IE45469B1 - Method and apparaturs for manufacture of corrugated paper board products - Google Patents

Abstract

1527529 Laminates ENCASE Ltd 16 Aug 1977 [18 Aug 1976] 34505/76 Heading B5N A method for the production of continuous lengths of printed corrugated paper board comprises continuously applying printed indicia on one face of a liner web, drawn from a supply, continuously adhesively uniting said liner web with a corrugated web to form a single faced sheet continuously adhesively uniting said single faced sheet with a second liner web, a second single faced sheet optionally being interposed between said printed single faced sheet and said second liner web, forming transverse creases in said double faced corrugated board at predetermined longitudinal intervals, longitudinally scoring said board at predetermined positions and longitudinally slitting said board to form two or more separate lengths one at least of which bears printing indicia on one face thereof. In the drawing, 7 represents a single-facer fed with liner 3 and corrugating medium 4. The liner is fed via printer 8. A further liner 11 is applied and pressed between belt 16 and table 17. The double faced material so formed is creased at 18 so as to fold readily on to drum 20. At 21 however the web is split longitudinally so that only part proceeds to drum 20, the remainder being cut at 23 into individual box blanks.

Description

She present invention relates to the production of corrugated paper hoard products.

Corrugated board for container manufacture is produced by combining layers of linerboard and corrugating medium; the linerboard forms the flat layers of the sandwich which are joined by the corrugating medium after it has been corrugated.

So produce the basic corrugated paper board two rolls ©f Xiaesboard and one roll of corrugating medium are combined. Ona liner web and one corrugating medium are fed into a single-facer which bonds them together into a single-faced sheet. She single-faced sheet is then processed through the double-backer which applies the' second liner web9 thus forming single-xiall board. Bonding sn additional corrugated medium and liner to the single wall forms double-wall board.

After passing through a dryer section which sets the adhesive and removes excess moisture, the combined board is given its initial scoring and is then usually cut to size to form box-Blanks. Whan it is necessary for the final box to carry printed information on its surface the boxes are printed at the blank stage, i.e. after blanks have been cut out from the continuous length of corrugated board. The box blanks are not printed until the paper board is fully dry. The printing is performed as an entirely separate process and on separate printing machinery. There are severe difficulties which make it impracticable to print a range of individual box blanks on the corrugator. -2In recent years a need has been identified to supply corrugated board in continuous, longitudinally scored, lengths, rather than in the form of individual box-blanks.

To accommodate this the blank-cutting section of the corru5 gator is by-passed, a folding device is introduced to score the corrugated paper board laterally at predetermined intervals and the board is conveyed through an overhead section in continuous lengths and 2-folded onto stillages.

This arrangement allows the customer to produce for 10 himself a case of any design and length but of constant crosssection. The application is ideal for manufacturers of many products, such as metal extrusions, which are supplied in varying lengths.

Planning work for this process demands maximum flexi15 bility in that a wide range of customer modules has to be accommodated within the width of paper supplied to the corrugator. It is, therefore, common practice to produce, in one operation, products for two or more customers whose individual requirements are different in width but can be matched within the width of board produced by the corrugator.

Since it is normal practice to print corrugated paper board when in the form of blanks, the continuous 3-folded material has heretofore been supplied plain and does not bear say printing to identify the manufacturer or the product.

We have now realised, according to the present invention, that this difficulty may be overcome by printing the web -3which forms the outer face of the corrugated, board. We, therefore, provide a printer arranged in the corrugator at a position where it can print the liner web before it is combined with the corrugated medium. For maximum flexibility the printer is arranged so that printed indicia may be applied to the liner web at one or more selected positions across the width of the liner web. Many well known web printers may be employed for this purpose and this allows the corrugating machine to produce, simultaneously, one or more continuously printed lengths of corrugated board irrespective of their width. It will be understood that the individual indicia of the printer are laterally adjustable individually across the path of the paper from the reel to the corrugated board-making machine, so that the applied printing may be accurately located in relation to the longitudinal creases which are formed in ths board as it leaves the corrugator.

