EP1990184A1 - Device for manufacturing a conical cover and/or a paper cup - Google Patents

Abstract

The apparatus has a machine frame, and two star wheels (1-4) rotatably connected with the machine frame and driveable in synchronized cycles, where one of the star wheels has a set of conical mandrels (10, 20, 30, 40). A conical sleeve (59) is formable from a flat-lying blank (67) on each conical mandrels. The two star wheels are in one plane and are arranged with a horizontal drive shaft at a vertical wall of the machine frame. The star wheels are connected to a drive, which is arranged on a side of the wall of the machine frame facing away from the star wheels.

Description

The invention relates to a device for producing a conical sleeve for a cup and / or a conical paper cup with a machine frame and at least two rotatably connected to the machine frame and cyclically driven Stemrädem, wherein a first stamper has a plurality of conical mandrels on each of which a sleeve a flat lying blank is malleable.

A device of this kind is by the WO 99/11526 A1 State of the art. The structure of the known device is very complicated and confusing. The star wheels have differently arranged axes of rotation, which are arranged perpendicular to each other. In addition, the star wheels are in different levels. The transfer of the sleeve or paper cup from one stamper to the other is difficult. In addition, the processing stations are poorly accessible to the star wheels for a machine operator. A conversion of the device to another cup format is very expensive. In addition, the accessibility of the drives is poor because the drives are mounted below the arranged with vertical drive shafts Stemräder.

The invention has for its object to improve a device of the type mentioned.

The object is achieved in that the star wheels lie in one plane and are arranged with horizontal drive shafts on a vertical wall of the machine frame.

Such an arrangement of the star wheels in the device allows a very good accessibility of the individual processing stations on the Stemrädem. A machine operator can easily see all the star wheels and easily eliminate any faults.

The stems are preferably connected to at least one drive, wherein the drive is arranged on the side facing away from the star wheels of the central wall of the machine frame. This has the advantage that the drives are very easily accessible from the back of the machine in the event of a malfunction. The drives can be set up very easily and are therefore precise at the same time, since there are only short paths from the drive to the stamper. In order to achieve today required cycle speeds of the machine of over 250 cycles per minute with a good positional accuracy of the star wheels, a very rigid and stable construction of the machine frame and the drives is required due to the high accelerations and the resulting inertia forces. The central wall of the machine frame ensures high stability and rigidity.

There is also enough space on the back of the machine available to absorb the inevitably relatively large dimensions due to the inertia forces drives. In contrast to the above-mentioned prior art, where the space is limited below the arranged with a vertical axis of rotation star wheel, the space for the drives in the present invention is not limited, since the positioning and accessibility of the star wheels completely independent of the size of the drives is.

At the same time a very high precision of the manufacturing device can be achieved by the central wall of the machine frame, since the central wall dictates the mounting positions of the drives, the star wheels and the processing stations. There are no other frame parts required, which affect the accuracy with additional tolerances. The central wall of the machine frame can be made, for example, as a one-piece casting, which can be completely processed on a machine tool, so that all holes and contact surfaces have a high positional accuracy to each other.

The drives themselves can be designed differently. For a very high rigidity and stability, for example, so-called "indexing" advantageous in which a continuous rotational movement of a drive motor via a worm shaft with variable pitch is converted into a clocked rotational movement of the stamper. However, it may also be advantageous, the axes of rotation of the drives already parallel to the axes of rotation of the Position drive shafts of the star wheels. It is then no longer necessary to redirect the direction of rotation.

Advantageously, the Stemräder are easily replaceable attached to the machine frame. For this purpose, easily detachable means for connection to the drive, for example quick-release couplings, are provided. The device can be converted very quickly to another cup format. For example, a complete Stemrad be removed with a few simple steps from the device and replaced with an already prepared Stemrad for another cup format. The production loss during the conversion of the machine is thereby minimized.

