US3770134A

US3770134A - Outboard spanning shouldered wickets

Info

Publication number: US3770134A
Application number: US00246629A
Authority: US
Inventors: V Kupcikevicius
Original assignee: Union Carbide Corp
Current assignee: Viskase Corp
Priority date: 1972-04-24
Filing date: 1972-04-24
Publication date: 1973-11-06
Anticipated expiration: 1990-11-06
Also published as: NL171249B; JPS536913B2; NL7305605A; BR7302909D0; IE37555B1; CH573333A5; AU5476073A; JPS4922285A; FR2181979B1; CA976513A; FR2181979A1; BE798643A; AR200864A1; DE2320402A1; IT984068B; IE37555L; GB1434795A; SE397187B; NL171249C

Abstract

A shouldered wicket for holding a stack of flat flexible articles such as plastic packaging bags or sheets which are to be removed one at a time from the top of the stack, the shoulder portions of the wicket extending upwardly above the rest of the wicket to facilitate article removal from the wicketed stack and the horizontal bearing element of the wicket having a span greater than the linear distance between and across paired wicket holes in the stacked articles.

Description

States Patent [1 1 Kupcikevieius 1 1 Nov.6,1973

[ OUTBOARD SPANNING SHOULDERED WICKETS [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: Union Carbide Corporation, New

York, NY.

221 Filed: Apr. 24, 1972 211 Appl. No.: 246,629

Vytautas Kupcikevicius, Chicago, Ill.

[52] [1.8. CI 211/57, 53/189, 206/57 A, 221/26 [51] Int. Cl B65h 3/58 [58] Field of Search 211/57, 59, 54, 12, 211/89; 248/99, 100, 101; 206/57 A; 221/26;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1895 Lynham 206/57 A 2/ 1907 Priddy 4/1967 Million...

3,412,522 11/1968 Schorer 53/189 3,454,166 7/1969 Dinges 211/57 3,490,195 1/1970 Abramson.... 53/189 3,538,671 11/1970 Wallace 53/189 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,915,119 10/1970 Germany 221/26 Primary Examiner-Marion Parsons, Jr. Att0rneyPaul A. Rose et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT A shouldered wicket for holding a stack of flat flexible articles such as plastic packaging bags or sheets which are to be removed one at a time from the top of the stack, the shoulder portions of the wicket extending upwardly above the rest of the wicket to facilitate article removal from the wicketed stack and the horizontal bearing element of the wicket having a span greater than the linear distance between and across paired wicket holes in the stacked articles.

10 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTED am s 1975 SHEET 10F 4 PATENTEDNBY slam 3770.134

' SHEET REF 4 OUTBOARD SPANNING SHOULDERED WICKETS The present invention relates to wickets for holding stacked supplies of flat flexible articles which are to be dispensed or removed from the stacks either manually or automatically one at a time for utilization and more particularly to wickets for holding stacked supplies of flattened flexible plastic packaging articles such as bags or wrapping sheets in readiness for removal and use at industrial packaging stations.

It should be noted here that this application differs significantly from the copending application of Ericson et al., Ser. No. 246,6l3,which is being filed concurrently with this application and will be assigned to the same assignee, in that the wickets described and claimed herein are patentably distinct from those of Ericson et al., solve further additional and different problems in the art and are discernably different in structure operation and result.

Packaging operations in industry are of significant import and interest towards promoting the rapid, efficient and economical packaging of products for the market. Food packaging generally and the meat packing industry in particular require additionally the strict maintenance of sanitary conditions. Automatic or semiautomatic packaging techniques have been developed towards achievement of these desired goals. semiautomatic packing techniques, that is to say those requiring the cooperation of a human operator with a machine, are uniquely of interest to the meat packing industry since the products being packaged frequently are not exactly alike as to size, shape and weight, a circumstance militating against fully automatic packing. To the extent that food products, meat cuts and the like for example, are at least sufficiently alike in size, shape and weight in a given series to permit the use of packaging bags or wrapping sheets of the same size and material, some degree of automation in the packaging operation is possible. US. Pat. No. 3,552,090 to Roberts et al. and the copending application of Kupcikevicius et al., Ser. No. 173,960, assigned to the same assignee as this application are illustrative of such semiautomatic techniques and apparatus. To a much lesser degree, the automatic part of a packaging process may take the form of relatively facile availability of one bag or wrapping sheet at a time from a bag supply source.

