Abstract: Disclosed is a citrus fruit extractor of the type wherein a whole fruit is positioned in one of opposed interfitting cup halves which are provided with means for cutting the skin or rind at diametrically opposed areas. Concurrent movement of one or both cups toward each other compresses the fruit and produces the diametrically opposed cuts. Cutting and compressing ruptures the juice sacks and the juice flows through one of the cut areas of the skin, through a screen and to a collecting trough. In its path to the trough, the juice makes little or no contact with the freshly cut surfaces of the skin.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus for slitting a continuous strip of thermoplastic web by a knife heated to a temperature below the melting or fusing temperature of the web. By heating the knife the cutting force is substantially reduced.

Abstract: A sheet film perforator utilizes a plurality of heated pins projecting from a rotating cylinder to perforate film being drawn across the rotating cylinder. The pins are heated by multiple heat sources including a central heating element for heating the rotating cylinder from the inside and surface heaters mounted adjacent the pins to heat the pins from the outside and maintain a controlled pin temperature during the perforation operation. A heat shield is provided to syncronously be positioned when a pressure roll brush retractor removes film from engagement with the hot pin perforation roller. Perforation dimensions may be controlled through the use of micro adjusting means for controlling hot pin penetration into the film.

Abstract: Disclosed is a rotary vacuum arm bag or sheet transferring and stacking device and a stack-handling system enabling an indexing of counted bag stacks. The transferring device grasps and retains the bags adjacent margins transverse to the direction of web advance while at least a portion of the opposed margins parallel to such directions are spaced inwardly from the arms to define a slot or gap thru which stack-retaining fingers project contributing to remove a bag from a pair of arms and retaining the bag in a stack wherein respective margins overlie each other. Also disclosed is a stack-handling system having the ability to remove a completed stack from the stacking station and yet allow, if desired, continuous bag machine operation and, as a result, uninterrupted transfer of sheets or bags to the stacking stations.

Abstract: A machine is disclosed for canning meat, tuna fish and the like and in particular a device for cutting and shaping the slices as well as their insertion in cans. The device comprises essentially means for feeding the meat vertically to a horizontal shaping channel wherein the meat is pressed by a compactor against a suitably lobed end of the channel, each lobe being provided with a passage bore inside which runs a die that cuts a cylindrical pellet of meat which is pushed into a can lying underneath, through a gate placed under said bore, by a piston running inside the die. The empty cans are brought under the passage bore by a rotating horizontal star shaped plate which simultaneously discharges the filled cans laterally.

Abstract: The disclosed frozen confection machine is provided with a series of mold bars each of which contain a plurality of cavities for containing confection material which is frozen in said cavities. The machine is provided with a mechanism for inserting sticks into the partially frozen confection material, means for defrosting the exterior of the cavities to facilitate removal of the frozen confections and a selectively operable device responsive to the inadvertent retention of confection material in one or more cavities to remove the retained confection material by inverting the mold bar and spraying hot water into the cavities to remove the confection material. Moreover the confection machine provides laterally opposed to chains circulating in a closed path in which one reach of the chain, the working reach, associated with filling, freezing, stick insertion and confection removal devices and a return reach.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus, associated with a rotary transfer device having a plurality of radially extending circumferentially spaced arms, for flattening and maintaining thermoplastic web segments or bags in a flat condition at a pick-up or transfer station so that successive segments or bags are being engaged and transferred by the arms of the transfer device are free of folds or wrinkles and thus insure proper stacking on one or more upwardly extending posts at a stacking station.

Abstract: A retainer for preventing a conveyor drive chain from jumping off its sprocket is presented. The retainer comprises a shoe having a lining with an arcuate working surface of anti-friction material disposed over a lower run portion of the chain that is disposed over a drive sprocket. Coils springs bias the lining into engagement with the drive chain. Means are provided for maintaining the center of the working surface of the lining substantially concentric with the center of rotation of the drive sprocket.

Abstract: Apparatus for filling beverage tanks comprising a liquid manifold and a gas manifold for counter-pressurizing the liquid as it fills the tank. Supply conduits connect the tank with the manifolds. The gas supply conduit contains a coupling device for connection to a fill-height tube on the container. This coupling device includes an optical sensor embodying a prism which reflects light from a light source when the tank has liquid below a predetermined level and directs light onto a photo-conductor. When the liquid reaches a predetermined upper level in the tank and is forced into the coupling device through the fill-height tube, the prism changes its reflective characteristics, and light passes through the prism without reflection. The change in reflective conditions is brought about by the liquid covering adjacent sides of the prism. The photo-conductor correspondingly changes an electrical signal that is utilized to operate a solenoid valve for shutting off the liquid to the tank.

Abstract: Articles such as fruit on a conveyor are spray coated with liquid wax from a transverse row of sequentially pulsed spray nozzles controlled by microcomputer signals to solenoid nozzle valves. The computer is programmed to receive inputs from operator controlled panel switches which can be set to select the number of nozzles in the row; an excursion time during which all nozzles in a row spray and a pulse time during which one nozzle sprays. The computer limits the nozzle pulse time to dwell time equal to the quotient of the number of nozzles and the pulse time. The nozzles are automatically cleaned out by compressed air if the supply of fruit to the conveyor is interrupted for a predetermined period of time.

