Self-synchronizing bottle carrier applicator

In a machine for forcibly applying a series of molded plastic carriers having at least one row of aligned holes therein to a series of upright container bottles moving along a horizontal bottle path, said machine including:

• a hopper for supporting at least one stack of carriers above said bottle path,
• means for removing in serial fashion carriers from the bottom of said stack and feeding them along a corresponding carrier path leading from said stack of carriers and which intersects the underlying bottle movement path such that movement of said bottles causes the tops of the bottles to pull the carriers over and across the tops of the bottles passing thereunder, and
• an applicator wheel mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis, downstream of the intersection of the carrier path and the bottle path, and being positioned above said bottles and said carriers and means for forcibly applying said wheel into peripheral contact with said carriers to press said carriers onto the bottles to the extent that the bottle tops project through said holes,
• the improvement wherein:
• said means for feeding said carriers along a carrier path comprises a gravity chute longitudinally aligned with said bottle path and being inclined downwardly and away from said at least on carrier stack and terminating in an open discharge end just above the tops of said bottles, and wherein said bottle path is formed by a horizontal powered conveyor means beneath said chute with its discharge end terminating upstream of the discharge end of said gravity chute and a table having a top aligned with said horizontal powered conveyor means and extending downstream therefrom from the discharge end of said horizontal powered conveyor means to a point underlying said applicator wheel, and
• individual open top cartons of predetermined size carrying a predetermined number of said upright bottles in row and column positions therewithin corresponding to the position and spacing of said holes within said carriers such that regardless of random movement of said cartons of bottles along said horizontal bottle path by said horizontal power conveyor means, said cartons are moved over said table beneath the discharge end of said chute and to said applicator wheel in end-to-end contact solely by the force of cartons discharging onto said table top from said powered conveyor means such that carriers are always in proper alignment with said upright bottles whereby multi-bottle carrier packs are readily assembled with carrier portions encircling the bottle necks and with the carriers embracing a selected group of container bottles.