Back to results
US 4,443,995 AGranted
Metering device and method
AssigneeFederal Paper Board Company, Inc.
InventorsJohn H. Myers, Edward Waleck
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeFederal Paper Board Company, Inc.
InventorsJohn H. Myers, Edward Waleck
Estimating the term…
This relates to a metering device particularly adapted for separating articles being conveyed in end-to-end relation and in side-by-side rows into sets of transversely aligned articles with adjacent sets of articles being displaced in a direction transversely to the direction of movement of the articles so as to provide for the metering or separation of the articles of adjacent sets. To this end there is provided a metering device which includes a pair of endless conveyors having opposed runs and each endless conveyor including first and second sets of article supports or carriers with one set of such article supports or carriers of each conveyor being transversely offset and the article supports or carriers being of the same length in a longitudinal direction as the length of the articles or a unit multiple of such articles. The transverse offsetting of articles of longitudinally adjacent sets serves to automatically transverse the aligned articles of each set.
A method of metering articles supplied in end-to-end relation into separate units, said method comprising the step of continuously feeding the articles along a path at a preselected speed and in longitudinal end-to-end touching relation, and without changing the speed of the articles transversely offsetting every other article a distance less than the transverse dimension of said articles relative to said path and to adjacent articles at opposite ends of each said every other article while maintaining said touching relationship, said articles being supplied in laterally adjacent rows and articles from said rows being separated into sets of laterally aligned articles by said offsetting, and transversely offset adjacent sets of articles laterally align articles of each set due to the end-to-end touching relation of articles of adjacent sets during said transversely offsetting.
A metering device for metering sets of laterally adjacent articles supplied in longitudinal end-to-end touching relation into separate sets of articles, said metering device comprising a conveyor for supplying articles generally arranged in sets of laterally adjacent articles in rows at a preselected rate in said end-to-end touching relation, a conveyor unit for continuously receiving the rows of articles and having displacing means for conveying the articles in said rows at said preselected rate and at the same time transversely offsetting all articles of every other set relative to others of the sets at opposite ends of each offset set a distance less than the transverse dimension of said articles while maintaining said touching relationship with the transverse offsetting of articles in each offset set forming means for laterally aligning like articles in touching adjacent sets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.