EP0100143A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
A magazine for flat cartons, prefolded leaflets and the like
Assignee: RA Jones and Co Inc
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Filing: 1983-06-22
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2003-06-22
Abstract
Abstract An orbital feeder for flat folded cartons (15), feeds the cartons from a stationary magazine (20) to a continuously moving conveyor (11). The magazine has a choke at its discharge end formed from parallel guides (141,142) which are spaced apart a distance less than the distance between the two folded edges of the cartons. A rotary carrier (25) is located adjacent the magazine and the conveyor. A plurality of planetary members (26), with attached suction cups (36) are rotatably mounted on the carrier. A fixed cam (30) cooperates with cam followers (2a) mounted on the planetary members to cause the planetary members to rotate on their own axes as the carrier rotates to pick up cartons from the magazine, open them and deposit them gently between transport lugs (12,13) on the conveyor. The relatively simple feeder mechanism withdraws folded cartons from the magazine and deposits them erect on the conveyor quickly and efficiently.
Inventors
- 👤 Joseph Daniel Greenwell
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 05:59
CPC Classifications
B; B65; B65H; B65H3/00; B65H3/42; B31; B31B; B31B2100/00; B31B2120/00; B31B2120/30; B31B50/00; B31B50/02; B31B50/04; B31B50/06; B31B50/062; B31B50/74; B31B50/76; B31B50/80; B31B50/804; B65H2403/00; B65H2403/50; B65H2403/54; B65H2403/543
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
144 words
An apparatus for feeding articles comprising, a frame, a magazine mounted on the frame for holding a plurality of articles, a conveyor adjacent the magazine for carrying receptacles past the magazine into which the articles are to be deposited, a rotary transfer mechanism disposed adjacent the magazine and conveyor, the transfer mechanism having, a support rotatably mounted on the frame, at least one shaft rotatably mounted on the support, at least one suction cup projecting laterally from the shaft for movement past the magazine and conveyor, characterised in that circumferential cam means (30) are mounted adjacent the support, and in that cam followers (29) are fixed to the shaft and are engageable with the cam means to cause the suction cups (36) to rotate in a generally hypocycloidal path to engage the articles (15) and deposit them in a receptacle on the conveyor (11).
Claim 2
Independent Claim
144 words
An apparatus for feeding articles comprising, a frame, a magazine mounted on the frame for holding a plurality of articles, a conveyor adjacent the magazine for carrying receptacles past the magazine into which the articles are to be deposited, a rotary transfer mechanism disposed adjacent the magazine and conveyor, the transfer mechanism having, a support rotatably mounted on the frame, at least one shaft rotatably mounted on the support, at least one suction cup projecting laterally from the shaft for movement past the magazine and conveyor, characterised in that circumferential cam means (30) are mounted adjacent the support, and in that cam followers (29) are fixed to the shaft and are engageable with the cam means to cause the suction cups (36) to rotate in a generally hypocycloidal path to engage the articles (15) and deposit them in a receptacle on the conveyor (11).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
30 words
An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the cam means (29) creates a U-shaped path of movement for the suction cup as it deposits the articles in the receptacle.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
69 words
An apparatus as claimed in either Claim 1 or 2 wherein the conveyor (11) adjacent the magazine is a transport conveyor having leading and trailing transport lugs (12,13) creating receptacles between the lugs into which the articles (15) are to be deposited, and wherein the suction cups (36) cause the articles to engage the trailing transport lugs (13) thereby opening the articles to a tube of rectangular cross section.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
39 words
An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim in which each suction cup shaft (28) has two axially-spaced rollers (29) forming the cam followers, the cam means comprising two axially-spaced rings (68,69) having cam surfaces engaged by the rollers.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
81 words
Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim in which the cam surfaces are formed of a series of pockets (100) in which the rollers (29) roll to rotate the shaft, the pockets being spaced apart by peaks which form clearance surfaces, the pockets (100E,100D) adjacent the conveyor having a long pitch as compared to the pitches of the remaining pockets, whereby the suction cups (36) are caused to follow a U-shaped path of movement as it deposits articles in the receptacle.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
