Abstract: The selection device includes a sensor unit which checks the flatness of the free surface of a sheet pack at an edge, and which moves vertically away from and into contact with the free surface of the pack; the sensor unit extends along an axis transversal to a direction of feed and operates a blade which defines the ream and is opposite and attached to the said sensor unit, moving with the unit near to the edge, and may be positioned parallel to the free surface of the pack; drive means are envisaged for the blade, to move it from a position away from the edge until it makes contact with the ream, at which point the blade penetrates the pack, and a position in which it defines a gap between the ream and the pack, in which the blade is turned about the transversal axis through an angle sufficient to allow the transfer means to penetrate the ream.

Abstract: The conveying arm is composed of a first lower portion by which products assembled for wrapping are restrained, and a supporting upper portion embodied integrally with the first, which affords two slots occupying the full width of the arm as measured transversely to the conveying direction and designed to couple with two respective rails; the first such slot is located in and accessible from the face of the upper portion directed toward the products, and functions as a sliding bearing, whilst the second slot is located to the rear of the first. The arm is fashioned in a deformable material and its deformability enhanced by a narrow extension of the rear slot, in such a way that the upper portion can be locked to and released from the rail swiftly by applying a corresponding force parallel to the conveying direction.

Abstract: Rolls of paper are overturned by a device composed of a first conveyor belt interposed between and occupying the same plane as a feed station and a wrapping station, and running at a velocity comparable to the velocity of the feed station, also a flexibly resilient belt disposed facing the first belt, looped over a pair of wheels of which one is power driven; the resilient belt is positioned with one end adjacent to the feed station, separated from the first belt by a distance equivalent to the diameter of the single roll when disposed with its axis parallel to the first belt, and set in motion at a velocity of which the horizontal component is greater than the velocity of the first belt in such a way that the roll will be taken up, rotated through a right angle and positioned with the axis perpendicular to the first belt.

Abstract: In a machine for packaging rolls of household paper products, packs are restrained between groups of vertical teeth associated with a conveyor passing through a wrapping station, a folding station and a heat seal station; equipping the wrapping station with additional vertical teeth fixed to a support afforded by the machine which are positioned alongside and offset from the group of conveyor teeth remote from the folding station, at a distance from the remaining group of conveyor teeth less than the distance which separates the two groups of conveyor teeth, a tighter restraint can be applied as the rolls are enveloped initially in the relative sheet of wrapping film, whereupon the movement of the conveyor teeth beyond the station will allow the sheet to slacken, and the rolls to regain their normal shape.

Abstract: In a machine for wrapping rolls of household paper in plastic film, the standard heat seal roller is modified by fitting an offset device in the form of a bar set forward of the revolving heated sector in relation to the path followed by the packs of rolls and in the direction of rotation of the roller; the bar projects radially from the roller, and impinges on the sheet of film wrapped around each pack of rolls directed into the heat seal station, causing the two overlapping edges to shift one in relation to the other such that the wrapping is slackened marginally before the edges are joined, affording space into which the rolls can expand once beyond the confines of the heat seal station.

Abstract: The semiautomatic equipment included a pair of horizontal knives disposed mutually parallel, adjustable for height, and positioned a short distance from the edge of a stack of sheets for penetrating the depth of one ream, selected previously by hand. The knives are carried slidably by a beam suspended over the stack of sheets between the rails of a frame and are therefore capable of relative movement parallel with the width of the stack. The knives are movably attached to the beam by way of a carriage having guides which provide a degree of movement parallel with the length of the stack, such that an operator can bring about the initial insertion by hand before applying an actuator to lock the knives to the carriage when fully penetrated within the stack of sheets. The entire assembly of beam, carriage and knives is traversed along the frame by further actuators that are triggered to operate by a sensor mounted to the knives, and thus causing the separated ream to be moved forward to a wrapping station.