Here it should be noted that while the ensuing discussion treats of packaging bags towards illustrative simplification, this invention applies equally as well to stacked wicketed wrapping sheets and the like and indeed more generally has full applicability to any stacked wicket-held flat flexible articles which are to be dispensed one at a time.

Whatever the degree of complexity of the apparatus and techniques employed in a packaging operation involving food, meat products in particular, it is of the utmost importance that the supply of packaging bags be maintained in a sanitary condition and that the bag dispensing action be accomplished with facility and without bag waste or the incidental production of torn bag scraps which interfere with smooth and efficient operation. While these desirable characteristics are very important in even the simplest modes of semiautomatic packaging, they are of much greater importance in the more fully automated modes such as for instance those involving opening the bags one at a time with an air stream for insertion of a product unit into each bag sequentially. In these more automated techniques the relatively higher packaging speed necessitates a sanitary, continual and consistently reliable bag supply arrangement and towards attaining these desiderata the wicket which holds the stacked supply of bags in place on the apparatus or at the packaging station is a significantly important element in the operation. Bags for such use, irrespective of the complexity of the particular packaging technique, may be supplied to the user in bulk packages which are opened and the bags loaded by hand into the bag dispensing station or portion of the apparatus or in prewicketed packages such as described in the copending application of Cwikla, Ser. No. 213,755, assigned to the same assignee as this application.

The wickets, whether they are parts of an automatic packaging apparatus or simple bag supply holder device or are furnished along with the packaged prewicketed bags, are as stated above, extremely important elements in these packaging operations as will be readily appreciated by persons familiar with the art.

Criteria for wicket design dictate that each bag in turn atop a stack of wicketed bags at a packaging station must be readily removable without the incidental production of bag scraps wnd with clean direct tears through the bag material from the wicket holes to the outer open edge of each holed ply of the bag.

Known wickets used to hold stacked bag supplies in the aforedescribed manner are best described as inverted U-shaped with the U having a flat bottom which, with the wicket in place, spans across the top bag of the stack along a line between the wicket holes to define a horizontal bearing member. This horizontal bearing member is caused, by one means or another, to exert vertical downward bearing pressure on the stacked bags, keeping them substantially in registering relationship as between themselves and with other functional elements at the packaging station. Such known wickets have presented difficulities in causing random tears with consequent unuseable bags and in the unwanted production of bag scraps with attendant dangers of contamination of the articles being packaged. While the exact reasons for the faults of these known prior art wickets are not germane to the discussion here, the faults themselves being clearly manifest, it is thought that the pinching action on the bag stack at the interior right angles at the junctures of the wicket legs and the horizontal bearing member cause stresses and restraint holding forces which exceed the elastic limits and tear resistance of the bags at'locations other than where the tears are intended during the action of pulling a bag from atop the stack. In any case these problems exist and are real and very serious in industry.

One quickly suggested and initially apparently good solution which, upon inspection and test does not solve the problem, is to modify the horizontal bearing member of the wicket to a raised or upwardly disposed arcuate form. This of course effects loss of the vertical downward stack restraining pressure which is essential, particularly in semiautomatic or automatic operations, and also creates interference with insertion into the still wicket-held bag of the article being packaged. Alternative suggested and tried solutions to the problems along these lines and along others as well, have been less than completely successful with but one noteable exception, the shouldered wickets described in the copending application of Ericson et al., Ser. No. 246,613, filed concurrently with this application and assigned to the same assignee.

The shouldered wickets of Ericson et al., in their various embodiments, solve many of the problems discussed hereinabove in most normal utilizations and applications. In the present day packaging industry however, a significant trend towards the use of packaging bags of thinner gauge materials is discerned, for the obvious reasons of effecting savings in materials, weight and costs. When the Ericson et al shouldered wickets are used in conjunction with stacked thin gauge plastic packaging bags for instance, particularly in relatively high speed semiautomatic packaging operations, it has been found that the outermost edge of the bag ply restrainedly held by the wicket horizontal bearing member tends to curl up and wrap itself around the bearing member during bag removal pulling action, causing myriad random stresses which result in unwanted tears, bag scrap production, unuseable bags and production downtime.

Thus while the Ericson et al. wickets make for a considerable and important advance in the art and are quite generally applicable in, packaging operations, many important technical problems remained, prior to the time of the present invention, unresolved.

With this then being the state of the art, the present invention was conceived and reduced to practice, having as an object the provision of a wicket to hold stacked flat flexible articles and to permit facile one at a time removal of the articles from atop the stack without damage to the articles.

