Device for the arrangement, alignment and correctly positioned feed of articles in particular having elongated shape
OwnerHans Listinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A feed apparatus for elongated articles comprises a pair of endless helical springs having parallel spaced-apart reaches defining a generally horizontal transport path. The elongated elements are continuously displaced in a direction from an upstream end of the reaches to a downstream end thereof. Elongated articles such as gelatin capsules are loaded in random fashion onto the reaches at the upstream end so that at least some of these articles come to lie in the trough defined between these reaches, that is aligned parallel to the transport direction. The misaligned capsules fall off the upper reaches onto a return transport mechanism which automatically transports them back to the upstream end of forward transport mechanism.
Claims23
A device for the arrangement, alignment, and correctly positioned supply of elongated articles to receptacles, a further processing station, and the like, said device comprising a supply receptacle holding a multiplicity of said articles;
- a distributor means spaced from said supply receptacle for delivering a predetermined number of said articles to each of a plurality of receiving receptacles;
- a forward transport means for transporting articles from a supply station at said supply receptacle to said distributor means in aligned position, said forward transport means including at least two drive rollers, at least two deflecting rollers, and at least two endless spiral springs each spanned over a respective one of said drive and deflecting rollers;
- and return transport means for transporting from said distributor means to said supply station articles which were not correctly positioned in said forward transport means and which have fallen therefrom.
A feed apparatus for elongated articles, said apparatus comprising:
- a pair of elongated elements extending parallel to each other generally horizontally and defining a generally horizontal transport path, said elements being spaced to hold some of said articles aligned parallel to said path;
- means for feeding said articles in random fashion to said elements at an upstream end of said path;
- forward transport drive means connected to said elements for frictionally advancing articles in a transport direction along said path from said upstream end toward the opposite downstream end;
- and reverse transport means extending substantially the full length of said path for catching articles not properly aligned with said direction on said elements and transporting such misaligned articles back in a direction opposite said transport direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.