DE69506604T2 - Method and device for producing printed documents and the packaging in which the document is to be used - Google Patents

Abstract

In the first stage (1) a band of paper wound on a roller is printed and then placed on a supply reel (2). The supply reel feeds the printed band to the third stage (3) where it is cut and folded. The sheets are then pass to a packaging machine (4) which also receives packaging from another stage (5) and a product from stage 6. The packaged product with its printed notice is finally closed or placed in a container (7). In the third stage the procedure for producing the printed notices from the paper band consists of cutting the band in the longitudinal direction. At the cut the paper is separated to form two bands of smaller transverse dimensions located side by side in the same plane. These two bands are superposed.

Description

The invention relates to a method and a device for producing, from at least one printed paper web, printed documents consisting of one or more joined sheets, such as instructions, which are folded and arranged together with an object in a package or in a container.

The invention is particularly aimed at the pharmaceutical industry in order to produce instructions for medicines.

It is known that these instructions consist of printed sheets of paper, generally rectangular. These sheets are folded lengthwise, generally according to a so-called Z-fold or a crease, to define a rectangular strip, the largest dimension of which corresponds to the width of the original sheet. The strip is in turn folded to be attached to a container, generally made of cardboard, which is itself assembled by folding or gluing, and in which a tube or a tray-shaped packaging plate containing medicines, generally in the form of tablets, is placed.

Such instructions are subject to diverse and contradictory constraints.

First and foremost, an instruction manual, especially in the pharmaceutical sector, must have optimal dimensions. Beyond these dimensions, it will be difficult to fold it small enough to be inserted into a packaging box. However, if the surface of the instruction manual is too small, it will not be possible to include all the mandatory information and the information intended to inform consumers.

Furthermore, the surface and dimensions of the instructions must be compatible with the packaging that is to contain the medicine. For a specific packaging volume and a specific packaging shape, only a specific surface and specific dimensions can be suitable.

For economic reasons, it is also necessary to reduce the number of times the instructions are folded to a minimum, while still being able to be inserted into the packaging.

It is known that such instructions are manufactured in a known manner, from webs of paper arranged on reels that have previously been subjected to a printing process. The web is then unwound and cut transversely to define sheets of paper, which are then folded one after the other. These operations are carried out by a machine generally called a < < cutting-folding machine > > . The folded instructions are fed to a cartoning machine, which ensures the packaging of the medicine or its container, carrying out the packaging by folding and inserting the object and the folded instructions, and closing the packaging.

The documents EP-274 872; GB-1 546 798; US-2 868 539 and WO-93 09 049 are known.

Document EP-274 872 represents the state of the art that is closest to the invention.

Basically, the surface of the instructions is limited in its length and width.

The width of the instructions, i.e. the width of the paper web, cannot be increased indefinitely, since in this case the folded instructions would be larger than the packaging. For example, in the case of a cuboid-type packaging, the instructions are inserted into the packaging in such a way that the dimensions corresponding to the width of the original paper web are smaller than the total length of the two long sides and the bottom of the packaging, and the instructions are folded to form a kind of U. The length of the instructions is also limited by the constraints associated with the cutting-folding machines. In fact, increasing the length of the instructions leads to a reduction in the working speed of the cutting-folding machines. Increasing the length of the instructions impairs the performance of these machines, which is not in line with normal economic requirements.

The invention is intended to remedy the above-mentioned drawbacks and to produce guides of relatively large dimensions, and this without significantly modifying the conventional cutting-folding machines, which leads to a doubling, tripling or more of the usable surface of the guides, without significantly affecting the overall production costs of the latter.

To this end, one object of the invention is a process for producing, from at least one paper web, printed matter, such as instructions, which are to be folded and inserted together with an object into a package or a container, characterized in that one after the other,

- in a first phase, at least two sub-sheets joined together at one of their longitudinal edges and originating from the web are placed on top of each other

- in a second phase, the superimposed, joined sub-layers are wound up together;

- in a third phase, from the roll consisting of the superimposed, assembled base webs, a cross-section and folding of the base webs is ensured. According to an embodiment of the invention, in the first phase.

