Manipulator for manipulating over-edges of a plastic film wrapped on containers for making a bundle of containers of the type including a vertical support rod provided with a motorization for rotating around own vertical axis. The rod supports a mechanism for stretching and drawing said over-edges alongside said containers; and a device for pressing the over-edges against the containers. The device for stretching and for drawing alongside and he device for pressing are arranged one above the other along the development of the vertical support rod.

A carton for containing at least one article. The carton includes a plurality of panels at least partially forming an interior of the carton. The plurality of panels includes a top panel. The carton includes an article protection flap foldably connected to at least one panel of the plurality of panels. The article protection flap is moveable between a first position that is substantially parallel to the top panel and a second position wherein the article protection flap is folded relative to the top panel. The at least one access feature in the top panel is for positioning the article protection flap from the first position to the second position.

A wrapping machine for wrapping groups of products (100) with an extensible plastic film (50) in order to form bundles (200), comprises first conveyor means (2) for supporting and moving a group of products (100) along an advancing direction (A) inside the wrapping machine (1), supporting means (3; 103) for receiving from the first conveyor means (2) and supporting the group of products (100), a wrapping unit (10) for wrapping a portion (51) of film (50) having a preset length around the group of products (100), supported by the supporting means (3; 103), in order to form a bundle (200), a supplying unit (30) of the film (50) to supply the wrapping unit (10) with the film portion (51) having a preset length, separated from the film (50) unwound from a respective reel (55); the supporting means (3; 103) include first gripping means (4; 104) arranged to hold an initial flap (51a) of the film portion (51) during the wrapping of the group of products (100); containment means (6; 60) are provided to abut at least sidewalls of the group of products (100) in order to support and guide said products (100) when moved along the advancing direction (A) through the wrapping unit (10) and/or to support and restrain the group of products (100) during the wrapping with the portion (51) of film (50).

Disclosed is a method for packaging articles (2). Outer packages (3) are moved by a first conveying device (10) and then by a second conveying device (20), which second conveying device (20) is located next to the first conveying device (10). Furthermore, articles (2) are inserted into an outer package (3), while the outer package (3) is located on the first conveyor (10) and/or the second conveyor (20). The outer packages (3) are received on the first conveyor (10) by format parts (5) and, together with their respective format part (5), are transferred to the second conveyor (20). The outer packages (3), which will be continuously arranged on the format parts until then, will be removed from the format parts (5) together with the inserted articles (2). The format parts (5) will then be returned to the first conveyor (10) for renewed seizure of outer packages (3).

A wraparound case includes a first blank component having no more than three panels including a closure panel, a first side panel and a second side panel and a second blank component includes a base panel portion having a first edge portion and a second edge portion, a third side panel, a fourth side panel, a first flap extending from the third side panel and a second flap extending from the fourth side panel. The first blank component and the second blank component are directly wrapable about a load with the third side panel being joinable to the first and second side panels and the first edge of the closure panel and the fourth side panel being joinable to the first and second side panels and the second edge of the closure panel. The first flap, the second flap and the base panel portion forming exactly one reclosable face.

A packaging system for the selection, grouping and loading of varying size and/or configuration product packs into cartons as provided. The packaging system includes a selection area having a primary selector for forming an initial product pack configuration, and a secondary selector adapted to select and direct an additional grouping of products into a nested arrangement against the initial product pack so as to form a nested product pack. The nested product packs thereafter can be engaged by loader arms of a pair of opposed loading assemblies, which move the nested product packs into a series of cartons moving through the packaging machine. Thereafter, the ends of the cartons can be closed and sealed to complete the packaging of the product packs therein.

This invention relates to processes for collation shrink packaging of one or more items with a thermally insulating film, to films for such processes, to packages so made, and to methods for extruding such films. The one or more items packaged may be cans, bottles, pouches and other carriers of liquid or solids.

A carton for containing at least one article. The carton includes a plurality of panels at least partially forming an interior of the carton. The plurality of panels includes a top panel. The carton includes an article protection flap foldably connected to at least one panel of the plurality of panels. The article protection flap is moveable between a first position that is substantially parallel to the top panel and a second position wherein the article protection flap is folded relative to the top panel. The at least one access feature in the top panel is for positioning the article protection flap from the first position to the second position.

A conveyor system for containers including a conveyor module configured to convey and meter a stream of containers, including a first star wheel configured to move a plurality of first containers along a first travel path, wherein the first containers each have a first geometric center, and wherein the first travel path is defined by the geometric center of the first containers, and a second star wheel configured to move a plurality of second containers along a second travel path, wherein the second containers each have a second geometric center, and wherein the second travel path is defined by the geometric center of the second containers.

An apparatus for shrinking a shrink film onto a package formation includes a shrink tunnel-system having gas conductors that direct hot gas into the tunnel's interior along first and second flow-directions that are opposite to each other and parallel to a direction in which the package formation is conveyed through the shrink tunnel.