WO2000048906A1

WO2000048906A1 - Method and machine for applying an adhesive tape to an array of boxes

Info

Publication number: WO2000048906A1
Application number: PCT/IB2000/000178
Authority: WO
Inventors: Piet Brandwijk
Original assignee: Supertape B.V.
Priority date: 1999-02-18
Filing date: 2000-02-18
Publication date: 2000-08-24
Also published as: AU2457200A; JP2003526576A

Abstract

It is described a new method for applying an adhesive tape (29) to an array of equal sized stackable boxes (3). The boxes are lined up in an endless array (11) with a height of at least two boxes and the adhesive tape (29) is pressed by pressing rolls (32) to the array of boxes in lengthwise direction in order to join the boxes in the region of the contact area (40) of the boxes. Further a new machine for applying the adhesive tape (29) is described, comprising a transportation means (1) for the endless array (11) of a height of at least two boxes lying on top of each other having an alignment area in which both sides of the array are centered relative to the transportation means and at least one press roll (32) for applying the adhesive tape at the region of the contact area (40) of the boxes lying on top of each other.

Description

Method and machine for applying an adhesive tape to an array of boxes

The invention relates to a method and a machine for applying an adhesive tape to an array of boxes according to the general clause of Claim 1 and Claim 8, respec- tively.

Normally boxes or packets of products as cigarettes or the like are put in packs of ten or less into cartons. If the packets have to be fed into a packaging machine the cartons have to be emptied and the single packets have to be filled in or the cartons have to be wrapped around the single packets. In order to minimize packaging it was proposed in German laid-open DE-A-44 40 715 to use adhesive tape with defined breaking areas which will be joint to both long sides of a pile of cigarette boxes. The single boxes can than be separated easily by tearing between two successive boxes. This kind of taping can only be used for a single row of cigarette packets.

On the other hand US-A-4 689 946 describes an apparatus for securing together rectangular-section cartons in groups of e.g. five cartons. It comprises tape dispensers for dispensing adhesive tape onto the tops and bottoms of cartons in a row. Perforating rollers containing pins are provided to perforate the tape sideways with spaced rows of perforations. The perforating rollers are synchronised with the flow of cartons, so that the rows of perforations in each tape fall between adjacent cartons. Further a breaking means for breaking the row of cartons in batches of five comprises a pressure roller and a cam roller spaced to each other and mounted on both sides of the row of cartons. Thus also the above mentioned apparatus and method are only apt for a single row of cartons, which may be for instance cigarette packets or the like.

It is now an object of the present invention to develop a method for applying an adhesive tape to at least a double row of lined up boxes, whereas every single box can be separated easily. It is another object of the invention to develop a ma- chine for joining an adhesive tape accurately to at least a double row of lined up boxes.

These objects of the invention are accomplished by a method and a machine as defined in Claim 1 and Claim 8, respectively.

Since the method of the invention shows how to join an adhesive tape accurately to a row of boxes, the breaking off of a single box will be very easy as the breaking areas of the adhesive tape can be placed more exactly on the contact areas between successive boxes. This means also that there will be no or almost no pieces of adhesive tape which project from the boxes after separation. The machine according to the present invention ensures that it can be used in a usual product packaging line and that no or at least much less extra space will be necessary for introducing the novel method of producing packs of boxes. Thus, also the normally used blisters are no more necessary.

Further advantages of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims and in the following description in which an exemplified embodiment of the invention is described with respect to the accompanying drawings. It shows

Fig. 1 an upper view on a separation unit for a pack of a predetermined number of boxes into an endless array,

Fig. 2 a front view on the separation unit of figure 1 ,

Fig. 3 an upper view on a taping unit for applying an adhesive tape at both sides of the array of boxes,

Fig. 4 a front view on the taping unit of figure 3,

Fig. 5 a front view on a breaking and separating unit for breaking the endless array of boxes to packs of a predermined number of boxes and for transporting the packs at its long side, and Fig. 6 an upper view on the breaking unit of figure 5. Specific numbers dedicated to elements defined with respect to a particular figure will be used consistently in all figures if not mentioned otherwise.

