Abstract: A positional control device for regulating the position of an object outlet adjacent a container having a floor and plurality of sides. The position of the outlet is regulated such that an object falling from the outlet would fall a distance not greater than a predetermined distance. The outlet may also be regulated such that should the outlet approach a wall closer than a predetermined distance an alarm will be activated and the position of the outlet also being regulated such that it is automatically caused to rise upward and out of the container when a predetermined condition exists.

Abstract: A coin wrapping machine in which kinds of coins are wrapped with wrapping papers at a wrapping section is provided. Coin kind cams for setting initial positions of various operational portions of the machine are shaped to accommodate to all kinds of coins issued in a country. A support for detachably mounting paper units to supply wrapping paper to the wrapping section of the machine is adapted to preload a specific number of paper units for supporting wrapping paper suitable for the specific number of kinds of coins highly circulated in the country less than the number of all kinds of coins issued in the country. A motor for driving the support is separately provided from another motor for driving some of the coin kind cams. Therefore, when the kind of coins to be wrapped does not correspond to one kind of coins highly circulated in the country, another paper unit is substituted for one of the preloaded paper units.

Abstract: A form-fill-seal packaging method and apparatus in which a web of flexible packaging material is pulled from a supply and fed over a device for forming it into tubing, product to be packaged is provided in the tubing, and the tubing is sealed to form packages, and in which the web is pulled forward from the supply as one operation and the tubing is drawn forward and thereby taken up as an accompanying but separate operation with the take-up such that the web is pulled over the forming device under tension.

Abstract: Printed caps to be placed upon filled and corked bottles are forwarded onto slanted parallel guide rods which are caused to selectively rotate to present the successive caps thereon to a cap gripping and setting device with said caps having a determined position as detected by a sensing device disposed adjacent the lower end of the guide rods for sensing marks provided on the caps. The desired position of the caps is determined with respect to a proper positioning of the bottles so as to have printed patterns on the caps and the pleats thereof positioned with respect to structural features of the bottles, such as wire eyes of cork-wiring of champagne bottles.

Abstract: A control arrangement for a control member for opening and closing of the exit of a feed channel communicating a closure magazine and a closure transfer device, especially for apparatus for closing containers such as bottles and the like to which a closure is to be secured. The control member is controllable by means of an opto-electric sensor arrangement which is actuatable by a proximity switch which, in turn, is actuatable by a control cam. The sensor is arranged at such a distance away from the point of tangency of the pitch circles respectively prescribed by the transport wheel and the rotating securing devices, laterally of the transport path of the transport wheel and its beam is directed transverse to the transport path to strike a container held by the transport wheel to project from the upper side or the lower side thereof, such that the control member is retained in its open position when a container is sensed and, when the absence of a container is sensed, i.e.

Abstract: A coin packaging machine in which different kinds of coins are packaged. The coin packaging machine is provided with means for supplying coins, means for transporting the supplied coins while selecting a kind of coins out during transportation, means for accumulating transported coins, delivery means for receiving accumulated coins and delivering the coins from receiving position to packaging position, means for supplying a web of paper within packaging zone and means for clamping the packaged coins. The coin packaging machine further includes means for making adjustments of various kinds of the above means in accordance with the thickness and the width of the coins to be packaged. The coin packaging machine is also provided with a quantity of packaging paper feed setting device in which the quantity of packaging paper feed is automatically determined in accordance with the diameter of the coins to be packaged.

Abstract: Accumulated coins are introduced among packaging rollers by a supporting rod and gripped by the packaging rollers together with a packaging paper supplied from a source thereof. A paper detecting means is provided for detecting the presence of the paper. A circuit means is provided for reversely rotating a packaging motor to cause the packaging rollers to move back up to the position wherein the accumulated coins are not gripped.

Abstract: An apparatus for gently transferring delicate produce from a supply conveyor into a dry storage bin. The discharge head of the apparatus has a reversible delivery board which directs and uniformly stacks the produce within the bin without bruising the produce. The transfer apparatus utilizes a series of opposed brushes on a parallel conveyor arrangement to gently support and transfer the produce to the bin. The discharge head and the bin move relative to each other in both the horizontal and vertical planes to provide uniform layers of produce and to adjust for the increasing layers in the bin.

Abstract: An apparatus for controlling the feeding of cases into an article handling machine from a moving conveyor which feeds a continuous line of cases thereto. The apparatus includes an abutment carried in the path of flow of the cases. The abutment extends above the conveyor for engaging a front end of a first case of said line of cases stopping the forward movement of the cases on the conveyor. A movable post is carried below the front end of the case and is selectively raised for lifting the front end of the case over the abutment so that the case can be indexed forwardly on the conveyor and into the article handling machine.

