Device for manufacturing a conical cover and/or a paper cup

The invention relates to an apparatus for producing a conical sleeve for a cup and / or a conical paper cup with a machine frame and at least two rotatably connected to the machine frame and intermittently drivable star wheels, wherein a first star wheel having a plurality of conical pins on each of which a sleeve of is a flat blank malleable.

A device of this kind is by the <patcit id="pcit0001" dnum="WO9911526A1"><text>WO 99/11526 A1</text></patcit> State of the art. The construction of the known device is very complicated and confusing. The starwheels have different axes of rotation arranged perpendicular to one another. In addition, the star wheels lie in different planes. The handover of the sleeve or of the paper cup from a star wheel on the other is thus difficult. In addition, the processing stations to the star wheels for a machine operator are poorly accessible. An upgrading of the device to another cup format is very complex. Furthermore, the accessibility of the drives is bad, because the drives are mounted below the arranged with vertical drive shafts star wheels.

The invention is based is to improve a device of the type mentioned the task.

The object is achieved in that the star wheels are in a plane and are arranged at a horizontal drive shaft to a vertical wall of the machine frame.

Such an arrangement of the starwheels in the apparatus allows for easy accessibility of the individual processing stations to the star wheels. A machine operator can see all of the star wheels very easy and simple to eliminate any faults.

The starwheels are preferably connected to at least one drive, wherein the drive is arranged on the side facing away from the starwheels of the central wall of the machine frame. This has the advantage that the drives are very light in the event of a malfunction of the rear of the machine accessible. The drives can be very simple and are characterized simultaneously precise, since only short routes are available from the drive to the star wheel. To the necessary today clock speeds of the machine of about 250 cycles per minute with a good positional accuracy of the star wheels, a very rigid and stable construction of the machine frame and the actuators is required due to the high accelerations and the resulting inertia forces. The central wall of the machine frame guarantees a high stability and rigidity.

There is enough space at the back of the machine is available to accommodate the result of inertia forces inevitably relatively large to be dimensioned drives. In contrast to the aforementioned prior art, where the space is limited below the arranged with a vertical axis of rotation star wheel, the space for the drives in the present invention is not limited, because the positioning and accessibility of the star wheels completely independent of the size of the drives is.

At the same time a very high precision of the production can be achieved by the central wall of the machine frame, since the central wall dictates the mounting positions of the drives, the star wheels and the processing stations. There is no additional frame parts required that interfere with additional tolerances accuracy. The central wall of the machine frame can be made for example as a one-piece casting, which can be completely machined on a machine tool, so that all the holes and contact surfaces have a high positional accuracy to each other.

The drives themselves can be designed differently. For a very high stiffness and stability are, for example, so-called "step manual" advantageous in which a continuous rotation of a drive motor via a worm shaft with variable pitch is converted into a synchronized rotational movement of the star wheel. However, it may also be advantageous to already positioning the rotation axes of the actuators parallel to the rotational axes of the drive shafts of the star wheels. No reversal of the rotational direction more is required.

Advantageously, the star wheels are mounted easily replaceable on the machine frame. There are this easily detachable means for connecting to the drive, such as quick couplings provided. The device can be quickly converted to another cup size. For example, a complete star wheel are taken a few steps out of the device and be replaced with an already prepared star wheel for another cup format. The loss of production in the conversion of the machine is minimized.

The device is suitable for producing different cups which may have round or arbitrarily shaped cross-sections. It can, for example, single-walled paper cups made of coated or uncoated paper or paperboard are manufactured. The coating is particularly suitable a thin layer of plastic, which makes liquid-tight the paper material and can be mounted either on one or both sides of the paper material. The device is also very well suited for the manufacture of conical sleeves for different cup. The sleeves are made of a pre-cut blank, for example, of paper or paperboard, molded by being wrapped around a conical mandrel and joined together at their longitudinal sides. The sleeves produced can form, for example, the outer coats of double Isolierbechem or plastic cups. but they can also be inserted into an injection mold to form the outer surface of a plastic cup. The plastic cup may consist for example of a foamed plastic material.

The joining of the individual parts of the cup can be done in different ways, and depends on the material pairings and requirements. A connection can, for example by heat sealing, gluing with hot or cold glue or by so-called. "Hot-melt Ktebstoffe" done. When reference is made in the present invention of "connecting", so is always one of those ways meant.

