U.S. patent number 3,625,801 [Application Number 04/881,814] was granted by the patent office on 1971-12-07 for lid applicator.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Kellogg Company. Invention is credited to August W. McKale, Archie J. Reed.
United States Patent |
3,625,801 |
Reed , et al. |
December 7, 1971 |
LID APPLICATOR
Abstract
Method and apparatus for applying heat-sealable lids to
containers characterized by the steps of and means for feeding a
strip of lids to a row of containers, separating the individual
lids from the strip and laying a lid on each container, pressing
each lid to its container and spot tacking it thereto, and
thereafter heat sealing the lids onto the containers whereby to
expedite production of sealed containers; said tacking means
comprising a particular feature of this invention.
Inventors: |
Reed; Archie J. (Battle Creek,
MI), McKale; August W. (Battle Creek, MI) |
Assignee: |
Kellogg Company (Battle Creek,
MI)
|
Family
ID: |
25379275 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/881,814 |
Filed: |
December 3, 1969 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
156/542;
53/329.4; 156/521; 53/67; 156/250 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65B
57/02 (20130101); B65B 7/2814 (20130101); B65B
7/2878 (20130101); Y10T 156/171 (20150115); Y10T
156/1052 (20150115); Y10T 156/1339 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
B65B
57/02 (20060101); B65B 7/28 (20060101); B65b
057/02 (); B32b 031/20 () |
Field of
Search: |
;156/69,253,254,250,263,230,264,54T,521,542,556,566 ;53/67,112 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Borchelt; Benjamin A.
Assistant Examiner: Hanley; James M.
Claims
We claim:
1. Apparatus for spot tacking lids to continuously traveling
containers comprising a lid-pressing and tacking shoe, means
movably supporting said shoe for movement toward and away from the
containers and for reciprocation along the axis of container
travel, means for moving said shoe toward and away from the
containers, means for reciprocating said shoe along said axis, and
means for driving said shoe moving means and said shoe
reciprocating means in timed relationship to one another for
imparting a generally rectangular movement to said shoe from a
starting position toward the containers, parallel to the path and
in the direction of container travel, away from the containers and
in parallel but spaced relation to the path of container travel and
in direction opposite thereto back to the starting point, whereby
the shoe may be engaged with a lid and container and travel along
with them to spot tack the lid onto the container and thereafter be
retracted from the container and returned to its starting position
for subsequent engagement with a succeeding lid and container.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the lids are heat-sealable to
the containers and said shoe has a heated surface of limited area
engageable with a portion of the lid and a complementary portion of
the container.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said shoe supporting means
comprises a parallelogram linkage for retaining said shoe in a
predetermined attitude relative to the lids and containers.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said shoe-moving means
comprises a cam having a inner lobe portion and an outer lobe
portion, and a lever connected to said shoe supporting means and
having a follower engageable with said cam, said outer lobe portion
being longer than said inner lobe portion for causing said lever to
retract said shoe from the containers throughout the shoe-returning
stroke and the null points at the opposite ends of reciprocatory
movement of said shoe, said inner lobe portion accommodating
engagement of said shoe with a lid and container solely during
movement of the shoe in the direction of container travel.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 including resilient means for biasing
said shoe toward the containers; said resilient means, said
supporting means, said lever and the inner lobe of said cam
accommodating variable displacement of said shoe in the direction
toward the containers and said resilient means causing said shoe to
exert a uniform pressure on the lid and container.
6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said shoe reciprocating means
comprises an eccentric and a connecting link between said eccentric
and said shoe, said eccentric and said cam being mounted on a
common shaft and comprising therewith said driving means.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said common shaft is coupled to
and operated in timed relationship with means for effecting
continuous travel of the containers whereby said shoe engages a
predetermined spot on each lid and container and travels
synchronously therewith while engaged thereto.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said shoe reciprocating means
comprises an eccentric and a connecting link between said eccentric
and said shoe.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said connecting link includes a
spring-biased safety coupling.
10. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a plurality of shoes; and
supporting, moving, reciprocating and driving means for each of
said shoes; said driving means being arrayed in predetermined phase
relationship with one another for causing each shoe to engage
respective ones of the lids and containers in the row; said drive
means being so arrayed and said shoes being of such number as to
engage each lid and its container.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein each shoe engages the
trailing edge of one container and the leading edge of the next
succeeding container.
12. Apparatus for applying lids to containers comprising
lid-feeding means for laying a lid onto each container in a
continuously traveling row of containers wherein said lid-feeding
means comprises means for feeding lids seriatim to the traveling
row of containers, a detector upstream of said feeding means for
detecting the absence of containers in said row, and means actuated
by said detector for ejecting the respective lid in the series
intended for the absent container in the row; pressing and tacking
means engageable with each lid substantially at the time the lid is
laid on the respective container, means for engaging said pressing
and tacking means with a lid and its container at said time, for
then moving said means synchronously with the respective lid and
container during a portion of the travel of the container for
effecting spot tacking of the lid to the container without
interrupting container travel, and for thereafter returning said
pressing and tacking means for engagement with a succeeding lid and
container; and means for completing securing of the tacked lids to
their containers.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said lid-feeding means
includes means for feeding a continuous strip of lids, means for
cutting individual lids from said strip and means for feeding the
individual lids seriatim from said cutting means to said row of
containers, and wherein said lid-ejecting means is located between
said cutting means and the last-named feeding means and said
detector is spaced upstream from the point of application of lids
to the containers by a distance substantially equal to the spacing
between said ejecting means and said point.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 including means actuated by said
detector for rendering said pressing and tacking means inoperative
during the time the absent container and the ejected lid would
otherwise have been engaged thereby.
15. A method of applying lids to containers comprising the steps of
laying a lid onto each container in a continuously traveling row of
containers and substantially simultaneously pressing each lid to
the respective container, spot tacking each lid to the respective
container while the lid is so pressed by moving lid pressing and
tacking means synchronously with the container through a portion of
its travel thereby fixedly to orient each lid to its container, and
thereafter securing the lids to the containers; detecting a lack of
continuity in the row of containers, ejecting the lid that would
otherwise have been laid on the row at the point of discontinuity,
and rendering the pressing and tacking means inoperative at the
point of discontinuity.
Description
Other features and advantages will become apparent from the
drawings and the following description, which are given to acquaint
those skilled in the art with the best mode presently contemplated
by us of carrying out our invention.
THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation of packaging machinery
embodying the principles of this invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a container and a lid depicting the
mode of spot tacking the lid to the container;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a completed and fully sealed
container;
FIG. 4 is an end elevation, on an enlarged scale, of the
tacker;
FIG. 5 is a plan view of the tacker taken substantially on line 5-5
of FIG. 4; and
FIG. 6 is a vertical longitudinal section of the tacker taken
substantially on line 6-6 of FIG. 5.
DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 illustrates the head end of a packaging line for the filling
and sealing of individual service bowls of ready-to-eat breakfast
cereal. Each bowl, as illustrated in FIG. 3, comprises an
economical disposable plastic bowl 10 and a lid 11 heat sealed to a
peripheral flange 12 on the top of the bowl. The lid preferably
comprises a readily tearable and thus easily removed flexible
laminate comprised of an exterior foil and an interior film of
heat-sealable material adapted to be heat sealed to the flange 12.
The material of the bowl and the film is such as to seal the
contents of the bowl until serving thereof, whereby to maintain the
purity and freshness of the container contents. When served, the
lid is easily stripped from the bowl and the contents thus exposed
for consumption directly from the bowl; i.e., in the case of
breakfast cereal, with the addition of milk or cream and sugar if
desired.
The individual service bowls of cereal are of course given
principally by way of example, the invention being equally
applicable to other forms of containers and other contents to be
packaged. However, the cereal bowls do serve to exemplify the
invention.
