Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1289~ZS
Improvements relating to the production of tea and the
likebags
05 This inventions relates to the production of tea and
the like bags. Although reference will be made
hereinafter only to the production of tea bags, it is
to be mentioned that the actual material i.e. tea or an
alternative such as coffee, herbs or flavouring, is not
in essence in the present invention, and it is intended
that all materials of a nature which flavours or
conditions the liquid as it passes through the material
of the bag, which is in the nature of a filter, should
be covered.
As is well known, a tea bag comprises essentia'ly a
small sachet of filter material, such as paper or
netting containing a quantity of tea in finely
comminuted form so that when the bag is placed in
boiling water, the water will be flavoured by the tea,
but the tea particles cannot pass through the filter
material of the bag.
The production of tea bags i8 well developed, and it is
possible using known machinery to produce tea bags at
high speed, for example over 1,000 tea bags per minute,
and machines producing 2 to 4,000 tea bags per minute
are not uncommon. There is a disadvantage with that
kind of tea bag production however in that it is not
possible to produce what are known as ~singles~ at high
speed. ~Singles~, as the name suggests, are single
individual tea bags which can be removed from a carton
of the bags individually without other tea bags in the
carton being extracted at the same time.
When the tea bags are produced by the known machinery
at high speed, they are produced by trapping the
lZ89525
quanities of tea between filter material webs, and they
are produced in side by slde rows, typically two rows,
extending longitudinally of the webs. The webs are
subsequently split transversely to define groups of tea
05 bags of which the individual tea bags lie side by side.
If the webs were split longitudinally to provide
individual tea bags, problems arise in connection with
the handling of the individual tea bags which have to
be collated by the machinery into stacks, and the
stacks placed directly into the cartons. These
problems do not exist when the individual tea bags of
the groups are allowed to remain connected via the web
material. ~owever, in order to facilitate separation
of the individual bags by the consu~er when removing
~ame from the carton, a cutting device of the machine
provides perforations between the respective tea bags
in a group so that separation of the :individual bags in
a group is quite simple.
However, simple though the ~aid separation may be,
experience has ~hown that the biggest single complaint
received from consumers in relation to tea bag useage
is that the te~ bags are not ~singles" and that when a
user wishes to u~e a ~ingle bag, for example to place
it directly into a cup for making of a single cup of
tea! invariably the group of baqs is extracted from the
carton. Therefore, consumer complaint as related to
the fact that tea bags are not in singles in cartons
is, somewhat surprisingly, considerable.
The present invention ~eeks to provide a machine for
making tea bags by which single tea bags can be
produced and placed in cartons at high speed.
Although the invention was made as a result of work
done on known equipment, it involves a number of novel
concepts which can be embodied in existing eguipment by
1289525
-
modifying same, or can be embodied in original
equipment.
To explain the novel aspects of the invention, it is
05 useful to explain in more detail how a tea bag making
machine operates. The following explanation will be
given in relation to a tea bag making machine which
produces tea bags in groups of two, but it is to be
mentioned that the invention is not to be considered as
limited to such production.
A first web of the filter material travels
horizontallyr and a mechanism desposits qyantities of
tea on this web in two side by side rows, the
individual tea quantities being spaced transversely and
longitudinal:ly on the travelling web. A second web is
brought into overlying contact with the first web, and
the two webs are sealed in peripheral regions trapping
the tea in individual bags to provide a sachet web, the
seals extending transversely and longitudinally
thereof. The- thus formed sachet web of tea bags, still
travelling horizontally, passes a perforating device
which puts a line of perforations down the centre of
the sachet web, but not a~ sconnecting the bags
transversely. A transverse cutter severs the
individual groups ~of two each) of bags, and feeds them
into a magazine in turn, and subsequent groups are
placed on top of preceding groups 80 that the groups
become stacked in the magazine. A collating device
separates a predetermined number of groups of tea bags
in the stacks and moves it to the bottom of the
magazine. The group is pushed laterally from the lower
end of the magazine into an insertion device, and the
insertion device places the stack of groups into a
carton located under the inserting device. The carton
is either moved away from the inserting device after
receiving the stack or indexed if it is to receive a
.... ~ . ..
