Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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1 This invention relates to the packaging art.
~ lore particularly, the present invention relates to a
method of packaging goods, and to an apparatus for carrying out the
method.
Packaging apparatus is known wherein a tube-forming
machine withdraws a web of packaging material (usually synthetic
plastic) from a supply roll and converts it into a tube which is
then forwarded to a bag-forming station. At that station the tube
is severed into individual tube sections and one end of each section
is closed to form a bag or pouch. These then travel sequentially
to a filling station where they are filled with the goods to be
packaged, a sealing station where the filled pouches or bags are
sealed, and a delivery station where the finished packages are dis-
charged, e.g., for packing into cartons. The several stations are
connected by a conveyor which carries the packages to them.
This type of apparatus is used primarily, but not ex-
clusively, to produce liquid packages containing, for example, milk,
fruit juice and the like. It has become widely accepted due to its
continuous and automatic operation and the use of packaging material
delivered in supply rolls. It appears that the working speed of the
entire apparatus is limited essentially only by the maximum possible
working speed of the conveyor device along which the filling station,
the sealing station and the delivery station are arranged. Thus, if
output in excess of the conveyor working speed is required, a second
apparatus must be provided. Furthermore, if different packages are
to be produced at the same time, for example, packages having differ-
ent volumes and/or differing fillings, separate apparatus must be
provided for the production, filling and sealing of each type of dif-
ferent package.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved
packaging method and apparatus, which avoid the aforementioned prior-
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1 art disadvantages.
More particularly, it is an ob~ect of the present in-
vention to provide an improved packaging method wherein the maximum
output per unit time of the basic machine is not limited by the
conveyor working speed to a lower output figure.
Another object of the invention is to provide such an
improved method wherein the simultaneous production of different
types of packages is possible, e.g., of packages which differ from
one another in volume or content.
A concomitant object is to provide an improved pack-
aging apparatus for carrying out the novel method.
Pursuant to these objects, and still others which will
become apparent hereinafter, one aspect of the invention resides in
a method of packaging goods, which comprises the steps forming two
separate streams o~ bags, depositing successive bags oE each stream
alternately on two side-by-sice tracks o~ a conveyor so as to ob-
tain ~our partial streams, and successively conveying the bags of
the partial streams through filling, sealing and discharge stations.
~ packaging apparatus embodying the invention may in-
clude a pair of~packaging machines each including a tube stationin which a web of packaging material is withdrawn from a suppl~ roll
and shaped into a tube, a bag-forming station in which the tube is
subdivided into tube sections which are converted into bags, a fil-
ling station in which a product is filled into the bags, a sealing
station in which the filled bags are sealed, and a delivery station,
all of the stations being arranged sequentially, a conveyor extend-
ing along all of the stations and having two side-by-side pairs of
conveyor tracks, and means for delivering bags from each of the
bag-forming stations alternately to the respective tracks of an as-
sociated one of the pairs of tracks.
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1 As mentioned before, the maximum possible output was
heretofore limited by the performance of the conveyor along which
the filling station, the sealing station and the delivery station
are arranged. This bottleneck is now eliminated by the invention,
due to the fact that the conveyor has several tracks. Since each
tube machine works on two tracks of the conveyor, the output
capacity of the tube machiner which is higher than that of a single-
track conveyor, is fully exploited. A further doubling of the
achievable output results from the fact that two tube machines are
now provided, without a substantially higher construction expense ~-
being necessary for this purpose in the region of the conveyor.
Due to the use of two tube machines it is also possible to produce
different packages side by side, for example different package
si2es and/or different package contents. For example, in a dairy
it is now possible to produce liter packages and half-liter packages
of milk and cocoa side by side.
Each tube machine may include an intermediate magazine
which is displaceable in timed manner transversely of the conveying
direction and which displaces the package wrappers, taken singly
from the bag-forming station of the tube machine, alternately to the
two sides for transfer to a different track of the conveyor.
Involving only low construction expenses, this intermediate magazine
permits the alternate and uniform supply of two tracks of the
conveyor with package wrappers.
At the position at which the intermediate magazine
accepts the package wrappers, and at the two positions at which
the wrappers are transferred to the tracks of the conveyor, scraper
devices may be provided which take up the package wrappers. Thus,
no special ejector devices or the like are necessary at the inter-
mediate magazine as soon as the latter is situated at the accept-
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1 ance position and out of it as soon as it is situated at one of
the two delivery positions.
Each intermediate magazine preferably comprises two
commonly transversely displaceable, upwardly and downwardly open
reception shafts for the package wrappers. The two intermediate
magazines are preferably each driven via a rack by one common
pinion. The pinion is preferably drivable by means of a control
cam and a cam follower for limited rotating movements.
The conveyor, the two tube machines and the two inter-
mediate magazines may be in driving connection with one anotherthrough one common main control shaft. The tube magazines may be
constructed so that they can be individually uncoupled according
to choice.
