GB2253385A

GB2253385A - A packaging machine incorporating a labelling device

Info

Publication number: GB2253385A
Application number: GB9104550A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Yasuhiro Yamaguchi
Original assignee: Osaka Sealing Printing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Osaka Sealing Printing Co Ltd
Priority date: 1990-03-13
Filing date: 1991-03-05
Publication date: 1992-09-09
Also published as: NL9100447A; LU87909A1; IT1257422B; ITMI910655A1; FR2659621A1; ITMI910655A0; BE1004679A6; GB9104550D0

Abstract

A packaging machine comprises a molding station 28 for molding cavities 30 in a web 24, a filling station 32 for filling said cavities with a given product, means 70 for supplying a web 72 of sealing film for closing said filled cavities, a labeling device 40 for sticking labels to said web of sealing film, and a sealing station 80 for sealing the labelled web of sealing film to the cavity-filled web to form a series of packages which are separated at a stamping station 82. <IMAGE>

Description

TITLE OF THE INVENTION FILLING PACKER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a filling packer and, in particular, to a filling packer for filling a product in a cup-shaped molded article and covering the filled molded article with a sealing film.

Description in the Prior Art Fig. 12 is an illustratory view showing an example of the conventional filling packer. A filling packer 1 includes a molding station 2. At the molding station 2 a molded article 4 is made by molding a web of moldable film 3 in a predetermined, such as a cup-like shape. A filling device 5 has filled therein a product to be filled 6, which is filled in the molded article 4.

A sealing film 7 is fed to a sealing station 8.

At the sealing station 8 the sealing film 7 is stuck by heating to the top of the molded article 4 for closing up tight the filled molded article 4. At a stamping station 9 parts 10 covering the filled molded articles 4 are stamped out of the web of sealing film and the stamped web of film is wound by a winding reel 12.

The molded article 4 covered with the sealing film is then sent to the next step in which a label 13 is stuck thereto. As shown in Fig. 13 a continuum of labels 14 comprises a release paper 15 and labels 13 tentatively stuck thereto by means of an adhesive 16. As shown in Fig. 14, the release paper 15 is peeled by means of a release plate 17 and the label 13 is stuck to the stamped-out film 10 covering the molded article 4.

With this type of filling packer, however, the label is stuck to the sealing film after it has been stuck to the molded article. Hence it is necessary to position the molded articles and the labels individually, this being troublesome. Worse, it is sometimes difficult to stick the label positioned exactly with respect to the molded article in question.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The principal object of the invention is, therefore, to provide a filling packer with which each label can be positioned easily.

The present invention relates to a filling packer comprising a molding station for molding a web of moldable film to form a continuum of molded articles, a filling station for filling a given product in said continuum of molded articles formed at said molding station, a supplying means of a web of sealing film for closing said continuum of molded articles, a labeling davice for sticking labels to said web of sealing film, and a sealing station for having a web of sealing film with said lables stuck thereto said continuum of molded articles.

After sticking the labels to the sealing film, the sealing film with the labels stuck thereon is used to close a continuum of molded articles.

Since, according to the present invention, the labels are first stuck to the sealing film and then this sealing film is stuck with the labels stuck thereon is stuck to a continuum of molded articles, positioning is needed of the first label with respect to the first molded article, the process thus being quite easy.

The aforementioned object, other objects, features, phases and advantages will be better understood through reading of the description in detail of the preferred embodiments below made with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an illustratory view showing an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is an illustratory view showing a filling station in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an illustratory view showing a suction device and its peripheral arrangement in the embodiment of Fig. 1; Figs. 4A and 4B show the label sticking device in the embodiment of Fig. 1, the former being an illustratory view showing the state in which the label is held sucked by the sucking device while the latter being an illustratory view showing the state in which the label is stuck to the sealing film; Fig. 5 is an illustratory view showing another example of the labeling device used in the filling packer of the present invention; Fig. 6 is a plan view of a continuum of labels which is fed to the labeling device shown in Fig 5 and Fig. 7 is a side view thereof;; Fig. 8 is an illustratory view showing a conveyor unit for labeling used in the labeling device shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 9 is an illustratory view showing a positioning stopper in the labeling device shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 10 is an illustratory view showing a release plate of the labeling device shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 11 is an illustratory view showing an adjusting roller of a labeling device shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 12 is an illustratory view showing an example of the conventional filling packer; Fig. 13 is an illustratory view showing the continuum of labels fed to the conventional filling packer; Fig. 14 is an illustratory view showing the release plate and a periphery thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Fig. 1 is an illustratory view showing an embodiment of the present invention. A filling packer 20 includes a holding roller 22. A web of moldable film 24 wound on the holding roller 22 has one end thereof unwound and is led to the molding station 28 via a roller 26. At the molding station 28 molded articles 30 of a predetermined shape such as of cup are made from a moldable film 24.

