Article feed control apparatus and method

Claim 1

IN A MACHINE FOR ASSEMBLING LONGITUDINAL AND CROSSPARTITION STRIPS TO PRODUCE A CELL-TYPE FILLER FOR A CARTON, A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL CONVEYOR HAVING AN UPPER REACH FOR SUPPORTING LONGITUDINAL PARTITION STRIPS IN ON-EDGE POSITIONS IN END-TO-END RELATIONSHIP AND IN TRANSVERSELY ALIGNED SETS, FLIGHT-BARS ON THE UPPER FACE TO ENGAGE THE REARMOST END OF THE STRIPS AND ADVANCE THEM ALONG A PREDETERMINED PATH, LONGITUDINAL GUIDES OVERLYING THE CONVEYOR TO HOLD THE STRIPS IN SAID ON-EDGE POSITIONS, A PARTITION STRIP FEEDER ABOVE A RECEIVING END OF THE CONVEYOR OPERABLE TO PLACE SETS OF STRIPS IN SAID GUIDES WITH EACH CYCLE OF OPERATION, A FEEDER ACTUATOR, AN AIR SUPPLY NOZZLE AT ONE SIDE OF THE SAID PATH OF EACH OF THE STRIPS IN SAID SETS THEREOF CAPABLE OF DIRECTING A STREAM OF AIR ACROSS THE PATH OF SAID STRIPS, AND MEANS OPERABLE IN RESPONSE TO PASSAGE OF THE STREAM OF AIR ENTIRELY ACROSS EACH SAID PATH FOR DEACTIVATING SAID ACTUATOR.