Feeding method and apparatus
AssigneeG.D S.p.A.
InventorsDavide Parazza, Luca Federici
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and a feeding apparatus for feeding spacers for cigarette packs are disclosed, in which each spacer comprises a substantially rectangular flat body, the spacers being insertable in cartons for cigarette packs to space out packs with dimensions smaller than the standard dimensions; the spacers are stacked on a pallet that is positioned in a withdrawal station; the stacks of spacers are withdrawn from the withdrawal station and transferred to a respective hopper by passing each stack of spacers through an upper opening of the hopper, to then unload the spacers one by one through a lower opening of the hopper.
Claims6
An apparatus for feeding spacers for packs of cigarettes, said apparatus comprising:
- at least one withdrawal station in which it is possible to place a pallet loaded with one or more stacks of spacers;
- a pallet loaded with one or more stacks of spacers and placed in the at least one withdrawal station;
- one or more hoppers each of which is configured to receive at least one stack of spacers coming from the withdrawal station, each hopper including an upper opening as inlet for a stack of spacers and a lower opening as outlet for a spacer;
- a transferring device for transferring each stack of spacers from the withdrawal station to a respective hopper of the one or more hoppers, passing the stack of spacers through the upper opening of the hopper;
- an unloading device for unloading the spacers one by one from the hopper through the lower opening of the hopper;
- wherein the transferring device includes one or more manipulators each of which includes two supporting feet positionable on two opposite sides of at least one stack of spacers to transport the stack of spacers resting on the supporting feet, the two supporting feet being carried by two respective vertical rods so that, when the supporting feet are positioned under the stack of spacers, the two vertical rods are at least partially inserted into recesses formed on two opposite sides of the spacers that form the stack.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.