Abstract: A wrapping paper selecting system for use in a coin packaging machine includes a coin selecting dial for selecting a desired type coin, a wrapping paper supporting table having a plurality of loading stations each for wrapping paper for a different type of coin, a wrapping paper feeding station and a drive for driving the supporting table so as to bring a desired one of the loading stations into the feeding station. A selected coin signal generator is associated with the coin selecting dial for producing a signal indicative of the type of coin which has been selected to be wrapped. A plurality of markings are exchangeably provided in the loading stations to identify the loading stations. A selected paper signal generator is provided in the feeding station for detecting the markings and producing a signal indicative of which loading station has been brought into the feeding station.

Abstract: Strip sections holding securing elements such as nails or screws are stacked, for example, in cartons so that the nail heads or screw heads come to rest in alternate opposite directions. For this purpose the strips slide down an inclined guide chute in a given direction until the heads are held by support elements which are movable alternately and laterally outwardly substantially at right angles to said given direction. Thus, one support element still supports the heads while the other support is withdrawn from the holding position whereby the strips, as they fall downwardly, rotate alternately, through an angle of 90.degree. whereupon the strips are intercepted, for example, by a tiltable chute.

Abstract: A photoelectrically controlled garment bagger. The bagger comprises a support frame for the bagger housing and for a roll of translucent sequentially detachable bags. The roll is provided with transverse perforations along which individual bags may be detached. Each bag is provided with an opaque spot located a predetermined distance from the perforations. The bags travel over a roller assembly.A photoelectric light responsive control unit employing a retroflector is mounted in the housing above the path of travel of the opaque spots on the bags. When an opaque spot on a bag interrupts the light beam of the control unit, a clamp bar in the housing is actuated to halt the movement of the roll of bags for a length of time sufficient to enable an operator to detach a bag and spread it on a garment, using a spreader device secured to the housing.

Abstract: A device to check and discard lengths of wrapping paper (foil) intended to form the wrapper on packets of cigarettes in a very high speed packet cigarette packer; comprises at least one turning wheel in continuous motion on an axis parallel to the vertical feed plane for the lengths of wrapping paper and disposed opposite the front side of the stop check for the single lengths. Apparatus having idlers is placed, in respect to the feed plane, on the opposite side of the turning wheel in continuous motion mounted on an axis parallel to the axis of the wheel and spaced therefrom. An electromagnetic command controls the check for missing or faulty bundles of cigarettes.

Abstract: A package making machine of the vertical form, fill and seal type has an improved electrical control system operable on demand irrespective of the intervals of time between a train of cycle start signals and operable independently of the mechanical power source for the machine and/or its associated product feeder. The machine has a tube feeder operable during a portion of each bag making cycle and an end sealer operable during another portion of each cycle. Side sealing is accomplished during feeding by a hot belt sealer and secondary operations include a jammed product dislodging plunger, an air blast, a code dater, and a bag cut-off knife. All of the foregoing are operable by the control system in timed relationship and the system is also capable of controlling a product dump device in the product feeder. The tube feeder is controlled by an adjustable timer or by a photoregistration circuit which reads marks printed along the length of the web from which the package tube is made.

Abstract: Hinged-lid packs are assembled on a turret-shaped conveyor with equidistant hollow mandrels which receive relatively soft first blanks at a first transfer station, blocks of cigarettes at a second transfer station, relatively stiff U-shaped second blanks at a third transfer station, and relatively stiff third blanks at a fourth transfer station. The first blanks are draped around the mandrels to form inner envelopes of packs, the second blanks are draped around the inner envelopes to form the so-called collars of packs, and the third blanks are draped around the inner envelopes and collars to form partially completed outer envelopes of packs. Each interruption of transport of blocks or improper transport of blocks to the conveyor entails an interruption of transport of first, second and/or third blanks, and each interruption of transport or improper transport of first, second or third blanks to the conveyor results in an interruption of transport of blocks and/or other blanks.

Abstract: A container filling machine has a conveyor assembly arranged for transporting articles to an elevated loading station at which is disposed a box or other suitable receptacle to be filled with the articles. The receptacle is raised to the loading station by an elevator device which lowers the receptacle as a function of articles placed in the container by a discharge portion of the conveyor assembly. A control system includes a sensor mounted on an area of the discharge portion of the conveyor assembly which is inserted into the receptacle being filled for discharging the articles from within the receptacle so as to actuate the elevator device upon detection by the sensor of the presence of articles within the receptacle up to a level immediately adjacent the sensor. By this arrangement, the distance the articles must fall when passing from the conveyor system to the receptacle is kept at a practical minimum so as to prevent damage to the articles.

