Method of and apparatus for expanding partitioning packs

Abstract

 A partitioning pack of the kind shown in Figures 4 and 5 is manufactured in such a way that the ends of its transverse divider walls terminate short of the ends of the longitudinal divider walls thereby leaving exposed portions 22 when the pack is in its flat condition (Figure 5). Such portions 22 are readily locatable thereby enabling the pack to be expanded by automatically operating machinery provided with means for engaging the portions 22 and displacing them to cause relative hinging of the divider walls into the cell-defining condition of Figure 4.

Description

[0001] This invention relates to folding partitioning packs of the well-known type comprising intersecting sets of divider walls of for example corrugated cardboard or plastics sheet, which sets are foldable relative to each other with a hinge-like action between a generally flat storage condition and an expanded cell-defining condition for reception of articles.

[0002] Such packs have been widely used for many years but hitherto they have only been considered suitable for use in manual packing of articles. In general, where automatic mechinery has been used for packaging, alternative specially designed partitioning packs have been adopted which have been considered more practicable for handling by machinery. Typical alternative configurations are illustrated by, for example, US Patents Nos. 3760557, 3473295 and 3541759 and British Patent No. 961050.

[0003] As far as we are aware, the only attempt that has been made to produce automatic machinery for expanding packs of the type referred to is the subject of German Patent No. 2356319. The machinery disclosed therein employs pivoting arms carrying suction cups which are intended to adhere to one set of the divider walls and cause the pack to open up as the arms pivot. To effect expansion in this manner, it would be necessary to engage and maintain the other set of divider walls fixed but this Patent does not teach or even suggest how this is to be achieved in practice. This in fact is a fundamental difficulty in using packs of the type referred to in automatic machinery because one is faced with the problem of engaging both sets of divider walls while the pack is in the flat storage condition.

[0004] The object of the present invention is to solve the problem which has been outlined above.

[0005] According to one aspect of the invention we provide a method of expanding a folding partitioning pack comprising intersecting sets of divider walls from a generally flat storage condition to a cell-defining condition for reception of articles wherein said sets of divider walls are caused to move relative to each other with a hinge-like action, characterised in that at least one of the dividers of one set is provided with a portion which projects beyond the remaining dividers at least at one side of the flat pack and in which expansion is effected by displacing the two sets of dividers with said hinge-like action while engaging said projecting portion or portions.

[0006] According to a second aspect of the invention we provide a method of expanding a folding partitioning pack comprising intersecting sets of divider walls from a generally flat storage condition to a cell-defining condition for reception of articles wherein said sets of divider walls are caused to move relative to each other with a hinge-like action, characterised in that dividers of one set are provided with portions which project beyond the remaining dividers at opposite sides of the flat pack and in which expansion is effected by engaging and displacing the projecting portions at the opposite sides of the pack generally towards each other so as to cause hinge-like movement of the divider walls.

[0007] Preferably said projecting portions are present at both sides of the pack; however, it is within the scope of the invention for such projecting portion to be provided at one side only of the pack to enable that portion to be gripped while the pack is expanded for example by suitable means such as a suction cup arrangement as disclosed in German Patent No. 2356319. It will be appreciated that the provision of said projecting portion or portions greatly facilitates expansion of the pack, especially by means of automatic machinery by providing portions which are readily locatable for the purpose of gripping.

[0008] According to another aspect of the invention we provide apparatus for expanding the folding partitioning pack comprising intersecting sets of divider walls from a generally flat storage condition to a cell defining condition for reception of articles wherein sets of divider walls are caused to move relative to each other with a hinge-like action, characterised by first and second members for engaging respective projecting portions provided at opposite sides of the flat pack, which portions are associated with one set of the divider walls, and means for effecting relative displacement between said members such that said projecting portions move generally towards each other with consequent hinging of the divider wall to effect expansion of the flat pack.

[0009] According to a further aspect of the invention we provide a foldable partitioning pack comprising intersecting sets of divider walls which are movable with a hinge-like action between a generally flat storage condition and a cell-defining condition wherein the cells are of substantially square cross-section characterised in that the central cells of the expanded pack are bounded by divider wall sections of width a and at least some of the outer cells of the expanded pack are each bounded on one side by a divider wall section of width a and on the other side by a divider wall section of width b where b is less than a so that in the flat condition of the pack, the pack has a projecting portion at least at one side thereof of width corresponding to the difference between a and b.

