lidding machine for heat-sealing film onto containers, such as trays.

Abstract

A sealing machine (1) comprising two sealing and film cutting stations (2, 3) each equipped with upper and lower tooling, a container conveyor (4) (101) comprising a plurality of receiving compartments (7) for at least one container (101) arranged one after the other to form a line (8) of compartments (7) capable of passing successively through the sealing stations (2, 3) and a discontinuous drive device for said line (8) to allow, in the stopped state of said line (8), sealing by relative movement of the lower and upper tooling, two drive devices (5; 6) for moving a strip of sealing film each dedicated to one sealing station.The drive device (9) for the line (8) of compartments (7) is a double-stepping device (9) configured to, between two sealing operations, in at least one operating mode, move each compartment (7) of the line (8) in the direction of travel by at least two steps. Figure for the abbreviation: Fig. 1.

Description

Title of the invention: Lidding machine for thermal welding sealing of film onto containers, such as trays.

[0001] The present invention relates to a lidding machine for thermally welding film onto containers, such as trays.

[0002] It relates in particular to a capping machine for thermally sealing film onto containers, said machine comprising at least one film sealing and cutting station with upper and lower tooling mounted movably in the direction of approaching and moving away from each other, a container conveyor and at least one drive device for moving a strip of capping film, said drive device comprising a first storage area for storing the portion of the strip of film to be cut in a wound state, a second storage area for storing the offcut of the cut strip of film, called the skeleton, in a wound state.a film guide path between the first and second zones passing through the film sealing and cutting station, and at least one drive element to enable the film strip to move along the guide path and pass from the first zone to the second zone, said conveyor comprising a plurality of receiving compartments of at least one container arranged one after the other to form a line of compartments capable of passing successively through at least one sealing station, and a drive device for discontinuously driving said line to allow, when the line is stopped, sealing by a relative movement of the lower and upper tooling.

[0003] The sealing operations involve containers or packages moving along conveyor devices that advance step by step beneath the upper tooling of sealing stations. Each upper tooling is positioned directly above a container to be sealed during the sealing operation. Sealing consists of applying a film, fed as a strip between the lower and upper tooling of the sealing station, to all the upper edges of the container. Each sealing station also includes means for cutting the film along the peripheral edges of the sealed container. Commercially available sealing machines must offer high productivity with optimized film consumption without compromising the machine's versatility. The machine must be able to accept several container formats, with a tooling change to adapt to each format that can be performed quickly.Various solutions have been proposed to date. However, each time, the capping machine does not meet all the criteria.

[0004] One object of the invention is to provide a capping machine whose design allows high productivity, optimized film consumption with perfectly controlled tension and behavior of the film during the sealing operation and the possibility of quickly and easily modifying the tooling according to the format of the container to be treated.

[0005] To this end, the invention relates to a capping machine for thermally sealing film onto containers, said machine comprising at least one film sealing and cutting station with upper and lower tooling mounted movably in the direction of approaching and separating from each other, a container conveyor and at least one drive device for moving a strip of capping film, said drive device comprising a first storage area for storing the portion of the strip of film to be cut in a wound state, a second storage area for storing the offcut of the cut strip of film, called the skeleton, in a wound state.a film strip guideway between the first and second zones passing through the film sealing and cutting station and at least one drive unit to enable the film strip to move along the guideway and its passage from the first zone to the second zone, said conveyor comprising a plurality of receiving compartments of at least one container arranged one after the other to form a line of compartments capable of successively passing through at least one sealing station and a drive device discontinuously through said line to enable, when said line is stopped, sealing by relative movement of the lower and upper tooling, characterized in that the number of sealing stations and drive devices for moving a film strip is at least two with each drive device dedicated to one sealing station,in that the sealing stations are each traversed by the conveyor's compartment line, and in that the compartment line drive device is a double-step device configured to, between two sealing operations, in at least one operating mode, move each compartment of the line in the direction from the first storage zone to the second storage zone, called the direction of advance, by at least two steps, one step corresponding to the length of a compartment taken parallel to the compartment line, to allow, at least in parallel with the positioning of one compartment above the upper tooling of one of the sealing and cutting stations, the positioning of another compartment above the upper tooling of the other or one of the other sealing stations.

