US 12,187,471 B2Granted

Fruit packaging tray, apparatus and process

AssigneePunchbowl Automation IP Limited

InventorsRobert Craig, Mark Roche, Simon Craig, Michael Powick

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide a packaging tray for use in packaging items, the tray having a first region having a cross-section which defines a concave surface having one or more cross-sections suitable to receive an item and a second region having a cross-section which is substantially straight. Embodiments provide a process in which tray may be loaded by depositing kiwi fruit and then agitated to settle and align the kiwifruit in the concave sections assisted with the straight sections providing space for movement of the kiwifruit laterally to the concave sections and directing the kiwifruit of the agitated tray towards the concave section. The tray is wrapped after the items are deposited and the wrapped tray is loaded into a box with settled items and loads the wrapped tray into a box.

Claims9

Dependent claims

A process of wrapping a tray on which items are deposited, the process comprising:

providing a sheet of wrapping material over a conveyor provide a first portion of the sheet on which the tray is to be deposited, the first portion of the sheet held onto the conveyor;
providing one or more second portions of the sheet of wrapping material in the form of a lateral flap of wrapping material, the lateral flap held onto a lateral conveyor arranged parallel with the conveyor which provides the first portion on which the tray is deposited, wherein the sheet extends over the conveyor which provides the first portion on which the tray is to be deposited and over the lateral conveyor to hold the one or more second portion of the wrapping sheet in an extended configuration in which the one or more second portions extend laterally to the first portion;
depositing the tray with items on the sheet of wrapping material on the first portion with the one or more second portions extending laterally to the first portion;
and
moving a wrapping element from under one of the one or more laterally extending second portions of the wrapping sheet and over the deposited tray to deposit a second portion over the tray.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/624,604Filed 13 May 2020
Priority: AU 201990162213 May 2019
Published: US 2022/0267039 A125 Aug 2022
Granted: 7 Jan 2025
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification18 codes

B65B 25/041
Packaging fruit or vegetables: combined with their conservation
B65B 25/046
Packaging fruit or vegetables: in crates or boxes
B65B 5/12
Filling containers or receptacles progressively or in stages by introducing successive articles, or layers of articles: introducing successive…
B65B 11/08
Wrapping articles, or quantities of material, by conveying wrapper and contents in common defined paths: in a single straight path