In figures 1 and 2 a line-up unit 1 is shown with a predetermined number of equally sized stackable boxes or packets 3 as cigarette or chewing-gum packet or the like, which are stringed to an endless row 2. As can be seen in more detail in Fig. 2 the row 2 of boxes 3 are delivered between two parallel guide plates 4 in direction of arrow 6. The row 2 is then separated by means of a pusher plate 7 which is driven by to and fro by a rod 8 with a cam driven roller 9. In this manner each time two stacked boxes 3 are transferred vertically to position A as indicated in Fig. 2. These separated boxes 3 are thereinafter pushed by another pusher plate 10 (see Fig. 1) to an endless array 11 of stacked boxes 3. The pusher plate 10 is mounted on a rod 12 which is swivel-mounted to an endless chain system 13. The rod 12 on its turn is guided by a U-shaped yoke 14 which is mounted on a vertical guiding rod 15, so that the rod 12 remains horizontally during its movement back and forth by the endless chain system 13. In dotted lines the pusher plate 10 is shown in a downwards position where the pusher plate 10 will be moved out of engagement with the last boxes of row 11 and being returned to its starting position as shown in solid lines in Fig. 1. Thus the pusher plate 10 is lining up the stacked boxes 3 in a discontinuous way.

As can be seen in Fig. 3 the lined up array 11 is pushed further in a discontinuous manner by the pusher plate 10 (fig. 1) between four pressure means 20 which comprise an endless belt 21 freely rotatable at the rolls 22. These pressure means 20 are arranged such as to provide a kind of square tunnel in order to ensure that the array 11 is aligned at its long sides and at the horizontal bottom and top sides. On both sides of the array 11 a spool 28 wounded with adhesive tape 29 is arranged. The spools 28 are rotatable on an axis (not shown here) which may be driven by a servomotor or the like. The adhesive tape 29 is unwound from the spool 28 and turned over an angle of approximately 90° on a turning roll 30, thereafter guided over a guide roll 31 and over a deflecting roll 32 before the ad- hesive tape 29 will be pressed at the outside of the array 11 of boxes or packets 3. In fact the adhesive tape 29 will be pressed in the beginning at the outer sides of the boxes 3 whereupon the adhesion of the tape 29 will be sufficient for unwinding the further tape 29 from spool 28. However, if the friction of the spool 28 on its axis is excessing the breaking tension of the tape 29 a drive mechanism like an electromotor or servomotor will be necessary to prevent this. Since the movement of the array 11 is discontinuous because of the movement of the pusher plate 10 (compare fig. 1) there is arranged an alignment device or dancer 33 to equalize the continuous drive of the spool 28 and the discontinuous action of the tape 29 already fixed to the boxes or packets 3.

Between the guide roll 31 and the deflecting roll 32 is provided a camera system 34 comprising a camera 35 and a light source 36. The light source 36 illuminates the tape 29 uniformly in order to detect with the camera 35 a regular pattern on the adhesive tape 29. This pattern may be a lengthwise perforation on the tape 29 as has been described in more detail in Dutch patent application No. 1009383 which contents herewith is incorporated by reference. The camera 35 is digitizing the optical pictures and the digital signals will be transmitted to an electronic control unit (not shown) which controls a servomotor 38 (Fig. 4). As can be seen in more detail in Fig. 4 the alignment of the tape 29 with respect to the contact area or line 40 between two lined up boxes or packets 3. Especially the lengthwise perforation of tape 29 should be brought in matching relationship with the contact line 40. The servomotor 38 is controlling the height of the turning roll 30 vis-a-vis the array 11 i.e. the contact line 40 of the array 11. However, also another system as the shown camera system like mechanical sensing can be used for the control of the matching of the perforation of the tape 29 with the contact area or line 40 of adjacent boxes 3.

In Figures 5 and 6 the so taped endless array 11 of boxes 3 is fed into a breaking unit 41 , where the array 11 is separated into single packs 42 of normally ten or less boxes 3, i.e. an upper row 43 of five boxes 3 and a lower row 44 of five boxes 3. The breaking unit 41 has a feed plate 46 and subsequently a movable top guide plate 47 with a (not shown) stop member. The guide plate 47 is supported by swivel-mounted vertical rods 48 which can be moved up and down by rotating of two spaced apart cam wheels 50 and 51. The endless array 11 of boxes 3 is con- tinuously pushed forward against the stop, so that a pack with the length of five boxes 3 is protruding over the feed plate 46 just that the next breaking point between two adjacent boxes 3 is lying shortly behind the end of the feed plate 46. As indicated in Fig. 5 the right end of the guide plate 47 will be moved firstly downwards so that the adhesive tape 29 will be broken at the upper side of the array 11. Thereafter the left end of the guide plate 47 will be moved downwards so that the array 11 falls on a horizontally mounted bottom plate 48. The crush cutted adhesive tape 29 has knurled edges as has been described in the aforementioned Dutch patent application, the breaking of the tape 19 will thus occur easily on bending of the free end of array 11. However, since the breaking of the tape 19 does not give exactly a sharp line, there will remain small pieces of tape projecting over the end side of the pack 42. These more or less longer tape pieces may be folded over the end side of the last boxes of the pack 42, so that they are not visible anymore. After the breaking of the pack 42 it will be forwarded by an elongated pusher 55 to the outlet of the machine (see Fig. 6). At both ends of the pusher a freely rotatable roller 56 is provided, which will fold the tape pieces protruding over the edges of the last boxes 3 of pack 42 at its short end side. On the opposite side similar rollers 57 are mounted which fold the opposite tape ends over the short end sides of the boxes 3. Moreover, these rollers 57 are part of another pusher plate 58. Both rollers 56 and 57 are spring biased so that their mu- tual distance is slightly smaller as the width of pack 42. The movement of the pusher 58 is simultaneous with a part of the movement of the pusher 55 so that the array of boxes 3 will be fed out of the machine to the delivery position where an elevator can pick up the packs 42 for transportation. As can be seen in the left part of Fig.6 two spring biased supporting members or blocks 60 are provided at a position over the pushers 55 and 58, so that the pack 42 will be kept at the outlet position whereas the pushers 55 and 58 are retracted to their start position. , P T/IBO 7

