Loader machine
AssigneeAmerican Licorice Company
InventorsGerald R. Anderson, David M. Williams
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An automatic loading machine is provided for aligning and loading a predetermined amount of elongated strips of product into individual containers wherein batches of elongated strips are periodically discharged from a product feed. A turret assembly is provided which has a plurality of buckets and each of the batches from the product feed is received by a separate bucket. The turret assembly is continuously vibrated and, as each bucket moves through a horizontal path, the batches of elongated strips carried therein become somewhat more aligned. The strips are dropped out of the buckets onto a flight conveyor and are conveyed to a discharge point where each batch is transferred into a separate container.
Claims13
A tray loading apparatus for aligning and loading a predetermined weight of licorice sticks into individual trays wherein batches of licorice sticks of predetermined weight are periodically discharged from an automatic weighing machine, comprising:
- a turret assembly adapted to rotate about a vertical axis, having a plurality of buckets arranged in a path around said vertical axis;
- a feed chute means for receiving said batches of licorice sticks discharged from said weighing machine and feeding each of said batches into a separate one of said buckets;
- turret vibration means for vibrating said turret assembly to cause said batches of sticks to become somewhat more aligned;
- bucket door means formed in the bottom of each of said buckets for periodically emptying said batches of licorice sticks from said buckets;
- flight conveyor means for receiving said batches of licorice sticks from said buckets, and
- discharge means for loading each of said batches from said flight conveyor means into a separate tray.
A method of loading batches of elongated licorice sticks by weight into individual trays comprising the steps:
- accumulating licorice sticks in an automatic weighing machine until a predetermined batch weight has been attained,
- discharging said batch of licorice sticks into a rotary turret,
- vibrating said batch of licorice sticks in said turret to somewhat align the sticks into parallel alignment,
- discharging said batch of licorice sticks onto a conveyor,
- conveying said batch from the output of said rotary turret to a conveyor discharge point,
- vibrating said batch of licorice sticks as they are conveyed to align said sticks lengthwise, and
- discharging said batch into an individual tray.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.