Then each molded article 30 is sent to a filling station 32, which includes a filling device 34. As shown in Fig. 2, the filling device 34 has filled therein a product to be filled 36. As the product to be filled 36 may be cited, among others, jelly, soft adzuki-bean jelly and custard pudding. Extending downward from the filling device 34 is a filling pipe 38.

Downstream of the filler station 32 there is provided a labeling device 40 including a holding roller 42. The holding roller 42 holds the continuum of labels 44. As shown in Fig. 3, the continuum of labels 44 comprises a web of release paper 46 and labels 50 tentatively stuck thereto by the adhesion of an adhesive 48. The continuum of labels 44 wound on the holding roller 42 has one end thereof unwound and is led to the release plate 54 via the roller 52. The label 50 is peeled off the release paper 46 by the release plate 54 and the label 50 with a layer of adhesive 48 thereon is sucked and held by a sucking device 56. The release paper 46 with the labels 50 peeled off is wound by the winding reel 60 via a roller 58.

The suction device 56 includes a suction part 62.

There is provided a suction pipe 64 extending downward from the suction part 62, this pipe 64 being telescopic. A suction head holder 66 is attached to the tip of the suction pipe 64. The suction head holder 66 has connected thereto a suction head 68 made of such as sponge. And the label 50 is sucked and held by the suction head 68 through the suction pipe 64.

In the vicinity of the sucking device 56 there is provided a holding roller 70 for holding the sealing film used for closing the molded article 30. The holding roller 70 holds a web of sealing film 72. The sealing film 72 is led from the holding roller 70 via a roller 74, roller 76 and roller 78 to a sealing station 80. At the sealing station 80 the molded article 30 has its mouth closed tight by the sealing film 72. The suction device 56 is located between the rollers 74 and 76.

The molded article 30 is then sent from a sealing station 80 to a stamping station 82. At the stamping station 82 a remaining part 86 except the covering part 84 for closing the molded article 30 are stamped out and the stamped-out web of sealing film 72 is wound with simultaneous parting of the continuum of the molded article 30. The remaing part 86 is led via a roller 90 to a winding reel 92. The parted units of the molded article 30 are put on a conveyor belt 94 to be sent to the next step.

At the molding station 28 the moldable film 24 is molded by, for example, sucking by means of a vacuum pump or the like. And the units of the molded article 30 are filled with the product to be packed 36 filled in the filling device 34 through the filling pipe 38 as they are led stepwise thereunder.

In this filling packer 20 first the labels 50 are stack to the sealing film 72.

Figs 4A and 4B show the way the label 50 is stuck to the sealing film 72 by the sucking device 56 of the labeling device 40. First, as seen from Fig. 4A, each of the labels 50 arriving successively is sucked and held by the sucking device 56. Then, as shown in Fig. 4B, the telescopic suction pipe 64 extends downward and the label 50 is stuck to the sealing film 72. When the label 50 has been completely stuck to the sealing film 72, the sucking device 56, i.e. the vacuum therein, is released. Then, with the suction pipe 64 retracted, the sucking device 56 picks up the next label 50. As this cycle is repeated, the labels 50 are stuck to the sealing film 72 in succession.

