US3633469A

US3633469A - Rim curling apparatus and method

Info

Publication number: US3633469A
Application number: US45504A
Authority: US
Inventors: Alfred W Kinney
Original assignee: Phillips Petroleum Co
Current assignee: Huhtamaki Consumer Packaging Inc
Priority date: 1970-06-11
Filing date: 1970-06-11
Publication date: 1972-01-11
Anticipated expiration: 1989-01-11

Abstract

Initiating and curling rollers contacting an edge portion of a carton at spaced-apart locations along the container edge are rotated about the edge portion of the container for rolling the container edge portion.

Description

United States Patent Alfred W. Kinney Kansas City, Mo.

June 1 l, 1970 Jan. 1 1, 1972 Phillips Petroleum Company Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee RIM CURLING APPARATUS AND METHOD 9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 93/36.5, 72/126, 113/120 AA Int. Cl B3lb l/00 Field of Search 93/365,

36.1,39.l;72/126; li3/12OAA [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,038,715 9/1912 Beadle 93/365 2,278,299 3/1942 Barbieri 93/365 FOREIGN PATENTS 930,808 7/1955 Germany 113/120 AA Primary Examiner- Bernard Stickney AttorneyYoung and Quigg ABSTRACT: Initiating and curling rollers contacting an edge portion of a carton at spaced-apart locations along the container edge are rotated about the edge portion of the container for rolling the container edge portion.

PATENTEU JAM 1 I972 SHEET 1 OF 2 INVENTOR. A.W. KINNEY ATTORNEYS PAIENIEQJMHM ale-333L469 SHEET 2 OF 2 FIG. 3

INVENTOR. AW. KINNEY BY q w rv ATTORNEYS RIM CURLING APPARATUS AND METHOD Owing to the resilience of materials for forming containers, such as paperboard containers for example, when forming a rolled edge portion on the container, said edge portion must generally be rolled through a greater are than is desired of the resultant product. This invention therefore provides an apparatus and method for forming a uniform rolled edge portion on a container. Other aspects, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a study of the disclosure, the appended claims, and the drawing.

The drawings are diagrammatic and axonometric views of the apparatus of this invention.

FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows the shafts and initiating rollers,

FIG. 2 diagrammatically shows the curling rollers and associated elements with the initiating rollers, and

FIG. 3 shows an axonometric view of the apparatus of this invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the walls 2 and upper edge portion 4 of a container, such as a paperboard ice cream container for example, are shown with at least one initiating roller 6 positioned adjacent the container edge portion 4. The roller 6 is rotatable about an axis of the container and movable along the container axis between the first position (shown) at which a cam surface 8 of the roller 6 is spaced from the container edge portion 4 and a second position at which a portion of the container edge portion 4 is lying along the cam surface 8 (better seen in FIG. 2) that extends outwardly and downwardly relative to the walls 2 of the container 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, at least one curling roller 10 is spaced an arcuate distance from the initiating roller 6 relative to the container axis. The curling roller 10 is rotatable about an axis of the container and movable along the container axis between a first position at which a cam surface 12 of the curling roller 10 is spaced from the container edge portion 4 and a second position (shown) at which a portion of the container edge portion 4 is lying along the cam surface 12 of the curling roller 10 that extends inwardly and upwardly relative to the walls 2 of the container.

Means are associated with the rollers 6, 10 for rotating the initiating roller along the container edge portion 4 and moving said roller between its first and second positions and rotating the curling roller along the container edge portion 4 and moving said roller between its first and second positions. These means comprise a supporting element 14, a toggle arm 16, first and

second shafts

18, 20, a pin 22, biasing means 24, and a power means 26.

The supporting element 14 has first and

second ends

28, 30.

An initiating roller 6 is rotatably attached to a first end 28 of A toggle arm 16 is pivotally connected to a second end 30 of 5 5 the supporting element 14. The toggle arm 16 has first and

second ends

32, 34 with a curling roller 10 rotatably attached to the first end 32. The toggle arm 16 and associated curling roller 10 are pivotally movable between a first position at which the curling roller 10 is spaced from the container edge portion 4 and a second position at which the curling roller 10 is at its second position (shown).

A first shaft 18 is fixedly attached at an end 36 to the supporting element 14, rotatable about its axis, and movable along its axis from a first position at which the associated initiating roller 6 is at its first position and a second position (shown) at which the initiating roller 6 is at its second positron.