It is a more particular object of this invention to provide a wicket which holds flattened stacked flexible packaging bags in place at a packaging station and permits the repetitive, rapid removal of bags one at a time from atop the stack for use in packaging operations.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a wicket which is particularly suitable for use in conjunction with automatic and semiautomatic packaging apparatus where the packaging operation proceeds at sustained relatively high speeds.

A still further and very important object is to achieve each and all of the aforerecited objects with wickets according to the present invention in conjunction with thin gauge relatively fragile plastic and the like packaging bags.

These and other objects of the invention will become the more readily apparent from the ensuing description and the appended drawings wherein:

FIG. I is an isometric view showing a wicket embodiment according to the invention in place on a stack of packaging bags.

FIG. 2 is a frontal view of an alternative embodiment of wicket according to the invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the FIG. 2 embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the FIG. 2 embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a frontal view of another alternative embodiment of wicket according to the invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the FIG. 5 embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a top view of the FIG. 5 embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view of a bag stack showing the top bag restrained edge areas using a FIG. 5 embodiment wicket.

FIG. 9 is an isometric view showing a FIG. 2 embodiment wicket in place on a stack of packaging bags. 7

In general, the present invention comprehends a wicket for holding a stack of flat flexible articles provided with paired holes to accommodate wicket leg members, which articles are to be removed one at a time from the stack, said wicket comprising, in com bination; a bearing member adapted to transmit a vertical restraining force in combination with an edge restrain ing member to said stack and having a horizontally extending span greater than the linear distance between the paired holes plus two hole diameters; an article edge restraining member attached to and extending from said bearing member adapted to maintain a portion of an edge of each topmost article in the stack in a substantially flat horizontal disposition as each successive topmost article is forcibly removed from the stack; wicket leg members extending vertically each respectively through the holes in the stack of articles, adapted to hold individual articles therein in substantially registering relationship, said wicket leg members having ends adapted to extend into wicket mounting means and; upwardly extending shoulder members disposed between respective uppermost ends of said wicket leg portions and said bearing member.

In one typical embodiment of apparatus according to the invention, an article edge restraining member is attached to and extends from each outer end of the span of the bearing member and each shoulder member comprises a first element extending upwardly from an article edge restraining member, a second element connected to and extending upwardly from an upper end of a leg member, and connecting means between the first element and the second element.

In another embodiment at least one article edge re straining member is comprised in the bearing member and connected first and second elements are provided similar to those described in the preceding paragraph.

In certain embodiments of apparatus according to the invention, one or more article edge restraining members bear on the topmost article of the stack at loci other than a line between the paired holes.

In still other embodiments of the apparatus the article edge restraining member or members comprised in the bearing member and the bearing member itself are adapted to bear on the topmost article of the stack for a total distance less than the overall horizontal span of the bearing member. a

Any and all of the embodiments of apparatus according to the present invention may be fabricated from rod-like stock elements, and, in most instances, advantageously may be connectedly and integrally formed from a unitary rod-like element.

With reference to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows an isometric or perspective view of a wicket according to the present invention in place on a stack of flattened flexible plastic bags 11, with a topmost bag 13 of the stack opened, by an air stream for instance, and in readiness to receive an article to be packaged. The wicket shown comprises a bearing member 15 which is adapted to transmit vertical restraining force to the bags 11 and topmost bag 13. This vertical restraining force may be applied to or received by the bearing member 15 in any of several ways ranging from simply weighting the wicket to loading the member with downward pressure with a pivotally cantilevered air nozzle of a machine such as illustrated in the Kupsikevicius application supra.

As shown in the drawing, the outermost edges of the lower ply of the bag 13 are contacted and held down by edge restraining members l7, 19 which transmit the vertical restraining force not only to these edges of bag 13, but to the entire stack of bags 11, holding them securely to a wicket base 21. In the embodiment shown the edge restraining member 17, 19 extend from respective ends of the horizontal bearing member 15. Wicket 23,

members

23,25 extend vertically each respectively through holes 27, 29 in the stacked bags and are mounted insertably in suitable holes in the wicket base 21, thus holding the stacked bags in substantially registering relationship.

