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AssigneeOstma Maschinenbau GmbH
InventorHeinz F. Odenthal
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for transporting flexible foil packages, particularly flat bags (6, 8, 13) filled with unstabilized material to a package container (1). The flat bags (6, 8, 13) deposited flat and with uniformly distributed contents by a filling and closing machine upon a transport belt are first of all imbricated and maintained clamped on both sides during further transport into the package container, so that the uniform distribution of the contents is maintained into the container. A close filling of the container (1) without excessive pressure is ensured by this means. Because the flat bags are conveyed from the conveying path directly into the container without an intermediate magazine, containers of different size can be filled consecutively virtually without interrupting the conveyance. It is therefore possible, in the case of parallel operation of a plurality of similar lines, to operate filling machines of different capacity each at maximum capacity, in order to assembly containers which are filled with the flat bags delivered by the different filling machines into larger assorted units, without the different capacity leading to an excess supply of containers at the collecting station, where the containers are assembled to form the units. The surplus capacity of one or the other machine is in fact compensated by locking in other package containers into the one line and subsequently withdrawing the filled containers.
A method of filling and transporting containers with filled packages, which comprises the steps of providing flexible filled packages at a plurality of adjacent container filling stations by transporting said packages in a substantially horizontal path, contents of said packages being substantially uniformly distributed, transporting said filled packages further in a downward sloping path for depositing into containers while maintaining substantial distribution uniformity of said package contents, transporting empty containers of different dimensions for said filled packages to each container filling station from first and second empty container supply stations, filling the containers with the flexible packages while maintaining substantial distribution uniformity of package contents, transporting said containers filled with packages from the container filling stations to a common collecting station for filling further containers with said containers filled with packages from the adjacent container filling stations.
An apparatus for filling and transporting containers with filled packages, which comprises a plurality of adjacent container filling stations, said adjacent container filling stations comprising first conveying means for transporting the filled packages in a substantially horizontal path, the contents of said packages being substantially uniformly distributed, second conveying means for receiving filled packages from the first conveying means and for transporting said packages in a downward sloping path for depositing into containers, said second conveying means including means for maintaining substantial distribution uniformity of package contents, first and second empty container supply stations, independent conveying means for transporting containers of different dimensions from said first and second empty container supply stations to said adjacent container filling stations for filling with said filled packages while maintaining distribution uniformity of package contents, a common collecting station for the filled containers, third conveyor means for transporting filled containers from said adjacent container filling stations to said common collecting station, and means for filling further containers with said filled containers at said common collecting station.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.