Patent ID: 7191892

Claim:
An apparatus for transferring products from a first conveying line to a second conveying line in particular for feeding a boxing machine, with said second conveying line operated stepwise in a feeding direction and having a plurality of seats for receiving products, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of compartments substantially aligned with said feeding direction, each compartment of said compartments including a bottom and a pair of lateral opposite, boards extending from said bottom; said compartments receiving products released by manipulating means for taking products from said first, conveying line and placing the articles into said compartments; actuator means for rotating said compartments on axes substantially orthogonal to said feeding direction, from a loading configuration, in which said compartments receive the products from said manipulating means, with the bottom of each compartment substantially horizontal, to a overturned configuration, in which the compartments face the corresponding, dwelling seats of said second, conveying line, with the lower lateral boards of each compartment substantially coplanar with said seats; holding means for closing the upper part of said compartments, moving from the loading configuration up to the overturned configuration, so as to hold the products arranged on their own edges and contained in the compartments and to allow transferring of said products to the corresponding dwelling seats of said second conveying line; and, first abutment means connected to said holding means for defining a waiting position of the holding means, against elastic means connected thereto, and second abutment means, connected to said holding means so that when said holding means are in said waiting position, the compartment moving away from the loading configuration goes into abutment against said abutment means so as to pull said holding means up to said overturned configuration, against said elastic means.