Container forming method and apparatus

• US 6,689,033 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2001
• Issued: 02/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ezra E. Theys, Richard Bowers, Ronald E. Heiskell, William E. Plemons
• Original Assignee: Ezra E. Theys, Richard Bowers, Ronald E. Heiskell, William E. Plemons
• Inventors: Bowers, Richard, Heiskell, Ronald E., Theys, Ezra E., Plemons, William E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Eugene
• Application Number:
  US09/861,123
• Publication Number:
  US 20020013204A1
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• Field of Search: 493/84, 493/136, 493/137, 493/374, 493/390, 493/906
• US Class Current: 493/84
• CPC Class Codes: B31B 2105/00 Rigid or semi-rigid containers made by assembling separate sheets, blanks or webs
• CPC Class Codes: B31B 2105/0022 Making boxes from tubular webs or blanks, e.g. with separate bottoms, including tube or bottom forming operations
• CPC Class Codes: B31B 2105/0027 Making boxes from blanks consisting of side wall panels integral with a bottom panel and additional side wall panels
• CPC Class Codes: B31B 2110/35 rectangular, e.g. square
• CPC Class Codes: B31B 50/734 interengaging tongues and slots
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 11/1893 with semidetachable components, i.e. with some side walls hinged to each other or to a base panel and the other side walls being detachable to allow collapsing of the container
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 15/22 of polygonal cross-section
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 15/24 Connections between walls
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 493/906 having multilayer wall

Abstract

Disclosed is a new machine for forming containers of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,939 without the use of glue or nails. The machine utilizes a mandrel movably mounted on a path for oscillation between retracted and extended positions. As the mandrel cycles forward, it first receives two synthetic sidewalls and then a deformable body panel of the container to be formed. Then a set of moveable upper and lower rockers containing unique pressure mechanisms press tabs on the horizontally oriented portion of the wrap into corresponding locking slots on the ends of the sidewalls. When the mandrel is fully extended, pressure is applied to the tabs on the vertically oriented middle section of the wrap using a pair of hinge-mounted pressure plates fitted with unique biased brackets. The resulting container is removed from the machine, which is then ready to begin another cycle.

Claims

1. An improvement to a machine having a mandrel movably mounted on a path for forming containers of a type having two sidewalls attached to a panel wrap using peripheral locking tabs and corresponding slots in which said tabs include openings designed to be engaged over corresponding buttons in said slots, said improvement comprising a pair of end pressure plates provided at the end of said path, each such plate including a plurality of elongated mounting brackets, each such bracket including an opening at one end and having a member attached to the outside thereof for pushing a tab on said panel wrap into a corresponding slot on one of said sidewalls, and for simultaneously engaging the opening in said tab over the corresponding button in said slot.

2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein a slidably mounted spring biased cylindrical pressure imparting member is provided in the opening of each of said mounting brackets, said member having an annular opening at one end for pushing an opening in a tab on said panel wrap over a button in a corresponding slot on one of said sidewalls.

3. A method for forming containers of a type having two sidewalls each sidewall having a plurality of peripheral slots with buttons that are attached to a panel wrap having corresponding locking tabs with openings therein using a machine having a mandrel movably mounted on a path comprising the steps of:

a moving said mandrel along said path;

b. delivering two sidewalls to the sides of said moving mandrel on opposite sides of said path;

c. delivering a panel wrap into the path of said forwardly moving mandrel and sidewalls;

d. deforming said panel wrap around said sidewalls;

e. pressing the tabs of said panel wrap into the corresponding slots on said sidewalls; and

f. engaging the openings in said tabs over the corresponding buttons in said slots for forming a container.