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 strand positioning 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 strand positioning element and for counting the rotations of the strand positioning element and using that rotation count to control the advance of the array of mandrels wherein the mandrels having 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 tog

Abstract: A unit for wrapping packets, wherein a first seat, carried on a first conveyor, closed by a sheet of wrapping material and housing a packet, is brought into engagement with a second seat on a second conveyor to insert the packet inside the second seat and fold the sheet into a U about the packet; the first seat engaging a respective packet by the end surfaces of the packet; and the second seat engaging the packet by a pair of lateral walls crosswise to the end surfaces.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for configuring a computer system is adapted to allow configuration to occur on the system unit without removing the system unit from its packaging. By so preparing and operating the unit that it can function to a degree as a network client, it is possible to perform steps for configuring "in the package" that violate normal self test expectations. With this abnormal operating environment and operation the system is placed in condition to be removed from the packaging at the user's location with BIOS and program image customized for the user. This approach provides a freshly configured system and yet eliminates unpacking at a configuration center and then repacking for transfer to the user or the need for refresh configuration at the user site as the system unit is set up for normal use.

Abstract: A cover forming apparatus for forming a flower pot or flower pot cover from a sheet of material by engaging a sheet of material about the outer surface of a mold, die or pot. The cover forming apparatus includes a plurality of pivotable forming members resting in a surface which supports a sheet of material upon which is positioned a flower pot mold or flower pot. When the forming members are pivotally moved from the storage position to an extended position, the forming members cause the sheet of material to be appressed to or engaged with the mold or pot. The article formed in accordance with the present invention may be separable from the mold or pot and usable as a flower pot or flower pot cover or may be more or less securely attached to the pot by adhesive, cohesive, barbs, friction pinches or other securing means thereby forming a decorative cover connected to a flower pot.

Abstract: A method for processing yellow pine wood products into pellets for use as animal litter. The process includes the steps of collecting and drying yellow pine material and drying the wood material into a grist. The grist is moisturized by exposure to steam before placement into a pellet forming device that applies heat and pressure to the grist. The formed pellets are deposited into bags and sealed for shipment. The pellets are used as animal litter that is highly absorbent, biodegradable, odor controlling, dustless, and will remain smooth and non-fur-engaging through continued handling.

Abstract: The present invention concerns a caser for quickly organizing variously sized containers into a plurality of predetermined patterns and then simultaneously filling an equal plurality of individual cases with that predetermined number of products. The caser of the present invention includes two parallel in-feed conveyors each delivering a single file continuous stream of containers to a loading area. Clamp and sensor means provide for regulating a predetermined number of containers into a pattern forming area from each conveyor. After a pattern is formed by an alternating pusher means that provides for pushing the group of containers either right or left to a position over one of two loading areas. Each loading area includes trap door means and a gripper head assembly. Each gripper head assembly includes a plurality of gripper heads each for gripping one of the plurality of patterns of containers. The gripper heads provide for gripping the containers and lowering them into cases after the trap door means open.

Abstract: An automatic packaging machine includes a first conveyor which carries a batch of small items along a path extending in a first direction. A second conveyor carries boxes in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction. A depositing structure in the form of a twisted funnel rotates the products from the first direction to the second direction before inserting them into a box. An oscillating plate carrying the funnel moves back and forth to fill the box while traveling in a first half of back and forth motion. Then, in the second half of that motion, returns to fill the next box. The oscillating plate may carry a plurality of funnels on each of its opposite sides. A memory of the type of small item carried by each funnel enables a single box to be loaded with different products.

Abstract: A cold cut slicer having a packaging device is comprised of a sheeting roll having a pulling-out device, and a cutting device for supporting sheets or covering sheets, which are grasped by a swivel arm having evacuatable suction heads and which are brought to the setting-down location of the cold cut slicer. If the swivel arm is extendable, telescope-like, it can additionally grasp and swivel a tray. The cold cuts are stacked or fanned out on the sheeting or the tray. The goods are conveyed by a conveyor belt to a sealing station having a lifting frame and a sealing frame. The lifting frame raises the package made up of sheeting and cold cuts and presses it against the sealing frame. The result is a sealing that is tight all around the package, or is interrupted at the comers, or that is open on one side, like a sack. A short conveyor belt provided in the lifting frame ejects the sealed goods.