- at least one preliminary cut is made in the longitudinal direction of the paper web in question;

- by separating the material at the level of the pre-cut, at least two strips of smaller transverse dimensions (called sub-strips) are produced, which are placed next to each other and approximately on the same level;

- the resulting sub-layers are placed on top of each other.

In one embodiment of the invention, in the first phase:

- at least one preliminary cut is made in the longitudinal direction of the paper web in question;

- the resulting base layers are placed on top of each other and joined together along one of their long edges.

Advantageously, in the first phase, one or more longitudinal folds of the web are carried out one after the other, the resulting sub-webs are placed on top of each other and joined rigidly together at one of their longitudinal edges.

Advantageously, the webs with the smaller dimensions are placed on top of each other using turning bars or folding cones.

This means that three or more tracks can be produced with smaller dimensions.

The pre-cut can be done before or after printing.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment, which allows large-sized guides to be formed, the small-sized guides are joined together at one of their longitudinal edges.

The process is complemented by an initial stage in which the paper web is printed and by a final stage in which the printed matter is folded and inserted into a container together with a suitable object.

Another object of the invention is a device for implementing the process for producing, from at least one printed paper web, printed documents consisting of several assembled sheets, such as instructions, which are to be folded and inserted together with an object in a container, characterized in that it comprises:

- a first station or means for producing, from at least one printed paper web, at least two sub-webs superimposed and joined together at one of their longitudinal edges;

- a second station or means for winding up the superimposed and joined base webs;

- a third station or means for cross-cutting and folding the base webs.

The device may comprise two, three or more turning bars or folding cones.

The device may also comprise means for joining the webs of smaller dimensions together at one of their longitudinal edges.

This device includes:

- a first station or means for producing, from at least one printed paper web, at least two sub-webs superimposed and joined together at one of their longitudinal edges;

- a second station or means for winding up the superimposed and joined base webs;

- a third station or means for cross-cutting and folding the base webs.

As in the method, the apparatus also comprises a printing station of the web and packaging means of the folded printed matter and an article in a container.

The invention is explained in more detail by the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 shows an overview of the operations for producing instructions and inserting them into a package containing a product;

- Figure 2 shows a schematic section of a package containing a product and its corresponding instructions;

- Figure 3 shows a schematic view in perspective of the entire invention for producing a guide and the folding of the latter;

- Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the device according to the invention;

- Fig. 5 shows a detailed view of the turning device according to the invention;

- Figures 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D show a guide in various successive stages of its folding; and

- Figure 7 shows schematically the steps of a process according to the invention.

The overview of Fig. 1 comprises several functional blocks, each corresponding to a particular stage of a process for producing an instruction manual, folding it and inserting it with an object into a package or container.

The first stage (Block 1) consists in printing on a roll of paper information relating to the product in the form of typefaces, logos, drawings, pictograms or other information of a general or specific nature.

In the application of the invention to the preparation of medication instructions, such instructions may comprise mandatory information of a general nature regarding the use of a medication, as well as specific information about the medication in question, such as its definition, its dosage, its composition and its effects, accompanied by information about the company manufacturing this medication.

Although the invention is not limited to this embodiment and this application, for convenience it will be described below for this particular application.

After the paper web has been printed, it is placed on a feed reel represented by block 2.

The feed reel supplies a functional block 3 which allows the production of the cut and folded instructions. These instructions are fed to a so-called cartoning machine (block 4) which receives on the one hand the packaging or container of the product (block 5) and on the other hand the product itself (block 6). The cartoning machine is known in itself and ensures the shaping of the packaging, the insertion of the product in this packaging, the final folding of the instructions and the insertion of the instructions in the packaging next to the product, and finally the closing of the packaging or container with the general reference 7 in Fig. 1.

The printing operations (block 1), spool loading (block 2) and cartoning (block 4) as well as the packaging itself (block 5) and the product itself (block 6) are known per se.

