Patent Application
20080095896
While the present invention is susceptible of embodiment in various forms, there is shown in the drawings, and will hereinafter be described, a presently preferred embodiment, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiment illustrated.
With reference to
A transfer rotor 18 is positioned beneath the wafer magazines, with openings spaced about the periphery of the transfer rotor configured to each receive one of the sandwiches being formed. Transfer rotor 18, in turn, moves each sandwich through an arc of approximately 90 degrees (counterclockwise in the illustration of
From sandwich conveyor 20, each of the sandwiches is directed through a sandwich wrapper, indicated generally at 22, where each sandwich is individually wrapped, and thereafter moved out of the apparatus along discharge 24. Wrapping of each sandwich is effected by vertical movement of each sandwich by a sandwich elevator 26, which moves each sandwich upwardly through a wrapping chute of sandwich wrapper 22, whereby each sandwich is individually wrapped with wrapping material from an associated feed roll 28. The wrapper 22 includes a cutting mechanism 30, which is shown in
As noted above, apparatus 10 typically includes a single, electric drive which drives the various components of the apparatus in unison with each other. Changes in the drive relationship are typically effected by changing associated gearing, belts, cams, etc. Heretofore, a change in the size of sandwiches being made typically require changing the gearing in the wrapper mechanism 22 to appropriately change the amount of wrapping material delivered and cut for individually wrapping each of the sandwiches.
In accordance with the present invention, the wrapper mechanism 22 includes a servo-driven wrapper feed mechanism 32, operated by suitable controls 34, whereby the wrapper feed mechanism is operable independently of the drive of the cutting mechanism 30. By this arrangement, versatile operation of the apparatus 10 is greatly facilitated, since operation of the wrapper feed mechanism 32 can be readily and easily altered, via controls 34, to feed a desired amount of material for wrapping sandwiches of differing sizes. The servo-driven wrapper feed mechanism further facilitates conversion of the apparatus to registered print wrapping material without mechanical changeover.
Notably, during development of the present invention, it was found that properly matching wrapper feed, with starting and stopping of the apparatus 10, could be difficult and problematic. Significantly, the present invention permits operation of the wrapper feed mechanism to reset the position of the wrapping material attendant to stopping of the apparatus 10. In particular, the wrapper feed mechanism can be operated to retract a leading edge of the wrapping material, thus desirably avoiding excessive feeding of the wrapping material, which can otherwise cause jamming through the wrapping and elevator mechanisms of the apparatus.
From the foregoing, it will be observed that numerous modifications and variations can be effected without departing from the true spirit and scope of the novel concept of the present invention. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific embodiment illustrated herein is intended or should be inferred. The disclosure is intended to cover, by the appended claims, all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.
