Abstract: An apparatus for wrapping reams of paper in which the units for forming the first tube are adjacent to the devices for lateral folding of the first tube in order simultaneously to form lateral flaps.

Abstract: A conveying device for machines for packaging rolled articles includes a series of carriages, fastened, regularly spaced apart, to conveying means moved stepwise along an endless path. Each pair of adjacent carriages define holding seats for respective groups of articles to be packaged in a single pack with a sheet of a wrapping material. The carriages include a plurality of pushing prongs which extend, perpendicular to the conveying means, from slide means slidingly mounted on gliding means fastened to the conveying means crosswise to a forward movement direction of conveying means. The conveying device include also means for adjusting the position of the pushing prongs on the carriages, aimed at operating the slide means to move in a selected position along the gliding means.

Abstract: A station for forming packages of rolls of web material in a packaging machine includes a series of channels which supply the station with rolls according to selected positions. A receiving area of the station is delimited at bottom and at top by a pair of endless conveying belts, parallel to each other and arranged one above the other at adjustable levels. Groups of rolls being formed in the receiving area go out at an outlet side, while a side opposite to the outlet side is closed with a pusher moving in opposite directions, so as to move a group out of the receiving area. A sheet of wrapping material is situated near the outlet side to wrap around the group when exiting. The outlet side is closed by two swinging walls which allow the group of rolls to exit. The swinging walls constitute joining surfaces with a conveying line, and two plates are moved to partially overlap each other and to overlap free edges of the sheet.

Abstract: Cardboard blanks with fold lines between their panels are partially draped around arrays of cigarette packets in an apparatus wherein successive arrays which are being advanced along an elongated path at a first speed strip discrete blanks off a mouthpiece which is advanced along such path at a lesser second speed. Additional panels of a blank which is being transported by the mouthpiece, and a first panel of which is to be engaged and entrained by the front side of an oncoming array, are pivoted relative to the first panel along the respective fold lines by pivotable prefolding members which share the movement of and are caused to pivot relative to the mothpiece while the latter transports a blank at the second speed. The prefolding members cooperate with further folding members to pivot further panels of a blank relative to the additional panels while the blank is being transported by the mouthpiece.

Abstract: An automatic packaging machine for packaging products into packs comprises: a wrapper forming line along which there is a succession of at least three operating stations positioned above a sliding surface along which the products are fed with a stepping motion by mobile pusher elements. The forming line co-operates with a lift located below the product sliding surface and vertically and alternately mobile between a lowered level, at which it receives products on its loading table, and a raised level, at which it places the products on the sliding surface of the forming line, feeding them between the pusher elements with a sheet of wrapping material laid on top of the products. The machine comprises adjustment means for a product feed line, the wrapper forming line, the operating stations and the pusher elements.

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 articles such as cigarette packets, feed rolls deliver a wrapper web onto a suction drum at a controlled speed which is less than the peripheral speed of the drum. The drum carries a cutter blade which cooperates with a fixed blade to sever successive leading sections of the web which are conveyed from the drum by a delivery conveyor moving at the same speed as the drum. Eccentric pinch rollers momentarily grip each wrapper section to assist separation from the web. The delivery conveyor transfers the wrapper sections to a further conveyor which conveys successive sections across the path of articles to be wrapped. The further conveyor has a lower run for diverting the leading portion of each wrapper section away from the article conveyor.

Abstract: Apparatus for making cartons with arrays of cigarette packs therein has a conveyor which transports the arrays to a transfer station and a feeding unit which delivers successive blanks to the transfer station so that a freshly delivered blank is adjacent to one side of the foremost array on the conveyor. A tubular deforming member is pivotable about a horizontal axis between a first position in which an inlet of its chamber is adjacent to the transfer station so that a plunger can be caused to transfer the foremost array into the deforming member with simultaneous partial draping of the adjacent blank around the transferred array, and a second position in which the inlet is located at a level below an outlet of the deforming member. A pusher is thereupon caused to enter the deforming member by way of the inlet and to move the array and the deformed blank upwardly into a receiving unit with attendant further deformation of the blank.

Abstract: For the wrapping of cigarette groups 10 in blanks 13 (tin foil), a sheet of material 28 is fed at a constant conveying speed V1 to a suction and cutting cylinder 32 rotating at a relatively considerably higher speed. On the latter, the blank 13 is severed from the sheet of material 28, the blank being accelerated until it is transferred to suction disks 40, 41, between which the cigarette group 10 is conveyed through, at the same time carrying along the blank 13 which is at a standstill during this phase. For this purpose, the suction disks 40, 41 are driven intermittently.

Abstract: An apparatus for wrapping objects in heat-sealable film which provides for continuous mechanical wrapping of objects and which is suitable for wrapping objects which have poorly-defined shape or which are non-uniform in size or shape is described. The apparatus of the invention comprises a frame; a conveyor assembly for advancing the film and the object and for bringing the film into a wrapping relationship with the object; a sealing assembly for bringing the sides of the film having the object contained therein into heat-sealable contact and for sealing the film to sealably enclose the object; an indexing carriage for advancing the sealing assembly at the same rate as the conveyor assembly; and means for sensing the object and activating the sealing assembly to seal the film.

Abstract: A cardboard sheet dispenser is incorporated in a bacon slicing machine line that is operable to group slices in shingled fashion and into segregated batches of predetermined weight. The dispenser directs a cardboard sheet in synchronization with the movement of the batches so that individual batches are placed on a sheet and thereafter transferred to subsequent packaging stations. The dispenser includes a hopper for receiving vertically stacked cardboard sheets and includes a base having a plurality of strippers serving to support the stack of sheets while assuring that only one sheet at a time is removed from the hopper. A pick-off assembly operates to remove the lowermost sheet from the hopper and transfer it to the nip of a roller assembly.

Abstract: A cardboard sheet dispenser is incorporated in a bacon or pork product slicing machine line that is operable to group slices in shingled fashion into segregated batches of predetermined weight. The dispenser directs a cardboard sheet in synchronized fashion with the movement of the batches so that individual batches are placed on a sheet and thereafter transferred to subsequent packaging stations. The dispenser includes a hopper for receiving vertically stacked cardboard sheets and is provided with a plurality of restrainers that cooperate in supporting the stack of sheets and at the same time fan the sheets to minimize sticking of the sheets one to the other. The base of the hopper includes a plurality of strippers also serving to support the stack of sheets and assures that only one sheet is removed from the base of the hopper at a time.

Abstract: A wrapping machine comprising an intermittently rotating wrapping wheel having individual pockets for receiving in succession an article to be wrapped and a wrapper, the wrapping wheel being operative during its rotation to fold the wrappers partially around the articles and to bring the pockets, each containing a partially wrapped article, in succession to a transfer station, and a continuously moving conveyor carrying a series of pushers, said pushers being arranged to move through the pockets of the wrapping wheel in succession as they reach and while they are stationary at the transfer station, to withdraw the partially wrapped articles from the pockets and traverse them in succession through a final wrapping station at which the wrap is completed.