Abstract: An apparatus for arranging randomly spaced and oriented workpieces, especially frozen hamburger patties, has a plurality of devices for unstacking or unshingling stacked or shingled workpieces. The apparatus includes a pair of downwardly converging surfaces obliquely oriented with respect to the horizontal and a convoluted transport conveyor. The transport conveyor extends through the converging surfaces and assures a substantially horizontal orientation downstream of the converging surfaces. The illustrated apparatus discharges frozen hamburger patties in a predictable orderly fashion, either in a straight line shingled fashion or in a side by side arrangement. In a disclosed optional feature, a sheet of paper is interposed between the patties and a collection conveyor where the patties are discharged.

Abstract: A fastener feeding apparatus includes a hopper for the bulk storage of fasteners, an oscillating scoop plate body for scooping up the fasteners from the hopper and letting them slide down onto a vibrating chute rail and a spring biased exclusion plate which moves back and forth above the chute rail to return any improperly oriented fasteners back into the hopper.

Abstract: Apparatus is disclosed for accepting an initially presented population of randomly oriented elongated slender articles which terminate in an enlarged head portion, and providing a high-speed output stream, wherein all said articles are commonly oriented for further mechanical manipulation. The apparatus comprises an input bowl for accepting the articles, which bowl includes a rotatable central disk for feeding objects incident thereupon to the periphery of the disk. A continuous wall member extends upwardly from the disk periphery about a major arced zone, the bottom of the wall member being spaced from the disk to define a gap through which the elongated portion of the articles may protrude while the heads of same continue to ride upon the disk periphery in sliding contact with the side wall. An output section defined adjacent the periphery of the disk at the portion opposed to the arced zone receives and delivers the articles from the disk.

Abstract: Individual assembly parts are separated from a coherent mass of the parts resting on a support by randomly sub-dividing the mass into clusters by continuously and successively lifting randomly selected clusters off the support and dropping the lifted clusters thereon until the mass is resolved into clusters and the clusters are further resolved. The continuous and successive lifting and dropping of the clusters causes continuously changing portions of the mass and clusters to rest on the support and the support is continuously and successively relieved of the weight of the randomly selected lifted clusters of assembly parts. The resolved clusters are singled into individual assembly parts and the individual parts are removed from the support to a conveyor where they are oriented.

Abstract: An unscrambler, to which lightweight cup- or bowl-shaped articles such as the bottoms for plastic bottles or caps for aerosol containers, are fed prior to delivery to another, e.g. a bottle-making or cap-applying machine, for which they must all be presented right-way-up, and which are likely to become "stacked" when scrambled together, comprises a shallow, rotating dish reservoir which can be very big, e.g. up to or even more than 30 feet (10 meters) across, but which can be suspended from a roof or ceiling so as not to take up floor space. The dish has an inclined rim with an outer ledge, the articles being blown up the rim onto the ledge by an air current which puts them on the ledge right-way-up. Any articles that are stacked or not aligned properly on the ledge are removed by further air jets or mechanically.

Abstract: A device for arranging in order a random supply of articles including a plurality of article orientating members movable relatively to each other. The members are spaced so that the articles, when orientated, can drop between the members. The members may comprise intercalating elongate blades, alternate blades being arranged to move in unison relative to intermediate blades and may be provided for conveying the orientated articles from between the blades to a receiving station.

Abstract: In many branches of industry large quantities of small items (e.g., wire components) or assembly components are frequently required, which have a strong tendency towards entangling and which conglomerate in a pile. These components, termed entangled components, can be isolated only with great difficulty when required for processing. This invention provides a device for isolating such entangled components with relative ease. For this purpose, a horizontal disentangling plate (1) is provided on which the entangled components (7) are placed. A vibrating device (2) shakes the disentangling plate (1) in a reciprocal motion in vertical direction, thus enabling the entangled components (7) to become isolated.

