Magazine for packs of blanks, and method for making containers from blanks

A method for making containers from blanks, comprising the following steps:

• wherein the containers are configured for containing loose articles;
• preparing a succession of blanks, which are flat;
• folding the blanks about fold lines on each blank to make a succession of three-dimensional containers;
• wherein the step of preparing the succession of blanks is accomplished by a step of withdrawing a pack of blanks from a magazine including a vertical channel and configured to support a plurality of packs,
• wherein the packs of blanks are accommodated in the magazine, above one another and spaced apart by a succession of groups of supporting parts distributed, along a height of an inside wall of the channel, at predetermined distances from each other, such that each group of supporting parts is located at a respective level of the channel to support the bottom of a respective pack of blanks,
• each supporting part being movable between a retracted position, in which the supporting part is aligned or recessed with respect to the inside wall of the channel to allow the packs of blanks to move along the channel towards a portion under the supporting part, and an at least partly extracted position, in which the supporting part projects from the inside wall towards the inside of the channel in such a way as to intercept a pack of blanks moving down the channel and to provide a steady support for the pack of blanks, and wherein the step of withdrawing the pack of blanks from the magazine is accomplished by a step of vertically extracting the pack of blanks from the channel, through an upper opening at a top of the channel;
• providing a transmission mechanism that automatically moves each supporting part from the retracted position to the at least partly extracted position when the supporting part immediately below the each supporting part intercepts the respective pack of blanks, wherein the transmission mechanism includes a drive rod that extends between two respective superposed supporting parts and which is movable between a raised position, in which the drive rod is lifted after the supporting part below reaches the fully extracted position, and a lowered position, in which the drive rod moves down by gravity after the supporting part below reaches the retracted position, and wherein the supporting part above, when the drive rod is at the raised position, is moved from the retracted position to the partly extracted position;
• wherein each supporting part is rotatable about a tilting axis located at an intermediate position between the supporting portion and the barycentre of the supporting part, wherein the rotational movement from the at least partly extracted position to the retracted position can be performed automatically by gravity;
• wherein the drive rod is engaged in supporting relation with the supporting parts above and below at respective portions of the supporting parts opposite to the supporting portion with respect to the tilting axis;
• wherein the transmission mechanism is housed in the inside wall of the channel, by slidably housing each drive rod in a respective vertical slide channel.