GB1206702A - A machine for packaging stockings - Google Patents

Abstract

1,206,702. Packaging stockings. ETABS. MAURICE HELTOT. 11 Nov., 1968 [8 Dec., 1967], No. 53334/68. Heading B8C. In an automatic machine for packaging stockings in a web 4 comprising a succession of compartments open at both ends, the web is fed intermittently from a reel 5 and, when stationary, a compartment located opposite a rotary device 3 for rolling up a stocking is opened by opposed sets of suction members 46, 47 which engage opposed surfaces of the web and are drawn away from the plane of the web by inclined rams. A device 78, 79 is then inserted into the compartment and grasps the rolled-up stocking which is then drawn into the compartment by the retraction of the device. The filled compartment is moved to a position below a device 11 which heat seals the opposed ends of the compartment, and the thus packaged web is fed into a removable container 12 on a carriage 13 also driven intermittently in synchronism with the web and in a reciprocatory fashion so that the web is arranged in concertina fashion in successive layers. The web comprises a pair of thin transparent sheets interconnected by transverse welded seams uniformly spaced apart to thereby provide the compartments, and is fed intermittently by plates 23 which clamp the web and are reciprocated in the web direction. The device for rolling the stocking lengthwise comprises a rotary fork, Fig. 3, comprising branches 25, 26 mounted on a shaft 28 chain-driven by a motor 32 and controlled such that the branches are returned to lie in an idling position in a vertical plane. The branch 25 is pivotable about a pin 40 to assist in locating a stocking on a table 2, but is brought to the position shown by a ram actuated slide 43 which engages a roller 41. The seaming device comprises two lower jaws 56 and two upper sets of jaws, the latter mounted on discs 57 supported on a shaft 57<SP>1</SP> and rotated intermittently to bring different jaws into contact in turn. The shaft 57<SP>1</SP> is supported by means vertically reciprocable by rams 58, 59. During the seaming operation the web is held by a clamping plate operated by a ram and controlled by a photoelectric cell which detects the correct position of the web for the seaming operation. The various operations are effected in correct sequence by cam actuated switches &c. controlling the ram and motor drives.