Method and apparatus for positioning articles

Claim 2

Apparatus for upending elongated articles, bottom end down, at a processing station and for placing the articles on their sides after being acted on in the processing station, the apparatus comprising: a. a first conveyor for transporting elongated articles on their sides to a processing station; b. a pivotally mounted loading device adapted to receive successive individual side-oriented articles from the first conveyor and to flip the article to an upright position in the processing station; c. a second conveyor for transpOrting articles on their sides away from the processing station; d. a reciprocally mounted arm adapted to knock the lower portion of each upright article onto the second conveyor on leaving the processing station; and e. a bumper adjacent the arm to prevent the upper portion of each upright article from moving in the same direction as that of the arm when the article is contacted by the arm, whereby the upper portion of each article falls by gravity onto the second conveyor resulting in each upended article being in a side-oriented position on the second conveyor.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 including a fixed article guide over the loading device having a curved shape substantially corresponding to the path traversed by the upper portion of an article during upending thereof.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first conveyor comprises an endless belt, the apparatus including a pivotally mounted escapement adjacent the loading device adapted to meter successive articles from the belt of the first conveyor onto the loading device.

Claim 5

Apparatus for upending elongated bottles, bottom end down, at a processing station and for placing the bottles on their sides after being acted on in the processing station, the apparatus comprising: a. a first, horizontally disposed supply conveyor having a discharge end; b. a movably mounted support adjacent the discharge end of the first conveyor adapted to receive successive individual side-oriented bottles from the first conveyor and to pivot each bottle to an upright position in a processing station; c. a bottle guide over the support to assist in keeping the bottle on the support during movement thereof; d. a second horizontally disposed conveyor having a bottle supporting surface for transporting bottles away from the processing station; e. a horizontally reciprocable arm mounted in a plane above and substantially parallel to the supporting surface of the second conveyor, said arm being adapted to stroke each successive bottle to knock the bottom portion thereof forward onto the second conveyor after being acted on in the processing station; and f. a stationary bumper above the arm to prevent the upper portion of each bottle from falling forward when the bottom portion thereof is stroked by the arm, whereby the top portion of each bottle falls backward by gravity onto the second conveyor resulting in each upended bottle having a side-oriented position on the second conveyor.

Claim 6

Apparatus for upending elongated bottles, bottom end down, at a processing station and for placing the bottles on their sides after being acted on in the processing station, the apparatus comprising: a. a first, horizontally disposed supply conveyor having a discharge end; b. a movably mounted support adjacent the discharge end of the first conveyor adapted to receive successive individual side-oriented bottles from the first conveyor and to pivot each bottle to an upright position in a processing station; c. a bottle guide over the support to assist in keeping the bottle on the support during movement thereof; d. a second horizontally disposed conveyor having a bottle supporting surface for transporting bottles away from the processing station; e. a horizontally reciprocable arm mounted in a plane above and substantially parallel to the supporting surface of the second conveyor, said arm being adapted to stroke each successive bottle to knock the bottom portion thereof forward onto the second conveyor after being acted on in the processing station; and f. a stationary bumper above the arm to prevent the upper portion of each bottle from falling forward when the bottom portion thereof is stroked by the arm, whereby the top portion of each bottle falls backward by gravity onto the second conveyor resulting in each upended bottle having a side-oriented position on the second conveyor.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the arm is L-shaped with the horizontal branch of the L adapted to contact the bottle during the stroke of the arm.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the support is an open-ended platform.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 4 including a pivotally mounted escapement adjacent the support comprising dual spaced arms adapted to move upwardly and downwardly together at predetermined time intervals to meter bottles individually onto the support from the first conveyor.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 4 including an additional movably mounted support, bottle guide and escapement for upending bottles from the second conveyor at another processing station.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 4 including adjustable article guide rails extending along the first and second conveyors on either side thereof.

Claim 14

The method of claim 10 wherein the articles are caused to fall by pulling on the lower portion of each article in a direction away from the processing station while preventing the upper portion thereof from moving in this direction.

Claim 17

The method of claim 12 wherein indicia is applied to the sides of the articles in the processing stations.