The novel features which are considered as character-
istic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended
claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction
and its method of operation, together with additional objects and
advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following
description of specific embodiments when read in connection with
the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 shows an apparatus for the production, filling
and sealing of packages, in a lateral elevational view;
~ ig~ 2 shows the apparatus in plan view, the part of
the apparatus shown on the left in Fig, 1 being omitted for the
sake of simplicity;
Fig. 3 is a view as seen in the direction of the arrow
III in Fig. l;
Fig. 4 is an enlarged partial representation of the
intermediate magazine, in a view looking in the direction of the
arrow IV in Fig. 1;
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1 Fig 5 is a plan view of the part of the apparatus
shown in Fig. 4; and
Fig. 6 is a lateral elevational view, looking in the
direction of the arrow VI in Fig. 5
The novel method and apparatus will hereafter be jointly
described with reference to the drawings
The apparatus shown in Fig 1 for the production, filling
and sealing of packages, for example to produce milk and cocoa
packages in a dairy, comprises two tube machines 1 which are
placed side by side. In each tube machine 1 a packaging material
web 2, for example of synthetic plastic-coated paper, is withdrawn
from a supply roll 3 and conducted over an upper reversing roller
4 In a tube-forming station 5, which is shown only in simplified
form since it is known per se, a tube 2 1 is produced from the web
2 of packaging material by connecting of the two longitudinal edges
of the web. The tube 2 1 is then conducted over lower deflector
rollers to a bag-forming station 6 where the tube 2.1 is opened
out by means of a respective expanding mandrel 6O1 is welded trans-
versely and severed at the lower end of each thus-formed tube section,
so that individual bags are produced which are shaped by the expan-
ding mandrel 6.1 into, for example, parallelepipedal package wrap-
pers 2.2
The shaped package wrappers 2.2 are transported from
the expanding mandrels 6.1, which are mounted on a horizontally
circulating endless chain 7, to an intermediate magazine 8, one
intermediage magazine 8 being provided for each of the two tube
machines 1.
The intermediate magazines 8, which are described in
greater detail hereinafter, pass the package wrappers 2.2 to a
conveyor device in the form of an endless horizontal conveyor 9
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1 which comprises individual small boxes 9.1 each adapted to receive
one package wrapper 2.2.
On the endless conveyor 9 there are provided, in side-
by-side relationship, four tracks of receiving boxes 9,1, two
tracks being allocated to one tube machine 1 and two tracks being
allocated to the other tube machine~ All the tracks, designated
9,2, 9.3, 9.4 and 9,5, respectively, run in succession in each
case beneath a filling station 10 and then a sealing station 11
working in several stages, where the upper package seal is produced.
Then the finished packages pass to a delivery station 12, where
they are delivered to a further conveyor (not shown) or a packing
apparatus for e.g. insertion into boxes.
Details of the intermediate magazines 8 and their
drive are shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. Each intermediate magazine
8 comprises two upwardly and downwardly open receiving shafts 8.1
for the package wrappers. Each intermediate magazine 8 is connected
with a rack 8.2 and displaceable in timed manner transversely of
the conveying direction. The two racks 8,2 are driven by a common
pinion 13. The pinion 13 is secured on a shaft 13.1 which carries
an arm 13.2 on the free end of which a roller 13.3 is mounted which
constitutes a cam follower of a control cam 14. The control cam 14
is secured on a main control shaft 15 (only partially shown) extend-
ing in the longitudinal direction of the apparatus.
Fig. 4 shows that the control cam 14 has a peripheral
section 14,1 with a smaller diameter and a peripheral section 14,2
with a larger diameter. As long as the cam roller 13.3 engages the
control cam section 14.1 having the smaller diameter, the inter-
mediate magazines 8 are situated in the position as shown in Fig.
4, i.e. in each case one of the receiving shafts 8.1 of each
intermediate magazine 8 is located in the middle position and is
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1 ready to receive a package wrapper 2.2, while the other of the
two receiving shafts 8.1 is situated above one of the two inner
tracks 9.3 and 9.4 of the endless conveyor 9. When the cam
roller 13.3 is pivoted by the control cam 14 and tracks the control
cam section 14.2, the two intermediate magazines 8 are each shifted
outwards in relation to the position shown in Fig. 4, so that a
receiving shaft 8.1 is then situated over each of the two outer
tracks 9.2 and 9.5.
This positive mechanical drive of the intermediate
magazines has proved to be very trouble-proof even under rough
working conditions.
Vertically arranged endless conveyor belts 16 1 and
16.2 each have a dog 16.3 and from scraper devices which scrape
the package wrappers 2,2 away from the expanding mandrels 6.1 for
transfer to the receiving shafts 8.1 and thence into the individual
boxes 9.1 of the endless conveyor 9 Fig. 5 shows that the scraper -
belts 16.1 and 16.2 are driven by a common drive shaft 16.4
The apparatus disclosed herein permits a very extensive
adaptation to different operational requirements. If, for example,
an especially large output of a single type of package is desired,
the two tube machines l deliver the same type of package wrappers
which are all filled with the same filling material in the filling
station 10. Assuming, arguendo, that the capacity of a single
track of the conveyor moving in timed manner beneath the filling
station 10 amounts to 2,000 package units per hour, and that the
capacityof each tube machine is 4,000 package units per hour, then
the apparatus achieves an output of 8,000 package units per hour.
If different packages are to be produced, then the -
one tube machine may e.g produce liter packages and the other
tube machine half-liter packages Furthermore, each package size
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1 can also be filled with different filling materials, for example
the liter packages on one track and the half-liter packages on
the other track may be filled with milk, whereas cocoa may be
filled into liter packages and half-liter packages on the third
and fourth tracks. In this example the apparatus delivers 2,000
liter packages and 2,000 half-liter packages of milk and 2,000
liter packages and 2,000 half-liter packages of cocoa per hour.
A particular advantage of the invention is that an
apparatus of the initially described basic type is provided, so
that a simple adaptation with relatively slight construction expense
allows the apparatus to be converted to operate according to the
invention and to deal with different operational requirements, for
example as regards different package sizes, different package con-
tents and different output quantities, and to achieve output quanti-
ties going far beyond the performance capacity of known machines.
Furthermore, by comparison with the use of a plurality of individual
apparatuses, the construction expense for the drive and controlling
of the individual elements is relatively low and, moreover, reliable
synchronism of operation of all individual elements is assured.
While the invention has been illustrated and described
as embodied in a packaging apparatus for liquids, it is not intended
to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and
structural changes may be made without departing in any way from
the spirit of the present invention
