Device and method for aligning blanks in a magazine holding a number of blanks, and an apparatus and method for fetching a blank from a magazine holding a number of blanks
AssigneeTetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A.
InventorErik Lassen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to a device (1) and method for aligning blanks (2) in a magazine (3) holding a number of blanks (2), each blank (2) being a sleeve shaped piece of packaging material folded planar. The device (1) comprises a plate element (4), and a vibrating means (5) connected to said plate element (4) to vibrate said plate element (4) in relation to said magazine (3), such that said plate element (4) comes into contact with an edge of any unaligned blanks in said magazine in order to align said unaligned blanks. The invention also relates to an apparatus (100) and method for fetching a blank (2) from a magazine (3) holding a number of blanks (2).
Claims13
A device configured to align blanks held in a magazine, each blank being a folded piece of packaging material, the device comprising:
- a plate element configured to contact a respective edge of an unaligned blank in the magazine;
- and
- a vibrating element connected to the plate element and configured to vibrate the plate element relative to the magazine,
- wherein when the vibrating element vibrates the plate element, the plate element is configured to contact the respective edge of the unaligned blank to thereby align the unaligned blank with the other blanks held in the magazine, and
- wherein the vibrating element is configured to extend at least partially within an opening formed in at least one of two parallel spring plates, the parallel spring plates being located at a distance from each other, wherein the parallel spring plates are configured to allow movement of the vibrating element along a single axis.
A method of aligning blanks in a magazine with an alignment device, the magazine holding a plurality of blanks, wherein the alignment device comprises a plate element and a vibrating element connected to the plate element, the method comprising:
- activating the vibrating element to vibrate the plate element relative to the magazine;
- and
- contacting a respective edge of at least one unaligned blank in the magazine with the vibrating plate element,
- wherein the contacting aligns the unaligned blank with the other blanks held in the magazine, and
- wherein the vibrating element extends at least partially within an opening formed in at least one of two parallel spring plates such that the vibrating element moves along a single axis while the vibrating element is activated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.