Abstract: Systems and methods reorient head-to-head aligned leading and following articles to from an array of alternating head-to-tail oriented articles. The leading and following articles are initially captured at their respective head portions, and thereafter laterally shifted relative to one another. The laterally shifted leading and following articles may then be pivoted so that their respective tail portions swing towards one another to thereby form an array of alternating head-to-tail oriented articles. A moveable transfer tray may be brought into a position below the captured array of head-to-tail oriented articles so that upon their release, the array of a head-to-tail oriented articles falls by gravity and into the awaiting tray therebelow. The tray may then be retracted so as to carry the array of head-to-tail articles to a remote site, preferably above a transfer conveyor.

Abstract: A cap-folding and sealing machine for common or retrieved cartons includes a table, a folding device, a first cap frame, a second cap frame, and a double sealing device. The folding device includes upper swing rod units, a side pressing unit, and a folding guiding arm for swinging and folding a front cap, a rear cap, and two side caps with help of the first cap frame after a carton is moved into the table. Then the carton is moved into the second cap frame and the double sealing device, which seals the upper and the lower side with adhesive tapes by means of two pairs of upper main and lower main sealing members of the double sealing device. The two pairs of the sealing members alternately perform sealing operation so that sealing may be kept on continuously without stopping the machine for replacing adhesive tapes even when used up or ripped off.

Abstract: An adjustable height flight comprising a flight assembly and a cam mechanism. The flight assembly includes a flight base operationally connected to a rotational endless conveyance member, an adjustable flight bar slidably connected to the flight base, and an adjustment mechanism for adjusting and setting said flight bar at a desired height. The cam mechanism includes a cam frame, an adjustable cam track connected to the frame and operationally contacting the flight adjustment mechanism, a cam track adjustment mechanism attached to the frame and operationally contacting the cam track, and an engagement mechanism for selectively engaging and disengaging said cam mechanism from said flight assembly. The cam mechanism can be either engaged or disengaged from operational contact with the flight assembly. The cam track adjustment mechanism adjusts the position of the cam track to force the adjustable flight bar to a desired vertical position. The flight bar normally travels in a vertically locked position.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process and a device for shaping and portioning a viscous compounds inside a flexible coating during a feed movement in which the compound inside the coating is deformed by forces acting from outside, the direction of which periodically changes. Here, the forces acting from outside act against the feed movement of the compound and its coating at least partially and for a certain time. In the device, the mass runs inside the coating between two shaping components (1, 2), preferably in the form of a toothed belt.

Abstract: System and method for packing loose fill materials in bags to form cushions for use in protecting articles in shipping cartons. The bags are produced from a length of flexible plastic tubing which is gathered or bunched to form a coil which is disposed about the outlet of a loose fill dispenser. A section of the tubing is pulled from the coil, and its lower end is closed to form a bag which is then filled with loose fill material dispensed through the outlet. Another section of tubing is then pulled from the coil, and the tubing is drawn together to close the upper end of the first section and the lower end of the second section. The closed ends are secured with tape, and the tubing is severed to separate the first section from the second. The cushions thus formed are placed in the shipping cartons with the articles, and in some embodiments are compressed and reexpanded in conformance with the contour of the articles.

