EP0357906B1 - Device for supplying blanks to a packaging machine - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device with a cassette for feeding stacks of blanks for the production of packs, in particular hinged boxes for cigarettes, to a packaging machine, the cassette being emptied in the region of the packaging machine and then stackable with similar cassettes nested one inside the other.

The increasing performance of the packaging machines causes problems with the adequate supply of packaging materials. This applies above all to the production of packs from punched blanks that are prefabricated outside the packaging machine. Examples of this are folding boxes for cigarettes that are made in a paper factory can be made from thin cardboard by punching. The blanks come to the packaging machine as a stack of blanks.

The packaging machine is usually equipped with a blank magazine of relatively low capacity. A certain supply of stacked blanks can be entered into this.

The subject of the invention is the transport from outside of the packaging system, in particular in a paper factory, of blanks produced and stacked to the packaging machine.

EP-A-0 150 511 shows a device lying next to the subject of the invention. Magazines with individual magazine shafts are shown there. These are not complete containers, but are open at the bottom. The magazines are therefore not suitable as transport packaging. An organ entering from below must always prevent the blanks from falling out or control them. For this purpose, supporting fingers and a dispenser are provided in the script. A magazine can hold several batches of blanks side by side.

The invention has for its object to propose measures for the transport of larger quantities of stacked blanks from the manufacturing site to the processing plant, in particular to the packaging machine, with relatively little manual use. Furthermore, it should be possible to transport the transport containers back easily and in a space-saving manner.

• zur Aufnahme mehrerer nebeneinander angeordneter Zuschnitt-Stapel ist die Kassetten zumindest an ihrer Oberseite offen,
• zur Bildung mehrerer Kammern je zur Aufnahme eines Zuschnitt-Stapels sind auf einer Bordwand aufrechte Trennstege zwischen benachbarten Kammern , Seitenstege an Schmalseiten, Randstege an einer Schließseite der Kassette in der Ebene der Trennstege sowie Eckstege gebildet,
• die Bodenwand weist eine Mehrzahl von Öffnungen sowie Ausnehmungen auf, die derart angeordnet sind, sind, daß Trennstege deiner anderen Kassette zur verschachtelten Stapelung durch die Öffnungen und Seitenstege durch die Ausnehmungen hindurchtreten.

The cassette designed according to the invention has the following features:

• the cassette is open, at least on its upper side, for accommodating a plurality of blank stacks arranged side by side,
• to form several chambers, each for receiving a stack of blanks, upright dividers are formed on a side wall between adjacent chambers, side dividers on narrow sides, edge dividers on a closing side of the cassette in the plane of the dividers and corner dividers,
• the bottom wall has a plurality of openings and recesses which are arranged such that dividers of your other cassette pass through the openings for the nested stacking through the openings and side webs.

The invention is based on the idea of packaging the blanks or stack of blanks at the place of manufacture in reusable containers and transporting them to the place of use. After emptying, units from a plurality of nested cassettes (stacking block) are transported back to the production facility for the blanks. The cassettes can go up to the packaging machine spent and emptied there. Alternatively, the cassettes can be transported in the area of the packaging machine and emptied directly in the area of the cutting magazine of the packaging machine.

The cassettes are constructed in such a way that they consist of a load-bearing base wall and a plurality of partition wall parts arranged thereon for the lateral delimitation of chambers which each receive a stack of blanks. The dividing wall parts are designed and arranged in such a way that, in conjunction with openings and additional openings in the bottom wall, they enable the plugging together of empty cassettes. The cassettes which are nested or stacked one inside the other form a space-saving unit (stacking block) for the return transport to the manufacturing loading location.

The cassettes are also set up so that they can be stacked (filled with blank stacks) for transport, for example on pallets. They are also suitable for conveying within a packaging system using an overhead conveyor.

Further features of the invention relate to the design of the cassettes and devices for handling or transporting the same.

