The apparatus and method of this invention are particularly concerned with the manufacture of container liners and will in the following be described essentially solely in relation to that manufacturing process. It is however to be understood that the invention is not limited to that manufacturing process and aspects of the apparatus and method may equally be used in other processes.

Liners for cargo containers, such as ISO box containers, are well-known and widely used for the bulk transport of flowable products-for example granular materials including agricultural produce and chemicals. Such liners are usually made from plastics sheet material which is pre-formed into a tube, or from sheet material which is suitably folded and subsequently is seam- welded to make a tube. End panels for a liner are provided either by welding the plastics material in an appropriate manner or by bonding into the tube a separate end panel. Access openings are provided both for the loading and discharge of the liner, when in use, and such openings frequently are fitted with access pipes-for example for the introduction of the product into the liner.

Further, suitable arrangements must be made for the suspension of the liner in a container.

The manufacture of such a container liner tends to be somewhat labour intensive. Typically, a web of the plastics material is supported adjacent a work-table and is drawn out over that work-table so that the required operations may be performed by operators reaching across the liner and using suitable tools, such as thermal welding apparatus. In view of the width of such a liner, these operations are not very easy to perform in the central region of the liner where, for example an access pipe must be bonded to the liner, around an access opening formed through the material of the liner. A high degree of skill is required to ensure the bonding process, such as thermal welding, is carried out efficiently to provide a reliable joint which will not fail in use.

The present invention stems from research into ways for facilitating the handling of a plastics material tube which is to form the access pipe of a completed liner, and so which must be cut from a web of flexible plastics material and then bonded to a liner, around an opening pre-formed therein.

The access pipe may be made of relatively thin-wall plastics material and so is not self-supporting ; this leads to particular difficulties in handling the tube both at the time of cutting a suitable length from the web and subsequently to shape and bond the tube to the liner, to form the access pipe.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is therefore provided apparatus for handling a tube of flexible plastics material drawn and then cut from a web thereof, which apparatus comprises a disc-shaped support having a greater diameter than the internal diameter of the tube and over which the material is drawn, and a carrier for the support, in which apparatus the support is mounted on the carrier for movement between a first position where the support lies at an angle to a radial plane of the tube to permit drawing of the tube thereover and a second position where the support lies substantially in a radial plane of the tube so that the part of the tube in which is located the support is stretched over the support and so is held thereby.

According to a second and closely related aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of handling a tube of flexible plastics material using a disc-shaped support having a greater diameter than the internal diameter of the tube when opened out and being adjustably mounted on a carrier for movement between a first position where the support lies at an angle to a radial plane of the tube and a second position where the support lies substantially in a radial plane of the tube, in which method the support is disposed at its first position, a length of the tube is drawn over the support from a web thereof, the support is moved to its second position so that the part of the tube in which is located the support is stretched over the support and so is held thereby, and the drawn length of the tube is cut from the web, adjacent the support.

By using the apparatus of this invention, or performing the method of this invention, it becomes possible to handle on an automated basis a tube of

relatively flexible, or"floppy", plastics material to form an access pipe for a container liner. Despite the nature of the plastics material, a required length of the tube may be cut from the web and then be transferred to a bonding station where the tube is bonded to the material of the liner, around an opening pre- formed in the liner, without the need for intervening manual operations.

The handling of the floppy tube is possible in view of the movement of the support between its first and second positions-the support should have an effective projected area of no greater than the area of the tube (when opened out into a circular shape) when the support is in its first position, but has an effective area greater than the area of the tube when the support is in its second position. Thus, the material may be drawn over the support relatively easily so as to have the support positioned within the tube adjacent one end thereof, when the support is in its first position, but the tube is held firmly, in its opened-out configuration, when the support is in its second position.

Preferably, the support is moveable to a third position incline at an angle to the radial plane of the tube and beyond the second position with respect to the first position. In this case, the movement of the support from the first position may go through the second position to the third position before finally returning to the second position. Such"over-running"of the support by a few degrees ensures that the material of the tube is not unduly stretched locally when the support finally is in its second position, and that the support is properly located in the tube, in a radial plane, at the time the tube is cut from the web.

Conveniently, the carrier is mounted on a sub-frame, arranged for movement of the support from a loading position where the tube is drawn over the support, to a discharge position where a cut length of tube is subjected to a further processing step-for example, the cut length is bonded to a container liner under manufacture.