Abstract: An arrangement for the oriented feeding out of caps provided with pull-lugs comprises a disc which rotates at high speed, and onto the planar working surface of which the caps are dropped. By the rotation of the disc the caps are moved to the periphery of the disc where they contact a guide rail in the form of an uninterrupted ring which is arranged at such a distance above the surface of the disc that the cap is allowed to project beneath the guide rail. However, the lug on the cap prevents the cap from wholly passing under the guide rail. At a point along the ring periphery a radially movable feeding out element is provided which engages the passing caps and withdraws them via the space between the disc and the guide rail, with a short-time deformation of the pull-lug.

Abstract: An apparatus for particular use in delivering leadless, tubular ceramic capacitors or like electronic components from a receptacle, containing a random pile of such components, to templates for the prearrangement of the components, preparatory to their attachment to printed circuit boards. The apparatus includes a vacuum pickup assembly for repeatedly picking up the components, at least one at a time, in the receptacle and depositing them on an entrance guide of approximately V-shaped cross section extending from an inclined, rotatable, tubular chute. The entrance guide functions to direct the components into the chute in alignment, for delivery to a desired location. After the pickup assembly deposits a component or components on the entrance guide each time, the entrance guide and the chute are bidirectionally rotated through a preassigned angle in each direction to facilitate the entrance of the component or components into the chute.

Abstract: This invention relates to a multistation apparatus for unloading and unscrambling containers from a storage hopper. The apparatus has unloading means for continuously moving containers from the hopper onto a track structure. The track structure is powered so as to move the containers to the various apparatus stations. At the first station a gate is positioned over the track so that only one layer of unloaded containers is able to travel to other subsequent stations. A second station is provided with orientation plates adjacent the track so that containers which are on the track but which do not have their long axis in the direction of container travel will, upon contact with the orientation plates, be turned so that their long axis will lay in the direction of travel. A gate having an opened and closed position is provided at the third station.

Abstract: An arrangement for orienting and conveying barrels of catamenial tampon inserters includes a support which is constituted by a plurality of alternating cylindrical first and second support elements which rotate in opposite directions. Each first support element forms with the associated second support element a receiving channel, and an upper run of a V-belt conveyor is arranged at the bottom of this receiving channel and advances longitudinally of the support elements. The barrels are piled on top of the support elements in a randomly oriented collection, such as a layer or pile, and enter the respective receiving channels only when assuming one of two orientations. The engagement of the lowermost barrel with the external surfaces of the support elements causes the barrel to turn toward a position of parallelism with the axes of the support elements.

Abstract: An apparatus for orienting moving bottles in successive fashion from a first random open-end leading disposition to an open-end trailing position and maintaining the orientation of bottles in an open-end trailing disposition includes two pairs of spaced endless movable belts, one of the belt pairs being stepped above the other belt pair in overlapping relationship. In one embodiment of the invention, a pivot member that attachably engages a leading open-end of the bottle and avoids attachable engagement with a leading closed end of the bottle helps distinguish the random dispositions of the bottles. After the bottles have been oriented they are dispensed in successive fashion to an output means for further processing. In another embodiment of the invention the pivot member is replaced by a pair of cam members spaced in the direction of movement of the bottles. A further embodiment of the invention requires only one pair of spaced endless movable belts.

Abstract: A stoppering machine is disclosed which includes an inclined rotatable member which contacts a supply of stoppers for selectively arranging and feeding the stoppers to a stopper inserting device where they are inserted into the openings of successively presented containers such as bottles. An arrangement is also disclosed wherein the stoppers are guided to and supported at a position immediately over the openings of the successively presented containers for insertion into the openings of said containers by the inserting device. Further, an arrangement is disclosed for blocking the movement of the stoppers being guided to the aforementioned position when the inserting device inserts the stoppers into the openings of the successively supplied containers.

Abstract: A vibration or shaking feeder combined with a drum which is rotated at high speed is disclosed. The vibration feeder includes a container having a helical ledge around the inner wall of the container for making articles in the container travel to rise up the helical ledge by vibratory motion of the container. The articles advanced up to the uppermost ledge are transferred to the outer drum rotated at high speed and fed to a next stage for further processing.