The device according to the invention is suitable for producing different cups which may have round or arbitrarily shaped cross sections. For example, single-walled paper cups made of coated or uncoated paper or cardboard material can be produced. As a coating is particularly well suited a thin plastic layer which makes the paper material liquid-tight and which can be optionally mounted on one or both sides of the paper material. The device according to the invention is also very well suited for producing conical sleeves for different cups. The sleeves are formed from a pre-cut blank, such as paper or cardboard, wrapped around a conical mandrel and joined together at their longitudinal sides. The sleeves produced, for example, form the outer shells of double-walled Isolierbechem or plastic cups. But you can also be placed in an injection mold to form the outer surface of a plastic cup. The plastic cup can for example consist of a foamed plastic material.

The connection of the individual parts of the cup can be done in different ways and depends on the material pairings and the requirements. Bonding can be done for example by heat sealing, gluing with hot or cold glue or by so-called. "Hot melt Ktebstoffe". When in the present invention is spoken of "connect", so one of these possibilities is always meant.

The first stamper of the device is associated with a singulator for feeding individual blanks from a blank stack. The singulated blanks are wrapped around the conical mandrels of the first stamper, thereby forming a sleeve for a cup or directly for the sheath of a paper cup. If the blank is the envelope of a paper cup, such as a single-walled paper cup or an inner cup for a double-walled insulating cup, it is advantageous to associate with the first star wheel means for forming a cup base, for example in the form of a bottom punch, which supplies the domes of the first star wheel preformed cup bases, which are then connected to the formed on the mandrel sleeve can.

It is advantageous that the first star wheel is associated with a second stamper having a plurality of hollow mandrels, the interior of which can receive the paper cup and / or the shaped sleeve. As a result, the edge of the sleeve with the larger diameter is freely accessible and this edge can be processed according to the requirements, for example, provided with an outwardly shaped mouth roll or a shoulder. The Stemräder are arranged to each other so that the paper cup and / or the sleeve can be transferred in each case in a linear movement directly from one to the other star wheel. The transfer device can thereby be designed very simply, for example by a simple blowing nozzle. The simple linear movement over a short distance allows a safe transfer even at high clock rates.

In an embodiment of the invention, the device is particularly well suited for the production of a double-walled Isolierbechers made of paper or cardboard. For this purpose, at least three stamper wheels are advantageously provided. On the first star wheel, a sleeve is formed from a flat blank, which is transferred to the second Stemrad. The third stamper assumes preformed paper cups, in which already a coat is firmly connected to a floor, for example, from a cup magazine or directly from another Becherherstellmaschine. A cup magazine may also be provided as an intermediate storage in an upstream Becherherstellmaschine. This third Stemrad can be assigned a means for stacking means. The molding device forms a means for stacking, for example a bead or shoulder in the shell of the paper cup. The paper cup is then transferred from the third Stemrad to the second Stemrad and inserted there in the sleeve and connected to this. After the last processing station of the second star wheel is thus a double-walled paper cup, which has good insulation properties.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the third stamper can also serve to supply a finished plastic cup of a cup magazine. On the first Stemrad turn a sleeve of a paper material is formed, which can be alternatively provided there with a bottom, and passed to the second Stemrad. The plastic inner cup is passed from the third stamper to the second star wheel and thereby inserted into the existing of paper material outer sleeve or the outer cup.

In a further embodiment of the invention, a fourth star wheel may be provided, which is arranged downstream of the second star wheel and which in turn has conical mandrels on which the double-walled cup provided with the sleeve is received. In the processing stations associated with the fourth stamper wheel, for example, the area of the paper cup in which the floor is mounted can still be reworked in order, for example, to improve the design or the stacking properties of the cup. The stacking properties of the double-walled cup can be improved, for example, by radially expanding the region of a frame in a processing station of the fourth stamper.

Further advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of an embodiment.

• Figur 1 eine sehr schematische und nicht maßstäblich dargestellte Seitenansicht einer Vorrichtung zum Herstellen eines doppelwandigen Isolierbechers,
• Figur 2 eine Ansicht in Richtung des Pfeiles II auf die Vorrichtung der Figur 1,
• Figur 3 ein Beispiel eines mit der erfindungsgemäßen Vorrichtung herstellbaren Papierbechers.

Show it;

• FIG. 1 a very schematic and not to scale shown side view of an apparatus for producing a double-walled Isolierbechers,
• FIG. 2 a view in the direction of arrow II on the device of FIG. 1 .
• FIG. 3 an example of a producible with the device according to the invention paper cup.

