US2350554A - Apparatus for opening and filling bags - Google Patents

Description

J1me 1944- A c. H. HAR' I'MAN ElAL 2,350,554

APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND FILLING BAGS Original Filed May 2, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet l EARL H. HARTMAN B5 1.1 A. MARSH NBILLE- DDRRINETDN J1me -1944; c. H. HARTMAN ETAL I APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND FILLING BAGS Original Filed May 2, 1939 4 SheetsSheet 2 mom H HA mm 55 Pu-L mm m@ E. y m m a.

J1me 1944- c. H. HARTMAN ETAL 2,350,554

'- APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND FILLING BAGS Original Filed May 2, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 3 m. EARLHHARmm Esu A.MAR5H NBIILLE. DDRRINBTDN Patented June 6, 1944 Carl H. Hartman, New' Rochelle, and Esli A. Marsh and Neill E. Dorrington, Oswego, N. Y., assignors to St. Regis Paper Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application May 2, 1939, Serial No. 271,372; Divided and this application August 14, 1941, Serial No. 406,828

14 Claims. (01. 226 59) This application is a division of prior application Serial No. 271,372, filed May 2, 1939, for Apparatus for opening, filling, and closin bags.

This invention relates to apparatus for opening and filling bags, and has for its main object the provision of apparatus of this character which will quickly and efiiciently open bags to the proper shape and fill them with charges of material.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide apparatus which will quickly open up paper bags or the like to the desired shape and at the same time position them for receiving charges so that the positioning and opening operation takes place simultaneously.

Other details and objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this invention Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus I viewed from the side where the bags are discharged;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus shown inFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig.1.; but viewed from the side where the empty bag is fed to the machine, and being shown on a larger scale;

a the general construction comprises a. base 30 upon which there is mounted bag opening, filling and.

discharge means. There is indicated diagrammaticall a weighing apparatus designated by 33 in position to deliver weighed charges to the successive bags. 1

The bag opening and filling apparatus shown in detail in Figs. 3 to 7, inclusive, comprises a housing 40 mounted upon base 30. Shaft 4| is mounted in suitable bearings within housing 40.-

Said shaft 4| is driven continuously by any suitable means. In the drawings, this means is indicated on Fig. 3 as a driven belt 42 which drives a pulley 43 on shaft 44. Shaft 44 carries a worm 45-driving a wormwheel 46 on countershaft 41.

pers 55.

The countershaft carries a gear 48 in mesh with a gear 49 on shaft 4|.

Mounted upon housing 40 there is a drum 5|] having a conical upward extension 5| carrying a bearing 52 for central shaft 4|. (See Figs. 4 and 5.) The drum carries also a cylindrical member 53 surrounding cone extension 5| and having a cam surface on its top edge, as will be described later.

Mounted near the upper end of shaft 4|, there is a spider 54 carrying annularly arranged hop- (Figs. 2 and 3.) From each hopper there depends a feeding tube and guide 56. A bag clamp 51 reciprocates vertically upon each guide 56. Each clamp is supported and moved by links 58 connecting the clamp to the end of a lever 59 pivoted at 6|) upon sleeves 6| keyed to the central shaft below spider 54. Bracket 62 depends from sleeve BI and provides guides for a vertical rod 63 to operate each lever 59. Near the lower end of each rod, there is fixed a collar 64 carrying a roller 65 which travels on the upper cam surface 66 of member 53. Each lever 59 is provided with slots 61 through which project pins 68 mounted on a collar, not shown, which in turn rests upon a spring 69 confined between the collar to which pins 68 are attached and a collar 10 fastening on the rod 63. Normally the spring maintains-the collar to which pins 68 are attached in contact with collar ll thereabove, which limits the upward movement with respect to rod 63. When roller 65 is at the highest point on the cam, as shown -at the right of Fig. 3, spring 69 is slightly compressed for reasons which will be discussed later.

Each guide 56 consists of a substantially rectangular member comprising four sides, each of which is grooved to provide a guideway 15, as

appears most clearly from Fig. 6. The guide is also provided with a slot 16 at each corner, which slot extends from the bottom of the guide for a distance, and is continued at its outer side by a groove 16*, as shown at the top of Fig. 6.

