Dual head straw wrapper

Abstract

An improved method and apparatus for individually wrapping drinking straws applies a web of wrapping material to sequentially supplied straws while providing separately: (i) a crimping station for the wrapping material which secures it about the straws by providing longitudinal and transverse crimps and (ii) a cutting station for separating the wrapped straws. The discrete locations of the crimping and cutting stations enables faster and more reliable production by separating operations, which reduces the amount of mechanical interaction between dies at a single location, thereby reducing die bounce. Speed increases of 15-20 percent are readily achieved.

Description

CLAIM FOR PRIORITY

This non-provisional application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/598,702, of the same title, filed Aug. 4, 2004.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for wrapping straws and more specifically to an improved method and apparatus for wrapping straws with a web of sheet material, wherein the straws are provided with a sheath crimped on three sides. There are provided independent stations, one station crimping three sides of the web around the straw and another station for cutting adjacent wrapped straws from the web. Intermediate transfer rollers receive the individually wrapped straws from the crimping station as a continuous feed and supply them sequentially to the cutting station. The independent stations are physically separated from each other, thereby reducing the amount of die bounce at a single location, enabling faster and more reliable operation.

BACKGROUND

Straw wrapping apparatus and the like are generally single unit devices in which one tool performs multiple operations. These multiple operations will include sealing edges of the wrapping material, cutting portions of the wrapping material, printing indicia on the wrapping material, and manipulating a direction of movement of the straw and/or wrapping material. Performing multiple operations at a single station causes known problems. For example, when sealing and cutting are performed at a single station, an impact against the web and die rollers from the cutting operation will at times cause the sealing or crimping surfaces to become out of alignment with each other. A later resumption of sealing or crimping will then be inaccurate, resulting in an inferior product, loss of productivity due to resetting of the equipment, loss of speed and so forth.

General background with respect to straw wrapping is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,280,405 entitled “Method of Packaging Soda Straws” of G. O. Frostad; U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,191 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Packaging Drinking Straws” of H. E. Davis et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,860 entitled “Apparatus for Wrapping Drinking Straws” of Preisner et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,505 entitled “Straw Wrapping Machine, Method and Product Using a Plastic Film Wrapper” of Meetze et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,510 entitled “Method of Wrapping Drinking Straws” of Preisner et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,064 entitled “Straw Wrapping Machine and Method” of Meetze et al.; and Publication Number 2002/0040565 entitled “Straw Wrapping Machine, Method and Product Using a Plastic Film Wrapper” of Meetze et al.

Equipment and methods for wrapping articles other than straws are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,616,232 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Manufacture of Ampoules and Other Containers” of F. Meyer; U.S. Pat. No. 2,346,044 entitled “Method of Packaging Razor Blades” of R. Nadeau; U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,674 entitled “Apparatus and Method for Forming and Packaging Cotton Swabs” of Glickston; U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,151 entitled “Package Having Fiber-Containing Sheath and Apparatus and Method for Packaging” of Roth et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,984 entitled “Wrapping Method and Apparatus” of Gerlach et al. Although sequential stages of wrapping processes are defined, there is no mechanical insulation or separate location utilized for the separate process steps. Further, sealing of wrapped packages is with heat, adhesive, or the like.

Other continuous web machines are known to form bags and envelopes to be later filled with an article other than straws. By way of example, see U.S. Pat. No. 2,532,784 entitled “Bag Making Machine” of H. L. Reitzes; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,897 entitled “Method of and Apparatus for Making Tubular Envelopes” of Hinzmann et al. The bags and envelopes are sealed with a heat seal or adhesive, and contain no crimped edges. Separation of the bags is by a cutting device and separation of the envelopes is a forceful separation along a preformed perforation. Operational elements are not separately located for control of vibration or dynamic forces.

For an example of packaging that utilizes both adhesive sealing and crimping, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 2,362,460 entitled “Infusion Package and the Manufacture Thereof” of L. Barnett. Adhesive is applied along a longitudinal edge of the wrapper and crimping and cutting on transverse ends is in a direction of material feed.

Another example of a wrapping mechanism is in U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,665 entitled “Wrapping Mechanism for Rod Making Machines of the Tobacco Processing Industry” of Heitmann. In this mechanism, a wrapper is sealed with adhesive and the article, a cigarette, is cut at both ends. The process is carried out at a single station.