An upper portion 38 of the first shaft extends coaxially into a longitudinally extending chamber 40 of a second shaft 20 which opens on the end 42 of said second shaft 20. The upper portions 38 of the first shaft 18 has a longitudinally extending slot 44 formed therethrough and said first shaft 18 is rotatably fixed to and slidably mounted in the second shaft 20 by a pin 22 extending through the second shaft 20 and the slot 44 of the first shaft l8..A conical cam surface is mounted about an end portion 48 of the second shaft 20. This cam surface 46 extends downwardly and inwardly toward the end 42 about the circumference of the second shaft 20. The second shaft 20 is rotatable about its axis and movable along its axis between a first position at which the initiating roller. 6 and the curling roller 10 are at their first positions and a second position at whichthe second end of the toggle arm l6v is in contact with the cam surface 46 and the initiating roller 6 is at its second position.

A biasing means 24, such as a helical spring for example, is associated with the first and

second shafts

18, 20 for urging the end 36 of the first shaft 18 in a axial direction from the end 42 of the second shaft 20. The biasing means 24 is compressible by forces exerted on the first shaft 18 by the edge portion 2 of the container. The biasing means 24 maintains the second shaft 20 at its first position until the first shaft 18 has reached its second position and thereafter is compressible for movement of the second shaft from its first to its second position.

A power means 26, such as a variable speed electric motor attached to an air or hydraulic cylinder for example, is connected to the second shaft 24 rotating and reciprocating the second shaft 20 and associated elements along and about the axis of a coaxially adjacently positioned container. Altemately, the container may be moved axially to engage, the edge curler. Also the container may be rotated. In order to increase the speed of the edge curling operation and reduce the amount of springback during curling of the edge portion, it is preferred that the supporting elementv 14 have a plurality of first and

second ends

28, 30 with an individual initiating roller 6 attached to each of the first ends 28 and an individual curling roller 10 attached to each of the second ends 30.

For speeding the curling operation while maintaining a slow initial curling speed to prevent tearing of the edge portion 4 of the container during initial stretching, it is preferred that the power source 26 be of variable speed whereby the rotational speed and/or advancement of the second shaft 20 toward the container can be maintained at one rateduring movement of the initiating roller 6 from the first to the second position and thereafter rotate and/or advance the second shaft 20 toward the container at a greater rate during movement of the curling roller 10 from the first to the second position.

The axes of rotation between the initiating and the curling roller 6, 10 are preferably angularly disposed about 60 relative to one another when the curling roller is at its second position for permitting the cam surface of the rollers 6, 10 to be of substantially the same configuration thereby simplifying the apparatus while maintaining the capability of producing a high-angle roll on the edge portion of the container.

In the operation of the apparatus of this invention, a container is positioned adjacent the apparatus and coaxially aligned with the

shafts

18, 20. The power source 26 then rotates the second shaft 20 which rotates the initiating roller 6 through pin 22 about the common axis. The initiating roller 6 is then advanced by the power source, 26 from the first position of the roller to its second position. During movement of the initiating roller 6 from itsfirst to its secondposition, the cam surface 8 of said roller 6 contacts the edge portion 4 of the container. Further advancement from the first toward the second position of the first and

second shafts

18, 20 and associated roller 6 while rotating the roller about the axis of the container urges the container edge portion 4 across the cam surface 8 and outwardly and downwardly relative to the walls 2 of the container. As the edge portion 4 of the container is moved across the cam surface 8 of the roller 6 the upwardly directive forces exerted against the roller 6 by the edge portion 4 become greater, thereby causing the biasing means to compress andthe second shaft 20 to slide over. the first shaft 18. Continued advancement further compresses the biasing means 24 to a position at which the cam surface 46 of the second shaft 20 contacts the toggle arm 16 and moves the toggle arm and associated curling roller 10 from their first to their second positions.

The initiation of movement of the curling roller from the first to the second position should be after the edge portion has been directed outwardly and downwardly across the cam surface of the initiating roller 6. The compression factor of the biasing means 24 must therefore be such that the curling rollers 10 are not moved into contact with the edge portion 4 of the container until the initiating rollers 6 have reached their second positions. in that second position of the initiating roller, the edge portion 4 of the container has at least reached the root of the cam surface 8 of the initiating roller 6 and further advancement directs said edge portion 4 downwardly relative to the container walls 2.

