US3271928A

US3271928A - Packer grid

Info

Publication number: US3271928A
Application number: US297248A
Authority: US
Inventors: Anton J Wild
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1963-07-24
Filing date: 1963-07-24
Publication date: 1966-09-13
Anticipated expiration: 1983-09-13

Description

PACKER GRID Filed July 24, 1963 2 Sheets-$heet 1 vwza x Q By WW ATTOR NEV A. J. WILD PAGKER GRID Sept. 13, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 24, 1963 INVENT HN TON J. lV/LD By W5 TZQZNEY United States Patent 3,271,928 PACKER GRID Anton J. Wild, 968 Bonnell Court, Union, NJ. Filed July 24, 1963, Ser. No. 297,248 8 Claims. (Cl. '53248) This invention relates to packer grids and is particularly directed to novel finger means for use in packer grids of the type described in Patent No. 3,061,820, issued May 1, 196 2, to Herman P. Schulze and Anton J. Wild.

Packer grids are employed in packaging machines, such as those shown and described in Patents Nos. 2,701,085, 2,727,664 and 2,753,673 to conduct and guide bottles into a crate or carton from equipment which serves to move the bottles into a predetermined arrangement. The packer grid generally embodies members arranged in crossed relation to form bottle guiding channels and is provided with yieldable fingers which extend downward at the sides of the channels to guide and retard the movement of the bottles as they pass through the grid from the arranging mechanism to the cartons or crates. Unfortunately, the fingers of the packer grid sometimes tend to wear and may become broken or bent in such a way as to engage dividers in the crate or carton causing injury to the carton or bottles. This problem is troublesome when the cartons are formed of light cardboard or other flexible material or when the dividers for any reason are not accurately positioned to receive the bottle guiding fingers. Moreover, the problem is quite serious since the fingers of the prior art packer grids have not been readily replaceable; and it has been necessary heretofore in order to replace broken or damaged fingers, to dismantle a substantial portion of the packaging equipment. This entails considerable down time for the packaging equipment and has been an extremely costly operation.

These disadvantages of the prior art are overcome with the present invention and novel packer grid fingers are provided which are quickly and easily replaceable Without dismantling the packaging equipment. Moreover, the fingers of the present invention are mounted in a manner which permits a limited amount of lateral movement of the fingers. This facilitates movement of the fingers into the corners of the bottle receiving areas of the cartons or crates and permits greater flexibility of the fingers for accommodating dividers which are not accurately positioned.

The advantages of the present invention are preferably attained Iby providing novel structure and mounting means for packer grid fingers whereby the fingers are formed with a neck portion of reduced width and having a recess adjacent the upper end of said neck portion which is engageable by a resiliently biased pivot member to releasably secure the finger to the packer grid. In addition, guide means are provided to assist the pivot member in releasably securing 'the finger to the packer grid and to restrict the lateral movement of the finger to predetermined limits.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improved fingers for packer grids.

A further object of the present invention is to provide improved fingers for packer grids which are replaceable without substantial dismantling of the packaging equipment.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide improved fingers for packer grids which are readily and easily replaceable without requiring substantial down time of the packaging equipment.

A specific object of the present invention is to provide novel fingers for packer grids having neck portions of 3,271,928 Patented Sept. 13, 1966 reduced diameter and formed with a recess adjacent the upper end of said neck portion, together with resiliently biased pivot means engageable with said recess to releasably secure said finger to said packer grid, and guide means for assisting said pivot member in releasably securing said finger to said packer grid and for restricting lateral movement of said finger to predetermined limits.

These and other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a typical form of packer grid embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the packer grid shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective View showing a preferred method of mounting the packer grid fingers of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a View, partly in section, taken on the line 44 of FIG. 3.

In that form of the present invention chosen for purposes of illustration in the drawings, the packer grid embodies a frame comprising side plates 2 and end plates 4 secured together in any suitable way to form a frame of the desired size for positioning bottles in a carton or crate. A plurality of strips 6 extend parallel to the side plates 2 in equally spaced relation to divide the frame into a desired number of rows of bottle receiving channels, as indicate-d at 8. The bottle receiving channels 8 are defined by the downwardly and inwardly inclined flexible fingers 10 mounted on suitable supporting blocks 12 which are secured at equally spaced locations on the side plates 2, end plates 4 and strips 6.

The supporting blocks 12 are preferably formed with a cross-section defining a right triangle having the fingers 10 mounted on the equal sides thereof. Moreover, the blocks 12 are preferably tapered upwardly and outwardly and are secured to the

grid plates

2 and 4 and the strips 6 by bolts 14 or other suitable means. In this way, the fingers 10 are positioned substantially at right angles to each other, as seen in FIG. 2, and are caused to project downwardly and inwardly, as seen in FIG. 1.

The fingers 10 are secured to the supporting blocks 12 by means of mounting brackets 16, as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. Each of the mounting brackets 16 is formed of a substantially straight rigid strip 18 of metal or other suitable material and is attached to the associated supporting block 14 by means of screws 20 or the like which also serve to retain a resilient member, such as spring 22, that extends generally parallel to the strip 18. As best seen in FIG. 4, the fingers 10 are formed of a strip of resilient material, such as nylon, having a body portion 24 and a neck portion 26 of lesser width than the body portion 24 and having a recess 28 provided adjacent the upper end of the neck portion 26. Each of the fingers 10 is carried by a respective one of the mounting brackets 16 and are releasably attached thereto by means of a pivot member 30 mounted in any suitable manner on the spring 22 and engageable with the recess 28 in the neck portion 26 of the finger 10. As best seen in FIG. 4, the attachment of the fingers 10 provided by engagement of pivot member 30 in recess 28 is somewhat pendulous and guide means 32 are preferably provided adjacent the lower extremity of strip 18 of the mounting bracket 16 to receive the neck portion 26 of the finger 10 and the lower end of spring 22. The guide means 32 serves to guide the neck portion 26 of the finger 10 to facilitate attachment and removal of the finger 10 and also limits the lateral movement of the finger 10, as indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 4.

