A packaging apparatus for box multipacks and multipack of boxes

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a packaging apparatus for packaging two or more boxes, such as boxes of facial tissue paper, to form a multipack. The packing apparatus comprises a box supply device that supplies at least a first box and a second box, a wrapping material supplying device that supplies a wrapping material, an adhesive application device that applies adhesive to a gluing location on at least one of a first surface of the first box, a first surface of the second box, and one or several locations on a piece of wrapping material, and a wrapping device that at least partially wraps the piece of wrapping material around the first box and the second box and establishes a contact between the piece of wrapping material and the first box and the second box, respectively, with the at least one gluing location being located at a point of contact between the first surface of the first box and the piece of wrapping material, between the first surface of the second box and the piece of wrapping material, or between a part of the piece of wrapping material and an overlapping part of the piece of wrapping material being placed on the first surface of the first box or the first surface of the second box.

Description

[0001]254 762 v1 / t5 / ssc A Packaging Apparatus for Box Multipacks and Multipack of Boxes Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a packaging apparatus for packaging two or more boxes, such as boxes of facial tissue paper, to form a multipack. The disclosure also relates to a multipack of boxes, such as boxes of facial tissue. Technical Background This disclosure concerns an invention that belongs to the realm of promoting the reduction of waste and moving towards environment friendly packaging. Packaging plays a prominent role in daily life and is used for many purposes. It ensures the safe delivery of products (transport packaging), serves as containers, protects goods (sales packaging) and is sometimes also used to improve the presentation of products (secondary packaging). Packaging waste, the part of the waste that consists of packaging and packaging material, is a major part of the total global waste. Throwaway culture may in fact be considered one of the driving factors of the pollution of the environment of our planet. Specifically, this disclosure relates to packaging used for preparing so-called multipacks of products. For example, hygiene products, such as tissue paper products, are frequently packaged in the form of boxes, and these boxes are in turn bundled to form multipacks. Multipacks are used to for storing and delivering multiple boxes containing products at once, and multipacks are sometimes also sold to the end customer, in order to allow for bulking up on a desired product. What has mainly been done in the past and present, is to use large quantities of plastic material to form multipacks. Several boxes of products are stapled and are then wrapped (often fully wrapped) with a plastic wrapper material. Naturally, this generates large quantities of plastic waste. Plastic waste pollution is a key factor in changing habitats and natural processes, reducing ecosystems' ability to adapt to climate change, and in turn directly affecting millions of people's livelihoods, food production capabilities and social well-being. Encouraging advances in dealing with plastic waste have led to the development of increasing the amount of plastic waste that is recycled. However, the majority of plastic waste is not recycled, and the process of recycling plastic waste is costly and does not fare well economically. There is, hence, a need for improvements in terms of packaging technology and, in particular, in the present context a need for improvements regarding multipack packaging. The present disclosure, hence, aims at providing new technologies that address at least one of the above-mentioned shortcomings. Summary Aspects of the above-mentioned object are achieved by a packaging apparatus for packaging two or more boxes, such as boxes of facial tissue paper, to form a multipack in accordance with the present disclosure. A packaging apparatus in accordance with the present disclosure may comprise a box supply device for supplying at least a first box and a second box and a wrapping material supplying device for supplying a wrapping material, such as paper. The versatility in terms of possible choices of wrapping material, and the possibility to use paper in particular, may allow avoiding large amounts of undesirable waste and, in particular, of plastic waste. The packaging apparatus may comprise an adhesive application device that is configured to apply adhesive to a gluing location on at least one of a first surface of the first box, a first surface of the second box, and one or several locations on a piece of wrapping material. The adhesive application device may comprise at least one glue gun for applying adhesive at a location on the first box and / or a location on the second box, at which the first box and the second box will be brought into contact with one another, in order to adhere to one another. The at least one glue gun may be used to provide pressure sensitive adhesive at a location that will be positioned between two boxes of a multipack of boxes. According to some aspects, the adhesive application device may apply adhesive only to one location of the first surface of the first box. According to other aspects, the adhesive application device may apply adhesive to two or more locations of the first surface of the first box. Alternatively, or in addition thereto, the adhesive application device may apply adhesive only to one location of the first surface of the second box. According to other aspects, the adhesive application device may apply adhesive to two or more locations of the first surface of the second box. Alternatively, or in addition thereto, the adhesive application device may apply adhesive to one or several locations on a piece of wrapping material. Alternatively thereto or in addition thereto, a heat seal varnish may be provided on the wrapping material. Heat seal varnish may, for example, be provided on the wrapping material in the form of a glue stripe. The number of locations, to which adhesive is applied, may be optimized for a particular application of this disclosure. This may allow balancing the minimization of adhesive used, to further promote environment friendliness of the packaging, with providing sufficient packaging stability for a desired application. The packaging apparatus may comprises a wrapping device that is configured to at least partially wrap the piece of wrapping material around the first box and the second box. In other words, the wrapping device may be configured to fully wrap the wrapping material around the first box and the second box. That is, it may be configured to establish a full loop of wrapping material. It may be a full or a partial wrapping. A full loop of wrapping material, but a partial coverage of the first and second boxes is an example of what is referred to here as a partial wrapping. For example, the full loop may extend along a set of surfaces, while other surfaces (for example, surfaces perpendicular to an extension direction of the parts of wrapped wrapping material) may stay exposed without wrapping material. Alternatively, the wrapping device may be configured to only partially