Abstract: Apparatus for unscrambling, orienting and feeding elongated objects, such as parisons, having flanges thereon, in a sorting chamber which receives the objects and then passes them on to a further processing station, comprising one or more pairs of longitudinally mounted rollers for unscrambling and orienting the objects in the sorting chamber and then directing them to tracks adjacent the ends of the feeding roller pairs, for receiving the objects and forwarding them to the processing station. The flanges on the objects prevent them from passing between the feeding rollers which are spaced apart sufficiently to receive the body of the object but are close enough to prevent the passage of the flanged objects therebetween. The rollers rotate on longitudinal axes and are inclined to promote gravity feed of the objects along their length.

Abstract: Apparatus for accepting an initially presented population of randomly oriented container caps and providing an output in-line stream of said caps wherein the open ends of the caps face in an upward direction to facilitate further processing of the caps. The apparatus comprises a feeder bowl for accepting the randomly oriented caps, and feeding from an output port thereof, an in-line stream of caps oriented in a substantially horizontal plane. An inclined twisting chute extends from the output of the feeder bowl. This chute receives the in-line stream of caps and twists the plane of advance of same through 90.degree., whereby the caps are reoriented to a stream wherein their diameters are substantially in a vertical plane.

Abstract: For feeding short rods, which term includes tubes, such as clinical thermometer tubes with bulbs at one end, a feeding hopper has downwardly-converging bottom walls terminating in an elongated gap between their lower edges forming an elongated slot. Reciprocable horizontally beneath the slot is fluid-pressure-operated ejector plunger which feeds, one at a time, the short rods to a horizontal receiver composed of a pair of spaced parallel guide bars separated by a distance large enough to pass the rod but to detain the bulb, whereupon the rod pivots around the detained bulb to swing downward into the slot and comes to rest between the bars with the bulb uppermost and the rod suspended vertically from the bars.

Abstract: A material handling apparatus for transporting parts having a bowl provided with an upright curved wall surrounding a rotatable floor. The curved wall is formed with a track that supports an endless belt capable of bending in an edgewise direction for movement along a helical path from an entrance point located at the level of the floor to an exit point located above the entrance point. As the belt moves along the track, it gradually inclines towards the center of the bowl with a portion of the belt being sufficiently inclined to cause parts to move into engagement with a rail located at the inboard edge of the track and formed so that parts not properly oriented will drop by gravity to the rotating floor.

Abstract: A spike driving machine is disclosed in which a hole sensing device and spike holder are driven in toward a rail under the action of a fixed stroke piston and cylinder until a stop engages the rail. The stop has been previously adjusted to line up the hole sensing device and spike holder the correct lateral distance for engagement with the tie plate holes. Excess travel of the piston and cylinder is taken up by providing a flexible connection between an X-frame carrying the hole sensing device, the spike holder and a drive head and a Y-frame which is fixed in the lateral direction. The stroke is chosen to align the spike holder under the drive head. Thus, the arrangement can be used for rails of differing thickness simply by adjusting the stop appropriately.

Abstract: A skip for channelling a load of straw bales to be received by a conveyor is provided. The skip is large enough to receive a load of bales tipped into it from a trailer or other bale transporter. The skip has a conveyor in its floor and in use is set up with one end higher than the other. At the higher end an exit for single bales travelling lengthwise up the floor of the skip on the skip's conveyor is provided through which the bales are conveyed one at a time. The sides of the exit are shaped to turn back incorrectly arranged bales which have travelled up the skip, and these sides may be constituted by frusto-conical rollers. A transverse liftable barrier may also be provided across the width of the skip to knock back bales resting on top of other bales.

Abstract: Randomly oriented capsules are arranged so they are all in a definite direction by an efficient rotary system, rather than by an inefficient linear reciprocating system. In addition, an efficient rotary device takes the cap off each capsule, fills each capsule, and then caps each capsule all in an automatic manner. Various mechanisms of this invention are so constructed as to rotate synchronously with one another.

