Material or article handling – Device for emptying portable receptacle – Rotary cradle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-15
2003-02-11
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Material or article handling
Device for emptying portable receptacle
Rotary cradle
C414S421000, C198S347100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06517306
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED CASES
This application claims the priority of commonly owned German patent application Serial No. 199 45 808.1 filed Sep. 24, 1999. The disclosure of the above-referenced German patent application, as well as that of each U.S. and foreign patent and patent application mentioned in the specification of the present application, is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for emptying containers, and more particularly to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for manipulating refillable containers. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for manipulating successive containers of a series of containers which must be transported from a source of filled containers to an evacuating or emptying sation and thereupon away from the emptying station, especially back to the source. Examples of containers which can be manipulated in accordance with the method and in the apparatus of the instant invention are so-called chargers or trays for piles or stacks of plain or filter cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, filter rod sections and other rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry.
It is customary to introduce the output of a cigarette making machine (or another machine for the making of rod-shaped products of the tobacco processing industry) into chargers or trays (hereinafter called trays) serving for temporary storage of the rod-shaped products (hereinafter referred to as cigarettes for short) as well as for the transport of cigarettes to a processing unit, e.g., to a packing machine. The contents of filled trays can be admitted directly into the magazine of a packing machine (e.g., a machine known as COMPAS 500 and distributed by the assignee of the present application) or into a reservoir which discharges a mass flow of parallel cigarettes into a packing machine. An apparatus for forming a mass flow of cigarettes or the like is disclosed, for example, in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,078 granted Dec. 5, 1995 to Hoffmann et al. for “METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING A SINGLE LAYER OF ROD-SHAPED ARTICLES INTO A MASS FLOW”.
As a rule, a tray for temporary storage and/or transport of stacks of parallel cigarettes comprises a bottom wall, two upright sidewalls and a rear wall, i.e., the front side and the top of the tray are open. The axes of confined cigarettes are parallel to the sidewalls, and one of their ends abuts the rear wall. It is also possible to provide each tray with a top wall which is removable or retractible to permit convenient admission of cigarettes at the outlet of a cigarette maker, e.g., a machine known as PROTOS and designed to turn out plain cigarettes, or a machine known as MAX and designed to turn out filter cigarettes (such machines are distributed by the assignee of the present application).
It is customary to design the tray emptying or evacuating apparatus in such a way that successive filled trays are inverted upside down to thus discharge their contents into the magazine of a packing machine or into other suitable receiving means. Such inversion of filled trays is a feature of the combined tray-filling and tray-emptying apparatus known as COMFLEX (distributed by the assignee of the present application). Reference may also be had to U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,369 (granted Sep. 8, 1970 to Bornfleth et al. for “APPARATUS FOR FEEDING ROD-SHAPED ARTICLES TO CONSUMING MACHINES”), U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,080 (granted Apr. 11, 1972 to Gianese for “CIGARETTE PACKER HOPPER AUTOMATIC FEEDING DEVICE”), U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,911 (granted Dec. 11, 1973 to Bornfleth for “APPARATUS FOR MANIPULATING CONTAINERS FOR CIGARETTES OR THE LIKE”), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,908 (granted Sep. 13, 1983 to Cartoceti for “METHOD FOR THE EMPTYING OF CIGARETTE TRAYS INTO MAGAZINES”), as well as to German patent No. 19 39 395. As a rule, a so-called cage or carriage is used to receive a filled tray, to transport the filled tray to and to invert it at an emptying station, and to transport the emptied tray away from such station. The admission of a fresh filled tray into the carriage must be preceded by a time-consuming removal of the freshly emptied tray; such removal is efected by specially designed, bulky and expensive tray evacuating apparatus.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,329 (granted Jan. 14, 1986 to Bantien for “APPARATUS FOR MANIPULATING EMPTY AND FILLED TRAYS FOR CIGARETTES OR THE LIKE BETWEEN MAKING AND PROCESSING MACHINES”) is designed to directly couple a cigarette maker with a packing machine.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,625 (granted May 22, 1984 to Grieben et al. for “APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING TRAYS FOR CIGARETTES OR THE LIKE”) discloses an apparatus which transports freshly filled trays from a lower level of a tray filling machine to an upper level, namely to a tray removing station.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,254 (granted Apr. 21, 1992 to Tolasch et al. for “APPARATUS FOR FILLING AND EMPTYING TRAYS FOR ROD-SHAPED ARTICLES OF THE TOBACCO PROCESSING INDUSTRY”) discloses an apparatus for removing cigarettes from a mass flow between one or more producing machines and one or more processing machines when the output of the producing machines exceeds the requirements of the processing machines, and for returning cigarettes into the mass flow when the requirements of the processing machines exceed the output of the producing machines.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An important object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved method of manipulating filled and emptied containers for accumulations (such as so-called quincunx formations) of discrete commodities, for example, arrays of rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method which can be resorted to for replacement, in a mobile carriage, of fully emptied containers with filled containers in a simple, inexpensive and time-saving manner.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method which renders it possible to remove emptied containers from a mobile carriage simultaneously with the carrying out of a different step involving the manipulation of the carriage and/or its contents.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a novel series of steps which can be carried out in connection with the evacuation of the contents of chargers or trays for cigarettes or other rod-shaped products of the tobacco processing industry.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a method which can be practiced by resorting to novel machines, apparatus or production lines and/or by resorting to certain existing apparatus, machines or production lines which necessitate relatively minor adaptations to render them suitable for the practice of the present invention.
A further important object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved apparatus for the practice of the above outlined method.
Another object of the invention is to provide the apparatus with novel and improved means for expelling freshly emptied containers for cigarettes or the like from a carriage for filled and emptied containers.
An additional object of the invention is to provide the apparatus with novel and improved means for the transport and temporary storage of emptied containers upon expulsion of such containers from their carriage.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved arrangement for introducing filled containers into a mobile carriage for filled and emptied containers.
A further object of the invention is to provide novel and improved means for temporarily coupling a container to a carriage in the above outlined apparatus.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which can be utilized as a space-saving substitute for conventional apparatus in production lines which turn out packaged rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a novel and improve
Budny Piotr
Knabe Michael
LandOfFree
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