the wrap the wrapping material, so that not a full loop is formed. The wrapping device is configured to establish a contact between the piece of wrapping material and the first box and the second box, respectively, with the at least one gluing location being located at a point of contact between: -the first surface of the first box and the piece ofwrapping material (wherein adhesive may have been placed on the first surface of the first box and / or on the piece of the wrapping material); or -between the first surface of the second box and the pieceof wrapping material (wherein adhesive may have been placed on the first surface of the second box and / or on the piece of the wrapping material); or -between a part of the piece of wrapping material and anoverlapping part of the piece of wrapping material, being placed on the first surface of the first box or the first surface of the second box (wherein adhesive may have been placed on the piece of wrapping material and / or on the overlapping piece of wrapping material). Several gluing locations may be located at more than one of the listed points of contact. The last of the mentioned points of contact with a gluing location relates to the case in which the wrapping material is placed to overlap itself and is glued together with itself. In this case, adhesive may be placed between the piece of the wrapping material and the overlapping piece of the wrapping material, to glue the overlapping parts together. The apparatus in accordance with the present disclosure may allow operation with desirable materials as wrapping materials. In particular, the apparatus may allow using wrapping materials that comprise or consist of partially or, optionally, even fully recyclable paper-based materials. The apparatus may offer the benefit of combining banding and sealing technology. Unlike common wrapping materials, paper materials that can be used with the apparatus may not include any PE based coating or lamination for sealing purposes. This may strongly promote environment friendliness. The wrapping materials may, e.g., provided with an adhesive layer comprising integrated heat-activatable adhesive (in particular, a heat seal varnish). The adhesive layer may be selectively provided, e.g., at one or several locations. In particular, the adhesive layer may be provided in the form of one or several glue strips. The presence of the adhesive layer (in particular, heat seal varnish) may allow avoiding additional adhesive application steps and may, in particular, allow gluing together the wrapping material layer with another component (e.g., with itself, that is, with an overlapping part of the wrapping material) by simply activating the adhesive in the adhesive layer. Moreover, paper material may have partial and very low grammages of heat seal varnish, thus reducing or eliminating negative effects on the paper recycling stream. The apparatus may allow efficiently switching back and forth between a wrapping format of packaging to a banding format of packaging. Multipack boxes may be produced using less material. This may further promote environment friendliness by further lowering waste. In addition, more sustainable material may be used, so that a great advantage over known full plastic wrappers may be achieved. Full packaging compositions may be considered as mono materials (paper) The adhesive application device may comprise a first nozzle that is configured to apply adhesive between a surface of the piece of wrapping material and the first surface of the first box and / or the first surface of the second box. The first nozzle may be tailored and positioned precisely in accordance with the desired gluing location. The adhesive application device may comprise a first nozzle that is configured to apply adhesive between a surface of the piece of wrapping material and the first surface of the first box and another first nozzle that is configured to apply adhesive between a surface of the piece of wrapping material and the first surface of the second box. The adhesive application device may comprise several first nozzles and / or several another first nozzles, to reach several respective locations. The wrapping device may be configured to wrap the piece of wrapping material around at least two surfaces of the first box and of the second box, respectively. Wrapping around two surfaces of the first box and around two surfaces of the second box may be sufficient to stably hold a multipack comprising the first and second boxes together. For example, a surface of the first box and a surface of the second box may face each other (and may even be congruent), while two further surfaces of teach of the boxes may be wrapped. In that case, only one surface of each of the two boxes may remain exposed (i.e. , free of wrapping material). This may promote saving even more material by keeping the amount of wrapping material used low. The wrapping of a surface may in this context be a partial wrapping of the surface. The wrapping device may be configured to wrap the piece of wrapping material around at least three surfaces of the first box and / or second box. This may promote the stability of the multipack. The wrapping device may be configured to wrap the piece of wrapping material around at least four surfaces of the first box and / or second box. This may further promote the stability of the multipack. The wrapping device may comprise at least one forming unit for forming the piece of wrapping material such that two surfaces of the piece of wrapping material are brought into contact with two neighboring surfaces of the first box and / or second box, wherein the two surfaces of the wrapping material optionally snugly span over an edge between the neighboring surfaces of the first box and / or second box. This way, the forming may be optimized and matched with other processing steps taken to prepare multipacks. The adhesive applying means may be configured to apply adhesive between facing surfaces of the first box and the second box. This may prevent slipping by increasing a bond stability between the first box and the second box. The adhesive applying means may comprise a second nozzle, for applying adhesive to a second surface of the first box and / or a second surface of the second box, respectively. The second nozzle may be a double nozzle. The second nozzle and first nozzle are positioned such that the second nozzle is in closer proximity to a passing box than the first nozzle. In other words, the second nozzle may be positioned closer to a box to which it applies adhesive than the first nozzle with respect to a box to which it applies adhesive. The packaging apparatus may comprise a box inclination means that is configured to incline the first box and / or the second box to expose opposing surfaces for applying adhesive by the adhesive applying means. This may allow for a precise control over the adhesive application process. One or both of the opposing surfaces may be exposed to one or several nozzles, respectively, by the box inclination means´ operation. A conveyor for conveying at least the first box and the second box. The boxes may be conveyed separately and / or by a common conveyance mechanism. The box inclination means may comprise at least one side guide for tilting a respective box conveyed along the side guide. This may promote an efficient exposure of a surface of the box for applying adhesive. The box inclination means may comprise two side guides for tilting a respective box (or more than one box) conveyed along the side guides. This may promote an efficient exposure of a surface of the box(es) for applying adhesive. The packaging apparatus may comprise a cutter for cutting the wrapping material into pieces of wrapping paper. This may allow preparing the pieces of wrapping paper needed for a particular wrapping application and may, hence, allow further saving material. The packaging apparatus may comprise a tension adjusting means for adjusting a tension of the wrapping material upstream of the cutter. Adjusting the tension may allow optimizing the packaging, both in terms of increasing the stability of the boxes on top of each other and of minimizing the use of packaging material. In particular, the adjustment of the tension may allow increasing the grip on a wrapping material, such as paper, without however overdoing it. In other words, the tension may be optimized for a particular packaging material. The tension adjusting means may comprise at least one guide plate for contacting the wrapping material and for bringing it into position on a surface of the first box and / or second box. The guide plate may in particular be provided such that it presses wrapping material against one or several boxes being packaged together from below. Two guide plates may press wrapping material laterally inwards from opposite sides and may then press the wrapping material against the bottom surfaces of boxes to be packaged together. The two guide plates may in a final position partially or fully overlap when pressing against the bottom surfaces of the boxes. The tension adjusting means may comprise a lever for adjusting a tension of the wrapping material, in order to position the wrapping material with respect to the boxes to be wrapped. By adjusting the lever, an operator may in particular adjust the amount of friction experienced by the wrapping material. The packaging apparatus may comprise an unwinding unit with a dedicated roll that may be configured to unnerve wrapping material in a direction opposite to the direction in which it is wound on a reel. This may allow for flattening a sheet of wrapping material. The packaging apparatus may comprise at least one lateral positioning unit that applies pressure to wrapping material placed against a side wall of at least one of two or more boxes to be packaged together once the wrapping material has been brought into place. The packaging apparatus may in particular comprise at least one pair of opposed lateral positioning units that are configured to apply pressure in opposite directions from lateral end surfaces of a set of boxes to be packaged. The opposed lateral positioning units may be a mirror pair in the sense that the pressure they apply may be opposite. The packaging apparatus may comprise a heating means for applying heat to a multipackage. This may allow hardening one or several types of adhesives that are present in the multipack. A multipack may comprise pressure sensitive adhesive between adjacent boxes that are in contact with one another in the multipack that was applied by glue guns. A multipack may comprise heat seal varnish that was provided in the form of glue stripes on the wrapping material and is used to stick wrapping material to one or several boxes. A multipack may comprise hot melt adhesive used when forming and closing skillets. The multipack may comprise two of or all three of these types of the mentioned adhesives. The heating means may comprise a groove plate for being brought into contact with the wrapping material when at least partially wrapped around the first box and the second box. The groove plate may comprise projections separated by air spaces, wherein a width of the projections may lie in a range of 3-20 mm, and a width of air spaces may lie a range of 3- 20 mm. The box supplying unit may be configured to supply a third box. In other words, the packaging apparatus may, for example, be configured to form multipacks of three boxes. The packaging apparatus may be configured to supply more than three boxes and may be configured to form multipacks of more than three boxes. For example, it may be configured to form multipacks of four boxes, or of five boxes. Alternatively, the number of boxed forming a multipack may be higher. The packaging apparatus may be configured to form multipacks comprising at least the first box, the second box, and the third box. There may be adhesive regions between the first box and the second box, between the second box and the third box, and between the second box and the piece of wrapping material. The second box may be placed between the first box and the third box. This configuration of applying adhesive may promote a particularly stable multipack of boxes, wherein the use of adhesive and / or of packaging material may be optimized and be kept to a minimum while promoting high stability. The adhesive that is applied may be partially or fully biodegradable. This may further promote environment friendliness. Two or more different adhesives may be applied to one or several locations, respectively. Each of the adhesives may be partially or fully biodegradable. In particular, the entire packaging provided by embodiments of the method in accordance with the present disclosure may be partially or fully, in particular fully, biodegradable. The adhesive application device may comprise a holt melt adhesive application unit for applying holt melt adhesive to a multipack, for closing and sealing. The present disclosure also relates to a method of packaging two or more boxes, such as boxes of facial tissue paper, to form a multipack. The method may comprise supplying at least a first box and a second box, supplying a wrapping material, such as a packaging paper material, and applying adhesive to a gluing location on at least one of a first surface of the first box, a first surface of the second box, and one or several locations on a piece of wrapping material. The versatility in terms of possible choices of wrapping material, and the possibility to use paper in particular, may allow avoiding large amounts of undesirable waste and, in particular, of plastic waste. In particular, paper may be used as the wrapping material. The number of locations, to which adhesive is applied, may be optimized for a particular application of this disclosure. This may allow balancing the minimization of adhesive used, to further promote environment friendliness of the packaging, with providing sufficient packaging stability for a desired application. The method may comprise at least partially wrapping the piece of wrapping material around the first box and the second box and to establish a contact between the piece of wrapping paper and the first box and the second box, respectively. The wrapping material may, hence, for example, be fully wrapped around the first box and the second box. That is, it may be configured to establish a full loop of wrapping material. However, it may be a full or a partial wrapping. A full loop of wrapping material, but a partial coverage of the first and second boxes is an example of what is referred to here as a partial wrapping. For example, the full loop may extend along a set of surfaces, while other surfaces (for example, surfaces perpendicular to an extension direction of the parts of wrapped wrapping material) may stay exposed without wrapping material. Alternatively, the wrapping may be performed to only partially the wrap the wrapping material, so that not a full loop is formed. The at least one gluing location may be located at a point of contact between the first surface of the first box and the piece of wrapping material, between the first surface of the second box and the piece of wrapping material, or between a part of the piece of wrapping material and an overlapping part of the piece of wrapping material being placed on the first surface of the first box or the first surface of the second box. Adhesive may be placed on the first surface of the first box and / or on the piece of the wrapping material. The adhesive placed on the first surface of the first box may, in particular, be pressure sensitive adhesive. Pressure sensitive adhesive may be placed on the piece of the wrapping material. Alternatively or additionally, heat seal varnish may be (or may have been) provided on the wrapping material. Adhesive may be placed on the first surface of the second box and / or on the piece of the wrapping material. The adhesive placed on the first surface of the second box may, in particular, be pressure sensitive adhesive. Pressure sensitive adhesive may be placed on the piece of the wrapping material. Alternatively or additionally, heat seal varnish may be (or may have been) provided on the wrapping material. Adhesive may be placed on the piece of wrapping material and / or on the overlapping piece of wrapping material. Pressure sensitive adhesive may be placed on the piece of the wrapping material. Alternatively or additionally, heat seal varnish may be (or may have been) provided on the wrapping material. Several gluing locations may be located at more than one of the listed points of contact. The last of the mentioned points of contact with a gluing location relates to the case in which the wrapping material is placed to overlap itself and is glued together with itself. In this case, adhesive may be placed between the piece of the wrapping material and the overlapping piece of the wrapping material, to glue the overlapping parts together. Alternatively or in addition thereto, the wrapping material may have been coated with a heat seal varnish in at least part of (or in the whole) of the area that is to become overlapping material. The method in accordance with the present disclosure may allow operation with desirable materials as wrapping materials. In particular, the method may involve the use of wrapping materials that comprise or consist of partially or, optionally, even fully recyclable paper-based materials. The method may offer the benefit of combining banding and sealing technology. Unlike conventional polymer wrapping films, paper materials that can be used with the apparatus may not include any PE based coating or lamination for sealing purposes. This is beneficial for recycling and thus environmental friendliness. Moreover, paper material may have partial and very low grammages of heat seal varnish, which has a minimal to negligible impact on the paper recycling stream. The method may allow efficiently switching back and forth between a wrapping format of packaging to a banding format of packaging. The supplied wrapping material may be at least selectively provided with an adhesive layer comprising an integrated adhesive that is activatable by heat. The wrapping material may comprise one zone or two or more separate separated zones where an adhesive layer is provided. The one or several zones with adhesive layers may be stripe-shaped, e.g., they may be glue stripes. The method comprise attaching a part of the wrapping material provided with the adhesive layer and an overlapping part of the wrapping material to one another by activating the integrated adhesive of the adhesive layer. The activation may be done by applying heat. Using the wrapping material with a selective provision of an adhesive layer may allow avoiding to provide adhesive to the wrapping material, i.e., a part of the wrapping material and an overlapping part of the material may be glued together without requiring an additional adhesive application step. Thus, the method may be more efficient. The integrated adhesive of the selectively present adhesive layer may be partially or fully biodegradable. This may further promote environment friendliness. Multipack boxes may be produced using less material. This may further promote environment friendliness by further lowering waste. In addition, more sustainable material may be used, so that a great advantage over known full plastic wrappers may be achieved. Full packaging compositions may be considered as mono materials (paper) The method may comprise wrapping the piece of wrapping material around at least two surfaces of the first box. The method may comprise wrapping the piece of wrapping material around at least two surfaces of the second box. The method may comprise wrapping the piece of wrapping material around at least three surfaces of the first box. The method may comprise wrapping the piece of wrapping material around at least three surfaces of the second box. The method may comprise wrapping the piece of wrapping material around at least four or more surfaces of the first box. The method may comprise wrapping the piece of wrapping material around at least four or more surfaces of the second box. The method may comprise forming the piece of wrapping material such that two surfaces of the piece of wrapping material are in contact with two neighboring surface of the first box and / or second box and may snugly fit over an edge between the neighboring surfaces of the respective box. Adhesive may be applied between facing surfaces of the first box and the second box. The adhesive may be a pressure sensitive adhesive. Adhesive may be applied to a second surface of the first box and / or a second surface of the second box. The adhesive may be a pressure sensitive adhesive. Adhesive may be applied to one or several locations between facing surfaces of the first box and the second box using a nozzle located closer to the first and / second box than another nozzle that is used to apply adhesive to at least one of the wrapping material, the first surface of the first box, and the first surface of the second box. The adhesive may be a pressure sensitive adhesive. The method may comprise inclining the first box and / or the second box and exposing opposing surfaces for applying adhesive. At least one of the opposing surfaces may be exposed to a nozzle. Both of the opposing surfaces may be exposed to a nozzle. The method may comprise conveying the first box and / or the second box. The first box and / or the second box may be tilted by a side guide. The first box may be tilted by a first side guide, and the second box may be tilted by a second side guide. Alternatively, the first box and the second box may be tilted by a common side guide. The first box may be tilted upon being conveyed by the tilting side guide. The second box may be tilted upon being conveyed by the tilting side guide. The method may comprise cutting the wrapping material into pieces of wrapping paper. This may allow preparing the pieces of wrapping paper needed for a particular wrapping application and may, hence, allow further saving material. The method may comprise adjusting tension of the wrapping material being supplied to a cutter upstream of the cutter. Adjusting the tension may allow optimizing the packaging, in terms of positioning the wrapping material with respect to one or several boxes to be wrapped, increasing the stability of the packaging, and of minimizing the use of packaging material. In particular, the adjustment of the tension may allow increasing the grip on a wrapping material, such as paper, without however overdoing it. In other words, the tension may be optimized for a particular packaging material. The method may comprise applying heat to a multipackage after the adhesive has been applied. This may accelerate the wrapping process and may promote good bonding reliability. The heating means may comprise a groove plate. The groove plate may be brought into contact with the wrapping material when at least partially wrapped around the first box and the second box. The groove plate may be provided with a resistor that may heat up the groove plate. The sealer may seal the wrapping material wrap in a specific position corresponding to where coating adhesive is provided. The groove plate may comprise projections separated by air spaces. A width of the projections may be in a range of 3-20 mm. A width of air spaces may be in a range of 3-20 mm. The method may comprise supplying a third box. Multipacks comprising at least the first box, the second box, and the third box may be formed by wrapping. Adhesive regions may, for example, be provided between the first box and the second box, between the second box and the third box, and between the second box and the piece of wrapping material. The adhesive (or one of several adhesives) to be applied may be a silicon adhesive. Adhesive may be applied on a perforated part of an outside wall of the box that is opened along its perforation. The adhesive strength may be optimized for a particular application. In particular, a tackiness of the adhesive (or one of several adhesives) may be selected such that the perforation of a box is opened automatically when unwrapping the multipack, due to the choice of the location of the adhesive on the perforated part of the outside wall of the box. In other words, the opening may thus be even more convenient for a user. The tackiness of the adhesive to be applied may be selected such that boxes are stably held together, but such that boxes are not torn open when a user separates the boxes. In particular, a gluing location may be provided at a part of a box that is then torn open, in order to expose the content of the box, but the adhesive may be selected such that the separating of the boxes can be effected without also tearing open a box. In other words, the tackiness of an adhesive to be applied may be selected such that a lower force is needed to separate boxes than to tear open a box and access its content. Moreover, the tackiness of the adhesive may be selected such that a design of the box at the part where adhesive had been present prior to separating boxes remains partially or entirely unaffected by the separating of the boxes. This disclosure also relates to a multipack of boxes packaged by the method in accordance with any one of the preceding features or combination of features (in so far compatible). This disclosure also relates to a multipack of boxes, comprising at least two boxes with opposing matching faces in contact with each other and comprising a wrapping material band wrapped around at least two surfaces of each of the at least two boxes each, the packaging being held together by the wrapping material band, wherein at least one adhesive region is present between a first surface of the first box and the wrapping material, between a first surface of the second box and the wrapping material, and between one layer of the wrapping material band and another layer of the wrapping material band overlapping the one layer of wrapping material band on a surface of the first box and / or second box. The multipack may comprise at least two boxes wrapped together by the wrapping material band, with a first adhesive region between a second surface of the first box and a second surface of the second box, and a second adhesive region between the first surface of the first box and the wrapping material band. The multipack may comprise three boxes wrapped together by the wrapping material band and comprising a third adhesive region between the first surface of the second box and the wrapping material band. The wrapping material may be paper. In particular, the wrapping material may be a plastic-free paper. This may particularly promote environment-friendliness. The wrapping material may be a paper with a heat seal coating. and it may, e.g., be provided in the form of stripes. The heat seal coatings may thermoplastic coatings used as adhesives to seal one substrate to another. The heat seal varnish may Additional advantages and features of the present disclosure, that can be realized on their own or in combination with one or several features discussed above, insofar as the features do not contradict each other, will become apparent from the following description of particular embodiments. Brief Description of the Drawings For a better understanding of the present disclosure and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings, in which: The description is given with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a part of a packagingapparatus that conveys boxes and applies an adhesive;Fig. 2 is a top view of a part of a packaging apparatusthat conveys boxes and applies an adhesive;Fig. 3 is a side view of a part of a packaging apparatusthat supplies a wrapping material;Fig. 4 is a side view of a packaging apparatus;Fig. 5 is an enlarged side view of an unwinding unit of apackaging apparatus for unwinding wrapping paper; Fig. 6A depicts a roll of wrapping material being cut into pieces of wrapping material for individual multipacks of boxes; Fig. 6B depicts two boxes and a piece of wrapping paper to be wrapped around the boxes; Fig. 6C depicts two boxes with a piece of wrapping material wrapped around them; Fig. 7A depicts two boxes to be formed into a two box multipack and gluing locations; Fig. 7B depicts three boxes to be formed into a three box multipack and gluing locations;Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a lateral positioning unit(overhead finger) of a packaging apparatus; Fig. 9A is a front perspective view of a groove plate of a heating unit of a packaging apparatus; Fig. 9B is a back perspective view of a groove plate of a heating unit of a packaging apparatus; and Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a groove plate of a heating unit of a packaging apparatus. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a part of a packaging apparatus 1 that conveys boxes to be packed together to form multipacks. The packaging apparatus 1, to which Fig. 1 relates, packages two or three boxes of facial tissue paper using paper as a packing material, to form multipacks of facial tissue boxes. Boxes are supplied from the bottom left-hand side in the perspective view of Fig. 1. They are then guided by the conveyor guides 10. The conveyer guides 10 or an example of a box supply device in the sense that the boxes are supplied to the conveyer guides 10 and the conveyer guides 10 supply the boxes to an adhesive application section. Two side guides 11 and 12 tilt one box each when the boxes are conveyed along the side guides 11 and 12. When two boxes are packed, the two boxes are, hence, both tilted. Opposing surfaces of the two boxes are thereby exposed, allowing for glue to be provided there-between, When three boxes are tilted, the middle box are in the case of this exemplary apparatus is not tilted, but the two outer boxes are tilted. The packaging apparatus 1 comprises an adhesive application unit 20 comprising a double nozzle 21 that applies glue between facial tissue boxes and a single nozzle 22 that applies glue between the facial tissue boxes and paper wrapping material to be wrapped around the boxes to form a multipack. The double nozzle 21 is positioned in closer proximity to passing boxes than the single nozzle 22. The double nozzles 21 provide glue to opposing surfaces between the boxes that are then brought together to adhere to one another, whereas the single nozzle 22 provides glue to an outside surface of the boxes that is then brought into contact with the paper wrapping material. The packaging apparatus 1 uses a glue with low tackiness that is suitable to hold boxes together and hold the wrapping material wrapped around the boxes in a multipack but that offers only a small resistance so that a customer can conveniently open the multipack, remove the wrapping paper and pull boxes apart. Fig. 2 is a top view of a part of the packaging apparatus 1 that conveys boxes and applies glue. The top view shows the position of the double nozzle 21 at the end of the zone where the conveyors 10 arrive, as well as the position of the single nozzle 22. Fig. 2 shows the same components as Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side view of a part of the packaging apparatus 1 that supplies packaging material. In the case of this exemplary apparatus, the wrapping material is paper that is free of plastic. In particular, Fig. 3 depicts a lever 5 for adjusting the tension of wrapping paper being delivered to the gluing locations is prominently visible. The lever 5 is part of the tension adjusting means of the discussed packaging apparatus 1. The lever 5 allows adjusting the grip of the belts conveying the wrapping paper. This may improve the reliability of the packaging and may promote more reliably forming multipacks that secure the boxes. Fig. 4 is a front view of a part of the packaging apparatus 1 comprising the lever 5 for tensioning the paper wrapping material. Fig. 5 depicts an unwinding unitof the packaging apparatus 1 that is positioned adjacent to gluing nozzles. The unwinding unit 80 comprises three guiding rolls 81, 82, and 83 that aide to ensure that the wrapping material 30 is unwound without generating waves and / or creases, i.e., the unwinding unit 80 is for ensuring that the wrapping material 30 is supplied straight. Fig. 6A illustrates how paper wrapping material is being cut into pieces of wrapping material 30 by a cutter (not shown) forming part of the packaging apparatus 1. The packaging apparatus 1 comprises a wrapping device (not shown) that wraps the piece of wrapping material 30 around boxes of facial tissue paper. In the case of Fig. 6B, the piece of wrapping material 30 is wrapped around a first box 31 and a second box 32 to form a multipack comprising two boxes. Fig. 6C shows the wrapped state in which the piece of wrapping material is wrapped around at least two surfaces of each of the two boxes 31 and 32. Specifically, the piece of wrapping material 30 in the illustrated case forms a full loop, covering a top surface 40, a first side surface 41, and a second side surface 42, as well as a bottom surface (not shown). The piece of wrapping material 30 does not fully cover each of the surfaces. In other words, a part of the surfaces of the boxes remains exposed. This may allow to further save wrapping material and, hence, promote environment friendliness by minimizing waste. Fig. 7A shows the first box 31 and the second box 32 (to be formed into a multipack comprising two boxes) as well as a gluing location 50 between the first box 31 and the second box 32 and a gluing location 51 that is to be located between the second box 32 and a piece of wrapping material. Fig. 7B shows the first box 31, a second box 32, and a third box 33 (to be formed into a multipack with three boxes) as well as a gluing location 50 between the first box 31 and the second box 32, a gluing location 51 that is to be located between the second box 32 and a piece of wrapping material, and a gluing location 52 between the second box 32 and the third box 33. The gluing locations 50 and 52 are, in other words, between facing surfaces of the first box 31 and the second box 32 and between facing surfaces of the second box 32 and the third box 33. Fig. 8 shows a lateral positioning unit 70 of an embodiment of the packaging apparatus 1 in accordance with the present disclosure. The lateral positioning unit 70 may also be referred to as an overhead finger. It is configured to press against a side wall of at least one of two or more boxes to be packaged together once the wrapping material has been brought into the wrapping position. The lateral positioning unit 70 thus holds the wrapping material in place. This may, e.g., allow adhesive to dry and the position to be firmly held during the process. In particular, the lateral positioning unit 70 of Fig. 8 comprises a pressing surface 71 that is brought into contact with a side surface of at least one box, and, in particular, with the packaging material that covers said side surface. The lateral positioning units may in particular be provided in the form of opposing pairs, wherein the further lateral positioning unit may be a mirror image of the lateral positioning unit 70 of Fig. 8 Figs. 9A is a perspective view of a groove plate 60, provided with an air system (shown by the two opening on the side), as a part of a heating unit for heating wrapping materials with a large surface. The grooved part of the groove plate 60, and in particular the projections 61 separated by the grooves 62, may be brought into contact with a surface of wrapping material, heat the wrapping material, and thereby, e.g., activate adhesive that is provided in or on the wrapping material (e.g., in the form of a glue stripe). The projections 61 may, e.g., have a width in a range of from 3 mm to 20 mm. The width of the grooves 62 (the air spaces between the projections 62) may be in a range of from 3 mm to 20 mm Fig. 9B is a perspective view of the groove plate 60 of Fig. 9A from a different angle, exposing the backside 62 of the groove plate 60, in particular. The groove plates 60 for heating larger surfaces are especially useful for wrapping materials other than plastic, such as the ones comprising or consisting of paper. Fig. 10 is a perspective view of an alternative groove plate 60A as a part of e heating unit, again provided with an air system. . In comparison to the groove plate 60 of Figs. 9A and 9B, the groove plate 60A of Figs. 10 is for heating a smaller surface. The projections 61A of the groove plate 60A of Fig. 10 may have a width in a range of from 3 mm to 20 mm. The projections 61A are separated by grooves 62A (air spaces), wherein the grooves 62A may have a width in a range of from 3 mm to 20 mm. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the disclosed devices and systems without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Other aspects of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the features disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only. Many additional variations and modifications are possible and are understood to fall within the framework of the disclosure.