Abstract: A double-sided plastic tray (12) for holding two compact discs. The tray has a disc-receiving surface (35a) on its face and obverse sides and a tray opening (61) is disposed thereon. A hub (50) comprising an array of tabs (51) is disposed on the surface (35a). Proximal ends of the tabs are attached to-the tray opening (61) and distal ends can reciprocate within the tray opening (61). Prongs (54) are disposed on one side of the distal ends and reciprocate with the tab (51) when they are engaged by the internal rim (60) of a disc and grasp the internal rim (60) to detachably and resiliently hold one compact disc. Shoulders (55) are disposed on opposite sides of the tabs (51). Shoulders (55) reciprocate with tabs (51) when prongs (54) are engaged by the internal rim (60) of a second compact disc to inhibit lateral movement of the second compact disc held by prongs on the opposite side of the surface (35a) and inhibit breakage of the tabs (51).

Abstract: An assembly tower method and apparatus for use with an assembly jig having a tower guidance apparatus. The assembly tower includes a base, a platform coupled to the base for movement relative thereto, a drive system for moving the base relative to the ground and for moving the platform to the base in response to selected control signals. A Control System is included in the assembly tower for selectively generating and communicating the respective control signals to the drive system. A tower guidance apparatus is engagable with a guidance element of the tower to limit movement of the base relative to the ground in accordance with a pre-defined path. The tower carries a tool for assisting in constructing large aircraft components such as fuselage panels which are supported on the assembly jig.

Abstract: A stator (76), a rotor (82), and frame bodies (84, 86) to fixedly hold a stator core (74) therebetween in an axial direction are assembled into a motor. Further, a shaft (78) of the rotor and the frame body (86) are mutually coupled through a coupler (106) with no ability for relative rotation. While integrally rotating the frame bodies (84, 86), the stator (76), and the rotor (82) forming the motor about an axis of the rotor (82), a lathe is used to machine mounting surfaces (96a, 100a) of the frame body (84), which will be in direct contact with a surface of an object on which the motor is mounted.

Abstract: A packaging apparatus for making two-lobed tea bags with squeeze feature envisages a consecutive series of stations located along a feed line and used to make a continuous tube of heat-sealable filter paper with a longitudinal center line and including individual pouches containing charges of product; each pouch is delimited by a front and rear area closed off from the other pouches by a crossways seal. At one of the stations, a heat-sealable thread is made to follow a path, forming a coil, on the free surface of the pouches and is sealed to the latter, with the ends of the thread placed on corresponding front areas of each pouch on opposite sides of the center line. The next station cuts the continuous tube and the thread crossways in such a way as to form a tea bag consisting of a pair of pouches. At the last station, the pouches are folded over and sealed to each other at their free ends where a tag used for picking up the tea bag is then applied.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for automatically forming and filling sandbags. The apparatus has an excavator for obtaining fill material for the sandbags. The fill is transported from the excavating means to a hopper which dispenses the proper amount of fill into a bag. The bag is formed from two webs of bag forming material which are joined along their edges to form a tube. A clamping, cutting and stitching mechanism clamps and cuts the tube, forming the tops and bottoms of the sandbags. A stitching mechanism stitches the cut top and bottom. The clamping, cutting and stitching mechanism is operated by a hydraulic piston which pulls the sandbag web material from rolls and moves the web from the filling area to the discharge area. A conveyor system moves the formed sandbags from the device for stacking or use. The entire apparatus is mounted on a tractor-type frame so that it can be transported from one location to another.

Abstract: An automatic packaging machine inserts small items, such as candy coated chewing gum, into a box with the small items arranged in a desired orientation. First, the small items are swept into a grid of individual pockets in plates on a conveyor. Then, the grid is inverted over an insertion tray having grooves which receive the small items without disturbing the desired orientation. The entire tray is inserted into a box and then withdrawn from the box. A ridge is formed adjacent said grooves for lifting a side of the box confronting the small items while the tray is inserted into the box so that there is almost no friction between the small item and the box, which might otherwise disturb the desired orientation. The small items are blocked during a withdrawal of the tray so that they are laid down in the desired orientation on the bottom of the box.

Abstract: A method of improving security of a luggage wrapping system. Firstly, apply at least one band around a piece of luggage. Secondly, apply a polymer plastic wrap to the luggage.