[0010] In conventional container partitioning arrangements, if the compartment cross section is for example one length unit square then the longitudinal and transverse partitioning walls will be integral multiplies of the unit length; thus, for a twelve compartment partitioning padk, the longitudinal walls will be four units long and the transverse walls will have a length of three units. In contrast with this, a pack according to the present invention will have shorter transverse walls and will not therefore span the entire width of the container. Consequently in addition to facilitating pack expansion less board material is used than with conventional packs. In many cases the articles to be packaged will be round section bottles and the purpose of the partitioning is to prevent glass-to-glass contact and eliminate rattling. Thus, if the bottles have a diameter of one unit, the compartments will be one unit square. However, the outside compartments, i.e. those lying between the longitudinal walls and the longitudinal side walls of the container, will be defined in part by portions of the shorter transverse divider walls. Consequently to avoid glass-to-glass contact, these shorter portions will have a length of at least 0.5 units. The lengths of the shorter transverse wall portions dictate the dimensions of the projecting portions and for practical purposes and particularly to facilitate machine handling, the dimension of the projecting portions is conveniently at least 3/8 inches and preferably between 0.5 and 0.75 inches although satisfactory results may be achievable with smaller dimensions, for example at least 0.25 inches.

[0011] Intersection of the pack walls is conveniently effected by forming them with slots which interfit in conventional fashion but preferably the walls are provided with formations which automatically interlock when the pack is expanded to prevent separation of the walls in the direction of the slots. Such formations conveniently form part of the slot configurations. This locking arrangement is particularly advantageous when the packs are to be handled by machine because it is then unnecessary to provide any mechanism for preventing separation of the divider walls after expansion of the pack.

[0012] With conventional partitioning packs, the practice has been to make the slot width the same or slightly greater than the width of the sheet material from which the divider walls are made. If such packs are used for automatic partitioning, the positioning of the articles in a collated group must be very precise immediately prior to insertion of the pack into the collated group. Naturally a high degree of precision in article positioning demands a relatively complex collating mechanism and there is an increased risk of malfunction and frequent breakdown. To reduce the precision required, the slots in the divider walls of the present invention are preferably wider than in conventional packs so that the walls are free to move to some extent so that small misalignments of the articles in a collated group can be tolerated. Thus, the walls can in effect mould themselves within limits to the arrangement of the articles within the collated group because the wide slots do not constrain the walls to the same extent as in conventional packs. Preferably the slots are at least 2mm wider than the sheet material thickness and the preferred range for slot width is between 4 and 8 mm greater than the sheet material thickness.

[0013] In order to strengthen the partitioned container all of the pack walls may be of substantially the same height or depth as the container and/or articles to be packaged, the upper and lower edges respectively of said walls being substantially co-planar. This is also advantageous for machine handling because the machine part which displaces the expanded pack into the group of articles to be packaged does not have to be specially configured. However, in some circumstances, the pack walls may be of a lesser height than the container and/or articles in which event it may be necessary to employ a specially configured machine part for pushing the packs into place.

[0014] The pack according to the present invention is primarily intended for use in packaging round section bottles; however in some cases it is necessary to package bottles of for example triangular section or other irregularly shaped articles. According to a preferred feature, applicable to packaging irregularly shaped articles, at least some of the divider walls are formed with lines of weakness extending generally parallel to the lines of intersection between the walls to enable the walls to fold and conform to the shape of the articles to be received in the cells defined by the pack.

[0015] Conveniently the articles will be collated in rows and columns such that adjacent articles in each column are arranged in base to apex relation and the articles in each column are inverted with respect to those in the adjacent column or columns. Organisation of the articles in this fashion may be effected using the principles disclosed in our published British patent application No. 2050981, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0016] Where the articles are collated in this manner, one set of partitioning walls may extend between the adjacent rows but need not be formed with lines of weakness and the other set of partitioning walls may extend in zig-zag fashion between adjacent columns, the zig-zag configuration being brought about by folding of the latter set of partitioning walls about said lines of weakness as the pack is pushed into the collated group of articles. The method of inserting the pack into the collated group is conveniently the same as that disclosed above.

[0017] The feature whereby the two sets of partitioning walls are coupled together by means of interfitting slots of relatively large width will also be applicable in the present case and conveniently, in view of the greater degree of freedom required to enable the pack to conform to and accommodate the articles, the slots will be somewhat wider than those used for round section bottles; e.g. in the case of triangular section bottles the slots will typically be of the order of 12 mm wide where the walls are formed by a fine flute board.

[0018] With reference to the method of the invention, after expansion of the pack it is displaced into a group of articles or a container and the steps of expanding the pack and displacing it into said group of articles or container may be effected manually or by mechanical means and the displacing step may be carried out before or after the group of articles have been packaged in a box or other enclosure. In the former case, it will in general be preferable to collate the articles into a well defined group with the articles organised into precisely aligned rows and columns; however, in some circumstances, precise organisation may not be necessary because the act of displacing the expanded pack into a relatively loosely organised group will tend to bring the articles automatically into correct alignment.

