The invention relates to machinery for packaging a plurality of articles, such as bottles or cans, in a carton. More particularly it relates to machinery for packaging cartons containing multiple layers or tiers of articles in a carton.

It is known from US 5246113 (Schuster) to provide a fully enclosed carton containing two layers of articles separated by a divider panel. In order to load the carton Schuster teaches that a lower array of articles is first formed, onto which a divider panel is packed prior to pushing an upper array of articles over the divider panel and then pushing the double layer arrangement into an end- loaded carton. Schuster also teaches the use of deformable portions in the divider to enable upper and lower articles to be nested at their adjacent ends. However, the adjacent articles and deformable portions are only nested after stacking which requires that the upper and lower groups of articles must be accurately aligned prior to nesting. Schuster does not teach how this is accurately done. Also, Schuster does not address, amongst other things, the problem of packaging stacked articles in wraparound cartons.

The present invention seeks to avoid or at least mitigate various problems of the prior art. According to one aspect of the invention, a packaging machine for packaging layers of articles in a carton separated by a divider panel having deformable means for nesting between adjacent articles on opposite sides of said panel comprises means for positioning said divider panel at one end of a first article such that said deformable means is located in registry with an end of the article, means for deforming the deformable means such that the end of the article and said deformable means are at least partially nested, and means for thereafter positioning a second

article in nested relationship with the first article and said divider panel.

The deforming means may comprise a device for simulating the end of the article to be nested in the divider panel deformable means, thereby adapting the deformable means to the end of the first article so as to be nestable with the second article. The simulating device may comprise a cup device for emulating the end of an article. The deforming means may also comprise a plurality of said simulating devices, wherein said plurality of said simulating devices may be provided in a continuous series. Two or more series of said simulating devices may be provided adjacent one another. The simulating device may further comprise means for mounting said series of said simulating devices for rotary movement toward and away from the first articles.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a packaging machine for producing a wraparound carton containing two or more layers of articles separated by a divider panel having deformable means for nesting between adjacent articles on opposite sides of said panel, wherein the machine comprises means for positioning said divider panel adjacent one end of a first article such that said deformable means is located in registry with the end of the article, and means for stacking a second article in registry with the first article and the deformable means, wherein said stacking means comprises a means to enable the second article to drop onto said deformable means.

The machine may further comprise means defining a first feed path for feeding first articles and means defining a second feed path for feeding second articles, and wherein said stacking means comprises a regulator to regulate the movement of the first and second article along respective ones of said feed paths. The regulator

may effect registry of the ends of the articles prior to stacking and may comprise a chute through which one of the articles moves in order to abut said divider panel and the other article in a stacked arrangement. The regulator may comprise a star wheel.

The machine may further comprise a means for positioning said divider panel at one end of a first article such that the deformable means is located in registry with an end of the article, and means for conveying said divider panel and said first article together along a feed path.

In accordance with yet a further aspect of the invention, a machine is provided for packaging in a carton first and second layers of articles separated by a divider panel having deformable means for nesting between adjacent articles on opposite sides of the panel, which machine comprises a means for positioning a divider panel at one end of the articles of the first layer such that the deformable means is located in registry with the end of the articles and means to convey said divider panel and said first layer of articles together along a feed path.

The conveying means may comprise a conveyor having means for cooperating with the divider panel thereby to convey the divider panel in a predetermined manner, said conveying means comprising a lug for cooperating with at least one recess defined in the divider panel. The lug may be conveyed through an endless path.

The machine may further comprise means for effecting cooperation of said divider panel with the first layer of articles for retention of said divider panel in registry thereon. The effecting means may comprise a member for effecting displacement of a displaceable part of the divider panel into an operative position in contact with

the articles. The member may comprise a finger mounted to radially extend from a rotatable device for entry into and exit from an aperture defined in said divider panel, wherein said displaceable part comprises a tab struck from said aperture.

In any of the foregoing machine aspects of the invention, the machine may further comprise means for applying a wraparound carton to stacked layers of first and second articles.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a method of packaging in a carton layers of articles separated by a divider panel having deformable means for nesting between adjacent articles on opposite sides of the panel, comprising the steps of positioning a divider panel at one end of a first layer of articles such that said deformable means is located in registry with the ends of the articles, and deforming the deformable means such that the ends of the articles and said deformable means are at least partially nested, and positioning a second layer of articles in nested relationship with said layer of articles and said divider panel.