The device according to the invention is very flexible due to its modular design for the production of different paper cups or conical sleeves suitable for cups. Based on the in FIG. 3 illustrated paper cup 51, an advantageous embodiment of the manufacturing apparatus will be described.

The in FIG. 3 shown paper cup 51 is formed of a paper material which is provided at least on one side with a thin coating, preferably made of polyethylene. The paper cup 51 is designed as a double-walled insulating cup, which is particularly well suited for hot contents, such as coffee or Chinese noodle dishes. Due to the insulation, the cup 51 can be easily held with hot contents for a long time in the hand easily. The paper cup 51 essentially consists of an inner paper cup 52, which consists of a conical jacket 53 and a ground 54 connected thereto. The jacket 53 has at its upper end an outwardly rolled mouth roll 55. At a lower end of the jacket 53 is sealed by a frame 56 with the bottom 54 liquid-tight. In the central region of the jacket means 57 may be arranged for stacking a plurality of similar cups 51. In the illustrated case, an inwardly projecting rib 58 is formed in the jacket 53 of the inner paper cup 52 as means 57 for stacking. Alternatively, however, the means 57 for stacking may also be designed differently, for example by a shoulder or bead, and of course may also be shaped outwardly. The inner paper cup 52 is associated with a conical sleeve 59, which may for example have a slightly different cone angle. The sleeve 59 is glued or sealed at its upper end 60 in the area below the mouth roll 55 on the paper cup 52. At the lower end of the sleeve 59 is provided with an inwardly directed curl 61, and lies with this curl 61 on the jacket 53 at. Between sleeve 59 and jacket 53, an insulating annular space 62 is thereby formed. To improve the insulating effect can be provided in unillustrated variation on the jacket 53 or on the sleeve 59 shoulders at which the diameter increases or decreases abruptly.

After joining inner paper cup 52 and sleeve 59 and joining, the frame 56 is widened at least in its lower region, so that it extends conically opposite to the jacket 53 of the paper cup 52. The frame 56 can thereby cooperate in stacking a plurality of similar double-walled paper cups 51 with the means 57 for stacking and ensure that the paper cup 51 can be safely stacked and unstacked without jamming again. The rib 58 supports thereby the subsequent cup of the stack on its expanded frame 56 from. Between the outside of the sleeve 59 and the inside of the shell 53 of the stacked paper cups 51, there is no jamming, since preferably no contact takes place at all.

The property "conical" of the shell 53 and the sleeve 59 is understood to mean that jacket 53 and sleeve 59 in the in FIG. 3 shown longitudinal section of the mouth roll 55 to the bottom 54 taper. It is irrelevant which shape of the jacket 53 and the sleeve 59 in cross section. The paper cup 51 may be circular in cross-section, for example, oval or rectangular with rounded corners. The paper cup 51 has a kegeistumpfähnliche shape in the case of a round cross-section of the conical jacket 53, while in the case of a rectangular cross-section of the conical jacket 53 has a rather truncated pyramidal shape having. Paper cups 51 of non-round cross-section are often referred to as "mold cups".

With the help of FIGS. 1 and 2 In the following, the apparatus for producing the paper cup 51 will be described.

The device consists essentially of four so-called Stemrädem 1, 2, 3, 4, on each of which a plurality of spikes 10, 20, 30, 40 are arranged in a star shape. The number of mandrels 10, 20, 30, 40 may vary depending on the number of processing steps required. The star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4 each sit on a drive shaft 63 and are driven by at least one drive 64 cyclically in the direction of rotation of the arrows A. The directions of rotation A are exemplary and may optionally be opposite. The device has a machine frame 65 with a central vertical wall 66. On the vertical wall 66, the stems 1, 2, 3, 4 are arranged such that the axes of rotation of the drive shafts 63 are all horizontal and parallel to each other. The Stemräder 1, 2, 3, 4 with their domes 10, 20, 30, 40 can thereby all lie in one plane. This is very good for the Stemräder 1 and 2 FIG. 1 to recognize. The drives 64 for the star wheels 1, 2, 3, 4 are arranged on the Stemrädem 1, 2, 3, 4 opposite side of the vertical wall 66 of the machine frame. Both the Stemräder 1, 2, 3, 4 and the drives 64 are thus very easily accessible. The drives 64 may preferably be formed by stepping gear.

