US2110478A - Carton making machine - Google Patents

Description

March 8,1938. I W D 2,110,478

CARTON MAKING MACHINE Filed Nov. 16, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 8, 1938. D. wooD CARTON MAKING MACHINE Filed NOV. 16, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 8,1938. WOOD 2,110,478

CARTON MAKING MACHINE Filed Nov. 16, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 March 8, 1938.

D. WOOD 2,110,478

CARTON MAKING MACHINE Filed Nov. 16, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig??? za dwww Patented Mar. 8, 1938 UNH'D Application November 16, 1936, Serial No. 111,115 In Great Britain November 18, 1935 4 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for making cartons of frusto-conical shape, from paper, cardboard or the like, subsequently impregnated with Wax or other proofing material to render the cartons liquid-tight.

The invention has for its object to provide an improved machine for making the frusto-conical bodies of the cartons in a continuous sequence of operations, starting from a web of paper or the like, which, after printing, if desired, is cut to form the blanks, the edges of which are secured together by adhesive after rolling the blank around a conical mandrel or former.

According to this invention, the web of paper or the like is fed to a series of cutting rollers, of which one pair make spaced incisions towards the two edges of the web, these incisions preferably diverging at equal angles to the line of travel, for producing the side edges of the blank from p which the carton is to be made, and a second pair make curved cuts transversely of the blank for producing the convex bottom edge and concave top edge of the blank, some or all of the transverse cuts being made preferably across the entire width of the web so as to divide up the waste material.

Adhesive is applied to one of the side edges of the blank at a point between the two pairs of cutting rollers, that is, while the blank is still connected to the web at front and rear; when the web is cut transversely, the blank or leading edge passes on to one or more supporting guide rollers before the next transverse cut is made, and the blank thus severed is carried forward by these rollers on to a table or platform beneath a mandrel of frusto-conical shape, around which it is folded, a plurality of these mandrels being mounted upon a rotary standard or carrier, during the intermittent rotation of which the formation of the carton body proceeds until it comes to a position for ejection.

The invention is hereafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the carton-forming machine.

Fig. 2 is a plan view.

Fig. 3 is a plan of the cutting rollers on a larger scale.

Fig. 4 is a part sectional elevation of the cutting rollers.

Fig. 5 is a partial side elevation, seen in the opposite direction to Fig. 1, showing the mechanism for driving the gumming device.

Fig. 6 is an end View of Fig. 5.

roller I! to a pair of feed rollers 58 in advance of tween the cylindrical surfaces of this roller 20 PATENT orril'ii Figs. 7 and 8 are two elevations at right angles to one another, showing the mechanism for folding the carton body around the mandrel.

' Fig. 9 is a plan View of the folding mechanism. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the web III of paper or the like, drawn from a roll I I provided, with a brake I2, is passed over a tensioning roller I3 7 mounted on spring controlled levers I4, and over a guide roller I 5, to a printing mechanism I6, from which it passes over another tensioning 10 the cutting rollers I9, 20. All these rollers are driven by suitable gearing 2!, 22 from a vertical shaft 23, itself driven through bevel gearing 24 from a main shaft 25, which also drives the printing mechanism I 6 through suitable gearing 26.

As shown in Fig. 3, the first cutting roller 19, having helical cutting blades 21,.makes spaced incisions 28 towards the two edges of the web, these incisions diverging at equal angles to the line'of travel; for this purpose, the roller I9 has circumferential recesses 29 adjacent to its ends, in which recesses the helical cutting blades 27 are provided, the blades projecting beyond the circumierence of the roller by the thickness of the paper web, so that the blades produce the incisions 28 near the edges of the web, while the latter is gripped (see Fig. 4) between the cylindrical surfaces of this roller I9 and the lower 1 roller I9a, which is plain. The second pair of cutting rollers 20, 20a, having curved blades 30 on the upper roller 20, out the web transversely as at 3| for producing the curved edges of the blank at, while the web is gripped (see Fig. 4) beand the plain lower roller 20a; at the same time these cutting rollers 20, 20a sever the edges of the web I0 so as to divide up the waste material, I for which purpose, the upper cutting roller 20 has its blades 30 (or alternate blades) extending across to slightly beyond the width of the web, the developed shape of these blades 30 conforming to one of the curved edges of the required blank 1'. The blades may be shaped to cut the longer curved edges, i. e. the edges which represent the larger ends of the frusto-conical carton bodies, in which case both edges of the blanks will have-the same curvature and the resulting carton bodies will be of greater height on one side than on the opposite side; to avoid this, the roller 20 is provided with auxiliary cutting blades 32 of shorter length and sharper curvature than the blades 30, so that both the top edge and the bottom edge of the blank are cut to proper shape by removal of the narrow concave-convex slip,

. shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, a tank 34 containing gum or otheradhesive is mounted at the side of the machine, near to the second pair of cutting rollers 20, 20a. Within this tank a roller 35. is revolved, for example intermittently by means of a ratchet mechanism 36; blades or scrapers may be arranged at opposite'sides of the roller, one in order to regulate the thickness of adhesive taken up by the roller'35, and the other in order to scrape the roller entirely clean so that a supply of fresh adhesive will always be available on the top of the roller. The adhesive is transferred to the blank by means of an oscillating arm 31, operated by a cam device 38, the arm being fitted at'its extremity witha metal striporpad 39 shaped to cover the area to be gummed on theblank; the under surface "of the gumming strip or pad may be plainor may be ribbed or chequered to assist the retention of the adhesive taken from the roller 35. The fulcrum end of the arm 31 is forked to engage a horizontal pivot 4| upon a vertical sleeve 42 which is turned periodically by thecam 38, acting through a lever 43, link 44 and crank 45;

the movement carries the pad 39 at the end of the arm from above the top of the gumming roller 35 (as in Fig. 2) to a position'above the area to be coated with adhesive (as in Fig. 3), andvice versa. The arm 31 is raised clear during the forward and return movementsrby a horizontal rail or cam 46 engaging a roller 41 underneath the arm 31, this rail being fixed to a sleeve slidable vertically on the post 49 which supports the other sleeve 42; a link 50 operated by a cam 5|, through a bell crank 52, lifts the sleeve 48 and rail 46 during the swinging movements of the arm 31, but allows the arm to descend into contact'with the roller 31 and the web III at the respective ends of its movement.

If the web in which the blank has been partly cut out is travelling continuously forward, the

Y oscillating arm 31 may be made to travel in the same direction and at the same speed as the web during the gumming operation, thus avoiding any smearing of the adhesive; this movement may be produced by a cam 53 upon the same shaft 54, which causes the supporting post 49 of the gumming arm 31 to travel'along parallel to the web ID, the post 49being supported by twobars 55 slidable through guides 56, and

] operated by a link 51 attached to a cross head 20,200, after the application of adhesive, the

leading end of the severed blank has already passed between a pair of supporting and guiding rollers 59,'leading to anotherpair before the trailing edge of the same blank is severed from the web; the guide rollers 59, 60 are reduced in diameter towards their ends, as seen in Fig. 2,

so that the Waste material from the outer edges of the web can drop down and escape past the thinner end-portions 6f, 62 of the guide rollers.

into a chute 63, this waste material having been cut into short lengths by the transverse cut 3| taken across the whole width of the web. The blank .7: is however carried forward substantially in a horizontal direction over the rollers 59, 60, which pass it over a grid 84 on to a hinged platform 65, while the waste material slips under this grid into the chute; the blank is then moved forward by an oscillating finger 66 which brings it into position beneath a mandrel 51, where it is located by a pair of rocking guides 68 carried by the platform, these guides closing together so as to center the blank in relation to the mandrel 61. This mandrel is one of a plurality mounted radially upon a standard or carrier 89 rotatable on a vertical axis, and driven intermittently with a step by step motion through a Maltese-cross mechanism 10, 1| and reducing gear 12.

A portion of the platform 65, adjacent to the position at which the blank is located, is cut away to provide an opening 13 through which a folding mechanism operates for rolling the blank upwards around the mandrel 61; .The folding mechanism, which is shown more clearly in Figs. '1 to 9, comprises a plate 14 normally lying flush with the platform but pivoted thereto at 14, which lifts the blank at its center line and presses it against the underside of the mandrel 61, the plate rocking on its pivot to ensure even pressure, a pair of spaced arms 15 which then rise and fold the blank up the two sides of the mandrel into U-shape, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 8, and a second pair of arms 16 arranged outside the first pair, these second arms rising at the same time as the first pair 15 but proceeding higher and then coming together so as to complete'the folding of the blank around the mandrel. The folding mechanism is operated by cams and levers working in combination, the second pair ,of arms 16 being .preferably arranged to operate one slightly in advance of the other so as to ensure a smooth overlapping of the two edges of the blank, with the coated edge over the other edge.

