Lid infeed for spinning rod restacker

Abstract

An assembly for use in a container lid conveyor apparatus serves to transfer container lids disposed on a generally horizontal conveyor, to disposition in a continuous stack of such lids balanced on their rims, and undergoing continuous rotation during the operation of the apparatus. This transfer is accomplished at speeds of up to 300 units per minute by an assembly comprising a chute having an upper and a lower vertical slideway, and an intermediate slideway inclined simultaneously forward and sidewise at acute angles with respect to the vertical, to guide the container lids forward to the stack. Side walls are associated with the chute along at least a portion of its lateral periphery, and a movable wall is disposed at the lower lateral periphery of the chute, in cooperative disposition with the side walls, to assist in guiding the descending container lids, and imparting a surface rotation to the lids that prepares them for reception by the spinning rods associated with the stack. A horizontally pivotable gate is suspended from its pivot axis adjacent the upper and intermediate slideways of the chute, to retain the container lids in the chute as they travel downward therethrough. The design of the present assembly assures that each container lid will be deposited adjacent the stack in spaced relation to the next arriving container lid, so that jam ups will not occur. Also, the rotation imparted by the movable wall complements the rotation of the spinning rods, so that premature ejection or jam up of container lids landing on the spinning rods, is avoided and eliminated.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.