Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Background of the Invention
The plastic tube container has been of favorite use replacing the
conventional foil tube container made of aluminium or other metal, because
the former container fits more the recent tendency of the world to seek nicer
~ appearance to make the goods more attractive, higher commercial value, better
; protection of the packed product, and higher productivity.
Generally, said tube container is constructed by welding a head-piece
to a tube body. It is of frequent practice to make said tube body by
extrusion moulding of polyethylene, a material commonly used for this purpose,
a when a one piece tubular body is to be used. In view of the rather poor
printability of such a tubular body, however, it is preferable to roll a
strip of film on which indicia are preprinted to shape it into tubular con-
,
~, figuration and then to seam the overlapping ends to form a tube.
A tube container of laminated wall construction particularly designedto protect its contents is also known. However, such laminated tube container
cannot be readily made by the extrusion moulding, so that in the method usually
adapted to the tube body of such tube container is made, as in the process
aforementioned, by forming a strip of laminated film into tubular configuration
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~ and seaming its overlapping longitudinal ends to form tube.
; 2~ Summary of the Invention:
The instant invention relates to a tube shaping machine designed to
form sleeves according to the process as mentioned above using a plastic film
constructed of at least one layer.
According to the present invention there is provided an automatic ~ ~
¦~ plastic tube forming machine, which machine includes a guide path for a film -
, to be formed into a tube and pinch rollers for stretching the film across the
;~ machine and pulling the film therethrough, wherein there are successively
arranged along the guide path a pair of guide plates forming a V-shaped pre-
1 tube forming meansj an extruding means for extruding melted resin over a
¦ 30 longitudinally extending edge of the film, a tube forming means including
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an elongate mandrel aligned with the guide path, a tube forming ring con-
centrically positioned around a portion of said mandrel, said ring having a
window permitting access to the film, a heating means having a lobular pro-
jection positioned in said window to contact and heat overlapping longitudin-
ally extending edgc surfaces of the film to be bonded, and a press roller
means downstream of said heat plate, said press roller means extending
through said window to press the heated overlapping surfaces into welding con-
tact; a cutter means being provided downstream of said pinch rollers to cut
the formed tube; and a limit switch means electrically interlocked with said
cutter means so as to actuate said cutter means when the formed tube actuates
said limit switch. ; -
Brief Description of the Drawings ~
j
In the accompanying drawings which illustrate an exemplary embodi-
ment of the present invention:
Figure 1 is a front elevation o~ a tube shaping machine according
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, to the invention.
;~ Figure 2 is a plan view of the same machine.
Figure 3 is a flow diagram of the tube shaping process given in
connection to such machine.
Figures 4J 5J 6J 7 and 8 are expanded sectional views taken on
lines IIII-IIIIJ V_VJ VI_VIJ VII_VII and VIII-VIII of Figure 1J Figures
4 and 5 being on the same sheet as Figure 2.
j Figure 9 is a perspective view of a sleeve formed by the tube shap-
;~ ing machine of the invention.
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Figures 10 (A), 10 (B) and 10 (C) are enlarged fragmentary sectional
views of the sleeves formed by such machine using different versions of the
fusing art.
Figure 11 is an elevational view of the ~ube container that is con-
structed UsiDg the ~ube body made by the tube shaping machine of this inven-
tion.
Figure 12 is a fragmentary elevational view of the machine of this
invention combined with a delivery conveyer line.
Figure 13 is a partial plan view of the machine as given in Figure
- 10 12.