[0006] According to one embodiment of the invention, the compartment located directly above the upper tooling of a sealing station is separated from the compartment located directly above the upper tooling of the nearest sealing station by an even number of compartments.

[0007] According to one embodiment of the invention, at least part of the compartments are arranged on a stationary surface forming a support base for the containers, said base being interrupted at each sealing station, a part of the lower tooling forming a substitute for the base at each sealing station.

[0008] According to one embodiment of the invention, the lower tooling comprises at least one frame and a support plate mounted removably on said frame, said support plate being provided with one or more openings for receiving containers, this support plate forming the part of the lower tooling forming at least part of a substitute for the sole at each sealing station.

[0009] According to one embodiment of the invention, each compartment is delimited by a part of two parallel longitudinal endless chains and two parallel crossbars connecting said chains together, said crossbars being selectively adapted each to form a pusher of the container or containers arranged inside the compartment in the driven state in movement of the line of compartments according to the direction of movement of the line of compartments.

[0010] According to one embodiment of the invention, the discontinuous drive device for the compartment line comprises a rotary motor system in contact with each chain to drive each chain along a predetermined path in an endless loop and a control unit for the rotary motor system.

[0011] According to one embodiment of the invention, for a displacement of each compartment of the line of compartments of at least two steps, the drive device of the line of compartments is configured to drive the line of compartments in the direction of advance, i.e. from the first to the second storage zone, by a so-called advance distance greater than two steps, and then in the opposite direction of retreat, i.e. from the second storage zone to the first storage zone, by a so-called predetermined retreat distance, so that the difference of the advance and retreat distances is strictly equal to two steps.

[0012] According to one embodiment of the invention, the upper tooling comprises at least two sealing and cutting tool blocks of different sizes and / or dimensions suitable for cutting lidding films, said blocks being removably mounted on a mobile carousel-type support rotating about a horizontal axis orthogonal to the compartment line and the direction of relative movement of the lower and upper tooling mounted movably in the direction of a bringing together and a moving apart of each other.

[0013] According to one embodiment of the invention, the or at least two of the sealing stations are separated by a free space, in that the second storage area of ​​one of the moving film drive devices, referred to as the first moving film drive device, and the first storage area of ​​the other or another of the moving film drive devices, referred to as the second moving film drive device, are arranged in the free space between the two sealing stations.

[0014] According to one embodiment of the invention, said two sealing stations are arranged between the first storage area of ​​the first moving film strip drive motor device and the second storage area of ​​the second moving film strip drive motor device.

[0015] According to one embodiment of the invention, the first and second storage zones of the or at least one of the film-in-strip drive motor devices each comprise a film reel-carrying mandrel arranged orthogonally to the line of compartments and to the direction of relative movement of the lower and upper tooling mounted movably in the direction of approaching and moving away from each other and at least a part of the guide path of said film-in-strip drive motor device is delimited by rotating rollers with an axis of rotation parallel to the mandrels, at least one of the rollers being a drive roller. Brief description of the drawings

[0016] The invention will be better understood upon reading the following description of exemplary embodiments, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0017] [Fig-1] represents a partial perspective view of a capping machine according to the invention;

[0018] [Fig.2] represents a partial perspective view of a capping machine illustrating the discontinuous drive device of the line of compartments along two sealing stations;

[0019] [Fig.3] represents a perspective view illustrating a detail of the drive device discontinuously from the line of compartments;

[0020] [Fig.4] represents a partially cross-sectional top view of a capping machine according to the invention;

[0021] [Fig.5] represents a vertical cross-sectional view of a capping machine according to the invention;

[0022] [Fig.6] represents a cross-sectional view of a film sealing and cutting station in a position away from the lower and upper tooling of said station;

[0023] [Fig.7] represents a cross-sectional view of the film sealing and cutting station of [Fig.6] in close proximity to the lower and upper tooling of said station.