The star wheel 1 has in the example shown six conical mandrels 10, each mandrel 10 may be a processing station 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 assigned. Unused processing stations 11 can remain empty. The star wheel 1 is further rotated by the drive 64 in the working cycle of the device by 60 ° in the direction of rotation A, so that each mandrel 10 reaches the respective subsequent processing station. The stamper 1 12 lying flat blanks 67 are supplied in the processing station, which are fed by a direction indicated by the arrow 68 separating device of a blank stack 69. The flat blank 67 is wound in the subsequent processing stations 13, 14, and 15 around the conical mandrel 10, sealed on its longitudinal side and provided with the curl 61, and then forms a conical sleeve 59. For illustrative purposes, the curl is 61 of the sleeve 59 in the FIGS. 1 and 2 not shown. In the processing station 16, the finished sleeve 59 is transferred in the direction of arrow B to a hollow mandrel 20 of the second stamper wheel 2. The hollow mandrel 20 receives the sleeve 59 from the outside. At the moment of transfer, the hollow mandrel 20 in the processing station 21 is exactly coaxial with the conical mandrel 10 of the processing station 16th arranged. The sleeve 59 can thereby be transferred in a linear movement directly from the star wheel 1 to the star wheel 2. The transfer in the direction of arrow B, for example, can be done very easily by blowing nozzles.

In the next processing cycle, the sleeve 59 is transported further by the rotation A of the stamper wheel 2 into the processing station 22. In the processing station 22, a prefabricated inner paper cup 52 is inserted into the sleeve 59. The paper cup 52 is provided by a third star wheel 3 and in turn passed from the processing station 34 in a linear movement B in the processing station 22.

It is advantageous to feed the star wheel 3 prefabricated paper cups 52 or prefabricated plastic cups, for example via a cup magazine 70 as a buffer. The paper cups 52 may be finished except for the means 57 for stacking and also already have a mouth roll 55. The mouth roll 55 is in FIG. 2 omitted for the sake of illustration again. It is advantageous to attach the means 57 for stacking only at a processing station 33 of the third star wheel 3, since the paper cup 52 can then be made on a conventional cup machine, which need not have any special facilities. The molding device 35 for the means 57 for stacking the double-walled Isolierbechers 51 is integrated into the manufacturing device for the sleeve 59 and can thereby be optimally adapted to the design of the sleeve 59. Standard manufactured inner paper cups 52 can thereby be provided with different sleeves 59. This increases the flexibility of the manufacturer of double-walled paper cups 51.

The shaping device 35 for the means 57 for stacking can be designed differently. In FIG. 2 a peripheral roller 36 is shown which can be radially fed to the paper cup 52 seated on the mandrel 30 to form the inwardly projecting rib 58. Alternatively, of course, radially deliverable mold jaws can be provided from inside or outside.

The inner cup 52 inserted into the sleeve 59 in the processing station 22 is transported further into the processing station 23 in a subsequent working step and is connected there to the sleeve 59. Depending on the configuration of the means 57 for stacking, the paper cup 51 in the processing station 24 can already be completely finished and removed from the apparatus. Optionally, however, a fourth stamper wheel 4 may be provided, to which the paper cup 51 is transferred from the processing station 24 in the direction of arrow B. The star wheel 4 in turn has conical mandrels 40 which receive the paper cup 51 from the inside. The stamper, for example, in the processing station 42 may be associated with a shaping device 45, with which the frame 56 can be widened. The expanded frame 56 serves - as already described above-to improve the stacking properties of the paper cup 51. In the processing station 44, the double-walled paper cup 51 is finally completed and can be removed from the apparatus.

