Patent GB-360669-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in machines for making filling and closing tea and like bags
IPC: B65B29/04
Filed: 1930-11-06
Abstract: 360,669. Packing tea in bags. ANDERS, E. R., (trading as SEELIG & HILLE, R.), 32, Prager Strasse, Dresden, Germany. Nov. 6, 1930, No. 33408. Convention date, Dec. 31, 1929. [Class 94 (i).] A machine, for enclosing measured quantities of tea in bags 51, Fig. 9, formed by and around a hollow plunger which presses a piece of fabric through an aperture in a supporting plate, the neck of the bag being subsequently closed by a wire clip 49, is provided with means for connecting to each bag a thread 35 by which the bag can be held during the infusion and means for winding the thread about the neck of the bag before the bag is delivered from the machine. Tea &c. from a hopper 1 is supplied in measured quantities by chambers 5 in a disc 4 to a funnel 8 on a hollow ram 9. The ram, which is adapted for vertical reciprocation, carries at its lower end a slidable plate 15 and this plate engages and holds a square of fabric, drawn from a web 19 and severed therefrom by knives M, while the ram descends folding the square about itself to form a bag and depositing therein the charge of tea as it returns upwards, the operation taking place within a hole 21 in a table plate 18. Beneath the table 18, one of eight pairs of grippers 24 on an apertured rotary disc 22 grips the bag neck to close it as the ram rises and the disc then moves through a quarter of a turn to devices for supplying the holding thread, securing the top, and cutting off the corners of the square, the latter devices being mounted in a head 37, Fig. 8, moved radially towards the disc when the bag is opposite to it. The upper part of the neck is gripped by pivoted jaws 28a, 28b, Fig. 4, one of which carries a spring-pressed lever 30 rocked by an abutment 32 on the other jaw to lift the thread which at this stage extends from the previous bag to a spool beneath the disc 22, the thread coming up beside the neck of the bag. Forked grippers 40, 41 in slides 44, Fig. 8, gather up the neck preparatory to slides 38, 39a, 39b approaching it at rightangles to the grippers 40, 41. The slides 39a, 39b lie outside the slide 38 and move forwards simultaneously to cut off a length 49 of wire 48 and bend it to U-shape about an anvil 52, which is removed to allow the slides to advance together and press the wire length 49 about the bag neck, two opposite slides 43 coming together to form a semicircular guide or anvil which guides the ends of the strip to meet and form a closed ring with the thread inside it. Knives 42 in the head 37 now sever the thread and the corners above the neck, the latter being sucked away through a conduit 36 secured to the abutment 32. Prior to the lever 30 engaging the thread, a thread-guide 62, Fig. 15, on an extensible lever 54 has been moved across to position I to grip the portion of the thread between the partly formed bag and the previously formed bag, and thereafter moved from that position to position II drawing thread from the spool. When the thread is cut adjacent the bag, the thread-guide retains its hold on the free end of the thread 35 extending to the previously formed bag and moves to position III, as the disc 22 rotates in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 16, across the path of a slide 69, Fig. 17, carrying a spring-pressed lever 74 having an upward extension 81 on which is a two-mouthed thread fork 68. The fork 68 comprises oppositely directed clamps 79, 80 and as it crosses the thread it is swung about the pivot of the lever 74 engaging the thread 35 in the clamp 80. As the fork swings back the second clamp 79 also grips the thread and the slide 69 brings both fork and thread to a point V diametrically opposite the filling hopper '1 as the disc 22 and bag complete half a turn. Known mechanism secures a ticket 88 to the end of the thread and a vertical plunger 86 depresses it into engagement with a hook 87 adapted to draw it down and allow it to hang vertically from the bag while the disc 22 is moved around a quarter of a turn to bring the bag to the thread winding station. The thread-winding device comprises a member 90 adapted to slide vertically in a guide 89 secured to the machine frame and support a spindle 101 provided at the top with a friction wheel 102 and at the bottom with a ring 104 carrying opposed double-armed levers 105. A sleeve 103 keyed to the spindle 101 slides thereon under the control of a stop 109 and roller 108 which engage a collar 106 thereon. The stop 109 and roller 108 are mounted on a lever 96 pivoted to the member 90 and rocked as the member moves down by the engagement of a projection 99 thereon with a stop 128 on the machine frame, the movement lowering the sleeve 103 on the spindle 101 and allowing rollers 111 on the levers 105 to enter a groove 110 on the sleeve, thus opening jaws at the lower ends of the levers to receive the bag. A fixed bar 91 on the member 90 carries at its lower end a pivoted arm actuated by movement of the lever 98 to co-operate with the lower end of the bar 91 to release or grip loosely the thread. When the sliding member 90 has descended and the jaws are about the bag, a cam 119 on a vertical spindle 118 adjacent the winding device engages a roller 100 on the lower end of the lever 98 and restores it to a vertical position, closing the jaws. When the member 90 has reached its top position again, the friction wheel 102 is rotated, to wind the thread around the neck of the bag, by a friction wheel 114 which also effects the rotation of the spindle 118, a brake 117 checking the rotation as soon as the wheels 114, 102 are disengaged. The bag is then released and drops on to a box 120 having a drop side 121 over which the bag is swept on to a delivery conveyer 12.