Feeder for pharmaceutical thermoform packaging machines

A dedicated feeder for delivering product to a pharmaceutical thermoform packaging system loading station, comprising:

• a housing positionable over said loading station;
• a product bin located at the top of said housing and carrying a plurality of orifices in its bottom in a predetermined matrix pattern consistent with the established pattern for the delivery matrix of the product;
• a mechanism for imparting a vertical reciprocating motion to said bin, said mechanism including an enclosure;
• at least one structural member containing a plurality of entrance chutes, said structural member being manually insertible and removable from said housing at a location adjacent to and immediately below said bin, and having entrance chutes extending from said bin orifices to guide product discharged from said bin;
• a slidable gating and indexing plate operating below said entrance chutes to close same off, said plate having a plurality of orifices therethrough to allow the discharge of a single product each and to index said product to a second position, wherein said plate is manually insertible to and removable from its operating area;
• a release guide structure positioned immediately below said plate, said release guide structure having a plurality of orifices therethrough in the matrix pattern of the delivered product, said orifices guiding said product to fall to said loading station, wherein said release guide structure upper face operates with said plate in said indexing operation, and wherein said release guide structure is manually insertible into and removable from said housing;
• a hanger structure attached to two opposing interior walls of said housing and wherein said release guide structure is manually insertable into and removable from said hanger structure;
• wherein said release guide structure is a template carrying a plurality of orifices, each said template orifice being aligned with a respective one of an intend product position of said loading station;
• wherein the top face of said template operates with said slidable gating and indexing plate to selectably release product to said loading station;
• a second hanger structure attached to two opposing interior walls of said housing;
• and wherein said plurality of entrance chutes structure is manually insertable onto and removable from said second hanger structure;
• wherein said plurality of entrance chutes each having an entranceway and an exitway are arranged in said predetermined matrix pattern;
• and wherein each said chute extends upward through a respective one of said product bin orifices to have its entranceway always within said product bin structure;
• and
• wherein said slidable gating and indexing plate includes:
• a shuttle plate positioned below said entrance chute exitways, said shuttle plate carrying a plurality of orifices in said predetermined matrix pattern and operating in a horizontal plane to index one product unit per orifice per operation;
• a pair of juxtaposed guided side bars positioned adjacent opposing interior walls of said housing;
• wherein said shuttle plate is manually insertable to be held by and between said pair of guided side bars and manually removable therefrom;
• two pairs of guides, one pair extending from each of said opposing interior walls of said housing to which said guided side bars are adjacently positioned;
• wherein each said guided side bar is positioned to slide on a respective pair of guides whereby said guide bars and said shuttle plate carried therebetween can move in an oscillating motion between said opposing interior walls;
• and
• a drive mechanism attached to one of said guided side bars for driving said guided side bars and said shuttle plate in said oscillating motion.

A dedicated feeder for delivering pharmaceutical product to a loading station for delivering simultaneously a plurality of individual ones of said product in a predetermined matrix pattern to said loading station, comprising:

• a housing positionable over said loading station;
• a product bin located at the top of said housing and carrying a plurality of orifices in its bottom in said predetermined matrix pattern, said orifices being sized to pass a single product at a time;
• a crank mechanism for imparting a vertical motion to said bin for promoting said individual ones of said product to drop through said bin orifices, said crank mechanism being connected to said housing;
• a plurality of entrance chutes each having an entranceway and an exitway and being assembled to mate with said product bin orifices, said entrance chutes being manually insertable and removable from a position in said housing below said product bin and fixed thereto;
• a gating and indexing mechanism positioned at the exitway of each entrance chute for simultaneously gating each entrance chute and then simultaneously indexing an individual one of said product from each entrance chute;
• an alignment structure for receiving said simultaneously indexed plural ones of said product and depositing same at said loading station in said predetermined matrix pattern;
• and
• wherein said gating and indexing mechanism and said alignment structure are manually received to be held within said housing and manually removed therefrom.