Cover applicator for bottles

Claim 2

In an apparatus for placing a tapered circumferential article over the upper end of an upright bottle, container or similar product: bottle conveyor means for locating an individual bottle in an upright position at a pre-selected location; article directing means above the bottle position at said preselected location for gravitationally guiding a article engaged thereby downwardly onto an upright bottle at said pre-selected location; article supply means for holding a nested stack of articles; capsule gripping means for grasping an individual article in said stack and subsequently moving the article outward from the stack and into engagement with said article directing means; and first control means operatively connected to said article gripping means for releasing each article grasped thereby following engagement of the article with said article directing means.

Claim 3

The apparatus as set out in claim 1, wherein said article directing means comprises an upwardly facing chute inclined downwardly toward a discharge end located adjacent the upper end of a bottle at said pre-selected location.

Claim 4

The apparatus as set out in claim 1, further comprising: intermittently operable article stepping means operatively connected to said article supply means for sequentially advancing a nested stack of article to thereby locate an individual exposed article at one end of the stack for grasping thereof by the article gripping means.

Claim 5

The apparatus as set out in claim 1, wherein said article directing means comprises an upwardly facing chute inclined downwardly toward a discharge end located adjacent the upper end of a bottle at said pre-selected location; said article supply means comprising a horizontal conveyor for supporting a nested stack of articles and intermittently advancing toward one end thereof where an individual exposed article is elevationally located upwardly adjacent to the upper end of the chute; said article gripping means being movable horizontally over the chute between a first position at which it grasps the exposed article in the stack and a second position above the chute at which the gripping means is released by operation of the first control means.

Claim 6

In an apparatus for placement of a cup-shaped article over the upper end of a bottle, the article having conical flared walls terminating at an open circumferential inner edge: a support framework; a supply conveyor on said framework holding a stack of nested articles for intermittently moving the stack longitudinally inward on said framework in the direction of their inner edges; a shuttle carriage movably mounted to said framework; gripper means on said shuttle carriage adapted to grasp the exposed walls of the innermost article on said supply conveyor; a downwarDly inclined guide on said framework aligned with the supply conveyor and located elevationally beneath the shuttle carriage, said guide being directed to a station at the lower end of the guide at which a receiving bottle may be located; and powered means operatively connected to said shuttle carriage and gripper means for sequentially moving the carriage to the stack of nested articles on said supply conveyor, operating said gripper means to grasp the exposed walls of the innermost article in the stack, retracting the carriage over the guide and releasing the gripper means to permit the grasped article to move gravitationally along the guide to the station at the lower end thereof.

Claim 7

In an apparatus for placement of a cup-shaped article over the upper end of a bottle, the article having conical flared walls terminating at an open circumferential inner edge: a support framework; a supply conveyor on said framework holding a stack of nested articles for intermittently moving the stack longitudinally inward on said framework in the direction of their inner edges; a shuttle carriage movably mounted to said framework; gripper means on said shuttle carriage adapted to grasp the exposed walls of the innermost article on said supply conveyor; a downwarDly inclined guide on said framework aligned with the supply conveyor and located elevationally beneath the shuttle carriage, said guide being directed to a station at the lower end of the guide at which a receiving bottle may be located; and powered means operatively connected to said shuttle carriage and gripper means for sequentially moving the carriage to the stack of nested articles on said supply conveyor, operating said gripper means to grasp the exposed walls of the innermost article in the stack, retracting the carriage over the guide and releasing the gripper means to permit the grasped article to move gravitationally along the guide to the station at the lower end thereof.

Claim 8

The apparatus as set out in claim 5, wherein said gripper means comprises a mechanical clip having: a first member including a first friction pad adapted to engage the inside surface of a article wall adjacent its inner edge; a second member including a second friction pad adapted to engage the outside surface of a article wall adjacent its inner edge in opposed relation to the first friction pad; one of said members being movably mounted to the shuttle carriage for movement of the friction pad therewith toward or away from the friction pad of the remaining member.

Claim 9

The apparatus as set out in claim 6 wherein said one member is spring biased to normally urge the friction pad thereon toward an operative position wherein it abuts the friction pad of the remaining member.

Claim 10

The apparatus as set out in claim 7 further comprising: stationary means on said framework in the path of said one member and engaged by said one member when the shuttle carriage has retracted an article from the stack and moved over the guide for moving the friction pad of said one member apart from the friction pad of the remaining member to release an article grasped thereby.

Claim 11

The apparatus set out in claim 5 wherein said conveyor has an upper horizontal flight supporting the stack of nested articles; and means operatively connected to the conveyor for moving the upper horizontal flight inwardly along the framework an incremental distance equal to the nested height of one article during each sequential movement of the shuttle carriage.

Claim 12

In an apparatus for placement of a cup-shaped article over the upper end of a bottle, the article having conical flared walls terminating at an open circumferential inner edge: a support framework; a horizontal bottle conveyor on the framework; bottle indexing means on the framework for selectively locating a bottle on said conveyor in a fixed upright position at an article receiving location; an inclined article chute mounted to the framework and having an upwardly facing surface leading from an elevated upper end to an elevationally lower discharge end positioned so as to gravitationally direct a downwardly open article on said surface onto a bottle at the capsule receiving location; a carriage mounted on the framework above the chute for reversible movement along a path aligned with the chute; article supply means on said conveyor for supporting a horizontal stack of nested articles and locating individual articles at one end of the stack with the article open edge facing the carriage; a selectively-operable grip on the carriage facing toward the article supply means and adapted to engage the walls of a single article for transport by said carriage; and power means on the framework connected to the carriage for moving it between a first position at which the grip is in engagement with an article at said one end of a stack as located by said article supply means and a second position at which an article grasped by the grip overlies the upper end of the chute.

Claim 13

In an apparatus for placement of a cup-shaped article over the upper end of a bottle, the article having conical flared walls terminating at an open circumferential inner edge: a support framework; a horizontal bottle conveyor on the framework; bottle indexing means on the framework for selectively locating a bottle on said conveyor in a fixed upright position at an article receiving location; an inclined article chute mounted to the framework and having an upwardly facing surface leading from an elevated upper end to an elevationally lower discharge end positioned so as to gravitationally direct a downwardly open article on said surface onto a bottle at the capsule receiving location; a carriage mounted on the framework above the chute for reversible movement along a path aligned with the chute; article supply means on said conveyor for supporting a horizontal stack of nested articles and locating individual articles at one end of the stack with the article open edge facing the carriage; a selectively-operable grip on the carriage facing toward the article supply means and adapted to engage the walls of a single article for transport by said carriage; and power means on the framework connected to the carriage for moving it between a first position at which the grip is in engagement with an article at said one end of a stack as located by said article supply means and a second position at which an article grasped by the grip overlies the upper end of the chute.

Claim 14

The apparatus as set out in claim 10 further comprising: first operating means engageable with the grip for causing the grip to engage the walls of an article following movement of the carriage to said first position.

Claim 15

The apparatuS as set out in claim 11 further comprising: second operating means engageable with the grip for causing the grip to release its grasp of the walls of an article as it reaches the second position during movement from the first position.

Claim 16

The apparatus as set out in claim 12 wherein said power means moves the carriage from said first position to a location on the framework beyond said second position; and article retarding means at the upper end of the chute for frictionally engaging articles as it is released by the grip at the carriage second position.