US3358414A

US3358414A - Imprinting device for bag filling apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3358414A
Application number: US548236A
Authority: US
Inventors: Lawrence S Hersh; Leslie A Fish
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1966-05-06
Filing date: 1966-05-06
Publication date: 1967-12-19
Anticipated expiration: 1984-12-19

Description

Dec. 19 1967 s. HERSH ETAL IMPRINTING DEVICE FOR BAG FILLING APPARATUS Filed May 6, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 n INVENTORS I "LAWRENCE .SI HERSH LS'L/E A. FISH ATTORNiZ Dec. 19, 1967 S. HERSH ETAL Filed May 6, 1966 POWER SOURCE POWER SOURCE 3 $heetsSheet 2 42 e4 26 52c 40 84 68 260 30 IO 4 no I I2 22 16 f F/G. 4 J

Dec. 19, 1967 L. s. HERSH ETAL IMPRINTING DEVICE FOR BAG FILLING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 6, 1966 QLAWRENCE s. HERSH LESLIE A. FISH United States Patent 3,358,414 IMPRINTING DEVICE FOR BAG FILLING APPARATUS Lawrence S. Hersh, 483 S. 21st St., Easton, Pa. 18942,

and Leslie A. Fish, 180 Bowers Ave., Phillipsburg, NJ. 08865 Filed May 6, 1966, Ser. No. 548,236 Claims. (Cl. 53-14) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a printing apparatus for a wrapping machine and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method which combines, simultaneously, a printing and wrapping operation.

At the present time the packaging of articles, especially foods, necessitates a price marking on the packaged article at some stage during the packaging process. Usually, this is accomplished by manually stamping the finished packaged article at the place where the packaged articles are displayed for sale. This method of price making is often time-consuming and expensive when considering that relatively large numbers of packaged articles must be individually stamped.

Another method has been lately devised in which the wrapping material for the specific article is stamped with a pricemarking prior tothe wrapping operation. This method presents the problem of providing machinery for a separate printing operation prior to the wrapping operation, as well as the problem of positioning the printed mark on the wrapping medium so that it will be visible on the finished wrapped article.

A primary object, therefore, of this invention is to overcome the above-mentioned obsticles by providing a unique method for printing on packaged articles by combining, simultaneously, the printing and packaging operations.

' Another object of this invention is to provide an imprinting apparatus wherein the printing operation is performed on the packaged article by the packaging apparatus regardless of whether the article is of a hard or soft consistency.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus which automatically and continuously loads material articles into separate flexible bags and which imprints suitable indicia on each bag at the time each bag is being filled.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an apparatus which feeds automatically and continuously a plurality of material articles into separate, flexible bags for each article, each bagging operation being accompanied by an imprinting operation on the filled bag and the two operations being performed in an extremely short time period of less than one second.

Briefly, a preferred embodiment of this invention for carrying out the above-mentioned objects is arranged to cooperate with a stack or pile of packaging bags of poly- 3,358,414 Patented Dec. 19, 1967 ethylene material or the like. Adjacent the stack of bags is a conveyor means for placing the material article into a main scoop member. The topmost bag on the stack is opened by a suitable air jet means allowing the scoop member to be directed into the open bag. The scoop member has associated therewith a movable secondary scoop element which is also directed to the interior of the bag along with the main scoop member. The bag is held open in a taut configuration by expansion of both scoop members involving a relative movement therebetween within the bag. During the time a material article is automatically positioned in the main scoop and the latter is shifted relative to the article which, in turn, is pushed into the opened bag. According to the principle of this invention an imprinting mechanism is connected to the scoop member and is arranged to cooperate therewith by means of a novel linkage. The imprinting mechanism includes a printing member which is caused to shift toward the area of the bag overlying one of the scoop members and imprinting on the same when the scoop members shift to bring the bag over the material article. The imprinting member is then raised from the filling bag while at the same time the scoop members complete their shift during which they effect a relative movement therebetween contracting an amount necessary to allow the scoope member to withdraw from the bag. Once the scoop members and their associated parts have cleared the conveyor means, the printed package is then clear to move along the conveyor means for further handling.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a reading of a specification and drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the apparatus embodied by the principle of this invention;

