Package making – Methods – Opening only
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-25
2001-02-20
Kim, Eugene (Department: 3721)
Package making
Methods
Opening only
C053S381200, C414S414000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189298
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically cutting a packaging material wrapping of a substantially parallelepipedic package at a predetermined position thereof and opening the package, the package being formed by wrapping packaged items in the packaging material in such a way that the package has a pair of bonded flaps at each of at least three adjacent faces thereof.
2. Description of Background Art
There are rectangular paralelpiped-shaped paper containers for liquid foodstuffs, e.g. milk or juice, such as that shown in FIG.
19
. Such a paper container blank
2
is folded flat as shown in
FIG. 20
so that it will not be bulky when stored. Then, as shown in
FIG. 1
, a large number of paper container blanks
2
are put together and wrapped in a bundle with a packaging material
3
so as to be stored in the form of an approximately parallelepipedic package
1
. The package
1
is opened when the paper container blanks
2
are used to fill a liquid foodstuff, or the like, thereinto.
The package-opening operation has heretofore been performed by hand under normal circumstances. That is, the steps of cutting the packing material at a predetermined position thereof, opening the package, and taking out the paper container blanks are usually carried out by a manual operation.
However, a machine is used to perform all the operations of unfolding each flat-folded paper container blank into a rectangular parallelpiped shape, forming a bottom of the paper container blank, filling it with a liquid foodstuff, or the like, and sealing the paper container. Therefore, a great deal of labor is required to open each package by a manual operation in conformity to the machine operation. Thus, the manual package opening operation is inefficient.
To solve the inefficiency problem, a method has been proposed in which the packaging material is mechanically cut to open the package by using a cutting blade [for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,267 and Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication (KOKAI) Nos. 62-271827 and 62-271828]. However, the package
1
is in such a condition that there is substantially no gap between the packaging material
3
and the packaged items
2
, which are paper container blanks. Therefore, if a cutting blade is carelessly applied to the packaging material
3
, the packaged items
2
may be damaged, resulting in a failure fatal to paper containers, e.g. ultimate leakage of liquid.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus capable of automatically and efficiently opening a substantially parallelepipedic package without damaging packaged items by making good use of bonded flaps of the package that lie outside three faces thereof.
To attain the above-described object, the present invention provides a method of opening a substantially parallelepipedic package wrapped with a packaging material. The package has a pair of flaps bonded to each other at each of three faces of the package. At at least one of the three faces, a plate member is inserted into a space between the flaps on the one hand and, on the other hand, packaged items and a folded edge of the packaging material, and the packaging material is cut along the side edges of the plate member by using cutting blades, thereby opening the package.
The plate member may be a plate member having cutting blades on both side edges thereof, so that the packaging material is cut by inserting the plate member into the above-described space. Alternatively, the packaging material may be cut by moving cutting blades, which are provided separately from the plate member, along both side edges of the plate member.
The plate member may be inserted into the space from each side of the package, thereby enabling the package to be surely opened even when folded edges of the packaging material are present at both sides of the package.
When the plate member is to be inserted into the above-described space, only the bonded flaps may be raised with suction pads. By doing so, the plate member can be surely and readily inserted into the space. If the bonded flaps cut at one side thereof and the folded edge are opened with respective suction pads, the package opening operation can be performed without damaging the packaged items.
In addition, the present invention provides a method of opening a substantially parallelepipedic package wrapped with a packaging material. The package has a pair of flaps bonded to each other at each of three faces of the package. At the top face among the three faces, a plate member is inserted into a space between the flaps on the one hand and, on the other hand, packaged items and folded edges of the packaging material, which are folded from the side faces of the package. The packaging material is cut along at least one edge of the top face with a cutting blade. The cut portion of the packaging material is opened by using suction pads. The folded edges are opened outwardly with suction pads. A pair of holding members are inserted into two ends of the package from the opened top face to hold and take out the packaged items from the package.
In addition, the present invention provides a package opening apparatus including a package-opening table for placing thereon a substantially parallelepipedic package formed by wrapping packaged items in a packaging material in such a way that the package has a pair of bonded flaps at each of at least three adjacent faces thereof. The apparatus further includes suction pads for holding the bonded flaps by suction that are formed on a face of the package parallel to the package-opening table, thereby forming a gap between the bonded flaps held by suction and the packaged items. A plate member is inserted into the gap between the bonded flaps and the packaged items. The plate member has cutting blades at the side edges thereof to cut the bonded flaps along edges of the face of the package. A carriage supports and guides the plate member so that the plate member is capable of advancing and withdrawing with respect to the direction in which it is inserted into the gap. The apparatus further includes suction pads for removing the cut bonded flaps from the face of the package, and suction pads for opening a folded edge of the packaging material lying under the bonded flaps when folded, thereby opening the face of the package. In addition, the apparatus includes a holder for holding the packaged items that is capable of advancing toward and withdrawing from the opened face of the package.
In the above-described package opening apparatus, the cutting device may be formed from a plate member and cutting blades movably provided to cut the packaging material along the side edges of the plate member.
Noting that a substantially parallelepipedic package that is mechanically wrapped with a packaging material has a pair of bonded flaps at each of three faces thereof, the present inventors invented a package opening method and apparatus that enable the package to be opened automatically and efficiently without damaging the packaged items. That is, at at least one of the three faces of the packages, a plate member is inserted into a space between the bonded flaps and a folded edge of the packaging material, and the packaging material is cut along the side edges of the plate member by using cutting blades, thereby opening the package.
To cut the packaging material along the edges of a face of the package where the bonded flaps are present by using the plate member, if cutting blades are provided on the side edges of the plate member, the packaging material can be cut simply by inserting the plate member. The packaging material can also be cut by pressing and moving cutting blades, which are provided separately from the plate member, along the side edges of the plate member inserted in the space between the bonded flaps and the folded edge. In a case where both ends of a pair of bonded flaps are present at both sides of a face of the package (i
Kuji Yasunori
Sasaki Kazuo
Armstrong, Westerman Hattori, McLeland & Naughton
Kim Eugene
Nippon Paper Industries Co. Ltd.
LandOfFree
Method and apparatus for opening a package utilizing bonded... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for opening a package utilizing bonded..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for opening a package utilizing bonded... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2574686