Fig. 1

eine Kassette zur Aufnahme von Zuschnitt-Stapeln in Vorderansicht,

Fig. 2

eine um 90° versetzte Seitenansicht der Kassette gemäß Fig. 1,

Fig. 3

die Kassette gemäß Fig. 1 und 2 im Grundriß, mit Zuschnitten in einzelnen Kammern,

Fig. 4

übereinander gestapelte Kassetten mit Zuschnitt-Stapeln in Vorderansicht,

Fig. 5

eine Kassette in Unteransicht,

Fig. 6

eine Kassette auf einer Halterung eines Förderers,

Fig. 7

eine um 90° Grad versetzte Seitenansicht zu Fig. 6,

Fig. 8

eine Phase des Ineinanderschachtelns mehrerer (vier) Kassetten in Vorderansicht,

Fig. 9

die Darstellung gemäß Fig. 8 in um 90° versetzter Seitenansicht,

Fig. 10

ineinander verschachtelte Kassetten übereinander gestapelt,

Fig. 11

die Darstellung von Fig. 10 in einer um 90° versetzten Vorderansicht,

Fig. 12

eine Verpackungsmaschine in Rückansicht mit Einrichtungen für den Transport und die Handhabung von Kassetten.

An embodiment of the invention is explained below with reference to the drawings. It shows:

Fig. 1

a cassette for receiving stacks of blanks in front view,

Fig. 2

2 shows a side view of the cassette according to FIG. 1 offset by 90 °,

Fig. 3

1 and 2 in plan, with Cut into individual chambers,

Fig. 4

stacked cassettes with cut stacks in front view,

Fig. 5

a cassette in bottom view,

Fig. 6

a cassette on a holder of a conveyor,

Fig. 7

6 shows a side view of FIG. 6 offset by 90 °,

Fig. 8

a phase of nesting several (four) cassettes in front view,

Fig. 9

8 in a side view offset by 90 °,

Fig. 10

nested cassettes stacked on top of each other,

Fig. 11

10 in a front view offset by 90 °,

Fig. 12

a packaging machine in rear view with facilities for the transport and handling of cassettes.

The centerpiece of a device for transporting blanks 20 are containers or cassettes 21, in which prefabricated, that is to say die-cut blanks 20 are stacked. The present exemplary embodiment is concerned with the handling of blanks 20, as are used in the cigarette industry for the production of hinged boxes (hinge-lid packs). Blanks 20 with a floor plan typical of the construction of such packs are shown in Fig. 3.

The cassettes 21 are reusable containers which circulate between the production site for the blanks 20, in particular a paper factory, and the processing site, in particular a cigarette factory. In the paper factory, the cassettes 21 are filled with blank stacks 22. Filled cassettes 21 are then suitably transported to the processing factory, e.g. in a stacked position on pallets or the like (Fig. 4). In the processing factory, the cassettes 21 are emptied by removing the blank stacks 22. The empty cassettes 21 are then interleaved in a certain manner and returned to the paper factory in a space-saving manner as empties.

In the present exemplary embodiment, each cassette 21 consists of four chambers 23 for receiving a stack of blanks 22 each. The elongated chambers 23 extend over the full width of the cassettes 21, which are rectangular in plan. The chambers 23 are for loading and emptying the cassettes 21 open on two sides, namely at the top and on one long side of the cassette 21, the open side 24.

The load-bearing member of the cassette 21 is a stable bottom wall 25. The blank stacks 22 lie on this. To delimit the chambers 23 from one another, upright partition members are arranged on the top of the bottom wall 25. In the present exemplary embodiment, the chambers 23 are delimited by upright webs which are firmly connected to the bottom wall 25.

Between adjacent chambers 23 two separating webs 26 of the same size are provided in one plane and an edge web 27 arranged on the edge of the bottom wall 25 and extending in the same plane has the latter in the present case, a smaller cross-section, namely a smaller dimension in the direction parallel to the blank stacks 22, than the separating webs 26. The edge web 27 is located on the side (closing side 28) of the cassette 21 that is closed for holding the blank stack 22 .

On the shorter sides of the cassette 21, side webs 29 corresponding to the separating webs 26 and in each case a corner web 30 corresponding to the edge webs 27 are arranged. The outer chambers 23 are delimited on the outer side of the cassette 21 by the side webs 29 and corner webs 30.