- 12~39525
further group of tea bags in the same carton. When the
carton is full it is moved away from the inserting
device and finally it is closed at a downstream station
of the machine.
05
~he machine works at high speed because the two tea
bags in each group remain connected, albeit across a
perforated connection line, but if one simply severs
the horizontally travelling web of tea bags in an
effort to produce "singles" then the loss of connection
of the tea bags in the group creates unexpectefl and
considerable problems to such an extent that the
machine simply will not perform effectively, and the
tea bags either fall from the machine or take up the
urong disposition, or burst.
The present invention provides a numbec of
modifications for the above process which results in
improved operation to such an extent that the machine
can run whilst producing singles and placing same in
the cartons which travel through the machine.
In a first modification, means is provided to ensure
that during the travel of the tea bags to the magazine,
the tea inside the bags has its position changed in
order to bias the tea position in relation to the tea
bag cavity, and preferably to the outsides of the
travelling sachet web, whereby the location of the
centre of gravity of the mass of tea in the bag can be
more accurately determined. By doing this, one
achieves a more dependable knowledge of the position of
the centre of gravity of the tea in each bag, and a
more positive control of the handling of the individual
bags can therefore result. In particular, if the tea
is biassed to the outsides of the sachet web, then in
the magazine, supporting ledges at the top thereof for
receiving the individual bags can be dimensioned to
: , . , : .
- ` 1289SZS
ensure that the bags are supported in such a manner to
remain as much as possible in horizontal planes,
because one of the problems of handling single tea bags
is to maintain the tea bags in substantially horizontal
oS planes in the magazine. This is normally achieved by
maintaining the connection between individual bags in a
group, but when the tea bags have been separated into
individual bags, then there is less control of-the tea
bag handling. Also, by biassing the tea in this fashion
there is less tendency for the individual bags when
moving from the transverse cutter into the magazine to
cascade i.e. have a rotational component of movement,
into the magazine and they move more in a purely linear
component of movement, because the said ledges support
the main mass of the t~a bags immediately the bags
leave the lateral cutter
In a second modification, a platform on which the stack
of bags fit is modified so as to provide a greater
surface area, and this p'atform co-operates with a lead
out member located at the bottom of the magazine. When
the platform moves to the lowermost position, and the
group of bags is pushed laterally from the magazine,
tbe bags slide over the platform and the lead out
member. The lead out member preferably has a chamfered
edge which co-operates with corresponding chamfered
edge on the underside of the platform so that together
they form a smoothly continuous surface which enhances
the ejection of the stack of bags, now in single form,
out of the magazine. This utilisation of a lead out
member and modified platform enhances stack ejection
and there is no catching of the individual bags on any
projection or the like on the surface defined by the
lead out member and platform.
In order to ensure that there will be an additional
compressive push of the stack in a horizontal
128952S
direction, the pusher member which ejects the stack of
singles from the magazine into the insertion member has
a pusher surface which is located further forward than
the pusher surface used in the conv~^:.,tional machine.
05 This is to ensure that the stack of bags experiences a
horizontal compression in a direction moving the bags
of the respective groups closer together. This arises
because when the web of travelling bags is cut to de-
fine singles as explained herein, then the overall
width of the bag pairs is greater as compared to when
the bag pairs in a group are left connected across the
line of perforations.
rn one of its aspects the present invention provides a
machine for producing tea or the like bags, wherein the
bags are formed in moving webs of material wherein a
:Eirst web has individual and spaced portions of tea or
the like placed thereon, the second web is applied over
the first web, and the webs are sealed around said por-
tions of tea forming a web of tea bags, the webs aresevered transversely to separate the tea bags from each
other, and the tea bags are palced in a magazine on top
of each other, and wherein means is provided to ensure
hat during the travel of the tea bags to the magazine,
~he tea inside the bags has its position changed in
order to bias the tea position in relation to the tea
bag cavity of each bag, whereby the location of the
centre of gravity of the mass of tea in the bag is
shifted enabling the more effective handling of the
bags.