As to further methods of wrapping products in a manufacturing process, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,168 entitled “Method an Apparatus for Controlling a Driving System in a Packaging Machine” of Seko, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,944 entitled “Method and System for Ultrasonic Sealing of Food Product Packaging” of Capodieci. In controlling a driving system, Seko provides separate motors all controlled by a single processor which coordinates events to load, convey and seal a package. The web is formed into a tube at the time of entry of the article and then severed at points surrounding the article. There is no specific description of how the web is “sealed” to form a tube, but pressure or a similar seal is inferred. For wrapping a food product, Capodieci uses ultrasonic sealing for the longitudinal fin seal at a first location and a combined crimping/cutting for the end seam at a second location. Accordingly, similar to the remaining art, there is no separation of the crimping and cutting operations.

Despite many advances over the years in equipment for wrapping straws, manufacturing issues remain. It is always desirable to increase throughput without encountering misalignment of die rollers, jamming of web material in gears, increasing friction on the gears, and contaminating of wrapped straws by grease or other lubricants used on conventional gearing arrangements. It has been found in accordance with the present invention that it is possible to increase throughput rates 15 percent or more by separating crimping and cutting operations.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

There is provided in accordance with the invention an apparatus for individually wrapping drinking straws including: (a) means for supplying a continuous web of packaging material shaped around sequentially supplied straws moving in a production direction such that longitudinal edges of the shaped packaging material are aligned with each other; (b) a crimping station at a first location for wrapping a sequentially supplied straw including means for crimping a seam along the aligned longitudinal edges of the shaped web material and means for crimping a seam transverse to the longitudinal edges of web material to form a closed sleeve with crimped longitudinal fins and two transverse fins such that crimped sleeve is formed around the straw and the straw remains attached to the continuous web; (c) a cutting station at a second location with means for cutting the transverse crimped seams between adjacent ones of the sequentially supplied and wrapped straws; (d) means for advancing the wrapped straw from the crimping station to the cutting station while the closed sleeve remains attached to the continuous web of packaging material; and (e) means for synchronizing the crimping and cutting stations; wherein the crimping and cutting stations operate in concert at discrete sequential locations along a production direction. Typically, the crimping station includes a set of rotatable opposed matching crimping dies with splines for crimping the aligned longitudinal edges of the shaped web material in a longitudinal feed direction of the sequentially supplied straws and with splines for crimping the shaped web material transverse to the longitudinal feed of the web material. A typical cutting station includes a pair of opposed cutting wheels, one of the wheels having a cutting member for severing the crimped transverse ends between adjacent crimped sleeves. The cutting wheels may further include mutually engaged gears and the mutually engaged gears may be a metal gear and a plastic gear.

The means for advancing the wrapped straw includes in a typical embodiment: (f) an intermediate drive roller positioned between the crimping station and the cutting station; and (g) an intermediate support roller mating with the intermediate drive roller for sequentially feeding the closed sleeved straws from the crimping station to the cutting station. The apparatus may further include: (h) a first timing belt coupling the set of crimping dies to the intermediate drive roller, thereby coordinating the timing of straw feed from the crimping station through the drive and support rollers; and (i) a second timing belt connecting the crimping station to cutting station, thereby coordinating the timing of straw feed through the crimping station with the timing of straw feed through the cutting station. A preferred embodiment further includes: (j) a guide plate at an inlet end of the cutting station, the guide plate separating the web material from the driving gear of the cutting station. So also, the mating die cutting wheels preferably include an inwardly arcuate shaped channel formed in each outer peripheral surface, such that an outer circular surface of the closed sleeved straw will pass through aligned mating die cutting wheels, one of the mating die cutting rollers including a cutting member in a defined portion of the outer peripheral surface thereof and synchronized to cut against the opposing die cutting roller at the transverse crimp of a closed sleeve containing a straw. In this embodiment, the inwardly arcuate channels of the die cutting wheels correspond generally in circumferential length to a length of an individual straw and the cutting member interrupts the inwardly arcuate shape of the die cutting wheels intermediate adjacent sequential closed sleeved straws to sever a crimped transverse seam. Typically, the cutting station includes a cutting blade at an outer surface of one of the opposed mating die cutting wheels for performing a transverse cut within the crimped seam area against an anvil of the opposing die cutting wheel and separating adjacent wrapped straws. Typically, the cutting wheels have a surface for receiving a wrapped straw substantially equal in circumferential length to the length of the straw.

