Feeder arranged in line with folding star conveyor of packaging machines

The present invention relates to a product feeder arranged in line with the folding star conveyor of packaging machines, preferably for small products, particularly chocolates, candy and other foodstuffs.

Chocolates are packaged by wrapping onto each one of them a sheet of suitable material (for example, multilayer sheets of paper for food use and aluminum), the flaps of which are generally folded below the base of the chocolate.

The machines that package the chocolates are provided with a supply line, on which the chocolates are arranged in a row, which leads to a star conveyor formed by grip elements, which is actuated rotationally.

The individual product, after receiving from a controlled dispenser the sheet with which it will be packaged, is inserted in the grip element located at the end of the arm of the folding star conveyor which passes in the insertion position.

During the rotation of the star conveyor, the product faces respective devices for folding the sheet until the product is completely packaged.

The conveyor for feeding the chocolates tends to push each chocolate against the one in front and may even cause their mutual contact.

When a first chocolate is inserted in the grip element provided on the star conveyor, the chocolate that follows may have made contact (with its front face) with the rear face of the first chocolate.

The insertion of the chocolate in the grip element occurs with a direction of motion which is substantially transverse with respect to the direction in which the product is fed.

Therefore, contact between the chocolate being inserted and the chocolate that follows causes a mutual sliding of the faces in contact, which due to the high relative speed may compromise the quality of the products (considered in terms of regularity of shape and uniformity of the surfaces).

This occurs in particular if the chocolates, following an unsuitable heat treatment, arrive at packaging with a hardness which is lower than preset values.

US 4 352 264 discloses a wrapping machine with a feeder according to the preamble of claim 1, that has a disk conveyor for conveying individual products to a position for transfer that has lifting means that grip and lift the product while it is folded with a cutting of wrapping material.

Document US 2 744 370 discloses a wrapping mechanism with a feeding disc located over an elevator in correspondence with a folding mechanism. The product is held between the elevator and a counter elevator, is lifted together with a folding paper and located between folding fingers of the folding mechanism where it is folded.

The aim of the present invention is to obviate the above-cited shortcomings and meet the mentioned requirements, by providing a feeder for feeding products to the folding star conveyor of packaging machines in which the products that make mutual contact do not undergo, during insertion, relative sliding of the surfaces that have come into contact, with consequent damage, and therefore in which all the packaged products maintain a high and uniform quality standard.

Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a feeder which is simple and which, being arranged in line with the packaging star conveyor (and therefore arranged laterally with respect to it), allows maximum accessibility to the packaging region for every operating and maintenance requirement.

This aim and these and other obj ects that will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by the present feeder, as defined in claim 1.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of a feeder with oscillating rotary element, with product spacing, in line with the folding star conveyor of packaging machines, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

• Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a portion of an in-line feeder according to the invention with two conveyance units;
• Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of a portion of an in-line feeder according to the invention with two conveyance units and with reference to the main elements of the product insertion device;
• Figure 3 is a perspective view of an in-line feeder according to the invention with two conveyance units, connected to the respective packaging machine, illustrating in particular also the main elements of the product insertion device and the controlled unit for distributing the packaging sheet;
• Figure 4 is a side view of an in-line feeder according to the invention with two conveyance units, connected to the respective packaging machine, illustrating in particular also the main elements of the product insertion device and the controlled unit for distributing the packaging sheet;
• Figure 5 is a schematic perspective view of a portion of an in-line feeder according to the invention with one conveyance unit.

With reference to the figures, the reference numeral 1 generally designates an in-line feeder with a folding star conveyor of packaging machines 2.

Each machine 2 for packaging small products P comprises the feeder 1 for the products P to be packaged, a controlled unit 3 for distributing a sheet 4 with which each product P will be wrapped and packaged, and a rotating star conveyor 5.

The star conveyor 5 is provided, at the end of each one of its arms 6, with a grip element 7 for a respective product P.

The feeder 1 comprises at least one conveyance unit 8 for the products P, which is arranged substantially at right angles to a pivoting axis 9 of the star conveyor 5 and is aligned with the distribution unit 3 indeed along the direction in which the sheet 4 is dispensed.

At the end portion of the at least one unit 8 a rotating element 10 is provided for transferring each product P from the respective unit 8 to the unit 13 for inserting the product P in the grip element 7 of the arm 6 of the packaging star conveyor 5 that at that instant is proximate to the region where the dispensed sheet 4 is preset.