In the accompanying drawings there is shown a side view of one form of apparatus for putting the invention into effect. This apparatus is largely of known construction.

In Fig. 1A there is show the section of the machine for producing the continuous web of printed corrugated board and in Fig. 1B is shown the section of the machine for division of the corrugated board into products.

In Fig. 1A liner web from reel 1 is combined with corrugating medium drawn from reel 2. Before combination to form a single^faeed sheet the liner web 5 and corrugating -j, a 1 ΰ 9 medium web 4 are passed through preheater 5 and preconditioner 6 respectively and are then passed to the single facer unit 7, in which the web 4 is corrugated and then adhesivelycombined with the liner web 3. The apparatus thus far des5 cribed is well known in the art except that web 3 would normally approach preheater 5 direct from the reel. The single-faced c'-rrugated sheet issuing from the single facer 7 is hot and moist as a result of the glueing operation. The present invention departs from previous practice in providing a printer 8, having a print roller 9 which applies printed indicia to the liner web 3, the print repeat being dependent on the diameter cf the roller 9 or on. the number of print dies affixed around the circumference of the roll. The roller 9 will normally carry individual print dies whieh are laterally adjustable across the printer so that one or more longitudinal rows of printed indicia may be applied to the liner web at preselected lateral positions. In some instances, as will appear below, part of the web 3 may not need to be printed.

The single-faced sheet 10 from the facer 7 and a second liner web 11 from a supply reel 12 pass through a double deck preheater 14 snd a glue unit 15 and are pressed together between a belt 16 and a table 17· In Fig. 1B the thus formed, printed two-faced corrugated board is passed to a transverse creaser 18, which forms transverse creases at predetermined longitudinal intervals equal to the width (in the direction of board travel) of the faces of the rotating square-section folding drum 20. -5She board leaving the transverse creaser Ίβ passes to a slitter/scorer unit 21, which is provided with a plurality of slitter knives and/or scorers for forming longitudinal score lines at predetermined positions on the board and for dividing the corrugated board into two or sore separate lengths. The separate widths of longitudinally scored board leaving the unit 21 then enter a deflector unit 22, by means of which the board is either passed up an inclined path to the drum 20 or is deflected downwardly to a cut-off knife 23 for production of individual box blanks which are delivered along the take-off table 24. The transversely scored corrugated board passed to the drum 20 is Zfolded by that drum as indicated and is formed into a stack 25® la operation one section of the board or, indeed, all the board can. be delivered to the cut-off knife 23.

In such case it is preferred that the corresponding print web section is rendered inoperative by removal of the print die and that the individual box blanks are printed in the conventional manner, i.e. subsequent to delivery from the illustrated corrugator.

It will be understood that in the illustrated corrugator a second single-faced sheet production unit may bs interposed between the reels 2 and 12, so as to form a double wall board, faced by the liner 11 from reel

Claims (4)

CLAIMS:

1. A method for the production of continuous lengths of printed corrugated paper board which comprises continuously applying printed indicia on one face of a liner web, draw· from a supply, continuously adhesively uniting said liner web with a corrugated web to form a single faced sheet, continuously adhesively uniting said single faced sheet with a second liner web, a second single faced sheet optionally being interposed between said printed single faced sheet and said second liner web, forming transverse creases in said double faced corrugated board at predetermined longitudinal interval.·, longitudinally scoring said board at predetermined positions and longitudinally slitting said board tc form two or more separate lengths, one at least of which bears printing indicia on one face thereof.

2. A method according to claim 1 further comprising Z-folding the transversely scored lengths of two-faced corrugated board issuing frcm the scoring and slitting stage.

3. A method for the production of continuous lengths of printed corrugated paper board substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. -7-. s · _ 4S469

4. Printed corrugated paper board produced by the method of any of claims 1 to 5®.