[0019] As explained above, the flexibility of the partitioning pack may be increased by employing wide slots at the intersections between the divider walls. The flexibility afforded by this feature enables the insertion operation to be effected more easily by temporarily distorting the arrangement of the articles in a collated group in such a way that the articles are splayed apart towards their upper ends. Such separation allows the divider walls to enter the resulting gaps between adjacent articles more easily and the splay created can be accommodated because of the ability of the divider walls to move relative to one another to a greater extent than in conventional packs. Such distortion may be created by causing the collated group to travel over a non-planar region, e.g. an upwardly convex region, in the vicinity of the pack insertion station. Thereafter, the path along which the group moves may become planar so that the splay is removed and the articles returned to the desired orientation.

[0020] The flat partitioning packs are conveniently extracted from a store thereof and where mechanical means are employed, the arrangement may be such that, as one pack is being displaced into one group of articles, the next pack is simultaneously extracted from the store in preparation for expansion and subsequent displacement into the next group of articles.

[0021] With reference to the apparatus of the invention, preferably the displacement of said first and second members takes place in such a way that, during expansion, the walls of said one set remain substantially parallel to their orientations immediately prior to relative displacement of said members. In one presently preferred embodiment, during pack expansion, said first member remains stationary and said second member is displaced obliquely, e.g. along a generally arcuate path, so that the spacing between said memters decreases while maintaining the substantially parallel orientation of the walls of said one set. In this embodiment, there may be a series of second members spaced angularly about a rotatably indexable carrier, each indexing movement of the carrier being effective to cause pack expansion by cooperation of one second member with the stationary first member and, at the same time, to bring the next second member into suitable registry with a stationary first member for reception of the projecting portions of the next flat pack.

[0022] Said apparatus preferably includes mears for transferring the expanded pack from said first and second members into a group of articles either prior to or subsequent to packaging of said group in a box or other packaging means, the groups of articles conveniently being carried on a conveyor which is operated so as to bring successive groups of articles into registry with the path of movement of the transferring means. The conveyor is preferably arranged to index successive groups of articles into a position immediately below the pack transferring means and at this position, the surface on which the articles stand may be non-planar, e.g. upwardly convex or of inverted shallow V configuration, so as to create the splaying effect previously referred to.

[0023] Conveniently means is provided for storing a supply of said packs in flat form and feeding them one at a time to said first and second members and preferably said feed means and said transfer means are arranged to operate simultaneously so that while one expanded pack is being transferred from said first and second members the next pack is fed thereto.

[0024] The first and second members are conveniently in the form of channels which receive said projecting portions of the flat packs and the feed means is operable to feed the flat packs from the store lengthwise of said channels from one end of each channel towards the other. To facilitate location of said projecting portions in the channels, the channel walls are advantageously flared. The transfer means may comprise a pusher arm operable to move in a direction generally parallel to the channels and the act of expanding the pack by displacement of said first and second members conveniently brings the pack into the path of travel of said pusher arm. The pusher arm may terminate in a flat end face when the height of the partitioning walls is at least the same as the article height or it may terminate in an end face formed with recesses or openings into which the articles can enter when the partitioning walls are of smaller height than the articles and are required to be pushed below the tops of the articles.

[0025] In order to promote further understanding of the present invention, reference is now made to the accompanying drawings; in which:

Figure I is a view of a longitudinal partition wall of the pack;

Figure 2 is a view of a transverse partitioning wall;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the expanded partitioning pack;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the pack when in expanded form;

Figure 5 is a plan view of the pack when in the substantially flat condition;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a container housing a stack of partitioning packs;

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic plan view of apparatus for collating, partitioning and packaging groups of bottles;

Figure 8 is a front view of the partitioning equipment;

Figure 9 is a plan view of the pack feed and insertion sections of the partitioning equipment;

Figure 10 is a side view of the pack and insertion section;

Figure 11 is an end view of the pack insertion section;

Figure 12 is a view similar to Figure 2 but showing a modification;

Figure 13 is a view of the modification similar to Figure 5; and

Figure 14 is a plan view showing the pack of Figure 13 inserted into a collated group of irregularly shaped articles.

[0026] Referring first to Figures I to 6, the partitioning pack or insert 10 illustrated is intended for use with twelve articles, typically bottles, organised into three rows of four. The pack in this instance comprises two longitudinal partitioning walls 12, 13 and three transverse partitioning walls 14, 15, 16 which intersect the walls 12, 13 at equal intervals a (see Figure 4) and when the pack is expanded as shown in Figures 3 and 4, the walls 12, 13 are spaced apart by the same interval a. In these respects, the illustrated pack is conventional; however, whereas the walls 14, 15 and 16 of a conventional pack would project for a distance a either side of the walls 12, 13, the walls 14, 15, 16 of the pack of thp present invention project a smaller distance b which is preferably greater than a/2. Thus, when the illustrated pack is inserted into a container whose sides are of lengths 4a and 3a, the walls 14, 15, 16 will terminate short of the container sides by a distance a - b but, because b is greater than a/2, bottles of diameter a accommodated in adjacent cells will not make glass-to- glass contact.

