Patent ID: 6041578
Filing Date: 2000-03-28
Classification: B65B

Abstract:
In a packaging machine, a device to form groups of products placed in contact with each other and to insert the groups into cartons at a cartoning station, said device comprising:a stacking line, located next to the cartoning station and equipped with a controlled outfeed hopper in which an alternating product presser operates;a container located at a bottom of said hopper and moving alternatively from a first position in which it is connected with the hopper to a second position in which it is connected with the cartoning station where the groups are extracted from the container and transferred to the carton, after which the container returns to the first position connected with the hopper;a tongue, disposed and movable within the container and adapted for retaining products as they leave the hopper so as to form a group of products that grows downwardly toward an endwall of the container;means for detecting the number of products received by the container;linear means for actuating at least the tongue, said linear means adapted for providing a signal when a preset reference value defining the number of products in a group is reached, according to the number provided by the detecting means; and,programmable control means for receiving the preset reference value and for activating the closing of the hopper and the motion of the container to the cartoning station according to the signal provided by the linear means.