Package making – Partial cover application – Band or tube
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-21
2004-09-07
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3721)
Package making
Partial cover application
Band or tube
C053S582000, C053S399000, C100S025000, C100S026000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06786026
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a device for strapping packages.
2. Description of Related Art
In strapping machines, a package is placed on the supporting surface of a supporting table so that, in the closed position of the frame parts, it is surrounded by this frame. The tape-like strapping means, briefly called strapping tape, which has been drawn from a supply reel and is accommodated in a tape storage, is supplied via a tape drive at high speed to the tape guide channel, so that it follows the course of the channel around the package. The tape is then drawn out of the tape guide channel and tightened around the package by a tensioning drive. The loop, tightly surrounding the package, is severed from the tape supply, and the two ends of the strapping tape are joined together. According to the related art, this is done by welding, in particular by friction welding.
Such devices are known from French Patent Application 2 306 882 and European Patent 0 596 303 B1.
French Patent Application 2 306 882 describes a strapping machine having a pivoting tape guide frame divided in the center. The tape guide channel is divided into two essentially semicircular segments, which are accommodated in two frame parts and are pivotable around a pivot axis. The piston rod of a pressure cylinder acts at some distance from the pivot axis of each frame part. This pressure cylinder allows each frame part to be pivoted from a rest position, in which it is pivoted below the supporting surface for the package, into a closed position. In the closed position both frame parts are located above the supporting surface for the package. The faces of the two frame parts are in contact with one another above the package, so that a closed, essentially circular ring-shaped tape guide channel is formed. The fact that the two frame parts that form the tape guide channel can be pivoted completely below the supporting surface for the package makes it possible to move bulky or long packages in any direction on the supporting surface before or after they are wrapped with a strapping means guided through the tape guide channel. The disadvantage of this arrangement lies in that the two frame parts pivot away laterally from the supporting surface for the package. Therefore sufficient space for the two frame parts to pivot in must be available in the strapping machine. This considerably increases the size of the strapping machine, as well as the space required for it.
Another arrangement of a strapping machine is disclosed in European Patent 0 596 303 B1. Here the two frame parts are movable out of the closed position, in which they surround the package above the supporting surface, into an open position below the supporting surface, without thereby being pivoted laterally. In the closed position, the tape guide channel formed by the two frame parts is located in the strapping plane, in which the strapping tape is carried around the package. When the frame parts are lowered, they are moved downward in the vertical direction by a complex lever system, essentially translationally, and at the same time are pivoted by a specified angle, so that they open like pincers, in order to be able to be moved past the package when they are lowered. To avoid collision of the two frame parts with the machine parts, particularly the sealing unit, located in the strapping plane below the supporting surface, the frame parts are displaced transversely relative to the strapping plane in such a way that they find their rest position parallel to and alongside the machine parts located in the strapping plane. This extremely short transverse motion, necessary according to the above-mentioned document, results from the lever drive used here for the frame parts and the path of motion traversed by the frame parts. This path of motion runs along large areas below the supporting table, so that it may proceed only alongside the strapping plane with the machine parts, such as the sealing unit.
It is desirable to provide a strapping device of the said type in such a way that, for opening and closing of the frame parts, a simple drive and a simplified guide may be used for the frame parts.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, a strapping machine may have each frame part below a supporting surface guided moveably along its curved centerline by at least one guiding device.
According further to the present invention, a strapping machine has a guide for each frame part below the supporting surface moveable along its curved centerline, so that the closing motion and the opening motion of the frame proceed according to completely novel kinematics as compared with the related art. The frame is not pivoted about a fixed pivot axis nor is it translationally and rotationally displaced by a lever mechanism. According to the present invention, seating of each frame part alone permits its longitudinal movement in the direction of the curved centerline. A curved part moveable along a curved line is able to move on its curved path about the strapping region of the strapping machine. In other words, after placement of the package on the supporting surface, on each side of the package a frame part moves around the package by motion along a curved path, until both frame parts in the closed position form a closed tape guide channel that surrounds the package. For opening, the frame parts are moved in the opposite direction, then being guided in the guiding device following the curved centerline until each frame part is completely located below the supporting surface.
In an illustrative embodiment of the strapping machine, each frame part is curved in the shape of an arc of a circle and forms essentially a segment of a circular ring. Each frame part preferably forms just under one-half of a closed circular ring, i.e., its centerline forms an arc of approximately 170° to 175°. Each frame part should have a tape guide channel that extends over one quarter of a circular ring (approximately 90°). Thus, a tape guide channel is arranged over approximately half the semicircular frame part. The other half of the semicircular frame part has no tape guide channel. This embodiment is advantageous especially when the two frame parts are arranged in two planes displaced with respect to one another and the portions of the tape guide channel lie on the faces of the frame parts turned toward each other, so that both portions of the tape guide channel lie in essentially the same vertical plane. For closing the tape guide channel, the semicircular frame parts must be moved 90° in opposite directions around the center of the closed frame parts. In this closed position, the faces of the portions of the tape guide channel lie against one another, so that they form a closed tape guide channel. For opening the tape guide channel, the frame parts are again moved 90° in opposite directions around the center of the closed frame. In the rest position, the two semicircular frame parts lie essentially alongside one another below the supporting surface. The portion of the tape guide channel being fastened to the first frame part extending over 90° of the arc of the circular ring of this first frame part lies in the section of the second frame part having no tape guide channel and vice versa.
The guiding device for the frame parts according to the present invention may be designed in an extremely simple manner. It should consist of at least two guide rollers that lie against the first and against the second curved surface of the frame part. There the guide rollers may at the same time be designed as drive rollers and be connected with a drive motor, in particular an electric motor. In a preferred embodiment, a separate drive roller, which lies against one of the curved surfaces of the frame part, is provided in addition to the guide rollers. The drive roller alternatively may act against a non-curved surface of the frame part. Preferably, each frame part is guided in two guide-roller pairs, which at positions facing
Choate Hall & Stewart
Gerrity Stephen F.
Maschinenfabrik Gerd Mosca AG
Truong Thanh
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