Abstract: A system is disclosed for loading at least one item into each of a plurality of containers. The system includes a plurality of buckets, each configured for supporting at least one container. The system also has a conveyor interconnected to each of the buckets. The conveyor has a conveyor axis of rotation that is oriented at an acute conveyor angle to a horizontal plane. The buckets are oriented relative to the conveyor axis of rotation by a wedge angle. The buckets move in series around the axis of rotation from a first path portion to a second path portion. An inner surface of the container is oriented generally in or parallel to the horizontal plane when the buckets are moved along the first path portion and the inner surface is oriented at an angle to the horizontal plane that is of an amount that is twice the wedge angle when the buckets are moved along the second path portion.

Abstract: A system is disclosed for loading at least one item into each of a plurality of containers. The system includes a plurality of buckets, each configured for supporting at least one container. The system also has a conveyor interconnected to each of the buckets. The conveyor has a conveyor axis of rotation that is oriented at an acute conveyor angle to a horizontal plane. The buckets are oriented relative to the conveyor axis of rotation by a wedge angle. The buckets move in series around the axis of rotation from a first path portion to a second path portion. An inner surface of the container is oriented generally in or parallel to the horizontal plane when the buckets are moved along the first path portion and the inner surface is oriented at an angle to the horizontal plane that is of an amount that is twice the wedge angle when the buckets are moved along the second path portion.

Abstract: A product stuffer has a bucket train, a carton conveyor which, at a stuffing station, parallels the bucket train and is arranged for conveying a carton adjacent to, and in registration with, an outlet end of a bucket in the bucket train, and a product pusher train which, at the stuffing station, parallels said bucket train and is arranged for providing a product pusher adjacent to, and in registration with, an inlet end of a bucket in the bucket train. Each bucket in the bucket train is open-ended and has a floor with a plurality of parallel grooves which slope toward one sidewall of the bucket and a ceiling with a plurality of parallel grooves which slope away from the one sidewall. Consequently, products in a sheaf of upstanding products inserted into the bucket are urged to lean over as the sheaf is pushed through the bucket so that a shingled sheaf of products leaves the bucket. The shingled sheaf may be stuffed into a carton having a lesser height than that of a sheaf of upstanding products.

Abstract: A carton loading system has a carton carrier movable along a carton carrier support track driven by a continuous conveyor. The continuous conveyor has a first path segment in which the continuous conveyor drives the carton carrier along the track while a carton is placed into the carton carrier from a carton storage magazine by a carton transfer device. The continuous conveyor also has a second segment with a first portion arranged such that the conveyor is disengaged from the carton carrier to allow the carrier to a stop, permitting loading of the carton. At the loading station an accumulator may be positioned to load the carton. The second portion of the second segment is such that conveyor re-engages the carton carrier so that the carton carrier moves again along the track. The carton may be discharged from the carton carrier while the carton carrier moves along the track. The system may be adapted to provide for adjustable components such that cartons of differing depths can be accommodated.