Apparatus for rotating and compressing a stack of pads

Claim 1

Apparatus for rotating and compressing a stack of pads which have opposed broad faces and opposed edges, comprising: rotor means, means for rotating said rotor means through unfiorm angular increments and for stopping said rotor means at the end of each angular increment, a plurality of chambers comprised of radially extending spaced apart side walls and a wall at their radially outermost ends mounted to said rotor means in equiangular spaced apart relationship around the rotational axis of the rotor means for rotating in a circular path, stationary cam means inside of said circular path, a plunger arranged in each chamber between said side walls for reciprocating radially between said side walls and cam follower means coupling said plungers, respectively, to said cam means for causing said reciprocation as the chambers rotate, said cam means operating said follower means such that when any one of the chambers is incremented to a pad loading position, at which said chamber is loaded with a stack in which the broad faces of the pads are substantially horizontal, the plunger in the chamber being loaded is retracted radially inwardly and while said one chamber is incremented toward a pad unloading position said plunger is moving radially outwardly to compress said stack by the time the stack arrives at the unloading position.

Claim 4

A method of preparing for packaging stacks of pads in which each pad has generally flat opposed faces and opposed edges, said method comprising the steps of: pushing a stack of pads into one of a succession of elongated angularly spaced apart rotatable chambers while said one chamber is stopped in a loading position wherein it projects vertically away from a center of rotation and the pads in the stack overlay each other with their flat faces lying on horizontal planes and their corresponding opposed edges spaced from each other in a horizontal direction, rotating said chambers about said axis of rotation together such that said one chamber moves through an arc from loading position toward unloading position and during the course of rotation moving a plunger radially in said chamber to compress the stack therein, and interrupting rotation momentarily when said one chamber has rotated 90° to unloading position from said loading position and said chamber is projecting horizontally from said center of rotation such that said flat faces of the pads are vertical and said pads are standing on their edges, and pushing said stack of pads out of said one chamber.

Claim 5

A method of preparing for packaging stacks of pads in which each pad has generally flat opposed faces and opposed edges, said method comprising the steps of: pushing a stack of pads into one of a succession of elongated angularly spaced apart rotatable chambers while said one chamber is stopped in a loading position wherein it projects vertically away from a center of rotation and the pads in the stack overlay each other with their flat faces lying on horizontal planes and their corresponding opposed edges spaced from each other in a horizontal direction, rotating said chambers about said axis of rotation together such that said one chamber moves through an arc from loading position toward unloading position and during the course of rotation moving a plunger radially in said chamber to compress the stack therein, and interrupting rotation momentarily when said one chamber has rotated 90° to unloading position from said loading position and said chamber is projecting horizontally from said center of rotation such that said flat faces of the pads are vertical and said pads are standing on their edges, and pushing said stack of pads out of said one chamber.