The support itself may be in two parts, having an auxiliary disc connectable co-axially to the support and selectively releasable therefrom. For example, an electromagnet mounted on the support or auxilliary disc may be provided to allow such connection and release. The auxiliary disc preferably

has a diameter no greater than that of the support, but may be smaller. In the latter case, it is advantageous for the area of the auxiliary disc to be substantially the same as that of the tube, when opened out.

The tube cutter preferably acts on the tube at a position adjacent the support when in its second position. Such a tube cutter may comprise at least one blade arranged for rotational movement about the tube, so as to effect a circumferential cut through the tube. For a two part support, the cutter preferably acts to cut the tube between the two parts. Either an externally- acting cutter or a cutter arranged between the two parts of the support, to act internally of the tube, may be employed.

A gripper mechanism may be mounted for vertical movement on the carrier, which gripper mechanism is arranged for gripping an end portion of the tube and then to draw the tube over the support prior to the cutting of the tube.

Such a gripper mechanism may have an annulus surrounding the support and provided with gripping fingers or other clamps, to grasp the end portion of the tube.

By way of example only, one specific embodiment of tube handling apparatus constructed and arranged in accordance with the present invention and configured to perform a method of this invention, and certain modifications thereof, will now be described in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic end view on the embodiment of apparatus, with that apparatus in an initial setting ready to perform a tube handling cycle, of cutting a length of tube from a web and then bonding the cut length to a sheet of plastic material around an opening therein, so as thereby to form an access pipe for a container liner being manufactured from said sheet; Figures 2 to 9 show successive steps in the tube handling cycle performed by the apparatus of Figure 1; Figure 10 is an isometric view of the tube support shown in Figures 1 to 9, and also of a tube-cutter, in a first position; Figure 11 is a view similar to that of Figure 10 but in a second position;

Figures 12 and 13 are plan views on the assemblies of Figures 10 and 11, respectively; Figure 14 is a side view on part of the apparatus shown in Figures 1 to 9; Figure 15 is a detail view on the tube support and gripping arrangement used in the apparatus of Figure 14; Figure 16 is a plan view on a modified cutter arrangement, provided within the tube support; and Figure 17 is a perspective view on the cutter arrangement of Figure 16.

Referring initially to Figure 1, there is shown the embodiment of apparatus of this invention for performing a tube handling method, also of this invention. In addition, the drawings show part of apparatus for manufacturing a cargo container liner, so that an access pipe may be provided thereon, that access pipe being formed by the tube handling method described herein.

A reel 15 of folded-flat plastics material tube 16 is supported on a frame 17 having an upper work area 18, and to which the tube 16 is fed during initial setting up of the apparatus. An overhead gantry 19 extends over the frame 17 as well as the work table 20 of an automated liner-manufacturing production line. There, a length of liner plastics tubular material is drawn out over the work table 20 in order that various manufacturing processes may be performed thereon, including the attachment of a length of tube 16 to form an access pipe for a finished container liner. Apart from this step, the manufacturing process for the liner forms no part of the present invention and will not be described in further detail here.

The gantry 19 has a track 22 along which runs a carriage 23. An endless chain 24 is arranged alongside the track 22, passing round a pulley 25 at one end of the track and round a drive wheel on the output shaft of an electric motor 26 at the other end. The carriage 23 is coupled to the chain so as to be moved along the track on operation of the motor, between a first position (Figure 1) above the frame 17 and a second position (Figure 6) above the work table 20, at appropriate times during the performance of the method.

The carriage 23 includes a platform 27 suspended below the track 22 by bars 28, the platform slidably mounting a pair of arms 29 and 30, which also

pass through guides 31 and 32 provided in the carriage, at the level of the track 22. The two arms 29,30 have respective toothed racks 33,34, each engaged with a respective driving pinion provided on the output shaft of an individually controllable motor 35,36 mounted on the platform 27. The lower ends of the arms 29,30 are provided with articulated links 37,38 coupling the arms to a disc-shaped support 39, described in more detail below, at diametrically opposed locations. By appropriate driving of the motors 35,36, the support 39 may be moved between an inclined (first) position shown in Figures 1,14 and 15 and a horizontal (second) position shown in Figures 4 and 9.

