Methods and means for manufacturing foam plastic containers and sidewall blanks for same
First Claim
1. The method of forming heat-shrinkable cylindrical blanks from longitudinally stretch oriented rolled lengths of foam plastic sheet material comprising:
- feeding said lengths from a roll and cutting same into like rectangular blanks said orientation in the longitudinal direction thereof;
conveying said blanks transversely of said longitudinal direction while progressively folding and advancing said blanks about and along an elongated cylindrical mandrel until the ends of said blanks overlap on said mandrel to form cylindrical blanks each having a longitudinal side seam defined by said overlap and with said orientation directed circumferentially of each said blank;
applying heat to said ends of said blank during the advancement thereof along said mandrel;
applying pressure along said heated overlapped ends to seal said side seam and complete each said cylindrical blank on said mandrel; and
ejecting said finished cylindrical blank from said mandrel subsequent to sealing said side seam.
15 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Preprinted rectangular blanks of longitudinally stretch-oriented foam sheet material are formed into cylinders by a continuous folder and seamer and transferred onto mandrels on which they are shrunken by heat to assume the shape of the mandrel. In forming containers, means are provided to place bottom blanks on the mandrels prior to the loading of the cylinders thereon so as to shrink the cylinders to sidewall shapes overlying the bottom blanks. The top curl on containers such as drinking cups and food tubs is formed after shrink forming and the bottom seam of the container is also reinforced by ironing after shrink forming. A method of continuously forcing and filling containers on a continuous in-line basis is also provided.
70 Citations
35 Claims
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1. The method of forming heat-shrinkable cylindrical blanks from longitudinally stretch oriented rolled lengths of foam plastic sheet material comprising:
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feeding said lengths from a roll and cutting same into like rectangular blanks said orientation in the longitudinal direction thereof; conveying said blanks transversely of said longitudinal direction while progressively folding and advancing said blanks about and along an elongated cylindrical mandrel until the ends of said blanks overlap on said mandrel to form cylindrical blanks each having a longitudinal side seam defined by said overlap and with said orientation directed circumferentially of each said blank; applying heat to said ends of said blank during the advancement thereof along said mandrel; applying pressure along said heated overlapped ends to seal said side seam and complete each said cylindrical blank on said mandrel; and ejecting said finished cylindrical blank from said mandrel subsequent to sealing said side seam. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. The method of forming a cylindrical blank from a rectangular blank of foam plastic sheet material comprising:
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providing a rectangular blank of a width equal to the desired length of a cylindrical blank and a length equal to the desired circumference; conveying said rectangular blank in a direction parallel to its width dimension along the length of a fixed cylindrical mandrel and continuously and progressively heating and folding the ends of said rectangular blank upon themselves on said mandrel while conveying said blank to form a cylindrical blank with a lapped side seam; and progressively compressing said side seam on said mandrel to heat seal said lapped ends together. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. The method of forming heat-shrinkable cylindrical blanks from longitudinally oriented rolled lengths of foam plastic sheet material and heat shrinking said blanks to a predetermined cross-sectional configuration comprising:
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feeding said lengths from a roll and cutting same into like rectangular blanks having said orientation in the longitudinal direction thereof; conveying said blanks transversely of said longitudinal direction while progressively folding and advancing said blanks about and along an elongated cylindrical mandrel until the ends of said blanks overlap on said mandrel to form cylindrical blanks each having a longitudinal side seam defined by said overlap and with said orientation directed cicumferentially of each said blank; applying heat to said ends of said blank during the advancement thereof along said mandrel; applying pressure along said heated overlapped ends to seal said side seam and complete each said cylindrical blank on said mandrel; and ejecting said finished cylindrical blank from said mandrel subsequent to sealing said side seam; transferring said cylindrical blank from the end of said mandrel synchronously onto individual second mandrels having the desired cross-sectional configuration; and shrinking said cylindrical blanks to the shape of said second mandrels. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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7. The method of forming containers from heat shrinkable longitudinally oriented rolled lengths of foam plastic sheet material comprising:
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feeding said lengths from a roll and cutting same into like rectangular blanks having said orientation in the longitudinal direction thereof; conveying said blanks transversely of said longitudinal direction while progressively folding and advancing said blanks about and along an elongated cylindrical mandrel until the ends of said blanks overlap on said mandrel to form cylindrical blanks each having a longitudinal side seam defined by said overlap and with said orientation directed circumferentially of each said blank; applying heat to said ends of said blanks during the advancement thereof along said mandrel; applying pressure along said heated overlapped ends to seal said side seam and complete each said cylindrical blank on said mandrel; and ejecting each said finished cylindrical blank from said mandrel subsequent to sealing said side seam; transferring said cylindrical blanks from the end of said mandrel synchronously onto individual second mandrels having a shape corresponding to that of the sidewall of a desired container configuration; placing a bottom portion of plastic sheet material on said second mandrels prior to shrinking said cylindrical blanks; shrinking said blanks onto said second mandrels and over at least to the peripheral portion of said bottom portion; sealing the overlapped areas of said blank and said bottom portion to provide a closed bottom seam; and ejecting said container from said mandrel. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. Means for forming a cylindrical blank from a rectangular blank of foam plastic sheet material comprising:
