Patent GB-856620-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to package fabricating machines
Inventor: THOMAS JOHN WILLIAM
IPC: B65B41/18
Filed: 1956-05-25
Abstract: 856,620. Packaging materials between opposed webs. ASPRO-NICHOLAS Ltd. April 12, 1957 [May 25, 1956], No. 1628/56. Class 94(1). [Also in Group XXIV] In a package fabricating machine of the type comprising means for continuously feeding layers of packaging material in web form in proximity to one another, means for sealing the two webs together to form open ended pockets, means for depositing the commodity to be packaged in said pockets and means for completing said pockets by sealing the open ends, bar crimp rolls are provided for producing transverse pocket-forming seals in the web material, these bar crimp rolls being driven through epicyclic gears arranged in series such that the speed of the bar crimp rolls can be varied cyclically or occasionally or both during each or any revolution of the bar crimp rolls, speed variation control being attained by controlling the rotation, in one direction or the other, of the reacting gears of the epicyclic gears. Web material 3, 4, Fig. 1, passes through disc crimp rolls 1, 2, to form a plurality of longitudinal seals, past bar crimp rolls 5, 6, to form spaced transverse seals sealing the commodity in the resulting pockets, past brush feed rollers 7, 8, past slitting knives 9, 10, for cutting the webs longitudinally along the vertical seals, and finally past a cutting device 11 cutting the longitudinally slit webs transversely into package lengths. A commodity dispensing device, not shown, is placed above the series of rolls for filling the pockets as they are formed between the webs. Main drive to disc crimp rolls 1, 2, brush rolls 7, 8 and knives 9, 10. A constant speed main drive shaft 12, Fig. 1, turns a main drive lay shaft 17 through spur gears 13, 14, 16. The disc crimp rolls 1, 2, brush rollers, 7, 8, and longitudinal slitting knives 9, 10, are shown as being driven by sprocket wheels and chains coupled to this lay shaft 17. Main drive to bar crimp rolls 5 and 6. The bar crimp rolls 5 and 6 are driven by a gear train 21, Fig. 2, from a shaft 22 having a one-to-one spur gear coupling 23, 24, at its opposite end. The spur gear 24 is on a shaft 15 rotated through a secondary epicyclic gear S comprising a driven gear 25 on the shaft 15 driven by a series of planet gears 26 on a secondary planet carrier 27. The planet gear shaft 28 on the secondary planet carrier 27 also carry a second set of co-axial planet gears 29 (to which the first set 26 are auxiliary) which co-operate with a sun gear 30 on a sleeve 31 coaxial with the shaft 15, which sun gear 30 can be held fixed ; or permitted to rotate or be rotated against its reaction to vary the speed ratio of the secondary epicyclic gear S. The secondary planet carrier 27 may be driven directly by the spur gear 14 but as shown it is driven through a primary epicyclic gear P so that further speed control can be applied to the bar crimp rolls 5, 6. The primary epicyclic gear P, between the secondary epicyclic gear S and the main drive shaft 12 uses the spur gear 14 as a carrier for its planet gears 32 meshing with a sun gear 33 normally held fixed but which can be given or be permitted to have increments of rotation to vary the speed ratio of the primary epicyclic gear P. Coupled with the planet gears 32 is an auxiliary co-axial set of planet gears 34 which mesh with a driven gear 35 secured to a sleeve 36 rotatable on the shaft 15, the sleeve 36 being secured to the planet carrier 27 of the secondary epicyclic gear S. Thus by influencing the sun gears 33 or 30 of either of the epicyclic gears P or S a speed variation is obtained in the drive of the bar crimp rolls 5 and 6. Purpose of speed drive variations to bar crimping rolls 5, 6. If the operator notices a tendency for any printed matter on the webs 3 and 4 to wander out of registration with the pockets formed by the crimp bars 5a, 6a, the speed of the crimp rolls 5, 6, can be varied through the primary epicyclic gear P to correct this. See "Prints registration control." To lengthen or shorten the size of the pockets formed in the web the secondary epicyclic gear S may be used to retard or accelerate the rotation of the crimp rolls 5, 6 regularly and cyclically during each revolution of the crimp bar rolls. See "Pocket sized control." Print registration control, first method. If printed matter on the webs wanders out of registration with the pockets the bar crimp rolls 5, 6, are speeded up or slowed down preferably during the periods that the. crimp bars 5a, 6a, are not engaging the webs, hereinafter called permissive periods. This is an occasional adjustment made by an operator or by a photo-electric device through the primary epicyclic gear P by influencing the sun gear 33 thereof and referred to in hereinafter as the primary sun gear 33. The primary gear 33 can be turned in one direction or the other through gears 39, 40, 42, 45, by operating a lever 66. By means of