[0024] The invention relates to a sealing machine 1 of the type shown in [Fig. 1]. Such a sealing machine is designed to seal containers 101, such as trays, as shown, made of various materials, using a flexible film-type seal, with or without atmospheric modification. A key factor in the performance of such a sealing machine is its output, that is, the number of containers sealed per hour.

[0025] As illustrated in [Fig. 1], this capping machine 1 is an in-line machine 1 comprising a container conveyor 4 101 comprising a plurality of receiving compartments 7 for at least one container 101 arranged one after the other to form a line 8 of compartments 7. The compartments 7 are mobile by means of a drive device 9 for discontinuously moving said line 8. The capping machine 1 comprises at least two film sealing and cutting stations arranged on said line 8 so that each can be traversed by said line 8 of compartments 7. These sealing stations are shown as 2 and 3 in [Fig. 1] and allow the parallel sealing of at least two containers 101.

[0026] To enable this sealing operation, the sealing machine 1 includes a drive mechanism that moves a strip of sealing film through each sealing station. Each sealing and film-cutting station is equipped with upper and lower tooling mounted movably in one direction towards and from the other. At least one of the upper or lower tooling of each sealing and film-cutting station incorporates at least one film-cutting element. This design allows for extreme versatility of the machine, which can operate interchangeably with one or more sealing stations and therefore with containers of the same or different sizes.

[0027] Such a machine also allows a rapid change in the configuration of the sealing stations without affecting the quality of the application of the sealing film and the quantity of film consumed in relation to the number of containers processed.

[0028] The conveyor 4 for the containers 101 can be a cleated conveyor, as illustrated in more detail in [Fig. 2]. This conveyor 4 comprises, for the delimitation of the compartments 7, two parallel longitudinal endless chains 14 and cross members 15 connecting said chains 14. The longitudinal direction extends along the direction of movement of the row 8 of compartments 7. To allow this movement of the row 8 of compartments 7, the conveyor 4 comprises a device 9 for discontinuously driving the row 8. This drive device 9 This is particularly visible in Figures 2 and 3. It comprises a rotary motor system 91 engaged with each chain 14 to drive each chain 14 along a predetermined path in an endless loop, and a control unit 92 for the rotary motor system 91. The control unit 92 may be in the form of an electronic and computer system that includes, for example, a microprocessor and working memory. In one particular configuration, the control unit may be in the form of a programmable logic controller (PLC).

[0029] In other words, the functions and steps described can be implemented as a computer program or via hardware components (e.g., programmable gate arrays). In particular, the functions and steps performed by the control unit or its modules can be carried out by instruction sets or computer modules implemented in a processor or controller, or by dedicated electronic components or components such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). It is also possible to combine computer and electronic components.

[0030] When it is specified that the unit or means or modules of said unit are configured to perform a given operation, this means that the unit includes computer instructions and the corresponding means of execution which enable said operation to be performed and / or that the unit includes corresponding electronic components.

[0031] The rotary motor system 91 here comprises, for each chain 14, a motorized gear engaging with teeth on the chain 14. The endless chains 14, which travel in a loop, thus comprise a horizontal forward path during which they pass through sealing stations 2 and 3, then a downward vertical portion of the path before making a return path with upward horizontal and vertical portions to return to their starting point. The drive device 9 is a discontinuous drive device for the line 8 to allow, when the line 8 of compartment 7 is stopped, sealing by relative movement of the lower and upper tools of at least one of the sealing stations. In other words, the movement of the line 8 of compartments 7 is stopped at least at each sealing operation defined by a relative movement of the lower and upper tools.At least part of the compartments 7 are arranged on a stationary surface forming a base 10 for supporting the containers 101. This base 10 is here formed by a horizontal flat surface, such as a sheet, arranged parallel to the horizontal portion. of the forward circuit of chain 14. This sole 10 is interrupted at each film sealing and cutting station. A portion of the lower tool of the film sealing and cutting station forms a substitute for the sole at said film sealing and cutting station.

