US2330715A - Wrapper feed for wrapping machines - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 28, 1943.- w', H PP:

' WRAPPER FEED FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Filed March 13, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR +7111, ATTORNEYS Sept. 28, 1943. w. HOPPE 2,330,715

WRAPPER FEEDFOR WRAPPING MACHINES Filed March 15, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I CI INVENTOR MA MA M HOPP ATTORNEYS Sept. 28, 1943. w. HOPPE v WRAPPER FEED FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Filed March 15, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR Mum/v HOPP ATTOR f/M NEYS 4 Sept. 28, 1943. w HOPPE WRAPPER FEED FOR WRAPPING MAQHINES4 Filed March 13, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR MZZ/A/VfiQJPPE BY M M ATTORNEYS Sept. 28, 19431 w. HOPPE 2,330,715

WRAPPER FEED FOR WRAPPING MACHINES 'Filea March 13, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR Mumufi pc Wm M ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 28, 1943 N 1 T E 2 times PATEN T m CE h i WaArrsara-nn F33: 2:13a mNES William Hoppe, Longmea'dow, Mass, assignor to NationalBread Wrapping Machine'Co., Springfield, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts. ApplicationlliarchlS, 1942, Serial No. 434,486

6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in the handling and feeding of wrapper webs inmachines of the general typeshown in my prior Patent 2,273,961, granted February 24, 19.42. In

It of a carrier or elevator l'land then will remain imposition to serve as a side guide as the carrier rises. The carrier is moved vertically by any suitable mechanism, such for example as that machine the web was .fed positively bya pair is shown in the Smith & Hoppe Patent 1,953,195, I of continuously rotating rolls which stayed-in April '3, 1934. The elevator reciproeates up and feeding contact only so long as was necessary to down between the horizontal end or plate 12, deliver a length of. Web sufficient to make the which formsa loading station, and a plate 18 desired initial contact with the article, the rolls which forms the floor of a wrapping or delivery being thereafter separated to .feed the web as 10 channel. The elevator has side tuckers I9, and the movement of'the article caused the leading the delivery channel has top, end and bottom edge of the web to be pulled against one or the folders 29, 2|, and22. All of these folders may other of them under tension. 7 be of any well known or desired construction,

While that device proved itself eminently and since their detail forms no part of the pressatisfactory, particularly for high speed macnt invention they are not further described. chines, it has proved desirable to improve upon The wrapper web 10 is led from a suitable it in the matter of simplicity and expense for source (not shown) over a floatingtake-up and use in other types of wrapping machines, such tension roll 25, having associated guide rolls 26 as machines where low speed is not objectionand2l'. From the roll 21 the web passes overa able or machines in which a dififerent type of plate 23 and under a web retainer- 29 which article carrier is used. In the feeding mechdrags on the web and prevents retrograde moveanism shown in the cited patent some mechament. The feed. ro1ls3il, 3| are situated at the nism was necessary to prevent the actionof end of the plate 28, are geared together at 32 the feed rolls in case no articlegwas presented for '(Fig. 10) and are driven continuously from any wrapping. In the present construction no such desired source of power by a sprocket and chain mechanism is required, since the rolls are fixed 33. In distinction from the action of the rolls at a constant distance apart and only feedthe in Patent 2,273,961, the rolls 3B, 3 a e p s t oned web when the movement of the article causes a a constant distance ap and are p e y pull on it, g located with their axes on a line substantially 'at The invention will now be described with refer- 3g; right angles to the path of travel of the elevator. ence to the accompanying drawings, in which Since the rolls are never in contact they cannot Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section, partly diagramfeed the web forwardly if its free end is merely matic, through a wrapping machine embodying hanging between them as'in Figs. 5 and 6, the the invention; cooperation of the wrapping mechanism and of Figs. 2 to 6 inclusive are details showing, stages the t cle it f being eq ed to tens on the of the operation of the mechanism succeeding Web around the rollers in a sinuous path as in that shown in Fig. 1; Figsl to 4 in order to cause the web to be fed Fig. 7 is a similar detail showing the adjust- Out y frictional ont ct. ment of the mechanism for an article of relative The course of thewrapping operationcan best ly small size; i 40 be treated by considering the wrapper as being Fig. 8 is a detail of the mechanism for controlinitially in t p i o of 6. The article a ling the length of the first bottom underlap Will be moved by the pusher 15 into contact with taken on line 8--8 of Fig. 9; the web just back of its leading end, and will Fig. 9 is an enlarged side elevation thereof; pass with the web onto the elevator plate i6 and 10 is g ,11 of t feed 11 drive; and between the tuckers IS. The motion of the push Fig. 11 is a detail of the infeed conveyor. er I5 continues, and since the web is, firmly .an- The Wrapping machine comprises an infeed chored to the article by being foldedagainst its conveyor (Figs. 1 and 11) having a base plate bottom and sides the wrapper will be tensioned [2, preferably inclined upwardly with a horiaround they feed rolls 3!], 3| as in Fig. 1. As long zontal end, through slots in which lugs. l3 of a as this tension is maintained the rolls will feed chain l4 pass. The lugs carry pushers IE to conthe web by friction, but it is impossible to feed tact. the rear face of the articles, the chain out too much since the slightest tendency to form being driven intermittently by any suitable slack would cause the feed to stop. It should mechanism so that the pushers will advance sucbe. noted that at all times during the upward cessively to p ace an article upon the .base plate movement of the elevator the webpasses through the rolls in a sinuous path which prevents sideslip even though there may be a slight slackening of the web as the elevator carries the top of the article from the position of Fig. 1 past the feed rolls, and insures a good grip on the web in all positions of the carrier.

