GB2231021A

GB2231021A - Method and apparatus for wrapping elongate objects

Info

Publication number: GB2231021A
Application number: GB8929253A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Ashworth
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1989-05-03
Filing date: 1989-12-28
Publication date: 1990-11-07
Also published as: GB8929253D0; GB8910161D0

Abstract

in a method of wrapping an object O, such as a paper roll, an open-ended sleeve S of sheet wrapping material is formed around the object so as to overhang at at least one end of the object O, the end overhang S' of the sleeve S then being folded against the object in a number of regular radial pleats 5. Apparatus for performing the method includes a pleating device which comprises a ring 2 on which radially-disposed folding fingers 1 are mounted. The fingers 1 are disposed radially of a rotation axis of the carrier 2 and movable radially relative to that axis between outward rest positions and inward pleating positions. The ring 2 is rotated, with the fingers 1, to effect the pleating of the wrapping material. The ring mounts finger-actuating pneumatic cylinders and is spring-mounted on a backing plate 11. <IMAGE>

Description

"METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR WRAPPING OBJECTS" The invention relates to the wrapping of objects.

It is of particular application to the wrapping of objects which are of a generally cylindrical shape, for example rolls of paper such as facsimile rolls or telex rolls.

However, the field of the invention is by no means so limited and it is applicable to the wrapping of a range of object shapes having generally flat and more-or-less circular ends. It is concerned both with a novel method of wrapping such objects and with apparatus for carrying out that method.

Rolls of paper are commonly overwrapped with a sheet of wrapping material, which is often a paper sheet.

Facsimile paper is a specific example, being a thermally sensitive paper and sensitive to pressure marking due to frictional forces generating heat. Thus facsimile rolls in particular lend themselves to being wrapped in paper rather than in heat sealable materials or shrink wrapping.

The technique of machine overwrapping of rolls with sheets of paper is a well established procedure and in an existing process a sheet of wrapping paper is fed into position below a hopper. The object to be wrapped - in the case of an established manufacture, a toilet roll or kitchen towel roll - is lowered on to the surface of the wrapping paper. The roll and wrapping paper together are then lowered into a shaped cup which holds the wrapping paper around part of the circumference of the roll, whilst at the same time gripping the roll firmly.

The cup is then traversed at right angles to its axis, a traversing wiper blade holding down the trailing side of the upstanding wrapping paper around the roll whilst the leading side is laid down on top as the traversing cup passes below a suspended strap. A previously applied line of glue now holds the paper in place.

There is thus now a roll, held in a shaped cup with an open-ended sleeve of wrapping paper formed around it. This sleeve of wrapping paper is longer than the roll, and extends outward so as to overhang at both ends of the roll.

There has been for many years an established method of folding the wrapping paper over the ends of the rolls. As existing device for so doing consists of flat formed fingery gathering together the paper and drawing it towards the centre of the roll. The excess paper is then pushed into the cardboard core, upon which the roll is typically wound, by cam-operated plungers. This method of wrapping has the disadvantages firstly of an untidy appearance of the roll end, and also of a limitation on the type and thickness of wrapping paper which can be used.

Furthermore, the cores used for the production of facsimile and telex rolls tend to have a smaller diameter such that the excess wrapping paper is not readily accepted therein.

The invention has for its aim to provide a method and apparatus which can wrap an article more neatly than hitherto, and which are particularly well suited to the wrapping of paper rolls of smaller core diameter sizes.

In a method of wrapping an object, according to the invention, an open-ended sleeve of sheet wrapping material is formed around the object so as to overhang at each end of the object, each end overhang of the sleeve then being folded against the object in a number of spaced radial pleats. Preferably the end overhangs of the sleeve are evenly and uniformly folded to provide evenly spaced pleats.

Formation of the open-ended sleeve of wrapping material may be achieved in any one of a variety of ways, for example as already described in respect of "a well established procedure". The present invention is not directly concerned with the manner of formation of the open-ended sleeve but rather with the subsequent end pleating thereof.

