Patent ID: 7329216

Claim:
A system for manufacturing containers, comprising a supporting structure, the system being composed entirely of parts associated with the supporting structure, including: a forming sector supplied, by a feed station, with a continuous strip of forming material, comprising at least a paper material, used in the preparation of at least one blank from which to fashion a respective container, and establishing a first leg of a feed path followed by the material; a transfer device operating downstream of the forming sector, serving to distance the forming material from the forming sector and establishing a second leg of the feed path followed by the material; and a shaping sector operating downstream of the forming sector, by which each blank emerging from the sector is folded and caused ultimately by means of a fixing operation to assume the shape of the container produced by the folding step, the shaping sector establishing a third leg of the feed path followed by the forming material; a traction device operating by direct interaction with the forming material at a point downstream of the feed station; at least one tensioning device, operating upstream of the traction device and in such a manner that the segment of forming material extending downstream of the tensioning device is subjected to a predetermined longitudinal tension, in order to facilitate certain operations carded out along the first leg; a finishing device, operating between the tensioning device and the traction device, associated with the feed station and designed to operate on at least one bonding edge of the advancing forming material in such a way that the bonding edge of the single blank is bent double along its length and rendered suitable for positioning on the inside of the relative container; the first leg of the feed path extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal dimension of the supporting structure; the second leg of the feed path extending transversely to the first leg; the third leg of the feed path extending substantially parallel to the first leg and transversely to the second leg; and the first, second and third legs being disposed in such a manner that the forming material will follow a feed path extending externally of the supporting structure at least in part, and presenting substantially a C-shaped configuration by which the supporting structure is circumscribed at least in part.