| 摘要 |
An apparatus and method is disclosed for forming a liquid-tight container having a rectangular cross-section formed from a one-piece, T-shaped blank of paperboard material. The carton preferably includes an access flap and straw element on one side thereof which, when manually lifted, exposes an end of the straw element from which the contents of the carton may be consumed by a user. The apparatus is compact in nature, possessing relatively few transport mechanisms which advance the T-shaped carton blank through a plurality of work stations. A novel method and apparatus for serially applying the straw element and access panel to the carton blank is disclosed, wherein the straw element and a length of polyethylene coated Mylar tape is automatically bonded to the carton blank upon a rotating heat sealing and alignment drum. A conveyor for collating a plural number of the carton blanks about a forming mandrel is also provided, and is positioned transversely to the remainder of the apparatus thereby significantly reducing the overall size of the apparatus. An ultrasonic welder bonds the side seams and end closure panels of the container upon a rotating crossbar mandrel which eliminates any misalignment during the sealing process. A substantially rigid conveyor transport carries a plurality of the carton blanks through pre-form, filler, and end closure work stations, and includes plural anvils for the ultrasonic welding process. An ejector mechanism is additionally provided which ejects the filled carton blanks from the rigid conveyor along a dual direction path, thereby eliminating the possiblity of creasing or puncturing the filled and sealed container. The apparatus of the present invention additionally accommodates the production of differing size containers with only minor adjustments. |
