Patent ID: 8789446

Claim:
A screw feeding apparatus to deliver a screw from a screw feeder having a vibrating rail to a screw guide tube, the screw feeding apparatus comprising: a first actuator including a pocket with a sensor, the first actuator moveable between a detection position and a retracted position, wherein the first actuator is configured to detect with the sensor a screw in the pocket received from the vibrating rail of the screw feeder in the detection position and to then, upon detection of the screw by the sensor, move to the retracted position; and a second actuator including a screw pickup with a screw detector, the second actuator moveable between a pickup position and a drop position, wherein the screw pickup of the second actuator is configured to detect and pick up the screw from the pocket of the first actuator in the pickup position and to move to the drop position to drop the screw into the screw guide tube, wherein the first actuator moves back to the detection position to detect with the sensor a next screw from the screw feeder and the second actuator moves back to the pickup position.