The step of deforming said deforming means may be performed using a device which simulates the end of the article to be nested in said divider panel deformable means. The method may comprise the further step of using a plurality of said simulating devices to deform a plurality of said deformable means. A series of said simulating devices may be used in a continuous series and said simulating device may be rotated in use.

In accordance with a still further aspect of the present invention, a method of forming a carton having two or more layers of arrays of articles, each layer separated by a divider panel, comprises the steps of grouping a

first array of articles and positioning a divider panel adjacent one end of the array, grouping a second array of articles and stacking the second array adjacent the divider panel such that the articles are stacked in an end to end configuration wherein the layers are separated by the divider panel, wrapping a carton blank having a series of hingably interconnected panels around the stacked group of articles and locking the ends of the blank together to form a packaged carton.

A further aspect of the invention provides a carton produced by any of the machine aspects or according to any of the method aspects of the invention.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: -

FIGURE 1 is a schematic perspective view of a packaging machine according to the invention;

FIGURES 2 to 5 are schematic perspective views of arrays of articles and a divider panel at various stages in the packaging process according to the invention;

FIGURE 6 is a schematic perspective view of a divider panel clipping part of the machinery shown in Figure 1;

FIGURE 7 is a schematic perspective view of a punch wheel part of the machine shown in Figure 1; FIGURE 8 is a schematic perspective view of a stacking part of the machinery shown in Figure 1;

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged perspective view of part of the stacking device shown in Figure 8; and

FIGURE 10 is a schematic perspective view of a packaged carton produced using the machinery of Figures 1 to 9.

Referring to Figure 1 there is shown a packaging machine 10 according to the invention. In general terms,

the machine takes an incoming feed of articles such as cans of drinks and divides these into upper and lower feed paths. A divider panel, or insert, is added to arrays of articles in the lower feed path and then the panel is manipulated to ensure that deformable portions of the divider panel are properly nested with the tops of articles. The upper layer of articles is then stacked on top of the divider panel in register with a lower article such that the bottom of an upper article nests in the deformable portion of the divider panel which is nested in the upper part of the lower article. The stacked, divided, double layer of articles are then packaged in a carton, which in this example is of the wraparound type.

The fact that the upper and lower articles are nested, described more fully later on with reference to Figures 2 to 5, means that the stacked articles will not settle significantly in the packaged carton during storage or transportation. Accordingly the articles should be retained in a tight fit within a wraparound carton. Of course, the divider panel 13 also ensures that the tops and bottoms of adjacent articles do not rub against one another in a packaged carton which would otherwise create unsightly marking of the ends of at least one of the articles. For example, where the articles A are made of aluminum, constant rubbing of adjacent ends of stacked articles can lead to an unsightly deposit containing aluminum oxide, on one of the ends. Additionally, movement of the articles can lead to damage to the ends of the articles, including to ring pulls at the end of a can.

Referring more specifically to the components of machine 10 as shown in Figure 1, it can be seen that two lower rows of articles 38 are fed along a conveyor 36 into the machine. The flow of articles A in rows 38 is regulated by a pair of so-called star wheels 40. A feeder mechanism 16 draws divider panels, or inserts, 13 from a

hopper 12, which in this example comprises an extension feature 14 for holding a large number of inserts 13. The feeder mechanism 16 may comprise vacuum cups for example which pick up the front divider panel 13 from the hopper and transport it to a position adjacent the tops of articles A in lower rows 38.

As can be seen in Figure 2, the divider panels 13 comprise lateral recesses 60 which enable the panel to be carried by lug chains 42 provided adjacent the tops of articles A on each side of the rows 38. Thus, by synchronising the movement of lug chains 42 with the regulated flow of rows 38 and feeder 16, an array of articles and a divider panel 13 can be brought together with the deformable portion 62 of divider panel 13 being in register with the tops of articles A in the array.

The arrays of articles and the divider panel are then conveyed along the lower feed path to an insert clipping wheel 18 which causes locking tabs 64 defined in insert 13 to be forced out of the plane of the divider panel such that they wedge between the tops of adjacent articles in the lower array. In this example, the articles A are cans which have an upper rim R which is of lesser diameter than the main body diameter of the substantially cylindrical cans. The locking tabs 64 can therefore be positioned in the gap between rims of adjacent articles thereby to hold the divider panel 13 in place during movement of the lower array of articles.

