Article transfer mechanism

An article transfer mechanism for transferring a number of glassware articles from a dead plate of a glassware forming machine to a take-away conveyor, comprising:

• a pusher arm having means for engaging the number of glassware articles, said pusher arm being movable between a first position to engage the glassware at the dead plate and a second position at which the glassware is transferred to the take-away conveyor;
• a motor coupled to said pusher arm for controlling the motion of said arm between said first position and said second position;
• means for generating a periodic timing signal;
• and
• motor control means for controlling the speed of said motor based upon a realtime calculation, according to a velocity equation contained in a memory, of a new speed of said motor, said calculation occurring at each of several discrete times determined by said timing signal while said pusher arm moves between said first and second positions, said equation being a function of a number of variables and said motor control means including means for manually changing said number of variables in realtime to vary said equation in memory,
• wherein each new speed calculated at each current position defines a velocity profile between said first and second positions.

An article transfer mechanism for transferring a number of glassware articles from a dead plate of a glassware forming machine to a moving take-away conveyor, comprising:

• a pusher arm having means for engaging the number of glassware articles, said pusher arm being movable between a first position to engage the glassware at the dead plate and a second position at which the glassware is transferred to the take-away conveyor;
• a motor coupled to said pusher arm for controlling the motion of said arm between said first position and said second position;
• and
• means for controlling the speed of said motor so that said pusher arm moves between said first and second positions according to a velocity profile, said velocity profile having a pre-determined minimum velocity and a maximum velocity related to the speed of the moving take-away conveyor, said speed controlling means including non-scalar means for changing said maximum speed in realtime while said article transfer mechanism is operating to transfer glassware articles in relation to changes in the speed of the take-away conveyor while said minimum velocity remains unchanged.

An article transfer mechanism for transferring a number of glassware articles from a dead plate of a glassware forming machine to a moving take-away conveyor, comprising:

• a pusher arm having means for engaging the number of glassware articles, said pusher arm being movable between a first position to engage the glassware at the dead plate and a second position at which the glassware is transferred to the take-away conveyor;
• a motor coupled to said pusher arm for controlling the motion of said arm between said first position and said second position;
• means, including a microcontroller, for controlling the speed of said motor so that said pusher arm moves between said first and second positions according to a velocity profile;
• means for performing realtime calculations defined in a software algorithm stored in memory in said microcontroller, while said pusher arm is moving, to generate said velocity profile, said algorithm being a function of a number of variable data words stored in memory in the microcontroller;
• and
• a data entry terminal having an output coupled to said microcontroller, whereby said data entry terminal includes means for manually changing said variable data words in said memory and for realtime use in said calculations while the article transfer mechanism is operating.

An article transfer mechanism for continuously transferring a number articles from a first location to a moving conveyor, comprising:

• a pusher arm having means for engaging the number of articles, said pusher arm being movable between a first position to engage the article as the first location and a second position at which the article is transferred to the conveyor;
• a motor having means for moving said pusher arm between said first and second positions in response to a controller;
• and
• software means for controlling velocities of said motor to move said pusher arm according to a velocity profile, said software means including non-scalar means for changing said velocity profile in realtime as said article transfer mechanism is operating to continuously transfer articles.

An article transfer mechanism for continuously transferring a number articles from a first location to a moving conveyor, comprising:

• a pusher arm having means for engaging the number of articles, said pusher arm being movable between a first position to engage the article as the first location and a second position at which the article is transferred to the conveyor;
• a motor having means for moving said pusher arm between said first and second positions in response to a controller;
• and
• software means for controlling velocities of said motor to move said pusher arm according to a velocity profile, said software means including non-scalar means for changing said velocity profile in realtime in response to a number of manually changeable variables as said article transfer mechanism is operating to continuously transfer articles.