Advancing material of indeterminate length – With material-responsive control means – To position material laterally
Patent
1988-03-02
1990-03-20
Petrakes, John
Advancing material of indeterminate length
With material-responsive control means
To position material laterally
156466, 226 15, 226180, B65H 2310, B65H 2302, B65H 2304
Patent
active
049094254
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for guiding a web of flexible film that has been folded back on itself, particularly, although not exclusively so, for use in an apparatus for manufacturing pouches or bags containing a perfusion liquid.
There are known machines for the manufacture of pouches or bags from flexible plastic film. Specifically, there are known machines for the manufacture of pouches or bags from a thermoplastic film. These machines include a series of stations at which the film is treated in succession. Generally, the film is unwound from a winder, then perforated. Perpendicular to the perforations, ports or fitments are sealed by a welding head. The film is then shaped in a film-shaping device. The film-shaped device is designed to fold the film back on itself, for the purpose of creating an edge to edge seal. Once sealed edge to edge, the film forms a tube that is then sealed in a transverse direction, at regular intervals, in order to form individual pouches or bags. Those pouches or bags then are filled prior to the creation of a second transverse seal that forms the pouch or bag.
The present invention more particularly relates to the step of the process that immediately precedes the creation of the edge to edge seal. When the film is folded back on itself as it passes through the shaping device, the two edges of the film may not be precisely juxtaposited. If the shift between the edges is too great, the edges are not sealed together when they pass through the sealing device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a guiding device that causes the edges of the film to coincide more accurately immediately prior to the sealing operation.
To this end, the present invention provides a guiding device for a flexible film folded back on itself and driven into motion in a longitudinal direction of the film. This device includes a smooth support plate affixed to the frame, mounted in a direction parallel to the film and positioned so as to be received between two folds of the film, and pressure means carried by the frame on each side of the support plate to hold the folds of the film against the support plate. The pressure means are mounted so as to assume different orientations relative to the direction of movement of the film.
Thus, during the longitudinal movement of the film, the pressure means induces a transverse movement component that becomes more important as the slant of the pressure means increases relative to the direction of movement of the an adjustment of the orientation of the pressure means permits one to obtain the lateral movement component required for the edges of the film to be precisely juxtaposited at the exit of the guiding device.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the guiding device includes means for blocking the orientation of the pressure means. Thus, for a given film having constant slip characteristics, the initial adjustment of the guiding device is maintained by blocking the orientation of the pressure means in a position that permits a juxtaposition of the two edges of the film.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the pressure means includes a small wheel or roller mounted on a rotating shaft parallel to the support plate. In that way the pressure means exerts a minimal amount of friction on the film and therefore will not damage it.
In another embodiment of the invention, the small wheel or roller is mounted on a movable roller support in a direction transverse to the support plate. The roller support is urged toward the support plate by elastic means, specifically by a helix-shaped spring. In that way, the pressure of the support means on the film is maintained constant and it is adapted to the characteristics of the film being treated by acting on the elastic means.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the guiding device includes a film lug member which extends in a direction transverse to the support plate, on each side of the latter. Thus, when the edges of the film
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Soubrier Pierre
Susini Etienne
Barrett Robert M.
Baxter International Inc.
Flattery Paul C.
Petrakes John
Schaafsma Paul E.
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