# US 12,214,455 B2 · Device for separating, treating and rejoining multipiece objects

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 12,214,455 B2
- Document ID: US12214455B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/357,830
- Filed: 2023-07-24
- Published: 2024-01-25
- Granted: 2025-02-04
- Earliest claimed: 2022-07-25
- Assignees: Harro Hoefliger Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH
- Applicants: Harro Hoefliger Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH
- Inventors: Jonathan Bihlmaier; Robert Morschett; Garry Chambers; Michael Carl Junger; Pierre Armand Vincent Lemaire
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12214455B2

## CPC

- B23P 19/04: for assembling or disassembling parts
- B65B 43/50: using rotary tables or turrets {(B65B43/46 takes precedence)}
- B65B 7/2842: {Securing closures on containers (in general B65B51/00)}
- B65B 43/60: rotatable
- B65B 65/003: {Packaging lines, e.g. general layout}
- B65G 47/681: {from distinct, separate conveyor lanes}
- B65G 47/71: the articles being discharged {or distributed} to several {distinct separate} conveyors {or to a broader conveyor lane}
- B65G 47/846: {Star-shaped wheels or wheels equipped with article-engaging elements}
- B23P: METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; COMBINED OPERATIONS; UNIVERSAL MACHINE TOOLS (arrangements for copying or controlling B23Q)
- B65B: MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING (bundling and pressing devices for cigars A24C1/44; devices for tensioning and securing binders adapted to be supported by the article or articles to be bound B25B25/00; applying closure members to bottles, jars or similar containers B67B1/00-B67B6/00; concurrent cleaning, filling and closing of bottles B67C7/00; emptying bottles, jars, cans, casks, barrels or similar containers B67C9/00)
- B65G: TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS (packaging B65B; handling thin or filamentary materials, e.g. paper sheets or thread, B65H; cranes B66C; portable mobile or lifting or hauling appliances, e.g. hoists, B66D; devices for lifting or lowering goods for loading or unloading purposes, e.g. fork-lift trucks, B66F9/00; emptying bottles, jars, casks, barrels or similar containers, not otherwise provided for, B67C9/00; delivering or transferring liquids B67D; filling or discharging vessels for liquefied, solidified or compressed gases F17C; pipe-line systems for fluids F17D)