Abstract: Reams of paper advancing in a horizontal direction on a first belt are straightened initially by interaction with a transverse vertical barrier, while wrapping paper is drawn out from below the first belt and directed onto a third belt; the paper is pulled upright into the path of the ream by the elevation of a first gate affording a gap of height at least equal to that of the ream whereupon the ream is directed through the gap, becoming partially enveloped by the paper, then stopped on the third belt while the wrapping paper is cut near to the gate and the trailing edge simultaneously moistened with gum. Finally a second gate identical to the first is raised at the entry to the third belt, drawing up the remaining portion of the paper, and the conveying direction is reversed to take the ream back through the relative gap; the ream is thus enveloped completely and the gummed edge of the wrapping paper flattened and secured.

Abstract: An apparatus includes pincers, or suckers, that tension each marker at an angle to the stack of sheets from which it emerges, and a separator mechanism; the separator incorporates a follower with a tapered leading edge that is offered to the taut marker, and a support, to which the follower is hinged, that can be moved from a retracted position to an extended position in which the follower penetrates the stack of sheets, sliding in between the marker and the ream sitting on and separated by the marker.

Abstract: The apparatus includes a suspended locating element against which the stack of sheets is urged and compacted, and a separator mechanism, set apart from the locating element at a distance matching the depth of a compacted ream, the sharp edge of which approaches and penetrates the stack; the separator mechanism is mounted by way of a damper to a drive system that traverses the entire assembly toward the infeed station of the wrapping machine while the remainder of the stack is held and compacted by a separately anchored mechanism to avoid the topmost sheets being dragged along with the separated ream.

Abstract: A feed apparatus for strip wrapping material, comprising two pairs of power driven, breasted belts which incorporate sets of transverse teeth offset one from the other and are looped around respective pulleys driven from the output shaft of a motor interlocked to monitoring and control means; the drive is stopped for a given interval each time the belts are indexed through a distance corresponding to the length of the wrapping sheet, thus ensuring that the sheet lies directly in the path of the oncoming commodity.

Abstract: In a device according to the invention, a roll of narrow strip is unwound, fed through a cutting station and severed into discrete lengths which are conveyed forward above the level of the running sheet of wrapping film and at right angles to the direction in which it is run through the machine. The two ends of each discrete strip are picked up by suckers fitted to the projecting ends of a pair of arms which are drawn together through 90.degree., rotating about respective vertical axes, and thus cause the strip to assume a `U` shape before being attached to the wrapping film in such a way as to furnish a carrying handle.

Abstract: In a device according to the invention, a roll of relatively narrow strip is unwound, measured into discrete lengths in which two C-shaped incisions are punched, then indexed through a cutting station and conveyed forward singly above the level of the sheet of wrapping film, at right angles to the direction in which it is run through the machine. The two ends of each discrete strip are picked up by suckers that draw together through a plane parallel with the path through which the strip is conveyed, while the strip itself is lifted from the middle; the strip is thus made to assume an upturned `T` profile, with the two incisions sandwiched together, before being offered and heat-sealed to the sheet film from which single wrappings are ultimately formed.

Abstract: For each continuous row of products (1), two accelerating belts (3, 4) acting continuously upon both sides of the respective continuous row of products (1). In a non-launching condition, the belts hold the products at a predetermined waiting position and, under launching conditions, launch a group of products (1) at the speed of a support conveyor belt (7) while bringing the following products in the continuous row to the waiting position. Preferably the accelerating belts (3, 4) are powered through DC servomotors with permanent rare-earth magnets.

Abstract: An automatic machine for packing products of parallelepiped shape including a magazine for the boxes and a magazine for the lids. A line is provided for infeeding parallelepiped shaped products. A pusher is positioned to transfer the products from the infeed line exit to the central area of a box. A presser which acts on the product is arranged to push downwards the box and products a distance corresponding to the height of the products. Support locators which, with the step-by-step downward motion brought about by the presser, are fixed and cause the front and rear sections of the box to be folded upwards. A line is provided for moving forward the boxes, after their flaps are closed by the mounted fixed locators. A number of opposed rollers are arranged at the sides at the infeed line exit, for pressing the lateral sections against the flaps in order to permit them to be glued.