Automatic carton sealing apparatus

Apparatus of the type used for sealing the foldable flaps of cartons of random sizes, said apparatus including a frame structure, a vertically movable sealing head means mounted to said frame structure, and carton conveying means having a pair of facing longitudinally extending side arm means mounted to said frame structure so as to permit transverse movement of said side arm means towards and away from each other, said side arm means having upstream ends and downstream ends, said side arm means having endless conveyor belts engageable with opposite sides of said carton to move the same through said sealing head means;

• and improved mechanism for transversely moving said side arm means towards and away from each other comprising:
• (a) four pairs of transversely spaced sprocket wheels supported for simultaneous rotation about a substantially horizontal axis, two pairs being associated with the upstream ends of said side arm means and two pairs being associated with the downstream ends of said side arm means;
• (b) linkage means connecting the end portions of each of said side arm means to an associated one of said pairs of sprocket wheels;
• (c) drive means for rotating said sprocket wheels in a clockwise and counter-clockwise direction, such rotary motion of said sprocket wheels being translated to linear motion at said side arm means through said linkage means;
• and
• (d) direction reversing sprocket wheel means supported for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis, said direction-reversing sprocket wheel means being operationally connected to said upstream pairs of sprocket wheels whereby the direction of rotation of said upstream pairs of sprocket wheels is always opposed.