[0027] The intersecting walls are so arranged so that the pack can be folded flat with a hinge like action (see Figure 5) thereby enabling the inserts to be packed face-to-face in a supply container so as to form a stack extending from one end of the container to the other end. The container may be in the form of a cardboard channel 20 open at both ends as shown in Figure 6. The sides of the channel 20 may be held together by paper tapes, string or such like which may be broken when the packs are to be used. The packs are stacked in the container channel so that they can be removed at one end by pushing the stack from the other end.

[0028] When the pack is folded flat, it will be observed that a portion 22 of each wall 12, 13 projects at each side of the insert (see Figure 5), each portion 22 being exposed by virtue of the fact that the adjacent transverse wall is shorter than 3a. The portion 22 at the left hand side belongs to the longitudinal wall 13 whilst the portion 22 at the right hand side belongs to wall 12. This arrangement allows the pack to be expanded to the Figure 3 condition in a very simple manner simply by displacing the portions 22 towards one another. This not only facilitates manual expansion of the pack but, more importantly, allows the packs to be expanded by machine becuase the machine does not have to distinguish between different edges as the projecting portions 22 are readily locatable.

[0029] From Figures 1 and 2, it will be seen that the longitudinal and transverse walls are formed with interfitting slots 24, 26 such that the upper and lower edges of the two sets of walls are co-planar when the walls are fully interfitted, see Figure 3. The slots 26 may be of constant width and extend to the lower edge of the wall 14,15, 16. The slots 24 however are specially configured to facilitate folding of the two sets of partitioning walls and to effect automatic interlocking of the walls in the expanded condition. To this end the slots 24 narrow, e.g. adjacent the upper edge of the wall 12, 13 to afford locking tabs 28. The transverse walls 14, 15, 16 are additionally formed with openings e.g. slots 30 into which the tabs 28 fit when the pack is expanded, as will be seen from Figure 3. V-shaped lead-in portions 29 are provided adjacent the tabs 28 to facilitate interleaving of the walls 14, 15, 16 with the walls 12, 13.

[0030] A feature of the pack shown in Figures 1 to 3 is the width of the slots 24, 26 which enable the two sets of walls to be interleaved. In contrast to a conventional pack, these slots 24, 26 are at least 2 mm (and preferably between 4 and 8 mm) wider than the thickness of the sheet material of which the walls are made. Thus, each wall is free to move both transverse to its plane and in the direction of its plane so enabling the pack to mould itself to the group of articles as previously explained even when the articles are not precisely collated in aligned rows and columns.

[0031] Referring now to Figures 7 to 11, these show a bottle conveying and packaging plant employing the partitioning packs of the present invention. The bottles are fed randomly to a collating Fiction 40 of known form (see Figure 7) in which they are organised into groups 42 containing for example 12 bottles in three rows of four. The collated groups 42 are the conveyed via indexed conveyor (the upper run of which is depicted by reference numeral 44 in Figure 8) to a packaging station 46 again of known form which serves to enclose each collated group 42 in a wraparound packaging box. Between the collating and packaging stations 40, 46, there is provided a partitioning station 48 which inserts a pack of the form described with reference to Figures I to 6 into each collated group 42 of bottles before they pass to the packaging station 46 so that in the completed package the individual bottles are separated from one another by the partitioning walls of the pack to eliminate rattling.

[0032] The partitioning station 48 (see Figure 8 in • particular) comprises a pack storage section 50 for accommodating a number of supply containers 20 each containing a stack of partitioning packs 10 and a pack feed, expansion and insertion section 54 for extracting individual packs 10 from the supply containers 20, expanding them and inserting them into a collated group of bottles 42. The storage section 50 comprises an indexable flat top table chain type double strand conveyor 56 whose upper run travels from left to right as seen in Figure 8. The conveyor 56 is provided with a series of projections 58 between which the pack supply containers can be located. In Figure 8 only the projections 58 on the upper conveyor run are shown but it will be understood that such projections will be provided over the whole length of the conveyor run. When the leading supply container is exhausted, the container 58 is indexed to bring the next supply container into the section 54. As shown, the conveyor 56 can accommodate four containers 20 at a time; however, the exact form of the conveyor is not material to the invention and various forms are possible depending on the space available between the collating station 40 and packaging station 46. In some circumstances the conveyor of the storage section 50 may be vertically movable and accommodate containers 20 in a vertical array. The containers 20 are stored by the conveyor 56 above the conveyor 44 and in Figure 8 the line 60 represents the path of travel of the upper ends of the groups 42.

