Compound applying machine

Claim 2

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means for serially removing all individual articles from said article path at a single discharge station thereof, and means defining an article wOrk station between said feed and discharge stations in both directions of article travel along said article path.

Claim 3

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 1 including additional means oscillating along said article path between said feed and discharge station in both directions of article travel along said article path for directing successive articles further toward said discharge station.

Claim 4

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 1 including additional means oscillating along said article path between said feed and discharge station in both directions of article travel along said article path for directing successive articles further toward said discharge station, and means for repetitiously and simultaneously moving said first-mentioned and additional oscillating means first in one direction of article travel along said article path and then in a second and opposite direction of article travel along said article path.

Claim 5

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining an article work station downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said path to which individual articles are delivered by said oscillating means, and means for removing individual articles from and returning individual articles to said article path at said work stations.

Claim 6

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining an article work station downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said path to which individual articles are delivered by said oscillating means, and means for removing individual articles from and returning individual articles to said article path at said work stations.

Claim 7

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 4 including means for elevating individual articles from and lowering individual articles to said article path at said work station.

Claim 8

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 5 including means synchronizing the movement of said oscillating means for movement thereof toward each article work station only when the elevating and lowering means thereat is in its article-lowered position.

Claim 9

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining an article work station downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path to which individual articles are delivered by said oscillating means, and means for elevating individual articles from and lowering individual articles to said article path at said work stations.

Claim 10

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining an article work station downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path to which individual articles are delivered by said oscillating means, and means for elevating individual articles from and lowering individual articles to said article path at said work stations.

Claim 11

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means for serially removing individual articles from said article path at a discharge station thereof, and additional means oscillating along said article path between said feed and discharge stations in both directions of article travel along said article path for directing successive articles further toward said discharge station.

Claim 12

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means for serially removing individual articles from said article path at a discharge station thereof, and additional means oscillating along said article path between said feed and discharge stations in both directions of article travel along said article path for directing successive articles further toward said discharge station.

Claim 13

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 8 including means for repetitiously and simultaneously moving said first-mentioned and additional oscillating means first in one direction of article travel along said article path and then in a second and opposite direction of article travel along said article path.

Claim 14

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path aT a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining at least a pair of article work stations downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path, said oscillating means being effective to direct individual articles from said feed station to a first of each of said pair of work stations, and additional means oscillating along said article path across each pair of work stations for delivering an article from each first work station to the second work station of the same pair while directing an article away from each second work station.

Claim 15

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path aT a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining at least a pair of article work stations downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path, said oscillating means being effective to direct individual articles from said feed station to a first of each of said pair of work stations, and additional means oscillating along said article path across each pair of work stations for delivering an article from each first work station to the second work station of the same pair while directing an article away from each second work station.

Claim 16

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining an article work station downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path to which individual articles are delivered by said oscillating means, and means for rotating each article at each work station.

Claim 17

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining an article work station downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path to which individual articles are delivered by said oscillating means, and means for rotating each article at each work station.

Claim 18

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining an article work station downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path to which individual articles are delivered by said oscillating means, means for elevating individual articles from and lowering individual articles to said article path at said article work stations, and means synchronizing the movement of said oscillating means for movement thereof toward each article work station only when the elevating and lowering means thereat is in its article-lowered position.

Claim 19

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining an article work station downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path to which individual articles are delivered by said oscillating means, means for elevating individual articles from and lowering individual articles to said article path at said article work stations, and means synchronizing the movement of said oscillating means for movement thereof toward each article work station only when the elevating and lowering means thereat is in its article-lowered position.

Claim 20

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining at least an article work station and an article inspection station successively downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path, means defining an article discharge station between said inspection stations, said oscillating means being effective to direct individual articles from said feed station to each of said work stations, and additional means for directing articles from each work station to and through each inspection station and to said discharge station.

Claim 21

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining at least an article work station and an article inspection station successively downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path, means defining an article discharge station between said inspection stations, said oscillating means being effective to direct individual articles from said feed station to each of said work stations, and additional means for directing articles from each work station to and through each inspection station and to said discharge station.

Claim 22

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining at least an article work station and an article inspection station successively downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path, means defining an article discharge station between said inspection stations, said oscillating means being effective to direct individual articles from said feed station to each of said work stations, additional means for directing articles from each work station to and through each inspection station and To said discharge station, means at said discharge station for removing articles from said article path and moving the same along another article path, means at each inspection station for generating an article-condition signal, and means responsive to said article-condition signal for removing the associated article from said another article path.

