Patent Publication Number: US-6705606-B2

Title: Bag placer magazine

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to machines for packaging materials such as insulation, whether compressed or not, and particularly to a magazine for holding and feeding empty bags to the filler machinery. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Bag placers and magazines are important in the production line of a packaging operation in which material is inserted into bags. The two components of the finished product, the bag and the material filling the bag, are preferably provided without interruption. The bags may be paper or plastic or other suitable synthetic materials and the fill material may likewise be any fill material, although the machine disclosed and claimed in the present invention is intended for use in a fibrous insulation production machinery line. The production line normally includes conveyors of various types carrying the fill material from its production line, a bag provider machine of some type, a bag opener, a bag filler and finally, a filled bag remover. Some of these functions have heretofore been conducted by hand, such as by a person grabbing or unrolling a bag from a stack, opening it and placing it over a filler point. In this manual operation, the worker removes the bag, seals the end and places the bag on an exit conveyor for palettizing or loading on a truck. A goal of automation has been to reduce or eliminate as much labor as possible in the process and so machines have been devised to feed and position empty bags and open them so that they can be filled and thereafter remove the filled bags to storage or shipping facilities. 
     A persistent problem in the insulation production line industry has been the development of a bag magazine/handler/feeder which may continually be replenished with bag stock so that the production line is not halted or even slowed while stock is being replenished. This has been accomplished for roll stock plastic bags, but for bags which are provided in a flat pleated stack, there has heretofore been little machinery available in which the bag stack may be replenished without momentarily stopping the production line. 
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     The objects of the present invention are: 
     a) to provide a bag placer magazine which effectively delivers bags to a filler station with high reliability; 
     b) to provide such a bag placer magazine in which the bags can be replenished during operation and without interruption of the process line; 
     c) to provide such a bag placer magazine which is safe and reliable in operation and is particularly suitable for the intended purpose. 
     Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the drawings. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a bag placer magazine which accommodates flat pleated bags stacked horizontally on a moveable conveyor platform which circulates around the stacked bags and removes the bags one at a time from the bottom of the stack. Vacuum operated grippers are sequenced to extend upwardly through sequentially moved openings in the circulating conveyor, pull down an end of a bottom bag and then strip the bottom bag from the stack. The bag falls below the circulating conveyor to a deposit platform where the bag is indexed to a precise position and then routed to a bag filler station. The bag stack is replenished from the top while bags are being stripped from the bottom so that the flow of the production line is not interrupted. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a bag placer magazine embodying the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the bag placer magazine. 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary view of a detail of the bag placer magazine. 
     FIGS. 4 through 9 are partial schematic views showing operational sequence of the bag placer magazine to strip a bag from a stack of bags in the magazine. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     In the following, the characteristics, advantages and special features of the invention will be described in connection with the accompanying drawings which show an example of an arrangement for stacking and dispensing bags to a filling station. The following disclosure is to be taken as exemplary only and the invention is not limited to the specific form disclosed following except insofar as provided in the claims of the invention. 
     The reference numeral  1 , FIG. 1, generally indicates a bag placer magazine embodying the present invention. The bag placer magazine  1  is intended to be part of a production line which has associated machinery including a conveyor to convey fill material, a bag opener, a bag placer, a bag filler, a bag closer/sealer, and an exit conveyor. None of these other units are shown in the drawings or described in detail herein, as their general configuration and use can be readily understood by one having ordinary skill in the bag filling art. 
     The bag placer magazine  1  includes a support frame  2  which positions operational components of the magazine  1  at a height coincident with the height of conveying apparatus in the production line. In the illustrated example, the support frame  2  consists of opposite pairs of legs  3  and  4  joined by crossbars set forth following. The bag placer magazine  2  is powered by electric and pneumatic means and has an electric motor  6  mounted on a cross bar  7 . The support frame  2  contains a moveable circulating conveyor platform  9  which, when viewed from the side relationship of FIG. 1, travels around a rectangular track. The moveable circulating conveyor platform  9  is a roller conveyor  10  which travels around a track in a vertically oriented rectangular arrangement. To support the conveyor platform  10 , the support frame  2  extends upwardly in continuations of the legs  3  and  4  and includes a top cross bar  11  and a mid level cross bar  12 . 
