Patent ID: 7624855
Filing Date: 2009-12-01
Classification: B31B,B65H

Abstract:
1. In a machine for automatically packaging substantially identical, generally flat articles, each article being comprised of a plurality of panels and having a first, substantially continuous side and a second, discontinuous opposite side, the panels having surfaces on the continuous side of the article that lie substantially only in a common plane and having surfaces on the discontinuous side of the article that lie substantially in at least two generally parallel planes, each of the articles having opposite end portions that extend transversely with respect to an endwise axis, one of the end portions being substantially thicker than the other, and each article also having edge structure that extends transversely between the opposite end portions on the discontinuous side and at an intersection of the at least two planes; said machine including a transporting system for merging and accumulating the articles, said system comprising first and second conveying means, said conveying means being constructed for transporting the articles on respective axes of travel along separate paths from a common entrance location, at which all of the articles have the same, first orientation, end-to-end and side-to-side, with their continuous sides directed upwardly, to a common accumulation location of the machine at which is provided an upwardly facing support surface, each of said conveying means being constructed to maintain the articles transported thereby with their endwise axes in alignment with said axis of travel thereof, said first conveying means being so constructed and arranged as to deliver the articles to said accumulation location with the first orientation, and said second conveying means being so constructed and arranged as to deliver the articles to said accumulation location with a second orientation in which the articles are inverted from the first orientation, end-to-end about transverse axes thereof, said first and second conveying means delivering the articles transported thereby to generally opposite lateral sides of said accumulation location for merging and accumulation as a shingled stream on said support surface; said machine also having diverting means at said entrance location for presenting equal numbers of articles, as groups, alternatingly to said first and second conveying means for transport thereby; said second conveying means including an inverting portion that is so constructed as to invert the articles transported thereby, from one side to the other about the endwise axes thereof so that, at said accumulation location, the discontinuous sides of all of the articles face said upwardly facing support surface and the continuous sides thereof are upwardly directed, said inverting portion of said second conveying means being constructed to twist through an effective angle of substantially 180° about said axis of travel of said second conveying means, and said second conveying means including at least three cooperating, separate sections, said inverting portion comprising an inverting section interposed between two other of said sections.