Compression section roller for packaging machine

Abstract

A packaging machine of the type for receiving a one-piece corrugated board blank having a product or lading positioned thereon to be drawn into the machine and folded around the lading to form a completed carton which is discharged into a compression section of the machine. A plurality of vertically arranged rollers are disposed on opposite sides of the compression section to engage the side walls of the cartons while they are present in and move through the compression section. Each roller is provided with a cylindrical body over which is fitted a soft, compressible elastic sleeve of yieldable material preferably formed of foam rubber or synthetic plastic. The yieldable sleeve enables deformation thereof as a carton is pressed against each roller in the compression section to achieve a planar surface-to-surface interface or contact between each roller and the respective carton side walls as distinguished from a line-to-line surface interface where a roller is not formed of a yieldable material. Pressure is applied against the side walls of each carton as it passes through the compression section engaged against the rollers so as to hold the side wall flaps of the cartons in place while adhesive applied between the flaps and the carton walls dries and sets. In another embodiment, a protective cover of polyethylene film is mounted over the circumference of the sleeve for additional advantages without interfering with the normal operating advantages thereof.