A device and method for aligning blanks in a magazine holding a number of blanks, and an apparatus and method for fetching a blank from a magazine holding a number of blanks
AssigneeTetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A.
InventorErik LASSEN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to a device (1) and method for aligning blanks (2) in a magazine (3) holding a number of blanks (2), each blank (2) being a sleeve shaped piece of packaging material folded planar. The device (1) comprises a plate element (4), and a vibrating means (5) connected to said plate element (4) to vibrate said plate element (4) in relation to said magazine (3), such that said plate element (4) comes into contact with an edge of any unaligned blanks in said magazine in order to align said unaligned blanks. The invention also relates to an apparatus (100) and method for fetching a blank (2) from a magazine (3) holding a number of blanks (2).
Claims15
1-14. (canceled)
A device for aligning blanks held in a magazine, each blank being a folded piece of packaging material, the device comprising:
- a plate element configured to contact a respective edge of an unaligned blank;
- and
- a vibrating element connected to the plate element to vibrate the plate element in relation to the magazine, such that, when the plate vibrates, the plate element contacts the edge of the unaligned blank in the magazine to thereby align the unaligned blank in the magazine.
A method for using an alignment device to align blanks in a magazine holding a number of blanks, the alignment device comprising a plate element and a vibrating element connected to the plate element, the method comprising:
- activating the vibrating element to vibrate the plate element in relation to the magazine;
- contacting the plate element with an edge of any unaligned blanks in the magazine, wherein the contacting causes alignment of the unaligned blanks.
A method for fetching a blank from a magazine holding a number of blanks, each blank being a sleeve-shaped packaging material folded into a planar configuration, the method comprising:
- rotating a rotary feeder provided with a gripper around a main rotational axis;
- moving the gripper between a fetching position in which the blank is fetched and a releasing position in which the blank is released;
- rotating the gripper around a gripper rotational axis in order to fetch the blank in the fetching position;
- and
- vibrating a plate element in relation to the magazine by use of a vibrating element, such that the plate element contacts an edge of any unaligned blanks in the magazine to thereby align the unaligned blanks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.