The functional block 3 comprises several stages according to the invention, namely the longitudinal cutting of the paper web coming from the reel feeder 2, the superposition of the two smaller webs thus produced, then a joining along one of the longitudinal edges (optional operation), followed by a transverse cutting of the paper web to produce a series of smaller webs of a certain length, and finally the final folding of the instructions intended to be inserted into the packaging 5 by the cartoning machine 4.

The operation of longitudinal cutting and overlay is designated with reference 8, the joining on one of the longitudinal edges with 9, the cross cutting refers to the block 10, while the folding of the instructions thus produced is designated by the function reference 11.

Figure 2 shows a schematic section of a packaging of a known type, such as the packaging 7 of Figure 1, which consists of cardboard, for example folded and glued together. The packaging 7 is, for example, cuboid-shaped and intended to contain a product, such as a tube 6 containing tablets. The tube 6 has a lid 12 and is cylindrical in shape. The packaging 7 comprises a base 13 folded over and glued to one of the walls 14, and an opening 15 which can be closed with side flaps (of which only the flap 16 is visible) and a front flap 17 in a manner known per se.

Within the package 7 there is not only the tube 6 but also an instruction 18 as a folded strip of paper, generally in a Z-shape, to form an elongated sheet which is again folded in a generally U-shape as shown in the right-hand portion of Fig. 2.

Below is a detailed description of the manufacturing operations of the instructions with reference to Figs. 3 to 5, in which the elements having similar or the same function as those in Fig. 1 or 2 are indicated with the same references.

The feed reel 2, of a type known per se, is mounted on a frame 19 (Fig. 4). The paper web has, for example, a width of 280 millimetres and a wound length of approximately 4 000 metres. The reel 2 feeds a work station which enables the web to be cut lengthwise into two less wide webs, called sub-webs. Accordingly, the paper web wound on the reel 2 is fed with the general reference 20 approximately in the middle cut to form two sub-tracks 20A and 20B of equal width. The dividing line between the tracks 20A and 20B is designated 21 and is located approximately in the middle of the main track 20.

The work station 8 ensuring the longitudinal cutting comprises a frame 22 with an infeed roller 23 on which the paper web 20 runs. On the frame 22, two turning bars 24 and 25 are arranged parallel to each other and at an angle of 45º with respect to the running direction of the main web 20 at the exit of the reel 2.

The two turning bars are arranged behind the infeed roller 23, at a distance of about 30 centimeters. More precisely, the first turning bar 24 enables the first sub-web 20B to be turned, while the second turning bar 25 ensures the second sub-web 20A to be turned. The turning takes place at 90º. At the exit of the two turning bars 24 and 25, the two sub-webs 20A and 20B are superimposed and have a running direction orthogonal to the running direction of the main web 20.

The longitudinal cutting of the main web 20 at the height of the center line 21 is carried out by partially winding up the two sub-webs 20a and 20B on the turning bars, which creates a transverse separation force of the sub-webs, namely at the height of a central, elongated pre-cut 26 that is originally provided on the paper web 20. The pre-cut 26 is symbolized by a dotted line in Figs. 3 and 5.

The superimposed sub-webs 20A and 20B are conveyed by a retrieval assembly consisting of two rollers 27 and 28 between which the two superimposed sub-webs 20A and 20B run. The latter are conveyed to a cross-cutting station 10, which is known per se and consists, for example, of a support roller 29 of an axial knife 30. The diameter of the roller 29, its rotational speed, the running speed of the sub-webs 20A and 20B are calculated so that the knife 30 cuts through the two sub-webs 20A and 20B in the transverse direction in order to define a section or a segment 31 from two sub-webs of a certain length.

The web sections 31, 32 shown in Figure 3 are fed to a folding device 11, which is known per se, and at the output of which the folded instructions are fed by a transport device 33 to a cartoning machine 4, which is known per se and is not shown in detail in the figures. The cartoning machine, as already described above, ensures the final folding of the instructions, the insertion of the same and the product 6 into the packaging 7.