Since in the present case the rolls are incapable of feeding out the initial length of web shown in Fig. 5, as was the case in Patent 2,273,961, the elevator is given a nearly suflicient stroke to draw out a length of web to suit the smallest size of package which it is the purpose of the machine to wrap. The wrapper is cut off from the web only after the circumferential wrap is practically complete as in Figs. 4 and '7; a sta-f tionary cutter blade being located on the elevator and a movable bifurcated cutter blade 36 being carried by arms 37 (Fig. l) fixed to a shaft 38 and actuated by a link 39 from a pivoted arm 40 carrying a roll 4| held against a cam 42 on a shaft 43 by a spring 44. The shaft 43 may also drive the feed roll chain 33 by a sprocket and gear connection 45. As the elevator ascends the travel of the article to the position of Fig. 7 will cause the wrapper to be tensioned against the feed rolls 39, 3t and to be fed out by friction. Whenthe position of Fig. '7 is reached the wrapper will be severed by the action of the cutter, and the severed front end of the web will swing down across the path of the advancing article as shown in Fig. 5.

The length thus fed out will be sufficient to cover the front and as much as required of the bottom of a loaf of the smallest size. For larger articles, however, this will not be enough; since irrespective of the size of the article the length of web above the cutters is substantially constant, as will be seen from a comparison of Figs. 4 and 7. It is the length of wrapper above the cutters that controls the length of the second flap folded onto the article bottom, and the length of wrapper belowthe cutters that controls the length of the first flap. Since the first length is substantially constant it is necessary, in order to control the overlapping of the two flaps, to vary the length of the wrapper between the feed rolls and the cutter at the time of cutting. This is done by a roll carried by swinging arms 5| and movable periodically from the rest position of Fig. 1 to a variable web-deflecting position, one example of which is shown in Fig. 4 The arms 5! are secured to a shaft 52 bearing an arm 53 (Fig. 8) joined by a link 54 to a bell crank 55 pivoted on a stud 56 and having on one arm a roll 5! running in a groove 58 formed in a cam 59 on shaft 43. The second arm of the bell crank has a slot 60 in which is an adjustable pivot 6| for the link 54. The bell crank is preferably offset from its pivot stud 56 as shown in Fig. 9 in order to permit the slot to extend past it, so that the pivot may be adjusted to'a position where no motion will be given to the roll 59 as is desirable for packages of the minimum size. For packages of other sizes the motion of roll 50 may be adjusted by varying the position of the control pivot 6!. The motion can thus be controlled so that a relatively large amount of deflection can be given to the web as in Fig, 4 or no deflection at all as in Fig. 7. If desired an articleand wrapper guide 52 may be carried by arms 5!.