A preferred apparatus includes the combination comprising: (a) means for supplying a continuous web of wrapping material shaped around sequentially supplied straws moving in a production direction such that longitudinal edges of the shaped wrapping material are aligned with each other; (b) a crimping station at a first location including a pair of opposed rotatable and matched crimping dies provided with circumferential channels and first and second sets of crimping splines, (i) the first set of crimping splines being disposed over the circumference of the crimping die and being adapted to provide a longitudinal crimped fin along the longitudinal edges of the wrapping material is secured around the straw over the length of the straw, (ii) the second set of crimping splines extending over a distance less than the distance between sequentially supplied straws and being adapted to provide a transverse crimp between sequentially supplied straws such that each straw is contained within a crimped sleeve containing the straw, the sleeve being thus closed along the longitudinal as well as transverse directions, (c) a cutting station disposed at a second location including a pair of opposed cutting wheels, each of the wheels having a channel adapted to receive a wrapped straw therebetween, the wheels also including means for severing wrapped straws along the transverse crimped fins therebetween to produce individually wrapped straws, (d) a conveying station including a pair of opposed drive rollers disposed at a third location intermediate the crimping station and the cutting station, the drive rollers being operable to advance a wrapped straw attached to the web between the crimping station and the cutting station; and (e) means for synchronizing the crimping station, the conveying station and the cutting station. Preferably, the crimping station, the conveying station and the cutting station are disposed within about the length of a wrapped straw and the crimping dies are biased toward each other as are the cutting wheels biased toward each other. The crimping station, conveying station and cutting station are preferably linked to a common drive, such as a single drive motor by way of a plurality of timing belts.

In another aspect of the invention, a method for individually wrapping drinking straws comprises the steps of: (a) supplying a continuous web of packaging material to a web shaping station; (b) shaping the continuous web around sequentially supplied straws moving in a production direction such that longitudinal edges of the shaped material are aligned; (c) crimping, at a first location, the aligned longitudinal edges of the shaped web material to form a longitudinal seam and crimping a seam transverse to the longitudinal edges of the shaped web material to form a closed sleeve with crimped longitudinal and transverse fins such that the closed sleeve remains attached to the continuous web; (d) transporting the combined straw and surrounding closed sleeve out of the crimping station wherein the closed sleeve remains attached to the continuous web; (e) delivering the combined straw and surrounding closed sleeve to a cutting station at a second location while the sleeve remains a continuous closed sleeve; and (f) cutting, at the second location, the crimped end seam between adjacent ones of the sequentially supplied and closed sleeved straws within the crimped area of the end seam thereby separating adjacent wrapped straws; and (g) synchronizing the crimping and cutting steps, wherein the crimping station and cutting station operate in concert but at discrete sequential locations along a production direction. Preferably, the steps of transporting and delivering include: (h) positioning a drive roller intermediate the crimping station and the cutting station; and (i) providing a support roller mating with the intermediate drive roller for sequentially feeding the straws from the crimping station to the cutting station.

These and other aspects of the invention all become readily apparent from the discussion which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention is described in detail below in connection with the appended drawings wherein like numerals designate like parts and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wrapped straw of the class produced in connection with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective, schematic view of portions of an apparatus of the present invention for forming a wrapped straw as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan schematic view of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 2 showing a crimping station, transfer station, and cutting station;

FIG. 4 is a side schematic view of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 2 further showing common drive means;

FIG. 5A is a perspective view of a pair of rotating crimping dies of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a bottom plan view of the pair of crimping dies of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6A is a perspective view of a pair of matched rotating cutting wheels of the present invention and a guide plate isolating the gears from the straw feed to the cutting wheels;

FIG. 6B is a top view of the matched cutting wheels of FIG. 6A; and

FIG. 6C is a side view of a cutting wheel illustrating its profile along line C-C of FIG. 6A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is described in detail below with reference to numerous embodiments for purposes of exemplification and illustration only. Modifications to particular embodiments within the spirit and scope of the present invention, set forth in the appended claims, will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art.

As used herein, terminology is given its ordinary meaning unless a more specific definition is given or the context indicates otherwise.

Wrapped straws produced by way of the invention are of the disposable type including a plastic straw wrapped in a crimped paper sleeve. The paper is generated from a web of lightweight paper material and is shaped around the straw and crimped on three sides with matched crimping dies. As a result of the crimping, three fins are produced on the wrapping material for the straw, including a longitudinal fin corresponding to the longitudinal axis of the straw and two end fins transverse to the longitudinal axis of the straw. The present invention uses separate stations including a crimping station at a first location and a cutting station at a second location. All crimping is conducted at the crimping station, while all cutting is conducted at the cutting station. The wrapped and seamed straw is transported from the crimping station to the cutting station by an intermediate transfer device. The separation of the crimping and cutting events eliminates several known problems in devices where crimping and cutting occur at the same station. Specifically, when a crimping operation is followed by a cutting operation at the same location, the crimping dies can “bounce” and be slightly separated from each other by the force applied to the web by the cutting device. This force will cause the crimping rollers to separate slightly and miscue or jump off track, thereby creating a misalignment when the crimping resumes. In order to avoid the misalignment, it is a practice to reduce the speed of the crimping and cutting operations, which in turn results in reduced productivity. Accordingly, by separating the crimping and cutting operations, the present invention eliminates the need to reduce operational speed and can in fact increase operational speed by as much as 20% over similar devices which combine crimping and cutting in a single station.