[0033] Referring now to Figures 9 to 11, the containers 20 are mounted on the conveyor 56 with their longitudinal axes extending transversely of the direction of feed by conveyor 56 and with the mouth of the container channel directed upwardly. The leading container 20 will be in registry with a pusher arm 62 which, as seen in Figure 10, is movable transversely of the feed direction of conveyor 56 and serves to urge the stack of packs in the leading container out of one end thereof and against a pair of stop plates 64, 66 between which there is a vertically extending gap defined by edges 68. The arm 62 is mounted via linear bearings 70 on slides 72 for rectilinear movement perpendicularly to the feed direction of conveyor 58 and is displaced by means of an endless chain 74 whose drive sprocket 76 is driven by means of an air motor (not shown) so that the force acting on the packs can be varied by varying the pneumatic pressure. The air motor will normally operate under stall conditions to constantly press the stack against the stop plates 64, 66.

[0034] The leading partitioning pack 10, i.e. the pack pressing directly against the stop plates 64, 66, is removed by displacing it downwardly through a gap between the stop plates 64, 66 and a supoort plate 78, the displacement operation being effected by means of a vertically movable ejector plate 80 which is located on the same side of the stop plates 64, 66 as the containers 20. The plate 80 is movable between an upper position in which its lower edge is located above the leading pack 10 and a lower position, as illustrated, in which the ejector plate 80 extends through the gap between support plates 78 and stop plates 64,66. The ejector plate 80 is displaced by a fluid powered ram 81 (see Figure 8) which is connected to the ejector plate 80 via rod 82 and cross piece 84. The ejector plate 80 is guided for vertical movement in slideways 86 at each side thereof.

[0035] A number of spring loaded fingers 88 bridge the gap between the support plates 78 and stop plates 64, 66 when the ejector plate 80 is raised so as to prevent the packs from unintentionally slipping through the gap. The fingers 88 are upwardly bevelled at their leading ends so that, as the leading pack is displaced downwardly, a camming action occurs which displaces the fingers rearwardly against their spring loading clear of the gap. During return of the ejector plate 80 to its upper position there may be a tendency for the leading pack to move upwardly at the same time through friction. To prevent this, a stripper bar 90 is conveniently located immediately above the position occupied by the leading pack during return of the ejector plate 80.

[0036] As the ejector plate 80 travels downwardly, its lower edge contacts the leading partitioning pack 10 and pushes it through the previously mentioned gap and through guides 92 into vertical gripper channels 94, 96 located one at each side of the path of travel of the ejected pack. The guides 92 and the upper ends 98 of the channels 94, 96 are conveniently flared and inclined to orientate the ejected pack properly, as explained further below. The channel 94 is fixed but the channel 96 is one of a series of channels which can be brought into pack receiving position opposite the channel 94, the channels 96 being mounted on the rotor 100 of a Geneva mechanism whose rotary axis is depicted by reference numeral 104 in Figure 9. In the illustrated embodiment, there are six vertical channels 96 arranged at equal intervals around the rotor 100. Each channel 96 is pivotally mounted about an axis 106 parallel to the rotor axis 104 and is lightly biassed into abutment with a stop face 108 on the rotor so that, when in opposition to the guide 94, a medial plane of the channel 96 is substantially co-planar with a medial plane of the fixed channel 94. However, such biassing allows the channel 96 to swing away from abutment with stop face 108 during pack expansion as explained below.

[0037] The channels 94, 96 are so designed and their spacing (when in direct opposition) is such that they lightly grip the opposite projecting edges 22 of the ejected pack and the flared and inclined surfaces of the guides 92 and upper ends of channels 94,96 are designed so as to correctly locate the projecting edges 22 in the channels 94, 96. The rotor 100 is indexed by 60° intervals in the anticlockwise sense as seen in Figure 9 and during such angular movement the channel 96 directly opposite the fixed channel 94 moves along an arcuate path which reduces the spacing therebetween. Consequently the ejected flat partitioning pack 10 gripped by the channels 94 and 96 will be automatically expanded to thr-Figure 3 condition during angular indexing of the channel 96. Because the channel 96 moves obliquely with respect to the channel 94 during such indexing, the walls 12, 13 of the expanded pack remain substantially parallel to their original orientations, prior to expansion.

[0038] After expansion, the expanded pack will be located immediately above the level 60 of the tops of the bottle groups 42. Indexing of the conveyor 44 will be correlated with the pack expanding section in such a way that a collated group of bottles will be located immediately below an expanded pack and in proper alignment therewith whereby the pack can be inserted into the bottle group simply by displacing it downwardly. Such downward displacement of the expanded pack is effected by a pusher plate 110 secured to the lower ends of a pair of plates 112 which, in turn, extend through the gap between the stop plates 64, 66 and are secured to the ejector plate 80. Thus, during downward movement of the ejector plate 80 to extract the leading partitioning pack 10 from the container 20, the pusher plate 110 also travels downwardly to displace the preceding and now expanded, pack into the collated bottle group 42 below.