It will be understood that the method and the device or installation of this example of the invention make it possible to produce a guide with a larger surface area without additional handling or substantial modification of the known cutting-folding and cartoning machines. In fact, after the two sub-webs 20A and 20B have been cut into segments at the exit of the cutting station 10, they have the shape of two superimposed web segments or sections 31. The guide therefore comprises two band segments of the same surface area, thereby doubling its total surface area.

This is a considerable advantage for users, who can produce instructions with double the total width starting from sub-tracks with a maximum width (for example 200 millimetres). It is also possible to provide two pre-cuts (not shown) instead of a longitudinal pre-cut 26 in order to produce three sub-tracks starting from the main track 20 by means of three turning bars arranged parallel at an angle of 45º. The three sub-tracks thus formed are placed on top of each other in the same way as described above.

Advantageously, but optionally, a joining station for the sub-webs is provided on one of their longitudinal edges. The joining can be carried out by gluing, stapling or by other known means. The joining station symbolized by the functional block 9 in Figs. 1 and 3 is not described in further detail since it is known per se. Thus, the two superimposed sub-webs are joined on one of their longitudinal edges at the output of the retrieval device 27, 28 to form two sheets and are then subjected to a cross-section (station 10).

Fig. 6A to 6D show the individual, known folding stages of the instructions consisting of sections, such as section 31 of Fig. 3. The folding is carried out by the known station 11 (Fig. 3).

The pattern 31 consists of two sheets 31A and 31B, which have been joined together at 40 in the manner described above along one of their longitudinal edges. This pattern is folded crosswise in the middle along a line 41, with the two halves being folded over approximately towards each other. The two half-flanks thus produced on either side of the dividing line 41 are then folded twice each along the respective lines 42 and 43 on the one hand and 44 and 45 on the other hand, to form a kind of accordion, as shown in Fig. 6B. The pattern is then folded, always like an accordion, to form a strip 46 which has a longitudinal direction, arrow 1, and a transverse direction, arrow t (Fig. 6C).

Fig. 6D shows the final folding stage of the pattern in longitudinal direction 1 to form a kind of U consisting of two parallel side legs 47 and 48 and a transverse base 49 in direction t. The interior of the U defines a volume 50 into which the product 6, such as a tube of tablets, can be inserted (Fig. 2).

According to the example in Fig. 7, printed matter 51 consisting of several joined sheets 52a, 52b are to be produced.

These printed materials 51 are, for example, instructions that are intended to be folded and placed together with an object 53 in a container 54, such as a box or a case made of cardboard.

For this purpose, the starting point is a printed paper web that is wound up to form a roll 56. As a variant, the process also includes a step in which the paper web is printed and then wound up to form the roll 56.

The printing 57 on the web 55 is carried out in such a way that the text and the information on the printed matter 51 follow the individual phases of the process.

In a first phase, two sub-sheets 55a, 55b, joined together at one of their common longitudinal edges 58, are placed on top of each other. These two sub-sheets 55a, 55b come from sheet 55.

The invention also applies to the case where three or more sub-tracks are present.

Then, in a second phase, the two superimposed and joined sub-webs 55a, 55b are wound together to form a coil 59. This coil can be easily handled, stored and transported.

In a third phase, the superimposed, joined sub-tracks 55a, 55b formed coil 59 has a cross-section and a fold, which enables the production of the printed matter 51.

The first manufacturing phase can be subject to several execution variants.

One or more cuts or one or more longitudinal folds of the web are made one after the other and then the resulting sub-webs are placed on top of each other, while at the same time they are rigidly joined together at their common longitudinal edges 58.

This joining is done by gluing or similar.

This joining is carried out in such a way that the individual sub-sheets 55a, 55b cannot separate from one another and that the lateral displacement of one sub-sheet in relation to another is prevented.

As already mentioned, the printed matter can be packaged in a container 54 after it has been folded with an object 53.

