US 5,228,273 AGranted

Method of and apparatus for making packages

AssigneeHayssen Manufacturing Company

InventorLloyd Kovacs

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Abstract

A method of and apparatus for the production of packages each comprising a unit of product having opposite ends and a wrapper wrapped around the unit, the wrapper being wider than the length of the unit from end-to-end and initially extending outwardly beyond the ends of the unit, each end of the wrapper being folded over on said end of the product to form four closure flaps overlying said end, a first flap constituting a first side flap, a second flap constituting a first end flap, a third flap constituting a second end flap, and a fourth flap constituting a second side flap, the method of folding over the second end flap, wherein packages are fed forward one after another with the ends of the wrapper extending laterally outwardly at opposite sides of their path of travel, and the second end flaps are folded over at both ends of the package by flexible folding members which are brought into engagement with the trailing side of the trailing portion of each extending end of the wrapper and moved forward at higher speed than the speed of the package.

Claims17

Dependent claims

In the production of packages each comprising a unit of product having opposite ends and a flexible film wrapper wrapped around the unit, the wrapper initially being wider than the length of the unit from end-to-end and initially extending outwardly beyond at least one of the ends of the unit to form four closure flaps overlying said end, a first flap constituting a first side flap, a second flap constituting a first end flap, a third flap constituting a second end flap, and a fourth flap constituting a second side flap, the method of folding over the second end flap comprising:

continuously feeding packages forward one after another in a predetermined path in a horizontal plane at a predetermined speed with the packages extending transversely with respect to the direction of feed and with a trailing portion of the extending end of the wrapper extending laterally outwardly at one side of said path, and with the packages spaced at intervals along said path,
and, as the packages are so fed forward, moving a yieldable folding member in said horizontal plane laterally inwardly and forwardly into yielding engagement with the trailing side of said trailing portion of the extending end of the wrapper of each package, and moving said yieldable folding member linearly forward in said horizontal plane in the direction of movement of the package at a higher speed than the speed of the package to fold over said trailing portion on said end of the product to form said second end flap, and then moving said yieldable folding member forwardly and laterally outwardly in said horizontal plane away from said folded-over second end flap, said linearly forward movement of said yieldable folding member being in a straight-line path generally parallel to the direction of package movement for a distance at least equal to the length of said second end flap as measured from the trailing side of said trailing portion of the extending end of the wrapper to the end edge of the second end flap, the yieldable folding member maintaining contact with the second end flap to wipe the second end flap against said end of the product during at least said linearly forward movement substantially over the entire length of the second end flap from a corner of the package toward said end edge of the second end flap.

In apparatus for the production of packages each comprising a unit of product having opposite ends and a flexible film wrapper wrapped around the unit, the wrapper initially being wider than the length of the unit from end-to-end and initially extending outwardly beyond at least one of the ends of the unit, production of the packages comprising folding over said end of the wrapper on said end of the unit to form four closure flaps overlying said end, a first flap constituting a first side flap, a second flap constituting a first end flap, a third flap constituting a second end flap, and a fourth flap constituting a second side flap, means for folding over the second end flap comprising:

means for continuously feeding packages forward one after another in a predetermined path in a horizontal plane at a predetermined speed with the packages extending transversely with respect to the direction of feed and with a trailing portion of the extending end of the wrapper extending laterally outwardly at one side of said path, and with the packages spaced at intervals along said path;
a yieldable folding member, and
means operable as the packages are so fed forward for moving the yieldable folding member in said horizontal plane laterally inwardly and forward into yielding engagement with the trailing side of each package, and moving said yieldable folding member linearly forward in said horizontal plane in the direction of movement of the package at a higher speed than the speed of the package to fold over said trailing portion on said end of the product to form said second end flap, and then moving said yieldable folding member forwardly and laterally outwardly in said horizontal plane away from said folded-over second end flap, said linearly forward movement of said yieldable folding member being in a straight-line path generally parallel to the direction of package movement for a distance at least equal to the length of said second end flap as measured from the trailing side of said trailing portion of the extending end of the wrapper to the end edge of the second end flap, and for maintaining the yieldable folding member in contact with the second end flap to wipe the second end flap against said end of the product during at least said linearly forward movement substantially over the entire length of the second end flap from a corner of the package toward said end edge of the second end flap.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.