Abstract: A method and apparatus for wrapping coils of metallic strip and the like to protect against atmospheric corrosion, and the wrapped product are described. A plastic film sleeve is inserted through the open cylindrical center and held in place by flanged collars at each end. The sleeve is turned back over the collars and the ends are loosely stuffed into the open cylindrical center. The entire coil is then cocoon wrapped using relatively wide stretch-wrap film. The cocoon wrapping is then sealed to the turned-over sleeve in the vicinity of the end collars so as to seal the coil within a continuous plastic film. The excess cocoon wrapping and sleeve material overlying the cylindrical center can be trimmed away to leave an open center to receive coil handling equipment.

Abstract: A method of compacting a bill from a flat state into a pleated and wound state for position the bill in a cavity of an associated closure includes providing a bill in a substantially flat state and pleating the bill in a first direction to provide a series of substantially similar pleats. The pleated bill is compacted to set the pleats therein and at least partially wound into a generally circular configuration. The wound bill is positioned within the cavity of the associated closure. An apparatus for compacting and winding the bill and positioning the bill in the closure cavity includes a pleating station for pleating the bill in a predetermined configuration and a compacting station for compacting the pleated bill into a compacted state. The apparatus further includes a winding station having a winding member adapted to engage the compacted bill and to wind the bill into a generally circular orientation.

Abstract: A wedge for selecting articles to group on a cartoning machine where a wedge face that reacts infeed pressure has an outwardly curved surface. The curved face greatly reduces damage from infeed pressure to thin-walled cylindrical articles, such as beverage cans. In the preferred embodiment, the selector wedge is designed to attach to a flight bar on a selecting system of the cartoning machine. It has a recess to accept an end of a flight bar and holes through it for bolting the wedge to the flight bar.

Abstract: A density control cable is provided on an agricultural bagging machine for engagement with the material being bagged as the material is forced past the density control means into the bag being filled with agricultural material. A beveled press plate is provided on the bagging machine frame rearwardly of the rotor on the bagging machine for forcing the agricultural material upwardly, rearwardly and outwardly as the material passes thereby. A hydraulic cylinder is operatively connected to the density control cable to enable the width of the loop of the cable to be selectively varied.

Abstract: An apparatus and method of forming stacked article groups by supplying at least two streams of articles; forming a stream of first article groups having at least one article; placing a support base on a top surface of each first article group; and forming a second article group, having at least one article, on top of the support base of each first article group, whereby stacked article groups are formed. The stacked article groups are subsequently packaged.

Abstract: In an assembling line for assembling parts successively on engine base being moved on a conveyor, the conveyor comprises a plurality of conveyor divisions. Between two adjacent, i.e., preceding and succeeding, conveyor divisions, a self-running vehicle is provided, which receives an engine base with parts assembled thereon in the preceding conveyor division and parts to be assembled in the succeeding conveyor division and supplies the received work and parts to the succeeding conveyor division.

Abstract: A supplemental label may be attached to a bag having a wire loop closure by the steps of: forming a bag neck of a filled, flexible bag by collapsing bag material about the mouth of the bag. The filled, flexible bag is advanced along a process line to a wire loop closure applying station. An elongated neck of a label is placed against the bag neck, and the wire loop closure is applied tightly around the bag neck and the elongated label neck to close the bag, and to simultaneously attach the label to the bag by wire loop closure attachment. The labels may be fed to the system in strip form. Also, they may be printed after being unwound from a storage roller assembly and before being applied to the bag.

Abstract: Round bottles are moved between side walls in a tightly packed configuration by an underlying conveyor in a packaging line that requires the bottles to be divided into a plurality of side-by-side lanes for entry into the packer. The divider has selectively movable panels that normally form a divergent funnel for the bottles to allow them to expand and to move into the lanes. Void detectors in each of the outside lanes provide a signal to move one or both panels outwardly to clear a jam of bottles in the funnel. After a delay, the panels return slowly to their normal positions where they remain until the void detectors signal another jam in the funnel.

Abstract: Packages arriving continuously one after the other at an input station are loaded into boxes by continuously displacing an endless pocket belt through the input station and loading the packages at the input station into respective pockets of the belt. At a transfer station offset along the belt from the input station groups of the packages in the pockets are displaced transversely of the belt out of the respective pockets while the packages are still being displaced parallel to and synchronously with the belt at least until the packages being displaced transversely are clear of the pocket belt. These groups of packages displaced out of the respective pockets of the belts are then loaded into respective boxes.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are described for food product preservation by deactivation of microorganisms and enzymes by applying high-intensity, short-duration pulses of polychromatic light in a broad spectrum to packaging material surfaces. In some embodiments, a photodiode is employed for detecting the intensity of the light, and a control circuit is used to adjust power delivered to a flashlamp if the intensity of the light needs adjustment. In some embodiments, an outer safety glass is employed to protect the flashlamps. The outer safety glass may include coating materials at ends thereof. In addition, several variations of lamp assembly geometries accommodate small diameter packaging material tubes by, for example, using an fill pipe having offset first and second portions with a transitional region thereinbetween, or be eliminating the water jackets and using an outer safety glass to contain water as it is passed over flashlamps.

Abstract: A packaging system includes a stacking apparatus which utilizes a supplemental stacking member on a transfer mechanism for receiving at least one article from a conveying mechanism while the transfer mechanism is transferring a stack, such that a new stack is begun prior to completing the transfer of the first stack. This permits a substantially constant supply of articles to be provided continuously to the stacking apparatus without having to interrupt or slow down the flow of articles to the apparatus. The packaging system also includes a boxing apparatus which relies on pneumatically-actuated positioning mechanisms to move stacks of articles to discrete positions within boxes. Both the position and the velocity of the pneumatic mechanisms are utilized as feedback to provide increased speed without compromising positioning accuracy.

