Patent ID: 7422551

Claim:
A station for erecting tubular blanks in boxes, with each blank including two superposed sheets connected along opposite ends of the sheets to define a flat folded configuration, with longitudinal pre-creasing lines made in said sheets for defining a first and a second lateral walls in each sheet and for facilitating folding of the blank, and with transversal pre-creasing lines made in the sheets for defining and facilitating folding of flaps of the blank, to which station said tubular blanks are conveyed one by one in a substantially horizontal position by driving means, with said erecting station including: a gripping and raising unit for gripping said first lateral wall and for raising the blank in a way such that said blank rotates by a 90° angle into a vertical orientation; first folding means acting on at least one second lateral wall, adjacent to said first lateral wall engaged by the gripping means of said unit, in step relation with the rotation of the blank, so that the blank assumes a parallelepiped shape while in the vertical orientation, said first folding means, operated by first actuator means, being hinged to a frame so as to rotate about a vertical axis, between a rest position and a strike-and-fold position for striking said second lateral wall and erecting the blank into a box, second folding means being hinged to said frame such that the second folding means rotate with respect to a vertical axis and are operated by second actuator means, in step relation with said first folding means, to fold at least a first lower flap of said tubular blank.