In another aspect the present invention provides a
machine according to Claim 2, including severing means
for severing webs longitudinally to produce two separ-
--- 1289525
6a
ate single rows of tea bags, said servering means being
located downstream of the biasing means so that the
said longitudinal severing takes place after the said
biasing.
05
In relation to the insertion step, the equipment is
modified to ensure that the stacks of tea bags when
inserted into the carton is given a vertical compres-
sion, between the redistribution of the tea to bias
same as described herein has a tendency to give the tea
bag an overall greater thickness then it would have
were the tea evenly distributed throughout the bag.
This compression may be achieved by raising the height
of the platform or base on which the cartons stand
whilst the stacks are being inserted in the cartons.
For the cutting of the travelling web into singles,
there may be used a disc cutter in place of the per-
forming cutter in the conventional machine, or alter-
natively a power driven circular disc may be providedwhich is driven at a higher speed than the speed of
travel of the web, and runs in a slot underneath the
web so as to ensure positive cutting action.
In yet a further aspect the invention provides a ma-
chine for producing tea or the like bags, wherein the
bags are formed in moving webs of material wherein a
1289~25
first web has individual and spaced portions of tea or
the like placed thereon, the second web is applied over
the first web, and the webs are sealed around said
portions of tea forming a web of tea bags, the webs are
05 severed transversely to separate the tea bags from each
other, and the tea bags are placed in a magazine on top
of each other, and wherein the machine produces webs of
tea bags arranged in two rows extending longitudinally
of the webs, including severing means for severing webs
longitudinally to produce two separate single rows of
tea bags, wherein the longitudinal severing means
comprises a disc cutter which runs in a slot underneath
the web so as to ensure complete severing of the web.
lS Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by
way of example, with reference to the accompanying
drawings, wherein:-
Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating several of
the essentia] components of a tea bag making machine;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating another partof the machine;
Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating how the tea bags
travel through the machine;
Fig. 4 is a sectional side elevation illustrating how
the tea bags are inserted in packaging cartons;
Fig. 5 is a sectional side elevation of the cutter disc
and anvil; and
Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the anvil shown in Fig.
5.
Referring to the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate
1289525
machine components and are in perspective elevation to
show how the machine components operate, whilst Fig. 3
shows the path of movement of the tea bags through the
machine stations illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. One
05 should therefore appreciate that Fig. 3 should be
considered as superimposed on Figs. 1 and 2 for full
illustration of the operation, but the separated method
of illustration has been selected for ease of
understanding.
The machine as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 has been modified
in accordance with various aspects of the present
invention.
Referring firstly to Fig. 3, a web 10 of tea bags 12 i-s
shown travelling horizontally as indicated by arrow 14.
The web defines two rows 16 and 18 of tea bags and
transverse seals 20 split the web into qroups oE tea
bags, each group comprising two tea bags 12. There is
a longitudinal seal 22 which defines the individual tea
bags 12 in each group. At location 24 the web 10 is
severed along the ~eal 22, and at location 26, the
individual tea bags of each qroup are severed from the
remainder of the web to define individual tea bags 12A,
arranged in pairs. The pairs of individual tea bags
are stacked in the magazine as shown at 28, and
collating members indicated by numerals 30 6erve to
group a predetermined number of groups of tea bags in a
stack as shown at 32. This stack is displaced by a
pusher in the manner indicated by reference 34
horizontally and laterally of the magazine to the
po`sition shown by numeral 36, and in which position the
stack is engaged by an inserting mechanism, and the
inserting mechanism positions the stack in a carton 38
as shown in Fig. 4-. ~he carton 38 stands on a base
plate 40 and when it has been filled with the tea bags
36, the carton 38 is moved horizontally as indicated by
lX89525
arrow 42 to a station whereat the top 43 of the carton
is closed.
In moving the stack of tea bags from the position 32 to
05 the position 36 as indicated by arrow 34, the
individual tea bags are pushed together as indicated by
arrows 44 to compensate for the spread of the bags when
the web is cut as indicated by numeral 24.