Referring to FIG. 1, a device 20 of known construction and
operation is provided at the head end of an endless conveyor 21 for
feeding bowls one by one in an upright position onto the conveyor
to form a row of bowls in contiguous relation. The conveyor
preferably comprises a series of cuplike holders 22 pivotally
interconnected in link fashion, each link or holder being
complemental to the bowls each to receive an individual bowl. The
conveyor thus carries the bowls seriatim beneath a filling machine
23 of known construction which deposits a predetermined quantity of
cereal into each bowl. The the bowls are conveyed to a lid-applying
means 24.
The lids 11 are conventionally supplied in elongate strips in roll
form, as indicated by the roll 11a. In the mechanism 24, the lid
strip 11 is pulled from the supply roll 11a by two rubber feed
rolls 11b. The peripheral speed of these rolls corresponds to the
product of lid length and machine speed, and they feed the lid
strip at proper speed through the two guide rolls into a rotary
knife 11c which cuts the strip into individual lids mated to the
bowls 10. From the rotary knife, each lid is picked up by a pair of
feed tapes 25 which convey each lid to and lay it on a respective
bowl. The speed of these tapes is the product of bowl spacing on
the conveyor and machine speed, so that as the lids are cut, they
are spaced from one another and carried by the feed tapes into
register with the bowl spacings of the conveyor holders 22. Thus,
lids 11 are fed seriatim downwardly under a roller or guide means
26 in such timed manner that a lid 11 is automatically brought into
overlying relation to each container or bowl 10. Each assembly of
lid and bowl, while held in place by the roller 26, is then engaged
by a tacker, indicated generally at 27, which by means of a heated
shoe tacks the lid to the bowl.
A spot tacking shoe and its mode of operation are depicted
schematically in FIG. 2 wherein a shoe is indicated at 28 and its
path of movement is depicted by phantom line 29. As illustrated,
the shoe 28 moves forwardly (opposite to the direction of travel of
the bowls) in upwardly spaced relation to the bowls and lids, then
downwardly to contact the trailing edge of one bowl 10 and its lid
11 and the leading edge of the next bowl and lid, then rearwardly
simultaneously with the two bowls to apply thereto sufficient heat
for a sufficient period of time to cause each lid to be heat sealed
to the flange 12 of its bowl at the spot or area contacted by the
shoe 28, and then the shoe moves upwardly away from the bowls to
repeat its operation on a succeeding pair of bowls in the line,
while the bowls with fixedly tacked lids thereon move down the line
to the next operation.
The next operation is performed by a lid-sealing device 30 of known
construction which acts simultaneously on a plurality of the bowls
to effect complete sealing of each of the lids over the full area
of the flange 12 of the respective bowl 10.
Prior to the advent of this invention, considerable difficulty had
been occasioned in the latter operation due to accidental
displacement of the lids relative to the bowls. A lid might slip
slightly forward or backward, or to one side or the other, with the
result that it was not aligned with the bowl flange during the
heat-sealing operation and the bowl would issue from the sealer
with its lid askew and the bowl contents exposed. While the
contents might be salvaged, the bowl and lid were wasted and
production was severely restricted.
By virtue of this invention, the lids are laid and held onto the
bowls while under complete control of the lid-applying mechanism
where they are relatively easy to handle and properly align with
the bowl. The lids are then immediately tacked in place so that
they cannot become askew, and thus pass into the sealing mechanism
30 properly oriented to the bowls. The result is substantially
decreased waste and substantially increased production of the
finished product.
Also, the invention facilitates continuous mass production of the
filled and sealed bowls, there being no interruption of bowl or
conveyor movement necessitated thereby. Consequently, a continuous
stream of the completed product moves down the conveyor to a
suitable packing area to the right of FIG. 1.