The completion of the circumferential Wrapping operation may be accomplished in any desired way. As shown, the elevator is provided with a freely rotatable roll '63 which, when the elevator is in its upper position, abuts a roll 64 adjacent the entrance to the discharge channel. The roll 64 may be freely running, held by a brake, or positively driven as is well understood in order to control the tension of the wrapper as the latter is drawn between rolls 63, 64 as the article is fed into the delivery channelby the usual pusher 65,

WhatI claim is:

1. A wrapping machine having a carrier movable between loading and discharge stations, a pair of friction rolls permanently spaced from each other and located between the stations at one side of the path of the carrier, means for rotating the rolls in opposite directions whereby a web passing between the rolls and held between an article and the carrier will be fed out by friction as required by the motion of the article and carrier, and means for severing the web between said rolls and carrier, the rolls and the severing means being separated apart a distance sufficient to provide a sufficient amount of web projecting beyond the rolls at the instant of severance for contact with the next succeeding article without further feeding out of the web.

2. A wrapping machine having a carrier movable between loading and discharge stations, a pair of friction rolls permanently spaced from each other and located between the stations at one side of the path of the carrier, means for rotating the rolls continuously in opposite directions whereby a web passing between the rolls and held between an article and the carrier will be fed out by friction as required by the motion of the article and carrier, means for severing the web between the rolls and the carrier, and mechanism for deflecting the web between the rolls and the severing means, the rolls and the severing means being spaced apart a distance sufficient to provide a sufficient amount of web projecting beyond the rolls at the instant of severance of said deflected web for contact with the next succeeding article without further feeding out of the web.

3. A wrapping machine having a carrier movable between loading and discharge stations, a pair of friction rolls permanently spaced from each other and located between the stations at one-side of the path of the carrier and with the line of their axes substantially parallel to said path, means for rotating the rolls in opposite directions whereby a web passing between the rolls and held between an article and the carrier will be fed out by friction as required by the motion of the article and carrier, and means for severing the web between said rolls and carrier, the rolls and the severing means being spaced apart a distance suflicient to provide a sufficient amount of web projecting beyond the rolls at the instant of severance for contact with the next succeeding article without further feeding out of the web.

4. A wrapping machine having a carrier movable between loading and discharge stations, a pair of friction rolls permanently spaced from each other and located between the stations at one side of the path of the carrier and with the line of their axes substantially parallel to said path, means for rotating the rolls continuously in opposite directions whereby a web passing between the rolls and held between an article and the carrier will be fed out by friction as required by the motion of the article and carrier, means for severing the webbetween the rolls and the carrier, andmechanism for deflecting the web between the rolls and the severing means, the

rolls and the severing means being spaced apart a distance suflicient to provide a suflicient amount of web projecting beyond the rolls at the instant ofrseverance of said deflected web for contact with the next succeeding article without further feeding out of the web.

5. In a wrapping machine of the type having a vertically movable carrier, means for moving the carrier back and forth between a loading station and a discharge station, and means for feeding articles on to and off from the carrier, a pair of web feeding rolls continuously driven in opposite directions positioned between the stations with their surfaces permanently out of contact, means for directing a web to the rolls, a web retainer for preventing retrograde motion of the web, a cutter blade on the elevator, a cutter movable into'cutting relation with said blade when the carrier is at the discharge position, a web deflectin g roll between the feed rolls and the movable cutter, andadjustable mechanism for moving the 6. In a wrapping machine of the type having a vertically movable carrier, means for moving the carrier back and forth between a loading station and a discharge station, and means for feeding articles onto and off from the carrier, a pair of web feeding rolls continuously driven in opposite directions positioned between the stations with their surfaces permanently out of contact and with the line of their axes substantially at right angles to the path of motion of the carrier, means for directing a web to the rolls, a web retainer for preventing retrograde motion of the web, a cutter blade on the elevator, a cutter movable into cutting relation with said blade when the carrier is at the discharge position, a web deflecting roll between the feed rolls and the deflecting roll underneath the carrier prior to the 1 cutting operation.

movable cutter, and adjustable mechanism for moving the deflecting roll underneath the carrier prior to the cutting operation.

WILLIAM HOPPE.

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