US 11,970,299 B2
Device and method for filling containers for bags of smokeless tobacco
Fulvio Boldrini, Bologna (IT)
Assigned to G.D S.P.A., Bologna (IT)
Appl. No. 17/792,983
Filed by G.D S.p.A., Bologna (IT)
PCT Filed Feb. 8, 2021, PCT No. PCT/IB2021/050997
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 14, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/165782, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 26, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 102020000003476 (IT), filed on Feb. 20, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0046205 A1, Feb. 16, 2023
Int. Cl. B65B 29/00 (2006.01); B65B 35/28 (2006.01); B65B 39/00 (2006.01); B65B 39/12 (2006.01); B65B 43/50 (2006.01); B65B 5/06 (2006.01)
CPC B65B 29/00 (2013.01) [B65B 35/28 (2013.01); B65B 39/007 (2013.01); B65B 39/12 (2013.01); B65B 43/50 (2013.01); B65B 5/06 (2013.01)] 25 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A device for filling containers for bags of smokeless tobacco, each container comprising a body and an inner frame comprising radial separators defining a plurality of radial compartments, the device comprising:
an infeed station including an inlet opening and configured for feeding at least one succession of inner frames, wherein each inner frame has a central portion which extends around a respective central axis and a plurality of radial separators extending away from the central portion and defining a plurality of radial compartments which are angularly disposed around the central axis;
a filling station including a filler opening and configured to feed a succession of individual bags of smokeless tobacco to a respective inner frame;
a release station including an outlet opening and configured for releasing at least one succession of inner frames which are full of bags;
a conveyor defining a feed line which passes through the infeed station, the filling station and the release station and which has at least one housing configured to hold and move a respective inner frame from the infeed station to the release station by way of the filling station;
a suction device disposed in the filling station and configured to apply pneumatic suction in the at least one housing disposed in the filling station, the suction device including a suction channel connected or connectable to a source of the pneumatic suction;
a rotation device disposed in the filling station and confronting the at least one housing disposed in the filling station, the rotation device being configured to set the inner frame disposed in the at least one housing in rotation about the respective central axis so that successive radial compartments of the inner frame each confront a respective bag to be inserted in sequence, the rotation device including a motor-driven shaft.