ES344756A1 - Packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A machine for packaging elongated articles, e.g. cotton-wool tipped sticks, comprises groups of grippers on a rotary turret which each lift a batch from an infeed conveyer and deposit it in a box on an adjacent turntable, the arrangement being such that, as one group is depositing its load, so that group following it is picking up the next batch. Several batches may be deposited in each box. In one embodiment, each gripper head 22 comprises a vertically slidable carriage 24 to which is secured a block 43, Fig. 3. Comb-like elements 48 having teeth 50 depend beneath the block in which are rotatable vertical gripper rods 44 in a row between the two rows of teeth 50. The upper ends of the rods 44 are linked for uniform rotation to a bar 42, the bar being secured to a connector 38. The rods 44 are rotatable through 90 degrees from a position, Fig. 4, in which they pass between alternate cotton-wool sticks 52 to a position in which they grip the sticks by grooves 58 against the comb teeth 50 which occupy the remaining spaces between the sticks, Fig. 6. To release the sticks, the movements are reversed. An ejector 180, spring-biased downwards, engages the sticks to ensure their ejection when released. The connectors 38 of adjacent heads are joined by relatively stiff cables 30b, slidable in fixed coverings 30a to levers 32 having cam follower rollers 33, 34 on their ends. In operation, sticks are fed in by an intermittently movable conveyer 54 and a batch is raised clear of it by blades 82 on rotary members 70. A head descends so that the teeth and rods pass between the raised sticks. A plunger 96, Fig. 1, then presses a cam-piece 106 between adjacent followers 33, 34, shifting the connector 38 anti-clockwiae, as shown, to cause gripping of the sticks. The previously loaded head, now located over a turntable 11 on which the boxes 13 are carried and which descended at the same time as the head over conveyer, to place its load within a box, releases its load, the respective connector 38 being shifted clockwise by the cam-piece 106. Each box is located on the table 11 by wedgeshaped elements 176, having leaf springs (175), Fig. 10 (not shown), to one side, and pins 178. In an alternative embodiment, Figs. 7, 8 (not shown), simple suction grippers may be used. An arcuate manifold (180) blowing hot air into the loaded boxes to dry the contents may be arranged above the table, Figs. 11, 12 (not shown).