Apparatus for replacing rejected articles, in particular blister packs, in a feeding line of a packaging machine

An apparatus for replacing rejected articles, in particular blister packs, onto the feeding line of a packaging machine, along which the articles to be packaged are conveyed, arranged and aligned in a line and regularly spaced apart, including:

• an additional magazine situated beside the feeding line for receiving and housing, a series of said articles arranged in a pile, which are used to replace the rejected articles;
• an elevating member connected to said additional magazine for controlling a stepwise movement of means supporting said articles arranged in a pile in step relation with an accumulation of the articles inside said additional magazine or with removal of a single article to be fed to said feeding line, from a top of said pile;
• a transferring device, situated above said additional magazine and equipped with gripping means, for automatically transferring said series of said articles into said additional magazine, to form a pile of said articles, and for picking up single articles from a top of said pile for replacing the rejected articles.