Carton orientation system

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to the handling of cartons used to contain articles including bottled beverages and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to the handling of cartons during the packing process from them being erected to being filled with articles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many businesses need to fill and ship large quantities of goods such as bottled beverages and in doing so utilize cartons to hold the goods during shipment from the production facility to retail outlets and onward to the consumer. The cartons are usually supplied to the user business in the form known as “flats” which are flat, glued, folded paperboard, often corrugated, cartons. Such businesses need to be able to rapidly and economically erect, fill, close and seal the cartons. In many bottling facilities, 24-pack cartons and some other sizes are “top filled”, i.e. the complement of filled beverage bottles, in this case, 24-341 ml. bottles filled with beer, are gently inserted, i.e. “dropped” into the open carton from above. Moreover, the modern trend is toward cartons not having a traditional bottle divider unit. Such cartons are designed to having interior dimensions, and in particular, length and width forming a rectangular area, only marginally larger than that occupied by the assembled 24 bottles in a 6×4 unit format which are to be inserted into the carton. It will be appreciated that, with so little tolerance, a virtually exact alignment of the 24 bottle “unit” with the top (open) area of the carton is essential if the bottles are to be successfully inserted into a carton. This must be effected at high speed, about 2,000 such cartons an hour are routinely filled in modern facilities. It is, therefore, clear that any deviation of the carton from being a regular rectangle would result in the unsuccessful filling with its complement of bottles. This is extremely serious from an economic viewpoint since it results in the production line being halted while the carton in question and its proposed contents are removed.

The cartons obviously must be transported between the stations where the above activities, filling, sealing, etc, are carried out and in particular, between the machine which erects the blanks and the filler. There are many commercially available box or carton erecting machines. Refer, for example to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,269,741 and 6,467,241. Many such machines used to erect the “flat” blank result in the erected carton lying on its side, especially with 24 container cartons, and there is consequently a need to rotate the carton 90° so that it rests on its base to be top filled. At this point, the carton is, structurally, somewhat fragile since the top is completely open and contributes little, if anything, to the ridgity of the carton structure. Consequently, the travelling carton is quite susceptible to being distorted, especially as it is being rotated into a vertical orientation, and it only takes one such problem to prevent the carton being successfully filled. The reorientation through 90°, i.e. from lying or a side to lying on the base is usually effected by allowing the erected carton to rotate off one conveyor onto another, usually located below the first. The end result is a costly shutdown of the production line until the defective carton and any associated bottles have been removed from the line.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a carton orientation system involving rotation of an erected empty container to a condition it can accept a complement of containers from above without the carton being distorted.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION

It has now been found that the objective can be achieved by ensuring that the erected carton lying on a side can be re-oriented to lie on another side such as the base by rotating under the influence of gravity off a first conveyor and to the desired orientation on a second conveyor whilst maintaining the longitudinal axis of the erected carton parallel to that of the second conveyor. Under this condition, the force of the carton striking the second conveyor surface is spread over at least the full length and preferably, substantially all of the base of the carton, substantially simultaneously and the structural configuration of the carton opening is maintained.

The present invention is used to advantage in a system where articles travelling on a conveyor are required to be rotated from resting on one wall to resting on another. For example, secondary cartons in a beverage packaging facility are obtained as “flats”, and are erected, filled with filled primary containers, e.g. beverage bottles, sealed and introduced to the market. In many cases, the cartons when erected lie on a side wall but need to be vertically oriented, i.e. rest on the base wall to be top filled. The carton contents such as beverage bottles or cans are then inserted through the top opening in a block or unit. For example, a carton containing 24 bottles first requires that the bottles are formed into a 6×4 “block” or “unit” which is lifted via readily commercial available packing machines into the carton through the top opening. There is very little difference between the rectangular area or footprint of the unit of bottles and the carton opening especially in cartons having no bottle divider. Consequently, it is important that the carton opening retain its rectangular configuration following re-orientation onto its base. Consequently, each erected carton is required to be rotated through 90° so as to rest on its base whilst being transported on the conveyor to the packer.

The present invention provides a device for re-orienting articles such as cartons having a base side walls and an opening remote from said base and through which containers can be introduced, said device comprising means for transporting erected cartons lying on a wall thereof to an orienting station which includes first [carton] support means adapted to support a carton along a longitudinal zone thereof laterally spaced from a longitudinal plan containing a centre of gravity of the said carton and carton restraining means adapted to prevent said carton from rotating off said first support means under gravity to a second support means until rotation of said carton, a longitudinal zone of a wall thereof which first contacts said second support is substantially parallel thereto as said contact is made.

