in the above-described manner. Merely the principle design of the invention and some advantageous embodiments thereof are described above. It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that a plurality of modifications can be made in the above embodiments within the scope of the inventive idea presented in the accompanying claims.

Claims: Claims 1. A delivery package (30) of maxi bags (10), characterized in that a delivery package (30) consists of maxi bags (10 placed overlappingly one on top of the other, said bags being so rolled around a rolling core (20) into a roll package that the edge portions of the maxi bags (10) have been folded prior to being conducted to the roll core (20) so that the maxi bags (10) are in longitudinal direction substantially of uniform thickness, whereby in each maxi bag layer of a delivery package the un¬ desired thickness of the thick handle part (15) of the lifting loop structure (13) of the maxi bags (10) has been made uniform in order to produce a stable delivery package (30). 2. Delivery package of maxi bags according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the maxi bag layers in a delivery package (30) has been tied with the aid of at least one continuous cord or hoop (21). 3. Delivery package of maxi bags according to claim 1, characterized in that the topmost maxi bag layer of the delivery package (30) has been tied with the aid of at least one cord or hoop (21). 4. Delivery package of maxi bags according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that each maxi bag (10) is provided with an inner bag (16). 5. Delivery package of maxi bags according to claim 4, characterized in that the handle part (15) of the lifting loop structure (13) of a maxi bag (10) has been attached to an inner bag (16). 6. A procedure for packing maxi bags (10) into a delivery package (30), characterized in that (a) maxi bags (10) are placed on a packing line overlappingly one on top of the other and conducted through folding guides (19) in a folding position, said guides folding the edge portions of the maxi bags (10) in longitudinal direc¬ tion in order to produce a maxi bag of essentially equal thickness, and (b) the maxi bags (10) folded in edge portions are conducted to a rolling core (20) and rolled around said rolling core (20) into a roll package. 7. Procedure according to claim 6, characterized in that when a delivery package (30) is produced, each of the maxi bag layers is tied with at least one continuous cord or hoop (21). 8. Procedure according to claim 6, characterized in that the topmost maxi bag layer of a completed delivery package (30) is tied with the aid of at least one cord or hoop (21). 9. Procedure according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the maxi bags (10) positioned overlappingly one on top of the other are fed to the folding guides (19) of the folding station when the bottom (12) of the maxi bag (10) is located in the feeding direction.

Inventors: KOIVUMAEKI VEIKKO, NYMAN PER, KOIVUMAEKI, VEIKKO, NYMAN, PER
Applicants: KOIVUMAEKI VEIKKO, NYMAN PER, ROSENLEW AB OY W, OY W. ROSENLEW AB
Application year: 1993
Main classification: B65B25
IPC codes: B65B25, B65D33, B65D85