Patent GB-1447863-A (GB)
Title: Bag forming machines
IPC: B31B50/92
Filed: 1973-07-12
Abstract: 1447863 Seaming non-metallic sheet material; making bags SPACIALS Ltd 25 Oct 1973 [27 Oct 1972 12 July 1973] 49536/72 and 33342/73 Headings B5K and B5D [Also in Division D1] In a machine for forming individual heat sealed articles, e.g. tubes or bags, from a heat weldable strip of two superimposed layers, the strip is fed to two series of support members 35, 49 which form the strip into zig-zag configuration and are movable around respective closed paths, the layers of the strip being welded together at or adjacent the transverse crests of the strip located on one side of the zig-zag. The bag-making machine comprises a hollow drum assembly 15 rotatably mounted on a shaft 14 rotatable in bearings in a cover-plate 13 and a side wall 11. An electrical heater assembly 16 comprises an I-section hub 17 secured to the shaft 14 and having electrical heater units 21 in recesses 20 therein. Each unit 21 comprises a plate 22 having secured thereto a thinner gauge plate 24 carrying a U-shaped electrical heater element 25. An annular set of teeth 29 are provided on a spigot on an end plate of the drum 15 and are engageable with a motor driven gear 30 on the plate 13 by rotation of the shaft 14 through 180 degrees so that the drum can be kept rotating to maintain an even heat distribution during stoppage of the machine. Rods 35 terminating in enlargements 37 are secured in lugs 36 to extend between pairs of plates 33 mounted on rollers 31 fixed to spindles 32 extending from side walls 10, 11. The enlargements 37 are engaged by toothed belts 38 to rotate the assembly. Each rod 35 is provided with a pair of rollers 39. Side supporting plates 41 for knife edge bars 49 surround the drum 15 and are rotatably mounted on an annular bearing assembly, comprising spaced rods 42, by assemblies 43 each comprising two rolls 44 inclined at 90 degrees to engage the V-section periphery of one of the plates 41. The inner periphery of each plate 41 is formed with regularly-spaced slots 45 to receive the rods 35. The bars 49 are slidably mounted between brackets 47 secured to the plates 41 and are urged radially inwardly of the plates 41 by springs 51. The axes of rotation of the two assemblies are eccentric to one another so that the rods 35 only engage in the slots 45 over an arc of their overall movement. A heat shielding water jacket 70 is provided around the upper portion of the drum 15 and has a curved extension 72 which acts as a collector for any material removed from the surface of the drum 15 by a reciprocating doctor blade 71. A shield 73 allows an unsealed web to be pulled through the machine prior to start-up or at a reel change. In operation, a web of heat sealable material or of a material coated or impregnated with a heat sealable material, folded in half longitudinally, or a longitudinally slit polythene tube, is fed into the machine and turned by a bar 52 over a roller 53 and fed by rollers 54, 55 to the rod assembly. Tapes 55a hold the web against the rods 35 until the region where the path of the bars 49 intercepts that of the rods 35. Alternatively, the web may be fed by rollers 54, 55 around a series of friction rollers to be delivered directly between the bars 49 and the rods 35. As the bars 49 move between the rods 35, the web is extended into a wave formation. As the rods and bars move towards the lower portion of the machine, the web, around successive knife edges of the bars 49 comes into engagement with the heated periphery of the drum 15 so that the two layers of the web are welded together. Brushes 66 help to engage the web around the rods 35. After welding, the formed bag becomes separated from the remainder of the web but is held looped around its respective rod 35 by tapes 61. The bag is removed from the rod 35 and held against a cylinder 60 by suction applied through ports 64 to overlap a previously formed bag. On leaving the cylinder 60, the bags are stacked on a table 65. After a preselected number of bags has been formed, a pivotally mounted friction arm 69 of a counter device is actuated, through a gear driven from the cylinder 60, to grip the web against a rod 35 so that a misplaced bag is provided which when stacked on the table 65 gives a visual indication every time the preselected number of bags has been formed. The width of the bags may be altered by moving the axis of rotation of the drum 15 towards or away from the bars 49 in the bag forming region by rotating the shaft 14 or by removing every other bar 49 or every other bar 49 and every other rod 35. In modifications (all not shown), (a) the rods 35 are located on a continuous chain guided so that the path of the bars 49 intercepts the path of the rods 35 before and after the bag forming zone; (b) the bars 49 and the rods 35 are provided on chains with their paths intersecting before and after a linear bag forming zone in which the surface of the heat source is planar; (c) the heat source is provided in the bars 49 instead of in the drum 15; and (d) heat sources are provided in both the drum 15 and the bars 49.