GB2337241A - Apparatus for manufacturing sealed inflated packages by fluid injection - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for manufacturing filled, partially filled or inflated articles eg display materials, cushions or balloons comprises a separating means 4 incorporating a separating element 5 freely floating between guide members 6 to separate the walls of a lay flat tubing T fed from a supply 15, means 8 for injecting fluid eg a needle 10 through one wall of the tubing at a position at or close to the separating means and also upper 3 and lower 14 tube grippers, heat sealing 11 and perforating 12 or detaching means 13 to subsequently form the packages. The separator may be elongate, generally cylindrical (Fig.2) or alternatively may comprise a plurality of spheres. Preferably the separator and upper tube gripping mechanism 3 are both mounted on a carriage 1 for relative movement into and out of a work plane 7. Preferably the separator includes a reduced diameter portion (21, Fig.2) where the injecting means is inserted between the separated walls of the tubing. The injected material may be a gas, a liquid or solid particles and the tubing can be constructed of a plastics material eg polythene which may include printing thereon. A method of forming the aforementioned articles is also claimed. In use, the apparatus is intended to be tolerant of varying thicknesses of the tubing material.

Description

1 1 2337241 APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING PLASTICS MATERIALS This invention

relates to an apparatus for producing inflated and filled materials. In particular, it relates to an apparatus for producing plastics or other materials which are partially or wholly inflated or filled with a gas or other fluid and which can have uses such as in packaging, display uses, uses as cushioning or seating materials, as balloons and many other purposes.

Presently available machines for these purposes can be technically complex and inflexible.

The present invention arose in an attempt to provide an improved apparatus.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for manufacturing filled or partially filled or inflated articles, comprising means for supporting a length of lay flat tubing intended to form the articles, means for feeding the lay flat tubing to a position where fluid can be injected into it, and means for maintaining separation between the two layers of the tubing in the vicinity where injection of fluid takes place, comprising a separation maintaining element freely floating within a guide means such that the two layers pass either side of the freely floating element to allow for insertion of an injection means between them, and; means for subsequently forming fluid-filled or inflated articles.

The articles may be filled or inflated with a gas, fluid or other material.

The apparatus is arranged to continually produce items at a desired rate from a source of lay flat tubing material.

The lay flat tubing material is preferably of a plastics materials such as a polythene.

The apparatus may further comprise heat sealing means and/or perforation means.

According to the invention there is further provided apparatus comprising any one or more of the novel features herein described.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows schematically a machine for producing inflated or partially inflated plastics items; Figure 2 shows schematically a separating element in one of its guide members; and Figure 3 shows a machine in a little more detail.

Referring to Figure 1, an apparatus is shown for producing inflated or fluid-filled or partially-filled packing material, cushions, balloons or other materials from polythene tubing material. The machine comprises several driven parts which are preferably actuated pneumatically but may be otherwise actuated.

The machine comprises a moveable carriage 1, upon which is mounted a gripping mechanism 2 comprising gripping bars 3 which are relatively moveable towards and away from each other by pneumatic drive. Also disposed upon carriage 1, generally underneath gripping mechanism 2, is a separation means 4 comprising a separating element 5 freely floating within a pair of guide bars or members 6.

Separation element 5 may be an elongate, generally cylindrical member which can freely float and rotate within elongate concavities formed by the guide bars 6 and allows separate sheets of polythene or other material to pass round opposing faces of it, to thereby be separated and spaced from each other whilst in the vicinity of the separator, as will be described below.

The separation means 4 is arranged to move, with carriage 1, into and out of an operating plane 7 along which are disposed various operating elements which move into and out of operating positions to act upon the polythene or other material. These comprise an injection means 8 which receives a source of an inflation gas or other fluid 9 and injects this into the separated sheets of polythene via an injection needle 10.

Also disposed to move into and out of an operative position lying generally in plane 7, are a heating element 11 adapted to heat weld parts of the polythene material together to seal them together (to form the top and bottom edges of inflated packets) and a perforating means 12 having a knife 13 or other means for forming perforations within the heat sealed portion in order to enable adjacent portions to be torn apart from each other to form discrete parts. The means 8, 11 and 12 are driven pneumatically in a preferred embodiment of the invention but may alternatively be driven electrically, hydraulically or otherwise.

