A heat-shrinking furnace for forming bundles of products wrapped in a heat-shrinkable film and defining at least one channel for advancement of the bundles along an advancement direction, and including: an inlet fed by the bundle of products in succession one after the other, the products being tunnel-wrapped in a loose manner by the heat-shrinkable film to identify two lateral openings orthogonal to the advancement direction; an outlet for release of the bundles of products wrapped in a compact manner by the heat-shrinked film; a heater operating between the inlet and outlet for making heat-shrinking of the film on the products; and wherein in an intermediate position between the inlet and the outlet the furnace includes a mechanism for temporarily holding the heat-shrinkable film spaced apart from the products at the lateral openings during heat shrinking.

The present invention relates to a machine (8) for processing and/or packaging objects, said machine having an essentially horizontal conveying section (10) for conveying articles, packages, and/or packaging units, which conveying section (10) comprises a first horizontal conveying device (14) with at least one conveying means (15) for a first operating mode, which horizontal conveying device (14) can be replaced by a further horizontal conveying device (24) with at least one second conveying means (25) that is different from the first conveying means (15) in order to establish at least one further operating mode. The invention also relates to a method for modifying a conveying section (10) of a machine (8) for processing and/or packaging objects, wherein articles, packages, and/or packaging units are conveyed essentially horizontally on the conveying section (10) by means of a first horizontal conveying device (14) with at least one conveying means (15) in a first operating mode, and wherein at least one further operating mode is established by replacing the first horizontal conveying device (14) with a further horizontal conveying device (24) comprising at least one second conveying means (25) which is different from the first conveying means (15).

The present invention provides a packaging apparatus for in-line packaging wrapping of a foldable blank around a receiving load that is simultaneously dropped onto the loading space of the foldable blank. The packaging apparatus includes a support means adapted to receive a supply of one or more foldable blanks. The support means includes a support frame supported onto two or more parallel longitudinal rails positioned generally transversal to a direction of supply of foldable blanks. The apparatus further includes an article loading mechanism to load a group of articles onto a loading space defined onto the foldable blank received onto the support means. The apparatus furthermore includes an erecting mechanism having a plurality of generally spaced apart vertical lugs, positioned onto one or more sides of the support frame, and at a height lower than the height of longitudinal rails such that a vertically upward movement of the lugs engages and erects at least one side of the foldable blank around the articles already loaded onto the foldable blank.

The present invention provides a packaging apparatus for in-line packaging wrapping of a foldable blank around a receiving load that is simultaneously dropped onto the loading space of the foldable blank. The packaging apparatus includes a support means adapted to receive a supply of one or more foldable blanks. The support means includes a support frame supported onto two or more parallel longitudinal rails positioned generally transversal to a direction of supply of foldable blanks. The apparatus further includes an article loading mechanism to load a group of articles onto a loading space defined onto the foldable blank received onto the support means. The apparatus furthermore includes an erecting mechanism having a plurality of generally spaced apart vertical lugs, positioned onto one or more sides of the support frame, and at a height lower than the height of longitudinal rails such that a vertically upward movement of the lugs engages and erects at least one side of the foldable blank around the articles already loaded onto the foldable blank.

A carton for containing at least one article. The carton comprises at least one panel that can form an interior of the carton. The carton comprises at least one protection feature for protecting the articles from breakage. The article protection feature can comprise at least one feature in end flaps of the carton. The article protection feature can comprise an article protection flap foldably connected to the at least one panel. The article protection flap can be moveable between a first position and a second position wherein the article protection flap is folded relative to the at least one panel.

A carton for containing at least one article. The carton comprises at least one panel that can form an interior of the carton. The carton comprises at least one protection feature for protecting the articles from breakage. The article protection feature can comprise at least one feature in end flaps of the carton. The article protection feature can comprise an article protection flap foldably connected to the at least one panel. The article protection flap can be moveable between a first position and a second position wherein the article protection flap is folded relative to the at least one panel.

The invention comprises a method and a device for changing removable carrier units (8a, 8b) with flat packaging material (10) wound on supply rolls (9), in particular, packaging film (11) within a packaging machine (3), which is equipped with devices for at least partially wrapping piece goods, containers, article groups, etc., with flat packaging material (10). With the method removable carrier units (8a, 8b) with new supply rolls (9) are fed in a series one after the other to a work area (AB) of a handling device (5), the work area (AB) of which extends into at least one position of the operating position of the removable carrier unit (8a, 8b) arranged in the packaging machine (3), which is equipped with a supply roll (9), so that it replaces removable carrier units (8a, 8b) located in the packaging machine (3) and used up supply rolls (9) with new removable carrier units (8a, 8b) with in each case a new supply roll (9). Here respective removable carrier units (8a, 8b) are inserted alternately in at least two different installation positions of the packaging machine (3) and its flat packaging material (10) is connected with the packaging material still located in the packaging machine (3).

A method of forming a carton. The method includes obtaining a blank having at least one panel and at least one article protection flap foldably connected to the at least one panel. The method includes positioning the at least one panel to at least partially form an interior space of the carton, loading at least one article in the interior space, and folding the at least one article protection flap relative to the at least one panel after the loading the at least one article. The folding includes moving the article protection flap from a first position that is substantially parallel to the at least one panel to a second position wherein the article protection flap is folded relative to the at least one panel.

The present invention concerns a bundle (1) of containers (3), in particular bottles, cans or the like, and a process for making such a bundle comprising a packaging film (2) wrapped around a set of containers (3). The film (2) defines a bottom portion (2a) for resting the containers (3), at least one pair of side opposite portions (2b) extending from the bottom portion (2a) for laterally engaging the containers (3) and a covering portion (2c) extending between the side portions (2b) from an opposite part with respect to the bottom portion (2a). The bundle (1) also comprises a handle (4) having a central portion (4a) arranged at the covering portion (2c) of the film (2) and a pair of opposite joining adhesive portions (4b), extending from the central portion (4a) each arranged at least at a respective side portion (2b) of the film (2). Each of the joining adhesive portions (4b) of the handle (4) engages the respective side portion (2b) of the packaging film (2) from the covering portion (2c) to the bottom portion (2a) and has a respective end (4c) that engages the bottom portion (2a) of the film (2).

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.