Furthermore, the base plate 40 as shown in Fig. 4 i5
raised compared to the conventional machine to ensure
that the insertion plunger 46 compresses the stack of
tea bags 36 by more than would normally be effected,
this being required as the stack of tea bags has a
greater neight than it would normally have if the tea
were not positioned biassed in the bags in a manner as
will be explained hereinafter.
Referring now to Fig. 1. the machine has horizontal
decking 50 along which the web 10 travels, and the
decking 50 is provided with a displacement block 52
which is shaped and serves to displace the tea in the
bags to the outsides of the web 10, as shown at 54 in
F~g. 3.
A cutting disc 56 forms the cut in the web 10 at the
locat~on 24, and there is a slot 5B in an anvil ~to be
described) in which the cutting disc 56 locates. The
cutting wheel is driven at a greater speed than the
speed of travel of the web 10 over the decking 50. A
cutting cylinder 60 with a radial cutting blade 62 and
which is rotatable about the axis 64 serves to separate
the pairs of tea bags as indicated by 12A in Fig. 3.
The disc 56 is driven by a belt and pulley connection
61, 63, 65 from the shaft 67 of c~tting cylinder 60,
the disc drive shaft 69 being supported by the support
bloc3c 71. The magazine 66 is provided with internal
- 12895;~S
ledge plates 68 and 70 which receive the pairs of tea
bags delivered by the cutting roller 60, the ledges 68
and 70 being of increased size compared to the
conventional machine so as to receive and support the
05 pair of bags in a substantially horizontal plane. It
is to be remembered that the tea in the bags is biassed
to the sides of the web 10, and therefore the ledges 68
and 70 will effectively support such bags in a
desirable disposition. A pusher bar 72 oscillates as
10 indicated by the arrow 74 about an arcuate path, and
pushes the topmost pair of tea bags in a downwards
direction in the magazine 66. Inside the magazine 66
is a support platform 74 which has a lug 76 connected
to a lift mechanism in order to effect raising and
15 lowering of the platform 74 as indicated by the arrow
78. The platform 74 is made larger than the platform
as used in the conventional equipment, and at one edge,
the front edge, the platform is provided with an
underside chamfer 80 which is adapted to co-operate
20 with a rear chamfer 82 on the top side of a lead out
plate 84 located in the base of the magazine.
The collator plates identified previously by numeral 30
are indicated in Fig. 1 by numerals 86 and 88. Collator
25 plate 86 comprises three spaced fingers which fit
through spaced slots in the side wall 90 of the
magazine, whil~t collater plate 88 is a flat plate
which fits through a single large aperture 92 in the
side 94 of the magazine. The plate 88 has only small
30 cut outs 96 80 that it will not foul with the pusher
bar 72.
The collator plates 86 and 88, in syncronism with the
operation of the machine, move up and down the magazine
35 as indicated by arrow 98, and into and out of the stack
of tea ba~s in the magazine as indicated by the arrow
100 .
12~39525
Specifically, as the pairs of individual tea bags are
loaded in the magazine 66 as described, with the
platform 74 just below the bottom edge of aperture 92,
80 the stack of singles tea bags builds up in the
05 magazine 66. The collating plates 86 and 88 are moved
into the stack so as to separate a predetermined number
of tea bags located between the platform 74 and the
collating plates 86, 88 from the remainder of the tea
bags in the magazine. The collating plates and
platform now move downwardly as indicated by arrow 98,
until the platform chamfer 80 and lead out plate
chamfer 82 overlap providing a smooth ejection surface.
Next, a pusher 102 is displaced as indicated by arrow
104, thereby pushing the stack of tea bags out of the
magazine 66 and into the holding device which is
illustrated in Fig. 2. The holding device comprises a
plunger head 106, pivotal holding or gripping plates
110 which have stop ledges 108. The bottoms of the
plates 110 have supporting ledges 112, but the bottom
of the insertion device is otherwise open. Metal
fingers 109 resiliently restrain the plates from
pivoting apart until the appropriate instant in the
cycle of operations as will be explained herein. When
the tea bag~ are in~erted in the insertion device, the
plates 110 are pivoted inwardly slightly in order to
provide a secure grip of the stack of tea bags and then
the whole assembly is lowered into the carton 114 tobe
filled with the tea bags. At the end of the downward
stroke, the base of the carton 114, located on the base
plate 40 is located so that the distance between the
plate 40 and the undersurface of plunger block 106 i5
less than the height of the stack of tea bags whereby
the bags are vertically compressed to ensure that they
will fit into the carton 114. This is achieved as
explained previously by providing a raised portion to
the base plate 40. The plates 110 are then retracted
whilst the block remains in a down position, the plates
12~395~5
110 pivoting apart during this movement as the ledges
112 pass the tea bags, against the resilience of the
springs 109 until they are clear of the stac~.