Detailed Descripti~n of the Invention
A tube shaping machine A is given in Figures 1 and 2, which com-
prises both a frame body 1 fitted with a plurality of casters 2 and a plura-
lity of studs 3 to make the machine movable to an arbitrary position for its
I positive installatlon and further with a prime motor 4 such as an electric
motor and 8 transversely extended auxiliary frame 5 that stands fixed on top
~1 of the frame 1 supporting on its one side on shafts a pair of pinch rollers
6, 6 in up-and-down, back-up relation, the pinch rollers 6, 6 being fitted
with sprockets 7, 7 at their shafts 6a, 6a which are coupled through an inter-
20 mediate tension spTocket 9 and a reduction sprocket 10 to a sprocket 8 fixed ;
on a revolving shaft of a prime motor4 with chains 11 stretched between all
said sprockets so that the pinch rollers 6, 6 may be driven to rotate in re-
verse sense against each other feeding the tube that is formed in a process
l described later on in a definite direction. Further, a detachable film roller
il 13 fitted with a roll of plastic film is provided on the frame body 1 at the
3 end thereof oppositc to the pinch roller 6, 6 while a film guide roller 14,
~ a brake roller 15 with squeezing back-up of a swingable rubber roller 17, and
¦ a tension roller 16 are successively provided on supporting shafts to give a
Polded path to a film 12 starting from the film roller 13, which film is
~ 30 Purther inserted after formed into tubular configuration into a clearance
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between the pinch rollers 6, 6 to be fed along a definite direction, the
rollers 6, 6 being driven by the action of prime motor 4O Further, in the
film feed line between the pinch rollers 6, 6 and the film roller 13 are
successively provided along the film feed direction a semitubing means B
comprising V-shaped film guide plates 18, 18 fixed on arm with a definite
; distance therebetween, an extrudingImeans C provided with a nozzle 21 facing
a longitudinal end 19 of the film that has been shaped in U-shape configura-
tion by said semitubing means B and arranged so that melted resin 20 may be
~" applied to the longitudinal end area 19 of the film, a melted resin placement
trimming means D that comprises a pair of rollers 22, 22 facing each other to
determine the film longitudinal end area ~o be applied with melted resin 20
and simultaneously to trim the melted resin 20 laid on the end area of the
film into a definite shape, a tubing means E consisting of a horizontally ;
mounted long mandrel 23 directed along the film feed line and a tube shaping
~¦ ring 24 concentrically fitted thereto and provided with both a heat plate 38
and a press roller 39 facing a window 25 that is opened through the wall of the
tube shaping ring 24 at its top, a cutter means F comprising behind pinch
rollers 6, 6 successively in the film feed direction a tube keep plate 26, a
tube support plate 27 and a cutting knife 28, and finally a tube cutting
length regulating means G consisting of a limit switch 29 and an adjust knob
~ 30 to set the timing thereof.
I All the means A to G cited above are supported in a line on the
I auxiliary frame 5. First the semitubing means B is V-shaped guide plates 18,
3 18 fixed on a connecting arm 31 that is in turn supported on the auxiliary
~ frame 5 at a position adjustable with use of an adjust knob 32. The melted
-3 r0sin placement trimming means D is fixed on the auxiliary frame 5 and pro-
~i vided with rollers 22, 22 which squeeze rom both sides the melted resin
~i placed on the film longitudinal end area to shape the placed resin properly
;~I and give it a ~roper width over the film surface as illustrated in Figure 5
and wlth an adjust knob 33 to adjust said width. The extruding means C is as
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; illustrated în Figure 4 provided with one or two nozzles 21 to apply melted
resin o~er one or both longi~udinal end areas of the film, where the number of
used nozzles depends how the film is formed into ~ube. If applied only to one
end of the film, melted resin is placed on one side of the film which will
directly face the same film at its opposite longitudinal end in the later
tubing process and then the film shaped in tubular configura~ion is seamed at
its overlapping longitudinal ends as illustrated in Figure 10 ~B).
The ~andrel 23 providing the tubing means E is fixed hanging, rear-
ward of the tube shaping ring 24 fitted thereto9 from the bottom of the brack- ~ ~
10 et 34 which is in turn fixed on the auxiliary framP 5 so that ~he U-shaped I -
film fed from the semitubing means B may pass along both side walls of the
bracket 34. The bracket 34 carries on its rear wall a guide plate 36 that
has a longitudinal groove 35, 35 on each longitudinal side wall slantingly cut
upward to come one over the other without crossing as illustrated in Figure
6 so that the longitudinal ends of the film may fit in said grooves 35, 35 to
roll the film into tubular configuration. The tube shaping ring 24 is ad-
~ustably supported on the auxiliary frame 5 with provision of a fine adjus~
knob 37 to set the mandrel 23 at its center, while a heat plate 38 provided
with a transversely extended lobular projection 40 at its bottom is supported
on the auxiliary frame 5 being adjustable in either or both of the transverse
I and vertical directions with provision of a fine adjust knob 38a and facing
the window 25 opened on the wall of the tube shaping ring 24 at the top there-
of so that the film longitudinal ends 19, 19 can pass said heat plate 38 over
and below the lobular projection 40 respectively to melt the film areas to be
seamed. Further, a pross roller 39 is provided ahead of said heat plate 38
so that the longitudinal ends of the film that have been melted when passing
said heat plate 38 may be pressed against each other to complate the tube.