Articles prepared by way of the invention include plastic or paper straws wrapped in a crimped paper web. Straws are typically an elongated cylinder in shape, but can also be of any other elongated cross-sectional shape such as a square tube, triangular tube, or other multi-sided shape. Alterations in shape would require reshaping of the opposed cutting die in the cutting station to accommodate the shape of the article being transported. Such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a wrapped straw 10 as a product of the invention. Wrapped straw 10 includes a straw 12 enveloped by a wrapper 14 with a shaped portion 16 along a longitudinal axis of the straw 12, a crimped fin portion 18 substantially opposing the shaped portion 16 of the web and likewise formed along the longitudinal axis of the straw, and crimped fin portions 20 forming seamed ends of the wrapper 14. The material of the straw 12 is not critical to the invention and in fact may be made of any suitable material known now or discovered in the future as a suitable material for a drinking straw.

Turning now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a perspective view of the straw wrapping apparatus 22 according to the present invention. Typically, the straw wrapping device 22 will include a web supply station 24 having a paper spool 26 mounted therein on a rotatable hub 28. Paper spool 26 is intended to support that type of paper web 27 which is most suitable for wrapping straws. For example, a type of paper used in the straw wrapping apparatus of the present invention may be in the range of 5-15 pounds per 3000 square foot ream. The paper may contain indicia preprinted thereon or be provided with an intermediate printing station (not shown) to print indicia on the paper prior to further supplying the paper to a downstream destination.

A continuous paper web 27 from spool 26 is tensioned around a tension roller 30, tension roller 30 being displaceable within an arcuate slot 32 as is known in the art. The web material is pulled from the tension roller 30 by a drive roller 34 spring biased against an idling roller 36. From the drive roller 34 and idling roller 36, web 27 is fed through a pair of guide rollers 38, 40. Guide rollers 38, 40 are spaced apart to provide a flat web fed surface beneath a straw supply bin 42. From the guide rollers 38, 40, web 27 is fed over an inlet roll 44 of a web shaping member 46. Web shaping member 46 is typically a progressively narrowing elongated and U-shaped funnel which gently rounds web 27 into a U-shape such that longitudinal edges 48 of web 27 are aligned with each other.

Straw supply bin 42 is a hopper type of arrangement which successively feeds a single straw 12 onto a continuously rotating endless belt 50 positioned beneath the straw supply bin 42. Endless belt 50 is aligned with a dispensing end of the straw supply bin 42 and at a position where a lead end of a dispensed straw 12 will engage with the exposed surface of the material web 27 just prior to web shaping member 46. Further, endless belt 50 will push straw 12 to a point where shape 16 of web material 27 will frictionally engage with straw 12 and secure it within the U-shape of web 27.

It will be appreciated from the references noted above that the web supply, straw dispensing, and shaping of a web are generally known in the art and may be modified to suit the supply speeds, types or sizes of straws, and types or sizes of paper for wrapping the straws.

Still referring to FIG. 2 and also referring to the top plan view of FIG. 3, further details particularly embodying the novel features of the present invention will be explained. There are three primary stations to the straw wrapping device, including a crimping station 60 supported on a support frame 62, a cutting station 64 mounted on a support frame 66, and an intermediate transfer station 68 between the crimping station 60 and the cutting station 64. The intermediate transfer station 68 may be mounted on cutting station support frame 66 or independently mounted. In addition, all stations may then be further mounted on a common frame or remain independent. Crimping station 60 receives the shaped web and straw 12 between a pair of rotating matched crimping dies 70, 72. As will be explained in further detail, dies 70, 72 are mutually opposed to engage with the aligned longitudinal edges 48 of the shaped web 27 in order to form a crimped longitudinal seam 18. In addition, the die crimping rollers 70, 72 engage at cooperating surface portions to form crimped seams 20 in a direction transverse to the longitudinal crimped seam 18. Transverse crimped seams 20 are spaced apart by a distance of the straw 12 held in the “U” shape 16 of the web material 12.