The sealing film 72 with labels 50 thus stuck thereto is sent to the sealing station 80 intermittently. At the sealing station 80 the sealing film 72, the side thereof opposite to the side to which the labels 50 are stuck, is stuck to the molded articles to close them individually, for instance, by heating at a temperature required for thermal fusion of the sealing film 72 to the molded article 30.

Each molded article 30 closed with the sealing film 72 and the label 50 stuck thereto in place is then sent to the stamping station 82. At the stamping station 82 the remaining part 86 of the sealing film 72 closing the individual units of the molded article 30 are stamped out and each of the molded articles 30 is parted simultaneously.

In this filling packer 20 the labels 50 are stuck to the sealing film 72 one after another synchronously with successive feeding of the continuum of the molded article 30. Hence, when the label 50 is stuck in place to the sealing film 72 with respect to the first unit of the molded article 30, the following units can be labeled in place with sufficiently high precision. Thus, with this filling packer 20 positioning of the labels 50 is much easier than with the conventional counterpart.

Fig. 5 is an illustratory view showing another example of the labeling device of Fig. 5. The labeling device 40 includes a holding roller 100, which holds a continuum of labels 214. The continuum of labels 214 includes a web of release material 216, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The release material 216 includes, for example, a web of sheety material 218 such as paper and synthetic resin, which has thereon a layer of a release agent 220 such as silicone formed by coating. This release paper 216 has tentatively stuck thereon labels 222 by means of a layer of an adhesive 224 such as a pressure-sensitive adhesive agent. The continuum of labels 214 is sent by a holding roller 100 via a roller 102 to a label printer 104, and thence to a label feeding device 106.

In the label feeding device 106 the continuum of labels 214 is fed over a guide roller 108 to an adjusting roller 110. The adjusting roller 110 is arranged to be displaceable vertically.

The continuum of labels 214 having passed the adjusting roller 110 is led to a label pitch sensor 114 via a guide roller 112. Thence, the continuum of labels 214 is led to a release plate 118 via a guide roller 116 and, as it is led over the edge of the release plate 118, the labels 222 are released successively and, thereafter, the release material 216 is wound by a winding reel 124 via two rollers 120 and 122.

In the vicinity of the release plate 118 there is located a conveyor unit 130 for labeling as a means for holding a label. This conveyor unit 130 includes two rollers 132 and 134, over which a set of belts 136 is reeved. This set of belts comprises belts 136a, 136b and 136c, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The three belts 136a, 136b and 136c are reeved parallel to one another and there are constant spaces between the belts 136a and 136b and between the belts 136b and 136c. And by driving, for example, the roller 132 by a motor the set of belts 136 can be caused to move.

Inside the conveyor unit 130 for labeling there are provided a plurality of positioning stoppers 140a, 140b, 140c and 140d, which are connected to air cylinders 142 respectively. And by these air cylinders 142 the positioning stoppers 140a, 140b, 140c and 140d are made movable vertically. In the vicinities of the positioning stoppers 140a, 140b, 140c and 140d there are provided photo sensors 144a, 144b, 144c and 144d.

The conveyor unit 130 for labeling is provided with a blower 146 for creating a negative pressure inside the conveyor unit 130. This conveyor unit 130 for labeling is further provided with a cylinder 148 for vertical movement thereof.

The labeling device 40 is so arranged that the continuum of labels 214 is pulled out of the holding roller 100 and on the labels 222 is printed a figure, characters, bar code or the like. The continuum of labels 214 with the labels 222 printed is led to the release plate 118 via the adjusting roller 110 and, as shown in Fig. 10, the labels 222 are peeled off successively as the label 222 is led past the edge of the release plate 118. At this moment the presence of the label 222 is detected by the label pitch sensor 114 and feeding of the continuum of labels 214 is stopped with part of the label 222 tentatively stuck to the release paper 216.

The extent which the label 222 is projected from edge of the release plate 118 is adjustable by means of the adjusting roller 110. That is, the moving direction of the continuum of labels 214 is variable by vertical displacement of the adjusting roller 110. For example, as shown in Fig.

11, when the adjusting roller 110 is displaced in the direction indicated by the arrow A (upward), the continuum of labels 214 has its moving direction varied "in the advancing mode", this resulting in an increased extent by which the label comes off the edge of the release plate 118.

