Full recycle cap feeder

Claim 1

A full recycle cap feeder comprising, in combination, a basic feeder unit having a central conical shaped rotor with a peripheral side wall, a cap trap provided around the periphery of the rotor and the lower portion of the side walls having a space therebeneath to receive caps oriented upwardly and downwardly in random fashion, a baffle mounted on and beneath said cap trap adjacent to the interior peripheral edge thereof and spaced from said periPheral side wall of said feeder unit thereby to provide a path for the end to end single file orientation of caps therebeneath, a pickup track positioned at a tangential point along the periphery of the side wall, a pair of counter-rotating wheels positioned with their axes parallel to each other and horizontal and perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the rotor of the feeder, including an upper recycle wheel and a lower feed wheel, said pickup track delivering caps to the gap between the counter-rotating wheels, a resilient rim on each wheel for engaging the caps fed thereto in such fashion that the cap will proceed in that direction in which the side walls of the cap is pointing, motor drive means for said counter-rotating wheels including coupling means for coupling said motor drive means to said upper recycle wheel in order to drive the same, said lower wheel being driven sympathetically through the action of said driven upper recycle wheel as caps are engaged between the said upper driven recycle wheel and the said lower feed wheel, a delivery chute positioned downwardly of the lower feed wheel for receiving those caps having the side walls positioned downwardly, a recycle chute surrounding the upper recycle wheel for delivering those caps having the side walls thereof pointed upwardly around to the top of the recycle wheel at which time the side wall of the cap is positioned downwardly, means for re-orienting and thereafter delivering the recycled caps into the cap trap at the periphery of the rotary member interior of the baffle thereby to present to the re-oriented caps into the pickup track and to feed the same to the delivery chute whereupon the recycled caps will feed fully oriented to the counter-rotating wheels, whereby caps initially delivered to the pickup track in randomly oriented configuration permits caps properly oriented to be delivered to the delivery chute for further processing while caps delivered to the delivery chute in upstanding orientation are re-oriented by said upper recycle wheel and delivered to the pickup track and hence to the cap trap for presentation to the delivery chute in properly oriented position.