The first star wheel of the device is associated with a blank stack a separating device for feeding single blanks. The separated blanks are placed around the tapered pins of the first star wheel, thereby forming a sleeve for a cup or directly on the shell of a paper cup. When the blank to form the shell of a paper cup, for example, a single-walled paper cup or inner cup for a double-walled insulating cup, it is advantageous to assign the first star wheel means for forming a cup bottom, for example in the form of a bottom punch that the domes of the first star wheel preformed cup bottoms feeds, which can then be connected to the molded sleeve on the mandrel.

It is advantageous that the first star wheel is associated with a second star wheel having a plurality of hollow mandrels, whose interior can accommodate the paper cup and / or the shaped sleeve. This causes the edge of the sleeve with the larger diameter is freely accessible and this edge can be processed according to the requirements, for example, with a shaped outward curl or a shoulder can be provided. The star wheels are so mutually arranged that the paper cup and / or the sleeve from one to the other star wheel is directly übergebbar each in a linear movement. The transfer device can thus be very simple, for example by a simple nozzle. The simple linear movement over a short distance allows for a reliable transfer even at high cycle rates.

In the invention, the device is particularly well suited for producing a double-walled Isolierbechers of paper or paperboard. For this three star wheels are advantageously provided at least. On the first star wheel, a sleeve is formed from a flat blank, which is passed to the second star wheel. The third star wheel takes preformed paper cup in which a shell having a bottom is firmly connected already, for example from a cup magazine or directly from another Becherherstellmaschine. A cup magazine can also be provided at an upstream Becherherstellmaschine as temporary storage. This third star wheel can be assigned for means for stacking a mold device. The shaping device forms a means for stacking, such as a bead or shoulder in the shell of the paper cup. The paper cup is then passed from the third star wheel to the second star wheel and used there in the sleeve and connected thereto. After the last processing station of the second star wheel thus there is a double-walled paper cup having good insulation properties.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the third star wheel also serve to supply a finished plastic cup from a cup magazine. On the first star wheel turn a sleeve is formed of a paper material, which can be provided there also available with a bottom, and passed to the second star wheel. The plastic inner sleeve is passed from the third star wheel to the second star wheel and employed in the existing paper material outer sleeve or the outer cup.

In a further embodiment of the invention, a fourth star wheel can be provided which is disposed downstream of the second star wheel and which has in turn conical mandrels, on which the bearing the sleeve double cup is taken. In the fourth star wheel associated processing stations, for example, the area of ​​the paper cup in which the base is fixed, be post-processed in order to improve, for example, the design or the stacking properties of the cup. The stacking properties of the double-walled cup can be, for example, improving that area of ​​a frame is expanded radially in a processing station of the fourth star wheel.

Further advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of an embodiment.

Show it;<ul><li><figref idrefs="f0001">figure 1</figref> a very schematic and not to scale illustrated side view of an apparatus for manufacturing a double-walled Isolierbechers,</li><li><figref idrefs="f0002">figure 2</figref> a view in the direction of arrow II of the apparatus of <figref idrefs="f0001">figure 1</figref>.</li><li><figref idrefs="f0001">figure 3</figref> an example of a device of the invention produced with the paper cup.</li></ul>

The device is very flexible suitable due to their modular design for the production of different paper cup or conical sleeves for cups. Based on the in<figref idrefs="f0001">figure 3</figref> Paper cup 51 shown will be described an advantageous embodiment of the production device.

The in <figref idrefs="f0001">figure 3</figref> illustrated paper cup 51 is formed from a paper material, which is provided at least on one side with a thin coating, preferably made of polyethylene. The paper cup 51 is designed as a double-walled insulating cup, which is particularly well suited for hot content, for example, for coffee or Chinese noodle dishes. By isolating the cup 51auch can be with hot content easily kept over time in hand. The paper cup 51 essentially consists of an inner paper cup 52, the one consists of a conical jacket 53 and with this connected ground 54th The jacket 53 has at its upper end on a rolled outward curl 55th At a lower end of the casing is 53 liquid-tightly sealed by a frame 56 with the bottom 54th In the central region of the jacket means may 57 for stacking several identical cups be placed 51st In the illustrated case is an inwardly projecting rib 58 formed as a means 57 for stacking in the mantle 53 of the inner paper cup 52nd Alternatively, however, the means 57 for stacking also be designed differently, for example by a shoulder or bead, and may of course be shaped externally. The inner paper cup 52 is a conical sleeve 59 associated, for example, can have a slightly different cone angle. The sleeve 59 is glued or sealed at its upper end 60 in the area below the lip 55 on the paper cup 52nd At the bottom of the sleeve 59 is provided with an inward curl 61, and is this curl 61 on the jacket 53rd an insulating annular space 62 is formed between the sleeve 59 and jacket 53rd To improve the insulation effect can be provided, in which the diameter increases or decreases sharply in a not shown variation on the jacket 53 or the sleeve 59 shoulders.