A gripper assembly 41, comprising an annulus 42 from which depends a plurality of gripper fingers 43, is suspended below the carriage 23 on legs 44, for vertical movement. The annulus is of a greater diameter than the support 39 and platform 27, so that the annulus may move thereover, a suitable drive arrangement including motors 45 engaged with the respective legs 44 being provided on the carriage to effect such vertical movement. Further actuators (not shown) for the fingers 43 are provided so that the fingers may be opened and closed, when required.

The support 39 has upper and lower parts 47 and 48 together with a central aperture 49 extending therethrough. An electromagnet (not shown) is provided in an upstand of the lower part 48 so that when energised the upper part 47 is held securely to the lower part, but when not energised, the upper part may be moved away from the lower part. Means (not shown) are provided to ensure accurate c-axial alignment between the upper and lower parts 47 and 48, when held together by the electromagnet. Such means may comprise inter-engaging pegs and sockets on the two parts, with those pegs and sockets being given appropriate leads to facilitate inter-engagement. Alternatively, a servo-drive arrangement may be used to obtain registration between the two parts.

The diameter of the upper part 47 is greater than the internal diameter of the tube 16 with which the apparatus is to be used, so that when the tube overlies the upper part 47 with that part in a radial plane of the tube, the tube is

radially stretched over the upper part. However, by sufficiently inclining the support 39 at an angle to the axis of the tube, as shown for example in Figure 3, the effective (projected) area of the upper part may be reduced to that of the opened-out tube, so that the tube 16 may easily be drawn from the reel 15 by the gripper assembly 41 to pass over the support, without the tube being stretched.

The diameter of the lower part 48 in general should not be greater than the diameter of the upper part 47, and in the illustrated embodiment is essentially of the same diameter. The diameter of the lower part could be slightly smaller than that of the upper part and possibly even smaller than the diameter of the tube, when opened out. In this case, the tube will not be stretched when it overlies the lower part 48 so that there will be no tendency for the free end of the tube, following severing of the drawn length and which projects above the lower part resiliently to curl inwardly. In turn, this assists the gripping of the free end of the tube, by the gripper fingers 43.

The work area 18 of the frame 17 supports a pair of concentric rails 51, with the diameter of the inner rail being sufficiently large to accommodate the support 39. A pair of carriers 52 are mounted on the rails 51 in a diametrically opposed relationship, each carrier having a cutting blade 53 slidably mounted thereon for movement in the radial direction. When the blades 53 are moved radially inwardly and the carriers moved around the rails 51, a circumferential cut will be made around tube 16 between the two parts 47,48 of the support 39, when located horizontally within the inner rail 51.

Four rams 55 (Figures 10 to 13) are equi-spaced around the inner rail 51, each ram acting in the respective radial direction. Each ram has a clamp jaw 56 at its radially inner end, whereby the lower part 48 of the support 39 may be clamped thereby, following the positioning of the support 39 on the work area 18 as shown in Figure 11. Further, each clamp jaw 56 is provided with a movable finger 57 the radially inner end of which may be moved generally vertically. For this purpose, an electromagnetic actuator may be provided on the jaw 56, to cause the finger to rock about the horizontal axis.

The operation of the apparatus will now be described. A reel 15 of folded-flat plastics material tibe 16 is placed on rollers 59 provided at the base of the frame 17 and the tube is then fed round a jockey roller 60 and through a roller nip 61 to the work area 18 at the top of the frame 17, the tube being opened out into a generally circular form. During initial setting up, the motors 35,36 are driven so that the support 39 (with the upper and lower parts 47,48 thereof secured together) lies at the angle shown in Figures 1,2 and 14 and so has an effective area, projected in the vertical direction, of about the same area as (but not greater than) that of the opened-out tube. The gripper assembly 41 is lowered to the work area 18 and the fingers 43 operated so as to grip the upper marginal region of the tube 16. This initial setting of the apparatus and tube is as shown in Figures 2,14 and 15, Figure 1 showing the fingers in their open position, ready for gripping the tube.

The gripper assembly 41 is then pulled upwardly (Figure 3) by motors 45, drawing the tube 16 over the incline support 39. A suitable length of tube for the required access pipe of the liner is drawn from the reel 15, by controlling the upward movement of the gripper assembly 41. The motors 35 and 36 are appropriately driven to lower the support 39 down to the work area 18 of the frame 17 and, as the support reaches that area, the angle of the support is moved to and then slightly beyond the horizontal position by a few degrees, before being pulled back to the horizontal position (Figure 4).

Once horizontal, the support 39 is clamped in that position by driving the rams 55 to engage the clamp jaws 56 with the lower part 48 of the support.

