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US 4,226,073 AGranted
Tray loader
AssigneePeters Machinery Company, Subsidiary of Katy Industries, Inc.
InventorsEdward Rose, Robert A. Roth
Life of this patent
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AssigneePeters Machinery Company, Subsidiary of Katy Industries, Inc.
InventorsEdward Rose, Robert A. Roth
Estimating the term…
An automatic tray loading apparatus for cookies or the like in which cook are divided into two rows with cookies in each row separated into groups of a given count and continuously conveyed to a loading station for loading into trays. A pair of drop chute members are aligned with the rows of cookies and each arranged to receive a discrete cookie group dropped therein by a drop gate device. The cookie group dropped into one of the drop chutes is moved laterally into close proximity to a second cookie group resting in the second drop chute to bring the cookie spacing into register with the spacing of cookie receiving compartments in the trays. Drop gate slides for each drop chute are then activated to open chute outlet openings to drop each cookie group into an appropriate compartment of a waiting cookie tray. A tray conveyor then carries away the cookie-filled tray and spots an empty tray below the drop chute outlet openings.
In an apparatus for loading cookies and the like into trays for packaging,
In combination with an apparatus for loading articles such as cookies and the like having at least two parallel sides, into trays having at least a pair of successively arranged generally parallel closely spaced article receiving compartments, in which the articles are supplied in a pair of spaced-apart rows, with each row separated into aligned groups of the same predetermined quantity, a transfer conveyor transferring groups of cookies for loading, said transfer conveyor having first and second drop gate means, each supporting a row of aligned cookies for movement into a loading position, means to activate said first and second drop gate means to accommodate the loading of cookies into successive compartments in said trays, leading and trailing drop chutes mounted beneath said drop gate means, a tray conveyor extending transversely of said transfer conveyor and disposed therebeneath, said drop chutes having receiving ends in cookie receiving relation relative to said drop gate means and discharge ends in cookie discharge relation relative to said successively arranged compartments, drop gate slides closing the discharge ends of said drop chutes, and means driven in timed relation with respect to operation of said drop gates for moving said drop gate slides oppositely of each other to open the outlet ends of said leading and trailing drop chutes to discharge groups of cookies into successive of said compartments.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.