Referring now to FIGS. 4 to 6, the lid feeder 24 and tacker 27
provided by this invention are shown as mounted on a pair of spaced
parallel side frames 40 which are supported above the conveyor 21
in parallel and centered relation thereto. Journaled in the
upstream end of the frames are a pair of vertically spaced
cross-shafts 41 and 42, the upper one 41 of which carries a pair of
spool-type guide rollers 43 for guiding a pair of flexible belts
which comprise the lid feeding belt means 25, and the lower one 42
of which carries a pair of belt-driving rollers comprising the
previously mentioned roller or guide means 26, the belts being
reaved over the two sets of rollers and adapted to be driven by the
shaft 42. For the purpose, the shaft 42 includes a clutch tongue 44
adapted to be engaged with a driven element of the machine for
rotating the rolls 26 at such speed as to align a lid 11 with each
of the bowls 12.
At the downstream end of the frames 40, a similar transverse drive
shaft 45 equipped with a clutch part 46 is journaled in the frames
for driving the heat-sealing shoe means 28 of the tacker in timed
relation to the movement of the conveyor 21.
In its preferred embodiment, the tacker embodies a pair of the
heat-sealing shoes, indicated respectively at 28 and 28a, and an
independent drive mechanism for each shoe. Accordingly, the drive
shaft 45 (which is engaged in known manner with an element of the
machine) carries a pair of drive gears 47 and 47a each of which is
engaged with a respective gear 48-48a secured to a respective shoe
operating shaft 49-49a.
Inasmuch as the shoe-operating mechanisms are identical, except for
being 180.degree. out of phase as will subsequently be described,
one of the mechanisms will be described in conjunction with whole
reference numerals and the corresponding parts of the other
mechanism will be designated in the drawings by the same numerals
with the suffix "a."
As shown, the shoe-operating shaft 49 of each mechanism is equipped
with an eccentric 50 to which a horizontal link 51 is pivotally
connected for reciprocatory movement in a generally horizontal
direction. Also, the shaft 49 carries a cam 52 having a peripheral
surface divided into an outer lobe or cam surface 53 of
approximately 180.degree. arcuate extent, an inner lobe or cam
surface 54 of a somewhat lesser arcuate extent, and intervening
transition surfaces. Said surfaces are engaged by a follower 55
mounted on one end of a bellcrank lever 56 which is pivoted
intermediate its ends on the frame by a pivot pin or bolt 57.
Adjacent its opposite end, the bellcrank pivotally mounts a
vertical link 58 for reciprocatory movement in a generally vertical
direction in response to the cam-induced movements of the
bellcrank; the outer end of the bellcrank being biased downwardly
and the inner end thereof rearwardly toward the cam by a tension
spring 59 extended between the bellcrank and the adjacent side
frame 40.
The vertical link 58 is longitudinally adjustable by virtue of a
built-in turnbuckle 60 and is thereby adjustably and pivotally
connected to the rear of a carrier 61 for the heat-sealing shoe 28.
The forward end of the carrier is pivotally connected to a vertical
link 62 which generally parallels the link 58 and is pivotally
connected to the forward or outer end of the bellcrank, whereby the
carrier is mounted on and retained in an essentially horizontal
position by a parallelogram linkage.
Associated with this linkage is a bracket 63 that is pivotally
connected to the vertical link 62 and to the horizontal link 51 and
which serves as a safety link or lost motion connection between the
links 51 and 62. To this end, the bracket 63 includes a crossmember
64 that normally engages the front side of the linkage 62 and a
compression spring 65 disposed between the opposite side of the
link 62 and a rearward extension of the bracket, whereby the
bracket is normally biased into the position shown in FIG. 6.
Consequently, when horizontal link 51 is moved rearwardly (i.e., to
the right in FIG. 6) it will pull the bracket 63 and thus the link
62 and the shoe 28 rearwardly with it. However, when the horizontal
link 51 is moving forwardly under the driving action of the
eccentric 50, should the link 62 become jammed or reach its end
position before completion of the forward stroke of movement of the
link 51, the bracket 63 can swing forwardly against the bias of
spring 65 to prevent further forward movement of and damage to the
parallelogram linkage and the sealing shoe, thereby providing a
safety factor in the operation of the linkage.
