Patent ID: 6269609
Filing Date: 2001-08-07
Classification: B65B

Abstract:
An apparatus for wrapping selected products from a plurality of products, said apparatus comprising:an in-feed conveyor for continuously moving a stream of a plurality of products along an in-feed path;a wrapper bypassing conveyor positioned along said in-feed path adapted to deliver certain selected products from said in-feed path to a further processing destination;a wrapper for individually wrapping selected products within the stream of products;a pre-wrapper accumulating conveyor including a first portion and a second portion, each of said first and second portions extends from the in-feed conveyor to the wrapper, wherein the first and second portions of the pre-wrapper accumulating conveyor alternatingly operate such that one of said first and second portions operates at the speed of the in-feed conveyor to receive the selected products from the in-feed conveyor and the other of said first and second portions operates at the speed of the wrapper to supply the selected products to the wrapper;a post-wrapper accumulating conveyor including a first portion and a second portion, each of said first and second portions extends from the wrapper to the wrapper bypassing conveyor, wherein the first and second portions of the post-wrapper accumulating conveyor alternatingly operate such that one of said first and second portions operates at the speed of the wrapper to receive the selected products from the wrapper and the other of said first and second portions operates at the speed of the wrapper bypassing conveyor to supply the selected products to the wrapper bypassing conveyor; anda control unit for determining in a pre-processing step which products shall be wrapped and therefore travel through said wrapper and which products shall not be wrapped and therefore travel along said wrapper bypassing conveyor.