Device for preventing fall of button parts from a chute

In a button attaching machine having a support, a reservoir mounted on an upper portion of said support for containing a multiplicity of button parts, a terminal guide mounted on a lower portion of said support, and a chute assembly for conveying the button parts successively from said reservoir to said terminal guide, said chute assembly including an upper chute connected to said reservoir, a lower chute connected to said terminal guide, and an intermediate chute detachably mounted on said support and extending between said upper and lower chutes so as to define jointly therewith a combined, uninterrupted channel for receiving and transporting the button parts in succession, each of said upper, lower and intermediate chutes having through its entire length a pair of confronting flanges defining therebetween a longitudinal aperture communicating with said channel, and a blocking device for preventing the button parts from falling from said intermediate chute when the latter is detached, said blocking device comprising:

• (a) a blocking member adapted to be supported by said intermediate chute adjacent to a lower end thereof, said blocking member being reciprocaly movable in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said intermediate chute, said blocking member being normally held in engagement with said lower chute to retract away from said channel and, upon detachment of said intermediate chute, being movable into a blocking position where it is disposed below said channel and spaced from said lower end of said intermediate chute by a distance which is small enough to block the passage of the button parts;
• and
• (b) resilient means acting on said blocking member 34;
• 39 for urging the latter toward said blocking position.