Bag opening and emptying with traveling conveyor

Claim 2

In a bag emptying machine comprising a fixed blade array disposed to engage a broad face of a bag, a presser having a bagengaging surface generally opposed to the cutting edges of said blade array, a reciprocal presser drive constructed to press said presser facewise upon an opposite broad face of said bag and thereby urge the bag and contents against said blade array to cut the first mentioned face of the bag to release its contents and to retract, a receiver for receiving the contents of the bag and means operable to carry a bag between said blade array and presser and deliver said bag facewise to said blade array the improvement wherein said conveyor means comprises a conveyor belt and a conveyor belt guide member movable bodily carrying said conveyor belt from a first position spaced from said blade array to a second position overlying said blade array, said conveyor belt in the latter position being movable about said guide to convey a bag to said blade array, said conveyor belt guide thereupon being operable to return toward said first position while progressively depositing said bag facewise directly upon the cutting edges of said blade array in position to be cut, and said bag emptying machine including means to lift an empty bag from the cutting edges of said blade array while said guide is in said first position and to deposit said empty bag upon said conveyoR belt when said guide is in said second position, said conveyor belt thereupon being operable to convey away said empty bag.

Claim 3

The bag emptying machine of claim 1 wherein motion of said conveyor belt over said guide in the direction to deliver a bag to said station is effective to convey away therefrom an empty bag.

Claim 4

In a bag emptying machine comprising a fixed blade array disposed to engage a broad face of a bag, a presser having a bag-engaging surface generally opposed to the cutting edges of said blade array, a reciprocal presser drive constructed to press said presser facewise upon an opposite broad face of said bag and thereby urge the bag and contents against said blade array to cut the first mentioned face of the bag to release its contents and to retract, a receiver for receiving the contents of the bag and a conveyor means operable to carry a bag between said blade array and presser and deliver said bag facewise to said blade array, the improvement wherein said conveyor means comprises a conveyor belt and a conveyor belt guide member movable bodily carrying said conveyor belt from a first position spaced from said blade array to a second position overlying said blade array, said conveyor belt in the latter position being movable about said guide to convey a bag to said blade array, said conveyor belt guide thereupon being operable to return toward said first position while progressively depositing said bag facewise directly upon the cutting edges of said blade array in position to be cut.

Claim 5

In a bag emptying machine comprising a fixed blade array disposed to engage a broad face of a bag, a presser having a bag-engaging surface generally opposed to the cutting edges of said blade array, a reciprocal presser drive constructed to press said presser facewise upon an opposite broad face of said bag and thereby urge the bag and contents against said blade array to cut the first mentioned face of the bag to release its contents and to retract, a receiver for receiving the contents of the bag and a conveyor means operable to carry a bag between said blade array and presser and deliver said bag facewise to said blade array, the improvement wherein said conveyor means comprises a conveyor belt and a conveyor belt guide member movable bodily carrying said conveyor belt from a first position spaced from said blade array to a second position overlying said blade array, said conveyor belt in the latter position being movable about said guide to convey a bag to said blade array, said conveyor belt guide thereupon being operable to return toward said first position while progressively depositing said bag facewise directly upon the cutting edges of said blade array in position to be cut.

Claim 6

A bag emptying machine comprising a bag cutting and emptying station and a conveyor belt means for delivering a bag to be emptied to said station, said conveyor belt means having a conveyor belt guide member movable bodily, and carrying said conveyor belt from a first position spaced from said station to a second position overlying said station, said conveyor belt in the latter position being movable about said guide to convey a bag to said station, said conveyor belt means thereupon being operable to return said guide toward said first position while progressively depositing said bag at said station, said conveyor belt means including an endless conveyor belt loop, guide rolls mounted on stationary axes, and equally and oppositely acting take-up and pay-out guide roll means mounted on axes supported on a movable shuttle frame within the loop of said conveyor belt, said shuttle frame being movable relative to said stationary axes from a retracted position spaced from said station to a position overlying said station without altering the length of said loop, said conveyor belt means adapted to hold the overall loop stationary while moving said shuttle frame from its second position over said station toward said first position thereby to deposit said bag at said station, said bag emptying machine including a cutter assembly requiring centering of the bag for effective action, said conveyor adapted to deliver said bag to said cutter assembly and means for stopping the advancing motion with the bag in centered position, said means including leading and trailing edge detection means adapted to detect the bag as it proceeds along the conveyor past said detection means toward said cutter assembly, and based upon the advancing rate of said conveyor generating effectively a count h proportional to half the advance of said conveyor between detection of the leading and trailing edges of said bag, and means based upon the advancing rate of said conveyor for generating thereafter a further count (k- h) where k corresponds to the distance between said detection means and said cutter assembly and means responsive to said count to de-energize said conveyor thereby to position said bag centered at said cutter assembly.

Claim 7

A bag emptying machine comprising a bag cutting and emptying station and a conveyor belt means for delivering a bag to be emptied to said station, said conveyor belt means having a conveyor belt guide member movable bodily, and carrying said conveyor belt from a first position spaced from said station to a second position overlying said station, said conveyor belt in the latter position being movable about said guide to convey a bag to said station, said conveyor belt means thereupon being operable to return said guide toward said first position while progressively depositing said bag at said station, said conveyor belt means including an endless conveyor belt loop, guide rolls mounted on stationary axes, and equally and oppositely acting take-up and pay-out guide roll means mounted on axes supported on a movable shuttle frame within the loop of said conveyor belt, said shuttle frame being movable relative to said stationary axes from a retracted position spaced from said station to a position overlying said station without altering the length of said loop, said conveyor belt means adapted to hold the overall loop stationary while moving said shuttle frame from its second position over said station toward said first position thereby to deposit said bag at said station, said bag emptying machine including a cutter assembly requiring centering of the bag for effective action, said conveyor adapted to deliver said bag to said cutter assembly and means for stopping the advancing motion with the bag in centered position, said means including leading and trailing edge detection means adapted to detect the bag as it proceeds along the conveyor past said detection means toward said cutter assembly, and based upon the advancing rate of said conveyor generating effectively a count h proportional to half the advance of said conveyor between detection of the leading and trailing edges of said bag, and means based upon the advancing rate of said conveyor for generating thereafter a further count (k- h) where k corresponds to the distance between said detection means and said cutter assembly and means responsive to said count to de-energize said conveyor thereby to position said bag centered at said cutter assembly.