Patent ID: 6837281

Claim:
An apparatus for filling at least one cavity in an article with granular or particulate material, said apparatus comprising: a filling chamber containing the material; a rotating wheel having at least one pocket defined in an outer circumferential surface, said at least one pocket receiving the material in the filling chamber and the outer circumferential surface defining at least part of a lateral side of said filling chamber; a conveying device adapted to position at least one article having at least one cavity to be filled with said material underneath said wheel to receive said material from said at least one pocket; a chute configured to supply the material to the filling chamber along path adjacent to the wheel, wherein the chute has a length such that the material entering said filling chamber from said chute is traveling at a velocity approximately equal to the velocity of the pockets on the outer circumferential surface of the wheel, wherein guide vanes are provided within said filling chamber for directing the material toward said pockets in said wheel.