Stripping of a dip-moulded glove from a former
AssigneeSafedon Limited
InventorsJonathan William Stollery, Kim Marie Stollery
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Glove stripping apparatuses for fully stripping a partially stripped elastomeric dip-moulded glove from a dip-moulding former comprises a gripper having first and second gripping members movable relative to each other, an abutment, an open space, and an actuation system. Also, production lines for producing elastomeric dip-moulded gloves, methods for fully stripping gloves from dip-moulding formers, and production line processes.
Claims24
A glove stripping apparatus for fully stripping from a series of dip moulding formers a corresponding series of partially stripped elastomeric dip-moulded gloves each having a downwardly hanging cuff end portion of said glove, each of said cuff end portions having opposite first and second sides and being terminated at a beaded cuff end, the apparatus comprising:
- a gripper having a first gripping member and a second gripping member, the first gripping member being moveable relative to the second gripping member and/or the second gripping member being moveable relative to the first gripping member for gripping said opposite first and second sides of at least one of said cuff end portions each downwardly hanging from a corresponding dip moulding former in the series of dip moulding formers, said gripper being movable away from said dip moulding former during stripping of a glove from said former;
- an abutment, said abutment being located proximate said first side of said downwardly hanging cuff end portion;
- an open space beneath said abutment, said open space extending in a first direction away from said first side, the gripper being horizontally movable in said open space in said first direction during said stripping;
- and
- an actuation system, said system comprising at least one actuator for driving movement of at least one of said first and second gripping members during gripping of said cuff end portion and for driving movement of said gripper during said stripping, and a controller for controlling said movements during gripping and stripping of said glove;
- wherein the actuation system is configured to use the gripping members to grip said cuff end portion and then to move the gripper in said open space substantially horizontally in said first direction during said stripping thereby pulling said first side against said abutment so that a first stripped portion of said glove extends generally sideways between the gripping members and said abutment, and a second stripped portion of said glove extends generally upwards between the abutment and said former, until said glove is fully stripped by said substantially horizontal movement of said gripper.
A production line for producing a plurality of elastomeric dip-moulded gloves, the production line comprising:
- a plurality of dip moulding formers;
- a dip-moulding stage for coating and curing on said formers said gloves;
- a partial glove stripping apparatus configured to partially strip said cured gloves from said formers such that a cuff end portion of each of said gloves hangs downwardly from said dip-moulding formers with a beaded cuff end of each of said gloves being lowermost, said cuff end portion having a first material thickness and said beaded cuff end having a second material thickness, said first thickness being less than said second thickness;
- and
- a glove stripping apparatus configured to fully strip said partially stripped gloves from said formers;
- wherein
- the glove stripping apparatus comprises an abutment and an actuator system for gripping and stripping partially stripped gloves from the formers and a gripping device with opposed first and second gripping members, said abutment being located proximate a first side of said downwardly hanging cuff end portion and said gripping members providing opposed gripping surfaces on opposite sides of a gap where said gripping members are closest to one another, said gap having a width and the actuator system being configured to move said gripping members with respect to each other to vary the width of said gap;
- and wherein the actuator system is configured to:
- relatively move apart said gripping surfaces to increase the width of said gap and to position said gripping surfaces on opposite sides of the downwardly hanging cuff end portion of at least one glove and with the beaded cuff end of said at least one glove hanging in a void below said gripping surfaces;
- relatively move together said gripping surfaces to restrain the downwardly hanging cuff end portion of said at least one glove between said gripping surfaces;
- and
- with said cuff end portion of said at least one glove restrained between said gripping surfaces, move said gripping surfaces substantially horizontally away from the former from which said cuff end portion hangs downwardly in a first direction towards and beneath said abutment in order to fully strip said gloves from said former.
A method for fully stripping gloves from dip-moulding formers using a glove stripping apparatus when said gloves have already been partially stripped, each of said partially stripped gloves having a cuff end portion terminated with a beaded cuff end hanging downwardly from a corresponding one of said formers, the beaded cuff end being of thicker material than that of the cuff end portion, and the apparatus comprising an abutment proximate a first side of said downwardly hanging cuff end portion and a gripping device relatively movable with respect to said downwardly hanging cuff end portion, an open space extending beneath said abutment, said open space extending in a first direction away from said first side, and the gripping device comprising at least two gripping members including a first gripping member and a second gripping member, said gripping members having respective opposed first and second gripping surfaces and being movable relative to each other, the method comprising the steps of:
- positioning the first gripping member and the second gripping member to provide a gap between said opposed gripping surfaces where said gripping surfaces are closest to each other;
- receiving in said gap between said opposed gripping surfaces the cuff end portion of at least one of said partially stripped gloves hanging downwardly from at least one of said corresponding formers;
- moving at least one of the first gripping member and the second gripping member relative to said cuff end portion to narrow said gap until said cuff end portion is restrained between said opposed gripping surfaces with said beaded cuff end being below said narrowed gap;
- moving the first gripping member and the second gripping member in said open space substantially horizontally in said first direction during said stripping thereby pulling said first side against said abutment so that a first stripped portion of said glove is pulled generally sideways between the gripping members and said abutment, and a second stripped portion of said glove is pulled generally downwards between said former and the abutment, until said glove is fully stripped by said substantially horizontal movement of the first gripping member and the second gripping member.
A production line process for producing plurality of elastomeric dip-moulded gloves, each glove having a digit portion and a cuff end portion, said cuff end portion terminating at a beaded cuff end, the production line comprising a plurality of dip moulding formers on a conveying apparatus, a dip-moulding stage, a partial glove stripping stage and a full glove stripping stage, the process comprising the conveying apparatus moving the dip-moulding formers sequentially through:
- the dip-moulding stage in which a resin is coated and cured on said formers to form said gloves;
- the partial glove stripping stage in which said beaded cuff end is formed at a terminal end of the cuff end portion following which the cuff end portion of each of said gloves is stripped from said formers to hang downwardly from said formers with the beaded cuff end of each of said gloves being lowermost, said cuff end portion having a first material thickness and said beaded cuff end having a second material thickness, said first thickness being less than said second thickness;
- and
- the full glove stripping stage, in which partially stripped gloves are fully stripped from said formers by:
- positioning a first gripping member and a second gripping member in opposition to one another to provide a gap between said first and second gripping members, said gap extending where a first gripping surface of the first gripping member is closest to a second gripping surface of the second gripping member;
- receiving in said gap between said first and second gripping surfaces the downwardly hanging cuff end portion of at least one glove;
- moving at least one of the first gripping member and the second gripping member relative to said cuff end portion to narrow the extent of said gap until said cuff end portion is restrained between said opposed gripping surfaces with said beaded cuff end being below said narrowed gap, said cuff end portion having opposite first and second sides, the first side oriented towards one of said gripping members and the second side oriented towards the other of said gripping members;
- and
- with said cuff end portion restrained between said opposed gripping surfaces, moving the first gripping member and the second gripping member in a direction towards an abutment, said abutment being below the former from which said cuff end portion hangs and initially being proximate said first side of said downwardly hanging cuff end portion, until said first side of said cuff end portion above said gap comes into contact with said abutment thereby pulling said first side of said cuff end portion against said abutment so that a first stripped portion of said glove is pulled generally sideways between the first and second gripping members and said abutment, and a second stripped portion of said glove is pulled generally downwards between said former and the abutment, until said glove is fully stripped by said substantially horizontal movement of the first gripping member and the second gripping member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.