The polythene material passing through plane 7 is then passed through a second or lower gripping mechanism 14 which can selectively grip or release the material.

The polythene is fed from a reel of lay flat polythene tubing 15 and initially fed from this, via a roller 16, between grippers 3. Each respective layer of the two layer tubing is then fed past one of the two opposing edges of floating element 5 within guide 4 so as to separate them. The lower edge of the polythene tubing T passes between the lower grippers 14.

Figure 2 shows schematically part of the separator mechanism and comprises a generally elongate separator bar 15 mounted in one of the guide members 14. As shown, the separator 15 is generally cylindrical but has a reduced diameter portion 16 at a position along its length, which portion is designed to enable an injecting 1 needle to be passed through a layer of film.

one or more complementary through holes are also formed in the guide member 14 to enable an injecting needle 10 to be passed through this and towards the reduced section portion of separator 15. Figure 2 is one example of many different types of separators that can be used. In an alternative embodiment, the separator is formed of a plurality of spheres which are joined loosely along an axis but which are free to rotate about the axis to perform the sane actions as cylinder 15. Whichever design of separator is chosen, it is important that it is enabled to float freely within the guides 14 such that respective layers of material can pass easily between the separator 15 and the adjacent guide member 14 without excessive friction and without causing snagging or other problems.

Figure 3 shows a machine in a little more detail. The machine is usually positioned either vertically or at angle other than horizontal so that the sheet material can feed in a gravity-assisted manner.

upper gripping mechanism 2 and the separating mechanism 4 are attached to carriage 1. The figure shows the gripping bars 3 which can be moved towards or away from each other to grip polythene material which passes in a direction shown by arrow A through between the plates. The figure shows the separating element 5 disposed to freely float between two guide plates 4 which have respective concavities 20 loosely receiving the floating element 5 between them. The drawing is schematic only and guides 4 would normally clamped together, although of course gaps will left at their top and bottom to enable the polythene material to enter and exit. Also shown in the figure in the vicinity of the separating element is the fluid injection means 8 which receives a source of gas or other fluid and injects this between the two layers of lay flat tubing which have been separated by separator 5 by means of injector 10. To achieve this, the injector, at the appropriate time, passes through a through-hole (not shown) in one of the guide members 4 and into the gap 21 (Figure 2) in the separator element, to ensure that the injector pierces the polythene material. The required amount of gas is then injected between the two layers to fully or partially fill or inflate the area between the two layers as desired.

The injector needle should be preferably of sufficient diameter to enable the required fluid to be easily injected within a certain time but should not be so large as to tear the polythene material; it should preferably make a clean insertion hole in the material.

Normally, the injector mechanism 8 lies in the same plane 7 as a heater mechanism 11 and perforator or knife assembly 12 which are shown schematically in the figure, although it is not essential that these all lie in the same plane.

These components do not lie on the vertically moveably carriage 1 but are instead moved in and out of operation by pneumatic cylinders. The pneumatic drives are illustrated in the figure by arrows P acting upon the respective gripping means, the injector 8, the heater 11 and injector 12 and a pneumatic drive D acting to move the carriage longitudinally. The pneumatic assembly is not described in detail but will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The heater 11 may comprise any suitable heating mechanism which provides enough heat at a localised (elongate) area to heat well the two parts of the polythene together. It acts in conjunction with knife carriage or perforator assembly 12 so that the heater and the front part 12a of the assembly move together and heat weld a part of the polythene material together and then a perforating assembly extends out to provide perforations within the heat welded area.

The figure also shows the lower grippers 14 which are again pneumatically operated.

In operation, after a film has been placed onto the assembly, the upper grippers 3 first grip and hold the film. Carriage 1 then travels, with grippers 3 and separating structure 4, a pre-set distance downwards. Injection mechanism 8 then moves forward through the hole in the separating guide 4 to inject air, gas or other fluid as desired into the separated parts of the polythene tubing. Lowermost grippers 14 then grip and hold the film. The film is at this stage held between grippers 3 and 14 and is inflated (or partially inflated) between is them to a desired extent. Upper grippers 3 then release and carriage 1 is moved back upwards to its start position, the separator 5 moving generally vertically relative to the polythene which travels relatively around it. The heating mechanism 11 and perforating mechanism 12 then grips, seals and perforates the film. Finally, the lower grippers 14 release the film and the cycle then recommences with a further length of film being drawn down by the grippers 3 to the action of movable carriage 1.

