US3859896A

US3859896A - Vertical carton erector

Info

Publication number: US3859896A
Application number: US347494A
Authority: US
Inventors: Herman Dewitt Mims
Original assignee: D&B Machine Co
Current assignee: D&B Machine Co
Priority date: 1973-04-03
Filing date: 1973-04-03
Publication date: 1975-01-14
Anticipated expiration: 1992-01-14

Abstract

Vertical carton erecting machine of the stationary diereciprocable plunger type. Feed arms are carried adjacent to the die to move to a blank hopper and directly pull a flat carton blank onto the top of the die in carton erecting position.

Description

United states Patent 1191 Mims Jan. 14, 1975 [54] VERTICAL CARTON ERECTOR 3,029,712 4/1962 Dunn 93/51 R 3,067,654 12/1962 Nichols 93/51 R [75] lnvenwr- Herman DewmM'ms1Chaflmte1 3,348,457 10/1967 Wainberg 93/51 R 3,376,796 4/1968 Gordon 513/51 R Assigneez D and B Machine o p y Scace R Charlotte NC. 3,429,236 2/1969 Randles, Jr. 93/51 R [22] Filed: Apr. 3, 1973 Primary ExaminerGranville Y. Custer, Jr. 21 APPL 347 494 Assistant ExaminerJames F. Coan Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Sughrue, Rothwell, Mion, Zinn & Macpeak [52] U.S. Cl. 93/51 R, 93/53 LF [51] int. Cl 1331b 1/50 [58] Field 01 Search 93/51 R, 53 LP, 53 SD, ABSTRACT 93/49 R1 53 R Vertical carton erecting machine of the stationary diereciprocable plunger type. Feed arms are carried adja- [56] References cued cent to the die to move to a blank hopper and directly UNITED STATES PATENTS pull a flat carton blank onto the top of the die in car- 2,521,996 9/1950 Ray et al 93 53 LF t n t ng position. 2,919,633 l/1960 Pierce, .lr. 911/51 R v 2,950,657 8/1960 Margetts 93/51 R x V 13 Chums, 8 Dmwmg I I 1 N84 PATENTEDJAN 1 4:975

'SHEEI 3 BF 4 FATE N TE JAN 1 4 I975 SHEET 4 OF 4 VERTICAL CARTON ERIEC'IOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Devices are known in the prior art to fold and interlock foldable sections of a flat carton blank to form an erected carton suitable as a container for numerous materials. One broad class of carton erecting machines are of the vertical die and plunger type. In general, a reciprocable plunger moving through an up and down cycle in a vertical plane forces a flat carton blank through a forming die open at both top and bottom. The sides of the die, whether stationary or movable in whole or in part, fold the side and end panels of the blank around the moving plunger as the plunger passes downwardly through the die, thereby erecting the side and end panels in relationship to the bottom of the box.

Today, where usable for the ultimate containing function, a glueless, interlocking carton will be preferred. Foldable corner lock flaps, each having a tab insertable into a cooperating slit located in an adjacent erected panel, are folded by the cooperating die and plunger, with the last erecting function of the apparatus usually being the locking of the tab into its cooperating slit. This is usually accomplished by movable parts on the die and/or plunger which push or pull the tab through the insertion slot. With erection complete, the carton is stripped off the plunger as it changes direction and passes upwardly, back through the die. The carton will then be forwarded to the next step in an integrated packaging operation.

In order to be able to erect carton blanks rapidly and repeatedly in an accurate fashion, an auxilliary carton blank reservoir with cooperating blank feeder is required. The feeder apparatus must precisely place each carton blank, one at a time, onto the top of the die. Blank alignment, if not accomplished within narrow limits, will result in imperfect erection; that is, side and- /or end panels will not be folded along the preset fold lines and/or locking tabs will not be positioned correctly to slip through the cooperating slits.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved vertical carton erector.

More particularly it is an object of this invention to provide a vertical carton erector including improved blank feeding and positioning means.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a vertical carton erector of the die and pluger type capable of rapid and reproducible erections of cartons of the glueless, corner interlocking type.