The webs 26, 27, 29, 30 described above are aligned on the one hand in the planes parallel to the chambers 23. In addition, however, the webs are also aligned in rows in the transverse direction to the chambers 23, that is to say in the longitudinal direction of the cassette 21.

The edge webs 27 and the corner webs 30 on the closing side 28 of the cassette 21 are provided with support members for abutment of the blank stack 22. In the present case, upright support strips 31 are arranged laterally on the edge webs 27 and on one side of the corner web 30, on which edge regions of the blanks 20 fit in a form-fitting manner. The special, approximately trapezoidal cross-sectional shape of the support strips 31 results from the shape of the blanks 20, which is characteristic of hinged boxes. These are formed with jagged projections 32 in the region of a front wall of the hinged box and in the region of adjacent side tabs to form side walls of the hinged box. With these triangular projections 32 or with their inclined edges 33, the blanks 20 rest against inclined support surfaces of the correspondingly shaped support strips 31. In the area of the connection thereof to the edge web 27 or corner web 30 an upright groove 34 is formed into which the outermost tip of the projection 32 enters and is thereby protected against damage.

The cassettes 21 filled with blank stacks 22 are arranged to be stacked, e.g. on pallets. In order to avoid relative displacements of the cassettes 21 relative to one another, mutual interlocking of the cassettes 21 arranged one above the other is provided. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the side webs 29 and the corner webs 30 are provided on the top and bottom with projections for positive engagement. As shown, conical centering pins 35 are arranged on the upper side of the above-mentioned webs 29, 30, which, when stacked (FIG. 4), enter into corresponding conical recesses 36 on the underside of the same, corresponding webs 29, 30 in a form-fitting manner. The aforementioned organs have a self-centering effect when the cassettes 21 are stacked.

Of particular importance is the suitability of the (empty) cassettes for nested, space-saving stacking. For this purpose, openings 37 and additional openings 38 are arranged in the bottom wall 25. These are adapted in size and shape to the separating webs 26 so that they can be inserted alternately through the openings 37 or additional openings 38 for the purpose of nesting cassettes 21.

The openings 37 and 38 are arranged aligned in longitudinal and transverse rows, respectively. On the edge of the bottom wall 25, namely on its narrow sides, recesses 39 which are open to the side are arranged between adjacent edge webs 27 or corner webs 30. The dimensions of these correspond to the cross-sectional dimensions of the side webs 29.

The number of openings 37 and that of the additional openings 38 corresponds in each case to the number of separating webs 26 of a cassette 21. The separating webs 26 of two cassettes 21 can thereby be passed completely or partially through the bottom wall 25 of a third one. The arrangement is such that openings 37 are each arranged in the same plane as the separating webs 26 used to delimit a chamber 23. The distance between two adjacent separating webs 26 is filled here by an opening 37. The additional openings 38 are arranged centrally between two adjacent openings 37, that is to say centrally within a chamber 23, and — as seen in the longitudinal direction of the cassette 21 — are aligned with the openings 37. In this way, two rows of openings 37 and additional openings 38, as well as recesses 39 at the edges, run in the longitudinal direction of the cassette 21.

Two cassettes 21a, 21b designed in this way are nested in one another in the transverse direction, in such a way that the separating webs 26 of the one cassette 21a are guided through the openings 37 of the second cassette 21b from below or from the underside of the bottom wall 25. The side webs 29 of the cassette 21a enter the recesses 39 of the cassette 21b. The separating webs 26 and the side webs 29 of the two cassettes 21a, 21b are accordingly aligned in transverse planes, but offset from one another in such a way that the edge webs 27 and corner webs 30 of the two cassettes 21a, 21b are adjacent to the bottom wall 25 of the other cassette 21a, 21b extend (Fig. 9). For this purpose, the two cassettes 21a, 21b are joined to one another offset by 180 °.

A pair of cassettes 21a, 21b plugged together in the above manner forms a stacking unit 40, which already enables space-saving storage of the cassettes 21a, 21b.