If the paper cup 51 produced in the manufacturing apparatus described is a so-called molding cup, then it may be advantageous to assign the conical domes 30 of the star wheel 3 in a manner not shown in each case a rotation device with which each mandrel 30 can be rotated by a certain amount about its longitudinal axis , If an inner cup 52 of non-circular cross-section is removed in any orientation from the cup magazine 70 and placed in the processing station 31 on a conical mandrel 30 with a circular cross-section in the manufacture of mold cups, a subsequent orientation of the inner cup 52 is required. This problem occurs in particular when the inner cup 52 has a circular cross section at its mouth roll 55 and an oval or substantially rectangular cross section at its bottom 54. The molded on the star wheel 1 sleeves 59 sit in the hollow mandrels 20 of the star wheel 2 in a defined orientation. In this case, the shape of the hollow mandrels 20 may also be out of round and adapted to the shape of the sleeve 59. Thus, the inner cup 52 is positioned in the processing station 34 in the correct orientation and can be accurately passed into the seated in the processing station 22 sleeve 59, the mandrel 30 is rotated by the rotation means about its longitudinal axis and the inner cup 52 is aligned. Thus, the inner cup 52 does not slip on the mandrel 30, each mandrel 30 may be associated with a suction or clamping device for the inner cup 52 in a manner not shown. The rotation device can be associated with a sensor, not shown, arranged for example in the processing station 32, which detects the position of the inner cup 52, preferably non-contact, and which signals the rotation device how far the mandrel 30 with the inner cup 52 is rotated about the longitudinal axis must become.

By the described concept of the manufacturing device, a very high flexibility and very low downtime for format changes and changes in the cup design can be achieved. The good accessibility of the stems 1, 2, 3, 4 by the arrangement on the vertical wall 66 of the machine frame 65 allows, for example, the rapid replacement of a complete Stemrades 1, 2, 3, 4 against a stamper for another cup shape. The Stemräder 1, 2, 3, 4 are for this purpose preferably cantilevered and easily replaceable on Machine frame 65 attached. For this purpose, easily detachable means 71 for connecting to the drive 64 can be provided on the drive shafts 63, for example in the form of quick-action couplings.

The manufacturing device can also be modified very easily. For example, in a non-illustrated embodiment, a device with only two Stemrädem 1 and 2 are used for the production of single-walled cups. In this case, for example, the processing station 11 of the first stamper wheel 1 may be assigned a bottom punch 17, which punches out a cup bottom similar to the bottom 54 and transfers it to the mandrel 10 in the processing station 11. The sleeve 59 can then be connected in one of the processing stations 13 to 15 with this floor. On the second Stemrad 2 can then, for example, a mouth roll 55 are formed on the single-walled paper cup.

Claims (10)

Apparatus for producing a conical sleeve (59) for a cup and / or a conical paper cup (51) having a machine part (65) and at least two star wheels (1, 2) rotatably connected to the machine frame (65) and cyclically drivable Stemrad (1) has a plurality of conical mandrels (10), on each of which a sleeve (59) from a flat blank (67) is malleable,
characterized in that the stems (1, 2) lie in one plane and are arranged with horizontal drive shafts (63) on a vertical wall (66) of the machine frame (65). Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the first star wheel (1) is associated with a separating device (68) for feeding individual blanks (67) of a blank stack (69). Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a second star wheel (2) has a plurality of hollow mandrels (20), the interior of which can receive the cup (52) and / or the sleeve (59). Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the star wheels (1, 2, 3, 4) are connected to at least one drive (64), wherein the drive (64) on the star wheels (1, 2, 3 4) facing away from the wall (66) of the machine frame (65) is arranged. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that in the first star wheel (1) a sleeve (59) is moldable without bottom, in the second Stemrad (2) a cup (52) can be inserted, wherein the cup (52 ) is transferred from a third star wheel (3) to the second stamper (2). Apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the third Stemrad (3) forming means (35) for means (57) for stacking in the jacket (53) of the cup (52) are associated. Apparatus according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that a fourth Stemrad (4) is provided, which is arranged downstream of the second Stemrad (2) and the conical mandrels (40), on which the cup (52) provided with a sleeve (59) is received. Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that the fourth star wheel (4) is associated with a shaping device (45) for widening a frame (56) of the cup (51; 52). Device according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the star wheels (1, 2, 3, 4) are arranged to each other so that the cup (51; 52) and / or the sleeve (59) in each case in a linear movement (B) can be transferred directly from one to the other star wheel (1, 2, 3, 4). Device according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that at least one star wheel (1; 2; 3; 4) is easily replaceable on the machine frame (65) and easily releasable means (71) for connection to the drive (64) are.

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