Adjustable guide assembly for feeding bottles and the like to a horizontal moving platform

Claim 2

An adjustable guide assembly for horizontally transferring a plurality of rows of upright articles of oblong horizontal dimensions from one moving platform to an adjacent second platform moving substantially perpendicular to the direction of the first-mentioned platform, the guide assembly comprising a) row receiving means adapted to receive a plurality of rows of articles carried by the first-mentioned platform in a direction along the larger horizontal dimension of the article, b) row separating means adapted to separate the moving rows of articles in a direction along the smaller horizontal dimension of the articles, c) row turning means adapted to turn the separated rows of articles uniformly approximately 45 degrees in a horizontal plane so as to discharge the articles in the thus-turned direction onto the second-mentioned moving platform, d) support means for supporting the guide above the first-mentioned moving platform, and e) adjusting means adapted to move the support means horizontally to effect uniform horizontal movement of the receiving means, separating means and turning means to accommodate a change in the smaller horizontal dimension of the articles in said rows.

Claim 3

A guide assembly according to claim 1 in which the guide members are supported above the first-mentioned moving platform by a plurality of pantographs.

Claim 4

An adjustable guide assembly for horizontally transferring a plurality of rows of upright articles of oblong horizontal dimensions from one moving platform to an adjacent second platform moving substantially perpendicular to the direction of the first platform, the guide assembly comprising a plurality of guide members adapted to be suspended above the first-mentioned moving platform, each guide member having one substantially straight feed end portion and one curved discharge end portion, each guide member having guide surfaces uniformly spaced from the proximal guide surfaces of adjacent guide members so as to define guide channels of uniform width slightly in excess of the smaller horizontal dimension of the articles, the guide channels of the straight feed end portion of each member being closely positioned and the guide channels of the curved discharge end portion diverging from said close positioning to a maximum divergent position progressively along the curved end portion of the guide member, the spacing between the articles at their maximum divergent position being slightly in excess of the larger horizontal dimension of the articles, and means for supporting the guide members above the first-mentioned moving platform in the aforesaid position to define said guide channels.

Claim 5

An adjustable guide assembly for horizontally transferring a plurality of rows of upright articles of oblong horizontal dimensions from one moving platform to an adjacent second platform moving substantially perpendicular to the direction of the first platform, the guide assembly comprising a plurality of guide members adapted to be suspended above the first-mentioned moving platform, each guide member having one substantially straight feed end portion and one curved discharge end portion, each guide member having guide surfaces uniformly spaced from the proximal guide surfaces of adjacent guide members so as to define guide channels of uniform width slightly in excess of the smaller horizontal dimension of the articles, the guide channels of the straight feed end portion of each member being closely positioned and the guide channels of the curved discharge end portion diverging from said close positioning to a maximum divergent position progressively along the curved end portion of the guide member, the spacing between the articles at their maximum divergent position being slightly in excess of the larger horizontal dimension of the articles, and means for supporting the guide members above the first-mentioned moving platform in the aforesaid position to define said guide channels.

Claim 6

A guide assembly according to claim 3 in which the curved discharge end portions of the guide members are disposed at an angle of about 45 degrees to the straight feed end portions thereof.