Machine for erecting and counterfolding collapsed boxes

Abstract

A device for erecting and countercollapsing boxes from preformed blanks comprises a carrier arm pivotally attached to a chain drive and guided by a generally oval track to engage at a feed station the back edge of a blank for pushing the same through a pair of parallel guide slots along a path to an erecting station defined by rotary carrier synchronized with the chain drive for revolving a stopper to have, upon the emergence of the blank from the guide slots, a distance from the slots' exit substantially equal to the width of the blank and an orientation parallel to front and back edges of the blank. The stopper catches at the slots' exit the front blank edge and continues to revolve with tangential speed less than the speed of the arm, whereby relative motion of the stopper and the arm gives rise to a compressive force which opens and countercollapses a box from the blank. A convex arresting surface on the rotary carrier engages a side of the box only upon the determination of a collapsing phase to limit lateral motion of the box during a pushing thereof by the arm into removal slots. The stopper includes a radial surface inclinable toward the exit of the feed slots for facilitating a catching of the front blank edge and toward the removal slots, upon further rotation of the rotary carrier, for facilitating the sliding of the countercollapsed box from the erecting station.