Patent ID: 6918226

Claim:
An apparatus for wrapping a napkin around one or more utensils, comprising: a generally rectangular hollow housing having, an output opening disposed on said housing, a utensil input and a napkin input; a support frame, positioned inside of said housing, having an assembly of vertically oriented beams and horizontally oriented support rails; a napkin lifting station for receiving and supporting a stack of napkins, the napkins being placed onto said lifting station through said napkin input; a napkin transfer station; a utensil transfer station for simultaneously placing a plurality of utensils onto an individual napkin while the napkin is positioned on the napkin wrapping station; said utensil transfer station including a plurality of cartridges for sortingly storing stacks of a plurality of types of utensils, a plurality of utensils grippers for lifting and removing selected utensils from the cartridges, a feed conveyor belt for transporting selected utensils to the napkin, and a bracket for mounting the said utensil transfer station to said support frame; a napkin folding station for folding over corners of a napkin prior to being wrapped by said wrapping station; and a napkin wrapping station having a plurality of conveyor belts for wrapping a napkin around a predetermined amount of utensils; wherein said napkin transfer station individually transfers napkins from said napkin lifting station to said napkin wrapping station; said napkin lifting station, napkin wrapping station, napkin transfer station, napkin folding station and utensil transfer station are each disposed on said support frame; whereby a predetermined amount of utensils are automatically wrapped in a napkin for use as a place setting without the need of human contact.