Package making – Methods – With contents treating
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-30
2001-02-20
Sipos, John (Department: 3721)
Package making
Methods
With contents treating
C053S569000, C053S127000, C053S570000, C053S284700, C198S462300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189293
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a filling machine for flexible sheet bags comprising a transportation means including a plurality of transportation elements for sheet bags, for supplying the sheet bags to an opening station, a filling station, a closing station and a cooling station, and to a method for opening, filling, closing and cooling sheet bags.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
To subject flexible sheet bags to a plurality of treatment steps, such as forming a bag opening, filling with filling material, sealing or closing and cooling, it is known that the sheet bags are guided past corresponding treatment stations with the aid of transportation elements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Especially in their unfilled state, the sheet bags are not very stiff and must therefore be kept in a suitable position. To this end, the transportation elements must comprise corresponding holding devices. Moreover, the sheet bags must be opened in the corresponding treatment station to be filled with filling material and to be subsequently closed again. To this end, the transportation elements must comprise corresponding molding parts. To be able to fulfill all of the above-mentioned tasks, known transportation elements therefore require more or less complicated constructional members having corresponding dimensions.
In a so-called in-line indexing machine, a plurality of bags are simultaneously treated in rows extending in a direction transverse to the transportation direction. To this end, there is provided a transportation means which intermittently guides the sheet bags in corresponding transportation elements past the treatment stations. During operation, a plurality of sheet bags are each positioned on the transportation means in one row in a direction transverse to the motional direction and side by side. Such a row is always subjected to a specific treatment step at the same time. The row of sheet bags which is the succeeding one in motional direction is subjected to a preceding treatment step. The distance between the individual transportation elements on the conveying means is thus adapted to the distance of the individual treatment stations on the one hand and to the dimensions of the transportation elements on the other hand.
In a known filling machine, the transportation elements together with the sheet bags positioned therein are guided by a transportation means first underneath an opening station, a filling station and a closing station. In the further course, the sheet bags are supplied to a cooling station for cooling the sheet bags after they have been filled, e.g., with a hot filling material.
To be sufficiently cooled, the sheet bags must stay in the cooling station for a sufficiently long period of time. To this end, the transportation means must be operated either at a sufficiently slow pace or discontinuously, which results in an undesired decrease in the overall throughput. When the sheet bags are supplied to the cooling station in the transportation elements, a great number of such transportation elements are required. Since these transportation elements, as described, have a complicated structure with corresponding molding parts, such a container filling machine is expensive.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a filling machine for flexible sheet bags which in spite of its high performance is simple and thus inexpensive, particularly with respect to manufacture.
This object is achieved in a generic filling machine for sheet bags with the features of the characterizing part of claim
1
and in a method with the features of claim
9
.
Advantageous developments are the subject matter of the subclaims.
In a filling machine of the invention, the transportation means comprises a first conveying means including a plurality of first transportation elements for supplying sheet bags to the opening station, the filling station and the closing station, and a second conveying means including a plurality of second transportation elements for supplying the sheet bags to the cooling station, and a transfer station for transferring the sheet bags from the first conveying means to the second conveying means.
It is possible with the aid of two independent conveying means to individually adjust the speed or rate at which the sheet bags are guided past the corresponding treatment stations and cooling station, respectively. A faster indexing rate which is e.g. possible in the opening, filling and closing stations does not necessarily entail a fast indexing rate or a high speed when the sheet bags pass through the cooling station. Moreover, the second transportation elements of the second conveying means may be of a simpler construction because opening or closing functions need no longer be performed in the cooling station. The sheet bags are already filled in the cooling station so that they also have a sufficient inherent stability, and expensive holding devices need not be provided in the transportation elements. It is thereby possible to give the second transportation elements, which feed the sheet bags to the cooling station, a simpler design, so that the number of the necessary transportation elements with a complicated structure can be reduced considerably.
Advantageously, the second conveying means is operated at a lower speed than the first conveying means. A lower speed of the second conveying means a longer dwell time of the sheet bags in the area of the cooling station, which enhances cooling efficiency.
In a further advantageous development, the second transportation elements of the second conveying means are spaced apart from one another at a smaller distance in the conveying direction than the first transportation elements in the first conveying means. When the second conveying means is operated at a lower speed than the first conveying means, it can be guaranteed through a reduced spacing that the sheet bags that are supplied at a faster rate by the first conveying means are transported away by the second conveying means despite the reduced speed. In this way it is possible to operate the machine with a very high output, with the latter being essentially defined by the indexing rate of the first conveying means. The cooling area will then be devoid of any throughput-reducing portions.
In an advantageous development, the operative height of the opening station, the filling station and the closing station is adjustable to adapt the apparatus to sheet bags having different heights.
In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the filling machine comprises a platform in the transition area between the first and second conveying means. Such a platform permits easy maintenance and monitoring of the individual treatment stations or operations.
In one embodiment, the transfer station comprises vertically adjustable and laterally displaceable elements which hold clamps with the aid of which the sheet bags are conveyed from the first conveying means to the second conveying means. Advantageously, an automatic control is provided for this purpose.
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Kraft Eberhard
Wild Hans-Peter
Indag Gesellschaft fur Industriebedarf m.b.H.
Sipos John
Tilton, Fallon, Lungmus & Chestnut
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