The wrapping material may be paper, and pleating of an end overhang thereof may be achieved by radially engaging a plurality of radially disposed folding "fingers" with the overhang to form evenly spaced folds in the wrapping material, followed by relative rotation about the longitudinal axis of the object and the engaged fingers as a whole. Preferably both end overhangs are pleated simultaneously with the object held stationary and the two sets of end fingers rotated in opposite directions.

The fingers may be engaged to form the end folds with the object and pleating device relatively stationary, relative rotation thereof thereafter forming the pleats.

Alternatively there may be continuous relative rotation during both radial engagement of the fingers for fold formation and the formation of the final pleats.

Apparatus for wrapping an object, according to the invention, comprises a pleating device operative to perform the described pleating procedure at one end of the object. Preferably the apparatus comprises two such devices so that the open-ended sleeve of wrapping material can be pleated at both ends simultaneously.

The pleating device of the invention preferably comprises a carrier on which radially-disposed folding fingers are mounted, said fingers being disposed radially of a central wrapping axis of the carrier and movable radially relative to that axis between outward rest positions and inward pleating positions. Movement of a ring of equiangularly disposed fingers may be achieved by individual pneumatic cylinders on piston rods of which the fingers are respectively mounted. Said carrier may be an annular ring through which the finger-actuating cylinders project and which have guide apertures through which the fingers slide to said inward pleating positions.

Said carrier may be mounted on a backing plate which is rotatable about said axis to perform the pleating operation, and it may be axially spring-loaded relative to the backing plate in the direction of that axis and towards the position which the object occupies whilst being wrapped.

The invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, a pleating device of wrapping apparatus in accordance with the invention. In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the device, with folding fingers thereof in an outward resting position; Fig. 2 shows one of the fingers, as mounted on an actuating pneumatic cylinder; Fig. 3 diagrammatically shows how the fingers are actuated in a folding step of the present method; and Fig. 4 shows how, by rotation of the device relative to an object being wrapped, flat folded pleats are formed against the end of the object in accordance with the method of the invention.

The device illustrated forms part of apparatus for the wrapping of a generally cylindrical object 0, such as a paper roll, in a sheet of wrapping paper. The apparatus also includes means, not germane to the invention and hence not shown in the drawings, for the formation of an open-ended sleeve S of the wrapping paper around the roll 0 being wrapped (see particularly Fig. 3), the sleeve S presenting end overhanging portions S at each end of the object 0. These means may be of known form as previously employed in the wrapping of paper rolls.

In the device a number of folding fingers 1, in the embodiment illustrated ten, are equally spaced, radially around a carrier ring 2. Ten fingers are shown by way of example, and it will be appreciated that the number of fingers used will be chosen to provide the pleating pattern desired.

The fingers 1, during a folding step of the method of the invention, are brpught together at the same time into the centre of the carrier ring 2 by means of individual air-operated cylinders 3 on piston rods 5 of which the fingers 1 are respectively mounted. Thus the fingers 1 are in this manner moved radially between an outward resting position shown in Fig. 1 and an inward sheet-folded or pleating position shown in Fig. 4. The action of the fingers, during such inward movement, is to form in the wrapping paper of the adjacent end overhang S' of the sleeve S evenly spaced folds such as 4 against the adjacent end of the object 0 being wrapped An intermediate position of the fingers 1 during the fold formation is shown in Fig. 3.

After formation of the folds 4, with the fingers fully inward as shown in Fig. 4, rotation of the fingers 1 as a set with the carrier ring 2 about the longitudinal axis of the roll 0 and relative to the latter, as indicated by the arrow R in Fig. 4, whilst exerting pressure against the end of the roll 0 being wrapped results in the folds of paper 4 being flattened into evenly spaced pleats such as 5.

Each finger 1 is of thin wire extending, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, from the outer end of the corresponding piston rod 6 as spaced parallel sections 7 disposed on opposite sides of the cylinder 3 and slidable in guide bores such as 8 in the carrier ring 2. The fingers 1 are so shaped, with rounded nose sections 9 at the leading end, as to present a curved surface to the circumferential edge of the roll O in order to fold the paper smoothly over the edge of the roll O.