These slots 76 divide the lower end of the spout into four guide'members which are shaped and spaced so as to fully spread the bottom of a bag raised thereabout.

Each clamp comprises a rectangular slidell having a projection 18 fitting within each slideway 15. Projecting from the sides of the slide 11, as clearly shown in Figs. 6 and 8, there are brackets 19 and 80 carrying rockshafts 8| and 82 to which are attached spring clamping members 83 and 84 adapted to press the upp r end of a bag against the adjacent members 18, as clearly around the bag ment without injury to the bag.

appears irom Figs. 4, 5 and a. Rockshaft al carries a trip member 85 which is connected by a link 88 to an arm 81 on shaft .02. During the rotation of the spider and the parts carried thereby, trip 85 comes in contact with an abutment member 88, as indicated on'Fig. 4; and forces the clamps upward out of clamping position.

Depending members 90,

from clamp slide 11 there are four one sliding in each corner slot 18, and the continuing groove 16'. The lower ends of these members are bent inward, as indicated at ill and join at a central point 92. 1

The operation of the bag opening and means described above is as follows:

An empty bag is raised so that point 52 enters the mouth of the bag. The top of the bag is then raised and as it rises is spread out in rectangular form by the spreading lower ends 9| of the members 92. This opens up the top of the bag in rectangular form so that it slides upward guide and is inserted between clamping members 83, 84 and the adjacent slide members 18. This operation is carried out at filling the central position shown on Fig. 3 and is shown at the left in Fig. 4. As the spider continues to rotate, roller 65 travels upward upon cam surface 68 and raises lever 59 and clamp 51. This continues until the bottom. of the bag is brought up against the lower rectangular end of guide 56, as shown at the right of Fig. 5. It will be seen that in this way the bag is fully opened out so that it is rectangular in cross-section from top to bottom. Slots I6 extend upward far enough to allow the inwardly slanting portions 9! to pass therethrough in this raised position, the straight portions 90 being received by grooves 16*.

Preferably, there is a slight upward movemen of lever 59 after the bottom of the bag reaches the bottom of the guide 56, the clamps yielding enough to permit this continued upward move- If preferred, the clamps may be arranged to grip the bag tightly enough so that there will be no slipping at this point, in which case spring 59 yields when the bottom of the bag reaches the bottom of guide 562 By the time that the bag has reached the position in which it is shown at the right of Fig. 5, theassociated hopper 55 has reached a position beneath the discharge outlet 95 of the weighing device and by suitable means, not shown, the weighing device is timed to deliver a weighed charge of material into the hopper while it is passing beneath the spout 95. It will be readily seen that the material passes immediately downward through guide so into the bag and is lowered with the bag as roller S5 rolls down the cam 66 towards the position in which it is shown at the right of Fig. 4. As previously indicated, the trip 85 is contacted so as to release the bag and drop it from the guide as it moves past member 88, the bag being received by a conveyor disclosed in said parent application, but forming no part of the present invention. The clamp is then raised to bring point 92 above the top of the bag, as shown in the central position of the the bag into the desired rectangular cross-section throughout its length is accomplished automatically and the bag is filled immediately upon the completion of the spreading operation and the material enters the bag throughout its length while the bagis maintained in its re tangular cross-sectional shape. The bag is then automatically released and discharged simultaneously with the completion of the lowering of the charge into the bag and with the bag.

What we claim is:

'1. Apparatus for opening and filling bags comprising vertical guide members, a bag clamp movable vertically of said guide members and adapted to clamp the top of a bag, bag opener members attached to the clamp at their upper ends, fitting between the guide members, and bent to a common center at their lower ends.

2. Apparatus for opening and filling bags comprising vertical guide members, a bag clamp movable vertically of said guide members and adapted to clamp the top of a bag, bag opener members attached to the clamp at their upper ends, fitting between the guide members, and

bent to a common center at their lower ends, and means to deliver filling material between the guide members. 7

3. Apparatus for opening and filling bags comprising a hopper, spaced guide members depending below the'hopper, a bag clamp movable vertically outside of said members, and bag opening members attached to the clamp, passing inward between the guide members and downward to a common center.

