# US 5,343,671 A · Means for and methods of loading irregularly shaped objects into automatic packaging machines

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- Number: US 5,343,671 A
- Document ID: US5343671A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 07/977,578
- Filed: 1992-11-17
- Granted: 1994-09-06
- Earliest claimed: 1990-01-12
- Assignees: Tisma Machinery Corporation
- Inventors: Stevan Tisma
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US5343671A

## CPC

- B65B 35/12: by gravity
- B65B 35/205: {linked to endless conveyors}
- B65B 59/005: {Adjustable conveying means}
- B65G 17/36: having concave surfaces, e.g. buckets
- B65B 5/061: {Filled bags}
- B65B 5/064: {Potato chips}
- B65B 59/001: {Arrangements to enable adjustments related to the product to be packaged}
- B65G 2201/02: Articles
- B65B: MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING (bundling and pressing devices for cigars A24C1/44; devices for tensioning and securing binders adapted to be supported by the article or articles to be bound B25B25/00; applying closure members to bottles, jars or similar containers B67B1/00-B67B6/00; concurrent cleaning, filling and closing of bottles B67C7/00; emptying bottles, jars, cans, casks, barrels or similar containers B67C9/00)
- B65G: TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS (packaging B65B; handling thin or filamentary materials, e.g. paper sheets or thread, B65H; cranes B66C; portable mobile or lifting or hauling appliances, e.g. hoists, B66D; devices for lifting or lowering goods for loading or unloading purposes, e.g. fork-lift trucks, B66F9/00; emptying bottles, jars, casks, barrels or similar containers, not otherwise provided for, B67C9/00; delivering or transferring liquids B67D; filling or discharging vessels for liquefied, solidified or compressed gases F17C; pipe-line systems for fluids F17D)

## Abstract

A portable loader may be brought up to and selectively positioned to deliver product into mandrels carried by an automatic packaging machine. The loader may receive product on an asynchronous and on-demand basis and delivers product on a time basis coordinated with operation of the automatic packaging machine. The loader has two bins which are opened and closed in sequence to receive and deliver product with a buffer time storage in a second of the two bins in order to accommodate the timing of the packaging machine. The loader handles pouches and similarly irregularly shaped product, having a geometry which may vary at random. The pouches are gently shaped to fit into a box as they are transferred from a source of product into a loading position of the packaging machine.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A process of preconditioning and loading product in an automatic packaging machine, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) transporting a plurality of mandrels around a path which passes at least two work stations;
(b) making said mandrel relatively wide at one work station;
(c) making said mandrel relatively narrow at another work station;
(d) shaping product by adjusting the width of said mandrel between said one and other work stations; and
(e) repeatedly adjusting the mandrel through cycles of wide and narrow configurations in order to condition product during said transporting of said mandrels around said path.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1 wherein step (b) includes depositing product in said mandrel.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1 wherein step (c) includes thrusting said product into a container.

### Claim 4

An automatic packaging machine having an endless conveyor for transporting parts along an established path, said parts having a variable configuration, and means for changing said configuration as a function of an instantaneous position of said parts as they move along said established path; at least one cam track in at least one position along said established path for programming and controlling said changing of said configuration, wherein said programmed configurations of said variable configuration parts condition product.