[0032] The containers 101 rest on the sole 10 and the crossbeams of a compartment 7 are selectively adapted to form a pusher of the container(s) 101 arranged inside the compartment 7 in the driven state in movement of the line 8 of compartments 7 according to the direction of movement of the line 8 of compartments 8.

[0033] Each film sealing and cutting station 2 or 3 comprises, as illustrated in [Fig. 5], an upper tooling represented as 21 for film sealing and cutting station 2 and as 31 for film sealing and cutting station 3, and a lower tooling represented as 22 for film sealing and cutting station 2 and as 32 for film cutting and sealing station 3. These upper and lower toolings are movably mounted between a position spaced apart and a position close together in which they are configured to trap the sealing film between them.

[0034] The upper tooling 21 or 31, respectively, arranged above the lidding film strip 100A or 100B, respectively, which will be described below, comprises at least one block 16 of sealing and cutting tools suitable for cutting a lidding film. Such a block 16 comprises, in a manner known per se, a sealing head including a plate equipped with electrical resistors for heating. This plate is movable by a cylinder in the direction of bringing the lower tooling closer to or further away from it. The closer position corresponds to the sealing position by welding. The sealing plate is equipped on its peripheral edge with a cutting tool. The sealing plate and the cutting tool are housed at least partially inside a cavity called the upper bell. This block 16 of sealing and cutting tools will not be described in further detail as it is well known to those versed in this art.

[0035] To allow adaptation of the upper tooling 21 or 31 to a plurality of container formats, the upper tooling 21 or 31 may comprise a plurality of tool blocks 16, of which there are four in number in [Fig. 5]. These blocks 16 are removably mounted on a carousel-type support 17 that rotates about a horizontal axis orthogonal to the row 8 of compartments 7 and to the direction of relative movement of the lower and upper tooling, which are mounted movably in the direction of moving closer together and further apart. Thus, simply rotating the support 17 is sufficient to switch from one container format to another, i.e., from one tool block to another.

[0036] The lower tooling 22, or respectively 32, comprises at least one frame 11 and a support plate 12 removably mounted on said frame 11 to allow adaptation according to container formats. The support plate 12 is provided with one or more openings 13 for receiving containers 101. This support plate 12 forms part of the lower tooling, forming at least part of a substitute for the sole 10 at each sealing station.

[0037] As illustrated in Figures 6 and 7, the frame 11 and the associated support plate 12 define a cavity housing a stationary plate coplanar with the base 10. The frame 11 and the support plate 12 are mounted to move towards or away from the upper tooling. The frame 11 and the associated support plate 12 are in a position close to the upper tooling during sealing.

[0038] During the drive of the frame 11 and the support plate 12, in the direction of a bringing together of the upper tooling, i.e. following an upward vertical movement, the support plate 12 tends, at the level of its opening, to cause the container(s) 101 which initially rest on the stationary plate to move.

[0039] Vacuum and gas injection means can be provided in a manner known per se for sealing under a controlled atmosphere. Although the sealing machine 1 illustrated in [Fig. 1] comprises only two film sealing and cutting stations, it is understood that this number, which is at least equal to 2, can be greater than two without departing from the scope of the invention. The configuration of the lower and upper tooling allows for easy switching from one container format to another.

[0040] The sealing machine 1 comprises, for each sealing and film-cutting station for applying a sealing film to the container or containers positioned directly above the upper tooling of said sealing and film-cutting station, a drive device for moving a strip of sealing film. Thus, each sealing and cutting station comprises its own drive device for moving a strip of sealing film, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 4 where the sealing and cutting station 2 is associated with the drive device 5 for moving the sealing film 100A, while the sealing and cutting station 3 is associated with the drive device 6 for moving the sealing film 100B.

[0041] The motor device, shown in 5, and called the first motor device, comprises a first storage zone 51 for storing the portion of film 100A in strip form to be cut in the wound state and a second storage zone 52 for storing the offcut of film 100A in strip form, called the skeleton, in the wound state. This skeleton is formed from the strip having openings, each opening corresponding to a portion of film that was deposited during the sealing operation. Similarly, the motor device, represented in 6, and called the second motor device, includes a first storage zone 61 to allow the storage in the wound state of the portion of the 100B film in strip to be cut and a second storage zone 62 to allow the storage in the wound state of the offcut of the 100B film in strip called skeleton.

[0042] Each drive device 5, or respectively 6, further comprises a film guide path between the first and second storage zones, this guide path passing through the film sealing and cutting station, and at least one drive element to enable the film strip to move along the guide path and pass from the first zone to the second storage zone. The guide path is shown at 53 for the first drive device shown in 5 and at 63 for the second drive device shown in 6. Similarly, the drive element is shown at 54 for the first drive device shown in 5 and at 64 for the second drive device shown in 6. This element can in each case be formed by a motorized roller which can cooperate with a roller forming part of the guide path to pinch the film between said rollers and enable its movement, as illustrated in [Fig. 7].Indeed, part of the guide path of the first and second drive units for moving a film strip is delimited by rotating rollers 20 with an axis of rotation parallel to film reel holders 19 arranged orthogonally to the line 8 of compartments 7 and to the direction of relative movement of the lower and upper tooling mounted movably in the direction of approaching and separating from each other. The sealing film extends at least between the lower and upper tooling of the associated film sealing and cutting station and is trapped between said lower and upper tooling when in a position close to said tooling.

[0043] Each sealing and cutting station includes its own drive unit for moving a strip of sealing film. Each drive unit operates independently of the other drive units. Thus, with a sealing machine 1, as shown in [Fig. 1], it is possible to seal one or more containers at each sealing and cutting station, whether or not the film is being used, the first drive unit 5 operating independently of the second drive unit 6. The sealing and cutting stations 2 and 3 are separated by a free space 18 visible in [Fig. 1]. The second storage area 52 for the first drive unit 5 for moving a strip of film and the first storage area 61 for the second drive unit 6 for moving a strip of film are located in this free space 18 between the two film sealing and cutting stations 2 and 3. The two film sealing and cutting stations 2 and 3 are arranged between the first storage area 51 of the first motor device 5 for driving a moving film strip and the second storage area 62 of the second motor device 6 for driving a moving film strip.

[0044] The first and second storage zones of the first motor device 5, or respectively, of the second motor device 6, each comprise a film reel holder 19 arranged orthogonally to the row 8 of compartments 7 and to the direction of relative movement of the lower and upper tooling mounted movably towards and away from each other. The unwinding of each film strip occurs in parallel with the movement of the row 8 of compartment 7.

[0045] The drive device 9 for the line 8 of compartments 7 is a double step device 9 configured to, between two sealings, i.e. between two cycles of bringing together and separating the lower and upper tooling of a film sealing and cutting station, in at least one operating mode, move each compartment 7 of the line 8 in the direction first storage zone 51, or respectively 61, towards second storage zone 52, or respectively 62, called the direction of advance, by at least two steps P. A step P corresponds to the length of a compartment 7 taken parallel to the line 8 of compartments 7.This movement of at least two steps of each compartment allows at least, in parallel with the positioning of a compartment 7 in line with the upper tooling 21 of one of the film sealing and cutting stations, the positioning of another compartment 7 in line with the upper tooling 31 of the other film sealing and cutting station 3.

[0046] This operating mode may be the only operating mode of the machine. Alternatively, in another operating mode, one of the sealing stations may be deactivated, and a step-by-step advance may be reverted to. Alternatively still, in another operating mode, at least two sealing stations with a step-by-step advance may be available to allow, for example, the application of two lids to the same container, or the application of an inner lining followed by a lid. In the operating mode where the double-step device 9 is configured to move the row 8 of compartments 7 by at least two steps P between two seals, the compartment 7 located directly above the upper tooling 21 of sealing station 2 is separated from the compartment 7 located directly above the upper tooling 31 of sealing station 3 by an even number of compartments 7.Due to the design of compartments 7, each cross member 15 is selectively suited to form a pusher of container(s) 101 depending on the direction of movement of line 8. of compartments 7. Thus, for a displacement of each compartment 7 of the line 8 of compartments of at least two steps, the drive device 9 of the line 8 of compartments 7 is configured to drive the line 8 of compartments 7 in the direction of advance, that is to say from the first to the second storage area by a distance, called advance, greater than two steps, and then in the opposite direction of retreat, that is to say from the second storage area to the first storage area by a distance, called retreat, predetermined, so that the difference of the distances of advance and retreat is strictly equal to two steps.

