Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ID~PROYRD MET80D AND APPARATUS fOR pACKINC~ FLO~QSR 80VQ'QETS
S The present invention relates to s work method far
packing flower bouquets and such, in which on the one hand
the flowex bouquets are fed by means of a conveyor belt to
a drive guiding instrument, on the ether hand, to be
released above a fed opened cover, after which the flower
1o bouquet with closed cover is further transported and placed
into shipping boxes.
A similar work method and apparatus is known from the
European patent document nr. 0 590 269 A1, submitted 30-07-
1993, titleds ~~Article Packaging System" of the applicant
15 Highland Supply Corporation, 1111 Sixth Street, Highland,
Illinois 62249 (USA), inventors CRAIG Frank, 90 Inez,
Val3ey Park, Missouri 63088 (USA); STRAETER, Joseph G.,
3817 Praire Road, Highland Illinois 62249 (USA) and WEDER,
Donald E., 621 Main Street, Highland Illinois 62249 (USA).
20 ~ Here, it concerns a modular system for packing artic7.es
for shipment, especially potted plants, which axe put into
a decorative cover and subsequently automatically placed
into a protecting cover, after which the packed plants are
ready for putting into a shipment box, in which the several
25 components of the system can also be adjusted to the
different packing demands and circumstances, such as
fragrance, gastightnese and such.
The work method for packing an article, mostly a plant
or botanic item, consists of a number of steps such as:
30 applying or feeding the article with an external surface,
then applying a decorative cover around the external
surface of the article to form an attractively packed
article, and then automatically applying a cover around the
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already decoratively covered article and th~ apparatus is
also claimed for the execution of these specific Work
methods.
With this invention the concerned potted plant is
covered~and wfter that~held-above-aw opened cover which ie
then sealed for, for example, shipment.
The above described work method and apparatus hoe
disadvantages with regard to peaking Flower bouquets, being
that loose flower bouquets must be brought from a
to horizontal lying position as a bouquet into a vertical
position, to, then be elided or dropped into an opened
cover without losing the coherence of the bouquet, which
with the known apparatus and work method is not possible.
In practice the packing or covering of large amounts of
r5 loose flower bouquets ins mainly done manually, which ins
very time-consuming or the flower bouquets are fec~ by means
of a conveyor belt to a slanting chute, after which the
flower bouquet falls into an opened cover and after which,
with a binding azachine, a binding wire is wound around the
2o externs of the flower bouquet. Also this last method ie not
very fast to efficiently process large amounts of flower
bouquets.
The aim of the present inv~rition is to provide such a
work method and appasatue that the disadvantages are
z3 eliminated and which apparatus works efficiently, can cover
very large amounts of flower bouquets in a short tame and
which apparatus can be put onto the market in a very
economically responsible way.
For this purpose a work method with a special apparatus
30 ie developed in a very inventive way, tlaat the mentioned
flower bouquets are fed lying transversely in the movement
direction by a first approximately horizontal set up
conveyor belt, called the bouquet line, on which the flower
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bouquets are laid down with a suitable mutual distance L so
that via a lifting conveyor belt, at the end of the
mentioned first conveyor belt, then fall onto a second
conveyor belt ar feeding belt placed at a right angle on
'the first conveyox belts in v~rhich~the mentioned feeding
belt rotates at an angle a of the approximately horizontal
position into the vertical position, in which on the.
mentioned feeding belt by means of lateral and cross
partitions compartments are formed in which a flower
bouquet is dropped continuously, in which when rotation the
feeding belt over art angle a the compartments go from a
horizontal to a vertical position and is closed by a
vertical plate into a box shaped cell space, after which
the cross partition turns away and the flower bouquet falls
~5 with its stems onto a trap door instrument, which opens
subsequently and the flower bouquet drops into an already
opened cover, after which the flower bouguet in the cover
is wrapped with a band or tape around the stems and the
thus packed flower bouquet is furthex transported by means
of conveynx belts to collecting boxes for further shipment
of the packed'flower bouquets.
The advantage is an efficient work method to pack large
amounts of flower bouquets with a relatively compact
machine.
