Patent ID: 6883296

Claim:
A continuous motion case packing and flap closing apparatus for continuously picking up groups of articles at a pickup station and transferring the articles to an article insertion section where the articles are inserted into cases having major flaps and minor flaps maintained in a folded position adjacent sidewalls of the cases, said apparatus comprising: a frame; a single, central vertical axis; a plurality of reciprocating pickup heads carried by said frame in a manner to rotate in a radial path about said central axis for picking up the articles at said pickup station and inserting the articles at said article insertion section; a flap separation station where said major and minor flaps are separated from the sidewalls of the cases; a rotary conveyor transporting said cases through said article insertion section, and said flap separation station; a pickup head motion converter operatively connected to said pickup heads to move said pickup heads in a compound motion that includes a secondary rotation and a translation to effect a first generally linear path at said pick-up station for reliable article pick up and a second generally linear path at said flap separation station for reliable flap separation.