Upwardly extending shoulder members are disposed between the edge restraining members 17, 19 and

leg members

23, 23, each shoulder member comprising, respectively, a first element 31, extending upwardly from an article edge restraining member, a

second element

35, 37 extending upwardly from the uppermost portion of each

leg member

23, 25 and connecting means 39, 41 joining respective first and second elements. In the illustrated embodiment, as in the case of practically all wickets made according to the present invention, all of the wicket members and elements are connectedly and integrally formed from a single piece of suitably heavy gage wire or rod stock, usually some kind of metal such as steel.

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings show a preferred form of wicket respectively in frontal, side and top views wherein the wicket configuration is more rectangular and less arcuate. As shown in FIG. 4, the outermost edges of the lower ply of a top bag 113 of a stack of bags 111 are contacted and held down by

edge restraining members

117, 119 which, as in the case of the aforedescribed FIG. 1 embodiment apply vertical restraining force not only to these edges of the topmost bag 113, but to the entire stack of bags 111, holding them securely to whatever form of wicket base being used. The edge restraining members 117,119 extend from respective ends of a horizontal bearing member 115. Wicket leg members 123,125 extend vertically each respectively through holes 127,129 in the stacked bags and mount in a suitable wicket base.

The upwardly extending shoulder members in this embodiment are disposed between the edge restraining members 117,119 and the leg members 123,125, each shoulder member comprising, respectively, a first element 131,133 extending upwardly from an article edge restraining member, a second element 135,137 extending upwardly from the uppermost portion of each leg member 123,125, and connecting means 139,141joining respective first and second elements.

The FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4 embodiments upon examination clearly illustrate certain major distinctions and advantages of the wickets according to the present invention over the wickets of Ericson et al mentioned hereinbefore. The horizontal bearing member 15,115 of the present invention may if desired but need not bear on the bags at all but rather function as means to transmit vertical restraining force to the bag stack through and in combination with one or more edge restraining members. This feature permits great flexibility in using bags of varying widths, processed on the same hole making apparatus, with the same hole spacings, in various semiautomatic packaging operations. Moreover, the length of the horizontal bearing member 15,115 is selectable and this makes wickets according to the present invention adaptable to a wide range of automatic and semiautomatic packaging machinery having varying widths of air nozzles and the like. Wickets according to the present invention then can be tailored to suit a wide range of applications.

Of greater significance is the operational result of freeing the bag and bag stack from direct or full bearing contact of the horizontal bearing member, relying rather on the

edge restraining members

17, 19, 117, 119 to hold down the bag being filled in a manner which obviates unwanted bag edge curling and random tearing called chunking out. With known wickets, when an operator inserts an article being packaged into the bag and applies the force necessary to remove the bagged article from the machine, the bag is first torn off from the wicket legs while the lower ply of the bag is still clamped under the horizontal bearing portion of the wicket, then, as the removal action proceeds the clamped ply is pulled out from under the wickets restraint. When, as frequently happens, the tearing off from the wicket legs occasions some slight random side tearing, the wicket hole edges develop perimetric stress concentrations at the wrong places and chunking out occurs. In using wickets according to the present invention, this problem is eliminated, since the filled bag is either fully free or substantially free of vertical restraint clamping action of the wicket by the time it is torn off from the wicket legs in the course of each sequential bag removal step. Thus the major clamping force which holds the bag in position for article insertion is relieved before tear-off of the bag from the wicket legs is started and clean, scrap free removals are attained.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 of the drawings show, respectively, frontal, side and top views of still another alternative embodiment of wicket according to the invention wherein all of the members and elements as shown 215, 217, 219, 223, 225, 231, 233, 235, 237, [239] and 241 are cooperatively arranged as in the first described FIG. 1 embodiment and, in addition, an edge restraining member 217a is included and functions as hereinabove described in respect of the FIGS. 2, 3, 4 embodiment.

FIG. 8 of the drawings shows in schematic plan view the bearing

areas

217, 217a and 219 on the upper surface of the lower ply of a topmost bag 213 of a stack of bags 211 according to the manner occasioned in the use ofa FIG. 5, 6, 7 embodiment wicket and illustrates clearly the advantage in bag restraining mode made possible by the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows isometrically a FIG. 2,3,4 wicket embodiment in position on a stack of bags unpacked from shipment and ready to be installed at a bagging station. A wicket leg keeper 124 is provided as shown to keep the bags on the wicket during shipment and handling.

Of the embodiments discussed, the FIG. 2 embodiment is preferred and wickets of this type have been made of selected steel wire rod stock and tested with consistently acceptable results.

