Title of Invention	APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING RECLOSEABLE TUBULAR BAG PACKS
Abstract	An apparatus for producing recloseable tubular bag packs has a device for feeding and fastening a section of a closure band on a sheet-material web. In order to render possible a higher performance and also continuous operation of the apparatus, it is proposed to equip the device with a horizontally moveable fastening device which attaches the sections to a moving sheet-material web.

Full Text

12.05-98 Vt/Kei ROBERT BOSCH GMBH, 70442 Stuttgart Apparatus for producing recloseable tubular bag packs Prior art The invention relates to an apparatus for producing recloseable tubular bag packs according to the preamble of Claim 1, as has become known, for example, from EP 0 410 126 Al. In the known cyclically operating apparatus, a closure-band section is attached to the planar top side of the sheet-material web during the standstill phase of the sheet-material advancement. A flexible tube is then formed from the planar sheet-material web. During formation of the transverse seams of the tubular bag packs formed from the flexible tube, the closure-band section is, at the same time, sealed over the entire surface area to the inner side of the flexible tube. Since the closure-band section has to be fed and fitted during the standstill phase of the sheet-material advancement, the performance of the known apparatus is limited since the cycle time depends on the necessary time required for fitting the closure-band section. Furthermore, continuous functioning is not possible with the known apparatus. Advantages of the invention In contrast, the apparatus according to the invention, which is intended for producing recloseable tubular bag packs and has the features of Claim 1, has the advantage that it renders possible a particularly high performance - Further advantages and advantageous developments of the apparatus according to the invention for producing recloseable tubular bag packs can be gathered from the subclaims and from the description. A further increase in the performance of the apparatus is possible if the apparatus is operated continuously. Synchronous movement of the transverse-seam- * sealing device and the device for fitting and fastening the closure band can be achieved if the two devices are coupled to one another. Drawing An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail in the following description and is illustrated in the drawing, in which Figure 1 shows a front view of a recloseable bag. Figure 2 shows a section along line II-II from Figure 1, Figure 3 shows a schematic side view of an apparatus for producing recloseable tubular bag packs, and Figure 4 shows a perspective view of a device for feeding and fastening a closure-band section on a planar sheet-material web. Description of the exemplary embodiment The tubular bag pack 1 known per se which is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 has a top transverse seam 2, a bottom transverse seam 3 and a longitudinal seam 4 which runs centrally in a side surface. A section 5 of a recloseable band 6 is arranged some way beneath the top transverse seam 2. The band 6 has two parts 7, 8 which interact with one another with a form fit and of which one part 7 is sealed, at two regions 11, 12, to one inner side 13, and the other part 8 is sealed, by way of a region 14, to the opposite inner side 15, of the tubular bag pack 1. In order to allow straightforward opening of the tubular bag pack 1 at its top transverse seam 2, the top transverse seam 2 is preferably designed as a so-called peel seam. Alternatively, however, it would also be possible for a weakening region to be formed between the top transverse seam 2 and the band 6, with the result that the corresponding top section of the tubular bag pack 1 can easily be torn open and/or off. Such a tubular bag pack 1 is produced on a continuously operating vertical tubular bag machine 17, which is illustrated schematically in Figures 3 and 4. The tubular bag machine 17 has, for the purpose of forming the tubular bag packs 1 from a packaging-material web 18, a forming shoulder 19 which is connected to a forming tube 20 in a conventional manner. Arranged beneath the forming shoulder 19, on the forming tube 20, is a longitudinal-seam-sealing device 21 forming the longitudinal seam 4. Furthermore, located beneath the forming tube 20 is a transverse-seam- jaw housing 22 which can be moved up and down and has two transverse-seam-sealing jaws 23, 24 which can be displaced towards one another. The transverse-seam-sealing jaws 23, 24 serve for forming the transverse seams 2, 3, the regions 11, 14 of the band 6 being sealed over the entire surface area against the inner side 13, 15 of the tubular bag packs 1 at the same time. In order to feed the packaging-material web 18 from a supply roll (not illustrated) , use is made, in addition to the advancement belts 25 butting against the forming tube 20, of continuously driven advancement rollers 26, 27 and deflecting rollers 28. A horizontally moveable feed roller 29 is additionally provided in the inlet region to the