Tray for containing products with reduced longitudinal dimensions for the tobacco industry

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10440985-B2
Application number	US-201414891999-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2014
Priority date	May 24, 2013
Publication date	Oct 15, 2019
Grant date	Oct 15, 2019

Abstract

A tray for containing products with reduced longitudinal dimensions, including a plurality of accumulation chambers, each of which is delimited by a rear wall, a base wall and two side walls for containing a layer of a plurality of the products stored according to an ordered orientation and covering an entire surface of the rear wall The accumulation chambers define modules whose respective rear walls are parallel to each other and a distance between two rear walls of two adjacent modules is substantially the same as reduced longitudinal dimensions of the products contained therein. Each tray includes a plurality of stackable modules which can be closed in a pack to define the thickness of the tray itself. A connecting and disconnecting mechanism is provided between each module and another so that the tray may be composed of a variable number of modules.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A tray for containing a plurality of products for the tobacco industry, the plurality of products having a shape of at least one chosen from a rod, a tube and a cylinder, the tray comprising:
a plurality of accumulation chambers, each of which is delimited at least by a rear wall and a base wall connected to each other and perpendicular to each other, wherein the rear wall of each accumulation chamber has an inside face facing the plurality of products to be contained in the corresponding of accumulation chamber and an outside face opposite the inside face,
wherein each of the plurality of accumulation chambers is shaped to contain a layer of the plurality of products stored according to an ordered orientation and covering the inside face;
wherein the rear walls of the plurality of accumulation chambers are parallel to each other and a distance between the inside face of the rear wall of a selected one of the plurality of accumulation chambers and the outside face of the rear wall of a next one of the plurality of accumulation chambers adjacent to the selected one of the plurality of accumulation chambers on a side facing the inside face of the selected one of the plurality of accumulation chambers is substantially the same as a dimension of the plurality of products to be contained in the selected one of the plurality of accumulation chambers, wherein the inside face of the rear wall of the selected one of the plurality of accumulation chambers and the outside face of the rear wall of the next one of the plurality of accumulation chambers adjacent to the selected one of the plurality of accumulation chambers face towards a same accumulation chamber;
wherein each of the plurality of accumulation chambers defines with its walls a stackable module for containing a layer of the plurality of products such that the plurality of accumulation chambers define a plurality of stackable modules which can be assembled with each other to define a thickness of the tray;
a connecting and disconnecting means between each of the plurality of stackable modules and an adjacent one of the plurality of stackable modules so that the tray may be composed of a variable number of the plurality of stackable modules.

2. The tray according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of accumulation chambers and each of the plurality of stackable modules also comprises two side walls at ends of the rear wall, the two side walls being parallel to each other and substantially perpendicular to the rear wall and to the base wall, the accumulation chambers and the stackable modules being arranged in succession one after another along a stacking direction which is perpendicular to the rear walls.

3. The tray according to claim 1 , further comprising a front wall having surface dimensions equal to those of the rear wall of each of the plurality of accumulation chambers and each of the plurality of stackable modules, the front wall being connectable to an open part of a foremost accumulation chamber of the plurality of accumulation chambers and/or a foremost stackable module of the plurality of stackable modules in order to close the tray.

4. The tray according to claim 2 , wherein each base wall has an inside edge and an outside edge, parallel to each other and parallel to the rear walls, and wherein the connecting and disconnecting means includes a first joint, with a profiled tongue and a groove, defined between the inside edge of the base wall of each of the plurality of stackable modules and the outside edge of the base wall of the adjacent one of the plurality of stackable modules; the profiled tongue, defining a tenon, having a sawtoothed cross section and being shaped to fit into the groove, the groove defining a mortise, a cross section of the groove being shaped to form a space which matches the sawtoothed cross section of the profiled tongue.

5. The tray according to claim 4 , wherein the connecting and disconnecting means includes a pair of second joints at ends of the two side walls opposite the base wall; each second joint comprising a V-shaped tooth defining a second tenon and shaped to fit into a recess defining a second mortise and forming a second space having a shape matching that of the V-shaped tooth.

6. The tray according to claim 2 , wherein the connecting and disconnecting means includes a first permanent magnet fitted inside one of the two side walls of each of the plurality of stackable modules and a second permanent magnet fitted into a corresponding side wall of the adjacent one of the plurality of stackable modules such that the first permanent magnet and the second permanent magnet attract to one another to pull together each of the plurality of stackable modules and the adjacent one of the plurality of stackable modules.

7. The tray according to claim 2 , further comprising one or more stiffening ribs positioned on at least one of the rear walls, the one or more stiffening ribs being substantially parallel to the two side walls.

8. The tray according to claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of accumulation chambers and each of the plurality of stackable modules has, on a side opposite the base wall a discharge mouth for discharging the plurality of products; there being provided, at the discharge mouth, at least one rod which is slidable into holes made at ends of the two side walls and which is releasably fixable in such a way as to retain the plurality of products when the tray is being handled.

9. The tray according to claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of accumulation chambers and each of the plurality of stackable modules includes, on a side opposite the base wall, a discharge mouth for discharging the plurality of products, wherein the tray comprises a bottom closing wall located at the discharge mouths and having a plurality of slots, wherein the tray further comprises for each of the discharge mouths a guillotine gate valve having two opposite ends, the guillotine gate valve comprising at each of the two opposite ends a pin which protrudes from a flank of the bottom closing wall at a respective one of the plurality of slots; the pin including a cam follower roller, and a cam being defined by an inclined profile of at least one pair of flat rods, each pair of flat rods extending along a direction parallel to one of the two side walls and being movable between a first position where the guillotine gate valve is open and a second position where the guillotine gate valve is closed.

10. The tray according to claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of accumulation chambers and each of the plurality of stackable modules includes, on a side opposite the base wall, a discharge mouth for discharging the plurality of products; wherein the tray further comprises at the discharge mouth, a bottom closing wall made as a single part with one selected from the plurality of accumulation chambers and extending substantially parallel to the base wall; the bottom closing wall having a length which is such as to close all of the discharge mouths of all of the plurality of accumulation chambers and each of the plurality of stackable modules when connected to each other by the connecting and disconnecting means.

11. A tray for containing a plurality of products for the tobacco industry, the plurality of products having a shape of at least one chosen from a rod, a tube and a cylinder, the tray comprising:
a plurality of accumulation chambers, each of which is delimited at least by a rear wall and a base wall connected to each other and perpendicular to each other, wherein the rear wall of each accumulation chamber has an inside face facing the plurality of products to be contained in the corresponding of a

Assignees

• Gd Spa

Inventors

• Eusepi Ivan
• Esposti Marco
• Sartoni Massimo

Classifications

• A24C5/358

  Boat constructions · CPC title

• A24C5/478 Primary

  Transport means for filter- or cigarette-rods in view of their assembling · CPC title

• A24C5/352

  using containers, i.e. boats · CPC title