Patent GB-368267-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to the method and apparatus for packaging articles
IPC: B65B19/26
Filed: 1930-12-01
Abstract: 368,267. Packing cigars &c. in thin transparent material. WHITE, A. E., 5, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London.-(Dobeckmun Co. ; 1311, West 80th Street, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.) Dec. 1, 1930, No. 36167. [Class 94 (i).] Articles such as cigars are packed automatically in thin transparent material such as that sold under the registered Trade Mark " Cellophane" by feeding the material in a continuous tube which is cut into lengths prior to its being opened for the insertion of the cigar &c., the cigar being then secured by closing and sealing the ends of the tube. A tube having a bellows fold is used and heat is applied to the folded-over ends of the wrapped package to melt a coating thereon and so seal the ends. A row of cigars C, Fig. 1, from a banding or finishing machine is fed between endless belts 2, 3, Fig. 8, past guides 31, 32 to an adjustable stop 34 which locates the end cigar in line with a plunger 38 adjustably mounted in a support 39 and adapted to be reciprocated by a pinion 45 meshing with a rack 44 on a slide 40 on which the support 39 is mounted. A rack 49 engages a small pinion 48 secured to the pinion 45 to drive this latter pinion, the rack being reciprocated by a cam 56 on a main cam shaft 25 through a crosshead 52 and link 50. The crosshead 52 also reciprocates, through a lever 58, a slide 61 carrying a rod 64 provided with a spring-pressed head 65. When the plunger 38 pushes a cigar from the band C, the head 65 engages the leading end thereof as it passes through the wrapper tube. Wrapper tube, in flattened form, is fed from a roll disposed between cardboard discs 84 supported by metal plates 82, 85 on collars 81, 86 on a shaft 80, the collar 86 being detachable to permit insertion of the roll. The tube strip T, after being tensioned by a weighted roller 91 passes to feed rollers 99, 101 geared together and driven by an oscillating shaft 106 disposed in the lower roller 101 and provided with a ball clutch device which transmits intermittent motion to the roller. Return motion of the roller 101 is prevented by a free roller disposed between the roller 101 and a plate 117, the free roller binding the roller 101 and plate on reverse movement of the roller 101. Guide wires 135 in grooves in the rollers 99, 101 guide the strip to a passage 139, Fig. 7, in a block 140 and the block passes the tube to a support 178 which leaves exposed substantially all the underside thereof. The block 140 carries fixed and moving knives, by which a tube length is severed, and is adjustable on the bed of the machine to determine the length of tube severed. The movable knife is actuated by a cam lever 160 and cam 163 and the cam 163 is formed with a depression 176 adapted, through a roller 184 and rod 182, to lower the support 178 into contact with a suction device adapted to remove the length therefrom. The suction device comprises a hollow crosshead 193 secured to one end of a slide 175, Fig. 1, adapted to be reciprocated along guides 190 by a cam on the shaft 25. Apertures 196 in the crosshead communicate at its centre with apertures in the slide 175 and at its ends with shallow grooves 197, the arrangement permitting the tube length to be held to the crosshead by suction applied through a tube 225. A cam actuated valve controls the application of the suction and vents the hollow crosshead when the tube is to be released. The crosshead, with the tube, is moved forwards beneath a similar crosshead 240 secured to a frame 244 adapted to be raised against spring action bv a cam 253 on the shaft 25, the cam operating through a pillar 250 on which the frame is supported. In its lowered position the head 240 engages the upper face of the tube length, the tube being opened out as the cam raises the head. In modified forms, the tube is held by the upper suction head, a suction plunger rising to open the end thereof for the insertion of the cigar, and an air blast is applied to the tube to separate the top and bottom panels thereof. The pusher 38, Fig. 8, now moves a cigar into the opened tube and to ensure proper entry thereinto the cigar end displaces outwardly a pair of spring-pressed scoop-like guides 265 which are pivoted on links 269 and enter the tube to spread apart the end thereof. Similar pivoted guides, but without the links, guide the head 65 into the other end of the tube. The suction on the tube is released when the cigar has been disposed in it and the slide 175 returns to its original position, pins on the crosshead 240 preventing the loaded tube from moving with it. On the slide 175 are spring-supported triangular dogs 280, Fig. 3, adapted to be depressed by the filled tube as the slide passes rearwardly beneath it but to feed forward the tube on the forward movement of the slide, similar dogs being provided on the fixed guides 190 to prevent rearward movement of the tubes and ensure for them a forward step-by-step movement past the positions A .. G. Pillars 291 support a crosshead 290, carrying spring bars 296 from which depend light springs 295 adapted to press the tubes against the dogs 285, and bars 289 resiliently supporting parallel shoes 287 which hold the tubes to the plate 175. End folding and sealing mechanisms. The filled tube having been fed past an idle station B to station C, the tube ends are compressed and the tip of the cigar creased transversely by jaws 300, 301, Fig. 9, pivoted at 304 to adjustable brackets 306. The jaws, which normally remain open by gravity, are closed on the tube ends by crossheads 314 supported by pins 318, the pins being raised by a spring- supported cross-arm 317 lifted by a cam 324 on the shaft 25. Each pivot 304 extends to station D and carries a bent arm adapted to be moved downwards to bend down the end of the tube between two fixed vertical plates, the outer of which extends to the next station E to retain the fold. At station E, a cam 347, Fig. 11, raises a crosshead 342 and the crosshead carries an adjustable plate 350 on which vertical pins 355 are mounted. The pins pass through adjustable brackets 356 secured to the machine bed and engage pivoted tucking arms 358, formed with angularly recessed ends 361, raising them to tuck beneath the tube the downwardly extending tube ends. Thereupon heating elements 365 on the plate 350 fuse the waterproofing on the tube and seal the folds which cool at stations F, G. To ensure that when the machine is stopped, the heating elements are not in contact with a tube length, a sprocket wheel, which drives the shaft 25, is actuated by a releasable pawl on a rotating drum which is driven by a ratchet wheel on a driven shaft ; the ratchet wheel engages a second releasable pawl on the rotating drum and both pawls are released to disengage the drive when a hand-controlled member is interposed at a predetermined point in the path of a trigger rotatable with the pawls. The machine may be adapted for filling several cigars &c. simultaneously into a single container or be modified to close one end of the tube prior to the insertion of the cigar &c.