     The moveable conveyor platform  9 , although in this embodiment is a roller conveyor, may be formed of other types of moveable surfaces. The moveable platform  9  runs in a track  13  around the perimeter of the upper portion of the support frame as shown in FIG.  1  and importantly has a series of large openings  14 , FIG. 1 such as four openings  14  spaced equidistantly along its length. The moveable conveyor platform  9  is powered by a drive belt  16  and a sprocketed drive shaft  17  located at a remote end  18  of the bag placer magazine  1  so that the conveyor openings  14  are sequenced to register with operating machinery located at a bag separating end  20  of the bag magazine  1 . In addition to the sprocketed drive shaft  17 , idler shafts  21  and  22  are mounted at upper corners, and a final idler shaft  23  is positioned at the bag separating end  20 . The idler shaft  23  is situated slightly below the level of the moveable conveyor platform  9 . The moveable conveyor platform  9  runs in a track  13  which extends in the aforementioned generally vertically oriented rectangle. In the area of the bag separating end  20 , the track  13  extends downwardly below the level of the cross bar  12  and forms an angular extension  25  from the final idler shaft  23  to the horizontal portion of the track  13  running along the mid level cross bar  12 . 
     The area of the bag placer magazine  1  atop the mid level cross bar  12  forms a bag stacking area  30  in which a stack  31  of bags is positioned. The bag stack  31  is supported by one of four roller continuous lengths  33  of the moveable conveyor platform  9  as it rolls around the track  13 . As shown in FIG. 2, each one of the roller continuous lengths  33  when in proper registration, generally extends the full length of the machine  1 . 
     The bags generally come in a variety of lengths typically from 36″ to 72″, multiple widths are commonly available, typically from 16″ to 24″. The bag magazine  1  is adjustable to accommodate the multiple widths. For this purpose, a side guide  35  is slide mounted against one of the frame sides and is adjustable to align the bag stack  31  with holding stops (not shown) opposite the side guide  35 . 
     Individual bags are removed one at a time from the bottom of the bag stack  31 . To accomplish this, the bag magazine  1  utilizes a system of holding heads and tilting heads in combination with the moveable conveyor platform  9 , which indexes as the bottom bag is being held to strip the bottom bag from the stack  31 . A pair of holding heads  38  are paddle-like in form and are perforated to provide a suction airway. Appropriate conduit  39  connects the holding heads  38  to a pneumatic suction system. The holding heads  38  are positioned under the spaced corners of the end of the bag stack  31  and under the bottom bag. Positioned inwardly of the holding heads  38  are tilting heads  42  which are mounted on an arm  43  pivotally mounted about an axle  44  and rotated by a lever  45  swung by a retraction of a pneumatic cylinder  46 . The tilting heads  42  are connected by appropriate conduit  48  to the pneumatic suction system. The holding heads  38  and tilting heads  42  are variable in position to accommodate different width bags by means of an adjustment wheel  50  which when rotated drives a screw  51  to move the holding heads  38  and tilting heads  42  respectfully together inward or outward of the machine centerline. 
     As shown in FIGS. 1 &amp; 2, the operation of the holding heads  38  and tilting heads  42  are sequenced in combination with the indexing of the moveable conveyor platform  9  to grip and drop a bag  32  from the stack of bags  31  to a bag positioning table  54  located underneath the moveable conveyor platform  9  and the bag stack  31 . In the sequence of operation, the tilting heads  42  pivot back under the bag stack  31  and vacuum is routed to the tilting heads  42  to grip and peel the bottommost bag  32  from the stack. Vacuum is turned off from the holding heads  38  to reduce their grip on the bottom bag  32 . Vacuum produced in the tilting heads  42  wraps the corners of the bag around the tilting head  42  and (FIG. 4) the holding heads  38  raise up in the space left by the bottom bag edges being pulled downwardly to support the second bag from the bottom of the stack (FIG.  5 ). The tilting heads  42  tip forwardly pulling the end of the bottom bag downwardly through the opening  14  of the moveable conveyor platform  9  (FIG.  6 ). The moveable conveyor platform  9  cycles one complete index space to cause the leading roller of the next roller continuous length  33  to peel the remainder of the bottom bag  32  from under the stack  31  (FIG.  7 ). This drops the entire bottom bag  32  on the bag positioning table  54  (FIG.  8 ). Next, vacuum is turned off in the tilting heads  42  and the tilting heads tip back upwardly under the remainder of the stack  31 . A forward indexer  60  such as pneumatically operated, slides the bag to the front edge of the bag positioning table  54  (FIG.  9 ), operating a photo electric switch  61 . Vacuum is then turned off on the forward indexer  60  and a side indexer  62  pneumatically moves across the table to move the bag  32  to a set position at a predetermined side of the positioning table  54  in machine  1 . Thereafter, the side indexer  62  returns to home position and the cycle recommences. 
     Although an embodiment of the bag placer magazine  1  has been illustrated and disclosed herein, the invention is not to be limited to the exemplary embodiment disclosed except insofar as set forth in the following claims.