Robotic system for erecting a one-piece insulating container
OwnerDrayton G. Miller, William J. Gunninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An automated case erector for erecting a one-piece insulating container and a method of automated case erecting are provided. The automated erector includes a case blank feeder for sequentially feeding a series of flat case blanks onto a conveyor, an insulation securing station for securing insulating members to the case blank, and a case erecting assembly for forming the combination of case blanks and insulating members secured thereto into a fully erected, three-dimensional container by simultaneously folding the combination of case blanks and insulating members.
Claims16
A method of erecting a case, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing an automated case erector apparatus comprising:
- a case blank feeder configured to sequentially feed a series of flat case blanks onto a conveyor,
- an insulation securing station configured to secure an insulation template to each respective flat case blank on the conveyor, and
- a case erecting assembly configured to receive each case blank having a respective insulation template secured to the case blank and to simultaneously fold portions of each flat case blank and corresponding portions of each insulation template secured to the case blank into an erected case;
- providing a plurality of case blanks;
- providing a plurality of insulation templates;
- sequentially feeding the case blanks, by the case blank feeder, onto the conveyor;
- securing an insulation template to each respective case blank on the conveyor, by the insulation securing station;
- and
- erecting a case, by the case erecting assembly, from a combination of each case blank and a respective insulation template by simultaneously folding the case blank and the insulation template into a case having an insulated interior.
An automated case erector apparatus comprising:
- a case blank feeder configured to sequentially feed a series of flat case blanks onto a conveyor;
- an insulation securing station configured to secure an insulation template to each respective flat case blank on the conveyor;
- and
- a case erecting assembly configured to receive each case blank having a respective insulation template secured to the case blank and to simultaneously fold portions of each flat case blank and corresponding portions of each insulation template secured to the case blank into an erected case having an insulated interior.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.