The element 10 for transferring the product P can rotate from a first configuration, in which a respective grip clamp 11, provided on at least one of its end arms 12, has its jaws parallel and proximate to the respective lateral surfaces of the product P, in order to be able to clamp it so as to ensure its correct movement, to a second configuration, in which the clamp 11 is aligned and proximate to one of the grip elements 7 coupled to one arm 6 of the star conveyor 5.

The end arms 12 of the rotating element 10 are two and are arranged so that they are substantially coplanar and at 90° with respect to each other so that to produce the transition from the first configuration to the second configuration it is sufficient to turn said element through a stroke of substantially 90° by means of a motor drive arranged below the feeder 1 and not shown in the figure: likewise, a similar retrograde stroke for the reverse transition from the second configuration to the first configuration is provided.

An insertion unit 13 for transferring the product P from the respective clamp 11 of the element 10 to the grip element 7 is interposed between the element 10 and the grip element 7 of the clamp 5.

The pusher of the insertion unit 13 is arranged, when it is in the inactive condition, substantially below the clamp 11 of the rotating element 10 when said clamp is in the second configuration; the upper end of the unit 13 performs a vertical translational motion, which can be obtained by means of a pneumatic or hydraulic piston or by means of oscillating or swinging mechanical bodies actuated by a respective actuation motor, which are not shown in the figure.

The moving upper end of the insertion unit 13 is shaped so as to accommodate with the pusher the product P during translational motion so as to arrange it, with the interposition of the packaging sheet 4, within the grip element 7 of one of the arms 6 of the star conveyor 5.

According to a particular embodiment, the conveyance units 8 are two, are aligned and mutually proximate, and are parallel to the plane that contains the star conveyor 5.

As an alternative, as shown in Figure 5, it is possible to provide a feeder 1 provided with a single conveyance unit 8: in this case, the element 10 is provided with a single arm 12, which supports the respective clamp 11 at its end.

The operation of the unit is as follows. The products P, supported on the conveyance units 8 by way of means not shown in the figures, are arranged on the conveyance units 8 so that they are accurately aligned but mutually spaced in a random fashion (as shown in the figures). While they are transferred from the conveyance units 8 to the element 10, the products P move mutually closer as they approach the element 10 to the point of possibly making mutual contact.

At the end portion of the unit 8, each individual product P is aligned with the element 10; the element 10 is provided with the clamp 11 (arranged on the at least one arm 12), which clamps the product P along its lateral surfaces (first configuration).

The element 10 then undergoes a rotation through approximately 90°, which is imparted by a motor drive which actuates it and moves the product P clamped in the clamp 11 into alignment with the grip element 7 of the arm 6, the sheet 4 being interposed between the product P and the grip element 7 (second configuration).

The pusher 13 at this point is extended vertically, lifting the product P from the clamp 11; the controlled distribution unit 3 deposits the sheet 4 onto the upper face of the product P being lifted, and the lifting stroke of the product P ends with the insertion of the product P and of the sheet 4 between the jaws of the grip element 7; the packaging sheet 4 is thus interposed between the jaws and the product P.

At this point, the star conveyor 5 continues its rotation, aligning, during said rotation, the arm 6 that supports the product P with successive stations for folding the sheet 4 (not shown in the figure) to complete the packaging of the product P. The packaged product P is then released by the grip element 7 and subsequently extracted from the machine by appropriately provided elements, which are not shown in the figure.

It should be noted that in the embodiment that provides two units 8, while one clamp 11 is in the second configuration and is transferring the product P, picked up previously by the respective unit 8 (by means of the pusher 13), to the respective arm 6, the other clamp is in the first configuration for picking up a product P from the respective unit 8.

The particularity of this feeder 1 is that the product P, during insertion in the grip elements 7 of the star conveyor 5, is not subj ected to a transverse relative sliding with respect to the contiguous product P, but is moved away from it along the same direction as the conveyance-feeding motion.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims.

All the details may further be replaced with other technically equivalent ones.

In the examples of embodiment shown, individual characteristics, given in relation to specific examples, may actually be interchanged with other different characteristics that exist in other examples of embodiment.

Moreover, it is noted that anything found to be already known during the patenting process is understood not to be claimed and to be the subject of a disclaimer.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the shapes and the dimensions, may be any according to requirements without thereby abandoning the scope of the protection of the appended claims.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.