Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus for aligning an item that can be deformed easily, at least in the region of the outer lower edge. The apparatus has at least one aligning device that can be displaced in the direction of the item, and the transport substrate upon which the item is resting, in order to align the item on the transport substrate. For damage-free alignment of the item projecting laterally from the transport substrate contour, the subregion of the aligning device which comes into contact with the lower region of the item projecting laterally includes a stabilizing device. The stabilizing device prevents the item from being deflected, during the alignment process, in the direction of the transport substrate or, respectively, in a downward direction from the lower region of the item projecting laterally beyond the outer contour of the transport substrate.

Abstract: A method using heat for shrinking a heat shrink film wrapping placed around a stack of items. The heat shrink film wrapping protrudes on the upper side of the stack of items at least beyond the upper edge of the stack of items to a top sheet film, which is welded to the heat shrink film wrapping. In the method hot gases rising up along the sides of the stack of items are diverted inward, in a direction parallel to the upper side of the stack of items, by a heat diverting and pressing apparatus, which is arranged above the stack of items. The heat diverting and pressing apparatus is for preheating and inwardly folding over the overhang of the heat shrink film wrapping and for preheating the top sheet film in the region of the upper side. The layers of the overhang are joined, by pressing the layers of the heat shrink film onto one another by the heat diverting and pressing apparatus. The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the method.

Abstract: In a stack of flexible sheets on a substrate having an outer edge, some of the sheets project laterally past one of the edges. The stack is tamped together by a stabilizing element shiftable horizontally toward and away from the one edge of the substrate and a drive that shifts the stabilizing element horizontally toward the stack and substrate for engaging the projecting sheets and pushing same inward on substrate to a position lying on or inward of the outer edge without vertically bending or deflecting the sheets.

Abstract: A foil hood is gathered into a stack of folds and then fitted over four fingers in inner positions of the fingers with the hood open downward. A holding device then clamps the hood against the fingers, the fingers are spread into outer positions to transversely stretch the hood, and then the holding device is disengaged. Finally the fingers are moved downward along the load such that the closed end of the hood engages on the top of the load and the hood is pulled upward fold-by-fold off the fingers through a predetermined position at which generally all of the folds have been pulled off the fingers to an end position at which the hood is stretched vertically over the load and all of the folds have been pulled off the fingers.

Abstract: An apparatus for wrapping an object having vertical sides and a top with a hood-shaped foil having a closed end and an open end fits the foil over the object in such a manner that excess-foil projections are formed at the closed end that project outward from the top of the object and an empty space is formed adjacent each projection between the foil and the object. The excess-foil projections are mechanically engaged and physically tucked between the object and the foil to push the projections into the respective empty spaces.

Abstract: An object having a top and sides is wrapped by first covering it with a hood-shaped foil such that excess-foil projections are formed that project from the top of the object past the sides of the object. Then the foil is pulled adjacent the projections out of contact with the object to form an empty space adjacent each projection between the foil and the object. The excess-foil projections are then tucked into the respective empty spaces, normally on the sides of the object.

Abstract: A hood-shaped foil covering an object is heat-shrunk around the object by displacing the object covered by the foil along a generally straight path in a transport direction past a stationary heater which is directed at an acute angle to the direction. The position of the object relative to the heater as it passes the heater in the direction is detected and heat is projected from the heater at the acute angle to the direction at the object as it passes at a rate varied in accordance with the detected position of the object relative to the heater.

Abstract: An apparatus for wrapping an object with a stretchable foil hood has a pair of gathering fingers engageable upwardly into the foil hood, two gathering wheels outside the foil hood, rotatable about gathering-wheel axes, and engageable with the hood, and respective counter rolls inside the foil hood, aligned with the gathering wheels to pinch the foil hood, and rotatable about counter-roll axes below the respective gathering-wheel axes. The gathering wheel are rotated while in contact with the foil to form the foil into downwardly and outwardly extending folds.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for wrapping unit loads or packaged goods (2) using a section of elastic film (8) that is at least approximately hood-shaped, whereby the section of film is gathered and pulled over the unit load or packaged goods. The invention aims to provide a significantly faster packaging method of this type, which can be used in branches of industry with high production figures, e.g. white goods (dishwashers, refrigerators etc.). To achieve this, the section of film is gathered by a gathering device (3), then taken by a covering device (6) that can be displaced separately and subsequently pulled over the unit load or packaged goods, in particular being stretched beforehand. Another section of film can be gathered by the gathering device, while the previous section of film is still being pulled over the unit load or packaged goods.

Abstract: A package is wrapped with foil by forming a curtain of two foils pulled from respective supplies with the curtain extending transversely across a conveyor path at a wrapping station and displacing a package to be wrapped in a forward transport direction along the path into engagement with the curtain and through the station so that the foils extend downstream past the package. Then a pair of double-weld beams are moved together on opposite sides of the foils downstream of the station to press and weld the foils together downstream of the package while at the same time the package and beams are relatively displaced in the direction toward each other as the beams are moved together to reduce tension in the foils created by inward movement of the beams.

Abstract: An apparatus for wrapping a stacked-good unit with a shrink-foil wrap with a frame forming a portal, with a conveyor extending through this portal for the stacked-good unit, with drivable shrink-foil rolls whose foil webs are connected together at their ends and form a shrink-foil curtain in the portal and double-weld beams movable opposite one another and arranged on both sides of the portal. To facilitate replacement of the shrink-foil webs, the axes of the shrink-foil rolls extend horizontally and rerouting devices are provided for the coil webs running to the curtain from the shrink foil rolls.