78 words
A transfer apparatus comprising, a frame, a planet carrier mounted on the frame for rotation about an axis, means for rotating said carrier, at least one planet member, having a pick-up device, mounted on the carrier on an axis spaced from the axis of the carrier, characterised in that means (29,30) for imparting at least two complete revolutions of varying velocity to the planet member (26) for every revolution of constant velocity of the carrier (25) are provided.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
78 words
A transfer apparatus comprising, a frame, a planet carrier mounted on the frame for rotation about an axis, means for rotating said carrier, at least one planet member, having a pick-up device, mounted on the carrier on an axis spaced from the axis of the carrier, characterised in that means (29,30) for imparting at least two complete revolutions of varying velocity to the planet member (26) for every revolution of constant velocity of the carrier (25) are provided.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
20 words
An apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 in which a plurality of planetary members are spaced equiangularly about the carrier.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
45 words
An apparatus as claimed in either Claim 6 or 7 in which the imparting means comprises at least one cam (30) mounted on the frame, and cam followers (29), engaging the cam, mounted on the planet member to effect the rotation of the planet member.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
50 words
An apparatus as claimed in Claims 6 to 8 in which the imparting means comprises, two cam surfaces (68,69) mounted on the frame adjacent the carrier, two cam followers (29) mounted on each planet member and engageable with the cam surfaces, the cam followers having three equiangularly spaced rollers (66).
Claim 12
Independent Claim
69 words
An apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 6 to 9 in which the pick-up device is a suction cup (36) and in which the non-uniform velocity includes at least one point of substantially zero velocity at the location of a stationary article (15) to be picked up, and a section of velocity substantially the same as the moving receptacle into which the article is to be deposited.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
83 words
A magazine for flat cartons, prefolded leaflets and the like, comprising, a pair of spaced guides (141, 142), the guides having parallel surfaces spaced apart a distance less than the dimension of the carton (15) between the folded edges, and means for holding a large supply of cartons upstream of the guides, the guides causing the cartons to lie between the guides at an angle to a line perpendicular to the surfaces, thereby forming a choke resisting the pressure of the upstream cartons.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
83 words
A magazine for flat cartons, prefolded leaflets and the like, comprising, a pair of spaced guides (141, 142), the guides having parallel surfaces spaced apart a distance less than the dimension of the carton (15) between the folded edges, and means for holding a large supply of cartons upstream of the guides, the guides causing the cartons to lie between the guides at an angle to a line perpendicular to the surfaces, thereby forming a choke resisting the pressure of the upstream cartons.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
67 words
A magazine as claimed in Claim 11 further comprising, an elongated endless conveyor (120) for holding the upstream supply of cartons, means (125) for driving the conveyor to advance cartons toward the guide, a detector (131) adjacent the guides and engageable with the upper edges of the cartons, the driving means being responsive to a slight dip in the level of the detector to advance additional cartons.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
60 words
A magazine as claimed in either Claim 11 or 12 further comprising, a short storage surface (151) forming an extension of the forward end of the guide, a shallow detent (150) projecting upwardly from the downstream end of the storage surface, and detents (168) engageable with the lateral edges of the cartons for temporarily holding the cartons in the magazine.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
28 words
A magazine as claimed in any one of Claims ll to 13 in which the angle is large enough that the articles cannot self-lock between the spaced guides.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
78 words
A magazine as claimed in any one of Claims 11 to 14 in which the leading edge of each carton between said guide is capable of sliding on its guide surface, and in which the trailing edge of each carton is blocked from movement by its engagement with the adjacent guide until relieved by the discharge of a leading carton and thereby the adjacent guide absorbs the major portion of the force of the incoming supply of cartons.
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