Packaging apparatus
AssigneeElectro-mec (Reading) Ltd
InventorsRonald George Garwood, Michael William Ellis, Brian Keith Hansford
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus for feeding items of pharmaceutical product to pockets in a continuously travelling web for the production of blister packs has a plurality of product delivery chutes mounted on a moving carriage having delivery gates for releasing product from the delivery chutes. The carriage cycles the delivery chutes from a stationary position under stationary metering chutes, where product is transferred into the delivery chutes, accelerating and lowering them into alignment with pockets in the travelling web, where product is released, and raising and returning the delivery chutes to the stationary position to repeat the cycle.
Claims13
Product feeding apparatus for delivering items of product into pockets in a continuously travelling web, comprising a plurality of product delivery chutes positioned over paths of travel of the pockets in the web, wherein the product delivery chutes are mounted on a moving carriage, and comprising reciprocating means operatively connected to said carriage for reciprocating said carriage in forward and return strokes along a direction of travel of the web in a cycle that includes a first stage synchronizing a speed of forward travel of the carriage with a speed of the web while positioning the delivery chutes over corresponding pockets in the travelling web and simultaneously releasing the items of product, said apparatus also comprising a stationary product metering assembly separate from the carriage and comprising means for releasing a specific number of items of product from a product supply at one time into each product delivery chute when the carriage is adjacent the metering assembly, and said delivery chutes include retaining means for temporarily retaining said specific number of items of product in said delivery chutes said cycle including a second stage in which the reciprocating means returns and positions the carriage adjacent to the metering assembly enabling said carriage to collect the specific number of items of product from the metering assembly for delivery.
Continuous motion pharmaceutical blister pack product feeding apparatus comprising a plurality of pharmaceutical product delivery chutes positioned over a guide track for guiding a continuously travelling web having product-receiving pockets formed therein whereby said pockets pass under said delivery chutes, wherein said chutes are mounted on and move with a moving carriage, and said apparatus comprises means operatively connected to the carriage to move the carriage through a cycle having a forward stroke in which the chutes are accelerated from a rest position to the speed of the web and lowered to the pockets, and a return stroke in which the chutes are raised from the web and returned to the rest position;
- and wherein said chutes are provided with gates for releasing items of product into the pockets while the chutes are travelling at web speed and lowered to the pockets, and a stationary product metering assembly at said rest position having means for releasing a specific number of items of product into each product delivery chute while the chutes are raised at the rest position.
Product feeding apparatus for delivering items of product into pockets in a continuously travelling, horizontal web, comprising:
- a plurality of product delivery chutes mounted on a movable carriage and positioned over paths of travel of the pockets in the web;
- a horizontally stationary product reservoir including a stationary product metering assembly which projects over the carriage and comprises metering chutes and means for releasing a specific number of items of a product at one time from each metering chute into each product delivery chute when aligned thereunder;
- a retaining means for temporarily retaining said specific number of items of product in said product delivery chutes;
- and
- reciprocating means for reciprocating said carriage in forward and return strokes along a direction of travel of the web between a product collecting position adjacent the stationary metering assembly, in which each product delivery chute is aligned under each metering chute so that the metering assembly can release a specific number of items of product into each product delivery chute, and a product delivery position remote from the stationary metering assembly, in which the reciprocating means synchronizes a speed of travel of the carriage with a speed of the web and positions the delivery chutes over corresponding pockets in the travelling web so that said retaining means releases the specific number of items of product into the corresponding pockets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.