Abstract: A loose piece feeder comprising a slotted, inclined track extending down at an angle .alpha. from a cylindrically-shaped reservoir holding small terminals or pieces to an applicator station. The slotted track enters the reservoir through a window in the bottom of the side wall thereof and extends across the cylinder bottom along a chord line thereof which lies below the axis of the tilted reservoir. A brush oscillates back and forth across the track slot within the reservoir and, when moving away from said window, tends to brush away improperly seated connectors, and, when moving towards said window, tends to properly seat said connectors in said track slot and to push said properly seated connectors out of said window and down said inclined track towards said work station, aided by vibrating the entire system.

Abstract: A fragile article handling and orientating apparatus comprises a disoriented supply of the articles. Pick-up means associated with the supply and adjacent thereto are actuatable into engagement with the supply whereby the pick-up means engages a plurality of the articles. Further means are then provided for moving the pick-up means to a delivery zone. Positioned intermediate the supply and the delivery zone is a stripper means for stripping off all but one article, and insuring that the remaining article has a particular, desired orientation. At the delivery zone means are provided for removing the article therefrom and delivering it to a remote location.

Abstract: A parts feeder is shown illustrated with a rotary type feeder having circular side walls in which the parts are picked up by a feed nozzle on the periphery of the side walls, and delivered to an induction ring assembly in which jets pneumatically transfer the parts into a feed tube which elevates the parts and delivers the same to a dispenser, the latter serving to drop the same onto counter rotating rollers for orientation. The counter rotating rollers are positioned over the rotary feeder so that parts not accepted by the same are dropped into the feeder for recirculation.

Abstract: In a spike orienting and positioning system, kegs of spikes are discharged onto a spike receiving surface. The spikes on the spike receiving surface are engaged by fingers which are first extended from and then retracted into a rotating drum whereby individual spikes are lifted from the spike receiving surface and then dropped. This causes the spikes to enter slots formed in the spike receiving surface in a shank down orientation. The spikes are normally prevented from passing through the slots by tires which engage the lowermost spikes in the slots and which are selectively rotated to discharge individual spikes. The discharged spikes are guided into helical funnels which function to rotate the spikes into predetermined orientations. The oriented spikes then enter chutes wherein they are temporarily retained by escapement mechanisms. Upon release by the escapement mechanisms, the spikes travel through the chutes into position for insertion.

Abstract: A hopper is constructed to control the rapid, uniform and constant flow of disk-like objects, more particularly bottle crowns. The hopper employs a reservoir and means for feeding the disk-like objects to the reservoir. An electric eye responsive to the level of disk-like objects in the reservoir is connected to the feeding means to maintain a predetermined level of the objects in the reservoir. A conveyor is positioned to adjoin the reservoir to remove and deliver the disk-like objects at a uniform rate to the point of use of the hoppered objects.If the disk-like objects are asymmetrical, an orienting device is provided between the feeding means and the reservoir to orient the objects as they are delivered to the reservoir.

Abstract: Apparatus for separating coils from groups of coils and orienting them for presentation in-line correspondingly oriented about their longitudinal axes to a coil assembly machine, comprising in parallel relation a plurality of conveyors corresponding in number to the number of in-line coils to be presented to the assembly machine, for moving batches of interengaged coils along a predetermined path and for partially separating the coils as they travel therealong, and a gripper assembly associated with each conveyor arranged to successively grasp and complete separation of the leading coil of the group of coils while the remaining coils of the group are withheld, position it on a turntable for rotation about its vertical axis so that its knot is in a predetermined position of orientation, invert the separated coil after it has been rotated about its vertical axis and by such inversion present it to an assembly machine.

Abstract: A machine for automatically handling thin tubular rubber articles such as prophylactic devices or the like including a vacuum pickup to retrieve randomly oriented articles and deliver such articles to a pneumatic conveyor. The pneumatic conveyor includes a tube with air blowing therethrough to transfer the articles to a delivery position. An orienter is provided in the conveyor tube so that the article is delivered closed end first at the delivery position. At the delivery position a mandrel is provided which includes a support adapted to loosely support the article in position to receive a mandrel. Grippers grip the open end of the article on the support and hold it against movement with the mandrel while the mandrel is inserted into the article.