Abstract: An apparatus for displacing a plurality of objects from a pickup station to a deposition station offset horizontally from the pickup station has a support movable in a horizontal transport direction between a position directly above the pickup station and a position directly above the deposition station, an elongated lift plate underneath the support and provided with grabs for picking up and releasing the objects, a flexible belt having a lower end extending in the direction and secured to the lift plate, a drive on the support for paying out and winding in the belt and thereby raising and lowering the plate, and rigid links connected between the plate and the support for inhibiting movement of the plate perpendicular to the direction.

Abstract: An apparatus for shrinking a heat-shrinkable hood over a stack of goods has an upright guide adjacent the hooded stack of goods, an upper frame vertically displaceable on the guide and provided with a heater capable of shrinking the hood and a lower frame below the upper frame, vertically displaceable on the guide below the upper frame, and provided with a heater capable of shrinking the hood. Respective upper and lower drives connected to the frames vertically displace same on the guide independently of each other. First the stack of goods is positioned in a treatment station with the hood pulled down over the goods, a lower end edge of the hood hanging down below a lower end of the stack of goods, and an upper closed end of the hood on an upper surface of the stack of goods. Then to secure the hood in place the hanging-down lower end edge of the hood is heated to shrink it in under the lower end of the stack of goods.

Abstract: A palletizing apparatus has a horizontally displaceable carriage movable on a horizontal member of a frame. A counter-weight is received in one or each of a pair of uprights and is connected via a cogged belt to the lifting slider which is provided with a deflecting roll or pulley about which the belt passes. The support member or lift slider carries the pickup head. The drive for the horizontal movement of the carriage thus does not have to displace the counterweight or counterweights which are provided to balance the weight of the lifting slider and the load.

Abstract: Goods are packaged by first placing a thermoplastic lower foil atop a pallet with edges of the foil projecting laterally past the pallet and then stacking goods on the pallet atop the foil on the pallet within the edges of the foil. The lower edge of a downwardly open heat-shrinkable foil hood is held as the hood is fitted downward over the stack on the pallet until the lower edge is generally below the stack. This lower edge is then gripped below the stack and the foil hood is shrunk from top to bottom around the stack while continuing to grip the lower edge below the stack. Finally the foil hood is welded to the outer edge of the lower foil. Thus when the grippers are carried on the same vertically displaceable frame as the heater/blowers it is possible for the grippers to release and move upward before the top-to-bottom shrinking of the hood. During such shrinking the clamps will prevent the hood or sack from riding up too much.

Abstract: The apparatus for shrinking a shrinkable cover to enclose a palletted stack of goods comprises a shrinking device, a conveying system for the palletted stack of goods transported past the shrinking device, a lifting device positioned under the shrinking device for raising the palletted stack of goods and a suction device positioned in the vicinity of the lifting device. The lifting device is located astride the path of the conveyor system thereby eliminating below ground conveyors in favor of driverless automatically controlled floor conveying devices. Part of the lifting device is at least one raisable and lowerable support movable under a palletted stack of goods being guided on the conveyor system. The support has seat members projecting from it for the palletted stack of goods and the seat members are movable from a horizontal into a vertical orientation, especially by rotation of the support about its longitudinal axis.

Abstract: Tight packaging of a load including a stack of goods mounted on a pallet is achieved by lifting the loaded pallet above a conveyor or other supporting surface, pulling a hood of heat-shrinkable plastic foil from above over the load with the rim of the hood projecting below the underside of the pallet, heating that rim to substantially shrinkage temperature for causing it to contract around the pallet periphery, and lowering the load onto the supporting surface to press the hot, contracted hood rim against the bottom of the pallet. The contraction is aided by a blower below the pallet aspirating air toward the center thereof. The remainder of the hood is then thermally shrunk around the load.

Abstract: In order to package a stack of goods in an envelope of heat-shrinkable plastic material such as polyethylene, with prevention of adhesion between the envelope and the goods which may themselves be wrapped in similar sheet material, the stack is placed on a pallet and is covered by the envelope whose lower rim is clamped between the legs of the pallet and an apertured supporting surface such as an upper run of a chain conveyor. The envelope is then inflated from below, by way of the supporting surface, with a low-temperature gas such as ambient air, to establish significant clearances between the stack and the inner surface of the envelope which is then thermally shrunk around the stack by training jets of hot gas onto its outer surface. In zones where the envelope is in contact with the stack, as along edges of the latter, the heating intensity may be reduced to avoid fusion with individual wrappings.

Abstract: A burner for generating hot gases to be used for packaging purposes with thermal shrinkage of plastic foils has an elongate rectangular zone of transition between its pressure-distribution and combustion chambers, spanned by a flame-retaining tube forming narrow passages for the gas flow with the adjacent walls. A number of codirectionally curved sheet-metal baffles equispaced, and of equal radius of curvature, mounted on the downstream side of the tube and extending toward the opposite walls of the chamber, improve the combustion conditions of the gas mixture and lead to a higher velocity of the stream of hot gases leaving the burner, thus increasing the amount of ambient air entrained into the stream and thereby reducing the temperature of the combustion gases.