GB1372746A - Apparatus for canning film magazines - Google Patents

Abstract

1372746 Canning film magazines EASTMAN KODAK CO 2 March 1972 [5 March 1971] 9713/72 Heading G2X A film magazine is loaded into a protective can by inserting it into a housing, aligning the housing with the can, and then urging the magazine from the housing into the can. As shown, the magazine 12 containing the roll of film, from which the leader end (19), Fig.6 (not shown) is left extending, is moved by a transfer arm 14 from the spooling station to the insertion station 17. Here it is pushed by a pusher 20 on the end of a sliding rod 24 into a cylindrical open-ended housing 26, the housing having an elongated slot (30) in its wall to accommodate the leader. The end of housing 26 opposite to pusher 20 is closed by a rotatable piston 32 having a finger 36 extending therefrom (seen more clearly in Fig.3 (not shown)). When magazine 12 is pushed into the housing, piston 32 is pushed back against a spring 53, finger 36 lying between the magazine and the wall of the housing. Spring 53 surrounds the rod 40 of piston 32, the rod ending in a knob 52. Housing 26 is mounted on a support 49 which carries a pinion 43. The pinion engages with a toothed gear sector 64 which is fixed to a plate 66. A rod 61 is connected by a link 58 to a member 55 to which support 49 is fixed. Thus as rod 61 moves to the right, member 55 is rotated anti-clockwise, carrying housing 26 with it through a 90 degrees rotation into the can loading position shown in dotted line in Fig.1. Pinion 43 rolls along toothed sector 64, causing rotation of rod 40, piston 32 and hence finger 36. This engages the film magazine and rotates it to wind the film leader round it Fig.6 (not shown). At the cam loading station 48 rod 40 is now in alignment with a pusher 74 fixed to an actuator plate 77. When this is actuated downwards, the pusher 74 engages against knob 52 and pushes magazine 12 out of housing 26 and into the can 100. The cans are supplied from an endless conveyor 102 (Fig.4) to an indexing mechanism 101 which comprises a circular support plate 104 and a pair of star wheels 106 which have pockets 105 into which the cans fit. As the can reaches the loading station 48 it is held by vacuum suction and the magazine pushed into it. The loaded cans are now removed along a conveyor 131. The sequence of operations is controlled automatically by electrical and/or pneumatic means.