Abstract: A bag-making machine is disclosed for producing bags from thermoplastic web material. A device (86) for grasping and transferring web segments in an arcuate path for reception by an accumulating device (88) serves to grasp adjacent opposed edges and transfers them through an arc to an accumulating device which includes posts (90).Accumulation of web segments occurs on a bag stack accumulating and transporting device located between laterally spaced radially projected arms of the web transfer device and it includes an indexing system (94) for translating the stacking posts away from the stacking station. The web segments are subsequently cut and/or joined along a line located centrally of the web segments at a station (102) to thereby produce two individual stacks of bags.This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for producing thermoplastic bags.

Abstract: Apparatus for extracting frozen stick confections from several mold cups of a mold strip of a stick confection freezing apparatus is disclosed. At a pre-extraction station, the sticks of the frozen confections are individually grasped and individually pulled with separate spring forces while the mold cups are heated from below by hot water sprays. Each confection is lifted from the mold cup as soon as the surface layer thereof sufficiently thaws, and before each confection is completely removed from the cup, it is released and dropped back into the cup. At a second extraction station, all of the confections are simultaneously removed and thereafter conveyed to apparatus for wrapping the frozen confections.

Abstract: Disclosed is a stacking device associated with a bag making machine for producing bags from thermoplastic material. The device includes a stacking station at which successive bags are accumulated in a registered pile. Creation and maintenance of a registered stack is achieved by sequentially operable clamping bars being operationally related such that at least one bar is always in contact with the bag stack as it is being accumulated. On completion of a stack, which is determined by a conventional machine cycle counter, a longitudinally travelling clamp arrangement moves the stack away from the stacking station. The disclosed device is particularly suitable to process high density polyethylene.

Abstract: An article backlog control system for a processing machine such as a wrapper maintains a backlog count within a preselected range. Articles being randomly supplied to the backlog are continuously counted as are articles being removed from the backlog for processing, the difference between article counts is continuously determined and the speed of the processing machine is controlled by the system on the basis of the count difference in order to maintain the backlog within the preselected range.

Abstract: An apparatus for extracting several frozen confections from the mold cups of the mold member of a freezing apparatus and for conveying the frozen confections away from the freezing apparatus while rotating each confection 90.degree. and separating the confections to wider intervals. Such extractor-conveyor includes a plurality of extractor bar assemblies and an endless conveyor for moving the extractor bar assemblies from an extraction station to an ejection station. Each extractor bar assembly includes a plurality of gripper units that are initially arranged at relatively close intervals along the length of the extractor bar assembly that are each aligned with their direction of travel. The gripper units are connected by links and are mounted within a transverse channel so they may be rotated and separated as they are conveyed by a camming rail that is positioned to engage a cam follower roller attached to an end gripper unit.

Abstract: An apparatus for making wooden pallets includes a conveyor for moving a plurality of parallel stringers under a nailing machine where deckboards are nailed transversely across the stringers to form one side of the pallet. During operation of the preferred embodiment, the gripping carriage of the stringer conveyor normally propels in front of it one set of stringers, on which three bottom deckboards have already been nailed to form a half-pallet, and pulls behind it a set of stringers that have had no deckboards at all nailed thereto. As the stringer of the half-pallet move under the nailing machine, five deckboards are nailed to its upper surface to complete the pallet and, when the trailing stringers move under the nailing machine, a set of three deckboards are nailed thereto to form a half-pallet. At a point downstream from the nailing machine, the full pallet is discharged and the gripper carriage starts to move rearwardly.

Abstract: A system for controlling the flow of fruit and fruit juice through a juice extraction facility are disclosed. The juice extraction facility includes a bulk storage location for the fruit, a sizer for separating the fruit into size categories, a feeder for feeding the fruit from the storage location to the sizer, a plurality of juice extractors arranged into groups corresponding to the fruit size categories, means for recycling excess fruit from each group of extractors to the fruit storage location, and a juice storage tank. The measured variables include the level in the juice storage tank and the amount of fruit being recycled from each group of extractors to the fruit storage location. The control objectives include equalizing the fruit flow to each group of extractors, minimizing the amount of recycled fruit from each group of extractors, and maintaining the proper level in juice storage tank.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for producing handle bags made of thermoplastic web material by transporting segments of gusseted web to a cutting device that removes a generally rectangular portion of material to produce at least one style of a bag with handle portions that can be either gripped by hand or receive a forearm of a user. Moreover, there is disclosed apparatus for folding and collecting the bags so produced.

Abstract: An improved citrus fruit juice extractor of the type that includes interdigitating fruit cups which progressively compress a fruit as they are brought together to force juice-bearing material out of the peel of the fruit incorporates a strainer tube that has apertures of differing sizes. The apertures that are spaced from the cups are larger than those apertures that are closest to the cups. The larger apertures in the strainer tube permit substantially whole, ruptured juice sacs to be exuded therethrough at the outset of a juicing cycle without substantially comminuting the juice sacs, and the smaller apertures prevent undesirable material, such as membranes or embryonic seeds, from being forced therethrough under the higher pressures induced at the end of a juicing cycle.

Abstract: An improved method for extracting frozen stick confections from several mold cups of a mold strip of a stick confection freezing apparatus is disclosed. At a pre-extraction station, the sticks of the frozen confections are individually grasped and individually pulled with separate spring forces while the mold cups are heated from below by hot water sprays. Each confection is lifted from the mold cup as soon as the surface layer thereof sufficiently thaws, and before each confection is completely removed from the cup, it is released and dropped back into the cup. At a second extraction station, all of the confections are simultaneously removed and thereafter conveyed to apparatus for wrapping the frozen confections.