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US 2001/0054537 A1Published application
Bottle alignment packaging apparatus
AssigneeAshland Inc.
InventorsKenneth J. Jones, Barry Grainger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus for reorienting containers such as bottles moving along and guided in single file along a plurality of side-by-side lanes in which the reorienting unit has a plurality of modular units each with an endless belt and operating in pairs to turn the containers a predetermined amount about a vertical axis in each of the respective lanes
Claims11
A container handling and alignment apparatus, comprising:
- a conveyor for supporting and moving containers from a first location to a second location downstream from said first location;
- means for guiding supported at an elevation above said conveyor to guide the containers in single file along each of a plurality of side-by-side lanes in a direction from said first location toward said second location;
- a container reorienting apparatus disposed between said first and second locations, said container reorienting apparatus comprising a frame, a pair of modular units mounted on said frame for each of said respective lanes, each of said modular units having a power driven member mounted thereon whereby each pair of said modular units provide at least one power driven respective first and second pair of counter-rotatable members spaced apart from one another in a direction transverse to the lane associated therewith and located adjacent respectively opposite sides thereof, said counter rotatable members being at an elevation above said upper surface of the conveyor at a position whereby they engage respectively selected opposite side portions of said containers while said containers move a preselected distance along their respective paths;
- and
- means for driving connected respectively to said first and second counter-rotatable members of the respective pairs.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.