Subsequently, the block 106 is retracted to the
05 position shown in Fig. 2 to complete the insertion.
Also, the pusher 102 is provided with a thickness
increasing portion 116 so that when the pusher is
advanced to move the bags into the insertion device,
the stop bar 108 will act to push the two piles of
individual tea bags in the stack closer together.
Referring llOW to Fig. 5, a novel form of cutter
arrangement has been designed for the machine according
to this iDvention, and in the drawing, the support
block 71 is shown, although the means for mounting this
block on the machine ~s not shown. Such means
comprises a bracket into which the block fits
telescopically, and a locking screw enables the block
20- 71 to be locked in any of an infinite num~er of
vertically adjusted positions, for the purposes of
maintaining the correct cooperation between the cutting
disc 56 and an anvil 150 w$th which the cutting disc
cooperates. The shaft 69 carrying the pulley 65 is
mounted for rotation in block 71 by roller bearings
152, and the disc 56 is mounted via a mounting bush
154. The disc 56 in this example is of the narrow
profile shown comprising a centre section of
approximately 30 mm diameter and of an even thickne~s
of 2.5 mm, the cutting portion of the disc being a
diameter of 60 mm, and the cutting portion taperinq
from 2.5 mm at the centre portion to 0 at the cutting
edge. This disc is therefore a slender and extensive
component. The anvil 150 with which the disc cooperates
is provided with the slot 58 with which the cutting
èdge of the disc locates as shown in Fig. 5. The slot
58 is of a dimension of the order of 2 mm wide at the
1289525
top, but at a slight distance under the top surface 156
of the anvil, the slot tapers outwardly in a downwards
direction to a width of 6.4 mm. ~he shaping of the slot
in this fashion is to ensure that the tiny particles of
05 the cut paper web which drop into the slot 58 can fall
away from the region of the slot and through thebottom
of the anvil for appropriate collection. The cutting
disc cutting edge lies centrally of the slot 58 at the
top side 156 of the anvil so that in fact the cutting
edge does not bear against any chopping surface, as is
in the case in the conventional machine. The disc is
driven at high speed so as to slice through the paper
cleanly and to generate minimum cutting fragments. As
the disc wears, it can on the one hand be removed and
sharpened, and on the other hand if the sharpening
process reduces the external diamter of the disc, the
disc will still be effectively useable as its heiqht
position can be lowered by lowering of the brackel: 71.
Best results have been found by positioning the dis;c so
that its cutting edge barely penetrates the slot 58
i.e. so that the edge of the cutting disc is almos~
tangential to the surface 156 of the anvil, but it i6
possible that the cutting disc edge can penetrate below
the surface 156 if reguired.
Referring to Fig. 6 in conjunction with Fig. 5, the
anvil will be seen to comprise a main elongated body
portion 160 having the slot 58 therein, and also
defining the said upper surface 156 of the anvil. On
the sides, towards the bottom edge of the body 160
there are fixing lugs 162 provided with apertures 164
for fixing screws or the like. The anvil is inserted
in an appropriate cut out in the decking SO so that the
upper surface 156 lies flush with the decking as shown
in Fig. 5, and the lugs 162 lie to the underside.
Screws inserted through the holes 164 and engaging in
appropriate apertures in the decking 50 enable the
1289525
14
anvil to be removably secured to the decking. The anvil
as well as the disc can be removed and replaced if
reguired.
05 All of the moving components will of course be
syncronised to operate in sequence and at the correct
instant in the cycle operations.
The various modifications and improvements contribute
individually and in combination to enable the high
speed handling of singles tea bags.