When it is wrapped and crimped, a wrapped straw 12′ is completely enveloped by the crimped and shaped web material, but the adjacently encased straws 12′ are not yet severed from each other. In other words, as a straw leaves the crimping station, it is linked to the straw previously wrapped by way of continuous web 27 until the previous straw is severed from web 27. Thus, a series of encased and still connected straws 12′ are transported to cutting station 64 by means of intermediate transfer station 68. The intermediate transfer station 68 includes a guiding roller 74 and a support roller 76 which will be explained in further detail below. From intermediate transfer station 68, the series of encased straws 12′ are delivered to cutting station 64. At the cutting station 64, the only operation occurring is the sequential severing of the supplied and encased straws 12′ from each other. Once severed, the series of encased straws 12′ become individually wrapped straws 10. The individually wrapped straws 10 are then packaged for distribution.

Separation of crimping station 60 from cutting station 64 is highly advantageous in terms of speed, efficiency, and equipment stability for wrapping straws. Conventionally, at the sealing of a straw wrapper, a cutting of the web will occur as well. When the cutting operation is performed, the impact from the cutting member will occasionally cause the crimping wheels to separate thereby becoming offset or misaligned from each other. Upon beginning another crimping operation, the crimping rollers will not accurately crimp the material web, resulting in a defective or potentially unusable product. In order to accommodate this problem of misalignment of crimping rollers, the overall speed of the equipment must be slowed to a point where impact of the cutting member will not cause the crimping rollers to jump off track. Accordingly, separation of crimping station 60 from cutting station 64 as in the present invention minimizes the impact of the cutting operation upon the sealing operation. Speed, reliability, and overall quality improve dramatically. In particular, the overall operational speed will increase by about 20% over devices in which the crimping and cutting occur at a single station.

Additional features of the separate stations will now be described in further detail in connection with the Figures noted above as well as FIGS. 4 through 6C. First, the sealing station 60 includes the pair of matched rotating crimping dies 70, 72 which dies are shown in more detail in FIGS. 5A and 5B. As particularly shown in FIG. 5A, each of crimping dies 70, 72 includes an inner axial shaft opening 80 and an outer peripheral surface 82. One of the crimping rollers, 70, is rotatably mounted on a shaft 84 driven by a driveshaft 86 by way of a transfer case (not shown). Driveshaft 86 is rotated by a pulley 88 driven by a belt 151. Continuing, opposing crimping roller 72 is rotated about its central axis 90 by mutual engagement of splines of its crimping surface with splines of crimping roller 70. At outer peripheral surfaces of each crimping wheel 70, 72 there is formed a circumferential recess 92. Circumferential recesses 92 are of a depth to accommodate and grip an outer surface of the wrapped straw 12 when the straw is fed longitudinally through crimping rollers 70, 72. In order to maintain proper registry, die 72 is biased toward die 70 by way of springs indicated 71, shown schematically in FIGS. 3 and 4. Circumferential recesses 92 may be circumferential grooves, circumferential U-shaped or L-shaped recesses as particularly shown in the Figures. Circumferential knurling surfaces 94 are formed around an entire peripheral surface of each of the crimping rollers 70, 72, and may be located at an upper or lower edge of the die or set in from an upper or lower edge of the die according to manufacturing needs. Typically, circumferential knurling surface 94 is about ¼ inch wide or so and has a plurality of knurling splines as shown. Optional widths of a circumferential knurling surface are not intended to be limited by the example given, and may be altered according to manufacturing needs. Crimping rollers 70, 72 further include a transverse knurling surfaces 96 interrupting the circumferential recess 92 as shown. In particular, the transverse knurling surface 96 spans an entire peripheral surface height of the crimping roller 70, 72, which is approximately ¾ inch across, and spans about ¼ to ½ inches in length or so in the circumferential direction of the crimping die. The circumferential length across the splines that make the transverse crimp is slightly less than the distance between sequential wrapped straws. The outer circumference of crimping rollers 70, 72 is slightly longer than the length of a straw 12 being wrapped. Thus, straw 12 housed in the shaped web 27 will remain uncompressed within a channel formed by circumferential recesses 92 as circumferential knurling surfaces 94 crimp the longitudinal edges 48 of the web material 27 together and crimp web material 27 at an end of the straw 12 transverse to the longitudinal crimping. The complete crimping of the material web 27 is thus synchronized to the exit of the wrapped straw 12 from the crimping rollers 70, 72 and thus crimping station 60. Crimped web 27 thus includes an envelope around each wrapped straw having a longitudinal crimp 18 and transverse crimps 20 between straws.