4. Apparatus for opening and filling bags comprising a'hopper, spaced guide members depending below the hopper, a bag clamp movable vertically outside of said members, and bag opening members attached to the clamp, passing inward between the guide members and downward to a common center below the lower ends of the guide members when the clamp is in its lowest position and as high as the lower ends of the guide members when the clamp is in its highest 1 bottom of the bag to filled shape when the clamp is raised.

guides in Fig. 1 and at the left of Fig. 5, where- 6. Apparatus for opening and filling bags comprising a hopper, a vertical guide tube below and in position to receive material from the hopper and having a vertical slit therein, a clamp slidable vertically around said tube, and a bag opener flaring upwardly and comprising a member attached "to the bag clamp at its upper end and fitting in said slit.

7. Apparatus for opening-and fillingbags comprising a hopper, a vertical guide tube below and in position to receive material from the hopper and having a vertical slit therein, a clamp slidable vertically around said tube, and a bag opener flaring upwardly and comprising a member attached to the bag clamp at its upper end and fitting in said slit, the lower end of the tube havtapering downward.

ing the shape of the fully opened bottom of the bag to be filled.

8. Apparatus for opening and filling bags comprising a hopper, a guide depending from the hopper and terminating in four members shaped and spaced to form a rectangular spout with a vertical slit at each comer, a bag clamp slidable vertically outside of said spout, members at-- tached to the clamp at their upper ends, fitting within said slits, and extending downward and inward to a common-point.

10. Apparatus for opening and filling bags comprising an annular series of hoppers, afilling spout, means to rotate the hoppers beneath the spout, means to discharge filling material into each hopper as it passes beneath said spout, a guide spout depending from each hopper, a bag clamp movable vertically about each guide spout, and a bag opener attached to the clamp and tapering downward, the guide spout having a vertical slit therein and the upper end of the bag opener fitting through said slit.

11. Apparatus for opening and filling bags comprising an annular series of hoppers, a filling spout, means to rotate the hoppers beneath the spout, means to discharge filling materialinto each hopper as it passes beneath said spout, a guide spout depending from each hopper, a bag clamp movable vertically about each guide spout,

and a bag opener attached to the clamp and tapering downward, the guide spout having a vertical slit therein and the upper end of the bag opener fitting through said slit, and means to raise the clamp to bring the lower end of the opener as high as the bottom of the guide spout as soon as the hopper associated therewith receives material from said filling spout.'

12. Apparatus for opening and filling bags comprising an annular series of hoppers, a filling spout, means to rotate the hoppers beneath the spout, means to discharge filling material into each hopper as it passes beneath said spout, a

guide spout depending from each hopper, a bag clamp movable vertically about each guide spout, and a bag opener attached to the clamp and tapering downward, the guide spout having a vertical slit therein and the upper end of the bag opener fitting through said slit, means to release the clamp at a point beyond the charging position, and means to raise and lower said clamp timed to lower the clamp with the opener extending below the guide spout as the guidespout approaches charging position, to raise the clamp so the lower end of the opener is as high as the bottom end of the guide spout by the time chargv ing position is reached, and to thereafter lowe the clamp to releasing position.

13. Apparatus for opening and. filling bags.

comprising an annular series of hoppers, a filling spout, means to rotate the hoppers beneath the spout, means to discharge filling material into each hopper as it passes beneath said spout, a

guide spout depending from each hopper, a. bag clamp movable vertically abouteach guide spout, and a bag opener attached to the clamp and tapering downward, the guide spout having a vertical slit therein and the upper end of the bag opener fitting through said slit, means to release the clamp at a point beyond the charging position, and means to raise and lower said clamp timed to lower the clamp withthe opener extending below the guide'spout as the guide spout approaches charging position, to raise the clamp the lower end of the opener is as high as the bottom end of the guide spout by the time charging position is reached, and to thereafter lower the clamp to releasing position to raise the clamp and filled bag, and means to release the lowered clam'p.

CARL H. HARTMAN. ESLI A. MARSH.

NEILL E. DORRINGTON.

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