US 4,308,942 AGranted

Single drum material orientation apparatus and method

OwnerMichael Ackleyinventor

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Abstract

An apparatus for transferring, in a substantially uniform manner, a plurality of shaped objects, such as tablets, from a hopper adapted to contain a plurality of the tablets to a conveyor system for subsequent processing comprising a transfer drum in rotary arrangement relative to the hopper, adapted to receive the tablets within a plurality of peripherally spaced cavities having a substantially radially aligned pocket and a communicating, substantially longitudinally aligned pocket, a guide for re-orienting the tablets from the substantially radial orientation in which the tablets are received by the cavities, to a substantially longitudinal direction, and carriers operatively associated with the conveyor system to receive the substantially longitudinally oriented tablets in a substantially longitudinal orientation. Also the method.

Claims46

Dependent claims

An apparatus for transferring, in a substantially uniform, from a radial to a longitudinal orientation, a plurality of shaped objects from a hopper adapted to contain a plurality of the objects, which apparatus comprises

transfer drum means in rotary arrangement relative to the hopper, adapted to receive the objects in a radial position from the hopper within a plurality of peripherally spaced cavities,
the cavities comprising a first, substantially radially aligned pocket which communicates with a second, substantially longitudinally aligned pocket, the objects being received in the cavities in a radial orientation in the radial pocket,
means for re-orienting the objects, assisted by the transfer drum means, from the substantially radial orientation to a substantially longitudinal orientation within the substantially longitudinally aligned pocket which communicates with the substantially radially aligned pocket, wherein substantially the objects which have been received by the transfer drum means are re-oriented from a substantially radial orientation to a substantially longitudinal orientation, and
means for receiving the longitudinally oriented objects from the transfer drum means in a substantially longitudinal orientation independent of the radial position of the pocket, which receiving means is operatively associated with the conveyor means.

1 more element

Apparatus for transferring a plurality of objects from a storage station to a work station, each of said objects having oppositely disposed faces joined along edges, said apparatus comprising:

guide means for supplying said objects from said storage station on one of their edges with said faces disposed generally vertically;
a rotating transfer drum having a plurality of cavities, each cavity having a radial pocket sized and disposed to receive one of said objects from said guide means with said edges positioned one behind the other with respect to the direction of movement of said drum and a peripheral pocket sized and disposed to receive one of said objects from said radial pocket with said edges oriented generally in said direction of movement of said drum and said faces at different radial distances from the axis of rotation of said drum;
orienting means adjacent the surface of said rotating transfer drum for restricting radially outward movement of said objects from said radial pockets and for guiding said objects into said peripheral pockets;
and conveying means for receiving said objects from said peripheral pockets for delivery to said work station.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.