Patent GB-1479288-A (GB)
Title: Packaging apparatus
IPC: B65B35/56
Filed: 1974-09-27
Abstract: 1479288 Packaging apparatus CADBURY Ltd 27 Sept 1974 [28 Sept 1973] 45474/73 Heading B8C A packaging apparatus for placing articles such as chocolate coated units 13, into respective packages 11, the articles each having a pre determined position and orientation in a parti cular package, comprises means 29 for supplying the articles 13 singularly to an orientation head 22, means 24 causing rotation of the orientation head until the article assumes the required orientation, means 20 for transferring the articles from the orientation head to a rotatable table 10, a loading station 12 on the table 10, gate means 18 operable to restrain movement of the article 13 by the table 10 until the loading station 12 reaches a predetermined position, and means 14-17 for transferring the article from the loading station of the table into a package 11 adjacent the table. As shown, chocolate units 13 are fed, by an air pressureoperated mechanism 32 successively to a conveyer 31 and then to a relatively faster conveyer 30 leading to an input gate 29 which, at the appropriate time, delivers units 13, at position C on to a table 21 which rotates, by means of gearing, not shown, concentrically within the outer rotatable table 10 at a speed 2¢ times faster than the table 10, each unit 13 being retained by a fixed, flexible, stop 27 at position C until it is picked up by a respective one of four orientation heads 22 for transfer, by the means 20, on to the table 10 at position D. As an orientation head plate 23 passes beneath the stop 27 the unit 13, held by the latter, is deposited within an aperture 26 in the plate 23 as a flap of light-transmitting material, hinged to the front of the aperture, is raised from a lowered, to an upper, position flush with the aperture 26. A template 28, as shown exposed at adjacent position A, beneath the flap, has a number of holes and is exposed to a source of light, not shown so that, when all of the holes are not covered by a unit 13, an electro-magnet, not shown, is energized to pivot a drive roller 24 and rotate the orientation plate 23 until the unit 13 is urged into a position where it covers all of the holes in the template 28 whereupon rotation of the plate 23 is stopped. Units larger than permitted can be detected by a line of photocells disposed at the periphery of the template and can be withdrawn by a rejection mechanism. The units 13 are transferred, one at a time, by the mechanism 20, on to a corresponding one of a plurality of loading stations 12 on the table 10, each station 12, provided with a hinged support arm 14, with a support surface 15, a fixed location member 16, and a transfer arm 17, being brought into register with a respective one of a series of trays 11 supported on a driving chain 11 which serves for transporting a series of trays 11 between several similar mechanisms. The transfer mechanism 20 comprises a wheel, not shown, which is mounted above the tables 10, 21 and which carries a number of paddles 30 each of the latter being pivotable upwardly to release a unit 13 on to the table 10, where it is fed to the gate 18. The latter comprises a number of traps 19 which can be raised, and lowered, to release one unit on the table 10 and allow other units held thereby to advance by one trap. The released unit 13 is swept into a corresponding loading station 12 by a location plate 17a on a pivotally mounted arm 17 on to an associated support surface 15 and is held between the plate 17a and a fixed location member 16 at position A. At position B the arm 14 is pivoted outwardly and the unit 13, assisted by a pressure pad, not shown, falls into an oppropriate recess in a tray 11. In a modified loading station, Fig. 2, the location member 16 is replaced by a spring-loaded location arm 36 and the station includes a radially-slit, rubber guiding diaphragm 33 through which a unit 13 can be pushed by a pressure pad 35 mounted on a hinged arm 34. A simultaneous downward movement of the package 11 with the pad 35 may be necessary.