Package making – Methods – Opening only
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-29
2001-08-07
Vo, Peter (Department: 3721)
Package making
Methods
Opening only
C053S381200, C053S381400, C053S382100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06269614
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to the field of perforated articles, and in particular to an apparatus for bursting perforations in the article, such as a box, for accessing the interior without damaging the article.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Packages having perforations that must be broken to access the interior compartment are widely used in the product supply chain. The shipment of some photosensitive products, such as X-ray film, is widely accomplished in corrugated boxes having a perforated lid for accessing the X-ray film product therein. The perforations along the perforated lid and the main body of the corrugated box must be at least partially burst so that access to the product can be easily achieved. Presently, such perforations along the perforated lid are burst by any one of several ways including manually by hand or by equipment that applies opposing forces to an end of the corrugated box body and the perforated lid. In some instances, products such as X-ray film may be shipped in a corrugated box having the perforated lid pre-separated from the main body of the box. However, experience indicates that each of the aforementioned practices of shipping products in a package with a perforated lid has well known shortcomings and, therefore is undesirable for select applications, such as where an adhesive product label is used to rejoin the separated perforated lid with the main box body.
Removing the perforated box lid manually by hand is known to introduce unacceptable ergonomic problems for the operator. Suppliers who ship the corrugated boxes with the perforated lid removed introduce an expensive alternative because the product, i.e., the X-ray film, would have to be introduced into the box and then a product label applied. Moreover, in this latter instance, the perforated lid may not properly align with the main body of the corrugated box when it is desirable to reseal the box.
Known methods and apparatus for opening a lid of a box include that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,562, by Nagaoka et al., Nov. 8, 1994, and titled, “Method And Apparatus For Opening Lid Of Box” in which a gas is injected into the upper lid of the box that causes the lid to separate from the body of the box. Nagaoka et al., however, does not teach or suggest removing a perforated lid from a corrugated box.
Therefore, there persists a need for an apparatus and method for bursting perforations on an article, such as a corrugated box, that solves the aforementioned problems in the art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an apparatus that can burst perforations in a corrugated box by applying a controlled impact force to a portion of the box near the perforations.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus that uses dual burst members for bursting perforations arranged on the box.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus can separate the perforated lid once the perforations are burst.
It is a feature of the invention that opposing burst members sequentially exert a predetermined impact force on a portion of the corrugated box near the perforations. A retractable separator member then grasps the perforated lid with perforations at least partially burst and, upon retracting, separate the perforated lid from the main body of the corrugated box.
To achieve one or more of the objects, features and advantages of the invention, there is provided, in one aspect of the invention, apparatus for bursting perforations on an article having a main body portion and a perforated lid, said perforated lid being separable from said main body portion at perforations along the periphery of said main body portion, said apparatus comprising:
a frame having a substantially flat, movable surface for supporting said article with said perforations exposed for impact;
a first retractable burst member and an opposed second retractable burst member arranged for movements toward and away from one another along a common axis passing through said first and second retractable burst members, said first and second retractable burst members each being arranged for applying a predetermined impact force on an end portion of said perforated lid;
a retractable separator member arranged in said frame for capturing said perforated lid and then separating said perforated lid from said main body portion at said perforations;
means for moving either of said first and second retractable burst members into engaging contact with a respective end portion of said perforated lid for forming at least partially burst first perforations nearest to said either of said first and second retractable burst members;
means for moving the other of said first and second retractable burst members into engaging contact with an opposing respective end portion on said perforated lid for forming at least partially burst, second perforations nearest said other of said first and second retractable burst members; and,
means for moving said retractable separator member into a first position capturing said perforated lid and then to a second position separating said perforated lid from said main body portion of said article.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of opening a corrugated box having a perforated lid and a main body, said main body being separable from said perforated lid by perforations, said method comprising the steps of: a method of opening a corrugated box having a perforated lid and a main body, said main body being separable from said perforated lid by perforations, said method comprising the steps of:
providing the apparatus recited in claim
1
;
positioning the box on said substantially flat, moveable surface so as to expose said perforations to an impact force;
moving said substantially flat, moveable surface having said box thereon into a first position between displaced said first and second retractable burst members;
moving said first retractable burst member into engaging contact with an end portion of said perforated lid thereby forming at least partially burst first perforations;
retracting said first retractable burst member from said perforated lid;
moving said second retractable burst member into engaging contact with an opposing end portion of said perforated lid thereby forming at least partially burst second perforations opposite said at least partially burst first perforations;
retracting said second retractable burst member from said perforated lid;
moving said retractable separator member into a first position capturing an end of said perforated lid; and,
retracting said retractable separator to a second position thereby separating said perforated lid from said main body portion at said at least partially burst first and second perforations.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3889442 (1975-06-01), Grahn et al.
patent: 3903677 (1975-09-01), Bowman et al.
patent: 4817260 (1989-04-01), Martin
patent: 5407116 (1995-04-01), Nishishita et al.
patent: 5452506 (1995-09-01), Biedermann et al.
patent: 5568750 (1996-10-01), Galen
patent: 6050063 (2000-04-01), Ford et al.
DePoint, Jr. John
Juskiewicz Marion T.
Spina John A.
Bailey, Sr. Clyde E.
Eastman Kodak Company
Tawfik Sam
Vo Peter
LandOfFree
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