GB542228A - Improved method of and apparatus for handling biscuits and like articles - Google Patents

Abstract

542,228. Feeding biscuits from stacks. BEE BEE BISCUITS, Ltd., and BUXBAUM, E. K. June 24, 1940, No. 10813. [Class 117] [Also in Groups XVII and XXX] Apparatus for handling biscuits or like articles, such as transferring them to icing machines or to packing containers or wrappers, comprises a suction head 2 carried by a movable transporter. The suction head consists of a tubular member having a flared end 1 of soft rubber and connected by flexible tubing 44 to a suction pipe 45. The head is carried by a bar 3 and vertical plunger 4 which slides, under the control of a compression spring 8, in a guide 5. A cam lever 11, actuated by a link 13 and rocking lever 14 from a cam 17, acts on the plunger to impart a short vertical reciprocating movement to the suction head to pick up a biscuit and a longer reciprocating movement to deposit it in a container 24, which may be mounted on a conveyer 22. A valve 46 for making and breaking the vacuum is actuated in synchronism with the movements of the head by levers 47, 49, a connecting rod 48, a spring-pressed rod 50 and cam 18. The head may have a lateral and reciprocating movement by engagement threads on the plunger and guide, and the length of the stroke may be adjusted by an abutment 43 engaging a projection 42, while the position of the suction head may be varied to accommodate articles of different thickness by adjusting the tubular holder 2. The containers 24 are filled by mounting them in succession on a conveyer which is given a step-by-step movement past a series of feeding devices, the lengths of the stroke of the heads being adjusted successively to an amount corresponding to the thickness of a biscuit. Alternatively the holder may be lowered after each cycle of a single feeding device by a similar amount. In the arrangement described, the biscuits are fed to the packing device, by a reciprocating slide 29 working across the foot of a stack of biscuits in a magazine 27. The slide is actuated by a cam 37, acting through a rocking arm, connecting rod 38, lever 34 and adjustable link 36, which is connected to the slide by a readily disconnectible universal joint 33 to allow the substitution of slides of different dimensions.