Another object of the invention is to accomplish the above using the most direct feeding procedure possible, and where desirable said feeding procedure and accompanying apparatus allowing unusually precision alignment of the carton blank on the forming die without the aid of guide or carton positioning pins on the upper surface of the die.

Other objects of the invention, such as insuring constant pressure advancement of the carton blanks, will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description of the invention hereinbelow in relationship to the drawing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vertical carton erector including stationary forming die and reciprocable plunger, said erector comprising at least one carbon blank feed arm positionable at a first at-rest station adjacent to and in the same or lower plane as that of the top or carton positioning surface of the die and at a second blank supply station, said arm advancing from said first station to said second station where it engages a carton blank and then carries the blank as it returns to said first station to deposit the blank in correct alignment along the carton positioning surface of the die. After the carton has been erected and the plunger has passed upwardly back through the die, the at least one feed arm deposits the next carton blank. In this manner, the feed arm moves from a position adjacent to the top of the die, engages the underside or bottom (portion of the blank which will become the outside of the bottom of the carton after erection) of the blank and pulls it downwardly until the blank is placed on the die. In preferred embodiments of the invention, there are at least two feed arms each pivotally attached by one end thereof at aligned pivot points on themachine frame, said arms carrying carton blank engaging means on their upper surfaces and rotating in synchronization through an arc of a circle upwardly from a first at-rest position to grip the underside of a carton blank at a blank reservoir by means of the blank engaging means (such as one ormore suction cups), ,then reversing direction and rotating in synchronization back to said first position which is predetermined in cooperating with the positionment of the blank at the reservoir to leave the blank in desired alignment for erection on the die upon deactivation of the blank. engagement means. In other preferred embodiments of the invention, the cooperating die and plunger are adapted to erect a carton of the insertable tab-slot locking type and to that end the die includes stationary carton side panel abutment guides which pressure open said slots, while the plunger includes inwardly reciprocating knife edges positioned to engage the outside of end panel tabs and push said tabs through their associated slots into locking configuration when moved inwardly by means of an automatic camming action caused by passage of the male plunger forming head through the female die.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 of the drawing is a plan view of an interlocking carton erectable by means of the vertical carton erector depicted in the remaining figures of the drawing.

FIG. 2 of the drawing is a side view of the carton erector and associated carton blank feeding mechanism.

FIG. 3 of the drawing is a top partial plan view of the die and cooperating plunger of the carton erector with an end section of the carton of FIG. 1 shown positioned on the die in dotted lines.

FIG. 4 of the drawing is a partial front view of the carton erector of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 of the drawing is a partial side view of the erector of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 of the drawing is an end sectional view of the erector of FIG. 2 taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 of the drawing depicts one form of constant pressure carton feed hopper usable with the erector of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 of the drawing depicts in cross-sectional detail the positive chain and sprocket, arid two-clutch mechanism of the carton feed hopper of FIG. 7 of the draw- In the drawing the same element numbers represent like parts in each of the figures in which they are used.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE DRAWING The carton of FIG. I is of the well-known tab-slot interlocking type used in many different industries, for example to enclose bakery goods. The central area 2 of the carton 100 which is defined by fold lines 4, 6, 8 and 10, becomes the bottom of the erected carton. Opposed

side panels

12 and 14, and opposed

end panels

16 and 18 are shown hinged to the central panel 2 at the above mentioned fold lines. For purposes of forming a generally rectangular carton, the side panels are shown longer than the end panels, but of course the reverse may be or all panelscould be of the identical length. Each end panel has an end flap attached to each of its side edges. For example, end 16 has

flaps

20 and 22 attached to it by means of

edges

24 and 26, which then become

fold lines

24 and 26. The same is true for end 18 and its

respective end flaps

28 and 30, which are attached thereto, respectively by

fold lines

32 and 34.

