Apparatus for removing drinking straws from bottles

An apparatus for removing projecting drinking straws from empty bottles comprising:

• a. a supporting frame structure,
• b. a conveyor for the bottles either in a case or individually,
• c. at least one pair of endless straw-gripping belts adapted for movement above said conveyor,
• d. a plurality of spaced pairs of pulleys mounted at predetermined position on said frame structure for guiding said belts over a series of stretches as follows:
• i. a straw-gripping stretch which extends generally parallel relative the bottle conveyor and in which said belts approach each other closely as they approach the top of the bottles whereby the belts clamp said projecting straws between them;
• ii. a straw-removing stretch which extends generally upwardly relative the bottle conveyor and in which said belts move together in close juxtaposition and remove said straws from said bottles;
• iii. a straw-holding stretch which extends generally normal to and then substantially parallel to the bottle conveyor and in which the belts are close together and hold said straws between them, and
• iv. a straw-ejecting stretch which extends generally normal relative the bottle conveyor and in which said belts are separated to release said straws;
• e. means to separate said belts in said last-mentioned stretch, said last-mentioned stretch joining at its end with the beginning of the first-mentioned stretch.