Carton handling machine

Claim 2

A carton handling machine comprising: A. a carton erecting station including carton erecting means for serially erecting collapsed, articulated carton blanks having a plurality of extended flaps into a plurality of open cartons having leading and trailing end walls, a pair of side walls extending therebetween, and a plurality of inwardly folded bottom flaps and a plurality of outwardly folded top flaps with a contents-receiving opening being defined between the outwardly folded top flaps; B. a carton loading station including means defining a fixed loading plane and a vertically adjustable carton support means for serially supporting the cartons with the contents-receiving openings thereof being disposed within said loading plane; and C. carton advancing units operatively associated with said carton erecting means and the loading station for serially advancing cartons to be packed along a predetermined path of advancement extending from the erecting station towards the loading station and for serially advancing packed cartons from the loading station, comprising a pair of vertically adjustable transfer rails for supporting the cartons as they are advanced between the carton erecting station and the carton loading station; and elongated, horizontally oriented transfer beam supported for rectilinear reciprocation between said rails including a first upstanding foot positioned to engage a vertical face of each carton at the carton erecting station, preparatory to advancing the carton therefrom; a second upstanding foot positioned to engage said vertical face of each carton at said carton loading station, preparatory to removing the carton therefrom; a pneumatic actuator operatively coupled with said beam for imparting rectilinear reciprocation thereto, whereby the second upstanding foot is caused to remove a packed carton from said carton loading station concurrently with an advance of a carton from said carton erecting station; rail support operatively supporting each transfer rail independently of the other transfer rail of said pair of transfer rails including a plurality of transversely oriented support beams; a plurality of vertically reciprocable support blocks fixed to said support beams supporting said beams for vertical adjustment relative to said loading plane; means defining a vertically oriented helix extended through each of said blocks; a plurality of vertically oriented rotatable shafts each being extended through one of said support blocks and including an external helix operatively mated with the internal helix of the block through which it is extended; a drive train interconnecting said shafts and adapted to impart simultaneous rotation thereto, whereby said blocks simultaneously are advanced in vertical directions for vertically orienting said rails; and a reversable activatable motor operatively coupled With said plurality of shafts through said drive train for selectively driving said shafts in opposite directions.

Claim 3

The machine of claim 1 wherein the drive train includes: A. an output sheave coupled with said motor; B. a rotatable drive shaft having a pair of mutually spaced sprockets fixed thereto; C. an input sheave fixed to said drive shaft; D. an operatively mated worm and spur gear coupling associated with each of said vertical shafts; E. a chain and sprocket drive unit interconnecting each worm and spur gear coupling with one of said sprockets in a manner such that rotation imparted to said drive shaft simultaneously is transferred to said worm And spur gear coupings, whereby said vertical shafts are driven in rotation for advancing said blocks; and F. a belt trained about the output sheave and the input sheave for driving said sprockets in response to an actuation of said motor.

Claim 4

A carton handling machine for erecting collapsed prescored carton blanks into open-top cartons and presenting the open-top cartons to a carton loading station having a loading plane coinciding with an arbor of a packing machine comprising: A. an adjustable magazine for supporting an edge and horizontally feeding a plurality of vertically oriented collapsed, prescored carton blanks of a variable dimension, each blank having a plurality of articulate flaps including a top and bottom loading flap, a top and bottom trailing flap, and a top and bottom pair of major flaps; B. a reciprocating picker supported for movement into engagement with a presented face of each blank fed by said magazine and adapted to releasably attach itself thereto; C. a pneumatic actuator operatively coupled with said picker for imparting thereto rectilinear reciprocation along a picker path extending toward said magazine whereby each blank attached to the picker and fed by the magazine is extracted therefrom as the picker is reciprocated; D. means disposed adjacent said picker path for engaging each blank attached to said picker as the blank is extracted from said magazine for squaring the blank into an expanded configuration; E. a first pneumatic tucker unit disposed adjacent the picker path for engaging the bottom trailing flap of each of said blanks and to fold said engaged flap inwardly as the face of the blank is attached to the picker; F. a transfer unit including a pair of vertically adjustable transfer rails, a pneumatic acutator and an elongated beam coupled with the actuator and driven thereby in rectilinear reciprocation along a predetermined path extending between said rails in an orthogonal relationship with respect to the path of said picker, for engaging said inwardly folded flap and the adjacent face of the carton blank and to advance said carton blank along a path of advancement extending along said rails to said loading station from said picker; G. means including a plurality of driven screws operatively associated with the transfer unit for vertically reorienting said transfer rail; H. a striker including a pneumatic actuator unit adapted to engage the top leading flap and fold said flap outwardly as the blank is advanced from said picker; I. means for effecting a release of the face of said carton blank from said picker preparatory to said advancement; J. means including a plow for inwardly folding the bottom leading flap of each carton toward said inwardly folded flap as the blank is advanced; K. a second pneumatic tucker unit including a pair of tuckers disposed at opposite sides of the path of said released carton blank for inwardly folding the bottom pair of major flaps of each carton blank into an overlying relationship with respect to said inwardly folded bottom leading and trailing flaps for thus completing an erection of the carton blank into an erected open-top carton; L. a pair of horizontally opposed plows for engaging and out-folding the top pair of major flaps and for outwardly folding the top trailing flap into a substantially horizontal disposition; M. vertically adjustable carton support means associated with said carton loading station for supporting the open top of each carton in said carton loading plane; N. a second foot pivotally mounted on said beam and spring biased into an upstanding disposition for engaging each erected carton at said loading station and for advancing the carton away from the loading station as the carton blank is advanced away from said picker head; and O. a fluidic control circuit including a network of pneumatically pressurized conduits and associated valves operatively interconnecting said pneumAtic actuators and said pneumatic tucker units for controlling the sequence of operations of said picker head, said transfer unit and said first, second and third tucker units.

