With Means To Advance Package During Closing Patents (Class 53/376.2)
  • Patent number: 11535410
    Abstract: Described is an apparatus for packaging tissue products and a relative packaging method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: T.M.C. S.P.A.
    Inventors: Andrea Calamosca, William Rossi
  • Patent number: 8844250
    Abstract: A sealing device for producing sealed packages from a tube of packaging material fed along a path and filled with a pourable food product, comprising: a frame; a pair of jaws movable cyclically with respect to the frame and along part of the path to grip the tube; ultrasonic sealing means carried by a first jaw to seal the tube; and power means including a primary winding fixed to the frame and connectable to an electric energy source, and a secondary winding carried by the first jaw, supplying the sealing means, and receiving electric energy by electromagnetic induction from the primary winding as the first jaw travels past the primary winding; and the device having transformer means supplied by the electric energy source with a first voltage value, and supplying the primary winding with a second voltage value lower than the first voltage value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A.
    Inventors: Valentin S. Nemkov, Nikolay Madzharov, Gerhard Gnad
  • Patent number: 8826633
    Abstract: A pack, and a method and apparatus for producing the pack, comprising an outer pack and an inner pack as a sealed block with an inner blank which encloses the pack contents, the inner pack having, in the region of an inner end wall, an opening aid which can be used a number of times and, in the region of side walls of the inner pack, folding flaps which are connected to one another by thermal sealing. Folding flaps in the region of an inner rear wall of the inner blank are configured as a fin fold and are connected to one another by thermal sealing outside the region of the cigarette group to form a fin seam, the fin seam being arranged at a spacing from regions of folding flaps which cover one another multiple times, in the region of the inner side walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Focke & Co. (GmbH & Co. KG)
    Inventors: Henry Buse, Reinhard Lohmann
  • Patent number: 8499530
    Abstract: An apparatus for closing flaps of a rectangular cuboid includes a pair of first flap closing guide members to guide a first flap from an open position to a closed position. A pair of second flap diverting members divert a second flap away from engaging the first flap closing guide members and a pair of second flap closing guide members that guide the second flap from an open position to a closed position. A machine having the closing apparatus and a method of closing a rectangular cuboid are also included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works
    Inventors: Joseph M. Fisher, Timothy J. Green, William B. Elliott, Eric Spina
  • Patent number: 8409065
    Abstract: A bag manufacturing and packaging apparatus is adapted to form a strip film into a cylindrical film. The bag manufacturing and packaging apparatus includes a sealing unit with a pair of sealing members facing each other to seal an end portion of the cylindrical film therebetween to package an article. Each of the sealing members includes a sealing jaw, a heating unit, and a heat insulating member. The sealing jaw has a heat generating surface, and configured and arranged to seal the cylindrical film on the heat generating surface. The heating unit is configured and arranged to heat the heat generating surface of the sealing jaw. The heat insulating member insulates the heat conduction from the heating unit to a direction other than a direction toward the heat generating surface of the sealing jaw.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2013
    Assignee: Ishida Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yusuke Kiyota, Hideshi Miyamoto
  • Patent number: 8096096
    Abstract: In a packaging machine, typically a cellophaner for overwrapping packets of cigarettes, each of the packets is enveloped by a wrapping unit in a heat shrinkable wrapper presenting at least two opposite faces disposed parallel one with another. The machine also comprises a unit by which heat is applied to the wrappers, equipped with a pair of belt conveyors that present two branches, facing one another and set in motion in such a way as to transport the packets by gripping the two opposite faces of each wrapper, and at least one heating head associated with each transport branch; the heating heads are faced with a leaf of lamellar graphite bonded to the head on one side and offered in direct contact on the other to the respective branch of the corresponding belt conveyor, so as to minimize friction between the belt and the head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: G.D. S.p.A.
