Packaging apparatus for small piece goods and method for producing a blister tube comprising a plurality of blister bags

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12187482-B2
Application number	US-202318497394-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2023
Priority date	May 20, 2020
Publication date	Jan 7, 2025
Grant date	Jan 7, 2025

Abstract

A packaging apparatus for small piece goods, the use of the packaging apparatus, and a method for producing a blister tube are provided. The packaging apparatus includes a packaging material guiding device for providing a shaped packaging material web suitable for receiving small piece goods, a longitudinal joining device which is arranged downstream of the packaging material guiding device and a transverse joining device which is arranged downstream of the packaging material guiding device. The transverse joining device joins the shaped packaging material web together at predetermined intervals transversely to the direction of travel to form a transverse joining area. The transverse joining device includes two joiners, a first joiner having a plurality of embossers that are individually movable transversely to the direction of travel and are arranged so that they can be extended from the first joiner and retracted into the first joiner.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A packaging apparatus, comprising:
a packaging material guiding device configured to shape a moving packaging material web into a shaped packaging material web;
a plurality of joining devices configured to join the shaped packaging material web together at a first joining area and at predetermined intervals to form a plurality of second joining areas; and
a plurality of embossers configured to be individually extended from and retracted into one of the plurality of joining devices.

2. The packaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of embossers cooperate to form elevations that are palpable in the second joining area.

3. The packaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of joining devices comprises a joiner having at least one contact area configured as an elastic joining surface.

4. The packaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of joining devices comprises a joiner having at least one contact area comprising a plurality of embosser receptacles that are individually movable.

5. The packaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of embossers are configured as at least one 2 by 3 matrix of embossing pins, wherein a palpable dot pattern in the shape of a Braille character is generated per matrix by the embossing pins.

6. The packaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of joining devices comprises a joiner for which a joining surface of the joiner can be heated.

7. The packaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the packaging material guiding device has a central opening and is configured such that the packaging material web is fed to the central opening, wherein the packaging material web is shaped into a tubular packaging material web defined by the central opening.

8. The packaging apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the central opening shapes the tubular packaging material web to have a packaging material overlap area.

9. The packaging apparatus of claim 7 , wherein a guide part extends within a part of the tubular packaging material web.

10. The packaging apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the guide part is positioned so that the packaging material web in the area of the packaging material guiding device extends through a gap between the guide part and a wall of the central opening.

11. The packaging apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising a plurality of spreaders arranged in a lower area of the guide part, the plurality of spreaders configured to spread open the tubular packaging material web to form a receiving area for small piece goods.

12. The packaging apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of spreaders are configured to prepare the tubular packaging material web to be joined together according to an alignment of a plurality of joiners of one of the plurality of joining devices.

13. The packaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the packaging apparatus is configured to produce a blister tube comprising a plurality of blister bags.

14. The packaging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a moveable separator, wherein the moveable separator is configured to introduce one of a perforation into the second joining area and a complete separation of the second joining area.

15. The packaging apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a guiding device disposed above the packaging material guiding device, the guiding device comprising a funnel-shaped receiving area configured to receive small piece goods.

16. A method for producing a blister tube comprising a plurality of blister bags, the method comprising:
shaping a packaging material web into a shaped packaging material web;
joining, by a plurality of joining devices, the shaped packaging material web together at a first joining area and a plurality of second joining areas; and
embossing a palpable pattern in one of the second joining areas by a plurality of embossers extending from and retracting into one of the plurality of joining devices.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of embossers are configured as at least one 2 by 3 matrix of embossing pins, and wherein embossing the palpable pattern includes moving at least one of the embossing pins.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein embossing the palpable pattern comprises forming a dot pattern in the shape of a Braille character.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising introducing, by a separator, one of a perforation into one or more of the second joining areas and a complete separation of one or more of the second joining areas.

20. A packaging apparatus for small piece goods, comprising:
a packaging material guiding device configured to shape a packaging material web for receiving small piece goods;
a first joining device configured to join the shaped packaging material web together in a first joining area;
a second joining device configured to join the shaped packaging material web together at predetermined intervals in a second joining area, the second joining device comprising first and second joiners; and
a plurality of individually moveable embossers configured to extend out from the first joiner and retract into the first joiner.

Assignees

• Becton Dickinson Rowa Germany Gmbh

Inventors

• Schüttfort Torben

Classifications

• B65B9/2035

  Tube guiding means · CPC title

• B65B61/06

  by cutting · CPC title

• B65B9/213

  the web having intermittent motion (B65B9/22 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65B61/26

  for marking or coding completed packages · CPC title

• B65B51/303

  reciprocating along only one axis · CPC title