As shown in Fig. 7, the cams 11 and "are mounted upon the shaft 54 extending transversely beneath the platform 65, these cams respectively operating two bell crank levers 19 and which control three sliders 8|, 82, 83 mounted on a fixed vertical guide rod 84; the upper slider 8|, which is connected by links 86 to the underside of the platform 65, is also connected by a buffer device 81 to the middle slider 82 on the same guide rod, this middle slider being itself connected by links 88 to'the bell crank 19. When the latter rocks, these two sliders rise together and cause the plate 14 to lift the blank up against the mandrel 61. The continued rise of the slider 82 then compresses the spring buffer 81 to hold the blank tightly against the underside of the mandrel, and brings the arms 15 upwards to fold the blank into U-shape, and at the same time the lower slider 83 operated by the bell crank 80 and links 85 causes the second pair ofarms' 16 to move up with the first pair; these two 'pairs of arms have a mutual engagement by 7 means of rollers I86 on the first pair acting upon cam surfaces I81 on the second pair. When the first pair of arms 15 has reached its upper position, the continued rise of the second pair 16 causes their cams I81 to travel relatively to the rollers I86 so that the arms of this second pair can come together and complete the folding movement, the cams I 8'! being so shaped that one arm 19 moves in advance of the other, as already mentioned, to ensure the proper overlapping of the gummed edge of the blank.

The same cam shaft 54 is conveniently employed for the operation of the finger 66 and rocking guides 68 which locate the blank beneath the mandrel 61; for this purpose the shaft is provided with a third cam I88 engaging the rollerfitted extremity of a lever 89 mounted on a rocking shaft 99 which carries a second lever B! the free upper end of the latter engaging with a lug 92 secured on a slidable spindle 93 and also with the roller-fitted extremities of two arms 94. The spindle 93, which is guided in lugs 93 on the bottom of the platform 65, carries the oscillating finger 69 and is controlled by a spring 95 which acts to draw the blank on to the platform 65 after the finger has engaged behind the blank by the sliding of the spindle 93 backwards by the lever 9I while the platform is in the lowered position seen in Fig. 7; the arms 94 are secured to the spindles 96 of the rocking guides 68 so that these guides can close together when the platform 65 reaches its level position after the blank is in place thereon.

The arms 15 are fitted with thin vertical blades 91 set slightly obliquely as seen in Figs. 8 and 9, and the arms 16 are fitted with thin blades 98 extending inwards sufficiently to pass over the top of the mandrel Bl.

When the blank has been folded round the mandrel, a heated pressure pad 99, controlled by cam--0perated levers I 90, descends between the edges of the blades 98 on to the seam or joint, the folding mechanism then retiring downwardly below the platform 65, and the mandrel 6'! being moved on to the next operative position, while the pressure pad 99 continues to hold the blank in place.

The number of mandrels 61 may be varied, but in the preferred construction illustrated, the rotatable standard or carrier 69 is provided with eight mandrels spaced evenly around its axis and the periodical movements of the carrier shift these mandrels through 45 degrees in the horizontal plane; the intermittent motion can be obtained for example by the Maltese cross mechanism I9, II, or by any other suitable means.

The mandrels 67 are preferably constructed in such a way that the pressure can be applied to the whole length of the seam, so as to ensure a quick and sound joint, but where the carton bodies are to be provided with a step or fiange to receive a sealing disc, as in the case of milk bottles, the mandrels are arranged to allow a portion of the conical folded blank or carton body to be exposed for the inturning or rolling down of the narrow end of the body. The mandrels are therefore made with a hollow main portion, shorter than the carton body by the amount required for rolling or inturning, and an auxiliary movable end-piece It I, making up the full length; this end-piece, which is pivoted at IE2 at the base or larger end of the mandrel, is controlled for example by a push-rod I93 slidable through the boss I94 and operated by a third lever I05 secured on the rocking shaft 90. The heated pressure pad 99 is also provided with a hinged section IE6 at one end, this section being normally supported in line but being raised or temporarily removed (as hereafter described) to expose the exterior of the narrow end of the carton body at the same time and to the same extent as the exposure of the interior by the withdrawal of the end-piece IDI of the mandrel.

While the pressure pad remains firmly engaged with the whole length of the seam, the carrier rotates for example through four steps or half a revolution, each step bringing another mandrel B! into position to receive a blank which is rolled round it by the same folding mechanism. At the fifth position, the movable end-piece IIII of the mandrel is withdrawn by the push rod I93 and the hinged section 896 of the pressure pad 99 is removed by another push rod IIl'I, so as to allow the rolling or inturning of the narrow end of the carton body at this position, by means of grooved rollers I98 mounted in a rotary head I99, the advance of which operates the push rod I91 to remove the hinged section of the pressure pad. The rollers I08 act to turn or curl over the rim of the carton body so as to form a doubledover flange or beading, which is subsequently smoothed by a revolving punch or plunger III) at'the next position of the carrier 69, with or without forming a step inside the end of the carton. Just before the mandrel reaches the seventh position, the heated pressure pad 99 is raised by the levers I89, the seam being new dried out, and at the seventh position a transfer arm I I I operates to strip the formed carton body from the mandrel 91, the carton falling on to a conveyor for example.

