Patent ID: 9511950
Filing Date: 2016-12-06
CPC Classification: B65G

Claim Text:
1. A centrifugal article feed system for orienting and aligning incoming articles, the centrifugal article feed system comprising: an outer bowl having an upper rim surface; an inner disk disposed within the outer bowl and extending at an incline from a lower portion of the outer bowl upwardly adjacent the upper rim surface for delivering articles from the lower portion of the outer bowl upwardly to the upper rim surface; a drive system operatively connected to the outer bowl and the inner disk that rotates the outer bowl and the inner disk; a guide wall extending upwardly above the upper rim surface that guides the articles travelling along the upper rim surface toward an end of the guide wall; and a vertically oriented article engaging-type conveyor belt that directly receives the articles as the articles pass the end of the guide wall; wherein a distance between the guide wall and an inner edge of the upper rim surface is substantially constant over an article guide distance along which the articles travel on the upper rim surface.