GB1410394A - High speed tray former and loader - Google Patents

Abstract

1410394 Filling and erecting tray blanks A-T-O Inc 25 April 1973 [19 Jan 1973] 19638/73 Headings B8C and B8P Articles 15 are gathered into a group which is fed on to a tray blank supplied from a magazine 18, the blank then being moved to an erection station 24 where a pusher 272 urges the articles and blank downwardly to erect the tray. The articles are fed on a conveyer 14 to longitudinally extending partition plates 30 positioned above a grouping conveyer 16 moving slower than the conveyer 14. An overhead conveyer 22 then feeds the groups of articles through the apparatus. In the magazine 18 a stack of the blanks is held by adjustable guides with the bottom blank being moved by a reciprocating member from the stack to feed rollers which supply each blank to a pair of shafts (130, 136, Fig. 9, not shown) positioned above a pocket tray forming conveyer 20. The shafts have fingers which lower a blank on to rollers 160 on a pair of adjacent pockets in the conveyer 20. A group of articles is then deposited on a blank. At the station 24 a slide assembly 214 is horizontally reciprocated along rods 210, 212 by a cam follower engaging in a groove in a cylinder (230) on a shaft 234. The pusher 272 is mounted on a sub-assembly 229, 258, 228 which is vertically reciprocated in the assembly 214 by a bellcrank lever one arm of which engages in a groove in another cylinder 232 on the shaft 234. The pusher 272 whilst moving longitudinally with the blank pushes the articles and blank downwardly into a pair of pockets in the conveyer 20 while the rollers 160 fold the ends and sides of the blank upwardly. Spray heads 200, 202 apply glue, and arcuate strips 166 fold the comer gusset flaps upwardly against the extremities of the ends and sides. The various parts of the apparatus are adjustably mounted for use with containers and trays of different sizes.