US 7,320,203 B2
Method for packaging articles in boxes and a machine which carries out the method
Giuseppe Monti, Pianoro (Italy)
Assigned to Marchesini Group S.p.A., Bologna (Italy)
Filed on Sep. 27, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/535,685.
Claims priority of application No. BO2005A0584 (IT), filed on Sep. 28, 2005.
Prior Publication US 2007/0079575 A1, Apr. 12, 2007
Int. Cl. B65B 5/04 (2006.01); B65B 43/28 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 53—458  [53/468; 53/579] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for packaging articles in boxes, the boxes being obtained from tubular blanks, including an upper sheet and a lower sheet, connected along two opposite ends and facing each other to define a flat folded configuration, each of said tubular blanks having also longitudinal pre-creasing lines for defining a first and a second adjacent lateral walls in said upper sheet, and a third and a fourth adjacent lateral walls in said lower sheet, and for facilitating folding of the tubular blank into a substantially parallelepiped shape, and having also transversal pre-creasing lines for defining and facilitating folding of a plurality of flaps, the method including the following steps:
conveying one tubular blank in flat folded configuration and in horizontal arrangement, to an erecting station;
gripping said first lateral wall of the tubular blank, by gripping and raising means and subsequent raising of the blank by a 90° rotation, so that the blank assumes a parallelepiped form with a vertical axis, due to the rotation raising and weight of the same blank;
striking at least one second lateral wall of said blank with said first lateral wall still subjected to the gripping action, to define an orientation at right angle of said second lateral wall with respect to said first lateral wall, with consequent erecting of the blank;
striking a first lower flap of the tubular blank, situated at rear with respect to a forwarding direction of the blank, with consequent inward folding of said first lower flap by a 90° angle;
moving the erected blank, still kept raised, in the forwarding direction, by said gripping and raising means, in said forwarding direction and into a filling station;
striking a second lower flap of said tubular blank, opposite to said first lower flap and situated at the front with respect to the forwarding direction, with consequent inward folding thereof by a 90° angle, in step relation with said blank arriving at the filling station;
sliding of said first lower flap and the second lower flap, each folded inward by a 90° angle, on a horizontal support plane, situated in the filling station;
in said filling station, disengaging of the gripping and raising means from said first lateral wall and, in step relation, vertical insertion of at least one article into the erected blank, placed on the horizontal support plane;
sliding the tubular blank from said filling station along said horizontal support plane by driving and guiding means, in said forwarding direction, to stations for folding the remaining lower lateral flaps and upper flaps of the blank and for closing bottom and cover of a box thus obtained, with said driving and guiding means acting on at least a longitudinal portion of said first lateral wall, in a part not engaged by said gripping and raising means, and on at least one longitudinal portion of said third lateral wall of said tubular blank, opposite to said first lateral wall.