GB892696A - A method and an apparatus for filling match boxes with matches - Google Patents

Abstract

892,696. Packing matches in boxes. Sept. 18, 1958 [Sept. 27, 1957], No. 29940/58. Class 94(1). [Also in Group XXX] An apparatus for packing matches into boxes comprises a number of intermediate members 5, Fig. 1, intermittently moved around a closed path 2 so as to successively receive a number of matches from a source 19, whereafter each member 5 engages a tray 38 and transfers the matches thereto, the filled tray being then released from the member 5 so that it can be pushed into a slide 78. As shown the apparatus includes means 28 for pushing the matches flush against the end wall of each member 5, means 43 for pushing empty trays 38 past stop means 41 in synchronism with the members 5, a guide 42 causing each member 5 to engage a tray and transfer its contents thereto, a vibratdevice 47, an ejecting stripper 48 acting through a hole in each member 5 to push each filled tray out of its associated intermediate member 5, and pusher means 67 for inserting each filled tray in a slide 78. During this final motion a feeler 77 descends and enters the slide temporarily to prevent the matches from striking the top of the slide. In a modified form, Fig. 15, the intermediate members 5 do not have a base. A table 80 on which the members 5 slide acts as a base. In a modified form, Fig. 18, the intermediate members 5 are carried by radial arms, each member 5 being filled in turn at a station 25 and then rotated to a position where it engages and withdraws an empty tray 39 past stop means 41. Each tray 39 is drawn through a curved path so that the matches are transferred thereto and, finally, compressed air from a source 90, 91, acts on a bore 87 to discharge the filled tray from the member 5. A pusher 67 forces the tray 38 into a slide 78 with the aid of a feeler 77 as before. Instead of the compressed air means a stripper member 94, Fig. 19 (not shown), may be used to remove each filled tray from each member 5. Several types of intermediate trays 5 are described in detail. One particular tray has a false bottom mounted on a plunger, the remote end of the plunger carrying rollers engaged in a guide channel that ensures the operation of the plunger at the correct instant.