Patent GB-662812-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in an apparatus for shaping tampon applicator tube ends
IPC: A61F13/20
Filed: 1949-06-30
Abstract: 662,812. Shaping tube ends. OAKLEY, J. L. D. (International Cellucotton Products Co.). June 30, 1949, No. 17321/49. Class 100 (ii). [Also in Group VI] Apparatus for shaping an end of a tampon applicator tube includes means for feeding the tube to a predetermined position wherein the tube is surrounded by a supporting body comprising separable parts relatively movable towards and away from each other to grip and release the tube and wherein an end is engaged by a shaping means reciprocable axially of the tube into and out of engagement therewith when the tube is supported in the predetermined position, means being provided for effecting such reciprocal movement of the shaping means. The apparatus comprises a base 4 with upstanding brackets 5, 7, 8 supporting the various devices operated from a shaft 6: The tubes 1 of pasteboard or similar material roll down a guide 9a to a chute 9 comprising side walls 10. 11 and end walls 12, 13. The tubes are supported at various positions in the chute 9 by plates 22, 14 and ledges 52, 53, all of which are reciprocated by a slide 19' mounted on parallel rods 20, 21 and itself reciprocated by a cam 28 on shaft 6 through a pivoted lever 29 having a roller 31 fitting in a transverse slot 32 in the bottom of the slide 19, a spring 33 urging the lever into operative engagement with the cam 28 and the slide 19 towards the chute 9. Plates 14, 22, which pass through slots in the side walls 10, 11 of the chute 9, are supported in the slide 19 by a post 18 to which is secured a U-shaped member 16, 17, 15, the plate 14 being secured to the underside of leg 15 and plate 22 to the upper side of leg 16 and the plates being spaced substantially a tube's diameter apart. The ledges 52, 53, each spaced a further tube's diameter lower, are formed integral with a holding member 51 secured to the slide 19 by a bar. 54. A tube 1a on plate 22 is held while the end 2 is rounded by a clamping member 23 having side members 24, 25 curved at 26 to fit the tube and with projections 27 which lift the stack of tubes 1 above the tube 1a. Rounding of the end 2 is effected by a die 38 carried by an arm 40 on a slide bar 41 reciprocated in a guideway 42 in a bracket 43 by a shaft 44 connected by a link 45 to a pivoted rock lever 46 having a cam roller 48 engaging a cam 49 on shaft 6, the die 38 being reciprocated through an opening 39 in end wall 12 to engage the end 2 of the tube 1a, the end 3 abutting the opposite wall 13. On reciprocation of slide 19 the tube 1a passes downwards to rest (position 1b not shown) on the plate 14 and on return of slide 19 the tube passes to position 1c on the ledge 52. On the next double movement of slide 19 the tube passes onto ledge 53 (position 1d not shown) while still in the chute 9 and is then moved with the ledge 53 to position 1e where the other end 3 is corrugated by a die 59. The tube 1e is held in the predetermined position in front of die 59 by a curved seat 58 on holding member 51 and a curved seat 56 on a bracket 57, the die 59 being reciprocated, simultaneously with the die 38 but in the opposite direction, by a rod 60 mounted on a bracket 61 on a slide block 62 between guides 63, the block 62 being reciprocated by a rod 66 pivoted on a crank disc 68 mounted on the shaft 6. The die 59 comprises plates 73, with angularly set edges 83 so as to give tapered corrugations, which are mounted in radially extending slots 71, 72 in cylindrical head portions 60a, 70 of rods 60, 69 which are a sliding fit one within the other. The plates 73 are assembled in the die by passing them through slots 72 in head 70 where they are held by rings 76, 77, the head 70 and plates 73 then being slid into head 60a and slots 71, the slots 71 being closed by a flange 79 on head 70 and the parts being locked by a clamping nut on the end of rod 69. The end 2 of the tube 1e is held, during reciprocation of die 59, against a hardened insert 84 in the end wall 85 which is an extension of the chute 9. During retraction of the holding member 51 after operation of die 59, a pair of pivoted dogs 87 in recesses 88 in the bracket 57 stop the tube 1e from remaining on ledge 53, the tube being brushed off to drop down with any suitable receiving means. In a suggested modification, the die 38 is dispensed with, or a stationary die may be provided in place of the insert 84 so that shaping of both ends is effected in one position of the tube.