Ice Cream Lids
Description
The manufacture of ice cream lids basically follows the same procedure as described for spiral wound can bodies. First of all a tube is spiral-wound and then cut with an in-line cutting unit into approx. 0.5 m long pieces. The sleeve is then fed to an off-line cutting unit and cut into short rings with a length of approx. 20 to 25 mm.
These rings are fed via conveyor belt to the lid forming machine. In the lid-forming machine a cardboard disk is glued with hot glue, the upper edge is flanged to the inside and then a groove is formed on the circumference of the lid. The groove prevents the lid from sliding off the ice cream container.
Process Diagram
Unreeling and Glueing
The unreeling operation consists, according to application, of several suspensions for paper coils, guide rollers for the removed paper web with loop control for the web tension as well as adhesive appliances (glue pods), which apply glue onto the paper so that later on the layers can be securely glued together within the spiral winder.
Spiral Winding
The spiral winder strips a paper web from the coils and forms an endless spiral-wound tube.
Cutting (Tubes)
The core leaves the spiral winder as an endless tube. Using an inline cutting unit directly linked to the spiral winder, the core is cut with a flying knife into approx. 500 mm long individual tubes which are then fed to the ring dividing machine.
Cutting (Rings)
The spiral-wound tubes are automatically fed to an offline recutter - the ring dividing machine - which cuts it into short segments (rings of approx. 18 to 25 mm). The skirt of the ice cream lid is formed by these stable rings.
The rings are fed to the lid forming machine via transport belts.
Assembly and Glueing
In the lid forming machine, a deep drawn carboard cup is inserted into the spiral-wound ring and joined to it by means of hot glue.
The top edge of the ring is curled inwards to increase the stiffness of the lid and to protect the paper cut edges.
A circumferential bead is inserted into the ring to prevent the lid from slipping off the ice cream cup.