Insert clipping device 18 is shown in greater detail in Figure 6 which shows that the device comprises a cylindrical wheel 74 which is driven by means not shown to cause radially extending figures 70 to rotate about the central axis of wheel 74. The shaped end portion 72 of a finger 70 abuts the upper surface of a locking tab 64 of divider panel 13 as the fingers rotate to a lowermost

position. Advantageously, the end portions 72 can be rounded to enable easy entry and exit of the fingers from the apertures surrounding tab 64 in the divider panel 13.

An array of articles as shown in Figure 3 is then conveyed to a punch wheel 20 which is shown in greater detail in Figure 7. The punch wheel comprises a cylindrical wheel 84 which is driven about its cylindrical axis by a means not shown. The cylindrical surface of wheel 84 comprises two rows of hollow cylindrical cups 80 which each have a rim 82 to simulate the base of an article. The movement of punch wheel 20 is again synchronised with the movement of the lower arrays of articles and divider panels such that individual cups 80 cause the deformable portion 62 in panels 30 to deform and thus nest in the top of the article A. As can be seen in Figure 5 for example, the articles comprise an upper end which is longitudinally recessed with a respect to upper rim R. Thus, the deformable portion 62 provides a cup¬ like structure between the rim R and the end of an article. This arrangement is shown in Figure 4. Thus, the divider panel 13 can be held in place on a lower array of articles due to the effects of one or both of the tabs 64 and the deformable portion 62. Additionally, lug chains 42 can still engage recesses 60 thereby ensuring that individual divider panels 13 are accurately positioned with respect to an array of articles.

An upper array of articles is now created ready to be stacked on top of an array such as shown in Figure 4. In this example (see Fig. 1) , two upper rows 44 of articles are conveyed along conveyors 22. The rows can be guided by fixed rails not shown in the attached drawings. The flow of a row of articles 44 can be regulated by a star wheel 46. As shown in Figure 8 the rows 44 are brought together over a dividing plate 91.

The movement of both the upper and lower arrays of articles is then regulated by a device 48 shown more clearly in Figure 9. In this example regulator 48 which effects the stacking of an upper and lower pair of articles comprises a pair of star wheels 90 and 92. The star wheels comprise a series of toothed plates 94. The plates 94 comprise recesses 98 separated by teeth 96 which acts to engage part of the circumference of an article. A lower and upper set of plates is provided to engage lower and upper articles. The upper and lower sets of plates are separated by a gap 99 to allow for dividing plate 91.

As can be seen in Figure 9 aligned recesses in the upper and lower sets of plates 94 effect an alignment of an upper and lower article such that as the star wheel 90 or 92 rotates it provides an effective chute through which an upper article falls under gravity into the cup defined by deformable portion 62 in the top of the lower article. By repeating this process, a stacked array as shown in Figure 5 is created. Of course, the number of articles in a stacked group can be anything from a stacked pair, three or four stacked articles and so on. The arrays can of course comprise any number of rows.

The stacked array can be conveyed as a unit, for example, using a conventional conveyor beneath the lower array of articles, to a carton loading station.

In this example, the stacked array of articles are loaded into a wraparound carton to provide a packaged carton 100 as shown in Figure 10. Referring to Figure 1, machine 10 comprises a hopper 24 for a stack of cartons 26. An individual carton 100 can be withdrawn from the front of the stack 26 using a feeder mechanism 28 similar to mechanism 16 described earlier. A carton 100 can thus be moved from hopper 24 to a feed chain 30 which can comprise lugs for example which engage cooperating parts

of the carton to enable it to be conveyed to an overhead boom chain 34. At front section 50 of the boom chain 34 a device initially presses the top panel 110 of the carton against the upper ends of the upper articles. The sides 114 and 124 of the carton 100 are then folded downwardly using folding wheel 32. The sides of the cartons are then guided by a carton side lug chain 52 along to an article heel expander device 54 which causes known article heel engaging devices 104, provided by the carton, to be expanded prior to pressing the sides of the carton 114 and 124 against the sides of the array of stacked articles. Boom chain 34 continues to press the top of the carton against the array of articles whilst a known locking mechanism 56 effects the folding of heel panels 116 and 122 and base panel portion 118 and 120 about the underside of the stacked array of articles. Alternatively, the base panel portions may be glued.

Of course, individual stations, or parts of the machinery, are independently operable and could be used in other types of carton packaging machinery such as for end loaded cartons for example.