    Inventors: Mario Spatafora, Salvatore Carboni
  • Patent number: 7954302
    Abstract: An apparatus for sealing a cover film to a blister film having blisters holding respective small objects has a feed roll rotatable about an axis and formed with an array of radially outwardly open recesses arrayed like the blisters of the blister film. The blister film passes over the feed roll with the blisters in the recesses. A sealing roll is rotatable about an axis generally parallel to the feed-roll axis and presses the cover foil down against the blister foil on the feed roll. The feed roll is rotated to pull the films in a travel direction between the rolls so that the cover film is sealed to the blister film between the blisters thereof. A sensor detects movement of the sealing roll transversely of the feed-roll axis. A controller generates an output when the detected movement exceeds a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Uhlmann Pac-Systeme GmbH + Co.KG
    Inventors: Lutz Forst, Andreas Armbruster, Tobias Bieger
  • Patent number: 7950208
    Abstract: A sealing jaw for producing sealed packages of a food product from a tube of packaging material includes a supporting body, and a first work surface which interacts, in use, with a second work surface on a further jaw to grip the material to be sealed and perform a sealing operation; one of the jaws defines an anvil, and the other of the jaws defines heating means; the jaw has connecting means for connecting the first surface to the supporting body; the connecting means define a curved third and a curved fourth surface made of rigid material and cooperating mutually to allow the first surface to oscillate with respect to the supporting body when gripping the packaging material prior to the sealing operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A.
    Inventors: Sergio Mancin, Francesco Giordano, Ernesto Di Dodo
  • Patent number: 7617658
    Abstract: A sealing device producing sealed packages filled with pourable food product from sheet packaging material comprises a supporting frame, a forming mechanism movable with respect to the frame along a path to fold the sheet packaging material, a sealing arrangement carried by the forming mechanism to seal the sheet packaging material and form the packages, and an electromagnetic power device supplying electric energy to the sealing arrangement. The power device comprises at least one primary winding fixed to the frame and connectable to an electric energy source, and a secondary winding movable along the path, powering the sealing arrangement, and receiving electric energy by electromagnetic induction from the primary winding as the secondary winding travels past the primary winding. When interconnected by electromagnetic induction, the primary and secondary windings are so arranged as to have respective adjacent portions interjacent in a first direction crosswise to the forming mechanism movement path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2009
    Assignee: Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance SA
    Inventors: Valentin Nemkov, Nikolay Madzharov
  • Publication number: 20090139187
    Abstract: Methods are disclosed for making a band-driven package or a band-drive component for a package, and machines for performing the methods. One method comprises feeding first and second flexible webs in a feed direction, one web being fed each side of a substrate such that the webs are in mutual face-to-face disposition ahead of and behind the substrate with respect to the feed direction; joining the face-to-face webs at a first join ahead of the substrate and at a second join behind the substrate, the joins bounding web portions that together encircle the substrate between the joins; and dividing the joined web portions from the remainder of the webs such that the joined web portions together define a band that encircles the substrate, to be slid around the substrate in use of the package.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2008
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Applicant: DUFF DESIGN LIMITED
    Inventors: Timothy Michael Wood, Adrian James David Howson, Ian Dunckley, Cyrille Fuellemann, Alfred Wipf, Daniel Kummer
  • Patent number: 7059100
    Abstract: There is described an induction sealing device for heat sealing packaging material for producing sealed packages of pourable food product and fed in a first direction. The sealing device has induction means interacting with the packaging material by means of a pair of first active surfaces and a pair of second active surfaces interposed between the first active surfaces in the first direction; and the second active surfaces have, in the first direction, a width greater than the width of the first active surfaces at least along most of the length of the first and second active surfaces in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2006
    Assignee: Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance SA
    Inventors: Andrea Babini, Gianni Fangarezzi
  • Patent number: 6901724