After joining of inner paper cup 52 and sleeve 59 and connecting, the frame 56 is widened at least in its lower region, so that they opposed conical jacket to 53 of the paper cup 52 runs. The frame 56 can thus cooperate when stacking several identical double wall paper cup 51 with the means 57 for stacking and ensure that the paper cups 51 stacked safely and jamming can be unstacked without again. The rib 58 supporting the user's subsequent cups of the stack from its expanded to frame 56th Between the outside of the sleeve 59 and the inside of the jacket 53 of the stacked paper cups 51, it does not become jammed, since preferably takes place no contact.

The property "conical" of the jacket 53 and the sleeve 59 is to be understood so that sheath 53 and sleeve 59 in the in <figref idrefs="f0001">figure 3</figref> illustrated longitudinal section of the lip 55 are tapered toward the bottom 54th It does not matter what form the shell 53 and the sleeve 59 have in cross-section. The paper cup 51 may for example be circular, oval or rectangular with rounded corners in cross-section. The paper cup 51 has in the case of a round cross-section of the conical jacket 53 has a kegeistumpfähnliche shape while having a more truncated pyramid-like shape in the case of a rectangular cross-section of the conical jacket 53rd Paper cup 51 with non-circular cross-section are often referred to as "Form Mug".

With the help of <figref idrefs="f0001">figures 1</figref> and <figref idrefs="f0002">2</figref> the device is described for the manufacture of the paper cup 51 below.

The apparatus consists mainly of four so-called star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4, to each of which a plurality of star-shaped mandrels 10, 20, 30, 40 are arranged. The number of mandrels 10, 20, 30, 40 may vary depending on the number of required processing steps. The star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4 are each seated on a drive shaft 63 and by at least one drive 64 intermittently in the rotational direction of the arrows A drivable. The rotational directions A are exemplary and can optionally also be opposed. The device comprises a machine frame 65 with a central vertical wall 66th On the vertical wall 66 of the star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4 are arranged such that the rotation axes of the drive shafts 63 all of which are horizontal and parallel to each other. The star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4 with their domes 10, 20, 30, 40 can thus all lie in one plane. This is very good for the star wheels 1 and 2 in<figref idrefs="f0001">figure 1</figref> to recognize. The drives 64 of the star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4 are arranged on the the star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4 side away from the vertical wall 66 of the machine frame. Both the star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4 and the actuators 64 are thereby easily accessible. The actuators 64 are preferably formed by step manual.

The star wheel 1 has in the shown example six conical mandrels 10, each mandrel 10 may include a processing station 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, be assigned to the sixteenth Unnecessary processing stations 11 may remain empty. The star wheel 1 is further rotated by the drive 64 in the working cycle of the apparatus by 60 ° in the rotational direction A, so that each mandrel 10 comes to the processing station in each case below. The star wheel 1 are fed to the processing station 12 lying flat blanks 67, which are fed by a direction indicated by the arrow 68 singulation means of a blank stack 69th The flat-lying blank 67 is wound in the subsequent processing stations 13, 14, and 15 around the conical mandrel 10, sealed at its longitudinal side and provided with the roll-up 61, and then forms a conical sleeve 59. For illustrative purposes, the curl 61 of the sleeve 59 in the<figref idrefs="f0001">figures 1</figref> and <figref idrefs="f0002">2</figref> not shown. In the processing station 16, the finished sleeve is passed 59 in the direction of arrow B to a hollow mandrel 20 of the second star wheel. 2 The hollow mandrel 20 takes the sleeve 59 from the outside. At the moment of delivery of the hollow mandrel 20 is disposed in the processing station 21 exactly coaxially with the conical mandrel 10 of the processing station 16th The sleeve 59 may be passed directly into a linear movement of the star wheel 1 to the star wheel. 2 The transfer in the direction of arrow B, for example, very simply by blowing nozzles.