Said press roller 39 is shaft supported on the auxiliary frame 5 and arranged
so as to press the overlapping longitudinal ends of the film ?gainst the
30 wall of the mandrel 23 or against the end surface of another roller 42 shaft
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supported in a cavity 41 dug in the wall of the mandrel 23 as illustrated in
Figure 8. One of the pinch rollers 6, 6 is adjustably supported with provi-
sion of an adjus~ handle 43 to leave a proper clearance beSween said rollers
6, 6. The cutter means F is provided with a cutting knife 28 driven inter-
locked with a limit switch 29 so ~hat when having a contact with ~he tube
formed and fed from film feed line the limit switch 29 is turned on to actuate
a solenoid 28a and thereby to drive said cutting knife 28 to cut the tube at
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a definite length. Further, as illustrated in Figure 1 by the two-dot chain
line, the tube shaping means E is provided with a pattern reader 44 capable
of reading indicia "a" that are preprinted along the film at a definite inter-
val and connected to the control sys~em that sends signal to cutter means F
to actuate so that the tube may be cut to fixed length when the system re-
ceives ~rom the reader 44 a signal corresponding to the indicia "a". The tube
; shaping means E is further provided with a pinhole detector 45 facing the
seamed area of tube and connected to an indicator 46 so that if any incomplete
seam (pinhole) is detected on the tube wall, a warning lamp or the like 47 may
bs turned on.
A tube container 48 illustrated in Figure 11 is constructed using a
sleeve H formed by the tube shaping machine A of this invention. The tube
20 shaping machine A can be as illustrated in Figures 12 and 13 further provided
with a conveyer delivery line 49 and a walking conveyer SO to feed the sleeve
H to a header I that is provided to join the sleeve H and the head-piece 48a
!, to form the tube container 48.
The conveyer delivery line 49 co~prises a series of conveyers, the
first conveyer 49a, the second 49b, and the third 49c. The first conveyer
49a is placed at the front end of the tube shaping machine A below both the
cutter means F and limit switch 29 and receives sleeves H through an inter-
media~e guide 56. Next, the second conveyer 49b is placed next to the first
conveyer 49a separated by adequate distance ~ there~rom and the third con-
veyer 49c is placed between the second conveyer 49b and the walking conveyer
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S0 that ends next to ~he header I.
Each conveyer of the delivery conveyer line 49 is provided with a
plurality of rope belts 60, ... stretched between ~he grooved pulleys 59, 59
that are shaft supported on the conveyer frame 57, ... and given tension by
the action of a tension pulley 61~ A belt 63 is stretched between belt pul-
leys 62, 62 that are fitted to shaft coaxial to grooved pulley of the firs~
and seeond conveyers 49a and 49b respectively~ one of the belt pulleys 62
being driven by a belt 54 stretched between such belt pulley 62 and a belt
pulley 64 fixed on the revolving shaft of the motor 53 to feed rope belts of -
the first and second conveyers by the motor 53. Fu~ther, the third conveyer
49c is provided with a belt 66 stretched between a belt pulley that is fixed
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on the revolving shaft of another motor 65 supported on the conveyer frames
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57 and a belt pulley fixed on shaft coaxial to a grooved pulley as illustrated
in Figure 12. In the delivery conveyer line 49 the plurality of rope belts
60, ... stretched parallel to one another feed sleeves H longitudinally pre-
venting them from falling aside. The gap Q is left between said first and
second conveyers 49a, 49b to allow the scrap 52 that is separated from the `~
I tube by the cutter means F during timing adjustment in order to account for
the positioning error of preprinted indicia on the film surfacc dropping
through said gap into a receiving case 67 provided therebelow and thereby
being removed from the line. The width of the gap Q is set arbitrarily
according to the type of sleeve to be formed. Further, the first conveyer
49a is provided at the sleeve dropping area on conveyer belts with a sucking ~ ;
means 55 such as a blower with a sucking pipe 68 which sucks sleeves H that
have been formed to fixed length by the cutter means F and are falling down
over ~he conveyer belts, thus preventing the sleeves H from bounding on belts
or falling aside when they come down from the cutter means F and simulta-
neously making them to be more stably laid on belts. If there is a vertical
gap in level between the second and third conveyers 49b and 49c as illus-
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' 30 trated in Figurc 12, a chute 56 is further provided therebetween to fill the
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gap.