A device for implementing the method described above comprises several successive items or means:

- a first station or means for producing, from at least one printed paper web 5, at least two superimposed sub-webs 55a, 55b joined together at one of their longitudinal edges 58;

- a second station or means for winding up the superimposed and joined sub-webs 55a, 55b;

- and finally a third station or means for cross-cutting and folding the base webs 55a, 55b.

An apparatus as described above may also comprise a fourth item or means for packaging the publications 51 and an article 53 in a container 54.

The device can also comprise, upstream, a printing station for the paper web.

As regards the first item or means, they preferably comprise adhesive means for joining the sub-sheets 55a, 55b at their common longitudinal edges 58.

If the two superimposed and joined sub-webs 55a, 55b are produced by cutting and gluing, one can start from a web 55 which has one or more longitudinal cuts. The corresponding station of the machine can comprise two, three or more turning bars.

Thanks to the winding of the two superimposed and joined base webs, conventional folding machines can be used, even if they include several through rolls.

This prevents the sub-layers from separating from one another or shifting against one another.

Claims (13)

1. Method for producing, from at least one printed paper web, printed matter (51) with several joined sheets (52a, 52b), such as instructions, which are to be folded and arranged with an object (53) in a container (54), characterized in that one after the other: - during a first phase, at least two sub-webs (55a, 55b) are superimposed, which are joined together at one of their longitudinal edges (58) and originate from the web (55); - during a second phase, the sub-webs (55a, 55b) laid on top of one another and joined together are wound up again together; and - during a third phase, from the web (59) consisting of the thus superimposed and joined base webs (55a, 55b), a transverse cutting and folding of the base webs (55a, 55b) is ensured. 2. Process according to claim 1, characterized in that during the first phase: - carries out at least one pre-cut in the longitudinal direction of the said paper web (55); - by cutting at the height of the said pre-cut, at least two smaller transverse strips (called sub-strips) are produced, which are placed next to each other and approximately at the same level; - the resulting base layers are placed on top of each other. 3. Process according to claim 1, characterized in that during the first phase: - producing a pre-cut at least in the longitudinal direction of said paper web (55); - the sub-sheets thus formed are placed on top of one another and at the same time joined together at one of their longitudinal edges (58). 4. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that during the first phase one or more longitudinal folds of the web (55) are produced one after the other and the sub-webs (55a, 55b) thus obtained are placed one on top of the other, whereby they are firmly joined together at one of their longitudinal edges (58). 5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the bottom webs are placed on top of one another using turning bars or folding cones. 6. Method according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that three or more sub-webs are produced. 7. Method according to one of the above-mentioned claims, characterized in that the base webs are firmly joined together by gluing or similar at one of their longitudinal edges. 8. Installation for implementing the method according to claim 1 for producing, from at least one printed paper web, printed materials (51) with several joined sheets (52a, 52b), such as instructions, which are to be folded and arranged with an object (53) in a container (54), characterized in that it comprises the following items or combination of means: - a first station or first combination of means for producing from at least one printed paper web (55) at least two sub-webs (55a, 55b) lying one above the other and joined together at one of their longitudinal edges (58); - a second station or second combination of means for winding up the base webs (55a, 55b) thus superimposed and joined together; - a third station or third combination of means for cross-cutting and folding the base webs (55a, 55b). 9. Installation according to claim 8, characterized in that it comprises a fourth item or fourth combination of means for cardboard packaging of the printed documents (51) and an object (53) in a container (54). 10. Installation according to one of claims 8 or 9, characterized in that a printing station (52) of the paper web (55) is arranged in front of it. 11. Installation according to one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that the first item or the first combination of means comprises the following: - means for carrying out a pre-cut in the longitudinal direction of the said paper web; - means for producing, by cutting the pre-cut, at least two transversely smaller strips (called sub-strips) which are laid side by side and approximately on the same level; and - Means for superimposing the base sheets thus produced. 12. Installation according to claim 11, characterized in that the first station or the first combination of means comprises at least two turning bars. 13. Installation according to one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that the first item or the first combination of means comprises adhesive means for joining the base webs together at one of their longitudinal edges.