FIGS. 2-4 are elevational views showing the various stages in the cycle of operation of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the imprinting device shown mounted on one of the scoop members; and

FIG. 6 is a detail view of a portion of the linkage connecting the imprinting device to one of the scoop members.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, there is shown an arrangement of the invention for use with a material article flight conveyor 2 constructed in accordance with well known principles in the art. For purposes of illustration the material has been designated as a loaf of bread 4, but it is understood other kinds of articles may be readily employed where it is customary that such articles be wrapped. The conveyor tray 2 containing the separate loaves of bread 4 is inclined downwardly at its open or mouth end and this inclined portion 6 abuts against a flat table or support member 8. Arranged adjacent one side of the table 8 is a stack of transparent wrapping bags of polyethylene or the like. Each of the bags 10 has at its mouth portion two spaced holes adapted to slide over upstanding pin members 12 and 14. The holes in the bag are very close to the edge thereof which allows each bag to be separated from the pins 12 and 14 with a slight force to break the weakened portion. Adjacent the other side of the table 8 and in alignment with the stack of bags 10 is a lower scoop member 16 which is supported adjacent the table 8 by shaft 18 which can be reciprocated by a known power source such as a motor 20 or the like. The scoop is thus caused to traverse the table area 8 for cooperation with the stacked bags 10 as will be explained more fully below. At the rear portion of the scoop memher there is provided a bracket 22 having a bushing 24 for pivotally supporting an elongated bell crank member 26. The forward or right hand end of the bell crank member 26 is secured to a bracket plate 28 by suitable bolt and screw means. The bracket plate 28 is welded to the top portion of an upper scoop platen member 30, the function of which will be described more fully below.

As best shown in FIG. 5, the bracket plate 28 is provided with two

upstanding plates

32, 34, each of which is provided with a pair of spaced parallel slots 36. A pair of L-shaped support members 40 have their long arms secured to the

plates

32, 34 through the appropriate slots 36 by suitable bolt means. The length of the slots allows the L-shaped members to be adjusted in a vertical direction to vary the distance between the upper scoop and the imprinting device to be described next. The ends of the short arms of the L-shaped members 40 pivotally support the medial portions of a parallel pair of arms 42, respectively, by means of one pair of the several pairs of holes 44. The arms 42 define a bracket member 46, the forward or right hand end of which supports an imprinting device 48 which will be more fully explained below. At the rear remaining end of the bracket 46 a cross piece support 50 connects the members 42. By means of a pivotal linkage the cross piece 50 is connected to bell crank member 26 and the lower scoop 16 for the purpose of providing relative movement between the upper scoop member 30 and the imprinting device 48. Specifically, the linkage comprises a pair of

turn bolts

52a, 52b pivotally secured by suitable extension members 52' to the ends of a bar member 54 which is rotatably supported intermediate its ends in a bracket structure 56 secured to the medial portion of hell crank member 26 by a suitable bracing structure 58 as best shown in FIG. 6. The other ends of the

turn bolts

52a, 52b are pivotally connected by suitable screws to the cross piece 50 and one side of the lower scoop member 16 respectively. The

turn bolts

52a, 52b, together with the bolt means in slots 36 on

plates

32, 34, provide for both a rough and fine adjustment of the distance between the bottom of the imprinting device and the upper scoop member 30. Thus, for a rough adjustment, the bolt means may be appropriately shifted within the slots 36 and for fine adjustments the turnscrews 52 may be employed.

