Packaging apparatus for producing and feeding blanks to a packaging station
AssigneeFocke & Co. (GmbH & Co.)
InventorsHeinz Focke, Kurt Liedtke
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The efficient machine conveyance of inexpensive, very thin-walled packaging material, especially plastic foils, presents special problems because of the low degree of firmness of these foils. In the present apparatus, the front end of a sheet of such material and blanks severed from it are transported continuously by suction air conveying members. These consist of a suction drum and perforated belts directly adjoining the drum, with no interruption occurring in the retention of the packaging material.
Claims16
A packaging apparatus for severing successive blanks (11) of desired length from a continuous web (14) of thin and delicate wrapping material and for individually conveying the blanks in succession to a packaging station (12, 13), comprising:
- (a) a rotatably driven, perforate suction drum (17),
- (b) means (15, 16) for supplying said web to the suction drum,
- (c) transverse severing means (18, 19) operatively associated with the suction drum for cutting the web into successive blanks,
- (d) means (20-24) for applying a vacuum to an outer surface of the suction drum over a predetermined peripheral zone of travel thereof to positively retain the web and blanks thereon throughout said zone, and
- (e) a blank conveyor (26) disposed between the suction drum and the packaging station, and comprising:
- (1) a pair of transversely spaced, parallel, endless, commonly rotatably driven, perforated (36) belts (27, 28),
- (2) respective upper and lower, parallel axes deflecting rollers (29, 30) mounting said belts, and
- (3) suction means disposed behind the belts along a conveying run thereof for applying a vacuum thereto to positively but releasably retain the blanks thereon throughout said run,
- (f) the suction drum being mounted such that a leading end portion of the peripheral zone thereof, in the direction of rotation, adjoins a trailing end portion of the conveying run of the belts to ensure the positive and continuous retention of the blanks without deformation during the transfer thereof from the drum to the belts, and
- (g) the packaging station being disposed sufficiently downstream of a transfer zone between the drum and belts that trailing ends of severed blanks have left said transfer zone before central portions of said blanks arrive at said packaging station.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.