Patent ID: 7081079
Filing Date: 2006-07-25
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
1. A rotary object feeder comprising: (a) a sun member having a sun axis and being rotatable about a sun axis of rotation; (b) a sun drive mechanism for driving said sun member in rotation about said sun axis at a rotational speed of W (c) a planetary member mounted for connection to said sun member, said planetary member having a planetary axis located at a constant distance X from said sun axis, said planetary axis being substantially parallel to said sun axis, said planetary member being rotatable about said planetary axis of rotation and also being mounted for rotation around said sun axis with said sun member; (d) a planetary drive mechanism for rotating said planetary member about said planetary axis at a rotational speed of W (e) N pick-up members mounted on said planetary member, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 3, said pick-up members having pick-up locations at a common radius from said planetary axis, said pick up members being rotatable with said planetary member about said planetary axis and rotating with said planetary member around said sun axis, each of said pick-up members for picking up, holding and releasing an object at respective pick-up locations, each said pick-up location on said pick-up member being a fixed distance equal to L from said planetary axis; said pick-up members being driven about said planetary axis and said sun axis such that said pick-up locations of said pick-up members follow a common cyclical path having M apexes, wherein M=(N+1), and W 3 is equal in magnitude to (M/N)×W 1 .