Loading apparatus for loading a strip of a soft material into a container

A loading apparatus adapted to load a strip of a soft material into a container, said loading apparatus comprising:

• a support;
• a rotatable seat mounted rotatably on said support and rotatable about an axis relative to said support;
• a vertically extending tubular sleeve member mounted securely on said rotatable seat and rotatable about said axis along with said rotatable seat among first, second, and third angular positions which are angularly spaced apart from one another;
• a strip forming unit that is adapted to form a source of the soft material into a predetermined length of a strip of the soft material;
• a feeding unit mounted on said support, defining a horizontally extending feed passage below said sleeve member, and adapted to feed the source of the soft material through said strip forming unit and advance the strip of the soft material along said feed passage to a position vertically aligned with said first angular position;
• a first cylinder unit mounted on said support and having a vertically extending first cylinder and a first piston that is telescopically extendable from said first cylinder, said first cylinder being disposed below said feed passage at a position vertically aligned with said first angular position, said sleeve member being vertically aligned with said first cylinder when said sleeve member is turned to said first angular position so as to permit the strip of the soft material on said feed passage to be pushed into said sleeve member by said first piston when said first piston extends outwardly from said first cylinder into said sleeve member;
• a buffering unit mounted securely on said support and including a spring-biased abutting member that is disposed below said sleeve member at a position vertically aligned with said second angular position;
• a second cylinder unit mounted on said support and having a vertically extending second cylinder and a second piston that is telescopically extendable from said second cylinder, said second cylinder being disposed above said sleeve member at a position vertically aligned with said second angular position, said sleeve member being vertically aligned with said second cylinder and said spring-biased abutting member when said sleeve member is turned to said second angular position so as to permit the strip of the soft material in the sleeve member to be pressed into a compact form of the soft material by said second piston when said second piston extends outwardly from said second cylinder into said sleeve member and presses the strip of the soft material against said spring-biased abutting member;
• a container conveyor adapted to carry the container to said third angular position;
• and
• a third cylinder unit mounted on said support and having a third cylinder and a third piston that is telescopically extendable from said third cylinder, said third cylinder being disposed above said sleeve member at a position aligned with said third angular position, said sleeve member being vertically aligned with said third cylinder and the container when said sleeve member is turned to said third angular position so as to permit the compact form of the soft material in said sleeve member to be pushed into the container by said third piston when said third piston extends outwardly from said third cylinder through said sleeve member and into the container.