The imprinting device 48 used with this invention is of the type disclosed in applicants copending application Ser. No. 402,804, filed Oct. 9, 1964 and now abandoned, and as a separate structure forms no part of this invention. A complete and detailed description of the imprinting device 48 can be found in applicants copending application above mentioned, thus, for the present purpose, it will suflice to give only a general description. As shown in FIG. 5, a mounting bracket 60 is fixedly secured to one end of member 42 by suitable screw means. Secured in the same manner to one end of member 44 is a somewhat similar mounting plate bracket 62. Together the

mounting plate brackets

60, 62 rotatably support an inking roller 64 by means of the extension members 66. Underlying the inking roller is a suitable guard plate 68. Supported on the top portion of the mounting plate 62 is a rotary solenoid having a shaft element 72 which is rigidly secured to one end of a drive arm 74. The other end of the drive arm 74 is rotatably supported by the medial portion of a rod member 76 which connects the upper ends of two spaced parallel support members 78. The lower ends of these members 78 rotatably support a rod member 80 having a printing wheel 82 rigidly supported thereon. The ends of the rod member 82 extend beyond the dimensions of the support members 78 in order to accommodate suitable ratchet wheel members 84 for selecting various positions of the printing wheel 82. Energization of the solenoid 70 causes the drive arm 74 to rotate about shaft 72 thereby forcing the support member 78 by means of rod member 76 in a downwardly curved direction. The inking wheel 64 being in the path of the moving printing wheel 82 causes the printing wheel to be inked before it reaches the extent of its downward stroke. The printing roller is then returned to its original position by the force of a spring 86 connecting a cross piece member 88 fixedly supported by mounting

plates

60, 62 to the solenoid shaft 72 and causing the latter to rotate opposite to its energized direction.

Rotary movement is imparted to the bell crank member 26 by means of a cam faced gear member 98 as shown in FIGS 2-4. The left hand end 26a of the bell crank 26 is biased by a suitable damping means 100 against the cam surface of the gear 98. It will be seen that a suitable motor M drives the gear 98 which is mechanically connected to a switch actuating member 102 for actuating the switch for the rotary solenoid 70. Further, the shaft 18 is provided with an axial bore 106, as shown in FIGS. 2-4, through which extends a rod member 108 which terminates in a brace or push member 110, the function of which will be explained later. The brace and rod structure move relative to the shaft 18 and for this purpose suitable bearings 112 are provided within the bore 106 to allow the shaft 18 to move with respect to the rod 108.

The operation of the invention is as follows. When the lower scoop member 16 is at its extreme left position as shown in FIG. 2, it is ready to begin a cycle of operation. The topmost bag 10 in the stack adjacent the conveyor 2 is opened by an air jet stream emanating from a port I suitably located adjacent the mouth of the topmost bag. The lower scoop member 16 is then reciprocated by shaft 18 toward the open mouth of the topmost bag 10. While this movement is imparted to the lower scoop member a concomitant rotation is imparted to the cam gear 98 by the motor M causing the bell crank member 26 to pivot about its support 24 in a direction to lower the upper scoop member 30. The upper scoop member 30 moves toward the lower scoop member 16 effecting a scissors movement as indicated by the arrow shown in FIG. 3. While the distance between the upper and lower scoop members is lessened, both members enter the opened bag 10 as shown in FIG. 3. When the

scoop members

16, 30 reach the extent of their travel, the cam gear 98 continues to rotate causing the extension member 26a of the bell crank 26 to rotate in a counter direction about the pivot 24 thereby raising the upper scoop member 30. Both the upper and

lower scoop members

30, 16 then lengthen the distance between them in a scissors movement within the bag causing the same to become taut in its opened position as shown in FIG. 4. At this time the flight conveyor 2 deposits the loaf of bread 4 in the rear portion of the lower scoop member 16. The shaft 18 then reciprocates in the opposite direction, or to the left, bringing the

scoop members

16, 30 with the open bag over the material article 4. While the scoop member 16 is moving to the left, the loaf of bread 4 is, in effect, pushed into the open bag 10 by means of the brace member 106 which is supported by the rod 110 extending through the bore 108 of the shaft 18. The bearings 112 in the bore allow the shaft 18 to reciprocate without affecting the movement of rod 110. The brace member 106 is stationary for a portion of the return movement of the scoop 16, but moves to the right during the latter portion of the operating cycle for pushing the bread 4 into the bag 10.