forming shoulder 19, and said feed roller allows format adaptation in relation to different lengths of the tubular bag packs 1. In order to feed and fasten the belt 6 and/or the sections 5 on the packaging-material web 18, the tubular bag machine 17 has a specific device 30. The device 30, which is arranged in the region of a horizontal feed route of the packaging-material band [sic] 18, has a fixed roller pair 32, 33 driven by a stepping motor 31. The roller pair 32, 33, which is arranged to the side of, and above, the packaging-material band [sic] 18, draws off cyclically from a supply roll 35, in accordance with the width of the bags 1, a corresponding section 5 of the band 6 in each case. The band 6 drawn off by the roller pair 32, 33 is directed and aligned immediately above the packaging-material web 18 by a guide cassette 36, the longitudinal direction of the band 6 running perpendicularly to the packaging-material web 18 and the advancement direction 37 thereof- The guide cassette 36 comprises two elements 38, 39, between which there is arranged a severing device 4 0 for cutting off the section 5 from the band 6. The section 5 is placed above the packaging-material web 18 such that a packaging-material-web region 41 with a width somewhat longer than L/4 (depending on the bag form) remains on both sides of the section 5 in each case. It is also essential for the element 39 to be designed such that the region 12 of the part 7 projects laterally beyond the element 39 on the side which is directed towards the forming shoulder 19. A fastening device 43 for the section 5 is located on that side of the guide cassette 36 which is directed towards the forming shoulder 19. The fastening device 43, which can be moved back and forth horizontally, is of a carriage-like design with a sealing jaw 44, 45 which can be moved up and down arranged in each case above and beneath the packaging-material web 18. In the horizontal end position in which they are directed towards the guide cassette 36, the two sealing jaws 44, 45 are arranged congruently with the region 12 of the section 5. The other horizontal end position is taken up upon termination of the operation of sealing the region 12 to the packaging-material web 18. In order to bring about a synchronous horizontal movement of the two sealing jaws 44, 45 with the continuous advancement movement of the packaging-material web 18, the fastening device 43 is coupled to the transverse-seam-jaw housing 22. The coupling takes place, for example, by means of a toothed belt 46 which is guided over a deflecting roller 47. The toothed belt 46 achieves the situation where the sealing jaws 44, 45, during a downward movement of the transverse-seam-sealing jaws 23, 24, taking place at the advancement speed of the flexible tube formed from the packaging-material web 18, are moved synchronously at the same speed from the end position in which they are directed towards the guide cassette 36 into their other end position. Since the toothed belt 4 6 only transmits tensile forces, that end of the fastening device 43 which is located opposite the toothed belt 4 6 is connected to a tension spring 48, which can restore the fastening device 43, and thus also, the sealing jaws 44, 45, into the end position assigned to the guide cassette 36. The above described tubular bag machine 17 operates as follows: The packaging-material web 18, which is drawn off continuously by the advancement rollers 26, 27, passes over the deflecting rollers 28 and the feed roller 29 to the forming shoulder 19. The forming shoulder 19 positions the two border-side packaging-material-web regions 41 against one another, a flexible tube being formed in the process, and the packaging-material-web regions 41 overlapping in the region of the longitudinal seam 4. The overlapping region is sealed to form the longitudinal seam 4 as the packaging-material web 18 continues along its conveying path. Beneath the forming tube 20, the transverse-seam-sealing jaws 23, 24 are displaced towards one another as the transverse-seam-jaw housing 22 moves downwards. The transverse-seam-jaw housing 22 is then displaced into its bottom end position at the conveying speed of the flexible tube, during which time the formation of a top transverse seam 2 of a first tubular bag pack 1, a bottom transverse seam 3 of a second tubular bag pack 1 and the operation of sealing the regions 11, 14 of the section 5 against the inner sides 13, 15 take place. During the movement of the transverse-seam-jaw housing in the downward direction, the filling is simultaneously introduced in a manner known per se, by way of a filling tube (not illustrated) , into the tubular bag pack 1, which remains unclosed at the top. As soon as the two transverse seams 3, 4 have been sealed, a severing device (which is not illustrated either) severs a filled tubular bag pack 1 from the flexible tube. The transverse-seam-sealing jaws 23, 24 are then opened again and the transverse-seam-jaw housing 22 is moved back into its top end position. The application of the sections 5 of the band 6 to the packaging-material web 18/ takes place in two steps: during the