Parison unscrambler

In an apparatus for unscrambling, orienting and feeding elongated objects having a radial flange as they move from a feeder to a processing station, the combination of a sorting chamber for receiving said objects at one end thereof, and discharging them from the other end, one or more pairs of feeding rollers mounted longitudinally throughout the length of said sorting chamber, the space between the rollers of each pair being large enough to receive the body of the object and small enough to prevent the passage of the flanged portion therebetween, said feeding rollers being inclined downwardly from the receiving end of said chamber to the discharge end thereof to promote gravity feed of said objects through said sorting chamber, means for rotating said rollers in an upward direction to aid in feeding said objects along the rollers and through said chamber, a rotatable clearing wheel in said sorting chamber, means mounting said clearing wheel so that its axis is substantially at right angles to the direction of feed of said feeding rollers and positioning the same above said feeding rollers a distance sufficient to prevent those objects not properly located between said feeding rollers from advancing beyond said clearing wheel, means driving said clearing wheel in a direction opposite to the normal movement of the objects being oriented and passing through said sorting chamber, said clearing wheel being provided with one or more transverse channels on its periphery, and relatively soft material positioned in each channel and protruding from said wheel for gently engaging the objects not properly positioned between the rollers, in combination with means mounted between each adjacent pair of feeding rollers for guiding said objects onto and between the rollers of each pair.

In an apparatus for unscrambling, orienting and feeding elongated objects having a radial flange as they move from a feeder to a processing station, the combination of a sorting chamber for receiving said objects at one end thereof, and discharging them from the other end, one or more pairs of feeding rollers mounted longitudinally throughout the length of said sorting chamber, the space between the rollers of each pair being large enough to receive the body of the object and small enough to prevent the passage of the flanged portion therebetween, said feeding rollers being inclined downwardly from the receiving end of said chamber to the discharge end thereof to promote gravity feed of said objects through said sorting chamber, means for rotating said rollers in an upward direction to aid in feeding said objects along the rollers and through said chamber, tracks aligned with and adjacent the ends of said feeding roller pairs for receiving said objects therefrom, said track means being inclined to promote gravity feed of said objects along said tracks toward the final processing station, means positioned at a selected location at each of said tracks for sensing the presence and absence of objects at such location, and means to stop operation of the feeder when said means senses the presence of objects at the selected location on all of said tracks, said sensing means comprising a plurality of arms mounted above and in alignment with each track, the lower end of each arm being urged downwardly to rest upon the track, whereby the lower end of said arm is moved upwardly and the upper end is moved downwardly whenever an object is on said track at the selected location, in combination with an electric eye having a beam extending transversely across the upper ends of said arms, and means positioning said electric eye so that said beam is intercepted by the upper end of said arms whenever any track is free of objects, but is not intercepted when all of said tracks are full.