Patent GB-976639-A (GB)
Title: Improved apparatus for packaging articles
Inventor: POVLACS LAWRENCE
IPC: B65B5/04
Filed: 1961-10-25
Abstract: 976,639. Packaging impressible articles. AKWELL CORPORATION. Oct. 25, 1961, No. 38276/61. Heading B8C. A method of and apparatus for packaging compressible articles such as prophylactics in tubular wrappers comprises the steps of and means for, moving a succession of articles arranged edge to edge, moving a succession of tubular wrappers so that a wrapper is aligned with an article, and drawing successive compressed articles into the respective aligned wrappers. In the apparatus of Figs. 1 and 3 a cylindrical article supply container 15 having a vibrator beneath its bottom 16 feeds rolled prophylactics P in single file up a spiral track 18 and along a guide channel 19, Fig. 2, to a separate channel 20 supported on an electrical vibrator 22, an independently supported bar 24 holding the articles flat. Movement is assisted by air blast nozzles 33. Simultaneously with movement of the articles P, strip material 45 from roll 44 is guided and tensioned around rollers 46, 47, 48, over a gumming disc 50 and through a tube-forming unit 51 to a rotary disc cutter 77 which is also reciprocated. The cutoff tubular wrappers 36 thus produced are fed to chambers 37 in a belt or chain conveyer 39 which operates intermittently and advances the wrappers to meet the articles. Each time the conveyer 39 stops, the strip is drawn forward by driven rollers 54, 55 a distance equal to the length of a wrapper, the rollers being geared together and intermittently rotated by adjustable levers 59, 60 which are reciprocated by levers 65, 65b operated by a side cam 67 on a shaft 67a continuously driven by a main motor M. Intermittent rotation of the shaft 64 of the roller 54 is used to provide like rotation to the gumming disc 50, which disc picks up adhesive from a tank 68 adjustably mounted to permit variation of the location of the gum on the strip. The tube-forming unit 51 includes a pivotally mounted shoe 71, Fig. 8, having upturned sides 73, and the tube 45a formed by the shoe is supported by idler rollers 71c, 71d and a mandrel 71b forming an extension of the portion 71a. Where the driving rollers 54, 55 engage the tube 45a the mandrel is slotted to receive the edges of the rollers, Figs. 9 and 10 (not shown). The tube-cutter 77 moves down in a vertical plane passing between the conveyer 39 and a guard plate 76, with the leading end of the tube in an aligned chamber 37 of the halted conveyer. The cutter disc 77 which is rotated by a motor 87 and chain 88, is mounted in a bracket 80 pivoted on a shaft 81, and is intermittently raised and lowered by links 83, 84 reciprocated by a cam 67. For successively removing articles P from the vibrating conveyer 20 into wrappers 36 within the conveyer chambers 37, a reciprocable slide 92 mounting grippers 104, Figs. 4, 5 is provided, the slide being moved by a roller 95 engaging in a cam track 96 in a rotatable cam 97, and the gripper jaws 113 being opened and closed by a spring-pressed roller 109 which is reciprocated vertically by a cam 111. The slide 92 is intermittently reciprocated toward and away from the rollers 26 each time the conveyer 39, driven by a Geneva mechanism, is stopped. In operation, the articles P are moved from the container 15 along the conveyer 20 to stop rollers 26. The tubular wrappers 36 which have been formed and cut by the machine are fed to the conveyer 39 and passed to the rollers 26 where the conveyer stops. The jaws 113 of the grippers are then closed by the cam 111, and the slide 92 moved to project the grippers through the tubular wrapper 36. At the other end of the wrapper the grippers are opened and then closed on an article. The slide 92 then moves back and draws the article through the compressing rollers 26 and deposits it in a compressed condition within the wrapper. The machine also comprises a mechanism, Figs. 12 and 13 (not shown) which sorts and removes filled and unfilled wrappers from the conveyer 39. This mechanism comprises a cam plate on either side of the conveyer where it turns around a sprocket wheel, the cam plates engaging the ends of the articles extending beyond their wrappers and lifting the wrapped articles out of the conveyer chambers 37. Empty wrappers which remain after passing through the cam plates are blown out of the chambers by a compressed air jet. U.S.A. Specifications 2,134,049, 2,331,820 and 2,609,914 are referred to.