Subsequent to crimping of web 27 at crimping station 60, the continuous length of sequentially wrapped straws 12′ is delivered to the intermediate transfer station 68, perhaps best shown in the side schematic view of FIG. 4. At intermediate transfer station 68, guiding roller 74 and support roller 76 frictionally engage the wrapped straws. Guiding roller 74 includes a grooved outer peripheral surface 98 with a pair of O-rings 100 surrounding guiding roller 74 within the grooved surface 98. Likewise, support roller 76 may include O-rings on an outer surface thereof, be recessed to receive the outer shaped of the straw, or be of a frictional material suitable to assist in holding wrapped straw 12′ between guiding roller 74 and support roller 76. Guiding roller 74 is connected to the sealing station 60 with a pulley arrangement. In particular, a guiding wheel pulley 102 is mounted on a common shaft 104 with guiding wheel 74 and a sealing roller pulley 106 is mounted on common shaft 84 with one of the sealing station rollers 70. A timing belt 110 is looped around guiding wheel pulley 102 and crimping roller pulley 106 such that a feeding of the sequentially wrapped straws 12′ will be transferred from the crimping station 60 to the intermediate transfer station 68 without interruption. Further, the structure along shaft 104 of the guiding roller 74 is such that bracket 112 spaces the assembly from support frame 64, mount 114 secures the assembly to bracket 112, and substantially free rotation of shaft 104 is enabled by an arrangement of bearings 116 and spacer 118 around shaft 104. Preferably, transfer station 68 is thus adapted to engage a wrapped straw and advance it in the production direction.

During operation, a wrapped straw substantially spans the distance between crimping station 60 and cutting station 64. Thus, a straw is supported generally by at least two sets of rollers as it leaves transfer station 60 and traverses the apparatus between the two stations. Transfer station 68 is approximately ½ of a straw length from both stations 60, 64 such that a wrapped straw bearing station 60 will substantially be supported first by transfer station 68 and by cutting station 64 as it leaves wrapping station 60. The crimping and cutting stations are thus within about the length of a wrapped straw or so with respect to each other. At cutting station 64, opposed cutting wheels 120, 122 receive the wrapped and crimped straw 12′ from transfer station 68 and sever wrapped straws 12′ at a location substantially in the middle of the transverse end crimp 20 in web 27 between straws such that each severed and individually wrapped straw 10 will be wrapped with paper having a three-sided crimp and a “U” shape 16. Gear portions as well as a spring 121 indicated schematically in FIG. 3 maintain the cutting wheels in proper registry as will be appreciated from the diagram.

Referring to FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C cutting wheels 120, 122 each include a circumferential groove 124 formed in an outer circumferential surface thereof which corresponds in shape to ½ the outer surface of the wrapped straw, thus forming a channel for receiving a wrapped straw. Each of cutting wheels 120, 122 include geared portions 126, 127 extending beyond the circumference of the cutting wheel 120, 122. Geared portions 126, 127 of the cutting wheels engage and provide a simultaneous, synchronized rotation of the cutting wheels 120, 122. Further, the geared portions 126 of cutting wheels 120, 122 are each formed of a different material. Specifically, the geared portion 126 of cutting wheel 120 is formed of metal, and the geared portion 127 surface of cutting wheel 122 is formed of plastic. Use of two different gear materials eliminates the need for lubrication of the gears. Otherwise, the lubrication may contaminate the wrapped straws 12′. The plastic gear is a high strength plastic and meshing of the plastic and metal gears substantially reduces wear on the gears. This use of two different gear materials is highly effective, long lasting, clean, and not believed previously utilized in the art.

An anvil 128 and holder 130 are mounted in cutting wheel 122 adjacent an outer surface thereof. A cutting blade 132 is mounted in opposed cutting wheel 120 adjacent an outer surface thereof. Rotation of the cutting wheels 120, 122 are such that the anvil 128 and cutting member 132 are synchronized to meet at the transverse crimped end 20 of the wrapped straw 12′ by virtue of gear portions 126, 127. Anvil 128 and holder 130 are of a known type and fixed to cutting wheel 120 by a screw 134 or the like. In cutting wheel 122, cutting blade 132 may be a flat cutting blade which extends beyond an inner arcuate surface of groove 124 and impacts directly against the anvil 128. Preferably, blade 132 is a high grade of steel while anvil 128 is a metal or a hard rubber. Brass or like materials are believed suitable for anvil 128.