    Abstract: A method of transferring wrappings, wherein each wrapping is defined by a sheet of wrapping material and has at least one flat wall, provides for feeding a wrapping along a curved path by means of a pocket of a conveyor; for guiding the wrapping along the curved path by means of a guide contacting the wrapping; and for moving a plate of the guide with respect to the pocket, so that a flat face of the plate is maintained contacting the entire flat wall of the wrapping along a portion of the curved path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2005
    Assignee: G.D. Societa′ Per Azioni
    Inventors: Fabrizio Tale', Mario Spatafora
  • Patent number: 6895732
    Abstract: A packaging apparatus includes a pair of rolls forming a nip through which two web portions are passed with an item to be packaged between the web portions. The rolls include resiliently compliant roll portions that deform to accommodate the thickness of the item, and the roll portions press the web portions to seal them together in peripheral regions surrounding the item and to center the item between the webs in the thickness direction. The apparatus also includes side seal devices that traverse inwardly toward the item to seal the webs together close to the item's opposite side edges to prevent the item from laterally shifting. The web portions may have cohesive disposed on their facing surfaces such that the web portions adhere to each other with pressure but tend not to adhere to the packaged item or other surfaces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2005
    Assignee: Sealed Air Corporation (US)
    Inventors: Laurence B. Sperry, Anthony O. Davlin, Eric A. Kane, Jesse S. Drake
  • Patent number: 6880314
    Abstract: A wrapping apparatus for wrapping a continuous elongated article, such as a continuous stack of interfolded paper towels, includes a web supply section that supplies a pair of continuous webs of wrapping material, and a wrapping section for applying the continuous pair of webs about the article. The web supply section includes a pair of web supply stations for each web of wrapping material, and a source of wrapping material, such as a supply roll, is located at each web supply station. The web supply section includes a splicing mechanism for each pair of web supply stations, for splicing together the trailing end of a web from an exhausted supply roll of wrapping material with the leading end of a web from a fresh supply roll of wrapping material, to provide a continuous web of wrapping material to the wrapping section. The web supply section includes a festoon-type web storage mechanism in which the web downstream of the splicing mechanism is trained about a series of rollers in a serpentine path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2005
    Assignee: FPNA Acquisition Corporation
    Inventor: Andrew L. Haasl
  • Patent number: 6729113
    Abstract: A lateral sealing mechanism for use in a bag-making and packaging machine includes movable rotary shafts. The movable rotary shafts are driven by a lateral drive mechanism so that the distance between the shafts is controllable. Support mechanisms are mounted on and rotatable about the shafts. The support mechanisms support sealing elements for forming lateral heat seals on a tubular packaging material from which the bags are formed. The support mechanisms are such that the sealing elements are tiltable with respect to the tubular packaging material, and so that two sealing elements can be maintained in directly opposed engagement to one another across the packaging material as the seal is formed. The machine includes a squeezing mechanism that operates to force the packaged material downward within the tubular material and out of a sealing region before the seal is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2004
    Assignee: Ishida Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideshi Miyamoto, Kazuya Sugimura, Makoto Ichikawa, Masashi Kondo
  • Patent number: 6708466
    Abstract: A method of producing soft packets of cigarettes, whereby an inner packet, as it is fed along a packing path, is mated with a sheet of packing material withdrawn in a direction tangential with respect to the packing path. The sheet of packing material being folded into a U about the inner packet, so that a first end portion of the sheet of packing material contacts a minor lateral surface of the inner packet, and being further folded to form a tubular package which is subsequently closed at the end. The tubular package being closed laterally by detaching the first end portion from the relative minor lateral face, and inserting, beneath the first end portion, a second portion, an outer surface of which has been gummed beforehand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2004
    Assignee: G.D Societa' Per Azioni
    Inventor: Mario Spatafora
  • Patent number: 6688077
