Arrangement for the attachment of bendable, elongated objects, in particular suction tubes, along the side of a packing container
AssigneeAB Profor
InventorJan Hakansson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for attaching drinking straws to a container includes a conveyor track for advancing containers and a rotating drum having a plurality of receiving areas located around its outer periphery for receiving the drinking straws. An applicator is provided for applying a bonding agent to the side wall of the containers. A device for transferring the drinking straws form the receiving areas on the drum to the side wall of the container after the bonding agent has been applied is also provided. After the drinking straws are attached to the side wall of the container, a device folds the drinking straws so that the drinking straw does not project beyond the edge of the container.
Claims19
A method for attaching elongated drinking straws wrapped in an envelope of flexible material to a side wall of a container through a heat-activated bonding agent, said drinking straws including a first portion, a second portion and a foldable portion connecting said first and second portions;
- the method comprising the steps of:
- applying the bonding agent to a side wall of the container;
- attaching the drinking straw to the side wall of the container by bringing the drinking straw wrapped in the envelope in contact with the bonding agent, said drinking straw wrapped in the envelope being attached to the container such that the first portion of the straw extends diagonally across the side wall of the container and the second portion of the straw projects beyond an edge of the container;
- and
- folding the second portion of the drinking straw wrapped in the envelope along the foldable portion by first folding said second portion in a direction towards the side wall of the container so that the second portion coincides with the side wall of the container and at least parts of the envelope are brought into contact with the bonding agent and thereafter folding said second portion in a direction away from the side wall of the container to thereby control the location of edges of the envelope to ensure that the second portion will be folded down without any portion of the envelope edges being secured to a top surface of the container.
An apparatus for attaching bendable, elongated drinking straws to a side wall of a container comprising:
- a conveyor track for successively advancing containers;
- a rotating drum that is rotatable about an axis of rotation, said drum having a plurality of receiving areas located around the outer periphery of the drum for receiving the bendable, elongated drinking straws, the axis of rotation of said drum being adapted to be substantially parallel to a diagonal line passing through opposite corners of the side wall of the container that is adapted to face the drum as the container advances along the conveyor track;
- an applicator for applying a bonding agent to the side wall of each of the containers, said applicator including an upper applicator die and a lower applicator die located at different heights, said upper applicator die being adapted to deposit bonding agent at at least two separate areas on the side wall of the container adjacent an upper edge of the side wall, said lower applicator die being adapted to deposit bonding agent at a lower corner of the side wall of the container;
- means for transferring the bendable, elongated drinking straws from the rotation drum to the side wall of the containers;
- and
- means for folding the bendable, elongated drinking straws after the bendable, elongated drinking straws have been attached to the side wall of the containers by the bonding agent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.