The fingers 1 are also so shaped that when fully extended, as shown in Fig. 4, they lock together to resist the tendency for them to twist as they rotate as set against the end of the roll O.

The device illustrated is one of two similar devices disposed at opposite ends of the roll 0 when in the wrapping position. The two carrier rings 2 are moved axially of the roll O by air cylinders, or some other means not illustrated, into operative position at the two ends of the object 0 being wrapped, in order to allow the folding and pleating operation to take place.

In the case of the described embodiment, the rotating action of each carrier ring 2 is continuous during folding and pleating of the overhanging ends S' of the open-ended cylinder of wrapping paper around the object 0.

The relative radial inward speed of the fingers 1 to the rotational speed of the carrier ring 2 is such that smooth folds are formed in the wrapping paper before they are flattened over against each other.

It is envisaged that as the demand for higher wrapping speeds evolves, the carrier ring 2 will need to be maintained stationary as the radial folding fingers 1 are brought inwardly together, at which point the carrier ring 2 will revolve to form the pleats.

It will be apparent that there is a frictional rotating force on the two ends of the object 0 being wrapped, as will usually be the case the object 0 being round and gripped in a cup (not shown). In order to overcome the tendency for the object 0 to rotate in said cup under the influence of the frictional rotating force, the carrier ring 2 at one end of the object 0 being wrapped is rotated in the opposite direction to the carrier ring 2 at the other end of the object 0.

It is also difficult to ensure that the object being wrapped is always placed exactly in the same position in said cup. In order to overcome this and to ensure that even so the fingers 1 will pass evenly over the surface at each end of the object being wrapped, the carrier ring 2 is supported by a backing plate 11. The carrier ring 2 is mounted on springs 12 so as to be spring loaded against the backing plate 11, movement against the spring loading accommodating positioning tolerance of the object to be wrapped in said cup or other object-support means.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1 A method of wrapping an object, wherein an open-ended sleeve of sheet wrapping material is formed around the object so as to overhang at one end of the object, the end overhang of the sleeve then being folded against the object in a number of spaced radial pleats.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve of wrapping material is open at both ends and overhangs at each end of the object being wrapped.

3. A method according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the or each end overhang of the sleeve is evenly and uniformly folded to provide evenly spaced pleats.

4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the wrapping material is paper.

5. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein pleating of the or each end overhang of said sleeve is achieved by radially engaging a plurality of radially disposed folding "fingers" with the overhang to form evenly spaced folds in the wrapping material, followed by relative rotation about a longitudinal axis of the object and the engaged fingers as a whole.

6. A method according to claim 2 and claim 5, wherein both end overhangs are pleated simultaneously with the object held stationary and the opposite end pluralities of fingers rotated in opposite directions.

7. A method according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the fingers are engaged with the object whilst relatively stationary to form the end folds, relative rotation thereafter forming the pleats.

8. A method according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein said relative rotation is continuous during both radial engagement of the fingers for fold formation and the formation of the final pleats.

9. Apparatus for wrapping an object, comprising a pleating device operative to perform the pleating procedure of claim 1 at one end of the object.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said device is one of two such devices operative to pleat both ends of the open-ended sleeve of wrapping material simultaneously.

11. Apparatus according to claim 9 or claim 10, wherein the pleating device comprises a carrier on which radially-disposed folding fingers are mounted, said fingers being disposed radially of a rotation axis of the carrier and movable radially relative to that axis between outward rest positions and inward pleating positions.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said fingers are arranged as a ring of equiangularly disposed fingers the radial movement of which is achieved by individual pneumatic cylinders on piston rods of which the fingers are respectively mounted.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said carrier is an annular ring through which the finger-actuating cylinders project and which has guide apertures through which the fingers slide to said inward pleating positions.

14. Apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein said carrier is mounted on a backing plate which is rotatable about said axis to perform the pleating operation

15. Apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the carrier is axially spring-loaded relative to the backing plate in the direction of said rotation axis and towards the position which the object occupies whilst being wrapped.

16. A method of wrapping an object, substantially as hereinbefore particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

17. Apparatus for wrapping an object, substantially as hereinbefore particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings