Ammo Box Filling Tool for Card Stock Packaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medium and small ammunition manufacturers face challenges with high costs and inefficiencies due to the need for expensive automated box filling equipment and larger, more costly packaging, which also increases storage and shipping costs.
Innovation Solution
The development of an improved ammunition box filling tool apparatus featuring sectioned compartments and a perimeter wall that allows for efficient loading of 'non-tray' card stock boxes, reducing the need for expensive automated equipment and minimizing packaging size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If automated box filling equipment is used, then filling efficiency and consistency are improved, but equipment cost and packaging cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a simple, inexpensive manual filling tool with a base and multiple fingers instead of expensive automated equipment. The tool is designed to be affordable for medium and small manufacturers, sacrificing the high productivity of automated systems but eliminating the need for costly equipment investment.
Solution Approach 2:
The filling tool is designed to be self-contained and manually operated, requiring no external power source or complex control systems. The fingers automatically position ammunition rounds as the box is placed over the tool and flipped, eliminating the need for motorized positioning mechanisms.
2Manufacturing precision
If larger packaging with trays is used, then ammunition positioning consistency is improved, but storage space and shipping cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a simple cardstock box without rigid plastic or styrofoam trays. The box itself is flexible and foldable, eliminating the need for bulky protective trays while still providing sufficient positioning through the filling tool's finger mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent removes the tray component entirely from the packaging system. Instead of using a tray-to-box assembly, the invention extracts only the essential positioning function and integrates it into a simple cardstock box with a manual filling tool.
3Stability of the object's composition
If plastic or styrofoam trays are used, then ammunition stability during shipping is improved, but packaging cost and environmental impact worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from rigid plastic/styrofoam to flexible cardstock. This material substitution reduces cost and environmental impact while maintaining stability through the mechanical design of the filling tool and box configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging system uses a composite approach combining a simple cardstock box with a structural filling tool made of rigid fingers. This combination provides the stability previously achieved only by expensive plastic trays, using inexpensive, easily manufactured materials.
Data Source
AI summary
An ammunition box filling tool apparatus and method for filling a pre-folded card stock box having an open top portion with a plurality of units of ammunition is disclosed herein. The ammunition box filling tool apparatus includes a base portion, a perimeter wall extending upwardly from the base portion, a plurality of fingers extending upwardly from the base portion and surrounded by the perimeter wall, and a plurality of sectioned compartments defined one or more of the perimeter wall or the plurality of fingers. Each of the plurality of sectioned compartments is configured receive one of the plurality of units of ammunition. The method includes at least filling ammunition box filling tool apparatus with the plurality of units of ammunition, engaging the open top portion of the pre-folded card stock box with an upper edge of the perimeter wall and simultaneously flipping the two to transfer the ammunition.