Patent ID: 7814647

Claim:
A plastic foam cup reinforcing apparatus for applying a reinforcing member to a plastic foam cup having an angled side wall, said apparatus comprising: a cup conveyor including: (a) a cup dispenser including: (i) a cup dispenser frame; (ii) at least one independent offset guide member supported by the cup dispenser frame; and (iii) at least one set of a plurality of co-acting substantially vertically disposed threaded cup dispensing screws supported by the cup dispenser frame, wherein each guide member is aligned with one of the sets of cup dispensing screws; (b) a cup feeder including: (i) a cup feeder frame; (ii) a conveyor belt movably supported by the cup feeder frame, said conveyor belt defining a plurality of apertures; (iii) a conveyor belt actuator movably coupled to said conveyor belt; (iv) a vacuum chamber supported by the cup feeder frame, said vacuum chamber in fluid communication with a vacuum source; and (v) opposing co-acting spaced-apart cup feeder guide rails supported by the cup feeder frame, a first of said cup feeder guide rails extending along a second line, a second of said cup feeder guide rails extending along a third line which intersects the second line, said cup feeder guide rails angled offset from a vertical line to correspond with the angled side wall of the cup; (c) a cup spacer; (d) a cup mover; and (e) a cup remover; a reinforcing member dispenser and applicator configured to apply the reinforcing member to the angled side wall of the cup; and at least one electronic processor which at least controls the cup dispenser, the cup feeder, the cup spacer, the cup mover, the cup remover and the reinforcing member dispenser and applicator.