The fold lines above mentioned may be of the cut and scored type as is conventional for allowing ease of folding along a given predetermined line. Additionally,

fold lines

24 and 32 are either aligned with, or preferably paralleled and slightly offset outwardly with respect to the fold line 6 to compensate for the thickness of the sheet material in the folding operation, as is customary in the art. A similar sort of situation will exist as to fold

lines

26 and 34 relative to fold line 10.

Each side panel of the carton 100 toward each end thereof has three connected

slits

40, 42 and 44 which combine to form a slot 50. Each end flap includes a tab 52 to be inserted through the adjacent slot 50to form a corner lock during carton erection. As will be more fully explained hereinafter, during carton erection tabs 52 are pushed inwardly through slots 50. Because the uppermost tips 54 of tabs 52 are higher than slits 44 in erected condition, once the tabs 52 are fully displaced through the slots 50, they engage the inside of the body of each side panel above the slots and are not easily dislodged back through the slots. The folding and locking process of this type of carton is well known to those skilled in the art.

Turning to FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawing, there is seen erector 60 with associated blank hopper and feed mechanism 62.

With particular reference to FIG. 2, there is shown a I vertical carton erector 60, carrying on its frame 61 a stationary female die 64 and movable plunger 66, said plunger being vertically reciprocable by means of at tachment to movable shaft 68. The shaft and die are attached through

means

63 and 65, not shown in detail, to the frame of the erector. Operatively positioned to the die and plunger is a blank carton hopper, generally indicated at 70, and forming part of feed mechanism 62. A stack of carton blanks 72 is placed in the hopper, on edge, selected in correct positionment to correspond to the die position when transferred thereto in the manner herein described. The uppermost parts of the cartons rest against carton stop 74 while the bottom edges rest on floor 76 and chain 78. Hopper pusher 80 rests on chain 78 and is carried thereby to advance the stack of cartons. The front, bottom-most part of the stack rests against movable roller 82, the function of which in association with chain 78 is described in greater detail in relationship to FIG. 7.

The carton blanks are arranged in the carton hopper so that the undersides of the bottom panels (which will become the outside of the erected carton) face downwardly toward the die. A pair of

feed arms

84 and 86 are shown in their rest position to either side of the die. Both feed arms are attached to shaft 88, which is rotatable by means not shown about a fixed longitudinal axis. Each feed arm carries two

vacuum suction cups

90 and 92 which would be connected through appropriate tubing to a single vacuum pump. A vacuum release valve, also not shown, would be positioned in the tubing in known manner.

As is best illustrated by FIG. 4, the top surfaces of the feed arms are in planar alignment with the top surface of the forming head or die when the feed arms are in rest position. Thus, upon vacuum release, the carton blank is in position for erection by the cooperating forming head and plunger. As soon as the carton has been erected and the plunger has passed upwardly back through the forming head to its uppermost position, or at least high enough so that it does not interfere with a descending carton blank, the feed arms are pivoted in unison about their common shaft until their vacuum cups engage the bottom-most carton blank in the hopper. The vacuum release valve has been closed and upon reversal of the rotation of the shaft, the feed arms directly pull a carton blank down onto the forming head. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 the feed arms are shown reciprocal through about a degree angle of rotation.

FIGS. 3 and 6 depict in detail the plunger and die including the elements thereof which cooperate to erect and interlock the side and end panels of the carton. Carton guides may be employed projecting upwardly at each corner of the die to assist in correct alignment of the blank on the die by the feed arms. One such guide is shown at the lower right hand corner of FIG. 3 as vertical post 94.

One of the engineering advantages and market improvements resulting from the instant invention, particularly the feed arm arrangement, is that guides such as stop 94, as well as other guiding arrangements such as slots along the top of the die to align the outer edges of the side and end panels, are unnecessary. The direct, pivotal movement of the feed arms, not involving turning the blank over or complicated multi-joint connections, repeatedly places the carton blank directly on the forming head in correct registration in precisely the identical position time after time. With prior art machines, frictional contact between carton and guides has been known to be sufficient to damage peripheral blank portions and/or to prevent free movement of the blank through the erection process problems which can be avoided with the feed arm arrangement disclosed herein.