Further advancement of the second shaft during rotation causes the toggle arm 16 and the curling roller 10 to move to their second positions. By movement of the curling roller 10 from the first to the second position the cam surface 12 of the curling rollers contacts the edge portion 4 and rolls the edge portion 4 of the container upwardly and inwardly toward the walls 2 of the container. At the second position of the curling roller 10, the edge portion of the container is rolled through an are greater than the desired arc of the resultant container. The power means 26 thereafter returns the elements of the apparatus to their first positions, the resilience of the container material causes the edge portion to spring partially back to remain at a desired configuration, and a new cycle is initiated.

The final desired edge portion configuration and the resilience of the material are utilized to determine the number of degrees through which the edge portion of the container is urged and are matters of choice. For forming a rolled edge by this apparatus, it is preferred that the edge portion 4 be rotated through at least 270 to form a sturdy rolled edge on the container. By adjusting the power means 26 to advance the apparatus greater distances, it can be seen that a resultant roll can be formed having a 360 curl or greater.

By so constructing the apparatus of this invention and positioning the various rollers at arcuately spaced apart locations about the common axis, a high degree, uniform roll can be formed on a container edge portion with reduced danger of damaging the container edge portion.

Other modifications and alterations of this invention wiil become apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing discussion and .accompanying drawing, and it should be understood that this invention is not to be unduly limited thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for curling an edge portion of a container, comprising:

at least one initiating roller having a cam surface, said roller being rotatable about an axis of an adjacent container and movable along the container axis between a first position at which the cam surface is spaced from the container edge portion and a second position at which a portion of the container edge portion is lying along the cam surface that extends outwardly and downwardly relative to the walls of the container;

at least one curling roller having a cam surface, said curling roller being rotatable about the axis of the container, spaced an arcuate distance from the initiating roller relative to the container axis and movable between a first position at which the cam surface of the curlling roller is spaced from the container edge portion and a second position at which a portion of the container edge portion is lying along the cam surface of the curling roller that extends inwardly and upwardly relative to the walls of the container; and

means for rotating the initiating roller along the container edge portion and moving said roller between its first and second positions and for rotating the curling roller along the container edge portion and moving said roller between its first and second positions after the initiating roller has reached the second position.

2. An apparatus, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the means comprises:

a supporting element having first and second ends, said first end having the initiating roller rotatably attached thereto and being arcuately spaced from the second end;

a toggle arm having first and second ends with the curling roller rotatably attached to said second end, said toggle arm being pivotally connected to the second end of the supporting element for movement between a first position at which the curling roller is at its first position and a second position at which the curling roller is at its second position;

a first shaft having an axis, an end, and an upper portion with a slot formed therethrough, the end of said first shaft being attached to the supporting element, rotatable about its axis, and movable along its axis from a first position at which the initiating roller is at its first position and a second position at which the initiating roller is at its second position;

a second shaft having an end portion, an end, a longitudinally extending chamber opening on the second end and having the upper end portion of the first shaft slidably mounted therein and a conical cam surface on the end portion extending downwardly and inwardly toward the end, said second shaft being rotatable about its axis and movable along its axis between a first position at which the initiating and curling rollers are at the first positions and a second position at which the first end of the toggle arm is in contact with the conical cam surface, and the curling roller is at its second position;

a pin extending through the slot of the first shaft and affixed to the second shaft for rotatably affixing the first shaft to the second shaft and slidably mounting the first shaft within the second shaft;

biasing means urging the end of the first shaft in an axial direction from the end of the second shaft, said biasing means being compressible by forces exerted on the first shaft by the edge portion of the carton for maintaining the second shaft at its first position until the first shaft has reached its second position; and

power means for rotating and reciprocating the second shaft and associated elements along and about the axis of a coaxially, adjacently positioned container.

3. An apparatus, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the supporting element has a plurality of first and second ends with an individual initiating roller attached to each of the first ends and an individual curling roller attached to each of the second ends.

4. An apparatus, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the power source advances the second shaft toward the container at one rate during movement of the initiating roller from the first to the second position and thereafter advances the second shaft toward the container at a greater rate during the movement of the curling roller from the first to the second position.

5. An apparatus, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the cam surface of each roller is of substantially the same configuration and the axis of rotation between the initiating roller and the curling roller are angularly disposed about 60 apart when the curling roller is at its second position.