More specifically, the present invention provides a device for re-orienting cartons by rotating the cartons traveling on a conveyor comprising means for transporting said cartons in one orientation to a station which station includes first means to support each said carton only laterally of a vertical plane containing a centre of gravity of each said carton such that each said carton may rotate off said support under gravity and descend to and rest on a second support and means to ensure that at least a longitudinal zone the length of a wall of each said carton which first contacts said second support, is substantially parallel thereto as said contact is made.

Preferably, the means provided to prevent the carton from rotating until the longitudinal axis of the article such as a carton is parallel to the second support is adopted to maintain contact with the outside of the wall opposite that upon which the carton is supported and for a distance sufficient to prevent carton rotation until rotation occurs when the longitudinal axis of the carton is parallel to the first support means. More preferably, the two supports are arranged so that the carton is able to rotate so that its base is substantially parallel to the second support as it initially contacts same. In this way, there is little tendency for the carton to distort as it connects with the second support and the carton top is fully available for being top filled.

The present invention also provides a method of reorienting articles and especially cartons using the above-described device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be further described but not limited by reference to the specific embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing showing the route taken by beverage carton flats on a packaging line in a brewing facility.

FIG. 2 is an angled perspective view of a system of the present invention, showing a number of 24-bottle cartons exiting the erector and traveling on a conveyor surface to the inventive transfer station.

FIG. 3 is a similar view to FIG. 2 but with a carton at the transfer station just prior to it commencing to rotate.

FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C are schematic views showing the progress of a carton resulting in transfer of the open carton from one conveyor surface to another according to the present invention.

Turning to the drawings and FIG. 1 in particular, carton flats (not shown) from storage are transported via moving conveyor 12 to a carton erection station 14. Following their being erected in known manner, they are transported via moving conveyor 15 to and through rotation station 16 to a third conveyor 18 and on to packer 20 where each open carton is top filled with a complement of 24-341 ml filled bottles in a 6×4 configuration and the carton sealed by securing overlapping flaps in the usual manner. The filled cartons exit the packer and are transported via conveyor 22 to palletizer 23 where they are loaded onto pallets and taken to storage.

Turning to FIGS. 2 through 4, beer cartons 24 are shown erected and each has a base 27, top side and end sealing flaps, 26 or 29 respectively extending from side walls 30, the carton lying on one of latter as it travels on conveyor 12 in the direction of the arrow to carton support rod 36 and corner 33. Rod 36 is, effectively, an extension of conveyor surface 12. The rotation station functions as follows:

The carton 24 is erected from a carton flat in known manner by erector 14 and then travels on conveyor 12 to the rotation station 16 which includes carton support rod 36. Carton 24 is moved along support 36 by being urged by the following cartons 24 which are still being moved along conveyor surface 12. Carton 24 travels along support 36 until more than about half its length passes the end 27 of the conveyor 12 when, because the carton centre of gravity 50 is laterally spaced from support rod 50 (and away from the viewer), carton 12 would be inclined to rotate and topple off the support rod 36 probably, in the absence of any restraint, with the front corner 33 descending first. If that happens, and the corner 33 strikes the lower support conveyor 18 first, there is a real possibility of the carton distorting due to the impact, the weight of the carton acting solely through that location. To prevent the carton from taking that route, carton restraining means, namely brush-like member 40, is located above the carton path, its bristles 42 being adapted to lightly contact the side walls 30. This contact with carton side walls 30 is maintained and prevents the front end of carton 24 from descending until most or all of the whole longitudinal edge 31, shown in phantom in FIG. 3, of the carton, including the front corner 33, can rotate and edge 31 remains generally parallel to support rod 36 and lower conveyor 18 during such rotation. In this way, at least substantially the full longitudinal edge 31 will contact the conveyor 18 simultaneously—see FIG. 4B—and then the carton 24 will have completed a 90° rotation to sit on conveyor 18. In a preferred situation—refer to FIG. 4C—the whole base 27 becomes parallel to conveyor 18 and then descends to contact conveyor 18 at the same time. In either of these two cases, the forces on the carton are more evenly spread compared to those produced if the carton contacts the conveyor 18 first at an angle and with only a corner or the like part of base 27.