Variations on the aforedescribed wicket embodiments are possible. For example, an edge restraining member may take the form of a projecting rod or the like, welded or otherwise attached to or formed integrally with the horizontal bearing member 15,115. There may also be more than one edge restraining member so projecting from the horizontal bearing member 15,115 at desired points. It may also be advantageous in some instances to direct the projection of the edge restraining member or members outwardly of the bag opening, presupposing of course, that the bag open ends are oriented relative to the wicket a bit differently than shown so that the bag edges to be restrained would come under the edge restraining memher or members in such circumstances.

Other alternative forms of wickets according to and within the scope of this invention will, in the light of this disclosure, undoubtedly occur to persons familiar with the art. It is therefore intended that the foregoing discussion be considered illustrative only and not construed in any limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A wicket for holding a stack of flat flexible articles provided with paired holes to accommodate wicket leg members, which articles are to be removed one at a time from the stack, said wicket comprising, in combination,

a. a bearing member adapted to transmit a vertical restraining force in combination with an edge restraining member to said stack and having a horizontally extending span greater than the linear distance between the paired holes plus two hole diameters,

b. an article edge restraining member attached to and extending from said bearing member adapted to maintain a portion of an edge of each topmost article in the stack in a substantially flat horizontal disposition as each successive topmost article is forcibly removed from the stack,

c. wicket leg members extending vertically each respectively through the holes in the stack of articles, adapted to hold individual articles therein in substantially registering relationship, said wicket leg members having ends adapted to extend into wicket mounting means and,

d. upwardly extending shoulder members disposed between respective uppermost ends of said wicket leg portions and said bearing member,

2. A wicket according to claim 1 wherein an article edge restraining member is attached to and extends from each outer end of the span of the bearing member and each shoulder member comprises a first element extending upwardly from an article edge restraining member, a second element connected to and extending upwardly from an upper end of a leg member, and connecting means between the first element and the second element.

3. A wicket according to claim 1 wherein at least one article edge restraining member is comprised in the bearing member and each shoulder member comprises a first element connected to and extending upwardly from an end of the bearing member, a second element connected to and extending upwardly from an upper end of a leg member, and connecting means between the first element and the second element.

4. A wicket according to claim 2 wherein each said article edge restraining member bears on the topmost article of the stack at loci other than a line between the paired holes.

5. A wicket according to claim 3 wherein each said article edge restraining member comprised in the hearing member and the bearing member are adapted to bear on the topmost article of the stack for a total distance less than the overall horizontal span of the bearing member.

6. A wicket according to claim 1 wherein the bearing member, the leg members and the shoulder members are connectedly and integrally formed from a unitary rod-like element.

7. A wicket according to claim 2 wherein the bearing member, the article edge restraining members, the leg members and the shoulder members are connectedly and integrally formed from a unitary rod-like element.

8. A wicket according to claim 3 wherein the bearing member, the article edge restraining member, the leg members and the shoulder members are conectedly and integrally formed from a unitary rod-like element.

9. A wicket according to claim 4 wherein the bearing member, the article edge restraining members, the leg members and the shoulder members are conectedly and integrally formed from a unitary rod-like element.

10. A wicket according to claim 5 wherein the hearing member, the article edge restraining member, the leg members and the shoulder members are conectedly and integrally formed from a unitary rod-like element. =3

Claims

1. A wicket for holding a stack of flat flexible articles provided with paired holes to accommodate wicket leg members, which articles are to be removed one at a time from the stack, said wicket comprising, in combination, a. a bearing member adapted to transmit a vertical restraining force in combination with an edge restraining member to said stack and having a horizontally extending span greater than the linear distance between the paired holes plus two hole diameters, b. an article edge restraining member attached to and extending from said bearing member adapted to maintain a portion of an edge of each topmost article in the stack in a substantially flat horizontal disposition as each successive topmost article is forcibly removed from the stack, c. wicket leg members extending vertically each respectively through the holes in the stack of articles, adapted to hold individual articles therein in substantially registering relationship, said wicket leg members having ends adapted to extend into wicket mounting means and, d. upwardly extending shoulder members disposed between respective uppermost ends of said wicket leg portions and said bearing member,

5. A wicket according to claim 3 wherein each said article edge restraining member comprised in the bearing member and the bearing member are adapted to bear on the topmost article of the stack for a total distance less than the overall horizontal span of the bearing member.

10. A wicket according to claim 5 wherein the bearing member, the article edge restraining member, the leg members and the shoulder members are conectedly and integrally formed from a unitary rod-like element.