Patent ID: 7007793

Claim:
A container transfer device, of the type in which the containers ( 12 ) are transferred on a path in an arc of circle around a central axis (A 1 ) of the transfer device ( 10 ), of the type in which the device has at least one support wheel ( 20 ) and one guide wheel ( 24 ) that are driven in the same rotational movement around the axis (A 1 ) of the device, and of the type in which the guide wheel ( 24 ) has, at its periphery, guide slots ( 28 ) that are made as radial cavities with respect to an outer envelope circle of the guide wheel ( 24 ), and the dimensions of which are adapted to the size of the containers ( 12 ) to be transferred, wherein: the guide wheel ( 24 ) has means for varying the size of the guide slots ( 28 ) so that they can be adapted to the size of the containers ( 12 ) to be transferred; and the guide wheel ( 24 ) has means for preventing the containers from being inserted into false guide slots ( 42 ) arranged between the guide slots ( 28 ), wherein the guide wheel ( 24 ) has two superposed concentric plates ( 30 , 32 ), each plate being provided with a series of teeth ( 34 , 36 ) projecting radially outward, each tooth ( 34 , 36 ) having a left edge and a right edge, in that the width of each guide slot ( 28 ) of the guide wheel ( 24 ) is delimited by the left edge ( 38 ) of a tooth ( 34 ) of a first ( 30 ) of the two plates and by the right edge ( 40 ) of a tooth ( 36 ) of the second ( 32 ) of the two plates, and in that, by varying the relative angular position of the two plates ( 30 , 32 ) around their axis (A 1 ), the width of all of the guide slots ( 28 ) of the guide wheel ( 24 ) is varied simultaneously, and wherein each of the teeth ( 34 , 36 ) of the two plates ( 30 , 32 ) has two tensioners ( 44 ) that are placed, one at the head of the tooth, the other at the foot of the tooth, and which are arranged along the edge ( 38 , 40 ) of the tooth that serves to delimit a guide slot ( 28 ), and in that the guide wheel ( 24 ) has a belt ( 46 ) that is stretched on the tensioners ( 44 ) so as to appreciably follow the envelope circle between two guide slots ( 28 ).