[0047] In practice, the operation of a capping machine 1 can be as follows. It is assumed that, at each film sealing and cutting station: - the lower and upper tooling are in a position separated from each other - that the line 8 of compartments 7 is driven in the direction of the first storage zone towards the second storage zone and - that the drive unit(s) of each drive unit have brought a portion of film strip to be cut and sealed to the upper tooling of the film sealing and cutting station to which they are connected. An operator or a supply machine places containers on the base 10 at each free compartment 7 located upstream of the film sealing and cutting stations, relative to the direction of travel of the line 7 of compartments 8. Containers already positioned in a compartment are moved to that compartment by the upstream cross member acting as a pusher. This configuration allows the containers to be aligned when, for example, two containers are placed in the same compartment.The movement of the line 8 of compartments 7 is carried out over a distance greater than two paces to bring the compartment containing the containers to be sealed into a position where the containers 101 extend beyond the vertical line of the upper tooling. The direction of movement of the line 8 of compartments 7 is then reversed to push the containers back into a position vertically below the upper tooling, using the crossbar which was previously downstream and has become upstream due to the reversal of the line's direction of movement. The final displacement of each compartment resulting from these two opposing movement strokes is equal to two paces or a multiple of two paces.In this position, the line of compartments 7 is stopped and the lower and upper tooling are brought together to perform a film cutting and sealing operation on the container(s) placed inside the sealing station. The lower and upper tooling are then moved apart and a new cycle, as described above, can be started. This operation continues until all 101 containers are sealed.

[0048]

Claims

1. Demands A sealing machine (1) for thermally sealing film onto containers (101), said machine (1) comprising at least one film sealing and cutting station (2, 3) with upper tooling (21, 31) and lower tooling (22, 32) mounted to move towards and away from each other, a container conveyor (4) (101), and at least one drive device (5, 6) for moving a strip of sealing film (100A, 100B), said drive device (5, 6) comprising a first storage zone (51, 61) for storing the portion of the film (100A, 100B) to be cut in a wound state, and a second storage zone (52, 62) for storing the film offcut in a wound state. (100A, 100B) in cut strip called skeleton, a path (53, 63) for guiding the film (100A, 100B) in strip between the first and second zones (51, 52) (61, 62) passing through the station (2,3) of sealing and cutting film and at least one drive element (54, 64) to enable the film (100A, 100B) to be moved along the guide path (53, 63) and its passage from the first zone (51, 61) to the second zone (52, 62), said conveyor (4) comprising a plurality of receiving compartments (7) for at least one container (101) arranged one after the other to form a line (8) of compartments (7) capable of successively passing through at least one sealing station (2, 3) and a discontinuous drive device (9) of said line (8) to enable, when said line (8) is stopped, sealing by relative movement of the lower (22, 32) and upper (21, 31) tooling, characterized in that the number of stations (2, 3) sealing and drive devices (5, 6) for moving a film (100A, 100B) in strip is at least equal to two with each drive device (5, 6) dedicated to one station (2,3) sealing, in that the sealing stations (2, 3) are each crossed by the line (8) of compartments (7) of the conveyor (4) and in that the drive device (9) of the line (8) of compartments (7) is a double-step device (9) configured to, between two sealings, in at least one operating mode, move each compartment (7) of the line (8) in the direction of the first storage zone (51, 61) towards the second storage zone (52, 62), storage, called direction of advance, of at least two steps (P), one step (P) corresponding to the length of a compartment (7) taken parallel to the line (8) of compartments (7), to allow at least in parallel with the positioning of a compartment (7) in line with the upper tooling (21) of one (2) of the sealing and cutting stations (2, 3), the positioning of another compartment (7) in line with the upper tooling (31) of the other (3) or one of the other sealing stations.

