Inline vacuum slug feeder
AssigneeSIG Pack, Inc., Doboy Division
InventorPhilip A. Koehler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An in line feed method and apparatus for forming slugs of incoming items, which are standing on edge and aligned front-to-back is disclosed. The process uses a conveyor belt and a vacuum chamber aligned end to end for separating the flow of items and creating slugs. The items introduced to the system are on a conveyor belt. The belt is periodically stopped and the items blocked from being sucked into the vacuum chamber. While the product is blocked from entering the vacuum chamber a moving finger which travels through the chamber is introduced at the mouth of the vacuum chamber and the items are released from the conveyor belt such that they are sucked into the vacuum chamber but are limited by and stack up against the finger. In this manner slugs are formed.
Claims15
An inline vacuum slug feeder comprising:
- a conveyor belt for moving a plurality of items, serially stacked front-to-back in line, from an intake end to a discharge end of the conveyor belt,
- a vacuum chamber adjacent to and in line with the conveyor belt discharge end, for pulling items by vacuum from the discharge end of the conveyor belt into the vacuum chamber, such that the items are serially stacked front-to-back in line as on the conveyor belt,
- a regulating means for controlling the passage of items from the discharge end of the conveyor belt to the vacuum chamber,
- a first finger inserted into and moving in the vacuum chamber, the finger inserted between the items, for regulating the velocity of the items in the vacuum chamber and for separating the plurality of items into slugs.
A process for regulating slug length and product count within a slug comprising:
- moving a line of upright items with the items stacked back-to-back on a conveyor belt,
- sucking the items from the end of the conveyor belt into a vacuum chamber such that the items in the vacuum chamber remain in line, upright and back-to-back,
- stopping the linear movement of the items at the end of the conveyor belt after a known length of items have gone by,
- inserting a first moving finger into the vacuum chamber while the movement of items from the conveyor belt is stopped,
- releasing the stopped items so they can again travel from the conveyor belt into the vacuum chamber such that the finger slows the flow of items in the vacuum chamber and divides the line of items into slugs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.