As will thus be appreciated, the horizontal link 51 is reciprocated
by the eccentric 50 to impart horizontal swinging movement to the
links 58 and 62, whereby to reciprocate the shoe 28
horizontally.
The links 58 and 62 in turn serve to retain the shoe horizontal and
the bellcrank 56 serves to raise and lower the same. Specifically,
the parallelogram linkage is adapted to be moved upwardly by the
outer cam surface 53 of the cam 52 to dispose the shoe 28 in
upwardly spaced relation to the conveyor 21 and the bowls 10 and
lids 11, and is adapted to be biased downwardly by the spring 59
when the bellcrank is released for downward movement by the inner
cam surface 54. The cam surface 54 is so located that when the same
becomes aligned with the follower 55 the shoe 28 is in position to
bridge over or span between two of the carriers 22. Consequently
the spring 59 will move the shoe 28 downwardly until it engages the
trailing edge and the leading edge respectively of the lids 11 and
flanges 12 of the two containers therebelow, and will then maintain
a predetermined spring pressure thereon to facilitate the
lid-tacking operation.
To prevent excessive downward movement of the shoe in the event of
malfunction of the machinery, a safety link 66 is associated with
the bellcrank 56 and the parallelogram 58-62. This link is
pivotally and adjustably suspended from a turnbuckle 67 mounted on
the tacker frame and includes a lost motion connection with the
bellcrank comprising a slot 68 within which a pin 69 on the
bellcrank is free to move. The bottom margin of the slot defines
the lower limit of bellcrank and linkage movement, and the slot
itself accommodates up and down movement of the bellcrank within
its normal operating range.
The inner cam surface 54 and the horizontal link 51 are so related
to one another on the shaft 49 as to impart an essentially
rectangular path of movement to the shoe 28, as depicted at 29 and
described in conjunction with FIG. 2. The turnbuckle 60 in the
vertical link 58 and a similar turnbuckle 70 in the horizontal link
51 are adjustable to accommodate reasonable adjustments to be made
in the path of shoe movement. For the same purpose, the cam 52 may
be adjustably mounted on the shaft 49. Usually, as shown in FIG. 6,
the horizontal link 51 is connected to the eccentric 50 at a
location adjacent and preferably slightly ahead of the initial
portion of the inner cam surface 54 in the direction of rotation of
the shaft 49. Consequently, with the parts positioned as
illustrated in FIG. 6, continued rotation of the cam and eccentric
in the indicated direction will cause the shoe 28 to be moved
rearwardly until the point of connection between the eccentric 50
and the link 51 approaches a position corresponding to roughly 4
o'clock, at which time the rate of horizontal movement of the link
51 starts to diminish.
At this time, the cam 52 has rotated to a position wherein the
outer cam lobe 53 becomes engaged with the follower 55 whereupon
the bellcrank 56, the parallelogram linkage 58-62 and the shoe 28
are raised upwardly to release the shoe from the particular bowls
that it had engaged. The shoe is then retained elevated by the
outer cam surface 53 during something more than 180.degree. of
shaft rotation.
During the 180.degree. plus rotation in which the shoe is elevated,
the eccentric 50 is rotated through the null point at 3 o'clock,
the link 51 is moved forwardly to swing the parallelogram linkage
and the shoe forwardly, and the eccentric 50 is rotated through the
null point at the 9o'clock position, whereupon the linkage starts
on its rearward stroke of movement. As the latter occurs, the cam
again presents its inner cam lobe 54 to the follower 55, whereupon
the shoe is lowered onto the trailing and leading edges
respectively of the lids and flanges of the two bowls now
positioned therebelow, which edges are twice removed respectively
from those first engaged by the shoe 28. (In other words, the shoe
28 engages the trailing edges of alternate bowls, and the leading
edges of the bowls intervening between said alternate bowls, not
both edges of every bowl.) The link 51 then moves the shoe 28
horizontally rearward in synchronism with the horizontal movement
of the bowls engaged thereby, whereupon the shoe 28 (which is
preferably electrically heated in known manner) spot tacks the
trailing edge of one lid and the leading edge of the next lid to
the flanges of their respective bowls.