    Abstract: Apparatus for handling (cigarette) packs, in particular for transporting and sealing the same. (Cigarette) packs (10) coming from a packaging machine or a folding turret (11) are transported in the region of a sealing subassembly (22) by a pocket conveyor (26), laterally arranged sealing jaws (35, 36) sealing sideways-directed end walls during a standstill phase. The packs (10) are fed, via an intermediate conveyor (23), to an accumulating conveyor (24) and, finally, to a pushing-off station (25) for the formation of pack groups (55) which are to be pushed off transversely. By virtue of relative movement, the pack group (55) is separated off from a following line of packs (52).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2004
    Assignee: Focke & Co. (GmbH)
    Inventors: Heinz Focke, Thomas Häfker, Johann Köster
  • Patent number: 6643996
    Abstract: A method of overwrapping packets in the form of a rectangular prism, whereby a packet, as it is fed continuously along a wrapping path, is first centered with respect to a relative conveying seat, and is then paired with a relative sheet of wrapping material, which is folded about the packet to form a tubular wrapping projecting axially from the packet in the form of two tubular appendixes, which are folded to form a closed overwrapping; each tubular appendix being at least partly folded onto the relative packet before the relative tubular wrapping is completed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2003
    Assignee: G.D. Societa' Per Azioni
    Inventors: Mario Spatafora, Fabrizio Tale
  • Patent number: 6408596
    Abstract: In order to reduce the technical input for a device for packaging, for example a horizontal bagging machine, it is suggested to provide two sealing jaws which act against one another and weld a foil web, only one sealing jaw for a rotating operation. The second sealing jaw is co-moved along a path with the first sealing jaw in transport direction of the foil path and is moved back in opposite direction of the foil web. The second sealing jaw is fastened on a carriage which is moved along a horizontal rail, and a carrier connection transfers the component of the rotation motion of the first sealing jaw onto the second sealing jaw, which component extends in the foil transport direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2002
    Assignee: Rovema Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH
    Inventor: Roman Kammler
  • Publication number: 20020073649
    Abstract: In a machine for packaging stacks of multiply articles of paper into wrapping sheets, a first line conveys stacks of multiply articles of paper to a a wrapping station while a second feeds wrapping sheets to the wrapping station. Each sheet is kept vertically in a waiting position in the wrapping station until one stack is moved towards the sheet, so that the sheet gradually folds around the stack with overlapping parallel edges to be heat-welded. In the said second line there are first endless belts and second endless belts for a wrapping sheet received from conveying means situated upstream. The sheet is pulled up to the wrapping station and is clamped in the wait position by suction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2001
    Publication date: June 20, 2002
    Inventor: Gianluigi Gamberini
  • Patent number: 6374580
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for controlling operation of a bag-forming and -filling packing apparatus for supplying unsealed packaged articles (45) to a rotary vacuum packaging machine at regular intervals, in which the rotary vacuum packing machine is subjected to significant variations in loads. A main controller (115) for receiving pulse signals calculates modulation of the pitch of pulses from a main motor (86) of the rotary vacuum packaging machine, and control elements (94, 95, 96, 97) each attached to a corresponding one of all servo motors (20, 30, 40, 76) of the bag-forming and -filling packaging machine individually and simultaneously control the rotation value of each servo motor. This configuration can avoid step-wise control of each servo motor and reduce impacts on a rotary section and a failure rate while maintaining a slow control operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2002
    Assignee: Furukawa Mfg. Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Eitaro Kujubu, Hiroshi Yoshimoto
  • Patent number: 6230781
    Abstract: A crimper assembly includes upper and lower crimper bars which are rotated relative to a sheet of packaging material. A pair of upper crimpers are secured to opposite sides of the upper crimper bar, while a pair of lower crimpers are secured to opposite sides of the lower crimper bars. Each of the upper crimpers includes a metallic base having an outwardly facing portion with an undulating cross sectional shape. A slot is formed in the outwardly facing portion of the upper crimper, and a cutting blade is retained therein. In a first embodiment, an insert is secured to the base of each of the upper crimpers. The insert includes a rigid shank having a lip portion extending therefrom. Portions of the outer surface of the shank are covered by a layer of a relatively resilient material. The layer is formed from a material which is suitable for compressing overlapping portions of the folded sheet of packaging material to form an intermeshing seal pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2001
    Assignee: Lako Tool & Manufacturing, Inc.
    Inventor: Larry E. Smith