Cap sorter and associated cleat

A cap sorter for lifting and orienting caps, comprising:

• a hopper section for holding randomly oriented caps;
• a conveyor belt traveling along a belt path that extends through the hopper section, the belt path extending from the hopper section and moving upward therefrom, a plurality of spaced apart cleat attachment locations along a length of the conveyor belt, each cleat attachment location formed by a plurality of button members extending from an outer surface of the conveyor belt, each button member including an enlarged head portion, each cleat attachment location having a cleat attached thereto, each cleat having a plurality of slots for matingly engaging with a corresponding one of the button members to removably hold the cleat to the conveyor belt when the enlarged head of the button member is located at a securing location of its corresponding slot, each button member movable along its corresponding slot to a removal location of the slot so as to enable the cleat to be separated from the conveyor belt by movement of the cleat relative to the conveyor belt;
• and
• a cap removal station located toward an upper part of the conveyor belt path for removing oriented caps from cleats;
• wherein each cleat includes a working edge and a non-working edge, the button members and slots are spaced such that the cleat only attaches to the conveyor belt with its working edge facing toward a travel direction of the conveyor belt;
• wherein the slot either (i) includes a first portion extending inwardly from a non-working edge of the cleat and a second portion substantially transverse to the first portion forming a somewhat L-shape or (ii) extends inwardly from a bottom of the cleat and includes an enlarged portion for receiving the enlarged head of the button member and a securing portion that traps the enlarged head of the button member within the slot forming a somewhat keyhole shape.

A method of sorting caps using a cap sorter, the method comprising:

• forming a plurality of cleat attachment locations by attaching a plurality of button members to a conveyor belt such that a first pair of adjacent button members of at least one cleat attachment location are spaced apart from each other a first distance in a cross-conveying direction that is greater than a second distance that a second pair of button members of the at least one cleat attachment location are spaced apart from each other in the cross-conveying direction, each button member including an enlarged head portion;
• and
• connecting a plurality of cleats to the conveyor belt spaced-apart from each other in a machine direction, the cleats being located at the cleat attachment locations formed by the plurality of button members extending from an outer surface of the conveyor belt, each cleat having a plurality of slots for matingly engaging with a corresponding one of the button members to removably hold the cleat to the conveyor belt when the enlarged head of the button member is located at a securing location of its corresponding slot, each button member movable along its corresponding slot to a removal location of the slot so as to enable the cleat to be separated from the conveyor belt by movement of the cleat relative to the conveyor belt;
• wherein the step of connecting the plurality of cleats to the conveyor belt includes either (i) maneuvering a cleat in a somewhat L-shaped pattern with button members located within associated slots of the cleat or (ii) aligning an enlarged portion of openings extending inwardly from a bottom of a cleat with corresponding enlarged heads of the button members.

A cap sorter for lifting and orienting caps, comprising:

• a hopper section for holding randomly oriented caps;
• a conveyor belt traveling along a belt path that extends through the hopper section, the belt path extending from the hopper section and moving upward therefrom;
• a plurality of button members extending from an outer surface of the conveyor belt, the plurality of button members defining a plurality of spaced apart cleat attachment locations along a length of the conveyor belt, each button member including an enlarged head portion;
• a cleat attached at each attachment location, each cleat including a working edge that faces in a machine direction, a non-working edge that faces opposite the machine direction and a bottom that faces the conveyor belt, each cleat having a plurality of slots for matingly engaging with a corresponding one of the button members to removably hold the cleat to the conveyor belt when the enlarged head of the button member is located at a securing location of its corresponding slot, wherein at least some of the slots have a non-working edge opening open to the open edge of the associated cleat and a bottom opening open to the bottom of the associated cleat, the bottom openings having a first portion with a machine direction axis and a second portion with a cross-machine direction axis;
• wherein each button member serves as a guidepost through its corresponding slot to a removal location of the slot so as to enable the cleat to be separated from the conveyor belt by movement of the cleat relative to the conveyor belt.