The end result is a continuous sheet of doublesided film which is heat sealed and perforated at spaced intervals along it and is inflated between each heat seal. Individual items can then be obtained by simply tearing them off at the perforations to obtain individual inflated plastics items which may be used for packaging, cushioning, display purposes, as balloons, or other gasor fluid-filled items or for many other uses.

Many other configurations may be used within the dual concepts of the invention.

The machine need not necessarily be disposed vertically but may be disposed at any angle, although it is preferably one which has at least some vertical component such that gravity can assist in the feeding of the film material. The length of the finished articles can be varied by varying the amount of travel of the carriage 1 and the distance between the components. The width is also variable dependent upon the width which can be achieved by the heating element and perforating element, for example. The degree of inflation or filling is also variable at will as is the type of fluid used.

Normally, the fluid will be a gas which is used simply to inflate the articles. For some purposes, this may be a fire-retardant gas such as helium, particularly where the articles are intended for packaging uses. Other types of fluids or indeed liquids may also be used and the fluids may be coloured or may be gasses having solid or powder particles within them to provide an artistic, aesthetic or other effect.

The plastics material may be printed upon, preferably before being operated upon by the machinery, to provide display or other material.

The material may either be wholly or partially filled with the gas or other fluid, or may be of a type which can distend to be inflated.

In one embodiment the carriage moves through a distance of 400 mm in around 2.25 seconds.

Apparatus according to the invention is generally inherently tolerant of varying thicknesses of the film material, so that problems are not caused by small changes in thickness along a roll. This is not true of some existing machines which are very sensitive to different thicknesses, or variations on thicknesses, of material.

Claims (19)

1. Apparatus for manufacturing filled, partially-filled or inflated articles, comprising means for supporting a length of lay flat tubing intended to form the articles, means for feeding the tubing to a position where fluid can be injected into it, and means for maintaining separation between the two layers of the tubing in the vicinity where injection of fluids takes place, comprising a separator freely floating within a guide means such that the two layers pass either side of the separator to allow for insertion of an injection means between them; and means for subsequently forming filled or inflated articles.

2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the separator comprises an elongate member.

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the separator is generally cylindrical in cross-section.

4. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the separator has a reduced diameter portion in the region where the injecting means is inserted between two layers of the tubing.

5. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the separator comprises a plurality of spherical members.

6. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the guide means comprises guide members which define a space in which the separator is floatably located.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the injection means is an injection needle.

8. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising heat sealing means and/or perforation means.

9. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising a gripping mechanism comprising grippers located upstream and/or downstream from the injection and separation apparatus.

10. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the means for maintaining separation is arranged to move into and 10 out of an operating plane along which are disposed operating elements which move into and out of operative positions to act upon the material.

11. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 10, wherein the operating is elements comprise injection means, heat sealing means and a perforation means.

12. A method for forming filled, partially filled or inflated articles from a two layer film, comprising using an apparatus 20 as claimed in any preceding claim.

13. A method as claimed in Claim 12, comprising gripping and holding the film, moving the gripped film a pre-set distance downward so that a portion of it moves into a position where an injection mechanism moves into a space between the film layers formed by the separation member to inject air, gas or other fluid into the separated parts of the film; gripping and holding the film, at two longitudinally separated positions; least partially inflating or filling the film between the gripped portions; heating and perforating the film to grip, seal and perforate the film and forming discrete filled, partially-filled or inflated articles.

14. A method as claimed in Claim 12 or Claim 13, wherein the material used for filling or inflating the layers includes gas, at 1 i liquid or solid particles.

15. An apparatus as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 11, adapted to continually produce items at a desired rate from a source of 5 lay flat tubing material.

16. An apparatus or method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the lay flat tubing or film material is of a plastics material.

17. An apparatus or method as claimed in Claim 16, wherein the material is polythene.

18. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described, with 15 reference to, and as illustrated by, the accompanying drawings.

19. A method of forming filled or partially filled articles substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to the accompanying drawings.