Patent ID: 7210916

Claim:
A device for inserting sticks (S) into moulds ( 12 ) for producing confectionery on a stick, having a mould conveyor ( 10 ) with moulds ( 12 ) arranged one behind the other in the conveying direction (a) thereof, which moulds ( 12 ) comprise mould cavities ( 20 ) which are arranged next to one another in rows and may be filled with confectionery mass (K), a feeder ( 50 ), which is able to provide for each row of mould cavities ( 20 ) a corresponding row of sticks (S), a rotary body ( 34 ), which may rotate in steps about an axis of rotation ( 36 ) arranged parallel to the rows of mould cavities ( 20 ), and stick holders ( 42 ), which are arranged on the rotary body ( 34 ) at angular distances corresponding to the rotary steps thereof and comprise rows of radial channels ( 44 ), into each of which a stick (S) may be inserted radially from the outside inwards, such that they are able to hold the sticks (S) in a position in which the latter project radially away from the rotary body ( 34 ), each stick holder ( 42 ), with each turn of the rotary body ( 34 ), finding itself opposite the feeder ( 50 ) in a first rotational angle position, in order to take therefrom a row of sticks (S), and in a last rotational angle position finding itself opposite a row of mould cavities ( 20 ), into each of which a stick (S) may be inserted by being pushed radially from the inside outwards out of its channel ( 44 ), characterised in that the rotary body ( 34 ) has an annular cross section, which leaves an annular space ( 40 ) free around a shaft member ( 38 ) defining the axis of rotation ( 36 ), the radial channels ( 44 ) open into the annular space ( 40 ) and an ejector ( 64 ) common to all the stick holders ( 42 ) is arranged non-rotatably in the annular space ( 40 ) and comprises plungers ( 66 ) for pushing the sticks (S) out of the channels ( 44 ), which plungers ( 66 ) are each able to enter the channels ( 44 ) directed towards a row of mould cavities ( 2 ) only when the rotary body ( 34 ) is at a standstill and may be withdrawn back into the annular space ( 40 ) before the next step of the rotary body ( 34 ).