Due to the design of the cassettes 21 but two Stacking units 40, 41 with cassettes 21a, 21b on the one hand and 21c, 21d on the other are interleaved in such a way that a block-like structure, namely a stacking block 42 of four cassettes 21a..21d is created. The outer dimensions of the stacking block 42 are only slightly larger than the dimensions of a single cassette 21.

For this purpose, two stacking units 40, 41 with bottom walls 25 lying apart from one another are inserted into one another. The stacking units 40, 41 are offset from one another in the longitudinal direction by half the width of a chamber 23. As a result, the separating webs 26 and side webs 29 of the stacking units 40, 41 are mutually assigned to the additional openings 38 of the facing bottom wall 25 of the other stacking unit 40, 41. The relevant separating webs 26 or side webs 29 enter the additional openings 38 (FIGS. 10 and 11). As a result, the total of four cassettes 21 can be handled as a unit, namely as a stacking block 42, namely can be stored with little space requirement.

For loading the cassettes 21, the stacking blocks 42 and stacking units 40, 41 are taken apart again in the opposite direction of movement.

The separating webs 26, edge webs 27 and side webs 29 and corner webs 30 are extended to the underside of the bottom wall 25. In this area, namely, the bottom wall 25 is provided with chamfered, head-like projections 43 corresponding to the aforementioned webs 26, 27, 29, 30. In the case of stacked, filled cassettes 21, the projections 43 on the underside of the bottom wall 25 rest on the upper ends of the webs 26, 27. When stacking nested empty cassettes 21, namely stacking blocks 42 (FIG. 10), the projections 43 occur centering in openings 38 adjacent cassettes 21.

The cassettes 21 expediently consist of a one-piece, preferably cast workpiece, in particular made of plastic. In the present exemplary embodiment, depressions are formed in the underside of the bottom wall 25, specifically on the one hand center depressions 44 extending in the longitudinal center plane, and on the other hand on one edge, namely on the edge facing the closing side 28, molded depressions 45. The former depressions 44 extend each over the width of a chamber 23, with projections 43 arranged between adjacent center depressions 44 serving as a stop for positioning the cassette 21, in particular during unloading.

The holding depressions 45 are important for the (automatic) transport of the cassettes 21.

When supplying packaging machines with blanks 20, the (filled) cassettes 21 are expediently introduced into the circuit of an overhead conveyor, in particular with the features of DE patent application P 38 20 735.4. In this older proposal, the above-ground conveyor is equipped with roller carriages 46 which can be moved along a running rail 47 above the production and packaging machines. On the roller carriage 46 there are material holders 48 which are designed such that they can alternatively transport bobbins made of sheet-like packaging material or cassettes 21.

For this purpose, the material holders 48 are equipped with rigid, downwardly diverging support arms 49. At the lower ends of the same crosswise, that is protruding from one side support bars 50 are attached. The objects to be transported, namely bobbins or cassettes 21, rest on these. In the case of the transport of cassettes 21, an upwardly directed nose 51 attached to the free end of the carrying bars 50 enters the holding recess 45 of the cassette 21. This is secured against displacement on the support bars 50 during transport.

In the area of a packaging machine 52 (FIG. 12), the filled cassettes 21 are taken over by the first roller conveyor 46 of the roller carriage 46 of the above-ground conveyor and conveyed downwards. The cassette 21 is placed on a machine conveyor 54 by the vertical conveyor 53. This is arranged on the back of the packaging machine 52 in the longitudinal direction.

In the area of an unloading station 55, the stack of blanks 22 are successively removed from the cassette 21 by an upward movement, specifically by a stack lifter 56. This grips a stack of blanks 22, conveys them upwards and guides the stack of blanks 22 to a machine-side blank. Magazine (not shown).

The empty cassettes 21 are transported on the machine conveyor 54 to a second vertical conveyor 57. This takes over the empty cassettes 21 and transfers them to a roller carriage 46 or to a material holder 48 of the same.

The nesting of several cassettes 21 into one another takes place at an unloading station of the rotating overhead conveyor, in particular manually.