Claims

Claims1. A packaging apparatus for packaging two or more boxes,such as boxes of facial tissue paper, to form a multipack, the packing apparatus comprising: a box supply device for supplying at least a first box and a second box; a wrapping material supplying device for supplying a wrapping material, such as paper; an adhesive application device that is configured to apply adhesive to a gluing location on at least one of a first surface of the first box, a first surface of the second box, and one or several locations on a piece of wrapping material; a wrapping device that is configured to at least partially wrap the piece of wrapping material around the first box and the second box and to establish a contact between the piece of wrapping material and the first box and the second box, respectively, with the at least one gluing location being located at a point of contact between the first surface of the first box and the piece of wrapping material, between the first surface of the second box and the piece of wrapping material, or between a part of the piece of wrapping material and an overlapping part of the piece of wrapping material being placed on the first surface of the first box or the first surface of the second box.

2. The packaging apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adhesive application device comprises a first nozzle that is configured to apply adhesive between a surface of the piece of wrapping material and the first surface of the first box and / or the first surface of the second box.

3. The packaging apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the wrapping device is configured to wrap the piece ofwrapping material around at least two surfaces of the first box and of the second box, respectively, optionally, around at least three or four surfaces of the first box and / or second box.

4. The packaging apparatus of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the wrapping device comprises at least one forming unit for forming the piece of wrapping material such that two surfaces of the piece of wrapping material are in contact with two neighboring surfaces of the first box and / or second box, wherein the two surfaces of the wrapping material optionally snugly span over an edge between the neighboring surfaces of the first box and / or second box.

5. The packaging apparatus of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the adhesive applying means is configured to apply adhesive between facing surfaces of the first box and the second box, the adhesive applying means optionally comprising a second nozzle, optionally a double nozzle, for applying adhesive to a second surface of the first box and / or a second surface of the second box, respectively, wherein the second nozzle, optionally the double nozzle, and the first nozzle are positioned such that the second nozzle, optionally the double nozzle, are in closer proximity to a passing box than the first nozzle.

6. The packaging apparatus of any one of the preceding claims, comprising a box inclination means that is configured to incline the first box and / or the second box to expose opposing surfaces for applying adhesive by the adhesive applying means, optionally exposing at least one of the opposing surfaces to a nozzle.

7. The packaging apparatus of claim 6, comprising a conveyor for conveying at least the first box and the second box,wherein the box inclination means comprises at least one side guide, optionally two side guides for tilting a respective box conveyed along the side guide.

8. The packaging apparatus of any one of the preceding claims, comprising a cutter for cutting the wrapping material into pieces of wrapping paper.

9. The packaging apparatus of claim 8, comprising a tension adjusting means for adjusting a tension of the wrapping material upstream of the cutter.