It will be appreciated from the various Figures that the wrapped straws 12′ are engaged by crimping dies 70, 72 in the channel defined therebetween by recesses 92; that they are engaged by rollers 74, 76 and that the wrapped straws engage the channel between cutting wheels 120, 122 defined by grooves 124 therein. The cutting wheels engage a wrapped straw by way of grooves 124 and advance it in the production direction.

Operation of the various stations must be synchronized in order for the apparatus to perform properly. To this end, the splines of the crimping dies engage each other as do the gear portions of the cutting wheels. So also, a common drive is used. A motor (not shown) drives a timing belt 151 which, in turn, drives a pulley 88 coupled to driveshaft 86 and a timing belt 150. Belt 150 drives pulley 146 which is coupled to driveshaft 144 of the cutting wheels so that stations 60 and 64 are commonly driven. Transfer station 68 is likewise coupled to the motor driving belt 151 by way of pulleys 104, 106, and a timing belt 102 by way of shaft 84 which is secured to driveshaft. All three stations thus may be readily adapted to drive the wrapped straws 12′ along a production direction 155 at the same speed to provide for smooth operation. Preferably, the dies and cutting wheels are driven by the respective driveshafts; however, the parts may be geared to each other and only one of each set driven by the driveshafts, if so desired. For example, a cutting wheel shaft 142 is connected to the central axis of the cutting wheel 120 and is driven by shaft 144 by a transfer gear (not shown). The cutting station shaft 144 supports a pulley 146, the pulley being driven by a motor by way of a timing belt. Rotation of cutting wheels 120, 122 is therefore initiated by the commonly connected motor by way of timing belts 150, 151 as noted earlier.

In operation, all stations are thus synchronized to continuously wrap a series of straws with a shaped and crimped paper web. while maintaining separation between a sealing station and a cutting station, thereby increasing speed, reliability, and efficiency of the machine.

While the invention has been described in connection with several examples, modifications to those examples within the spirit and scope of the invention will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art. In view of the foregoing discussion, relevant knowledge in the art and references discussed above in connection with the Background and Detailed Description, the disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference, further description is deemed unnecessary.

Claims

1. In an apparatus for individually wrapping drinking straws, the combination comprising:

(a) means for supplying a continuous web of packaging material shaped around sequentially supplied straws moving in a production direction such that longitudinal edges of the shaped packaging material are aligned with each other;

(b) a crimping station at a first location for wrapping a sequentially supplied straw including means for crimping a seam along the aligned longitudinal edges of the shaped web material and means for crimping a seam transverse to the longitudinal edges of web material to form a closed sleeve with a crimped longitudinal fin and two transverse fins such that a closed crimped sleeve is formed around the straw and the straw remains attached to the continuous web;

(c) a cutting station at a second location with means for cutting the transverse crimped seams between adjacent ones of the sequentially supplied and wrapped straws;

(d) means for advancing the wrapped straw from the crimping station to the cutting station while the closed sleeve remains attached to the continuous web of packaging material; and

(e) means for synchronizing the crimping and cutting stations;

wherein the crimping and cutting stations operate in concert at discrete sequential locations along a production direction.

2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein the cutting station includes a pair of opposed cutting wheels, one of the wheels having a cutting member for severing the crimped transverse ends between adjacent closed sleeves.

3. The combination according to claim 2, wherein the cutting wheels include mutually engaged gears and the mutually engaged gears are a metal gear and a plastic gear.

4. The combination according to claim 1, wherein the means for advancing the wrapped straw includes:

(f) an intermediate drive roller positioned between the crimping station and the cutting station; and

(g) an intermediate support roller opposing the intermediate drive roller adapted to cooperate therewith for sequentially feeding the closed sleeved straws from the crimping station to the cutting station.

5. The combination according to claim 1, wherein the crimping station includes a set of rotatable opposed matching crimping dies with splines for crimping the aligned longitudinal edges of the shaped web material in a longitudinal feed direction of the sequentially supplied straws and with splines for crimping the shaped web material transverse to the longitudinal feed direction of the web material.

6. The combination according to claim 5, further comprising:

(h) a first timing belt coupling the set of crimping dies to the intermediate drive roller, thereby coordinating the timing of straw feed from the crimping station through the drive and support rollers; and

(i) a second timing belt connecting the crimping station to cutting station, thereby coordinating the timing of straw feed through the crimping station with the timing of straw feed through the cutting station.

7. The combination according to claim 6, further comprising:

a guide plate at an inlet end of the cutting station, the guide plate separating the web material from the gears of the cutting station.

