Package making – With means responsive to a sensed condition – Concurrent control of contents and receptacle feeds
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-04
2003-09-02
Sipos, John (Department: 3721)
Package making
With means responsive to a sensed condition
Concurrent control of contents and receptacle feeds
C053S493000, C053S148000, C053S236000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06612093
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED CASES
This application claims the priority of commonly owned German patent application Serial No. 199 47 709.4 filed Oct. 4, 1999. The disclosure of the above-referenced German patent application, as well as that of each U.S. and foreign patent and patent application identified in the specification of the present application, is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method of and to an apparatus for packing discrete commodities, for example, commodities which constitute arrays of parallel rod-shaped articles (such as plain or filter cigarettes) of the tobacco processing industry. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for packing arrays of cigarettes or the like wherein a drive is utilized to operate various units of the packing machine until the machine receives or generates a stop signal which initiates a stoppage of the drive.
An apparatus of the above outlined character is disclosed in published German patent application Serial No. 21 15 505 of Kruse et al. The apparatus comprises a first drive which advances a series of successive arrays of plain or filter cigarettes along an elongated path in stepwise fashion. Successive arrays receive blanks which are converted into envelopes surrounding the respective arrays. Each step of the method which can be carried out by resorting to such apparatus can begin while the array is in motion and can be completed during the immediately following interval of stillstand of the array. If the apparatus receives a signal which initiates a stoppage of the first drive, such signal does not entail immediate stoppage of all units which form part of the packing apparatus and participate in the making of successive finished packs each of which contains an array of rod-shaped articles. Instead, various units of the packing apparatus remain operational to thus ensure that certain packing or wrapping operations are completed before all units of the apparatus come to a standstill. This is desirable and advantageous because any prolonged stoppage of an array which is on its way along a path defined by a standard packing apparatus is likely to result in drying or setting of adhesive which is utilized to position various panels, walls, flaps, tucks and/or other foldable parts of successive converted blanks; therefore, the packets or envelopes constituted by such blanks are defective and must be discarded together with their contents.
Otherwise stated, the German patent application of Kruse et al. proposes to terminate various packing operations which must be completed without delay in order to turn out a satisfactory pack (such as a so-called soft pack or a so-called hinged-lid pack) which can be confined in a carton and/or otherwise processed rather than being dumped into a receptacle or onto a take-off conveyor for the gathering of defective packs.
The published German patent application of Kruse et al. further discloses that, in addition to the first drive (which serves to advance a series of successive arrays stepwise into and along a first path), the packing apparatus can employ a second drive which serves to supply blanks along a second path and into a selected portion of the; first path, as well as a third drive which is put to use subsequent to the generation of a stop signal and the ensuing stoppage of the first and/or second drive. The operations of such drives are regulated by a control circuit which ensures that the apparatus can complete a series of successive operations in order to achieve a reduction of the number of rejects. The control circuit is set up to ensure that the apparatus completes a series of treatments upon each constituent of a partly finished (future) pack so that the completion of partly finished packs can be carried out upon renewed starting of the drives.
A drawback of the aforediscussed conventional packing method and apparatus is that the number of rejects which are turned out during deceleration of the first drive and during operation of the second drive is still high or very high. Moreover, the aforediscussed prior proposal does not encompass the manipulation of all packing units which are likely to cause the making of unsatisfactory final products, such as packs of plain or filter cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos and/or other rod-shaped smokers' products. Furthermore, the control circuit which is proposed by Kruse et al. is rather complex and expensive.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of packing arrays of cigarettes or the like or other types of commodities into envelopes of metallic foil, transparent plastic sheet stock, cardboard, paper and/or other wrapping materials in such a way that the number of rejects caused by a stoppage of the packing apparatus is well below that turned out by resorting to presently known methods.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method of reducing the cost of recovering tobacco from defective packs or boxes of plain or filter cigarettes or other smokers' products.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method which renders it possible to salvage partially finished packs of cigarettes or other rod-shaped smokers' products which are, being turned out or processed by a packing apparatus subsequent to the generation of a signal serving to initiate deceleration and eventual stoppage of the packing apparatus.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a method which renders it possible to reduce the number of rejects caused by decelerations and stoppages of a packing apparatus to a small fraction of the number of rejects being turned out under such circumstances by presently known packing apparatus including those disclosed in the published German patent application Serial No. 21 15 505.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a method which renders it possible to achieve substantial savings in metallic foil and/or other wrapping materials for arrays of rod-shaped smokers' products or other types of commodities.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved packing apparatus for the practice of the above outlined method.
A further object of the invention is to provide a packing machine or apparatus with novel and improved means for driving various packing units including that or those serving to advance or transport arrays of rod-shaped smokers' products as well as those serving to supply and to manipulate blanks for conversion into envelopes or other constituents of packets for arrays of rod-shaped smokers' products.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a packing machine or apparatus which can be utilized with equal advantage to achieve reductions in the numbers of defective packs or other types of containers for block-shaped commodities due to any and all known causes of deceleration and stoppage of a packing machine.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a packing machine or apparatus which exhibits the above-enumerated features and advantages and can be incorporated in presently known production lines for the making and processing of rod-shaped smokers' products as a superior substitute for presently known packing apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a method of packing successive arrays of a series of arrays of rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry. The improved method comprises the steps of employing at least one first drive to carry out a plurality of consecutive packing operations upon each of successive arrays of the series, generating at times (i.e., when necessary) signals each of which entails a deceleration and ensuing stoppage of the at least one first drive, and utilizing at least one second drive to carry out (at least in part) at least one of the packing operations during an interval covering at least one of (a) the deceleration, (b) the deceleration and a period of the ensuing stoppag
Grossmann Jürgen
Meis Hartmut
Anderson Chad C.
Huynh Louis
Kinberg Robert
Sipos John
Topack Verpackungstechnik GmbH
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