10. The packaging apparatus of claim 9, wherein the tension adjusting means comprises a lever for adjusting the tension of the wrapping material and / or at least one roller with an outer rubber layer.

11. The packaging apparatus of any one of the preceding claims, comprising a heating means for applying heat to a multipackage after the adhesive has been applied, the heating means optionally comprising a groove plate for being brought into contact with the wrapping material when at least partially wrapped around the first box and the second box, the groove plate comprising projections separated by air spaces, a width of the projections optionally in a range of 3-20 mm, and a width of air spaces optionally in a range of 3-20 mm.

12. The packaging apparatus of any one of the preceding claims, the box supplying unit configured to supply a third box, wherein the packaging apparatus is configured to form multipacks comprising at least the first box, the second box, and the third box, with adhesive regions between the first box and the second box, between the second box and the third box, and between the second boxand the piece of wrapping material.

13. A method of packaging two or more boxes, such as boxes of facial tissue paper, to form a multipack, the method comprising: supplying at least a first box and a second box; supplying a wrapping material, such as a packaging paper material; applying adhesive to a gluing location on at least one of a first surface of the first box, a first surface of the second box, and one or several locations on a piece of wrapping material; at least partially wrapping the piece of wrapping material around the first box and the second box and to establish a contact between the piece of wrapping paper and the first box and the second box, respectively, with the at least one gluing location being located at a point of contact between the first surface of the first box and the piece of wrapping material, between the first surface of the second box and the piece of wrapping material, or between a part of the piece of wrapping material and an overlapping part of the piece of wrapping material being placed on the first surface of the first box or the first surface of the second box.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising wrapping the piece of wrapping material around at least two surfaces of the first box and of the second box, respectively, optionally, around at least three or four surfaces of the first box and / or second box.

15. The method of claim 13 or 14, comprising forming the piece of wrapping material such that two surfaces of the piece of wrapping material are in contact with two neighboring surfaces of the first box and / or second box, wherein the two surfaces of the wrapping material optionally snugly span over an edge between the neighboring surfaces of thefirst box and / or second box.

16. The method of any one of claims 13-15, wherein adhesive is applied between facing surfaces of the first box and the second box, wherein adhesive is optionally applied to a second surface of the first box and / or a second surface of the second box, wherein adhesive is optionally applied to between facing surfaces of the first box and the second box using a nozzle located closer to the first and / second box than another nozzle that is used to apply adhesive to at least one of the wrapping material, the first surface of the first box, and the first surface of the second box.

17. The method of any one of claims 13-16, wherein the supplied wrapping material is at least selectively provided with an adhesive layer comprising an integrated adhesive that is activatable by heat, and wherein a part of the wrapping material provided with the adhesive layer and an overlapping part of the wrapping material are attached to one another by activating the integrated adhesive of the adhesive layer.

18. The method of any one of claims 13-17, comprising inclining the first box and / or the second box and exposing opposing surfaces for applying adhesive, optionally exposing at least one of the opposing surfaces to a nozzle.

19. The method of any one of claims 13-18, comprising conveying the first box and the second box, wherein the first box and / or the second box is tilted by a side guide, optionally a respective side guide, upon conveying the respective box along the side guide.

20. The method of any one of claims 13-19, comprising cuttingthe wrapping material into pieces of wrapping paper.

21. The method of claim 20, comprising adjusting tension of the wrapping material being supplied to a cutter upstream of the cutter.

22. The method of any one of claims 13-21, comprising applying heat to a multipackage after the adhesive has been applied, optionally comprising bringing a groove plate into contact with the wrapping material when at least partially wrapped around the first box and the second box, the groove plate comprising projections separated by air spaces, a width of the projections optionally in a range of 3-20 mm, and a width of air spaces optionally in a range of 3-20 mm.

23. The method of any one of claims 13-22, comprising supplying a third box, wherein multipacks comprising at least the first box, the second box, and the third box are formed, with adhesive regions between the first box and the second box, between the second box and the third box, and between the second box and the piece of wrapping material.

24. The method of any one of claims 13-23, wherein adhesive is applied on a perforated part of an outside wall of the box that is opened along its perforation.

25. A multipack of boxes packaged by the method of any one of claims 13-24.

26. A multipack of boxes, comprising at least two boxes with opposing matching faces in contact with each other and comprising a wrapping material band wrapped around at least two surfaces of each of the at least two boxes each, the packaging being held together by the wrapping materialband, wherein at least one adhesive region is present between a first surface of the first box and the wrapping material, between a first surface of the second box and the wrapping material, and between one layer of the wrapping material band and another layer of the wrapping material band overlapping the one layer of wrapping material band on a surface of the first box and / or second box.

27. The multipack of claim 26, the multipack comprising at least two boxes wrapped together by the wrapping material band, with a first adhesive region between a second surface of the first box and a second surface of the second box, and a second adhesive region between the first surface of the first box and the wrapping material band.

28. The multipack of claim 27, comprising three boxes wrapped together by the wrapping material band and comprising a third adhesive region between the first surface of the second box and the wrapping material band.

29. The multipack of any one of claims 25-28, wherein the wrapping material is a paper, optionally a plastic-free paper.

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