## Abstract

A device for separating, treating and rejoining objects includes a process wheel for transporting bottom and cover pieces of the objects, a separating device, and an insert device for inserting the pieces in the process wheel. The process wheel has a first lower receiving ring with a first radius and a second upper receiving ring with a second smaller radius which are jointly rotatable as a unit. A wheel assembly is arranged between the separating device and the process wheel. The wheel assembly has a first lower wheel with bottom holders distributed around the periphery and a second upper wheel with cover holders for the cover pieces distributed around the periphery. The bottom holders and/or the cover holders in the circumferential direction are larger than the received bottom pieces or cover pieces such that, in operation, they surround the bottom or cover pieces with a compensation play.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A device for separating, treating and rejoining multipiece objects in continuous operation, wherein the objects each have a bottom piece and a cover piece which is separable from the bottom piece, the device comprising:
a process wheel configured to be driven in rotation about a rotational axis for receiving the bottom pieces and the cover pieces and for transporting the received bottom pieces and cover pieces along at least one processing station;
a separating device configured to be driven in rotation for separating the cover pieces from the bottom pieces;
an insert device configured to take the bottom pieces and the cover pieces from said separating device and insert the bottom pieces and the cover pieces in said process wheel;
said process wheel having a first lower receiving ring and a second upper receiving ring which are jointly rotatable as a unit;
said first lower receiving ring having a first radius and being arranged concentrically to the rotational axis and having a plurality of bottom receivers for the bottom pieces;
said second upper receiving ring having a second radius arranged concentrically to the rotational axis and having a plurality of cover receivers for the cover pieces;
said second radius being smaller than said first radius;
said plurality of bottom receivers being equal in number to said plurality of cover receivers;
said insert device having a first lower insert wheel with bottom holders for the bottom pieces distributed around a periphery of said first lower insert wheel, and a second upper insert wheel with cover holders for the cover pieces distributed around a periphery of said second upper insert wheel;
a wheel assembly arranged between said separating device and said process wheel;
said wheel assembly having a first lower wheel with bottom holders for the bottom pieces distributed around a periphery of said first lower wheel, and a second upper wheel with cover holders for the cover pieces distributed around a periphery of said second upper wheel; and,
at least one of said bottom holders and said cover holders in a circumferential direction of a correspondingly assigned one of said first lower wheel and said second upper wheel being larger than the correspondingly received bottom pieces or cover pieces such that, in operation, they surround the bottom pieces or cover pieces with a compensation play.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein said wheel assembly is formed by said insert device with said first lower insert wheel and said second upper insert wheel; and, at least one of said bottom holders and said cover holders in the circumferential direction of a correspondingly assigned one of said first lower insert wheel and said second upper insert wheel are larger than the correspondingly received bottom pieces or cover pieces such that, in operation, they surround the bottom pieces or cover pieces with the compensation play.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The device of claim 2, wherein said second upper insert wheel of said insert device and said second upper receiving ring of said process wheel are configured to be set to a same circumferential speed v2 as one another and a same circumferential speed v0 of said separating device; and, said cover holders of said second upper insert wheel are adapted to the size of the cover pieces without compensation play.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The device of claim 3, wherein said first lower insert wheel of said insert device and said first lower receiving ring of said process wheel are set to a same circumferential speed v1 as one another; said bottom holders of said lower insert wheel are larger than the received bottom pieces such that in operation, they surround the bottom pieces with said compensation play; and, said separating device has object holders that are larger than the received bottom pieces such that in operation, they surround the bottom pieces with a further compensation play.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein a quantity of said cover holders of said second upper insert wheel is greater than a quantity of bottom holders of said first lower insert wheel.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1 wherein said second upper insert wheel has four times as many cover holders than said first lower insert wheel has bottom holders.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein the objects each have a vertical axis; the cover piece is removable from the bottom piece primarily in a direction of the vertical axis; said separating device has two separating wheels arranged one above another including a lower separating wheel and an upper separating wheel and each has a rotational axis; said rotational axes of said two separating wheels intersect one another and are tilted relative to one another by a tilt angle; said lower separating wheel has lower object holders for the bottom pieces distributed over a periphery of said lower separating wheel; and, said upper separating wheel has upper object holders for the cover pieces distributed over a periphery of said upper separating wheel.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The device of claim 7 further comprising:
a supply wheel for individual objects having a rotational axis and being arranged in front of said separating device such that in top view, said separating device has a first location A with minimal vertical spacing of said lower and upper object holders and a second location B with maximal vertical spacing of said lower and upper object holders; said first lower insert wheel and said second upper insert wheel of said insert device each having a rotational axis; and, wherein the rotational axis of said supply wheel, the rotational axes of said two separating wheels, the first location A with minimal vertical spacing of said lower and upper object holders and the second location B with maximal vertical spacing of said lower and upper object holders, and the rotational axis of at least one insert wheel, lie on a straight connecting line.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1 further comprising:
a joining device for joining together separated ones of the bottom pieces and cover pieces;
an extraction device for removing the bottom pieces and cover pieces from said process wheel and for transferring the bottom pieces and cover pieces to said joining device;
said extraction device having a first lower extraction wheel with bottom holders for the bottom pieces distributed over a periphery of said first lower extraction wheel and a second upper extraction wheel with cover holders for the cover pieces distributed over a periphery of said second upper extraction wheel;
said wheel assembly being arranged between said process wheel and said joining device; and,
said wheel assembly including said first lower wheel with bottom holders for the bottom pieces distributed over a periphery of said first lower wheel and said second upper wheel with cover holders for the cover pieces distributed over a periphery of said second upper wheel.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The device of claim 9, wherein said wheel assembly is formed by said extraction device with said first lower extraction wheel and said second upper extraction wheel; and, at least one of said bottom holders and said cover holders in the circumferential direction of the correspondingly assigned one of said first lower insert wheel and said second upper insert wheel are larger than the respectively received bottom pieces or cover pieces such that, in operation, they surround the bottom pieces or cover pieces with a compensation play.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The device of claim 10, wherein said first lower extraction wheel of said extraction device and said first lower receiving ring of said process wheel are set to a same circumferential speed v1 as one another and to a same circumferential speed v3 of said joining device; and, said bottom holders of said first lower extraction wheel are adapted to the size of the bottom pieces without compensation play.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The device of claim 11, wherein said second upper extraction wheel of said extraction device and said second upper receiving ring of said process wheel are set to a same circumferential speed v2 as one another; said cover holders of said second upper extraction wheel are larger than the received cover pieces such that, in operation, they surround the cover pieces with a compensation play c; and, said joining device has upper object holders that are larger than the received cover pieces such that, in operation, they surround the cover pieces with a compensation play d.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The device of claim 9, wherein a quantity of said bottom holders of said first lower extraction wheel is equal to a quantity of cover holders of said second upper extraction wheel.

### Claim 14 (depends on 9)

The device of claim 9, wherein the objects each have a vertical axis; the cover piece is configured to be placed on the bottom piece primarily in a direction of the vertical axis; said joining device has two joining wheels including a lower joining wheel and an upper joining wheel arranged one above another and each with a rotational axis; the rotational axes of said two joining wheels intersect one another and are tilted relative to one another by a tilt angle γ; said lower joining wheel has lower object holders for the bottom pieces distributed over a periphery of said lower joining wheel; and, said upper joining wheel has upper object holders for the cover pieces distributed over a periphery of said upper joining wheel.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The device of claim 14 further comprising:
a transfer wheel for individual objects having a rotational axis and arranged behind said joining device such that in top view, said joining device having a location C with maximal vertical spacing of said lower object holders and said upper object holders and a location D with minimal vertical spacing of said lower object holders and said upper object holders; said first lower extraction wheel and said second upper extraction wheel of said extraction device each have a rotational axis; and, the rotational axis of said transfer wheel, the rotational axes of said joining wheels, said location C, said location D and the rotational axis of at least one of said upper extraction wheel and said lower extraction wheel, lying on a straight connecting line.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1 further comprising an output lock station positioned in a circumferential region of said process wheel; said output lock station having a lower output lock and an upper output lock; said lower output lock being configured to be brought into active connection on the bottom pieces situated in said first lower receiving ring; and, said upper output lock being configured to be brought into active connection on the cover pieces situated in said second upper receiving ring.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The device of claim 16, wherein said lower output lock and the upper output lock are configured to be controlled such that the bottom pieces and the assigned cover pieces execute multiple revolutions together with said process wheel.