Further, the apparatus according to the invention is
further developed in such a way, that this device consists
of the following parts, such as a first conveyor belt and a
lifting conveyor belt ~ second conveyor belt or feeding
belt placed at a right angle, provided with lateral and
3o cross partitions with height to form compartments into
which the flower bouquet has been dropped, in which the
mentioned feeding pelt is transferred from the horizontal
position into the vertical position and rune along a
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vertical plate. ~so Chat a box-shaped cell space is created
including the flower bouquet, after which the cross
partition below the flower bouquet is turnable and the
flower bouquet lands on a trap door inatrurnent, which can
~wbe~opened and the flower~bouquet drops into an opened
cover, after which further pxoeessing takes place and
discharging is done via conveyor belts to the packing of
the flower bouquets, in which the material of the apparatus
can be stainless steel.
to The advantage is s compact machine ox apparatus to
execute the work method in the mraet efficient way.
The preferred cor~struction of the irwention will be
described by way of example, and with reference to the
accompanying drawing.
Tn which:
~'ig. 1 shows a schematic top view of the peeking
procedure with the apparatus according to the
invention for executing the specific work
tnothod for packing large amounts of flower
Zo bouquets.
Flg. 2 shows a schematic aide v~.ew of the apparatus
for packing flower bouquets; and
Fig. 3A anal 3H show schernatieally in oblique pro~eation the
trap door instrument in clased (figure 3A)
and in opened position tfigure 38).
Figure 1 shows in a schematic way the whole procedure
for packing large amounts of flower bouguets with the
special apparatus 1 according to the invention. The
30 procedure begins with laying down flower bouguets 3
tranavergely on the conveyor belt or bouquet line 4 by
person 2, and this with a suitable ,interval specified by
not ind~i.cated carriers on the bouquet line. The width of
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the mentioned conveyor belt is approximately 800 gym, ~n
view of the flowex bouquets.
On this conveyor belt 4 the flower bouquets undergo
more processes, such as the binding and cutting of the
stems etc. at the sections 5 and 6. After~that the flower
bouquets go onto a lifting conveyor belt 7 to the actual
packing machine or apparatus 1 according to the invention,
of which the working is shown in figure 2. After that
discharging B of the packed flower bouguete is done and on
1o the bouquet line 9 some more processes are done such as
applying ~ChrysalN at 10, taping at il and applying a
sticker at 12. All packed or covered flower bouquets 3 are
put onto a collecting conveyor 13 and can be packed into
boxes by persona 15 and 16.
t5 Figure 2 shows a echerns.tie side view of the actual
apparatus 1 according to tha invention.
From the lifting conveyor belt 7 (see figure 1) the
flower bouquets 3 fall on the feeding conveyor belt 17
which turns from the horizontal position A into a vertical
zo position H, i.e. rotating at an angle a of approximately 90
degrees. The feeding conveyor belt 17 is approximately 20
am wide and is supplied with raised plates or lateral
partitions s8 at the sides to avoid falling off sideways of
the flower bauguete 3. To create compartments 20, Cross
25 partitions I9 have also been applied. Tha flower bouquets 3
fall onto the feeding belt 17 accordingly into the
compartrnente 20 and are thug rotated from the horizontal
position into the vertical position and then a box shaped
cell space 22 is created by the vertical plate 21.
3o Subsequently, by turning away the cross partition 19 the
flower bouquet 3 with its stems falls onto the trap door
instrument 24, which is 3n closed positron and then opens
(see figures 3A and 38) and the flower bouquet falls in the
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already operaed cover 25 and the whole is finished according
to the process described in figure 1.
Figures 3A arid 38 show achernatically in oblique
projection the trap door instrument 24 in closed (figure
3A) and~opened poaitio~n (figure 38). The trap door
instrument 24 coneieta of two conical halves 26 and 27,
which are welded in the plate parts 2a and 29. The plate
parts 28 and 29 are fastened by rneanr~ of screws 30 on the
rotating shafts 31 and 32. The shafts 31 and 32 can rotate
1a in the directions X and Y through which the trap door
instrument 24 opens and goes from the positrion in figure 3A
to the poaitiox~ in figure 3E. 8y the apparatus 1 with the
matching work ttuethod accordi~tg to the invention a very
efficient pacl~cing machine for flower bouquets 3 is created.
t5 finally it has to be emphaeixsd, that the above
description constitutes a preferred embodiment of the
present invention and that further variations and
modifications are still possible without departing the
scope of this patent description.
ZO
