Patent ID: 6131372
Filing Date: 2000-10-17
Classification: B65B

Abstract:
A method of metering articles, the articles being advanced along a path of travel on a feed conveyor toward a downstream infeed conveyor of a packaging machine, said method comprising the steps of:accumulating a first queue of articles on the feed conveyor with a metering device positioned along the path of travel with respect to the feed conveyor by moving an article engagement member provided as a part of the metering device in a linear direction along the path of travel, stopping the article engagement member at a predetermined position along the path of travel in front of the articles being carried on the feed conveyor, and forming the first queue of articles upstream of said article engagement member on the feed conveyor in response thereto;accumulating a second queue of articles on a take-away conveyor positioned downstream of the feed conveyor with the metering device by moving said article engagement member from its predetermined position in said linear direction along the path of travel, and then moving a second successive article engagement member along the path of travel and into said predetermined position in front of the remaining ones of the articles within said first queue of articles, and spacing the respective articles within the second queue of articles from one another with the metering device; andselectively advancing the articles within the second queue of articles along the path of travel toward the infeed conveyor of the packaging machine;wherein the step of moving the second article engagement member into said predetermined position includes the step of moving the second article engagement member into a gap created between adjacent ones of the articles within the first queue of articles as the articles are passed from the feed conveyor onto the take-away conveyor;and wherein the step of moving the second article engagement member into said gap includes the steps of moving the article engagement member in said linear direction along the path of travel in engagement with a wear strip extending in the direction of the path of travel and spaced above at least a portion of the first queue of articles, and then moving the article engagement member downwardly into said gap with the force of gravity as the article engagement member falls off of a downstream end of said wear strip.