Lid applicator

Claim 2

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said shoe supporting means comprises a parallelogram linkage for retaining said shoe in a predetermined attitude relative to the lids and containers.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said shoe-moving means comprises a cam having a inner lobe portion and an outer lobe portion, and a lever connected to said shoe supporting means and having a follower engageable with said cam, said outer lobe portion being longer than said inner lobe portion for causing said lever to retract said shoe from the containers throughout the shoe-returning stroke and the null points at the opposite ends of reciprocatory movement of said shoe, said inner lobe portion accommodating engagement of said shoe with a lid and container solely during movement of the shoe in the direction of container travel.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 4 including resilient means for biasing said shoe toward the containers; said resilient means, said supporting means, said lever and the inner lobe of said cam accommodating variable displacement of said shoe in the direction toward the containers and said resilient means causing said shoe to exert a uniform pressure on the lid and container.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said shoe reciprocating means comprises an eccentric and a connecting link between said eccentric and said shoe, said eccentric and said cam being mounted on a common shaft and comprising therewith said driving means.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said common shaft is coupled to and operated in timed relationship with means for effecting continuous travel of the containers whereby said shoe engages a predetermined spot on each lid and container and travels synchronously therewith while engaged thereto.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said shoe reciprocating means comprises an eccentric and a connecting link between said eccentriC and said shoe.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said connecting link includes a spring-biased safety coupling.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a plurality of shoes; and supporting, moving, reciprocating and driving means for each of said shoes; said driving means being arrayed in predetermined phase relationship with one another for causing each shoe to engage respective ones of the lids and containers in the row; said drive means being so arrayed and said shoes being of such number as to engage each lid and its container.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 10 wherein each shoe engages the trailing edge of one container and the leading edge of the next succeeding container.

Claim 11

Apparatus for applying lids to containers comprising lid-feeding means for laying a lid onto each container in a continuously traveling row of containers wherein said lid-feeding means comprises means for feeding lids seriatim to the traveling row of containers, a detector upstream of said feeding means for detecting the absence of containers in said row, and means actuated by said detector for ejecting the respective lid in the series intended for the absent container in the row; pressing and tacking means engageable with each lid substantially at the time the lid is laid on the respective container, means for engaging said pressing and tacking means with a lid and its container at said time, for then moving said means synchronously with the respective lid and container during a portion of the travel of the container for effecting spot tacking of the lid to the container without interrupting container travel, and for thereafter returning said pressing and tacking means for engagement with a succeeding lid and container; and means for completing securing of the tacked lids to their containers.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said lid-feeding means includes means for feeding a continuous strip of lids, means for cutting individual lids from said strip and means for feeding the individual lids seriatim from said cutting means to said row of containers, and wherein said lid-ejecting means is located between said cutting means and the last-named feeding means and said detector is spaced upstream from the point of application of lids to the containers by a distance substantially equal to the spacing between said ejecting means and said point.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 12 including means actuated by said detector for rendering said pressing and tacking means inoperative during the time the absent container and the ejected lid would otherwise have been engaged thereby.