Pouch feeding assembly for fill and seal pouching machine
AssigneeBartelt Packaging LLC
InventorsNathan Geringswald, Adam Freed
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pouch feeding assembly includes a conveyor lane having a load end and a transfer end, wherein the conveyor lane includes a conveyor operable to move pouches in a conveyance direction from the load end to the transfer end, wherein the transfer end of the conveyor lane includes a downwardly facing pouch transfer window over which pouches at the transfer end are positioned. A transfer subassembly including a first transfer mechanism and a second transfer mechanism, the first transfer mechanism configured to engage a lower face of a pouch, pull at least part of the pouch down through the pouch transfer window and transfer the pouch to an infeed point of the second transfer mechanism.
Claims11
A pouch feeding assembly, comprising:
- a conveyor lane having a load end and a transfer end, wherein the conveyor lane includes a conveyor operable to move pouches in a conveyance direction from the load end to the transfer end, wherein the transfer end of the conveyor lane includes a downwardly facing pouch transfer window over which pouches at the transfer end are positioned;
- a transfer assembly including a first transfer mechanism and a second transfer mechanism, the first transfer mechanism configured to engage a lower face of a pouch, pull at least part of the pouch down through the pouch transfer window and transfer the pouch to an infeed point of the second transfer mechanism.
A pouch feeding assembly, comprising:
- a conveyor lane having a load end and a transfer end, wherein the conveyor lane includes a conveyor for moving a pouch in a conveyance direction from the load end to the transfer end, wherein the transfer end of the conveyor lane includes a downwardly facing pouch transfer window;
- a transfer assembly including a first transfer mechanism and a second transfer mechanism, the first transfer mechanism comprising pouch picker for engaging a lower face of a pouch, the second transfer mechanism including an infeed point;
- a control system operatively connected to operate the conveyor and the first transfer mechanism, the control system configured such that (i) the pouch is moved to the transfer end over the pouch transfer window, (ii) the pouch picker is moved upward into engagement with the lower face of the pouch, (iii) the pouch picker is moved downward to pull at least part of the pouch down through the pouch transfer window and (iv) the pouch picker is moved laterally to move the pouch to the infeed point of the second transfer mechanism.
A method of feeding pouches to a filling machine, the method comprising:
- conveying pouches along a conveyor lane to a transfer end of the conveyor lane, wherein the transfer end includes a downwardly facing pouch transfer opening;
- supporting a first pouch over the pouch transfer opening;
- moving a first transfer mechanism to move upward into engagement with a lower face of the first pouch, the first transfer member gripping the lower face by suction, and then moving the first transfer mechanism downward to pull at least part of the first pouch down through the pouch transfer window and into a position below the conveyor lane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.