FIG. 3 of the drawing depicts one side of the die and plunger, top view, it being understood that the other side of the shown apparatus, to the left of the figure, would be a mirror image thereof. FIG. 6 is a sectional side view of cooperating die and plunger elements which lock the tab of the end panel into the corresponding side panel slot.

With particular reference to FIG. 3, the end panels of the carton blank are erected in known manner through the use of an abutment surface, generally indicated at 96, along the end portion of the die. Surface 96 may cooperate with or be part of folding bar 98 pivotally mounted at its base. In rest position folding bar 98 lies on its side due to tension exerted by spring 101, the other terminus of which is connected to mount 102. An edge of bottom 104 of plunger 66 is registered to press down on the inside surface of the fold bar by fractionally overlapping it, causing the fold bar to press the end panel into full upright condition against the side of the plunger as the plunger passes through the die.

Each side of the die consists of a single secondary guide 106 positioned between two camming surfaces 108. Primary guides 110 are angled outwardly from each camming surface toward the respective ends of the die to a point at least beyond the end of the plunger, preferably completely overlapping each fold bar 98.

Turning to FIG. 6, each camming surface 108 consists of an upper inwardly inclined camming surface 112 which leads to a vertical surface 114. With reference to the plunger, there is shown a knife holder 116 sitting in cavity 134. The knife holder consists of a frame portion 123 having a head section 126, a middle section 128 and a base section 130. There is a freely rotatable roller 118 journaled into the head 126 and a projecting knife 120 carried by the middle section 128. Frame 124 can be pivoted inwardly from its base 130 around shaft 132. Spring 122 is of the compressible type which allows the knife holder to be pivotably forced into cavity 134 by external pressure. The spring returns the knife holder to the position shown in FIG. 6 upon the removal of such pressure.