Conversely, when the adjusting roller 110 is displaced in the direction indicated by the arrow B (downward), the continuum of labels 214 has its moving direction varied "in the returning mode", this resulting in a decreased extent by which the label comes off the edge of the release plate 118.

The label 222 peeled off by the release plate 118 is held by the conveyor unit 130 for labeling. Inside the conveyor unit 130 a negative pressure is created by the blower 146. As a result, the labels 222 are sucked up between the belts 136a and 136b as well as between the belts 136b and 136c and are held by the belts 136a, 136b and 136c and, so held by these belts, the labels 222 follow the movement of the set of belts 136.

The labels 222 thus held by the set of belts 136, the first positioning stopper 140a is projected below the set of belts 136. And the moving label 222 comes into contact with the stopper 140a and is stopped thereby. The belts 136a, 136b and 136c are then moving in sliding contact with the labels 222.

When the label 222 has been stopped by the positioning stopper 140a, it is detected by the photo sensor 144a that the label 222 is at the predetermined position, and the next positioning stopper 140b projects below the set of belts 136. Then, the second label 222 sucked and held between the moving set of belts 136 comes into contact with the positioning stopper 140b. When it is detected by the photo sensor 144b that the label 222 is at the predetermined position, the next positioning stopper 140c projects below the set of belts 136. Thus, a plurality of labels 222 are stopped at the predetermined positions. When the rearmost photo sensor 144d has detected the presence of the label 222, the set of belts 136 is stopped. The positioning stopper 140a, 140b, 140c and 140d are moved upward by the air cylinders 142 to be no longer projected below the belt 136. Thus, a plurality of labels 222 are sucked and held at the predetermined positions between the set of belts 136.

The conveyor unit 130 for labeling is moved by the cylinder 148 and the labels 222 held between the set of belts 136 are stuck to the sealing film 72.

Thus, with this label sticking device it is possible to stick a plurality of labels to the sealing film 72 simultaneously.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings, it is apparent that it is for the purpose of illustration only and should not be understood as limitation, and the spirit and scope of this invention is to be limited only by the wording of the appended claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A filling packer comprising: a molding station for molding a web of moldable film to form a continuum of molded articles; a filling station for filling a given product in said continuum of molded articles formed at said molding station; a supplying means of a web of sealing film for closing said continuum of molded articles; a labeling device for sticking labels to said web of sealing film; and a sealing station for having a web of sealing film with said labels stuck thereto stuck to said continuum of molded articles.

2. A filling packer according to claim 1, wherein said supplying means of a web of sealing film comprises a holding means for holding said sealing film, a transmitting means for transmitting said sealing film fed from said holding means to said sealing station, and a winding means for winding an unnecessary portion.

3. A filling packer according to claim 1, wherein said sealing station comprises a stamping station for stamping a remaining part of said sealing film except a covering part.

4. A filling packer according to claim 1, wherein said labeling device comprises a transmitting means for label.

5. A filling packer according to claim 1, wherein transmitting means for label comprises a holding roller for holding a continuum of labels, a release plate for peeling off said label from a release paper, and a winding means for winding the release paper.

6. A filling packer according to claim 4, wherein said transmitting means for label comprises an adjusting means for adjusting an extent of transmitting said label.

7. A filling packer according to claim 1, wherein said labeling device comprises a sucking device for sucking and holding said label peeled off from said release paper, and stuck said label to said sealing film.

8. A filling packer according to claim 1, wherein said labeling devices compreses a conveyor unit for labeling as a holding means for labels.

9. A filling packer according to claim 8, wherein said conveyor unit for labeling comprises a pair of roller, a set of belt reeved over said rollers, a moving means for belts and a holding means for holding said label on the surface of said belt.

10. A filling packer according to claim 8, wherein said converor unit for labeling comprises a positioning means for positioning said label.

11. A filling packer according to claim 8, wherein said conveyor unit for labeling comprises a sucking and holding means for holding said label on said belt by sucking.

12. A filling packer substantially as described herein by reference to any one of figures 1 to 11.