During this horizontal movement, the shoe moves in a perfectly
horizontal path inasmuch as the spring 59 and the slot 68 in the
safety link 66 accommodate the necessary fluctuations or variations
in what would otherwise be an arcuate swinging of the lower ends of
the links 58 and 62.
Thus, the sealing shoe 28 efficiently and expeditiously physically
presses each lid 11 to the flange 12 of the respective bowl 10, and
thereafter fixedly tacks the lid to the bowl to ensure proper
orientation of the lid and the bowl when they arrive at the final
sealing mechanism 30.
As above explained, the shoe 28 spans only alternate ones of the
gaps or junctions between the carriers 22. To effect tacking of the
lid edges contiguous to the intervening gaps or junctions, the
second tacking shoe 28aand its operating mechanism have been
provided. This shoe and mechanism are identical to that above
described with the single exception that the eccentric 50aand cam
52a thereof are positioned 180.degree. out of phase with the
eccentric 50 and the cam 52. Consequently the a unit or assembly
will automatically tack lids onto the bowl edges adjacent the
intervening carrier's junction. Thus, each bowl in the line will
have a lid tacked thereto at both its leading and trailing edges as
the bowls pass through the lid applicator and tacker structure.
Thus, a lid is pressed and tacked to and properly oriented on each
bowl or container as the containers travel to the sealing mechanism
30.
In this manner, the row of containers may travel continuously
through the machinery depicted schematically in FIG. 1 without
pause, hesitation or interruption of movement, each container will
have a lid tacked thereto in properly oriented position, and the
sealing mechanism 30 will properly perform its function in respect
of all of the containers whereby to afford high-speed and efficient
production of filled and sealed containers.
Occasionally in the operation of the machine, a bowl may not be fed
into a holder 22 by the mechanism 20, or a bowl may be improperly
filled with product by the mechanism 23 whereupon that mechanism
causes the bowl to be ejected. Thus, an occasional open holder in
the conveyor will appear at the lid applicator. If a lid were
applied to the open holder, the lid would be sealed to the holder
with no way to remove it and operation of the machine would be
impaired.
To obviate this problem, an empty holder detector 80 (FIG. 1) is
provided adjacent the conveyor 21 at a location upstream from the
lid applicator correlated to the distance of the cutter 11c from
the conveyor, and a lid rejecting air jet 81 is provided just below
the cutter. When the detector 80 senses an empty holder, it causes
actuation of the air jet 81 whereupon the next succeeding one of
the lids 11 (the lid corresponding to or intended for the empty
holder 22) is forced to follow the rotary knife and is blown onto a
reject conveyor 82 and dropped into a reject box or receptacle 83.
Thus, the lid that otherwise would have been fed to the empty
holder is rejected and the stream of lids will have an empty space
matching the empty holder.
At the time when the empty conveyor pocket passes under the tacking
shoes 28, it is also preferable to render the shoes inoperative to
prevent damage to the shoes and/or the conveyor. For this purpose,
an air cylinder 84 under the control of the detector 80 is
preferably associated with the turnbuckle 67 of the shoe operating
linkage to raise the linkage to an inoperative or upwardly spaced
position during passage of the empty holder.
Thus, proper and continuous operation of the machine is
assured.
While we have shown and described what we regard to be the
preferred embodiment of our invention for applying a particular lid
to a particular container, it is to be appreciated that the
invention is equally applicable to other lids and containers and
that for this and similar purposes changes, rearrangements and
modifications may be made in the apparatus without departing from
the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.
* * * * *