The erection and interlocking of a side and an end panel of a carton blank of the type depicted in FIG. 1 by the plunger and die arrangement of FIGS. 3 and 6 will now be described. The upper surface of the secondary guide, which is slightly raised as compared with the upper surface of the primary guide, which in turn is higher than end panel abutment surface 96, initiates folding of the side panel about its fold line. Approximately simultaneously therewith, but fractionally later, folding of the end panel about its fold line is initiated by abutment surface 96. As the side panel is erected, the primary guide, the inside portion adjacent the camming surface being closer to the plunger than the secondary guide (that is, offset inwardly as compared to the secondary guide) pushes the section of the side panel between the camming surface and the end of the plunger inwardly. As seen best by FIG. 3, the portion of the side panel between the slot and panel edge is the panel area displaced inwardly by the primary guide, thereby opening the insertion slot. It should be noted that the center portion of the side panel is not dis-' placed. Because the primary guide extends beyond the end of the plunger, it initiates folding of the end flap of the end panel about its fold line. As this occurs the angled surface of the primary guide guides the end falp along the outside of the side panel toward the slot. As is shown most clearly in FIG. 3, edge 136 of the knife 120 juts outwardly slightly more than the innermost portion of the primary guide. Through predetermined registration, as the fold bar completes the erection of the end panel, the tab of the end flap is guided by the primary guide to a position just to the inside of the knife edge, which by this time is jutting slightly out of the side panel slot. By this time in the carton erection process, the plunger has been lowered to a point where the knife holder roller is gliding along inclined surface 112. As the roller reaches vertical surface 114, frame 124 pivots into cavity 134, carrying with it the knife edge which, in turn, pushes the end flap tab through the side panel slot into interlocking engagementtherewith.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate one type of positive feed, constant pressure hopper blank advancement system, including an improved back-up preventive two clutch drive feature. The bottom (lower) edges-of the carton blanks rest on chain 78. The carton blanks advance partly by gravity, since they are tilted downwardly, but mainly by pressure exerted by hopper pusher which, along with the bottom edges of the'carton blanks, frictionally engages the top surface of'chain 78. The chain is advanced by ratchet 142 and associated pawl mechanism 14 acting in response to pressure roller 82. Roller v82 moves along the frontbottom surface of the hopper in response to the combined pressure exerted thereon by the stacked cartons and the hopper pusher. The amount of pressure required to move the roller is determined by the degree of tension exerted by spring 146 on finger 148 which is attached to shaft 150 on-which roller 82 is freely mounted. The other end of the spring is mounted on rear plate 152 having a curved lower surface 154 upon which a cam roller 1180 rides for each reciprocation of the feed arms. The cam roller will be at the top of the curved lower surface when the feed arms are at the hopper and will return to the position shown when the feed arms have returned to their rest position adjacent to the die. Since the rear plate is spring loaded by means of compression spring 156, the cam roller pushes the rear plate clockwise about pivot point 158 on its return to the position shown in FIG. 7. Forward latch 160 is carried by the rear plate to engage lever 140, which is rigidly connected to a first one way clutch 162, which in turn is carried by shaft 164 of ratchet 142. Knob 168 is designed to press against either the forward latch (as shown in the drawing and in which case the forward latch is designed to rotate with the rear plate to engage the lever but on its clockwise movement can be displaced away from engaging the lever by knob 168) or the rear plate (in which case the forward latch would be rigidly mounted to the rear plate). In operation, pressure responsive roller 82, by means of spring 146, is designed to be pushed downwardly when the back pressure exerted thereon by the carton blank stack and hopper pusher reaches a certain predetermined value. When the roller is sufficiently pushed forward, knob 168 prevents the forward latch 160 from engaging lever 141). As blank cartons are removed by the feed arms from the front of the hopper, the pressure acting upon the roller is lowered and the knob gradually backs away from engagement with the forward latch or rear plate. Eventually, upon return of the cam roller to its lower position, the forward latch will not be prevented from engaging lever 1411 and rotating it clockwise. Upon rotation, the first one way clutch 170 rotates the ratchet shaft a set incremental distance by stationary but displaceable pawl 14, which engages ratchet teeth 180. The cycle begins again with the cam roller releasing the rear plate to rock counterclockwise as the feed arms advance to the carton stack. The chain, and hence carton stack, will be advanced incrementally each time the cam roller reaches its lowest position until the pressure roller has moved forward to disengage the forward latch as described above. To assure that the ratchet does not back up at any time during operation, a second one way clutch 172 is engagedly carried by the rear extension 174 of the ratchet shaft.

I claim:

1. A vertically positioned carton erecting apparatus of the type wherein a stationary die and reciprocable plunger are carried by a frame, said-apparatus includ ing a carton blank reservoir remote from said die and plunger and comprising a carton hopper having a base upon which a plurality of flat carton blanks rest on edge, means carried by said hopper to sequentially, releasably present the undersides of said carton blanks to carton blank feeding means in proper orientation for registration on said die means; carton blank feeding means carried by said apparatus to advance to said hopper, engage the underside of the presented carton blank which will become the outside face of the floor of the carton and to directly pull it onto the top of said die in carton erecting position, said carton blank feeding means being operable as the sole means for transferring and properly registering said blank on said die.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said feeding means comprises at least one feed arm pivotably attached by one end thereof to'said frame adjacent to said die, said feed arm being reciprocably rotatable about its fixed pivot point to said feed hopper and back to a position adjacent said die, said arm including blank engaging means to grasp the underside of said blank at said hopper and to present said blank upon return to the position adjacent to said die.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 including two carton blank feed arms, one on each side of said die, pivotably attached to a single shaft and pivotably rotatable in unison, each of said arms carrying at least one vacuum suction means to engage the underside of carton blanks, said feed arms being positioned below the top surface of said die when adjacent said die and remaining under saidcarton blank until said carton is forced through said die by said reciprocable plunger.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said hopper is a constant pressure carton blank supply hopper.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said die comprises a vertical, inclined camming surface positioned between stationary primary and secondary guides and said plunger comprises an inwardly reciprocable knife edge carried by a pivotable frame, said pivotable frame positioned to slide along the inclined camming surface as said plunger passes through said die to pivot and reciproc'ate said knife edge inwardly.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 including a cavity in a side wall of said plunger into which said knife edge inwardly pivots.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 including two camming surfaces on a single side of the die, a secondary guide between said camming surfaces and a primary guide positioned. to the other side of each camming surface and angled outwardly toward the respective end of the die, the upper surface of said secondary guide being higher than the upper surface of said primary guides to initiate folding of the side panel of the carton blank.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 including end fold bars carried by said die to initiate folding of carton blank end panels, the angle of said primary guides being positioned to guide end flaps of said end panels toward said camming surface.

9. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said constant pressure supply hopper comprises a pressure sensitive means responsive to the back pressure exerted by a carton stack, means to incrementally advance the carton stack and means to automatically translate a predetermined response in the pressure sensitive means into incremental advancement of said carton stack advancing means.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 including means to prevent backward movement of said carton stack advancing means.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the carton blank advancing means is a chain, driven by a ratchet, upon which the stack of cartons rest, said ratchet being mounted on a shaft engaged by two one way clutches to prevent backward movement of said ratchet.

. 12. The apparatus of claim 1 being characterized by the absence of carton blank registration dies for registering the carton on said die.

13. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said at least one feed arm is positioned in the same plane or a lower plane than the top surface of said die when positioned adjacent said die.

UNETEI) STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATHJT NO. 1 3,859,896

DATED January 14, 1975 l.- VEN'l"OR(S i Herman Dewitt MIMS H is cerhfed that error appegzzs n the ab0ve|dent|fied patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby tori'etted as shown below;

IN THE SPEC IFIC ATION:

Column 1, line 48 delete "pluger" and insert plunger Column 5, line 54 delete falp and insert flap Signed and sealed this 17th day of June 1975.

(53%) Attest:

C. MARSHALL DANN RUTH C. i-ZASON Commissioner of Patents Attestins; Officer and Trademarks

Claims

1. A vertically positioned carton erecting apparatus of the type wherein a stationary die and reciprocable plunger are carried by a frame, said apparatus including a carton blank reservoir remote from said die and plunger and comprising a carton hopper having a base upon which a plurality of flat carton blanks rest on edge, means carried by said hopper to sequentially, releasably present the undersides of said carton blanks to carton blank feeding means in proper orientation for registration on said die means; carton blank feeding means carried by said apparatus to advance to said hopper, engage the underside of the presented carton blank which will become the outside face of the floor of the carton and to directly pull it onto the top of said die in carton erecting position, said carton blank feeding means being operable as the sole means for transferring and properly registering said blank on said die.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said feeding means comprises at least one feed arm pivotably attached by one end thereof to said frame adjacent to said die, said feed arm being reciprocably rotatable about its fixed pivot point to said feed hopper and back to a position adjacent said die, said arm including blank engaging means to grasp the underside of said blank at said hopper and to present said blank upon return to the position adjacent to said die.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 including two carton blank feed arms, one on each side of said die, pivotably attached to a single shaft and pivotably rotatable in unison, each of said arms carrying at least one vacuum suction means to engage the underside of carton blanks, said feed arms being positioned below the top surface of said die when adjacent said die and remaining under said carton blank until said carton is forced through said die by said reciprocable plunger.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said die comprises a vertical, inclined camming surface positioned between stationary primary and secondary guides and said plunger comprises an inwardly reciprocable knife edge carried by a pivotable frame, said pivotable frame Positioned to slide along the inclined camming surface as said plunger passes through said die to pivot and reciprocate said knife edge inwardly.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 including two camming surfaces on a single side of the die, a secondary guide between said camming surfaces and a primary guide positioned to the other side of each camming surface and angled outwardly toward the respective end of the die, the upper surface of said secondary guide being higher than the upper surface of said primary guides to initiate folding of the side panel of the carton blank.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 being characterized by the absence of carton blank registration dies for registering the carton on said die.