Claims (10)

1. Apparatus with cassette for the feeding of stacks of blanks for the production of packs, especially of hinge-lid packs for cigarettes, to a packaging machine, the cassette being able to be emptied in the region of the packaging machine and then stacked nested in one another with similar cassettes, having the following features:

   - To receive several blank stacks (22) which are arranged next to one another, the cassette (21) is open, at least on its top side,

   - to construct several chambers (23), each for receiving a blank stack (22), vertical partition webs (26) are formed on a bottom wall (25) between adjacent chambers (23), side webs (29) are formed on narrow sides of the cassette (21), edge webs (27) are formed on a closing side (28) of the cassette (21) in the plane of the partition webs (26) and corner webs (30) are formed,

   - the bottom wall (25) has a multiplicity of orifices (37, 38) and recesses (39) which are arranged in such a way that, for nested stacking, partition webs (26) of another cassette pass through the orifices (37, 38) and side webs (29) pass through the recesses (39).
2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, characterized in that the elongate rectangular chambers (23) extend over the width of the rectangular cassette (21) and are open on one side (open side 24), whilst on the opposite side (closing side 28) the edge webs (27) have laterally attached stops, especially supporting strips (31), for the bearing of the blank stacks (22).
3. Apparatus according to Claim 2, characterized in that the vertical supporting strips (31) are matched to the form of the blanks (20), especially are of approximately trapezoidal cross-section, so that lateral triangular or tapering projections (32) of the blanks (20) bear positively against oblique supporting faces of the supporting strip (31).
4. Apparatus according to Claim 1 and one or more of the further claims, characterized in that the partition webs (26) and side webs (29) are of rectangular cross-section and the orifices (37) are made rectangular correspondingly to the partition webs (26), and in that lateral recesses (39) located between the side webs (29) and corner webs (30) correspond to the cross-section of side webs (29).
5. Apparatus according to Claim 1 and one or more of the further claims, characterized in that the orifices (37) are arranged respectively in the plane of the partition webs (26) and edge webs (27) between these, and in that further additional recesses (38) are arranged in the longitudinal mid-plane of a chamber (23), the orifices (37) and the additional orifices (38) being aligned in (two) rows in the longitudinal direction of the cassette (21).
6. Apparatus according to Claim 1 and one or more of the further claims, characterized in that two cassettes (21a, 21b and 21c, 21d) are nestable, to form a respective stack unit (40, 41), by the insertion of the partition webs (26) of one cassette (21a, 21c) from the underside of the bottom wall (25) through the orifices (37) of the other cassette (21b, 21d) and by introducing the side webs (29) into the associated recesses (39), in such a way that the cassettes (21a, 21b and 21c, 21d), aligned in the longitudinal direction, with the bottom walls (25) bearing on one another, are offset in the transverse direction by the amount of the dimension of a partition web (29).
7. Apparatus according to Claim 6, characterized in that two particular stack units (40, 41) can be plugged together to form a unit (stack block 42) consisting of four cassettes (21a, 21b and 21c, 21d), the webs of the two stack units (40, 41) being directed counter to one another and partition webs (26) of one cassette (21b, 21d) of the stack units (40, 41) entering additional orifices (38) of the confronting cassette (21a, 21c) of the other stack unit (40, 41).
8. Apparatus according to Claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the stack units (40, 41) plugged together to form a stack block (42) are offset in the longitudinal direction of the cassettes (21) by the amount of half the width of a chamber (23) and are rotated through 180° relative to one another.
9. Apparatus according to Claim 1 and one or more of the further claims, characterized in that the cassettes are protected in the stackable and in the stacked state against transverse shifts, especially by means of projections (centering lugs 35) on the top side of webs (side webs 29, edge webs 30) and corresponding depressions (36) on the underside of the bottom wall (25).
10. Apparatus according to Claim 1 and one or more of the further claims, characterized in that formed in on the underside of the bottom wall (25) are retaining depressions (45) which allow cassettes (21) to be secured on a conveyor, especially a material holder (48) of a bogie truck (46).

Images