abovementioned downward and upward movement of the transverse-seam-jaw housing 22, the stepping motor 31 pushes in each case one section 5 of length L into the element 39 of the guide cassette 36, said element 39 [sic] being severed from the band 6 by the severing device 40. The essential factor is for the section 5 to be severed from the band 6 when the fastening device 43 is located in its end position in which it is directed towards the guide cassette 36. The two sealing jaws 44, 45 are then displaced towards the sheet-material web 18, with the result that the region 7 of the section 5 comes into abutment with the sealing jaw 44 and the top side of the sheet-material web 18. This takes place directly at the instant when the transverse-seam-jaw housing 22 has passed the top turning point. During the subsequent downward movement of the transverse-seam-jaw housing 22, the fastening device 43 is moved in the advancement direction 37 by means of the toothed belt 46, the sealing jaws 44, 45, which have been moved towards one another, drawing the section 5 out of the element 39 of the guide cassette 36. During this movement of the fastening device 43, the region 7 of the section 5 is sealed against' the top side of the packaging-material web under the action of heat and pressure. The sealing operation is completed before the bottom turning point of the transverse-seam-jaw housing 22 has been reached, whereupon the two sealing jaws 44, 45 are opened again. During the subsequent upward movement of the transverse-seam-jaw housing 22, the fastening device 43 is moved back again, by the tension spring'48, into the end position in which it is directed towards the guide cassette 36, whereupon the operations are repeated as described above. 12.05.98 Vt/Kei ROBERT BOSCH GMBH, 70442 Stuttgart Claims 1. Apparatus (17) for producing recloseable tubular bag packs (1) having a device (30) for feeding and fastening a section (5) of a closure band (6) on a sheet-material web (18) , the feed direction of the closure band (6) and the advancement direction (37) of the sheet-material web (18) running perpendicularly to one another, having a forming device (19) for forming a flexible tube from the sheet-material web (18) such that the regions (41) of the sheet-material web (18), said regions being arranged in both sides of the closure band (6), are positioned against one another, a longitudinal seam (4) being formed in the process, and having a transverse-seam-sealing device (22) for forming a bottom transverse seam (3) and a top transverse seam (2) above the closure band (6), characterized in that the device (30) for feeding and fastening the closure band (6) has a fastening device (43) for the closure band (6) , said fastening device being designed such that it can be moved parallel to the advancement direction (37) of the sheet-material web (18) . 2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, characterized in that a sheet-material-advancement device (26, 27) is provided, and this conveys the sheet-material web (18) continuously. 3- Apparatus according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the transverse-seam-sealing device (22) can be moved back and forth in the advancement direction of the flexible tube formed from the sheet-material web (18), and in that a connection (46) is provided between the transverse-seam-sealing device (22) and the fastening device (43) and transmits the movement of the transverse-seam-sealing device (22) to the fastening device (43). 4. Apparatus according to Claim 3, characterized in that spring means (48) are provided, the spring means interacting with the connection (4 6) and restoring the fastening device (43) into an original position. 5. Apparatus according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that arranged between the fastening device (43) and the transverse-seam-sealing device (22) is a horizontally movable feed roller (29) for adaptation to different lengths of tubular bag pack. 6. Apparatus according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the apparatus is a vertical tubular bag machine (17). 7.Apparatus for producing reclosable tubular bag packs substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 6 day of December 2000

Documents:

abs-in-pct-2000-779-che.jpg

in-pct-2000-779-che-abstract.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-claims filed.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-claims grand.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-correspondence others.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-correspondence po.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-description complete file.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-description complete grand.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-drawings.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-form 1.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-form 19.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-form 26.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-form 3.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-form 5.pdf

in-pct-2000-779-che-pct.pdf