[0039] In this embodiment, the walls of the partitioning packs 10 are of at least the same height as the bottles thus enabling the pusher plate to be in the form of a flat plate. However; in some circumstances, the partitioning walls may be of reduced height and, in this event, the pusher plate 110 will be designed so as to enable it to enter the spaces between the bottle necks and thereby press the pack fully home. In this case, the plate may for example be formed with a number of cut outs for reception of the bottle necks.

[0040] Operation of the equipment will now be described. The conveyor 56 is initially loaded with four containers 20 and the leading container is brought into the section 54 by indexing the conveyor 56 during the loading operation. At this time, the pusher arm 62 will occupy the retracted broken outline position shown in Figure 10. Operation of conveyor 56 will be interlocked with pusher arm operation to allow indexing of the conveyor only while the arm 62 is fully retracted. The air motor associated with the drive chain 74 is operated to press the packs 10 in the leading container 20 against the stop plates 64, 66. Initially the insertion section 54 may be operated under manual control to prime the equipment in preparation for automatic operation. Thus, under the control of the operator, ram 81 is operated to move the ejector plate 80 and pusher plate 110 downwardly and thereby transfer the leading pack 10 into the opposed channels 94, 96. During this initial downward movement, there will not be an expanded pack present and pusher plate 110 will therefore have no effect. The ejector plate is raised to its upper positon and during this time the Geneva mechanism operates to index the rotor 100 and thereby expand the pack.

[0041] The equipment is now primed for automatic operation and further operation is suspended until a signal is produced, e.g. by a suitable sensor, to indicate that a collated bottle group 42 has been indexed by conveyor 44 into registry with the insertion section 54. Upon reception of this signal, the ram 81 operates automatically to displace the ejector plate 80 and pusher plate 110 downwardly thereby simultaneously inserting the expanded pack into the bottle group and introducing a fresh pack into the opposed gripper channels 94, 96. Upon retraction of the ram 81, the Geneva mechanism automatically indexes the rotor 100 to expand the fresh pack and this sequence of operation repeats automatically each time a signal is produced to signify the presence of a fresh group of bottles in registry with the insertion section 54. Operation of the conveyor 44 may be interlocked with operation of ram 8^: so that indexing of conveyor 44 occurs only when ram 81 retracts.

[0042] When all of the packs 10 have been ejected from the leading container, this condition is detected e.g. by means of a limit switch, a valve connecting the air motor to the air supply is reversed to retract the arm 62, the conveyor 56 is indexed to bring a fresh container into the insertion section 54 and the air motor is again reversed to bring the arm 62 back into operation to urge the fresh packs against the stop plates 64, 66. During this indexing movement of conveyor 56, the spent container is automatically ejected and a further container may be loaded onto the conveyor at the trailing end thereof. Also, it may be necessary to suspend operation of the bottle handling equipment temporarily while the spent container is being replaced.

[0043] As mentioned previously, the pack insertion operation may be facilitated by causing the bottles in the collated group to splay apart to enlarge and form gaps between adjacent bottles. This may be achieved by providing immediately beneath the pack insertion station an upwardly convex region or inverted shallow V formation (not shown) on which the bottles stand. Thus, while the spacing between the bottoms of the bottles remain substantially the same, the splaying effect increases bottle spacing towards their necks thereby affording larger gaps for reception of the partitioning walls. In order to accommodate different sizes of packs, the spacing between the opposing channels 94, 96 may be variable. For example, the rotor 100 may be adjustable in a plane perpendicular to its axis and the channels 96 may either be adjustable in a radial direction on the rotor or the supports carrying the channels 96 may be interchangable with supports of different dimensions.

[0044] After the partitioning pack has been inserted into a collated group of bottles, the bottles may be advanced towards the wraparound packaging station and conveniently to transfer the group from the conveyor into the packaging station, a pusher device may be employed having a scalloped bottle engaging face for cooperation with the long side of the bottle group. Such a configuration enables the pusher device to maintain thebottle group in collated form during transfer into the packaging station and it will be noted that the reduced width of the transverse partitioning walls is advantageous in this respect because they terminate short of the plane which is tangential to the row of bottles engaged by the pusher device. With a conventional partitioning pack, the edges of the transverse walls would tend to obstruct such a pusher device.

[0045] Referring now to Figures 12-14, the partitioning pack shown is, except in the respects to be discussed below, the same as the dividers of the pack illustrated in Figures I to 5 and like reference numerals are used herein to indicate features in common. Referring now to Figure 14, there is shown a collated group of triangular section bottles 120 which are organised into three rows of four bottles such that, in each column, the bottles are in base to apex relation and each column is inverted relative to the adjacent columns. Organisation of the bottles in this manner may be achieved by controlling movement of the bottles in the manner disclosed in the previously mentioned published British patent application No. 2050981. Thus, orientation of the bottles will be controlled as they are channelled into three lanes each containing four bottles arranged in the manner shown in Figure 3.