In the next processing cycle, the sleeve 59 is transported further by the rotation A of the star wheel 2 in the processing station 22nd In the processing station 22, a prefabricated inner paper cup 52 is inserted into the sleeve 59th The paper cup 52 is provided by a third star wheel 3 and passed from the processing station 34 in turn in a linear movement B in the processing station 22nd

It is advantageous to the star wheel to feed 3 prefabricated paper cup 52 or prefabricated plastic cups, for example a cup magazine 70 as a buffer. The paper cup 52 can be completed by the means 57 for stacking and also already have a curl 55th The mouth roll 55 is in<figref idrefs="f0002">figure 2</figref> for purposes of illustration again omitted. It is advantageous to attach only to a processing station 33 of the third star wheel 3, the means 57 for stacking, because the paper cups 52 can be then produced on a conventional cup machine that need not have any special facilities. The molding device 35 for the means 57 for stacking the double Isolierbechers 51 is integrated into the manufacturing apparatus of the sleeve 59 and can be optimally adapted to the design of the sleeve 59th internal paper cups default produced 52 can be provided with different sleeves 59th This increases the flexibility of the manufacturer of double-wall paper cups 51st

The molding device 35 for the means 57 for stacking can be designed differently. In<figref idrefs="f0002">figure 2</figref> is a rotating roller 36 is shown, which can be the person sitting on the mandrel 30 paper cups 52 delivered radially to form the inwardly projecting rib 58th Alternatively, of course be provided also from inside or outside radially adjustable mold jaws.

The inner sleeve used in the processing station 22 in the sleeve 59 52 is transported further in a subsequent step in the processing station 23 and connected there to the sleeve 59th Depending on the design of the means 57 for stacking the paper cup 51 may be already completed within the processing station 24 and are transported away from the apparatus. Optionally, however, a fourth star wheel 4 can be provided, is transferred to the paper cup 51 of the processing station 24 in the direction of arrow B. The star wheel 4 in turn has tapered mandrels 40 that receive the paper cup 51 from the inside. The star wheel can be assigned to 45, with the frame 56 can be expanded, for example, in the processing station 42 a forming device. The flared bottom skirt 56 serves - as already described above-improving stacking properties of the paper cup 51. In the processing station 44 of the double-walled paper cup 51 is finally completed and the device can be removed.

Is the paper cups manufactured in the described manufacturing apparatus 51 is a so-called mold cup, then it may be advantageous to the conical domes 30 of the star wheel 3 assigned in a manner not shown respectively a rotating device, can be rotated with each mandrel 30 by a certain amount about its longitudinal axis , Is used in the production of molded cups an inner cup 52 removed noncircular cross-section in any orientation from the cup magazine 70 and placed in the machining station 31 on a conical mandrel 30 with circular cross-section, a subsequent alignment of the inner cup 52 is required. This problem occurs in particular when the inner cup 52 has a circular cross-section and at its bottom 54 has an oval or substantially rectangular cross-section at its mouth roll 55th The molded on the star wheel 1 sleeves 59 sitting in the hollow mandrels 20 of the star wheel 2 in a defined orientation. The shape of the hollow mandrels 20 may be adjusted 59 also non-circular and the shape of the sleeve. In order that the inner cup 52 is positioned in the processing station 34 in the correct orientation and can be passed fit into the fitting in the processing station 22 sleeve 59, the mandrel 30 is rotated by the rotating device about its longitudinal axis and aligned the inner cup 52nd Thus the inner cup 52 does not slip on the mandrel 30, each mandrel can be associated with 30 in a manner not shown a suction or clamping device for the inner cup 52nd The rotation means may be a, for example, in the processing station 32 is arranged, not shown, the sensor may be associated with the position of the inner cup 52, preferably without contact, detects and signals the rotating means, as far rotated, the mandrel 30 with the inner cup 52 about the longitudinal axis must become.

The described concept of the production, a very high flexibility and very low downtime for format changes and amendments to the mug designs to be achieved. The easy accessibility of the star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4 by the arrangement on the vertical wall 66 of the machine frame 65 allows for example, the rapid exchange of a complete star wheel 1, 2, 3, 4 to a star wheel for another cup shape. The star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4 are for this purpose preferably cantilevered and easily replaceable mounted on the machine frame 65th This easily detachable means 71 may be provided to connect to the drive 64 to the drive shafts 63, for example in the form of quick couplings.

The production device can be modified very easily. For example, a device can be used with only two star wheels 1 and 2 for the production of single-walled cups in a not shown embodiment. Here, for example the processing station 11 of the first star wheel 1 a bottom punch be associated with 17 punches out a cup base similar to the base 54 and passes to the mandrel 10 in the processing station 11th The sleeve 59 can then be connected in one of the processing stations 13 to 15 with this ground. On the second star wheel 2 can for example be 55 formed on the single-walled paper cup a curl.