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US 9,884,733 B1Granted
Conveyed bottle guide apparatus and method
AssigneeFlexibility Engineering, LLC
InventorsJoseph Pawelski, Thomas Ingraham, Steven Walker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of the inventive technology disclosed herein may improve efficiency of conveyed bottle apparatus by providing bottle jam prevention guides that may be rotatable, whether freely or in response to a motorized force. Such guides may force downward a bottle that undergone excessive swing in a forward and/or rearward direction, and thus has jammed or is in an incipient jam condition. Advantages may include not only increased efficiency of a conveyed bottle process, but also reduction or even elimination of chatter.
Claims35
A conveyed bottle guide apparatus, comprising:
- parallel neck guides established so as to support bottles singulated therebetween and to guide said bottles in a forward direction, said parallel neck guides having longitudinal neck guide axes that are parallel with said forward direction and defining a neck guide width between them;
- a central vertical plane halfway between said parallel neck guides, said neck guides established equidistant from said central vertical plane, a first of said neck guides established on a first side of said central vertical plane and a second of said neck guides established on a second side of said central vertical plane that is opposite said first side;
- a bottle propulsion system configured to propel said bottles in said forward direction;
- a first jam prevention guide established below said parallel neck guides and on said first side of said central vertical plane;
- and
- a second jam prevention guide established below said parallel neck guides and on said second side of said central vertical plane,
- wherein said first jam prevention guide comprises a first guide outer surface that is rotatable about a first guide axis of rotation and said second jam prevention guide comprises a second guide outer surface that is rotatable about a second guide axis of rotation;
- wherein said first guide axis of rotation and said second guide axis of rotation are parallel with said forward direction;
- wherein said first jam prevention guide and said second jam prevention guide define a jam prevention guide width between them, and are each equidistant from said central vertical plane;
- wherein said jam prevention guides are at a jam prevention guide height, which is a jam prevention guide distance below said neck guides;
- wherein said bottles have a bottle width at said jam prevention guide height;
- and
- wherein said jam prevention guides are configured so that said jam prevention guide width is at least as large as said bottle width.
10 more elements
A conveyed bottle guide method, comprising:
- establishing parallel neck guides so they are equidistant from a central vertical plane that is halfway between said neck guides, so as to support bottles singulated between said neck guides, to guide said bottles in a forward direction, and so that longitudinal neck guide axes defined by said neck guides are parallel with said forward direction, said neck guides defining a neck guide width between them;
- establishing a first jam prevention guide below said parallel neck guides, on a first side of said central vertical plane, at a certain horizontal distance from said central vertical plane, and at a jam prevention guide height;
- establishing a second jam prevention guide below said parallel neck guides, on a second side of said central vertical plane that is opposite said first side, at said certain horizontal distance from said central vertical plane, at a jam prevention guide width from said first jam prevention guide, and at said jam prevention guide height;
- configuring said first jam prevention guide to have a first guide outer surface that rotates about a first guide axis of rotation that is parallel with said forward direction;
- configuring said second jam prevention guide to have a second guide outer surface that rotates about a second guide axis of rotation that is parallel with said forward direction;
- and
- propelling said bottles in said forward direction,
- wherein said jam prevention guide width is at least as large as said bottle width at said jam prevention guide height.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.