Device for setting up folding box sections

Claim 1

In an apparatus for the formation of a box from a flat blank wherein the blank, provided with score lines, is conveyed to a station and there acted upon by folding means, including a pair of laterally disposed conveyor means each engaging and conveying a respective edge of a scored box blank so as to move said blank to a predetermined station, and folding means for acting on said blank to form it into a box, the improvement which comprises means for forcing only a portion of said blank into a planar condition while guiding and supporting said blank at its edges while at said station by a foraminous member, said means providing free mobility of the forwardly and rearwardly disposed sections of the scored box blank to be raised during folding thereof, folding means operated by pneumatic means to act exclusively upon the central area of the box blank by suction or by compressed air, said laterally disposed conveyor means positioned to act upon the top and bottom of the blank plane, means for folding over the forwardly and rearwardly disposed sections of the blank to be raised at the scored lines perpendicularly to the advance direction of the blank and means for raising said forwardly and rearwardly disposed sections unaffected by the action of suction or compressed air, said laterally disposed conveyor means, laterally spaced apart from one another to define the lateral sides of said area, each of said pair of conveyor means including a pair of conveyors acting on top and oN bottom of a respective edge of said blank so as to grip said edge therebetween, said area being free of conveyor means and being one in which a portion of said blank which is not to be folded can lie, said means for raising said forwardly and rearwardly disposed sections being disposed between the laterally disposed conveyor means forwardly and rearwardly of said zone, whereby only a portion of said blank is maintained flat during folding, any deformation in said blank being removed at least temporarily by the pneumatic action said apparatus further including a supplementary conveyor means positioned between said pair of conveyor means to act upon the intermediate portion of said blank while said blank is at said station, said supplementary conveyor means moving at the same speed as said pair of conveying means and being provided with a foraminous surface where it contacts said blank, whereby the suction is effected through said supplementary conveying means, said pneumatically acting means comprising a suction chamber positioned so as to pull the intermediate portion of said blank into the same plane as said edges.