Package making – Apparatus for forming or partially forming receptacle and... – Forming by opening or setting up collapsed receptacle
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-17
2001-08-21
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3721)
Package making
Apparatus for forming or partially forming receptacle and...
Forming by opening or setting up collapsed receptacle
C053S384100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276117
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to a pouch filling section of a packaging machine, and more specifically to a pouch filling section of a packaging machine which includes an endless carrier having pairs of leading and trailing clamps for holding pouches therebetween.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Modern packaging machines typically comprise an upstream pouch making section where pouches are made and a downstream pouch filling section where pouches are opened, filled with material and then typically sealed or otherwise closed. The pouch filling section includes an endless carrier which typically comprises an endless chain that picks the pouches from the pouch making section, advances the pouches through various stations in order to fill the pouch with material and then drops off the filled pouch. Although continuous motion type packaging machines driven by a continuous drive mechanism have been provided by the prior art, intermittent type packaging machines have been more common. Intermittent type packaging machines advance the pouch intermittently or step-by-step in which the pouch forming, filling and sealing operations take place when the pouches dwell between successive steps. The success and durability of intermittent type packaging machines is evidenced by the large number of older intermittent packaging machines still in use today (some machines dating back over 30 or 40 years).
In the past, the pouches were typically constructed from relatively rigid materials such as heavy paper or foil. The material was sufficiently rigid such that the pouch when opened maintained an open shape when only held at one end. As such, many of the endless carriers of prior packaging machines typically only hold the pouch with one clamp such as those disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,580,473, 2,745,583 and 2,649,674. With these prior machines, changing the size or width of the pouch does not require modifications of the endless carrier.
However, with advances in material technology, more modern type pouches are typically made from more flexible materials such as plastic. The pouches are not capable or not as capable of maintaining an open shape for filling and sealing operations. These modern pouches require the need for leading and trailing clamps for holding pouches therebetween, details of examples can be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,568,402, 3,430,414, 4,423,583, and 3,269,524. The leading clamp holds the leading edge of the pouch while the trailing clamp holds the trailing edge of the pouch. To open the pouch, one of the clamps is movable relative to the endless chain and toward the other clamp to provide enough slack such that the bag may be opened. A common way of opening the pouch (for both the single clamp and leading/trailing clamp endless carriers) has been to use a vacuum mechanism which pulls the sides of the pouch apart at the filling station. Thus, two operations are performed at the filling station to first open the pouch and then fill the pouch with the desired material.
While the utilization of leading and trailing clamps has reliably supported and opened the pouches, packaging machines that use leading and trailing clamps have not been able to accommodate different sizes of pouches. A packaging machine is typically dedicated to only one width size of pouch dictated by the distance between leading and trailing clamps. Therefore a complete retooling of the packaging machine is necessary to accommodate a new width size of pouch. Therefore, product packagers have not been readily or easily able to change the size of the pouch. This also requires product packagers to have several differently configured machines for different package sizes for their product lines.
Another concern of product packagers is maintaining a high rate of production which therefore requires an index cycle rate which minimizes the dwell time during each successive step and the time for advancing the pouches between steps. As a practical matter, the dwell time must be long enough to provide sufficient time to perform each of the steps at each of the stations. In prior machines, the dwell time is often limited by the rate at which pouches are filled at the filling station. In any event, it is desirable to both minimize the necessary dwell time and maintain the dwell time as close as possible to the required dwell time for performing the various steps at the stations during each dwell.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a packaging machine which can be more readily adapted for holding different sizes of pouches.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an adjustable pouch carrier which can be readily adapted for holding different sizes of pouches.
In achieving the above objectives, it is a further objective to provide a high production rate for the packaging machine.
It is another objective of the present invention according to one aspect to retrofit or retool an existing packaging machine having pre-existing drive components and filling stations while achieving the above objectives.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed towards an endless carrier for a packaging machine in which leading clamps are mounted on one endless chain and trailing clamps are mounted on another endless chain. The chains are independent of each other such that the distance between each of the trailing clamps and leading clamps can be adjusted simply by moving the position of one chain relative to the other. The present invention may be incorporated in a newly built packaging machine, or a retrofit kit and method for retooling the carrier of a pre-existing packaging machine. The later saves expense with regard to the drive components, frame and other fill section machinery. It is an advantage that a packaging machine incorporating the present invention can be readily adapted for many different width sizes of pouches simply by changing the respective position of the chains without massive retooling and the substantial downtime that is typically associated therewith.
The endless chains can be driven by the same drive mechanism. The drive mechanism operates one of two support shafts which each carry sets of upper and lower sprockets. One of the endless chains is entrained around the upper sprockets and the other endless chain is entrained around the lower sprockets. According to an aspect of the present invention, one of the sprockets of the drive shaft is a “phase sprocket” which can be released from the shaft, rotated to the desired position and resecured to shaft to thereby selectively change the relative position between the endless chains.
According to another aspect of the present invention, continuous chain guides for the respective chains are provided along the path of the pouches such that the chain guides sufficiently support the clamps and pouches for filling section operations.
According to another aspect of the present invention relating to packaging machines of the intermittent-type, the drive mechanics and specifically the cam of the intermittent drive mechanism which drive the endless carrier be optimized to maintain a relative high production rate of the packaging machine. In a retrofit kit the cam of the intermittent drive mechanism is replaced with a new cam having a larger phase, to thereby provide a relatively high production rate of the retrofitted machine. The gearing of the output is also selectively changed.
Other object and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2649674 (1953-08-01), Bartelt
patent: 2716795 (1955-09-01), Harker
patent: 2745583 (1956-05-01), Harker
patent: 3269524 (1966-08-01), Canfield
patent: 3340679 (1967-09-01), Johnson
patent: 3430414 (1969-03-01), Ludwig et al.
patent: 3553934 (1971-01-01), Johnson et al.
patent: 3568402 (1971-03-01), Lense et al.
patent: 4263768 (1981-04-01), Russell et al.
patent: 4423583 (1984-01-01), Carey
patent: 4580473 (19
Gerrity Stephen F.
Klockner Bartelt
Leydig , Voit & Mayer, Ltd.
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