Abstract: A container receives and stores soiled items through valving structure that receives a soiled item through a normally open input opening and releases the soiled item to the container through a normally closed output opening after closing the normally open input opening and opening the normally closed output opening while preventing odors inside the container from escaping to the region outside the container.

Abstract: A tray packing-shrink wrapping machine for packaging articles along a conveyor is disclosed. The machine is operable in a dual lane mode and a single lane mode. In both modes a collation section receives articles from an infeed section and arranges the articles into rows and columns to create batches of articles. In dual lane mode a lane divider structure separates each batch into smaller microbatches. Separate trays and sheets of heat shrinkable film are simultaneously formed around the microbatches. An in-line stacker is selectively operable in single lane or dual lane modes to stack a packed tray on top of the preceding packed tray. The machine is quickly converted to single lane mode by removing the lane divider structure and center trayforming structures, removing the center stacker elements and retracting knives in the blank feeding and film wrapping devices. A method for converting a dual lane machine to a single lane machine is also disclosed.

Abstract: A paper folding apparatus has a buckle chute disposed between an inlet feed roller pair and an exit feed roller pair which are arranged to provide a substantially linear feed path for a paper article being folded and fed through the apparatus. The inlet feed roller pair is mounted on respective support members which permit adjustment of the position of one of the feed rollers of the inlet feed roller pair to change the path of the leading edge of the paper article as it moves through the inlet feed roller pair toward the buckle chute. A common drive gear is meshed with drive gears on rollers on each of the feed roller pairs and the feed roller drive gears are meshed with cooperating drive gears connected to the other rollers of each roller pair, respectively.

Abstract: There is disclosed apparatus and method for packaging individual strand segments of a strand material, such as dental floss, including apparatus for carrying out a method of supplying strand material to a rotatable guide element through a hollow shaft thereof positioned to wind the strand material around a selected mandrel of a circular array of mandrels together with controlling the moving of mandrels within and removing mandrels from within the circular path of the rotating guide element and for counting the rotations of the guide element and using that rotation count to control the advance of the array of mandrels wherein the mandrels have openings for entry of a pick-off element and are caused to be lowered to leave the coil of strand material on the pick-off element, following which the coil of strand material is urged forward by an air jet to be captured between two sheets of packaging film and transported to a stage where the packaging film sheets are sealed together around the coil to form a package i

Abstract: A device for loading and distribution of articles or material to be packaged in a packaging machine comprising an upper hopper for receiving the articles, a series of radial channels for conveying the articles towards peripheral points of collection of portions of articles a unit for distribution of the articles received via the hopper means to the conveying channels placed above said conveying channels, and drive means, provided for rotating the distribution unit around a vertical axis in order to consent the transfer of the articles to the conveying channels. In the device the distribution unit further comprises at least a first and a second distribution element extending radially and connected to each other in order to rotate together.

Abstract: Partition elements are inserted between articles of a group to be packaged and can extend in the longitudinal and/or transverse direction, by inserting the partitions from the bottom upwardly between longitudinal or transverse ranks of the articles by progressively spacing the ranks apart and bringing them together as the articles are transported along a transport path.

Abstract: A cookie tray loading machine (5) constructed and arranged to divert a single file lane of cookies (12) moved along an infeed conveyor belt (9) into a plurality of separate and generally parallel lanes (34) of cookies, which are formed as rows (44) of cookies on a plurality of alignment belt assemblies (36) and spaced apart from each preceding row of cookies, each row of cookies being placed onto a tray loading conveyor belt (46) and moved toward a tray loading station (60) for placement directly into a packaging tray (62), is disclosed. The loading machine includes a sweep arm diverter assembly (20) having a sweep arm diverter (21) directly driven by a sweep arm servomotor (23), a first lane alignment arm assembly (26) and a second and opposed lane alignment arm assembly (30) for aligning the cookies into the separate lanes of cookies, and an alignment belt assembly (36) for each lane of cookies.

Abstract: An automated system for individual dosage medication distribution 10 is provided. The system 10 includes a medium rate dispenser 20, a fast rate dispenser 30, a low rate dispenser 40, a conveyor 50, a diverter 60, a bagger 70, and collection bins 80 and 85. The dispensers 20, 30, and 40 are arranged to be able to deliver individual dosage packages of drugs to the conveyor 50. The conveyor 50, in turn, is configured to transport individual dosage packages to the bagger 70 or the collection bin 85. A programmable controller 12 receives patient prescription order information from health care providers and directs the dispensers 20, 30, and 40, conveyor 50, diverter 60, and bagger 70 to automatically pick the prescribed medication dosage unit, place it in a transportable package, and label the package for the health care personnel.

Abstract: A plurality of lengths of window or door framing material which have weatherstrip receiving channels are disposed on a support surface (10). An operator controls (14) a carriage (16) to move from a home position to the opposite end of the support surface. The operator takes free ends of strips (18) of weatherstripping which extend through a pinch roller assembly (22). A portion of each strip near the free end is inserted into the channel manually and the free end is clamped (50, 52) in the carriage. When all the strips are started, the operator changes the differential pressure across the piston of a rodless cylinder (34) returning the carriage to its home position pulling the weatherstripping through the channels. At the home position, the carriage releases the free ends of the weatherstripping and the operator cuts the weatherstripping adjacent the pinch roller assembly. The framing material with inserted weatherstripping is removed from the support surface and the process repeated.