Article row former

An article row former for arranging an unorganized stream of generally cylindrical articles into a plurality of rows, the article row former comprising:

• a conveyor for conveying the articles in a flow direction;
• a frame adjacent the conveyor;
• a carriage coupled to the frame for translational movement in a direction substantially perpendicular to the flow direction;
• a motor supported by the carriage for movement therewith;
• a cam supported by the carriage and drivingly coupled to the motor for rotation thereby;
• a cam follower fixedly coupled to the frame and engaging the cam, the carriage oscillating in response to rotation of the cam;
• and
• a plurality of guides, each guide having a first end supported by the carriage for oscillation therewith, and a second end supported by the frame.

An article row former for arranging an unorganized stream of articles into a plurality of rows, the article row former comprising:

• a frame;
• a plurality of guides supported by the frame and defining guide channels, each guide having an upstream end and a downstream end;
• a plurality of starwheels each rotatably coupled to a downstream end of a respective guide to control the release of articles from the guide channels;
• a plurality of drive pulleys, each drive pulley coupled to a respective starwheel for imparting rotation thereto;
• a motor coupled to the frame;
• a flexible drive member driven by the motor and engaging each drive pulley for imparting rotation thereto;
• a sensor pulley coupled to the frame and engaging the flexible drive member;
• and
• a sensor operatively associated with the sensor pulley to sense movement of the sensor pulley in response to an increase in tension of the flexible drive member.

An article row former for arranging an unorganized stream of articles into a plurality of rows, the article row former comprising:

• a conveyor for conveying articles in a flow direction;
• a frame having a first frame rail on one side of the conveyor, and a second frame rail on an opposite side of the conveyor;
• a support assembly slideably coupled to at least one of the frame rails for movement substantially parallel to the flow direction;
• a carriage assembly slideably coupled to the frame rails for movement substantially perpendicular to the flow direction;
• a plurality of guides, each guide having an upstream end pivotally coupled to the support assembly and a downstream end pivotally coupled to the carriage assembly.

A method for clearing jams in an article row former, the article row former including a conveyor for conveying articles in a flow direction, a frame adjacent the conveyor, and a plurality of article guides supported by the frame and defining a plurality of substantially parallel guide channels that extend in the flow direction, the method comprising:

• sensing the absence of an article in one of the guide channels;
• waiting for a period of time corresponding to a feed rate at which articles flow from the guide channels;
• automatically performing jam remediation operations in response to continued absence of an article in the one guide channel after waiting for the period of time;
• operating the article row former normally after performing the jam remediation operations;
• checking for the continued absence or presence of an article in the one guide channel;
• and
• alerting an operator in response to a continued absence of an article in the one guide channel.