Claim 23

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means defining at least an article work station and an article inspection station successively downstream of said feed station in both directions of article travel along said article path, means defining an article discharge station between said inspection stations, said oscillating means being effective to direct individual articles from said feed station to each of said work stations, additional means for directing articles from each work station to and through each inspection station and To said discharge station, means at said discharge station for removing articles from said article path and moving the same along another article path, means at each inspection station for generating an article-condition signal, and means responsive to said article-condition signal for removing the associated article from said another article path.

Claim 24

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means for serially removing individual articles from said article path at a discharge station thereof, means defining a first article work station between said feed and discharge stations in both directions of article travel along said article path to which individual articles are delivered by said oscillating means, means for elevating individual articles from and lowering individual articles to said article path at said work stations, means for rotating each article at each work station when at its elevated position, means defining a second article work station between each first article work station and said discharge station, and additional means oscillating along said article path across each of said first and second article work stations for delivering an article from each first work station to the second work station downstream therefrom while directing an article away from each second work station toward said discharge station.

Claim 25

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in opposite directions along said article path, means for serially removing individual articles from said article path at a discharge station thereof, means defining a first article work station between said feed and discharge stations in both directions of article travel along said article path to which individual articles are delivered by said oscillating means, means for elevating individual articles from and lowering individual articles to said article path at said work stations, means for rotating each article at each work station when at its elevated position, means defining a second article work station between each first article work station and said discharge station, and additional means oscillating along said article path across each of said first and second article work stations for delivering an article from each first work station to the second work station downstream therefrom while directing an article away from each second work station toward said discharge station.

Claim 26

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 15 including means synchronizing the movement of said first-mentioned oscillating means for movement thereof toward each first article work station only when the elevating and lowering means thereat is in its article-lowered position.

Claim 27

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 15 including means for elevating individual articles to said article path at each of said second article work stations, and means synchronizing the movement of said additional oscillating means for movement thereof across said first and second article work stations toward said discharge station only when the last-mentioned elevating and lowering means is in its article-lowered position.

Claim 28

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 16 including means for elevating individual articles to said article path at each of said second article work stations, and means synchronizing the movement of said additional oscillating means for movement thereof across said first and second article work stations toward said discharge station only when the last-mentioned elevating and lowering means is in its article-lowered position.

Claim 29

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, first means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in first and second opposite directions along said article path, first and second article work stations successively downstream of said feed station in both said first and second direction, said first oscillating means being operative for directing successive articles from said feed station to said first article work stations in alternating fashion, means for elevating articles in unison from sand lowering articles in unison to said article path at each of said first and second article work stations, second means oscillating along said article path across one of said pair of first and second article work stations for delivering an article from the first article work station of said one pair to the second article work station of said one pair downstream in said first direction while directing an article away from the second article Work station of said one pair to said discharge station in said first direction, and third means oscillating along said article path across the other of said pair of first and second article work stations for delivering an article from the first article work station of said other pair to the second article work station of said other pair downstream in said second direction while directing an article away from the second work station of said other pair to said discharge station in said first direction.

Claim 30

An article conveying apparatus comprising means defining a generally circular path of article travel, means for serially feeding individual articles to said article path at a feed station thereof, first means oscillating along said article path across said feed station for directing successive articles at said feed station in first and second opposite directions along said article path, first and second article work stations successively downstream of said feed station in both said first and second direction, said first oscillating means being operative for directing successive articles from said feed station to said first article work stations in alternating fashion, means for elevating articles in unison from sand lowering articles in unison to said article path at each of said first and second article work stations, second means oscillating along said article path across one of said pair of first and second article work stations for delivering an article from the first article work station of said one pair to the second article work station of said one pair downstream in said first direction while directing an article away from the second article Work station of said one pair to said discharge station in said first direction, and third means oscillating along said article path across the other of said pair of first and second article work stations for delivering an article from the first article work station of said other pair to the second article work station of said other pair downstream in said second direction while directing an article away from the second work station of said other pair to said discharge station in said first direction.

Claim 31

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 19 including means synchronizing the movement of said second and third oscillating means for movement thereof across the associated pair of first and second article work stations only when the elevating and lowering means thereat is in its article-lowered position.

Claim 32

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 20 wherein said first, second and third oscillating means move in unison in said first and second directions.

Claim 33

The article conveying apparatus as defined in claim 19 wherein said first, second and third oscillating means move in unison in said first and second directions.