The tube 16 is then cut between the upper and lower parts of the support 39, by moving the blades 53 radially inwardly and driving the two carriers 52 for at least 180°, so that the blades 53 perform a circumferential cutting operation around the tube 16. This severs the part of the tube drawn over the support from the main part of the web of the tube (Figure 5). If stretching of the tube over the lower part of the support occurs, the cut free edge region of the tube will tend to spring inwardly. The movable fingers 57 on the clamp jaws 56 are operated so as to engage behind that cut edge and hold it against further inward movement.

The electromagnet of the support is de-energised and the upper part 47 is lifted slightly and then moved away from the lower part, by horizontal movement of the carriage 23 until the upper part overlies the work table 20 of the liner manufacturing production line (Figure 6). The short length of tube 16 below the upper part 47 of the support is able to relax and so curls inwardly to form a flange 63, with the adjacent tube extending over the upper part 47 of the support being stretched.

In Figure 7, the upper part 47 of the support is shown lowered by the motors 35,36 to engage a plastics material liner being manufactured on the work table 20. A thermal welding arrangement is included either in the upper part of the support or within the work table 20, whereby the flange 63 is thermally welded to the liner on the work table. Other bonding techniques could be used, such as chemical welding or use of an adhesive.

Once the welding has been completed, the upper part of the support is raised and tilted, as shown in Figure 8, leaving the tube 16 bonded to the liner, so as to form an access pipe for that liner. In view of the flexible nature of the plastics material, the access pipe may fall away from the support 39, whereafter the carriage 23 is moved back to overlie the frame 17 and be re-engaged with the lower part 48 of the support (Figure 9). The rams 55 are moved slightly outwardly so that the fingers 57 may pull the cut edge of the tube outwardly, ready for re-engagement by the gripper assembly 41. Following the lowering of the gripper assembly 41 and the gripping of the cut edge by the gripper assembly fingers 43, the clamping jaw fingers are rocked upwardly to come free of the cut edge and the clamp jaws 56 are moved radially outwardly towards the inner rail 51. The support is moved back to its tilted first position, returning the apparatus to the condition shown in Figure 1, ready for the performance once more of the cycle of operation.

Referring now to Figures 16 and 17, there is shown an alternative cutter arrangement to replace that shown for example in Figures 10 to 13. This alternative cutter arrangement is mounted on the lower part 48 of the support 39 and operates outwardly, from within the lower part. In this way, external cutter blades on the work area 18 can be eliminated.

A spider 65 is rotatably mounted on the lower part 48 of the support 39, closely to overlie that support. The spider has four arms 66 each of which carries at its radially outer end an arcuate bar 67. At each of the two ends of each bar 67 there is mounted a respective solenoid actuator 68, the armature 69 of which projects radially outwardly. Releasably mounted on each armature 69 is a respective replaceable cutter blade 70, whereby energisation of each solenoid causes all of the cutter blades 70 simultaneously to move radially outwardly, beyond the outer periphery of the lower part 48 of the support 39.

An annulus 72 is mounted on four pillars 73 on the lower part 48 and serves to connect to the upper part 47 of the support 39, for example by means of further electromagnets, as discussed above. Further, the upper part 47 may include a registration ring (not shown) to ensure correct axial alignment of the upper and lower parts 47 and 48.

As shown in the drawings, each arm 66 is cut away adjacent its respective bar 67, to permit the partial accommodation of a pillar 73. Thus, the spider 65 may move through slightly less than 90degs, the movement being limited by the pillars 73. A drive mechanism (not shown) may be provided for the spider, such as a stepper motor. Power for such a motor and also for the solenoid 68 may be supplied from the upper part of the support 39, when the upper and lower parts are connected together.

In this arrangement, the diameter of the lower part 48 advantageously is substantially equal to, or smaller than, the diameter of the tube, when opened out. Thus, the diameter of the lower part will be less than that of the upper part.

Equi-spaced around the periphery of the lower part 48 are eight upstanding tabs 74, arranged so as not to be contacted by the projecting blades of the spider. Those tabs serve to support the free end of a tube, following the severing of a drawn length of the tube and the subsequent removal of that drawn length, away from the lower part 48. By supporting the free end of the tube, the engagement of that free end by the gripper fingers 43 is much facilitated. The tabs 74 could be mounted for movement generally in a radial direction, to offering of the free end of the tube to gripper fingers 43.