Preferably, however, the carton bodies are passed on to a sliding or rocking holder. II2

having part-conical rests or receptacles for car- 7 ton bodies which is oscillated in relation to the movements of the forming machine, this holder being adapted to take two or more of the cartons in turn. When one carton has been placedin position upon one rest of the holder H2, and as the transfer arm I! I is retiring ready for stripping the next carton oiT its mandrel, the holder H2 is displaced laterally so as to bring another rest or receptacle into position facing the next mandrel which is to deliver. After the holder II2 has received the two cartons, the transfer arm I II at its next stroke will push both these cartons at the same time into another machine in which the cartons are fitted with bottoms, either at their wider or at their narrower ends according to the kind of carton, e. g. milk-bottles or cream-tubs. Thus the transfer arm I I I, which is slidably operated by a link I I4 from a lever I I 5 driven by a face cam, makes short and long strokes, short strokes for the first position of the rocking holder H2 and a long stroke for the other position of the holder, in which the laterally displaced carton body is pushed into the drum by an auxiliary transfer arm moving in synchronism with the first. After the bottoms have been fitted in. the carton bodies, the latter are impregnated with wax or other proofing material, being then ready for filling and subsequent capping by means for example of a sealing disc. pressed into place upon the internal step formed by the plunger after the inturning of the narrow end of the carton body in the machine above described.

What I claim is:

1. A machine for making frusto-conical carton bodies, comprising cutting rollers, means for feeding a web of material through said cutting rollers, said cutting rollers adapted to make pairs of incisions in said web of material and subsequently to cut said web transversely, said pairs of incisions being spaced along said web and 75 theincisions of each pair being equally inclined to the line of travel of said web through said rollers, said transverse cuts. being curved to intersect corresponding ends of said pairs of incisions, means for applying an adhesive to said web adjacent toone incision of each pair prior to the making of said transverse cuts, means for folding the blank defined by the intersection of said transverse cuts and incisions into frustoconical shape with an overlap containing said adhesive, and'means for pressing said overlap to secure adhesion.

- 2. A machinefo-r making frusto-conical carton bodies, comprising a pair of co-operating rollers, helically disposed cutting blades upon one of said rollers, a second pair of co-operating rollers, at least one curved cutting blade upon one of the second-mentioned rollers, means for feeding, a web of material through said pairs of co-operating rollers in turn, the first-mentionedrollers producing pairs of straight incisions towards the opposite edges of said web, at least one incision of each pair being inclined to the line of travel of said web, the secondmentioned rollers producing transverse cuts intersecting said pairs of straight incisions in said web, means for applying an adhesive to said web adjacent to one incision of each pair, said adhesive applying means being located between the first mentioned rollers and the second mentioned rollers, means for folding the blank defined by the intersection of said transverse cuts and incisions into frusto-conical shape with an overlap containing said adhesive, and means for pressing said overlap to secure adhesion.

' 3. A machine for making frusto-conical carton bodies, comprisingicutting rollers, means for feeding a web of material through said rollers,

said rollers cutting out blanks of annular sector shape from said material, means for applying adhesive to said web at a position corresponding to a straight edge of the blank to be produced by said cutting rollers, a platform, a plate pivoted in said platform and normally flush therewith, means for passing. the blanks in turn upon said platform, a mandrel of frusto-conical shape located above said platform, means for lifting said'platform to raise a blank against the lower side of said mandrel, said pivoted plate then rocking to an inclined position parallel to the lower generatrix of said mandrel, a pair of arms adapted to rise through said platform on opposite sides of said plate and to fold said blank into U-shape, a second pair of arms adapted to rise through said platform on opposite sides of said plate outside the first mentioned pair of arms and to come together for folding the ends of the U-shaped blank around said mandrel, and means for pressing said edges into contact to secure adhesion.

4. A machine for making frusto-conical carton bodies, comprising cutting rollers, means for feeding a web of material through said rollers, said rollers cutting out blanks of annular sector shape from said material, means for applying adhesive to said web at a position corresponding to a straight edge of the blank to be produced by said cutting rollers, a platform, means for passing the blanks in turn upon said platform, a rotatable standard, means for driving said standard in intermittent rotation, a plurality of frusto-conical mandrels mounted radially upon said standard, each of said mandrels arriving in turn above said platform during the intermittent rotation of said standard, means for lifting the blank located upon said platform into contact .withthe mandrel located above said platform, means for folding the edges of said blank around said mandrel, means for pressing said edges into contact to secure adhesion, said pressing means including a removable part adapted to engage one of said edges at the narrow end of the folded blank and remaining partly operative during a substantial part of the rotation of said standard, means for inturning the narrow end of the folded blank in a. subsequent position of said mandrel, and means for removing said removable part of said pressing means to inoperative position during the operation of said inturning means.

DENNIS WOOD.

Images