Method and device for stacking and packing infusion bags

#This invention concerns a method of packing infusion bags in groups, especially for making tea, which are assembled in a predetermined number in a series of infusion bags and inserted into a packing container prepared in a predetermined position. The invention also concerns a device for implementing the method.

#Methods and devices for continuous production of infusion bags and corresponding infusion bags are known in many embodiments. In one of the known embodiments, individual quantities of a substance to be extracted are deposited on a strip of filter paper and then a tube is formed that is divided into individual chambers closed on all sides, each containing a quantity of the substance. The tube is formed by overlapping and folding the strip of filter paper and closing it by means of a longitudinal seam or by adding another strip of filter paper and making two longitudinal seams. This forms a strand of chambers, which consists of continuous chambers, one after another, closed by a crosswise seam and containing a quantity of substance; the crosswise seam is also the back seam of one chamber and the front seam of the next one, and includes a perforation between the two seams where the chambers are separated during the process. The isolated chambers are then attached to a carrier material, which is used for handling and suspending the infusion bag. To make the carrier material forming the hanger of the infusion bag, a crosswise perforated strand of carrier material whose sections of carrier material form the hanger of the infusion bag in continuous production is used.

#It is known how to pack and sell a predetermined number of infusion bags assembled in a series of bags, especially for making tea, in groups by inserting them in packing containers, especially boxes. Besides the continuous production of the infusion bag described above as an example, their packing should also be fully automatic. Due to the flux characteristics of the quantities of substance with which the infusion bags are filled, they preferably collect in the back part of the infusion bag in the direction of movement, so that the individual infusion bag, seen over the surface, has a different thickness, especially at high production capacity in the range of production from 800 to 1,500 infusion bags per minute. Overall, this produces a series of infusion bags with different sealed and thick zones, which runs counter to a basic interest in the smallest possible packing containers. It is also necessary to avoid an arrangement of infusion bags pressed too tightly in the packing containers, since otherwise they can be damaged when taken out.

#Other details, features and advantages of the invention will be described in greater detail below using the examples of embodiment shown in the figures.

#FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a device for implementing the method in the invention and

#FIG. 2 shows in detail part of the device in FIG. 1 in a schematic perspective view.

#FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a device for stacking and packing infusion bags 1 for making tea in groups. The infusion bags 1 consist of a hanger made of a strip of carrier material, which is provided on both sides with chambers closed on all sides, containing at least a quantity of substance and connected to the hanger. In continuous production, the infusion bags 1 in the form of a strand of infusion bags 2, are continually fed in groups to the stacking and packing device. The strand of infusion bags 2 consists of infusion bags 1 arranged one after another in a series, which are connected to one another by strip-like carrier material used for handling and hanging the infusion bag 1. To separate the infusion bag, the strip-like carrier material is cross-perforated in the area where it is connected to the chambers of the infusion bag 1.

#In the continuous production of the infusion bag 1, the strand of infusion bags 2 is fed to a continually turning tonged wheel 5, whereby the carrier material forming the hanger of an infusion bag 1 of the strand 2 of infusion bags is grasped by tongs 6 arranged on the tonged wheel 5 and is pulled apart by the relative movement of the tongs 6 to the tonged wheel 5 toward the strand of infusion bags at the crosswise perforation 10. The tongs 6 grasp the carrier material of the infusion bag 1 in the area where the chambers of the infusion bag 1 are connected to the carrier material. To separate the infusion bag 1 from the strand 2 of infusion bags, the front tongs in the direction UZ in which the tonged wheel 5 turns are accelerated to produce a relative movement in the turning direction UZ, when the next tongs 6 in the turning direction UZ have grasped the carrier material of the next infusion bag 1. Both the production of the relative movement and the grasping of the tongs 6 is controlled over separate stretches of curves coordinated with one another by the tonged wheel 5.

#The infusion bags 1 separated in this way are deposited by the tongs 6 of the wheel 5 in pouch-like receptacles 8 on the outer periphery of a partitioned wheel 7. Here, the infusion bags 1 in the pouch-like receptacles 8 of the partitioned wheel 7 are held and supported by suction using low pressure. To adjust the speed of the infusion bag 1 from the tonged wheel 5 to the partitioned wheel 7, the movement of the tongs 6, after acceleration in the direction UZ in which the tonged wheel 5 turns, is returned by curve control, and the speed of the infusion bag 1 is reduced in such a way that the transfer takes place with no noteworthy shock.