Method of separating a rigid body from its contents
AssigneeAltria Client Services LLC
InventorsLoren Duvekot, James D. Evans
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A high-speed automated separation apparatus comprising a pair of flexible discs, a driver to rotate the flexible discs, a feeder to position a rigid body at a first location between the flexible discs, a spreader and a converger operable upon the flexible discs such that opposing portions of the flexible disc converge upon the positioned rigid body, whereupon the rotating flexible discs rotate the rigid body beyond the first location and content from the rigid body is expelled. The rigid body and the expelled content are then available for reuse. Related methods and systems are also disclosed.
Claims17
A method of separating a rigid body from its content, comprising:
- rotating a pair of spaced apart flexible discs, whereby opposing portions of the rotating flexible discs rotate along an arcuate path, the rotating defining an upstream relationship and a downstream relationship along the arcuate path;
- moving the rigid body into a first location along the arcuate path between the pair of rotating flexible discs and orienting an open end portion of the rigid body in a radially outward relation to the rotating flexible discs;
- gripping the rigid body at the first location with the rotating flexible discs by:
- adjacent the first location, converging the opposing portions of the rotating flexible discs into contact with side portions of the rigid body;
- expelling content from the rigid body by moving the gripped rigid body with the opposing portions along a first arcuate path portion beyond the first location while maintaining the orientation of the rigid body;
- and
- after the expelling, releasing the rigid body from the grip between the opposing flexible discs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.