US 6,863,644 B1Granted

Beverage container holder

AssigneeLBP Manufacturing, Inc.

InventorMatthew R. Cook

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Abstract

A machine and method for producing beverage container holders of consistently high quality at high production rates and at an economical cost is disclosed herein. Beverage container holders (500) can be produced on the machine using the method disclosed herein at a rate of 50,000 beverage container holders per hour. The initial step of introducing the blanks 810) into the machine's conveying mechanism assures that the blanks are properly aligned and have a predetermined spacing there between, which avoids jamming of the machine and the resulting work stoppage (FIG. 2). The process includes steps for pre-breaking or pre-folding the flaps (FIG. 5) which enable the final folding of the flaps to be performed with the necessary reliability and speed. All except the final step of the manufacturing process are performed while the blanks are being conveyed at a constant high rate along the length of the machine.

Claims46

Dependent claims

A method of manufacturing beverage container holders comprising the steps of:

providing a stack of elongated blanks, each blank having a central section and two end flaps, said blanks being of a uniform thickness and having an outer and an inner surface;
providing a conveyor mechanism that engages the central section of said blanks and conveys the blanks at a constant rate from the beginning of the process through we a last folding step of the process;
releasing blanks from the stack, sequentially in an orientation with the outer surface down and the inner surface up, into said conveyor mechanism;
skiving the outer surface of an end flap of each released blank;
folding each of the end flaps up about a fold line and releasing them to return toward their unfolded positions;
folding up the end flap that has been skived such that it lies flat over the central section of the blank;
applying adhesive to the skived area of the flap that is laying flat over the central section of the blank;
folding up the other end flap of the blank such that it overlies the skived area to which adhesive has been applied;
providing a pressure applicator mechanism that conveys the folded blank at a rate that is slower than said constant rate and applies a downward pressure to the folded blank;
and
feeding the folded blanks to said pressure applicator mechanism that applies pressure to the free end flap that overlies the skived area to which adhesive has been applied and discharges the finished products.

8 more elements

A method of manufacturing a disposable beverage container holder, from a pre-manufactured planar paperboard blank, having a frusta-conical shape with an outer linerboard surface and an inner fluted surface comprising the steps of:

providing a stack of pre-manufactured blanks of a uniform thickness, each blank having a central section and two end flaps;
providing an elongated machine having multiple work stations along both sides of its longitudinal extent;
providing a conveyor mechanism that is adapted to engages the central section of said blanks with the end flaps extending there from in cantilever fashion;
releasing blanks from the stack, sequentially in an orientation with the outer surface down and the inner fluted surface up, into said conveyor mechanism;
conveying the blanks at a constant rate along the longitudinal extent of the machine;
skiving the outer linerboard surface of an end flap of each released blank;
folding up the end flap that has been skived such that it lies flat over the central section of the blank;
applying adhesive to the skived area of the flap that is laying flat over the central section of the blank;
folding up the other end flap of the blank such that it overlies the skived area to which adhesive has been applied;
providing a pressure applicator mechanism that will convey the folded blank at a rate that is slower than said constant rate and will apply a downward pressure to the folded blank;
feeding the folded blanks to said pressure applicator mechanism;
feeding the folded blanks at a slower rate than said constant rate;
applying downward pressure to the free end flap that overlies the skived area to which adhesive has been applied;
discharging the finished products in an imbricated arrangement;
picking up groups of finished products from the imbricated arrangement;
compressing the group of finished products in the imbricated arrangement into a stack of printed products;
and
placing the stack of finished products in a shipping container.

15 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.