Apparatus for orienting and printing capsules

A carrier for receiving a articles from an article rectifying apparatus for subsequent delivery to a printing apparatus, and comprising at least one pocket formed in a surface of said carrier and having a pair of elongated recesses configured to receive one of said articles, each of said recesses lying in a plane generally parallel with the surface of said carrier, a first recess which is oriented to receive an article from said rectifying apparatus, and a second recess which is oriented at an angle to said first recess and to present said article to said printing apparatus, and sloping surfaces extending from said first recess to said second recess so as to cause an article received in said first recess to be transported upon said sloping surfaces to said second recess while simultaneously rotating said article about a vertical axis from the orientation in which it is received from said rectifying apparatus to an orientation for delivery to said printing apparatus.

In an apparatus for rectifying articles and including a rectifying drum and a feed hopper overlying portions of said rectifying drum, an improved feed means comprising at least one finger positioned in said feed hopper to overly said drum at the interface between said drum and said feed hopper, and adapted to longitudinally reciprocate in an arcuate path along the surface of said drum, wherein said finger incorporates a pair of elongated slots engaging fixed support pins and aligned so as to develop said arcuate path, and an elongated slot engaging eccentric drive means for moving said finger along said arcuate path.

A carrier for receiving articles from an article rectifying apparatus for subsequent delivery to a printing apparatus, and comprising at least on pocket having a pair of elongated recesses, a first recess which is shallow and configured to initially receive an article from said rectifying apparatus, and a second recess which is deeper than said first recess and oriented at an angle to said first recess so as to subsequently cradle and present said article to said printing apparatus, and a pair of sloping surfaces positioned opposite to one another and incorporating slopes which progress downwardly from said first recess to said second recess so as to guide an article received in said first recess along said sloping surfaces to said second recess while simultaneously rotating said article about a vertical axis from the orientation in which it is received from said rectifying apparatus to the orientation for delivery to said printing apparatus.