Transfer wheel between a lollipop forming and a lollipop wrapping unit

A method of making a lollipop comprising:

• forming a head of the lollipop in a rotating forming unit and inserting a stick into the head of the lollipop,
• transferring the lollipop from the forming unit to a down-stream processing unit where the head of the lollipop or an entirety of the lollipop is wrapped in a film, the transferring taking place by means of a transfer wheel which rotates around a first axis of rotation, the transfer wheel comprises a multitude of grippers that each rotate around respective second axes of rotation that are each arranged eccentric and parallel to the first axis of rotation of the transfer wheel,
• wherein during the rotation of the transfer wheel around the first axis of rotation, a radial extension of each of the multitude of grippers moves towards and away from the first axis of rotation to adjust a length by which each of the multitude of grippers move into a holding means of the forming unit and/or into a holding means of the down-stream processing unit,
• gripping a stick of the lollipop with one of the multitude of grippers, and taking the stick out of the holding means of the forming unit;
• and
• handing the stick of the lollipop over to the holding means of the down-stream processing unit;
• wherein the lollipop is turned 180° around a third axis of rotation while each of the multitude of grippers rotate about the respective second axes and before the lollipop is transferred from the forming unit to the down-stream processing unit, the third axis of rotation is perpendicular to the first axis of rotation of the transfer wheel.

A method of making a lollipop comprising:

• forming a head of the lollipop in a rotating forming unit and inserting a stick into the head of the lollipop,
• transferring the lollipop from the forming unit to a down-stream processing unit by means of a transfer wheel which rotates around a first axis of rotation, the transfer wheel comprises a multitude of grippers that each rotate about respective second axes that are arranged parallel to and eccentric to the first axis of rotation,
• wherein during rotation of each of the multitude of grippers, a radial extension of each of the multitude of grippers is moved in a direction towards and then in a direction away from the first axis of rotation of the transfer wheel,
• gripping a stick of the lollipop with one of the multitude of grippers, and taking the stick out of the holding means of the forming unit;
• and
• handing the stick of the lollipop over to the holding means of the down-stream processing unit;
• wherein while each of the multitude of grippers are rotated about the respective second axes, the lollipop is turned 180° around a third axis that is perpendicular to the first axis of rotation of the transfer wheel before the lollipop is transferred from the forming unit to the down-stream processing unit,
• wherein each of the multitude of grippers are mounted to the transfer wheel by a respective support that rotates about the respective second axes, and a cam is provided eccentrically in each of the supports, which drives each of the multitude of grippers in the direction towards and then in the direction away from the first axis of rotation.