Patent ID: 7695421

Claim:
A system for feeding cartons from a magazine into flights of a carton conveyor, comprising: a frame having a central shaft; feeder supports mounted on said frame; at least one carton engaging assembly carried along a path of travel between a carton pick position for engaging and removing the cartons from the magazine, and a loading position for depositing the cartons into selected flights of the carton conveyor; at least one rocker arm connected to said at least one carton engaging assembly, and pivotable about said central shaft; and said at least one carton engaging assembly including a series of vacuum cups mounted along a feeder bar, a linkage connected to said feeder bar and to said at least one rocker arm and moveable radially for controlling pivoting of said feeder bar toward and away from the magazine and carton conveyor to control an operating angle of said vacuum cups; and a gear mechanism engaging said feeder bar for controlling oscillating movement of said vacuum cups so as to vary radial position of said vacuum cups with respect to the cartons in the magazine to control dwell time of said vacuum cups in engagement with the cartons to enable engagement and picking of cartons of varying sizes; wherein said gear mechanism comprises a pinion gear connected to a feed bar arm attached to said feeder bar, and a segment gear adapted to engage and cause rotation of said pinion gear so as to adjust the radial position of said vacuum cups.