Abstract: In a machine for filling bags, which bags are positioned one next to the other in a double web in which the bottom and sides are defined by joints between the two layers of the web, a diverging guiding means for guiding only one upper web edge and a means for pulling the other upper web edge away from the first edge are provided.

Abstract: Device for packaging an object in foil wherein a pair of foils are disposed on both sides of a packaging plane and, in a central welding device, are welded to one another enclosing therebetween the object to be packaged, and wherein the foil webs travel in a given direction and, for each foil web, a foil-web parting and/or foil-web re-welding device is provided, serving to effect an exchange of foils and having functional members for parting a foil web as well as for welding a pair of juxtaposed foil-web ends together, the functional members extending transversely to the foil-web travel direction, the parting and/or re-welding device being disposed between a bearing which carries one foil roll, and a foil-web pullng device located upstream of the central welding device in the foil-web travel direction, includes at least another bearing carrying a foil roll disposed in spaced relationship to and behind the first-mentioned foil-roll bearing, means defining respective separate foil-web guide paths for the foil w

Abstract: A bagging machine in which a series of spaced pusher arms serve to successively move articles linearly from a source toward and into individual bags located in a stack of bags at a bagging station. The stack of bags at the station is carried on a bag table supported on a bag supply conveyor system which extends to one side of the machine. The conveyor includes additional bag tables for carrying a plurality of stacks of bags in standby condition. The conveyor system is automatically controlled to replace an empty table with a loaded table in response to removal of the last bag on the table at the bagging station. Means are also provided for interrupting the movement of the pusher arms during transition of a loaded table into the space vacated by the empty table.

Abstract: A control apparatus is provided for properly positioning an empty case on an elevator platform of an article loading machine having a conveyor for moving the empty case onto the elevator platform to be raised thereby to a loading position beneath a loading mechanism, a clutch and brake arrangement for intermittently controlling the conveyor, and hydraulic or pneumatic means for raising and lowering the elevator wherein the control apparatus comprises a cam means having a first position abutting a front end of the case when transported onto the elevator platform for physically stopping the case and for sequentially de-actuating the clutch, and actuating the brake for stopping the conveyor and for actuating the hydraulic means for raising the elevator platform. The cam means has a second position below a bottom surface of the case when loaded and lowered to an original position for actuating the means for starting the conveyor while providing a roller surface over which the loaded case is moved.

Abstract: An apparatus for producing a continuous succession of pieces or sheets, particularly suitable for infeeding cut pieces of wrapping material to wrapping machines, comprises a track for collating and sending forward the said sheets or cuttings; a plurality of auxiliary tracks leading to the said collation track; means for channelling along the auxiliary tracks, successively, wrapping material from respective reels; and control means for rhythmically cutting such material and for automatically feeding material, end to end, from a fresh reel on exhaustion of an empty reel.

Abstract: A bagging device is provided with a floor supported device having a roll of polyethylene bags thereon, which are fed through a braking device and thence a round spreading devices and a floating hook support, whereupon is engaged sequentially the hooks of hangers upon which garments or the like are supported. The bags are provided with indicia thereupon which are detected by a detecting device to actuate the braking device so that the bags may be readily torn off before they seat on the respective garments being packaged. Provision is made for adjustments of the braking time so that the brake automatically releases after a fixed period of time thereby facilitating a drawing of the bags from the source for sequential bagging operations.

Abstract: Apparatus and method to tumble pack a pre-selected number of tetrahedron containers into a transport container without breaking the seals of any of the tetrahedron containers. A sliding discharge chute is employed which slides into the transport container adjacent the bottom thereof to allow the first few containers to be placed therein without dropping a long distance. Then the chute is slid upward as the rest of the containers are dropped into the transport container.

Abstract: Apparatus for making and manipulating sheet-like paper, plastic or metallic blanks in a packing machine has a pivotable conveyor with a gripper which pulls the leader of a running web across the path of successive mandrels or cigarette packs on an indexible turret whereby the gripper overcomes the resistance of a mechanical or pneumatic clamping device which holds the leader of the running web in a position in which the leader can be engaged by the gripper when the conveyor completes a return stroke. The running web is severed by a pair of knives which are installed between the clamping device and the gripper and are caused to cut the web when the gripper reaches an end position in which a sufficient length of the running web is moved across the path of an oncoming mandrel or cigarette pack.