Turning to FIG. 2 of the drawings, a carton erecting station is generally designated 14. This machine is a standard item of commerce, for example Model REVCASEFORM 151 of the International Paper Company of Miami. Its mode of operation is well known to a man skilled in the art and need not be detailed here. However, in summary, a batch of carton flats (not shown), in this case for top filling 24-bottle pack corrugated beer cartons, having a carton base 27 pre-formed from flaps glued together, are introduced via a conveyor 12 to the erection station 10. The flats are separated from each other and each individually erected to form an empty carton 24 having side walls 30; upper side flaps 26 and upper end flaps 29, extending in approximately the same plane as their associated side walls 30, and end walls 32 respectively, the latter extending so as not to overlap the carton opening 34. The preformed carton base is indicated at 25. At this point, the carton 25 and opening 34 has a regular rectangle cross-section and a major object of the present invention is to ensure carton 24 is transferred to second conveyor 18 having been rotated through 90° and without distorting that rectangular structure. Prior to the present invention, carton 24 would be urged along conveyor 12 to and along support arm or support 36 by following sequentially erected cartons which are urged by their supporting conveyor. As can be seen, conveyor extension arm 36 is located longitudinally to the side of the centre of gravity of the empty carton 24. As carton 24 travels along arm 36, it is progressively less supported by conveyor 34 until it reaches a point that it is able to commence to rotate about arm 36 and fall downwardly toward conveyor 18. By the time it leaves the support of conveyor 34 and arm 36, ideally it has completed 90° of rotation and its base 27 contacts conveyor 38. The carton is then transported to the bottle packer 20 where it is filled with a complement of 24 bottles, sealed and transported via conveyor 22 to the palletizer 23. The problem with this system is that each carton 24 can, and does, rotate and fall in a less than ideal manner and can contact conveyor 38 with one of its corners or only part of the base 27, that type of contact in combination with the weight of the carton resulting in it being forced “out of square”. When such a carton 24 reaches the packer, the rectangular-configured 24 bottle unit does not coincide with the open top of the carton; the unit cannot enter; bottles fall over, etc. and the packaging line is required to be shut down. It will be appreciated that this happening, even only sporadically, results in significant disruption and economic loss.

Turning to the system of the present invention utilizing the novel transfer system, a carton restraining device 40 comprising a block 42 of flexible bristles secured in a housing 41 is located above and parallel to the conveyor 12 and rod 36. The device 40 is carried by a support 46 to which it is adjustably locked in place via clamping arrangement 48. Support 46 is similarly adjustably secured via clamp 45 to a part of the frame (see FIG. 2 of guide rail 47) supporting conveyor 18. Consequently, the location both laterally across and longitudinally along the direction of the conveyor 18 and support rod or arm 36 combination can be varied as desired. Its height vertically above the plane including arm 36 is approximately equal to the width of a carton 24 so that the bristles maintain contact with the side walls 30 of each carton 25, lightly enough to prevent rotation and not appreciably hinder the carton's progress along the conveyor.

Its position longitudinally along each carton 24 in the direction of the conveyor 34/arm 36 combination is chosen so that the bristles remain in contact with each passing carton 24 long enough to ensure the carton 24 rotates with its longitudinal axis in an approximately horizontal plane. This ensures that the base 27 of each carton 24 is substantially horizontal and contacts the lower conveyor 18 substantially only via its base 27 and generally, at least a full longitudinal edge and, preferably all thereof simultaneously. This greatly reduces or even eliminates any tendency for a carton 24 to contact conveyor 18 in a manner which impacts a force to the carton which would result in it being deformed and lose its rectangular cross-section. In the specific embodiment shown, the strip or block 42 of bristles is located about one-third of the height of the carton inwardly of the base 27 and has a length of about 17 cm and a width of about 2.5 cm. The carton 24 has a length of about 40 cm and a height (excluding top flap) of about 27 cm. The precise location required to ensure the carton is in the correct portion to rotate in the desired manner is readily found by a few experiments wherein the position of the bristle unit is adjusted for location longitudinally along conveyor 34/arm 36 combination; height above the arm 24 and location inwardly over the carton.

It is contemplated that the inventive concepts herein described may be variously otherwise embodied and it is intended that the appended claims be construed to include alternative embodiments of the invention except insofar as limited by the prior art.