Patent ID: 7174694

Claim:
An apparatus for loading objects into respective pockets of a web formed with a plurality of rows of the pockets, the apparatus comprising: means for advancing the web horizontally and longitudinally generally parallel to the rows of pockets in a longitudinal transport direction with the pockets open upward; a loader having a plurality of passages each having a downwardly open mouth open immediately above a respective one of the rows of pockets, the passages each holding a row of the objects, whereby as the sheet is advanced underneath the loader the objects drop out of the mouths into the pockets; and respective arms pivotal on the loader downstream of the mouths at each of the rows about a horizontal axis generally perpendicular to the direction and having upwardly deflectable lower ends normally positioned immediately above the sheet and horizontally engageable with any of the objects projecting upwardly out of the respective pocket, whereby the arm lower end horizontally strikes the objects and then pivots up while sliding the projecting object up out of the respective pocket.