Article dispensing – With discharge assistant – Article adhering or gripping type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-01
2002-03-19
Noland, Kenneth W. (Department: 3651)
Article dispensing
With discharge assistant
Article adhering or gripping type
C221S278000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06357623
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of co-pending German Patent Application No. 199 20 072.6-27 entitled “Verfahren und Vorrichtung zur Vereinzelung und Bereitstellung von Faltschachtelzuschnitten” filed on May 3, 1999.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to a method of unmatching and making available folded cardboard boxes. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of unmatching and making available folded cardboard boxes in which the cardboard boxes are arranged in a stack in a magazine, and each first cardboard box is removed from the stack. Unmatching is to be understood as the process of separating one single item from a plurality of items. The present invention also relates to an apparatus for unmatching and making available folded cardboard boxes. The present invention is especially applicable in combination with folded cardboard boxes which have to be unmatched and brought into an upright position to feed a carton apparatus. Nevertheless, the present invention may not only be used to unmatch folded cardboard boxes, but also different flat items.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Usually, folded cardboard boxes are delivered to the user as glued and folded flat cartons. The folded boxes are put on a conveyor belt in stacks, or they are inserted into a magazine or on a conveying path being prearranged with respect to the magazine. The magazine often has a downwardly directed end portion including two stops engaging parallel sides of the folded cardboard boxes, and preventing the stack of folded cardboard boxes from falling down out of the magazine due to gravity or a conveying pressure. The stops may have the design of retaining carriers or a different design. The stops are stationary during production. The stops may be designed and arranged to be adjustable, but the distance between the stops remains unchanged during the unmatching process of the cardboard boxes.
An apparatus for unmatching and making available folded cardboard boxes in combination with a carton apparatus is known from a prospectus of Uhlmann Pac-Systeme GmbH & Co. KG, Laupheim/Germany (printed in Germany 1995; d 700) and from the prospectus “CUK/CTK” of Robert Bosch GmbH (printed VM/VEK 1, 10.92). The magazine containing the folded cardboard boxes ends in a downwardly directed portion ending in first and second stops. Two first and two second stops engage both outer side edges of the folded cardboard boxes to better guide and hold the folded cardboard boxes. The stops protrude in a forward direction to a certain extent, and they are arranged in a spaced apart manner such that the stack of cardboard boxes is supported by the stops against the conveying pressure and/or gravity. The folded cardboard boxes are conveyed into the stack in a direction approximately perpendicular to their plane of main extension. An apparatus for removing the first cardboard box from the stack is arranged in the region of the stops. The apparatus includes a rotor including arms. Suction devices are arranged at the free ends of the arms, the suction devices being subjected to negative pressure. The suction devices engage one of the two side walls of the first folded cardboard box being arranged in the magazine and being supported by the stops. Since the folded cardboard boxes have a folded, flat, usually parallelogram-like cross section, it is possible to engage one of the free side surfaces of the first cardboard box by the suction device. The cardboard box is slightly bent during the removal procedure such that its effective length between the two stops is slightly decreased, and the first cardboard box may be removed from between the two fixed stops. The suction devices pull the first cardboard box out of the stack. The following folded cardboard boxes remain supported by the stops in the magazine. The cardboard box being grasped by the suction devices are opened, and they are inserted into a clocked conveying chain in an upright position in a way that the upright cardboard box may be filled with items.
The operational reliability of such known apparatuses is limited. The operational reliability depends on numerous factors. For example, different tolerances of the folded cardboard boxes have a negative effect. The stiffness and the quality of the carton material from which the folded cardboard boxes are made also has an influence on the processibility. Additionally, humidity during storing and unmatching of the folded cardboard boxes may have a negative effect on the reliability of the apparatus for unmatching the cardboard boxes. There are also other influencing variables known to one with skill in the art. It has already been tried to design and arrange the stops to be adjustable with respect to one another to be capable of taking different conditions into account. The respective adjustment of the stops has to be done in a sensitive manner to prevent a plurality of cardboard boxes from leaving the end of the magazine at the same time, and to ensure that the first cardboard box is singled out and removed from the stack. When changes occur during the operation, there is the danger of the apparatus not working correctly, and it will be necessary to newly adjust the stops. Even the intensity with which the folding lines are realized at the folded cardboard box may have a negative effect on the unmatching operation of the stack of folded cardboard boxes.
The apparatuses for unmatching and making available of folded cardboard boxes as described in the above mentioned prospectuses are prearranged to a carton erecting device. The carton erecting device includes a rotor including arms. Suction devices are arranged at the ends of the arms. The rotor and the arm, respectively, is guided along a cycloid. Except at the ending of the movement, the cycloid always has a component of movement being directed perpendicular to the plane of main extension of the folded cardboard boxes in the stack and a component being directed in the direction of the plane of main extension of the folded cardboard boxes. The latter component of movement disturbs the pulling action of each first folded cardboard box in the magazine.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly described, the present invention provides a method of unmatching and making available folded cardboard boxes. A stack of folded cardboard boxes is arranged in a magazine. Each folded cardboard box has a plane of main extension and two parallel side edges. The folded cardboard boxes arrive in the stack in a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane of main extension. The two parallel side edges of the first folded cardboard box in the stack is contacted and supported by a first and by a second stop. The first folded cardboard box is conveyed from the first stop in the direction toward the second stop within the plane of main extension until it enters an opening being located in the region of the second stop and it gets totally free from contact to the first stop to be exclusively supported by the opening and by the second stop. Due to gravity of the folded cardboard boxes, the first folded cardboard box only being supported at one of its two side edges with its other side edge bends in a direction away from the stack. Afterwards, the first folded cardboard box is removed from the stack.
The present invention also provides an apparatus for unmatching and making available folded cardboard boxes. The apparatus includes a magazine including a first stop, a second stop and an opening being arranged in the region of said second stop. The magazine is designed and arranged to hold a stack of folded cardboard boxes. The folded cardboard boxes each have a plane of main extension and two parallel side edges. The folded cardboard boxes arrive in the stack one after the other in a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane of main extension. The first and the second stop each are designed and arranged to contact and to support the two parallel side edges of the first folded cardboard box in the stack. A conveying app
Biehl Johann
Damps Michael
Klockner Hansel GmbH
Noland Kenneth W.
Thomas Kayden Horstemeyer & Risley LLP
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