Machine for shaping blanks of cardboard boxes

Machine for shaping cardboard box blanks, including, combined on a single chassis:

• a storage site, configured for first-in-first-out operation, where cutouts are deposited,
• arm-type means with suction cups for picking up said cutouts one by one in said storage site,
• arm-type means also for erecting each cutout, and
• a downstream conveyor device for taking over and removing box blanks,
• wherein said pick-up and erecting means are combined on a frame of a bench that is inserted, such as a module, between said storage site and said downstream conveyor device,
• which bench includes:
• a ramp inclined upward at an angle between 30° and 60° , approximately 45° with respect to a horizontal line, which ramp comprises two corners arranged laterally with a spacing that corresponds to a width of the cutouts, which corners form both a soleplate and lateral walls for guiding said cutouts during a trajectory between a bottom point (B) and a top point (H) of said ramp, which ramp is divided into two portions:
• a lower portion with a soleplate that is stationary and an upper portion, at the level of a forming station, with a soleplate that is retractable so as to enable the passage of the blank across said ramp between the lateral walls in order to be transferred to said downstream conveyor device;
• a transverse shaft located at the lower portion of the ramp and said frame, serving as a pivot for extractor arms, which pick up the cutouts in the storage site, which extractor arms pivot under the effect of suitable actuator-type means;
• a repository of which the bottom reference point (B) is located at the lower portion of said ramp, opposite the edge of the storage site outlet, in order to receive the cutouts brought by said extractor arms;
• a second repository of which the top reference point (H) is located at the upper portion of said ramp, at the level of the inlet of the forming station, in order to wedge the cutouts before and during the forming thereof;
• a conveying system, inclined like said ramp, which extends over the lower half of the length of said ramp in order to move said cutouts from one repository to the other, given that the distance between the two repositories (B) and (H) is substantially greater than the largest cutout format dimension;
• a device for forming each cutout, comprising a forming arm, comprising suction cups, which is pivotably connected to a transverse shaft and maneuvered by suitable actuator-type means, which transverse shaft coincides, within a cardboard thickness range, with an angle formed by a dihedral of the upper repository located at the level of said forming station;
• a transfer device, also in the form of an arm, pivotably connected to a transverse shaft and maneuvered by suitable means, which transfer arms, of the type with suction cups, participate in the forming of the cutout before bringing it, when it has become a box blank, to the downstream conveyor device.