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conveyor means feeding said rectangular blank along a predetermined path transversely of its length at a predetermined continuous rate; cylindrical mandrel means positioned parallel with said predetermined path adjacent said conveyor means; folding means adjacent said mandrel means over a portion of the length of the latter engaging and progressively folding said blank about said mandrel means while feeding said blank along said path to overlap the ends thereof on said mandrel in the provision of a lapped seam; heating means adjacent said path for progressively applying heat to the ends of said blank to prepare said blank for heat sealing of said lapped seam; and sealing means adjacent said mandrel downstream of said folding means for pressing said heated ends of said blank together to heat seal said lapped seam. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. The method of forming and filling containers with dispensed products on a continuous in-line basis comprising:
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forming said containers from heat shrinkable longitudinally oriented rolled lengths of plastic sheet material as follows; feeding said length from a roll and cutting same into lfike rectangular blanks having said orientation in the longitudinal direction thereof; conveying said blanks transversely of said longitudinal direction while progressively folding and advancing said blanks about and along an elongated cylindrical mandrel until the ends of said blanks overlap on said mandrel to form cylindrical blanks each having a longitudinal side seam defined by said overlap and with said orientation directed circumferentially of each said blank; applying heat to said ends of said blanks during the advancement thereof along said mandrel; applying pressure along said heated overlapped ends to seal said side seam and complete each said cylindrical blank on said mandrel; ejecting said finished cylindrical blank from said mandrel subsequent to sealing said side seam; transferring said cylindrical blanks from the end of said mandrel synchronously onto individual second mandrels having a shape corresponding to that of the sidewall of a desired container configuration; placing a bottom portion of plastic sheet material on said second mandrels prior to shrinking said cylindrical blanks; shrinking said blanks onto said second mandrels and over at least the peripheral portion of said bottom portion; sealing the overlapped areas of said blank and said bottom portion to provide a closed bottom seam; ejecting said container from said mandrel; forming an annular rim configuration on said containers; conveying said containers directly to a filling station; filling said containers with a measured amount of a product; and applying a cap to said containers; said container forming filling and capping operations all being synchronized to effect continuous forming and filling of said containers without storing same. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. The method of forming and filling containers with dispensed products on a continuous in-line basis comprising:
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forming said containers from heat shrinkable longitudinally oriented rolled lengths of plastic sheet material as follows; feeding said lengths from a roll and cutting same into like rectangular blanks having said orientation in the longitudinal direction thereof; conveying said blanks transversely of said longitudinal direction while progressively folding and advancing said blanks about and along an elongated cylindrical mandrel until the ends of said blanks overlap on said mandrel to form cylindrical blanks each having a longitudinal side seam defined by said overlap and with said orientation directed circumferentially of each said blank; applying heat to said ends of said blanks during the advancement thereof along said mandrel; applying pressure along said heated overlapped ends to seal said side seam and complete each said cylindrical blank on said mandrel; ejecting each said finished cylindrical blank from said mandrel subsequent to sealing said side seam; transferring said cylindrical blanks from the end of said mandrel synchronously onto individual second mandrels having a shape corresponding to that of the sidewall of a desired container configuration; placing a bottom portion of plastic sheet material on said second mandrels prior to shrinking said cylindrical blanks; shrinking said blanks on said second mandrels and over at least to the peripheral portion of said bottom portion; sealing the overlapped areas of said blank and said bottom portion to provide a closed bottom seam; ejecting said container from said mandrel; conveying said containers directly to a filling station; filling said containers with a measured amount of a product; and applying a cap to said containers; said container forming filling and capping operations all being synchronized to effect continuous forming and filling of said containers without storing same. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. Means forming two-piece containers from rectangular sidewall blanks and disc-shaped bottom blanks of thermoplastic sheet material comprising:
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conveyor means feeding a plurality of longitudinally stretch oriented rectangular blanks along a predetermined path transversely of the longitudinal dimension thereof; cylindrical mandrel means positioned parallel with said predetermined path adjacent said conveyor means; folding means adjacent said mandrel means over a portion of the length of the latter engaging and progressively folding said blank about said mandrel means while feeding said blank along said path to overlap the ends thereof on said mandrel in the provision of a lapped seam; heating means adjacent said path for progressively applying heat to the ends of said blank to prepare said blank for heat sealing of said lapped seam; and sealing means adjacent sadi mandrel downstream of said folding means for pressing said heated ends of said blank together to heat seal said lapped seam to provide a cylindrical blank on said mandrel; a plurality of finishing mandrels; conveyor means sequentially indexing said finishing mandrels into coaxial position with one end of said cylindrical mandrel means; ejection means ejecting said cylindrical blanks from said cylindrical mandrel onto said finishing mandrels in synchronism with the said indexing of the latter with the former; supply means providing a plurality of disc-shaped bottom blanks for said containers sequentially indexed with said finishing mandrels to supply bottom blanks thereto; said finishing mandrels each comprising at least a sidewall and bottom portion for receiving said cylindrical and bottom blanks, respectively; means retaining said bottom blanks on said bottom portion of said finishing mandrels; a heat tunnel heated to a temperature sufficient to shrink said cylindrical blanks into conformal engagement with said sidewall portion and over the peripheries of said bottom blanks to form said two piece continers; said conveyor means carrying said finishing mandrels bearing said cylindrical blanks and said bottom blanks through said heat tunnel; bottom ironing means downstream of said heat tunnel means compressing said overlapped portions of said sidewall and bottom blank to seal the bottom of said two piece container; and discharge means ejecting said container from said finishing mandrels downstream of said bottom ironing means. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification