Method and apparatus for forming carriers for grouped articles

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for ³⁰making an article carrier from resinous material having memory characteristics. The resulting carrier consists of a- plurality of conjugately arranged tube-like elements adapted to be fitted about a group of containers arranged in. a predetermined relationship. The tube-like elements ³⁵are formed in a unique method practiced in the apparatus disclosed herein.

(2) The prior art , In the packaging of beverages, for example, those com- ⁴⁰monly 'known as six-packs it has been the practice to form a carrier from a web of a resinous material having mem,ory characteristics. The web is provided with apertures through which a container extends to be supported. After the apertured web is placed over the container group, the ⁴³resinous material of the web is fitted about the individual •containers, so that they are tightly secured by the web.

The following patents are illustrative of the prior art relating to carriers of the general type just discussed and formed in the manner recited. Poupitch—2,874,835; Pou- ³⁰pitch—2,997,169; Fisher—3,044,230; Poupitch—3,086,'651; Whyte—3,232,422; Cunningham—3,268,070; Wanderer—3,269,530; and Beart—3,307,321.

In the formation of carriers as disclosed in the above __rpatents, a moving web must be punched to provide the ³³container receiving apertures, resulting in an inordinate amount of waste material.

Other forms of carriers made from resinous materials are shown in the following patents: Whiteford—3,224, 576; Stern, et al.—3,250,564; and Wanderer—3,269,530. ⁶⁰

Structures of the kind disclosed in the previously mentioned patents require the use of the complicated moulding equipment which cannot function in continuous uninterrupted cycles.

The following patents illustrate carriers formed from a ⁶⁵flat sheet of resinous material having the property of being shrinkable about the containers. These carriers are formed with a minimum amount of loss in scrap material. Biesecker et al.—2,994,426; Curry et al.—3,186,544; and Wozniak—3,385,626. '

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A carrier constructed according to the method and apparatus of present invention consist of conjugate tubelike elements having an axial extent which is considerably greater than the thickness of the materials forming the carrier. The tube-like elements are formed from a pair of webs slitted longitudinally in a special manner and adhered together transversely at spaced intervals to provide a plurality of loops, each loop being adapted to hold tightly therein a container of a container group.

THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an article carrier for an article group, said carrier being constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a group of containers adapted to be supported in the article carrier of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing apparatus for forming the article carrier of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic elevational view showing apparatus for applying the article carrier to a container group;

FIG. 5 is a view taken substantially in the direction of the arrows 5—5 of FIG. 4, showing details of folding a strip formed with the apparatus of FIG. 3 for subsequent application to a container group;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view taken along the line 6—6 of FIG. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view looking in the direction of the arrows 7—7 of FIG. 4 showing apparatus for applying the carrier to a container group.

SPECIFICATION

The improved carrier according to the present invention is referred to generally by the reference numeral 10 and includes a group of interconnected loops L adapted to be placed over and around members C of an article group G, each of the articles C of the group G being, for example, containers having chimes CH as a part thereof.

The carrier 10 is formed from a. pair of webs 11 and 12, each being formed of a resinous material having memory characteristics such as polyethylene, polyvinyldene or other resins having similar properties. The webs 11 and 12 are moved in lapping relationship by a pair of conjugate rollers 15, 15, web 11 being payed from a storage reel 13 and web 12 being payed from a corresponding storage reel 18.

Web 11 supplied by reel 13 is stretched by pairs conjugately arranged stretching rollers 14, 14 and 16, 16. Rollers 16, 16 move the web 11 at the same speed as the rollers 15, 15, rollers 14, 14 moving at a speed less than the speed of the rollers 16, 16 so that the length of the web between the rollers 14 and 16 is stretched.

After leaving rollers 16, 16 web 11 is slit longitudinally thereof by a rotating slitter knife 17, which divides the web 11 into two side by side web elements defined by a longitudinal slit S.

Web 12 is payed from supply reel 18 and is fed between stretching rollers 19, 19 and 21, 21 in the same fashion as is done with web 11. After being stretched in the manner described the web 12 is slitted by a rotating slitting knife 20 having slitting segments 20A thereon, the slitting segments 20A providing interrupted slits IS in the web 12, slits IS being interrupted by portions 25 of the web 12 where the same is not slitted.

The two webs 11 and 12, which have been treated in the manner aforesaid move between a pair of conjugately arranged transverse sealing rollers 22, 23 each having a land 24 thereon which places a transverse seal TS connecting the two webs 11 and 12, transverse seal TS

3,621,628 being located midway between the uninterrupted portions 25 of the web 12. Sealing rollers are heated in any convenient fashion to seal the thermoplastic film material of webs 11 and 12.

After the two webs 11 and 12 have been treated in the manner aforesaid and moved between rollers 15, 15 they are stored upon a storage reel SR which can be driven in any convenient fashion.

The two webs 11 and 12, which have been treated in the manner aforesaid, are payed from the storage roller SR and a fold in the web 12 is formed therein by a shoe 28 having sides 29 depending from a longitudinally extending backbone 30. A guide for the two webs 11 and 12, which move over the shoe 28, has sides 31 which are spaced from the sides 29 of the shoe 28, the guide 31 having flared sides 32 which guide the webs in the folding on the backbone 30. The structure described may be supported on a conventional standard 27.

Following the movement of the two webs 11 and 12 over the shoe 28, the elements thereof are separated so as to have configurations as seen in FIG. 1, article carrier 10 including the loops L defined by the lower web 12, which is now separated into discrete portions labeled IS and connected portions 25. The other web 11 is now separated into portions flanking the still connected web portions 12, the longitudinally split portions 11 being conected to the web 12 at the points labeled TS.

Following the separation of the elements described into the configuration seen in FIG. 1, the separation of the loops L is completely achieved by a turret roller 34 turning on a center 35. Turret roller 34 has a plurality of frusto-conical members 36 equally spaced on the periphery thereof and each of the frusto-conical elements 36 has tapering sides 37 which are adapted to engage with the loops L to cause them to adopt generally circular configuration of a dimension greater than the diameter of the containers C at the chimes CH thereon.

As seen further in FIG. 4, container groups G are adapted to move along a conveying reach CR, and the loops L which have been stretched additionally by the tapered surfaces of the frusto-conical members 36 are stripped from the turret wheel 34 by means of a stripper shoe 40 consisting of spaced rails 41 which flank the frusto-conical members 36 and engage the web 12 at points of conjugation 25, and web 11 at the outer edge portions thereof, as seen more clearly in FIG. 7. The stripper shoe 40 includes a ramp 42 which flairs from portion 41 thereof and upward toward the turret wheel 34.

It should be noted at this point that the containers C are separated a slight amount so that the loops L can be placed thereon, and that the article 10 is exaggerated as to the thickness of the films 11 and 12 constituting same. The movement of the container groups G along the conveying reach CR causes the article carrier 10 to be stripped from the supply reel SR, and it is obvious that the intervening step of placing the connected webs 11 and 12 upon a storage reel SR is not necessary, and that after the webs 11 and 12 have been treated as described with reference to FIG. 3 they may immediately be further treated in the manner described with respect to FIGS. 4 to 7 for the placement thereof around the containers C. By reason of the initial stretching of the webs 11 and 12 at the stretching rollers for each such web, and by reason of the stretch of the loops L about the frusto-conical members 36 on the turret web 34, and by reason of the memory characteristics of the resins employed in the films 11 and 12, the loops are thereafter caused to snugly engage the sides of the containers C.

After the placement of the article carrier 10 about the containers C, the groups G may be separated preferably of six containers each, by any suitable transverse severing means.