[0046] The short dividers 14-16 of the pack are formed with creases or scores 122 extending parallel to the lines of intersection between the two sets of dividers. The central portions of each divider 14-16, i.e. the portions between each pair of adjacent slots 26, are formed with two creases 122 whilst the edge portions are each formed with a single crease 122. It will be appreciated that whilst in the illustrated embodiment it is the short dividers that are creased, in a modification, the long dividers may be creased and in this event appropriate reorganisation of the bottles will be necessary. Also, the invention is not restricted to a partitioning pack for forming a three by four cell structure.

[0047] The pack illustrated is inserted into a collated bottle group in the same manner as disclosed above with reference to Figures 1 to 11 but in this case during the insertion step, the short dividers fold about the creases 122 so as to conform generally to the zig-zag gaps extending between adjacent columns of bottles, as will be clear from Figure 3. The location of the creases 122 will be such that folding or hinging of the dividers 14-16 occurs in the immediate vicinity of an apex of an adjacent bottle.

[0048] As previously mentioned, to aid insertion of the pack into the bottle group, the slots 24, 26 may be of increased width and also the bottle group may be arranged to be supported on a convex region to effect splaying of the bottles. In general, the curvature of the convex region will be greater than that required in the case where the bottles are of round section.

[0049] Various modifications of the method, apparatus and product of the invention are possible and it is to be understood that the foregoing description is merely illustrative of the invention without limiting its scope as defined in the appended claims. In one modification of the apparatus described, the expanding mechanism may, instead of a Geneva-type drive, incorporate for example a cam-controlled mechanism for gripping the associated projecting end of each pack and moving the gripping member or members along an arcuate path which is concave with respect to the opposite projecting end of the pack, in contrast with the Geneva mechanism illustrated which moves the gripping member or members along a convex path of travel. This modification is intended to reduce or overcome any tendency for the divider walls to lock together and resist opening, a tendency which has been found to occur when the path of travel is convex. Such locking tendency can apparently arise if, in the pack shown in Figures 1-5, the non-projecting ends of the walls 12, 13 enter the adjacent slots. As a further or alternative aid to overcoming this tendency, those ends at least may be modified to prevent them engaging in the slots, e.g. they may be tapered or a portion thereof may be omitted.

[0050] In the illustrated embodiment, only one pack expansion station is shown, however, to increase speed, there may be more than one pack expansion station. For example, there may be two arranged in succession with respect to the bottle group feed conveyor and each serving to expand and insert packs into alternate groups of bottles.

Claims

1. A method of expanding a folding partitioning pack comprising intersecting sets of divider walls from a generally flat storage condition to a cell-defining condition for reception of articles wherein said sets of divider walls are caused to move relative to each other with a hinge-like action, characterised in that at least one of the dividers of one set is provided with a portion which projects beyond the remaining dividers at least at one side of the flat pack and in which expansion is effected by displacing the two sets of dividers with said hinge-like action while engaging said projecting portion or portions.

2. A method of expanding a folding partitioning pack comprising intersecting sets of divider walls from a generally flat storage condition to a cell-defining condition for reception of articles wherein said serts of divider walls are caused to move relative to each other with a hinge-like action, characterised in that dividers of one set are provided with portions which project beyond the remaining dividers at opposite sides of the flat pack and in which expansion is effected by engaging and displacing the projecting portions at the opposite sides of the pack generally towards each other so as to cause hinge-like movement of the divider walls.

3. A method as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 characterised in that said displacement step involves moving at least one of said projecting portions along an obliquely extending path, e.g. an arcuate path.

4. A method as claimed in Claim 1, 2 or 3 characterised in that said displacement step involves holding one of said projecting portions stationary and moving the other projecting portion along an arcuate path.

5. A method as claimed in Claim 4 in which said arcuate path is concave with respect to said other projecting portion.

6. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5 further characterised by locating a container or a group of articles in registry with each expanded pack and displacing the pack into said container or group.

7. A method as claimed in Claim 6 further characterised by causing the articles in the group to splay apart to facilitate displacement of the expanded pack into said group.

8. A method as claimed in Claim 7 characterised by locating the group of articles on a non-planar surface.

9. A method as claimed in Claim 6, 7 or 8 characterised in that the means for effecting relative movement between said projecting portions also serves to maintain the pack in its expanded condition whilst it is being displaced into said container or group.

10. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 8 characterised by mechanically gripping said projecting portions by means of relatively movable gripping elements and effecting relative movement between said elements to cause said expansion.

11. A method as claimed in Claim 10 characterised in that said gripping elements are each of channel form open at opposite ends and said projecting portions are engaged with the respective gripping elements by introducing each of them at one end of the channel and displacing the pack in a lengthwise direction with respect to the channel.

12. A method as claimed in Claim 11 when appendent to Claim 4 characterised by locating said container or group beneath the expanded pack and displacing the pack further in said lengthwise direction so that the projecting portions pass through the other ends of said channels and so that the pack enters said container or group.

13. Apparatus for expanding the folding partitioning pack comprising intersecting sets of divider walls from a generally flat storage condition to a cell defining condition for reception of articles wherein sets of divider walls are caused to move relative to each other with a hinge-like action, characterised by first and second members for engaging respective projecting portions provided at opposite sides of the flat pack, which portions are associated with one set of the divider walls, and means for effecting relative displacement between said members such that said projecting portions move generally towards each other with consequent hinging of the divider wall to effect expansion of the flat pack.

14. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 13 characterised in that said first member is stationary and the second is moved along an obliquely extending path, for example an arcuate path, by said displacing means.

15. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 14 characterised in that said second member comprises one of a series of second members mounted on a rotatably indexable carrier wherby successive ones of said second members can be used to expand successive packs.

16. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 15 characterised in that each indexing movement of the carrier is effective to cause pack expansion by co-operation of one second member with the stationary first member and, at the same time, to bring the next second member into suitable registry with the stationary first member for reception of the projecting portions of the next flat pack.

17. Apparatus according to any one of Claims 13 to 16 characterised by means for transferring the expanded pack from said first and second members into a group of articles.

18. Apparatus according to Claim 17 characterised by a conveyor operable to bring successive groups of articles into registry with the path of movement of the transfer means.

19. Apparatus according to Claim 18 characterised in that the conveyor is arranged to index successive groups of articles into a position immediately below the pack transfer means.

20. Apparatus according to Claim 19 characterised in that at said positon, the surface on which the articles stand is non-planar, e.g. upwardly convex or of inverted shallow V-configuration, so as to cause the articles to splay apart.

21. Apparatus according to any one of Claimsl3 to 20 further characterised by means for storing a supply of said packs in the flat form and feeding them one at a time to said first and second members.

22. Apparatus according to Claim 21 characterised in that said feed means and said transfer means are arranged to operate substantially simultaneously so that while one expanded pack is being transferred from said first and second members the next pack is fed thereto.

23. Apparatus according to any one of Claims 13 to 20 characterised in that the first and second members are in the form of channels which receive said projecting portions for the flat packs.

24. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 23 when appendent to Claim 22 characterised in that the feed means is operable to feed the flat packs from the store lengthwise of said channels from one end of each channel towards the other.

25. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 23 characterised in that the transfer means comprises a pusher arm operable to move in a direction generally parallel to the channels, the arrangement being such that expansion of the pack by displacement of said first and second members brings the pack into the path of travel of said pusher arm.

26. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 25 characterised in that the pusher arm terminates in a flat end face or in an end face formed with recesses or openings into which the article can enter.

27. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 23 in which said channels are so designed and their spacing is such that t'..ey yieldably grip the respec ive projecting portions of the pack.

28. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 23 or Claim 27 characterised in that to facilitate entry of the projecting portions into said channels, the channel walls are flared.

29. A foldable partitioning pack comprising intersecting sets of divider walls which are movable with a hinge-like action between a generally flat storage condition and a cell-defining condition wherein the cells are of substantially square cross-section characterised in that the central cells of the expanded pack are bounded by divider wall sections of width a and at least some of the outer cells of the expanded pack are each bounded on one side by a divider wall section of width a and on the other side by a divider wall section of width b where b is less than a so that in the flat condition of the pack, the pack has a projecting portion at least at one side thereof of width corresponding to the difference between a and b.

30. A pack as claimed in Claim 29 characterised in that the difference between a and b is at least 3/8" (approx. 0.95 cm), preferably 0.5 to 0.75" (1.27 to 1.91 cm).

31. A pack as claimed in Claim 29 or 30 characterised in that the divider walls are provided with formations which automatically interlock when the pack is expanded to prevent separation of the divider walls in the direction of interfitting slots by means of which the walls intersect.

32. A pack as claimed in any one of Claims 29, 30 and 31 characterised in that the divider walls are slotted to allow them to intersect and the slots are at least 2 mm, and preferably between 4 and 8 mm, wider than the thickness of the sheet material from which the divider walls are made.

33. A pack as claimed in any one of Claims 29 to 32 characterised in that at least some of the divider walls are each formed with at least one line of weakness extending generally parallel to the axes about which the divider walls hinge to enable two divider walls to conform to irregularly shaped articles received by the cells.

Drawing