Before the scoop member 16 has reached its extent of return travel, however, and While the bag 10 is taut around the upper and lower scoop members, which are at their fully expanded position with respect to each other, the entire imprinting device 48 supported by mounting

plates

60, 62 is caused to swing downwardly by reason of the pivoted supporting bracket 46. This latter motion is effected by the

linkage

52a, 52b and 54 connecting the lower scoop 16, the upper scoop 30, the bell crank member 26 and the bracket 46. As shown in FIG. 4, when the upper scoop member 30 is traveling in an upward direction as indicated by the arrow, the bell crank 26 is .5 also traveling in an upward direction about its pivot 24 thus causing the right hand end of the bar 54 to move in the same upward direction relative to the downward direction experienced by the left hand end of the bar 54. This results in the upward movement of the turn bolt 52a against the bracket 46 causing the same to pivot in a clockwise direction about its support 40. The imprinting device on the right hand end of the bracket 46 then moves downward to within a very small distance from the bag 10. As previously mentioned, the distance between the imprinting device 48 andvthe upper scoop 30 can be adjusted by means of the

turn bolts

52a, 52b. The actuating switch 102 is now rotated by the cam gear 98 to a position where it actuates the switch for energizing the rotary solenoid 70 of the imprinting device. This causes the printing roller 82 to be driven downward by the arm 74 past the inking roller 64 to a position in contact with the top of the bag which, at this point, is supported by the upper scoop member 30. Thus, a printing mark indicating price, weight or other appropriate information is made on the bag while the loaf of bread 4 is positioned part way in the bag. With continued rotation of the cam gear 98, the bell crank member 26 is again caused to rotate in an opposite direction about its pivot 24 thereby lowering the upper scoop member 30 and releasing tension on the bag 10. This latter movement also acts on the linkage 52a- 52b and 54 causing the turn bolt 52a to assume a downward direction for imparting a counterclockwise movement to the bracket 46 and raising the imprinting device 48 upwardly away from the bag 10. Thus, both the imprinting device and the upper scoop eflect a scissors movement. The switch actuating member 102 is positioned with respect to the cam gear 98 such that it actuates the solenoid switch after the downward swing of the imprinting device 48 thus assuring firm contact with the bag 10 by the subsequent downward swing of the printing roller 82.

With the upper scoop member 30 now in its lowered position and the imprinting device 48 in its raised position, the lower scoop member 16 continues its return travel withdrawing itself and the upper scoop 30 from the bag 10. During the last phase of the operating cycle the loaf of bread 4 is pushed completely in the bag 10 by force of the forward movement of the brace 106 as previously explained. The filled bag then drops to the table 8 to continue along the conveyor 2 for a subsequent sealing operation.

It has been found that an entire cycle of operation can be effected in less than one second since both the packaging and printing operation are performed by a unitary structure which operatively connects the imprinting device support 46 to the upper and

lower scoop members

30, 16.

It is to be understood that the power source 20, the motor M and the air jet port I will be controlled by suitable control devices known to those skilled in the art for effecting a predetermined sequence of operation.

Although several embodiments of the invention have been depicted and described, it will be apparent that these embodiments are illustrative in nature and that a number of modifications in the apparatus and variations in its end use may be effected without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a bag loading machine comprising means for supporting a stack of flexible bags, means for inflating the topmost bag in said stack, a movable support, a first means carried on said support and penetrating said inflated bag and printing means carried on said support and having a drive means, said drive means responsive to movement of said first means for driving said printing means to imprint said inflated bag when said first means penetrates said inflated bag.

2. In combination, a bag loading machine comprising means for supporting a stack of flexible bags, means for inflating one of a plurality of the flexible bags, a movable support, a first means carried on said support and penetrating said inflated bag and printing means carried on said support having a drive means, said drive means responsive to movement of said first means for driving said printing means to imprint said inflated bag when said first means penetrates said inflated bag.

