Claims
- 1. A continuous motion tray forming and product loading machine comprising:
- a plurality of side-by-side individual lane conveyors for advancing cylindrical articles in the downstream direction in end-to-end relationship and in side-by-side rows, each said lane conveyor including a single chain, and links of said chain carrying plates that support the articles in a horizontal plane,
- first article engaging pin means for slowing the articles to create a space between adjacent rows, said individual lane conveyors continuously moving beneath the spaced rows of articles and beyond the downstream end of said article engaging pin means,
- second means for engaging groups of article rows so separated by said first article engaging pin means for handling groups downstream of said spaced rows and downstream of said first article engaging pin means,
- said individual lane conveyors also moving the rows of articles continuously through and at least to the downstream end of said second means,
- said first article engaging pin means comprising laterally spaced pin conveyor chains, a plurality of pin supporting flights supported by said laterally spaced chains, certain of said flights having cam follower rollers, said flights being pivotably moveable of said flights relative to said chain, camming means for said cam rollers, said camming means provided subadjacent to said horizontal plane, said camming means being movable longitudinally relative to the path of said pin conveyor chains, and adjustment means for moving said camming means to vary the angle at which said pins penetrate said horizontal plane to accommodate articles of different body diameter, and
- means defining a load station and means for feeding tray blanks to the lower station from a position below said horizontal plane, and pocket defining conveyor means for moving the tray blanks and article groups out of the load station.
- 2. The combination according to claim 1 further characterized by means for mounting said lane conveyors for limited lateral adjustment relative to one another in order to accommodate articles of different body diameter, and mechanical means for moving said lane conveyors differentially in the lateral direction.
- 3. The combination according to claim 2 further characterized by lane guides adjustably movable with an associated lane conveyor, said pin conveyor flights having pin supporting plates removably secured to said flights, a second set of pin plates with different pin spacing replacing said first mentioned pin plates to accommodate articles of different body diameter.
- 4. The combination according to claim 3 wherein said camming means comprises two vertically oriented cam plates provided outside of each said laterally spaced pin conveyor chain, and said cam followers provided on laterally projecting portions of said flights so configured as to position said cam followers in the opposite side of said pin conveyor chains from that of said removable pin plates.
- 5. The combination according to claim 4 wherein said pin conveyors include drive and idler chain sprockets and shafts, said pin conveyor drive shaft extending laterally through openings in said cam plates.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application is a division of copending application Ser. No. 047,244, filed May 6, 1987 and now issued as Patent No. 4,793,117. The above mentioned copending application illustrates the invention claimed in the subject application but claims only the invention in association with means for inserting partitions between spaced article lanes and between spaced article rows. The present application claims the means for achieving this spacing in greater detail, and it is noted that the advantages to the invention claimed herein can be realized without necessarily including apparatus and means for inserting partitions between said spaced article rows. For example, spacing the individual rows and subsequently handling predetermined rows in a slug of articles avoids the necessity for spacing the slugs and encountering a concomitant multiplier effect on the dimensional tolerances involved with respect to the articles being handled.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
1329665 |
Jul 1973 |
GBX |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
47244 |
May 1987 |
|