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AssigneeTechnicolor Videocassette of Michigan Inc.
InventorsWyman G. Dunford, James D. Barrett, Miguel A. Abaunza, Michael J. Kendra
Estimating the term…
Picking apparatus for picking and dispensing plastic sheet wrapped videocassette packages onto a high speed product gathering conveyor comprises a package dispensing mechanism with a package feed magazine containing a replenishable stack of these packages stacked on a platform of the dispensing mechanism. The dispensing mechanism is controlled by a computer and has a pair of dispensing belts with cogs that engage the package at the bottom of the stack and dispense it at a prescribed time off the platform and onto the conveyor. A set of nozzles with a pressurized air supply is operated to forcibly direct air between adjacent packages in the stack in a sequential manner to reduce adhesion therebetween prior to their dispensing and a bumper operated by a controlled plunger timely bumps the package at the bottom of the stack to help free it from the one immediately above and start it in the dispensing direction. Both the air circulation and the bumper act to reduce the force required of the dispensing cogs to dispense the package onto the conveyor in a timely and assured manner.
Apparatus for dispensing packages onto a passing conveyor comprising a package dispensing mechanism, a package storage and feed magazine adapted to locate a stack of said packages on said dispensing mechanisms said package dispensing mechanism having at least one pair of recirculating cogs adapted to simultaneously engage the lowermost package in the stack at laterally spaced locations and dispense same onto the passing conveyors a pressurized air injection system adapted to forcibly inject air between adjacent ones of the packages in said stack to reduce adhesion therebetween prior to their being dispensed, and a plunger device adapted to bump the package being dispensed toward the passing conveyor to free same from said stack for dispensing by said cogs onto the passing conveyor.
A method of dispensing packages onto a passing conveyor comprising the steps of:
Apparatus for dispensing packages with a PVC wrap onto a passing conveyor comprising a package dispensing mechanism, a package storage and feed magazine adapted to locate a stack of said packages on said dispensing mechanism, said package dispensing mechanism having at least one pair of recirculating cogs adapted to simultaneously engage the lowermost package in the stack at laterally spaced locations and dispense same onto the passing conveyor, a pressurized air injection system adapted to forcibly inject air between adjacent ones of the packages in said stack to reduce the adhesion therebetween of their PVC wraps prior to their being dispensed, and a plunger device adapted to bump the package being dispensed toward the passing conveyor to free same from said stack for dispensing by said cogs onto the passing conveyor.
A method of dispensing packages with a PVC wrap onto a passing conveyor comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.