3. In combination, a bag loading machine comprising means for supporting a stack of flexible bags, means for inflating the topmost bag, a movable support, a pair of scoop members carried on said support, means for driving said members within the interior of said inflated bag, linkage means responsive to said drive means for moving said scoop members relative to each other, and printing means carried on said support having means responsive to movement of said linkage means for imprinting indicia on said inflated bag when said scoop members are in the interior of said bag.

4. In combination, a bag loading machine comprising means for supporting a stack of flexible bags, means for inflating the topmost bag in said stack, a movable support, scoop means carried on said support for penetrating said inflated bag, and power means connecting said scoop means to a printing means, said printing means having means responsive to movement of said power means for imprinting said inflated bag when said scoop means penetrates said inflated bag.

5. In combination, a bag loading machine comprising means for supporting a stack of flexible bags, means for inflating the topmost bag in said stack, a movable support, a pair of scoop members carried on said support, means for driving said scoop members within the interior of said inflated bag, means for holding a material article in one of said scoop members, linkage means responsive to said drive means for moving said scoop members relative to each other to thereby engage the inner surface of said inflated bag, and printing means having means responsive to movement of said linkage means for imprinting indicia on said inflated bag in an area overlying one of said scoop members.

6. In combination, a bag loading machine comprising means for supporting a stack of flexible bags, means for inflating the topmost bag in said stack, a movable support, a pair of scoop members carried on said support, means for moving said scoop members Within the interior of said inflated bag, means for feeding a material article to one of said scoop members, means for holding said material article in said one of said scoop members during movement thereof, and printing means connected to said scoop members, said printing means having means responsive to movement of said scoop members for imprinting indicia on said inflated bag.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein said means responsive to movement of said scoop members includes adjustment means for varying the distance between said printing means and said scoop members.

8. A method for filling flexible bags arranged in a stack comprising the steps of inflating the topmost bag, inserting a scoop means in the opened bag, depositing a material article in said scoop means, holding said article in a stationary position, moving said scoop means to move said bag over said article, and printing indicia on said bag while said scoop means is moving.

9. A method for filling flexible bags arranged in a stack comprising the steps of inflating the topmost bag of said stack supporting the opened bag substantially around the inner surface of said bag with a scoop member, moving said scoop member and said bag supported thereon over a material article, and printing indicia on the outside surface of said bag when said material article is in said bag.

8 10. A method for filling flexible bags arranged in a -References Cited stack comprising the steps of inflating the topmost bag UNITED STATES PATENTS in said stack, supporting the opened bag along a portion 918 497 4/1909 Bates 101426 of the inner surface thereof with a scoop member de- 1870825 8/1932 spragug 101 426 positing a material article in said scoop member, holding 5 2732989 1/1956 Harker X said article in a stationary position, and moving said scoop 2:853:842 8/1958 Vrcdenbu'rg 53 384 member with said bag supported thereon over said article, 3,190,054 6/1965 Arnold et 53 131 printing indicia on the outside surface of said bag over- 3,228,173 1/1966 Reynolds 53 385 lying said scoop member when said article is in said bag, and releasing said scoop member from supporting said 10 TRAVIS MCGEHEE, Primary Examinerba to withdraw said member from said bag. R. L, FARRIS, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

8. A METHOD FOR FILLING FLEXIBLE BAGS ARRANGED IN A STACK COMPRISING THE STEPS OF INFLATING THE TOPMOST BAG, INSERTING A SCOOP MEANS IN THE OPENED BAG, DEPOSITING A MATERIAL ARTICLE IN SAID SCOOP MEANS, HOLDING SAID ARTICLE IN A STATIONARY POSITION, MOVING SAID SCOOP MEANS TO MOVE SAID BAG OVER SAID ARTICLE, AND PRINTING INDICIA ON SAID BAG WHILE SAID SCOOP MEANS IN MOVING.