Method and apparatus for forming package of alternately inverted containers
AssigneeOsgood Industries, Inc.
InventorsMartin J. Mueller, Michael A. Weigandt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for forming a package of alternately inverted containers, wherein an array of the containers is formed with adjacent containers relatively inverted. In accordance with the invention, a supply of containers is formed into first and second product streams, with each of the containers in the second product stream inverted. The containers are presented by an indexing mechanism to a reciprocating diverting gate mechanism, wherein the forward-most container of each product stream is diverted. In this manner, a pair of further product streams are formed, wherein the containers of each stream are alternately inverted. The containers are subsequently collated for heat-shrink packaging.
Claims12
A method of forming a package of alternately inverted containers, comprising the steps of:
- providing a supply of said containers;
- forming said supply of containers into first and second product streams of said containers;
- inverting each of the containers in said second product stream;
- arranging said first product stream and said second, inverted product stream in a generally side-by-side disposition, and substantially simultaneously diverting the forward-most container of each of said first and second product streams to form at least one further product stream having alternately inverted ones of said containers;
- collating a predetermined number of the alternately inverted containers in said further product stream to form an array of said containers;
- and
- packaging said collated group of containers to form said package.
A method of forming a package of alternately inverted containers, comprising the steps of:
- providing a supply of said containers;
- forming said supply of containers into first and second product streams of said containers;
- inverting each of the containers in said second product stream;
- forming a pair of further product streams each having alternately inverted ones of said containers by diverting containers from each of said first and second product streams;
- collating a predetermined number of the alternately inverted containers in said further product stream to form an array of said containers;
- and
- packaging said collated group of containers to form said package.
An apparatus for forming a package of alternately inverted containers, comprising:
- first and second conveyor means for respectively conveying first and second product streams of said containers;
- container inverting means operatively associated with said second conveyor means for inverting each of the containers in said second product stream;
- diverting means for diverting containers from each of said first and second product streams for forming a pair of further product streams each having alternately inverted ones of said containers, wherein the containers of each further stream are alternately inverted in an order opposite that of the other further stream;
- collating means for collating a predetermined number of the alternately inverted containers in said further product stream to form an array of said containers;
- and
- packaging means for packaging said collated array of containers to form said package.
An apparatus for forming a package of alternately inverted containers, comprising:
- first and second product conveyor means for respectively conveying first and second product streams of said containers;
- container inverting means operatively associated with said second conveyor means for inverting each of the containers in said second product stream;
- diverting means for diverting containers from each of said first and second product streams for forming at least one further product stream having alternately inverted ones of said containers;
- collating means for collating a predetermined number of the alternately inverted containers in said second product stream to form an array of said containers;
- and
- packaging means for packaging said collated array of containers to form said package,
- wherein said first and second conveyor means are disposed in generally side-by-side disposition immediately upstream of said diverting means, said diverting means comprising diverting gate means for substantially simultaneously diverting the forward-most one of the containers of each of said first and second product streams for forming said further product stream with alternately inverted ones of said containers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.