With the apparatus thus described, the fingers 10 function during the packing operation to guide bottles from the arranging apparatus into the cartons or crates in substantially the same manner as the fingers of prior art packer grids. However, due to their pendulous attachment, the fingers 16 of the present invention are capable of substantial lateral movement and, consequently, can accommodate cartons or crates which are inaccurately positioned with respect to the packer grid. This has not been possible with the devices of the prior art. Moreover, in the event that one of the fingers 19 becomes broken or bent, the operator can quickly and easily replace the damaged finger by depressing spring 22 so as to cause pivot member 30 to become disengaged from recess 28 of the finger 10, and the finger 10 will then drop out due to gravity or may readily be withdrawn. T insert a new finger, the operator merely places the neck portion 26 of the new finger in the guide means 32 with the recess 28 facing toward spring 22 and shoves the finger upward until spring 22 urges pivot member 30 into the recess 28 of the new finger. Obviously, such replacement can be accomplished in a matter of seconds and requires no dismantling of the packaging apparatus. Consequently, the down time of the packaging apparatus required for finger replacement is virtually eliminated, and the expense of such replacement is negligible.

Obviously, numerous variations and modifications may be made Without departing from the present invention. Accordingly, it should be clearly understood that the form of the invention described above and shown in the figures of the accompanying drawing is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A packer grid for guiding articles from an assembly device to a container in a packaging machine, said packer grid comprising a generally rectangular frame, strips of material extending in equally spaced relation parallel to and between opposite sides of said frame, a plurality of elongated finger members formed of resilient material and arranged in positions wherein the inwardly facing surfaces thereof cooperate to define passages for guiding articles moving through the packer grid, supporting blocks secured to said frame and strips and presenting inwardly facing surfaces inclined upwardly and outwardly with respect to said passages, means engaging the upwardly and outwardly inclined surfaces of said supporting blocks and the upper portions of said finger members to hold said finger members in said cooperative positions, said finger members having lower portions thereof extending downwardly and inwardly below said supporting blocks, and resilient means secured to said supporting blocks and bearing against outwardly facing surfaces of the finger members for yieldably urging the lower portions of the finger members inwardly toward said passages.

2. A packer grid as defined in claim 1 wherein said resilient means extend downwardly below said supporting blocks and bear against the finger members at points below the supporting blocks.

3. A packer grid as defined in claim 1 wherein said finger members are pivotally movable about their point of support and with respect to said supporting blocks upon engagement of an article or receptacle with the lower end portions of the finger members.

4. A packer grid for guiding bottles from an assembly device to a container in a packaging machine, said grid comprising a rectangular frame, strips of material extending in equally spaced relation parallel to opposite sides of said frame, a plurality of elongated. finger members formed of resilient material, a plurality of supporting blocks mounted at equally spaced positions on said frame and said strips, at least one mounting bracket secured to each of said blocks and formed of a strip of rigid material, a strip of resilient means secured between said bracket and said block and extending generally parallel to said bracket, and means urged by said resilient means and engageable with one of said fingers to releasably secure said one of said fingers to said grid.

5. A packer grid for guiding bottles from an assembly device to a container in a packaging machine, said grid comprising a rectangular frame, strips of material extending in equally spaced relation parallel to opposite sides of said frame, a plurality of elongated finger members formed of resilient material and having a body portion and a neck portion, a recess formed in said neck portion, a plurality of supporting blocks mounted at equally spaced positions on said frame and said strips, at least one mounting bracket secured to each of said blocks and formed of a strip of rigid material, a strip of resilient means secured between said bracket and said block and extending generally parallel to said bracket, and means urged by said resilient means and engageable with the recess in the neck portion of one of said fingers to releasably secure said one of said fingers to said grid.

6. A packer grid for guiding bottles from an assembly device to a container in a packaging machine, said grid comprising a rectangular frame, strips of material extending in equally spaced relation parallel to opposite sides of said frame, a plurality of supporting blocks mounted at equally spaced positions on said frame and said strips, said blocks being generally right triangular in cross-section and having at least one upwardly and outwardly inclined surface, a mounting bracket secured to said surface and formed of a strip of rigid material, a strip of resilient means secured between said bracket and said surface and extending generally parallel to said bracket, an elongated finger member formed of resilient material and having a body portion and a neck portion with a recess formed in said neck portion, and means urged by said resilient means and engageable with said recess to resiliently secure said finger to said grid.

7. Means for releasably securing fingers in a packer grid, said means comprising a supporting block mounted on said grid, said 'block having at least one upwardly and outwardly tapered surface, a mounting bracket secured to said surface, said bracket being formed of a substantially straight rigid strip of material, a strip of resilient material secured between said bracket and said block and extending generally parallel to said bracket, and means carried by said resilient means and engageable with a packer finger to releasably secure said finger to said grid.

8. Apparatus for releasably securing fingers on a packer grid, said means comprising a supporting block mounted on said grid, said block having at least one upwardly and outwardly inclined surface, a mounting bracket secured to said surface and formed of a strip of substantially straight strip of rigid material, a strip of resilient material secured between said bracket and said surface and extending generally parallel to said bracket, means carried by said resilient means and engageable with a packer finger to releasably grip said finger between said resilient means and said bracket while permitting lateral movement of said finger, and guide means carried by bracket to restrict lateral movement of said finger.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,031,820 5/1962 Schulze et al 53-247 FRANK E. BAILEY, Primary Examiner. R. L. FARRIS, Assistant Examiner.