Ishida Co. Limited

Kabushiki Kaisha Ishida Koki Seisakusho

Ishida Scales Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Masao Fukuda

Michihiro Kubo

Yukio Nakagawa

Yukio Kakita

Masashi Kondo

Yoshiharu Mikami

Satoshi Konishi

Setsuo Haze

Kenji Ueda

Ryoji Nishimura

Asashiro Izumi

Kiichi Terashima

Hiroshi Bochi

Osamu Hashimoto

James Lewis

Keiichi Nishimura

A packaging machine moves its heater unit for longitudinal sealing of a tubularly formed film between a sealing position at which the heater unit contacts the film and a retracted position at which it is separated from the film. In addition to the mechanism for this motion, an air cylinder is provided for controlling the compressive force with which the heater unit at its sealing position compresses the film. A pressure controlling system regulates the air pressure supplied to the air cylinder. If the mechanism for moving the heater unit also employs another air cylinder, a higher pressure for moving the heater unit and a lower pressure for controlling its compressive force may be generated from a single air source and supplied to the two air cylinders by a switching mechanism. A single air cylinder with two air chambers may be used for the both functions. A motor is additionally provided for removing the heater unit and its support unit much farther away from the film to provide a large enough space for exchanging the former and/or the chute of the packaging machine.

Packaging machine

Method of longitudinally sealing tubular bag-making material

A latitudinal seal mechanism includes seal jaws , fixed cams cam followers a pair of partial cams , partial cam followers rotational shafts , coupling members and shaft support portions. The seal jaws are heated, and move circularly such that the seal jaws abut on and move away from tubular film. The fixed cams have shapes that correspond to locuses of movement of the seal jaws The cam followers support the seal jaws and move along the fixed cams The rotational shafts move the cam followers relatively about rotational centers of the rotational shafts The coupling members couple the rotational shafts and the cam followers The shaft support portions rotatably support the rotational shafts The partial cams have a shape that corresponds to a locus of movement of the pair of seal jaws when the pair of seal jaws holds the tubular packaging films. The partial cams make the pair of seal jaws press against each other with the partial cam followers therebetween. The partial cam followers are supported by the pair of seal jaws The partial cam followers engage the corresponding partial cams when the pair of seal jaws holds the tubular packaging film therebetween.

Latitudinal sealing mechanism for bag-packaging machine and a bag packaging machine having the same

A former for forming an elongated planar bag-making material into a tubular form is composed of a hollow cylindrical tubular part and a shoulder part which has a planar guide section and is connected to the tubular part along a connecting line surrounding the tubular part. Both the tubular and shoulder parts are formed by cutting a tube-forming piece and a shoulder-forming piece from a flat blank sheet in appropriate shapes and bending these pieces into the shapes of the tubular and shoulder parts. The connecting line is designed such that the angle between its tangent and the axial direction of the tubular part changes at a constant rate. Portions of the edges of the tube-forming and shoulder-forming pieces may be in a shape of a parabola or a hyperbolic function curve, and these pieces are obtained by making a numerical control program from the desired shapes of the curve and controlling a laser cutter by the program to cut a blank sheet in the desired shapes.

Former for a bag maker

A latitudinal seal mechanism includes seal jaws , fixed cams , cam followers , a pair of partial cams , partial cam followers , rotational shafts , coupling members , and shaft support portions. The seal jaws are heated, and move circularly such that the seal jaws abut on and move away from tubular film. The fixed cams have shapes that correspond to locuses of movement of the seal jaws . The cam followers support the seal jaws , and move along the fixed cams . The rotational shafts move the cam followers relatively about rotational centers of the rotational shafts . The coupling members couple the rotational shafts and the cam followers . The shaft support portions rotatably support the rotational shafts . The partial cams have a shape that corresponds to a locus of movement of the pair of seal jaws when the pair of seal jaws holds the tubular packaging films. The partial cams make the pair of seal jaws press against each other with the partial cam followers therebetween. The partial cam followers are supported by the pair of seal jaws . The partial cam followers engage the corresponding partial cams when the pair of seal jaws holds the tubular packaging film therebetween.

A bag packaging apparatus includes a forming mechanism, a pull down belt mechanism, a longitudinal seal mechanism, a latitudinal seal mechanism, and a settling mechanism. The forming mechanism forms films into tubular shape. The pull down belt mechanism conveys the tubular film F. The longitudinal seal mechanism seals the tubular film F in a longitudinal direction. The latitudinal seal mechanism seals the tubular film F in a latitudinal direction. The settling mechanism is disposed between the forming mechanism and the latitudinal seal mechanism, and between the longitudinal mechanism and the latitudinal mechanism. The settling mechanism presses a portion of the tubular film F that is going to become an upper end of a bag and a bottom end of a following bag, while seal jaws seal the tubular film F. The sealed portion becomes a bottom end of the bag. The following bag follows the bag, whose bottom end is the sealed portion.

Method of forming, filling, and sealing bags continuously and an apparatus for forming, filling and sealing bags

A pair of pull-down belts pulls longitudinally a tubularly formed elongated bag-making film along a filling cylinder of a bag maker-packaging machine. A pair of members supporting the pull-down belts can move towards or away from each other depending on the size of the former, and elastic springs for providing each of the pull-down belts with a force which depends on their relative positions with respect to the corresponding belt-supporting members. An adjustment motor moves the pull-down belts initially to specified reference positions separate from the tubularly formed film and therefrom towards the filling cylinder. The distance traveled by the pull-down belts from their reference positions towards the filling cylinder is monitored. The distance by which the pull-down belts must be moved for each of different kinds of former is measured and stored in a memory device. Thus, whenever a particular former is selected and installed, the pull-down belts can be automatically moved to optimum positions for pulling down the film effectively by controlling the adjustment motor.