6. An apparatus, as set forth in claim 1, including means for rotating the container about its axis.

7. A method for curling an edge portion of a container, comprising:

rotating at least one initiating roller about the edge portion of the container;

urging the container edge across a cam surface of said roller and outwardly and downwardly relative to the walls of the container; and

thereafter rotating at least one curling roller about the outwardly and downwardly directededge portion of the container, said curling roller contacting the edge portion of the container at a position spaced along the edge portion a distance from the initiating roller; and

urging the edge portion upwardly and inwardly toward the walls of the container with the curling roller.

urging the edge portion upwardly and inwardly toward walls of 5 the container at a plurality of spaced apart locations along the container edge portion.

9. A method, as set forth in claim 7, including advancing the initiating rollers against the edge portion of the container at one rate while urging the edge portion outwardly and downwardly and thereafter urging the initiating roller against the edge portion at a different rate.

Claims

1. An apparatus for curling an edge portion of a container, comprising: at least one initiating roller having a cam surface, said roller being rotatable about an axiS of an adjacent container and movable along the container axis between a first position at which the cam surface is spaced from the container edge portion and a second position at which a portion of the container edge portion is lying along the cam surface that extends outwardly and downwardly relative to the walls of the container; at least one curling roller having a cam surface, said curling roller being rotatable about the axis of the container, spaced an arcuate distance from the initiating roller relative to the container axis and movable between a first position at which the cam surface of the curling roller is spaced from the container edge portion and a second position at which a portion of the container edge portion is lying along the cam surface of the curling roller that extends inwardly and upwardly relative to the walls of the container; and means for rotating the initiating roller along the container edge portion and moving said roller between its first and second positions and for rotating the curling roller along the container edge portion and moving said roller between its first and second positions after the initiating roller has reached the second position.

2. An apparatus, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the means comprises: a supporting element having first and second ends, said first end having the initiating roller rotatably attached thereto and being arcuately spaced from the second end; a toggle arm having first and second ends with the curling roller rotatably attached to said second end, said toggle arm being pivotally connected to the second end of the supporting element for movement between a first position at which the curling roller is at its first position and a second position at which the curling roller is at its second position; a first shaft having an axis, an end, and an upper portion with a slot formed therethrough, the end of said first shaft being attached to the supporting element, rotatable about its axis, and movable along its axis from a first position at which the initiating roller is at its first position and a second position at which the initiating roller is at its second position; a second shaft having an end portion, an end, a longitudinally extending chamber opening on the second end and having the upper end portion of the first shaft slidably mounted therein and a conical cam surface on the end portion extending downwardly and inwardly toward the end, said second shaft being rotatable about its axis and movable along its axis between a first position at which the initiating and curling rollers are at the first positions and a second position at which the first end of the toggle arm is in contact with the conical cam surface, and the curling roller is at its second position; a pin extending through the slot of the first shaft and affixed to the second shaft for rotatably affixing the first shaft to the second shaft and slidably mounting the first shaft within the second shaft; biasing means urging the end of the first shaft in an axial direction from the end of the second shaft, said biasing means being compressible by forces exerted on the first shaft by the edge portion of the carton for maintaining the second shaft at its first position until the first shaft has reached its second position; and power means for rotating and reciprocating the second shaft and associated elements along and about the axis of a coaxially, adjacently positioned container.

5. An apparatus, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the cam surface of each roller is of substantially the same configuration and the axis of rotation between the initiating roller and the curling roller are angularly disposed about 60* apart when the curling roller is at its second position.

7. A method for curling an edge portion of a container, comprising: rotating at least one initiating roller about the edge portion of the container; urging the container edge across a cam surface of said roller and outwardly and downwardly relative to the walls of the container; and thereafter rotating at least one curling roller about the outwardly and downwardly directed edge portion of the container, said curling roller contacting the edge portion of the container at a position spaced along the edge portion a distance from the initiating roller; and urging the edge portion upwardly and inwardly toward the walls of the container with the curling roller.

8. A method, as set forth in claim 7, including simultaneously urging the edge portion outwardly and downwardly at a plurality of spaced apart locations along the container edge portion with a plurality of initiating rollers and simultaneously urging the edge portion upwardly and inwardly toward walls of the container at a plurality of spaced apart locations along the container edge portion.