Packaging machine for wrapping smoking articles
AssigneeGima S.P.A.
InventorsFiorenzo Draghetti, Giorgio Vaccari
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cigarette packaging machine provided with a wrapping wheel to wrap products in wrapping sheets. The wrapping wheel has peripheral pockets to receive the products and the wrapping sheets, a first loading station to load the products in succession into the peripheral pockets, and a second loading station to load, in succession, first wrapping sheets of the wrapping sheets into the peripheral pockets. The wrapping wheel also has a third loading station to load, in succession, second wrapping sheets of the wrapping sheets into the peripheral pockets, thus reducing the bulk of a packaging machine.
Claims17
A packaging machine for forming a packet of smoking articles, comprising:
- a central wrapping wheel configured for forming a partially wrapped product, the partially wrapped product including a group of smoking articles wrapped in an inner wrapping sheet that is at least partially wrapped in an inner containing element and an outer wrapping sheet, wherein the central wrapping wheel comprises peripheral housing pockets and a suction cup retaining means, components of said packaging machine lying on a vertical plane,
- at least one of the peripheral housing pockets is configured to house the inner containing element, the outer wrapping sheet, and the group of smoking articles wrapped in the inner wrapping sheet, and to form the partially wrapped product,
- wherein the group of smoking articles wrapped in the inner wrapping sheet is retained in the one of the peripheral housing pockets via the suction cup retaining means;
- a movement means configured for moving the group of smoking articles wrapped in the inner wrapping sheet toward the one of the peripheral housing pockets of the central wrapping wheel;
- a transfer means configured for transferring in a direction radial to the central wrapping wheel the group of smoking articles wrapped in the inner wrapping sheet from the movement means into one of the peripheral housing pockets of the central wrapping wheel and for removing the group of smoking articles from movement means substantially orthogonal to said vertical plane, said transfer means lying on said vertical plane;
- a positioning means configured for transferring the inner containing element in the direction radial to the central wrapping wheel and into the one of the peripheral housing pockets of the central wrapping wheel, said positioning means lying on said vertical plane;
- a wheel-type transfer means configured for transferring the outer wrapping sheet in a direction radial to the suction cup retaining means into the one of the peripheral housing pockets of the central wrapping wheel, said wheel-type transfer means lying on said vertical plane,
- said peripheral pockets of the central wrapping wheel configured for radially delivering a material for forming the packet to a wheel-type final packaging and wrapping means;
- and
- the wheel-type final packaging and wrapping means configured for receiving the partially wrapped product from the one of the peripheral housing pockets, and for forming the packet from the partially wrapped product, said wheel-type final packaging and wrapping means lying on a substantially vertical plane,
- wherein the central wrapping wheel, the positioning means, the wheel-type transfer means, and the wheel-type final packaging and wrapping means are each directly associated with one of electric step motors of the brushless type, the electric step motors being governed by a programmable central command and control unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.