Patent ID: 7390291

Claim:
An apparatus for rapidly expanding and folding cardboard boxes, comprising (a) a bed, (b) a feeding mechanism, the feeding mechanism being disposed on one side of the bed, the feeding mechanism holding cardboard boxes, each of which includes four wall portions, and a bottom including four parts; (c) a box expanding mechanism, the box expanding mechanism including: a horizontal rail, a horizontally moving seat fitted on the horizontal rail in a linearly displaceable manner, a box expanding arm, the box expanding arm being pivoted to the horizontally moving seat, and a plurality of suction elements, the suction elements being fitted to the horizontally moving seat and the box expanding arm, the plurality of suction elements applying suction force on the cardboard boxes; (d) a first folding mechanism folding the front and rear parts of the bottom of the cardboard box, the first folding mechanism including the front and rear folding arms, the first folding mechanism folding the front and rear parts of the bottom of the cardboard box respectively, the pair of suction elements contact on the side of the cardboard box in the vertical direction, the pair of suction elements contact on the top of the cardboard box in the horizontal direction, the horizontally moving seat and the box expanding arm both have suction elements and the horizontally moving seat is pivoted with the box expanding arm, after the suction elements of the horizontally moving seat and the box expanding arm suck the cardboard box body, the box expanding arm rotates at a predetermined angle to expand one side of the cardboard box body; (e) a second folding mechanism folding left and right parts of the bottom of the box, the second folding mechanism including: an up and down moving member, an up and down moving assembly being interposed between the bed and the up and down moving member for making the up and down moving member move up and down relative to the bed; two arm holders, the arm holders being each connected to an opening and closing device so as to be movable left and right on the up and down moving member; and two clamping arms, the clamping arms being each connected to a rotary member, the rotary member is used for causing rotational motion of the clamping arm in relation to the arm holders; the left and right parts of the bottom of the box being moved to be received in the clamping arms when the up and down moving member is moving up and down, and the opening and closing device is moving; the clamping arms being positioned to cause left and right parts of the bottom of the box to fold when the clamping arms are rotating after the left and the right parts have been received in the clamping arms; and (f) a conveying mechanism, the conveying mechanism including: a pushing unit pushing an expanded and folded cardboard box to one side, and a plurality of conveying belts moving an expanded and folded cardboard box to a rear after the pushing unit has pushed the cardboard box.