2. Capping machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the compartment (7) disposed above the upper tooling (21) of a sealing station (2) is separated from the compartment (7) disposed above the upper tooling (31) of the nearest sealing station (3) by an even number of compartments (7).

3. A capping machine (1) according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that at least part of the compartments (7) are arranged on a stationary surface forming a base (10) for supporting the containers (101), said base (10) being interrupted at each sealing station (2, 3), a part of the lower tooling (22, 32) forming a substitute for the base (10) at each sealing station (2, 3).

4. A sealing machine (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that the lower tooling (22, 32) comprises at least one frame (11) and a support plate (12) removably mounted on said frame (11), said support plate (12) being provided with one or more openings (13) for receiving the containers (101), this support plate (12) forming the part of the lower tooling (22, 32) forming at least part of a substitute for the sole (10) at each sealing station (2, 3).

5. A capping machine (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each compartment (7) is delimited by a part of two parallel longitudinal endless chains (14) and two parallel crossbars (15) connecting said chains (14) together, said crossbars (15) being selectively adapted each to form a pusher of the container(s) (101) arranged inside the compartment (7) in the driven state in movement of the line (8) of compartments (7) according to the direction of movement of the line (8) of compartments (7).

6. Capping machine (1) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the discontinuous drive device (9) for the line (8) of compartments (7) comprises a rotary motor system (91) in contact with each chain (14) to drive each chain (14) along a predetermined path in an endless loop and a drive unit (92) for the rotary motor system (91).

7. A capping machine (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that for a displacement of each compartment (7) of the line (8) of compartments (7) of at least two steps, the drive device (9) of the line (8) of compartments (7) is configured to drive the line (8) of compartments (7) in the direction of advance, i.e. from the first (51, 61) to the second storage zone (52, 62), by a so-called advance distance greater than two steps, and then in the opposite direction of retreat, i.e. from the second storage zone (52, 62) to the first storage zone, by a so-called predetermined retreat distance, so that the difference of the advance and retreat distances is strictly equal to two steps.

8. A sealing machine (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the upper tooling (21, 31) comprises at least two blocks (16) of sealing and cutting tools of different sizes and / or dimensions suitable for cutting sealing films (100A, 100B), said blocks (16) being removably mounted on a mobile carousel-type support (17) rotating about a horizontal axis orthogonal to the line of compartments (7) and to the direction of relative movement of the lower (22, 32) and upper (21, 31) tooling mounted movablely in the direction of approaching and moving away from each other.

9. A capping machine (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that one or more (2, 3) of the sealing stations are separated by a free space (18), in that the second storage area (52) of one (5) of the film-moving drive devices (5, 6) referred to as the first film-moving drive device (5) and the first storage area (61) of the other (6) or one other of the film-moving drive devices (5, 6) referred to as the second film-moving drive device (6) strips are arranged in the free space (18) between the two sealing posts (2, 3).

10. Capping machine (1) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said two sealing stations (2, 3) are arranged between the first storage zone (51) of the first motor device (5) for moving a film strip and the second storage zone (62) of the second motor device (6) for moving a film strip.

11. A capping machine (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the first and second storage zones (51, 52; 61, 62) of the film or at least one of the drive devices (5, 6) for moving a film (100A, 100B) in strip each comprise a film reel holder (19) arranged orthogonally to the line (8) of compartments (7) and to the direction of relative movement of the lower (22, 32) and upper (21, 31) tooling mounted movable in the direction of approaching and separating from each other, and in that at least a portion of the guide path (53, 63) of said drive device (5, 6) for moving a film in strip is delimited by rotating rollers (20) with an axis of rotation parallel to the chucks (19), at least one of the rollers (20) being a drive roller.

Images