8. The combination according to claim 2, wherein the mating cutting wheels include channels with an inwardly arcuate shape formed in each outer peripheral surface, such that an outer circular surface of the closed sleeved straw will pass through aligned mating cutting wheels, one of the mating cutting wheels including a cutting member in a defined portion of the outer peripheral surface thereof and synchronized to cut against the opposing cutting wheel at the transverse crimp of the closed sleeve.

9. The combination according to claim 8, wherein the inwardly arcuate channel of the cutting wheels correspond in length to a length of an individual straw.

10. The combination according to claim 8, wherein the cutting member interrupts the inwardly arcuate shape of the die cutting wheels intermediate adjacent sequential closed sleeved straws to sever a crimped transverse seam.

11. The combination according to claim 8, wherein the cutting member of the cutting station includes a cutting blade at an outer surface of one of the opposed mating die cutting wheels for performing a transverse cut within the crimped seam area against an anvil of the opposing die cutting wheel and separating adjacent wrapped straws.

12. In an apparatus for individually wrapping drinking straws, the combination comprising:

(a) means for supplying a continuous web of wrapping material shaped around sequentially supplied straws moving in a production direction such that longitudinal edges of the shaped wrapping material are aligned with each other;

(b) a crimping station at a first location including a pair of opposed rotatable and matched crimping dies provided with circumferential channels and first and second sets of crimping splines, (i) the first set of crimping splines being disposed over the circumference of the crimping die and being adapted to provide a longitudinal crimped fin along the longitudinal edges of the wrapping material which is thereby secured around the straw over the length of the straw, (ii) the second set of crimping splines extending over a distance less than the distance between sequentially supplied straws and being adapted to provide a transverse crimp between sequentially supplied straws such that each straw is contained within a crimped sleeve containing the straw,

(c) the sleeve being thus closed along the longitudinal as well as transverse directions,

(d) a cutting station disposed at a second location including a pair of opposed cutting wheels, each of the wheels having a channel adapted to receive a wrapped straw therebetween, the wheels also including means for severing wrapped straws along the transverse crimped fins therebetween to produce individually wrapped straws;

(e) a conveying station including a pair of opposed drive rollers disposed at a third location intermediate the crimping station and the cutting station, the drive rollers being operable to advance a wrapped straw attached to the web between the crimping station and the cutting station; and

(f) means for synchronizing the crimping station, the conveying station and the cutting station.

13. The combination according to claim 12, wherein the crimping station, the conveying station and the cutting station are disposed within about the length of a wrapped straw.

14. The combination according to claim 12, wherein the crimping dies are biased toward each other.

15. The combination according to claim 12, wherein the cutting wheels are biased toward each other.

16. The combination according to claim 12, wherein the crimping station, conveying station and cutting station are linked to a common drive.

17. The combination according to claim 16, wherein the crimping station, conveying station and cutting station are linked by way of a plurality of timing belts.

18. A method for individually wrapping drinking straws comprising the steps of:

(a) supplying a continuous web of packaging material to a web shaping station;

(b) shaping the continuous web around sequentially supplied straws moving in a production direction such that longitudinal edges of the shaped material are aligned;

(c) crimping, at a first location, the aligned longitudinal edges of the shaped web material to form a longitudinal seam and crimping a seam transverse to the longitudinal edges of the shaped web material to form a closed sleeve with crimped longitudinal and transverse fins such that the closed sleeve remains attached to the continuous web;

(d) transporting the combined straw and surrounding closed sleeve out of the crimping station wherein the closed sleeve remains attached to the continuous web;

(e) delivering the combined straw and surrounding closed sleeve to a cutting station at a second location while the sleeve remains a continuous closed sleeve; and

(f) cutting, at the second location, the crimped end seam between adjacent ones of the sequentially supplied and closed sleeved straws within the crimped area of the end seam thereby separating adjacent wrapped straws; and

(g) synchronizing the crimping and cutting steps

(h) wherein the crimping station and cutting station operate in concert but at discrete sequential locations along a production direction.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the steps of transporting and delivering include:

(i) positioning a drive roller intermediate the crimping station and the cutting station; and

(j) providing a support roller mating with the intermediate drive roller for sequentially feeding the straws from the crimping station to the cutting station.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the step of crimping is carried out between a pair of rotatable crimping dies, each having first and second spline sets, wherein (i) the first set of crimping splines being disposed over the circumference of the crimping die and being adapted to provide a longitudinal crimped fin along the longitudinal edges of the wrapping material which is thereby secured around the straw over the length of the straw and (ii) the second set of crimping splines extending over a distance less than the distance between sequentially supplied straws and being adapted to provide a transverse crimp between sequentially supplied straws such that each straw is contained within a crimped sleeve containing the straw.