Package making – With means responsive to a sensed condition – Concurrent control of contents and receptacle feeds
Patent
1997-05-23
1998-09-08
Coan, James F.
Package making
With means responsive to a sensed condition
Concurrent control of contents and receptacle feeds
53246, 53505, B65B 904, B65B 5706
Patent
active
058028048
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to automatic packaging of various articles, such as tablets, pills, capsules and the like, in blister packs, particularly useful for pharmaceutical or para-pharmaceutical products.
In detail, the present invention concerns an improved method for introducing the above mentioned articles in the blisters of a blister band.
BACKGROUND ART
It is known that preparation of blister packs includes the following steps: in a forming station, one or more rows of receptacles are made in a band of a suitable material, usually, plastic thermoweldable or aluminium material; this blister band passes to a filling station, where at least one article is introduced into each receptacle; the side with the receptacles is covered with aluminium film that is then sealed thereto.
The unit obtained in this way, is later cut to make portions containing a predetermined number of receptacles, i.e. articles.
Various apparatuses are known that use different methods to fill the receptacles of a blister band. One of these apparatuses includes a box-shaped container without the bottom, as wide as the blister band and located directly thereover.
The band is moved longitudinally with the receptacles oriented toward the container, so that they pass under it progressively.
A feeding channel supplies the container with articles to be introduced in receptacles in such an amount that they accumulate on the band surface. The accumulated articles tend to enter empty receptacles and translate with the band, thus leaving the container.
The remainder articles are constrained inside the same container. A system like the one described above, can be used with bands moving intermittently or continuously, without problems of alignment of the articles with respect to the correspondent receptacles.
This characteristics allows to use also bands with high elongation and shrinkage coefficients. In these cases, the distance between the receptacles may vary and depends on temperature changes that occur due to e.g. machine idle periods.
The use of the above mentioned materials is advisable also for other reasons. For example, polypropylene may be advantageously used because of its partial biodegradability. Otherwise, PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is commonly used because of its very low shrinkage coefficient, but it is not biodegradable.
However, the above described system brings about a series of problems concerning the filling technique. First of all, the articles, specially if very fragile, can be scratched or chipped by repeated pushes and rubber among the articles themselves and against the band surface or container walls.
Moreover, if the receptacles dimensions are too big with reference to the articles size, more than one article can be introduced into one receptacle.
Finally, using this system, it is not possible to introduce articles of different shape, dimension or composition into the receptacles of the same blister pack.
Another known apparatus includes a hopper, containing the articles in bulk and placed over the blister band. In its bottom, the hopper features a plurality of through holes, that allow the fall, due to gravity, of only one article at a time. The through holes are arranged to match the position of the receptacles in the blister band below.
A stencil, formed by a plate with holes, is placed between the hopper bottom and the blister band, that substantially touches it. The holes of the stencil match the receptacles, but are in misalignment with the holes of the hopper.
An intermediate element slides between the hopper and the stencil. This intermediate element features through holes, arranged like the hopper holes, that constitute temporary seats for the articles.
The dimension of these seats allow to contain only one article at a time. The intermediate element is reciprocated so as to shift from a position, in which the seats are coaxial with the hopper holes, to a position, in which these seats are coaxial with the stencil holes.
This apparatus can work in two different ways. In the first one,
REFERENCES:
patent: 2139041 (1938-12-01), Salfisberg
patent: 3775941 (1973-12-01), Bross
patent: 5010712 (1991-04-01), Odenthal
patent: 5720149 (1998-02-01), Stimpfl
Esposti Stefano Degli
Fossi Mario
Stefano Vicinelli
Coan James F.
I.M.A. - Industria Macchine Automatiche - S.p.A.
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