the lever 66, one or other of an upper and a lower bevel gear (not shown in Fig. 2 but normally freely rotatable on a shaft 46 and being continuously rotated in opposite directions by meshing with diametrically opposite points of a bevel gear 51) can be clutched to the shaft 46 to turn the primary sun gear 33, the direction of rotation depending upon which of the upper and lower bevel gears has been clutched to the shaft 46. Springs maintain the clutches for the upper and lower bevel gears in a neutral (non-drive) position when the lever 66 is not operated by manual or automatic means. If the primary sun gear 33 must only be turned during permissive periods the lever 66 can be operated by solenoids energised through a switch control by a cam mounted on the shaft of one of the crimp rolls. Prints registration control, second method. The control lay shaft 22 driving the crimp bar rolls 5, 6, can be used to turn the primary sun gear 33 thus enabling the synchronisation of movement of the primary sun gear 33 with the permissive periods to be incorporated in the rotational drive system itself. In Fig. 4 the primary sun gear will be turned by a worm wheel 75 when driven by a worm 76. Upper and lower ratchet wheels 84 and 85 are secured to the shaft 77 of the worm wheel 76. Associated with each ratchet wheel is a ratchet pawl 87, each pawl being normally held in an inoperative position by spring means. One or the other can, however, be made operative when desired through a manually operated lever 92. The pawls 87 are reciprocated across the ratchet wheels 84, 85 by a Y-shaped member 81 oscillated by a cam 78 on the shaft 22, the cam being set such that the yoke 81 and thus the pawls 87 are moved away from the ratchet wheels 84, 85, while the crimp bars 5a and 6a are engaging the webs 3, 4. For rough quick adjustments the worm 76 may be turned by a hand wheel 93. Pocket sizing control, first method. To vary the size of the pockets formed by the crimp bars 5a, 6a, the sun gear 30 of the secondary epicyclic gear S must be controlled continuously and cyclically in timed relation to the rotation of the crimp bar rolls 5 and 6. The apparatus for this comprises a toothed clutch unit 101, Fig. 2, secured to the shaft sleeve 31 of the sun gear 30. Each disc 108 of the clutch 104 is toothed and angularly offset from the adjacent discs to give, in effect, a large number of teeth 100 in close circumferential spacing. Secured to the machine are at least one pair of locking pawls 106 and 107, Fig..6, for each disc 108, the locking pawls engaging the teeth 100 to prevent rotation of the sun gear 30 during non-permissive periods. For each disc there is at least one pair of drive pawls 102, 103, on an oscillable carrier 104, Fig. 2, for engaging the teeth 100 when the locking pawls 106, 107, are disengaged, the carrier 104 comprising a pair of plates 110, 111, secured to a pair of collars 112, 113, disposed on each side of the clutch units 101 and rotatable about the axis thereof. From the collar 112 there extends a slotted lever 114, Fig. 6, by which oscillations can be given to the pawl carrier 104 during those periods when the locking pawls 106, 107, are disengaged, and the driving pawls 102, 103, are engaged, with the teeth 100 of the clutch unit. There may be more than two locking and two driving pawls per disc 108, for example, six of each per disc. Instead of the toothed discs 108, a single wheel or cylinder may be used having helical teeth. A first cam 120 on the drive shaft 22 for the bar crimp rolls 5, 6, oscillates a rocker arm 123 to cause vertical oscillations of (a) a plate 129 that can act on the locking pawls 106, 107, and (b) an arcuate member 126 that can act on the drive pawl 102, 103, the whole being so arranged that the drive pawls 102, 103, engage just prior to the locking pawls 106, 107, being disengaged and conversely. A second cam 121 causes a slide 132 to reciprocate vertically to cause a bell crank lever 133, 134, to oscillate about a shaft 135. The arm 136 is adjustable in length and is connected to means sliding in the slotted lever 114 to rock the drive pawl carrier 104 about the shaft 15. Since the drive pawls 102, 103, are timed to be engaged in the clutch unit 101 during this rocking movement, increments of semi-rotation are permitted or applied to the clutch unit 101 and thus to the secondary sun gear 30. The length of the arm 136 is adjusted by a screw threaded setting rod 139 rotatable by a bevel gear 140 which may be brought into mesh with a hand operable bevel gear, not shown during an oscillatory movement of the bell crank lever 134 effected by hand turning the machine. Pocket sizing control, second method. Instead of the previous clutch unit 101 and locking and drive pawls the secondary sun gear 30 is secured to a co-axial worm wheel 150, Fig. 10, in constant mesh with a worm 151. Keyed to the worm shaft 152 is a double sided clutch plate 157 displaceable between left and right positions by cam means 162 on a control shaft 22a. When the clutch plate 157 is displaced to