Apparatus for pulling cylindrically formed film for a bag maker-packaging machine

A form-fill-seal packaging machine has not only the basic elements such as devices for transporting a film and longitudinally and transversely sealing it but also a former and a chute formed integrally together as a former unit which is made detachably attachable to the frame structure of the packaging machine by an attachment mechanism. The former unit has wedge-shaped members, and the attachment mechanism includes a mobile member constrained to move linearly and a lever which is attached to the frame structure such that a one-touch operation to rotate this lever causes this mobile member to move towards or away from the wedge-shaped members on the former unit and to engage with them or disengage from them.

Packaging machine with improved former unit attachment

A packaging machine has a roll supporting device with a support shaft rotatably supporting a film roll which extends in an axial direction, an elongated bag-forming film being wrapped around the film roll, a bag forming device which pulls out the film from the film roll and forms the film into a shape of a bag, a packaging device for filling the bag-shaped film with articles to be packaged and sealing the film to produce a package, a roll displacing mechanism for displacing the roll supporting device in the axial direction, and a roll position controller for controlling the roll displacing mechanism to adjust the position of the roll supporting device. The bag forming device includes a former for bending the film into a tubular form and a former roller for guiding the film to the former. As a former of a different size is installed, depending on the width of the film, the position of the former roller is changed by a former roller discharging mechanism which includes a first mechanism for supporting the former roller and moving it to a plurality of different positions with respect itself and a second mechanism for moving the first mechanism to a plurality of different positions in the same direction.

Packaging machine with mechanisms for positioning its former

Device for supplying film to packaging machine

A poker is provided to a packaging machine which has a former for bending a film into a tubular form and a chute for guiding articles to be packaged into a bag being made below. The poker includes a driver link which is driven to undergo a reciprocating rotary motion around a fixed axis and a generally L-shaped arm member disposed above and behind the former. A base part of the arm member is rotatably connected with a moving end part of the driver link such that the arm member can undergo a reciprocating rotary motion around a mobile axis of rotation which rotates around the stationary axis of rotation. A connecting mechanism is further provided to coordinate these two rotational motions such that the tip of the arm member distal from its mobile axis of rotation will move along a desired trajectory to reach a desired bottom center part of the chute which is likely to become clogged with the articles dropped thereinto. The connecting mechanism may be formed with a cam-following member attached to a part of the arm member and a cam plate with an elongated opening such that this cam-following member is constrained to move along an arcuate path determined by this elongated opening.

Poker for packaging machine

A bag maker-packaging machine adapted for use with formers having different sizes uses pull-down belts to pull by suction an elongated film which has been tubularly formed by a former. When a new former is installed, the pull-down belts are moved from specified belt reference positions towards the surface of the film in a tubular form, and the distance travelled by them until they come into contact with the film surface is measured. After the size of the former is thus identified, positions of some of the components such as a guide roller and a turn bar for the transportation of film to the former are adjusted accordingly. Data corresponding to different former sizes may be stored in a memory and compared with the identified size of the former currently installed. The user can see on a display device what kinds of product can be packaged by using this identified former and may also be informed if the memory does not store any data for formers of the identified size.

Bag maker-packaging machine capable of automatically positioning its

As a cylindrically formed web of thermoplastic bag-making material is transported longitudinally along a path at a specified speed, a longitudinal sealer with a heater is compressed against and over portions of the material parallel to the path to effect longitudinal sealing. The longitudinal sealer is moved in the meantime along the path at a greater speed in the range of 1.05 to 1.30 times the specified speed of motion of the material such that generation of V-shaped wrinkles known as the chevrons on both sides of the sealed area can be prevented.

Longitudinal sealer for bag maker-packaging machine

An elongated web of bag-making material (S) is bent into a tubular form by a former (2), transported along a path (A), is filled with articles (W) and sealed by a transverse sealer (10) transversely to its direction of motion. A pair of seal jaws (20) supported by rotary arms (12) are rotated in mutually opposite directions by a power-communicating mechanism (P) which includes a trajectory-forming mechanism (H) such that the seal jaws (20) will each travel on a generally D-shaped trajectory with a linear section along the path (A) of the bag-making material (S). Cramming devices (50) are adjustably attached to the rotary arms (12) and stroke the tubularly shaped bag-making material (S) from both sides in forward-backward direction (X) without substantially closing the bag being formed such that the articles (W) can be more efficiently crammed with empty spaces among them effectively reduced. Stripping rods (42) are attached to the seal jaws (20) for stripping down the articles being dropped into the bag immediately before the transverse sealing and after the cramming by the cramming devices (50) so as to prevent them from becoming caught between the seal jaws (20).

Transverse sealer for a packaging machine

A bag maker bends an elongated flexible bag-making film into a tubular form and transversely seals it by a transverse sealer while filling it with articles to produce packaged bags. The transverse sealer has two seal jaws at both sides of the film being pulled downwards. The seal jaws are each caused to move in a generally D-shaped trajectory with a vertically straight portion where they move along the film, sandwiching it therebetween. The seal jaws are operated so as to move faster than the film while on the top half of the straight portion of the trajectory where stripping takes place and more slowly than the film while on the bottom half of the straight portion such that the film will blouse to make it easier for articles to drop deeper inside the bag being produced. The speed of each seal jaw on the arcuate part of its trajectory is adjusted such that the period of the cyclic motion of the seal jaws need not be modified.

Growing community of inventors

Shiga, Japan

Masao Fukuda