On the one hand, the third conveyer 49c is provided at its frame 57
with a height adjus~ mechanism 58 such as a jack bolt to adjust its level to
fit the level of the walking conveyer 50. Further, bedplates 69, 69 which
support said first and second conveyers 49a, 49b respectively are provided
with vertically elongated holes 70, ... and horizontally elongated holes 71,
... to adjustably in both horizontal and vertical directions fix ~hemselves
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~ on a horizontal beam 57a of the machine frame 57 by tightening bolts 72,
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so that both conveyeTs may be arranged to work as a unit.
The tube shaping machine embodying the novel concepts of this inven- I
tion and constructed as aforementioned works as follows.
A long longitudinal fil~ 12 rolled round the film soller 13 is
brought round the guide roller 14, brake roller 15, and further tension rol-
ler 16 and passed through the semitubing means B and then ~he ~ubing me~ns E
to urther reach pinch rollers 6, 6, where the film shaped into tube is
~ pinched by the rollers 6, 6 that are driven by the action of the prime motor
¦ so that the film may be fed in a definite direction. By said semitubing means
B the flat film i9 first rolled in U-shape configuration round a longitudinal
axis and then melted resin is placed on the film longitudinal end area, when
resin is trimmed by the resin placement trimming means D to lie on film sur-
I face in fixed area and shape. Then, the film is rolled completely in tubular
`i configurat~on by the guide plate 36 which specifies the overlapping relation
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l of film longitudinal ends facing each o~her and the width of film areas to be
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`1, seamed. Next, the film longitudinal end areas 19, 19 are heated by the heat
7 plate 38 to melt and the press roller 39 is applied to them squeezing them to
; ~ form a complete tube H. After the tube is subjected to the check by the pin-
hole detector 45, it is fed through pinch rollers 6, 6 and over tube keep
, plate 26 to push the limit switch 29, ~/hen the swtich is turned on to pass
current through the solenoid 28a and thereby to drive the cutting knife 28.
3a Thus, the tube is cut by the cutter means P to give a sleeve H of specified
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length, the fused area of ~hich may be constructed in cross section in three
ways as illustrated in Figures 10 (A), 10 (B) and 10 (C), respectively according
to the seaming method adopted. Figure 1~ (A) relates to a sleeve foTmed by
melting and fusing the film longitudinal end areas without application of any
additional resin, while Figures 10 (B) and 10 (C) Telate ~o sleeves formed by
placing melted resin on one and on both of the longitudinal end areas of film
respectively. It is a matter of course that the layer of film to be seamed
mus~ be of ~hermoplastic resin. The tube shaping machine of this invention
can be preferably provided with a cooling roller placed next to the press -
roller 39 to further squeeze the seamed area of ~he tube and simultaneously
to quickly cool down the melted resin to give favorable results in seaming -~
process.
The sleeve H that is formed by cutting the tube to a constant length as
aforementioned is stably transferred piece by piece over the delivery con- -
veyer line under the influence of the sucking means 55 and fed forward along
the line as they are. The sleeves H are further delivered parallel to one
another to the walking conveyer 50 arranged nearly perpendicular to the third
conveyer 49c and then delivered to the header I one by one, where said header
I ~oins a sleeve H to a head-piece 48a to form a tube container 48 as illus-
tra~ed in Pigure 11.
The tube shaping machine of this invention is characterized by a com-
pletely automated processing of a film to form sleeves for tube container
construction, requiring manual operation only for initially setting a roll of
film to the machine~ but never for later sleeve forming process and delivery
proccss. ~ ,
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