It should be clear to the skilled artisan that the boxes 3 do not have to be square but can also be triangular, octagonal or the like. The only criterium is that the boxes are equally sized and stackable in order to provide smooth side walls of the array 11 to ensure a correct joint of the adhesive tape 19 thereon.

List of reference numbers

line-up unit row boxes, packets endless array arrow pusher plate rod roller pusher plate endless array- rod chain system

U-shaped yoke guiding rod pressure means endless belt roll spool adhesive tape turning roll guide roll deflecting roll dancer matching system camera light source servomotor contact area or line breaking unit single pack upper row lower row feed plate guide plate swivel-mounted rod bottom plate cam wheel cam wheel elongated pusher roller roller pusher plate block position

Claims

1. Method for applying an adhesive tape (29) to an array of equally sized stack- able boxes (3) characterized in that the boxes are lined up in an endless array (11) with a height of at least two boxes and the adhesive tape (29) is pressed at least in the beginning by pressing rolls (32) to the array of boxes in lengthwise direction in order to join the boxes in the region of the contact area (40) of adjacent boxes.

2. Method according to claim 1 characterized in that the adhesive tape (29) is pressed to region of the contact areas (40) on both sides of the array (11 ) of boxes.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2 characterized in that the adhesive tape has a lengthwise perforation whereas the adhesive tape (29) will be controlled in height in order to match the perforation line of the adhesive tape with the line of contact (40) of the lined up boxes.

4. Method according to claim 3 characterized in that the perforation line being observed by a camera system (34) which controls the height level of the adhesive tape (29) before pressed on the array (11 ) of boxes.

5. Method according to claim 4 characterized in that the adhesive tape (29) wound on a spool (28) is unwound and turned over an angle of approximately 90° by a turning roll (30), the height level of which is adapted by a servomotor (38) controlled by the height signal of the camera system (34).

6. Method according to claim 5 characterized in that adhesive tapes (29) are joined to the boxes (3), the borders of which are knurled in order to provide an easy breaking line at the contact line (40) between two successive boxes.

7. Method according to claim 6 characterized that a pack of a definite number of lined up taped boxes is broken off the endless array (1 1 ) of boxes by bending a pack by breaking means (41) of the same length as the pack to be broken off.

8. Machine for applying an adhesive tape (29) to an endless array of equal sized boxes (3) comprising a transportation means for the endless array (11) of a height of at least two boxes on top of each other having an alignment area in which both sides of the array (11) are centered relative to the transportation means and at least one press (32) roll for applying the adhesive tape at the region of the contact area (40) of the boxes lying on top of each other.

9. Machine according to claim 8 further comprising means for holding a spool (28) of wounded adhesive tape (29), a turning roil (30) for turning the unwound adhesive tape over an angle of approximately 90° and guide roll (32) for guiding the adhesive tape in matching relationship to the region of the contact area or contact line (40) of the boxes.

10. Machine according to claim 9 further comprising adjusting means (38) for controlling the level of the turning roil (30) relative to the guide roll (32).

11. Machine according to claim 10 further comprising a camera system (34) for observing a lengthwise perforation line of the adhesive tape (29) and a control device (38) connected to the camera system (34) for adjusting the level of the turning roll (30) relative to the line of the contact area (40) between the boxes lying on top of each other.

12. Machine according to claim 11 further comprising a breaking means (41) for breaking the array to packs (42) of a predetermined number of boxes.