Claim 5

A carton handling machine for erecting collapsed prescored carton blanks into open-top cartons and presenting the open-top cartons to a carton loading station having a loading plane coinciding with an arbor of a packing machine comprising: A. an adjustable magazine for supporting an edge and horizontally feeding a plurality of vertically oriented collapsed, prescored carton blanks of a variable dimension, each blank having a plurality of articulate flaps including a top and bottom loading flap, a top and bottom trailing flap, and a top and bottom pair of major flaps; B. a reciprocating picker supported for movement into engagement with a presented face of each blank fed by said magazine and adapted to releasably attach itself thereto; C. a pneumatic actuator operatively coupled with said picker for imparting thereto rectilinear reciprocation along a picker path extending toward said magazine whereby each blank attached to the picker and fed by the magazine is extracted therefrom as the picker is reciprocated; D. means disposed adjacent said picker path for engaging each blank attached to said picker as the blank is extracted from said magazine for squaring the blank into an expanded configuration; E. a first pneumatic tucker unit disposed adjacent the picker path for engaging the bottom trailing flap of each of said blanks and to fold said engaged flap inwardly as the face of the blank is attached to the picker; F. a transfer unit including a pair of vertically adjustable transfer rails, a pneumatic acutator and an elongated beam coupled with the actuator and driven thereby in rectilinear reciprocation along a predetermined path extending between said rails in an orthogonal relationship with respect to the path of said picker, for engaging said inwardly folded flap and the adjacent face of the carton blank and to advance said carton blank along a path of advancement extending along said rails to said loading station from said picker; G. means including a plurality of driven screws operatively associated with the transfer unit for vertically reorienting said transfer rail; H. a striker including a pneumatic actuator unit adapted to engage the top leading flap and fold said flap outwardly as the blank is advanced from said picker; I. means for effecting a release of the face of said carton blank from said picker preparatory to said advancement; J. means including a plow for inwardly folding the bottom leading flap of each carton toward said inwardly folded flap as the blank is advanced; K. a second pneumatic tucker unit including a pair of tuckers disposed at opposite sides of the path of said released carton blank for inwardly folding the bottom pair of major flaps of each carton blank into an overlying relationship with respect to said inwardly folded bottom leading and trailing flaps for thus completing an erection of the carton blank into an erected open-top carton; L. a pair of horizontally opposed plows for engaging and out-folding the top pair of major flaps and for outwardly folding the top trailing flap into a substantially horizontal disposition; M. vertically adjustable carton support means associated with said carton loading station for supporting the open top of each carton in said carton loading plane; N. a second foot pivotally mounted on said beam and spring biased into an upstanding disposition for engaging each erected carton at said loading station and for advancing the carton away from the loading station as the carton blank is advanced away from said picker head; and O. a fluidic control circuit including a network of pneumatically pressurized conduits and associated valves operatively interconnecting said pneumAtic actuators and said pneumatic tucker units for controlling the sequence of operations of said picker head, said transfer unit and said first, second and third tucker units.

Claim 6

The machine of claim 3 further comprising drive means operatively associated with said support rails and said carton support means including a selectively operable motor, a plurality of worm and spur gear couplings and a chain and sprocket system operatively interconnecting each of said couplings with said motor whereby the couplings are driven in usison by said motor as the motor selectively is operated.