Gripping Portions Self-open As They Pass Through A Curved Path Patents (Class 198/803.1)
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Patent number: 12024383Abstract: A sheet guide includes an endless belt, and a guide supported by a plurality of places of the endless belt, the guide configured to hold a downstream end of the sheet in a conveyance direction of the sheet, wherein the endless belt is configured to rotate to move the sheet held by the guide in the conveyance direction.Type: GrantFiled: May 20, 2021Date of Patent: July 2, 2024Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventor: Ikumi Kazama
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Patent number: 9840389Abstract: This invention provides a stacker for use in forming stacks of cut sheets received from an upstream utilization device (e.g. a printer, cutter, etc.) that allows for positive driving of sheets into a stack using a stacking unit that includes a series of grippers that are adapted to grip and release a leading edge of each sheet at the appropriate time. In this manner, each sheet is gripped as it arrives from the upstream operation and is passed downstream into the stack, being released so as to properly decelerate at the stack's backstop. The grippers are mounted on a continuous belt between a pair of opposing drive sprockets. An edge sensor located upstream of the stacking unit triggers motion of the belts. The grippers are actuated by a mechanical cam arrangement to selectively grip and release at predetermined positions as the belt is driven.Type: GrantFiled: May 4, 2016Date of Patent: December 12, 2017Assignee: Tecnau, Inc.Inventors: Steven P. Lewalski, Bruce J. Taylor
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Patent number: 9833830Abstract: A can body take-away assembly for a can bodymaker with a vertically oriented, reciprocating, elongated ram assembly and a domer is provided. The take-away assembly includes a drive assembly and a can body transport assembly. The drive assembly includes a motor and a support member. The take-away assembly motor is operatively coupled to the support member and structured to move the drive assembly support member in a generally horizontal direction. The can body transport assembly includes a number of gripping assemblies. Each gripping assembly is coupled to the drive assembly support member. Each gripping assembly includes a number of pairs of opposed gripping members sized to grip a can body. The gripping assemblies are structured to travel across the path of the ram assembly and to selectively grip a can body.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 2016Date of Patent: December 5, 2017Assignee: Stolle Machinery Company, LLCInventor: Tracy J. Fowler
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Publication number: 20150111713Abstract: A carton conveyer for a packaging machine has upper and lower flights to which sets of flight lugs are attached. Each set of flight lugs comprises leading flight lugs and trailing flight lugs and the leading flight lugs have recesses that face and oppose recesses on the trailing flight lugs. The recesses are formed to confine an open carton therebetween. Notches are formed in the flight lugs in such a way that movement of the leading and trailing flight lugs toward one another causes an un-erected carton between the lugs to be captured and erected.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 30, 2014Publication date: April 23, 2015Inventor: Colin P. Ford
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Patent number: 8727106Abstract: A traction unit (1), particularly for packaging machines, comprising means for moving at least one grip element (2), which can move along a predefined closed path (3) and has at least two pairs of teeth (4a, 4b) which protrude substantially at right angles from the closed path (3), for the clamping of products (5) to be packaged and their traction along a portion of the closed path (3); the mutual transverse arrangement of the pairs of teeth (4a, 4b) being configurable by means of an adjustment device (6) which is located substantially outside the closed path (3), the movement means being located substantially inside the closed path (3).Type: GrantFiled: July 22, 2009Date of Patent: May 20, 2014Assignee: Tissue Machinery Company S.p.A.Inventor: Francesco Maria Bernardi
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Patent number: 8430232Abstract: A conveyor device, in particular for an automatic packaging machine for paper rolls, having a horizontal plane of advance, at least one pair of motorized flexible transmission members extending along a closed loop and bearing a plurality of transverse bars fastened to said flexible transmission members, a plurality of thruster elements borne by said bars, and a stationary adjustment station provided with at least one adjustment assembly having a grip organ movable in transverse direction and arranged in such a way as to displace in the transverse direction along the respective bar a thruster element positioned at the grip organ.Type: GrantFiled: December 7, 2009Date of Patent: April 30, 2013Assignee: KPL Packaging S.p.A.Inventors: Luca Baldanza, Andrea Cinotti, Giuliano Bertusi
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Publication number: 20130015610Abstract: A transport system for containers includes a plurality of vehicles configured to be driven independently of each other. A guiding device is configured to guide the vehicles in a circulating manner. A plurality of mold shells are configured to encompass a side wall of the containers about a partial circumferential area of the side wall, the plurality of mold shells being mounted on respective ones of the plurality of vehicles so as to receive the containers between adjacent mold shells of adjacent vehicles and transport them.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 12, 2012Publication date: January 17, 2013Applicant: KRONES AGInventors: Martin Seger, Toni Hifinger
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Publication number: 20120273329Abstract: A traction unit (1), particularly for packaging machines, comprising means for moving at least one grip element (2), which can move along a predefined closed path (3) and has at least two pairs of teeth (4a, 4b) which protrude substantially at right angles from the closed path (3), for the clamping of products (5) to be packaged and their traction along a portion of the closed path (3); the mutual transverse arrangement of the pairs of teeth (4a, 4b) being configurable by means of an adjustment device (6) which is located substantially outside the closed path (3), the movement means being located substantially inside the closed path (3).Type: ApplicationFiled: July 22, 2009Publication date: November 1, 2012Inventor: Francesco Maria Bernardi
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Patent number: 8220618Abstract: A conveyor chain for gripping and conveying paper material has a plurality of links hingedly connected to each other. At least one of the links has a grip arm having a first grip surface. The grip arm is movable back and forth relative to a second grip surface of the chain between a grip position for holding paper material and a retracted position for insertion of the paper material between the first and second grip surfaces. The links are molded of plastic material. The or each grip arm is an integrally molded portion of one of the links. A conveyor including such a chain is also described.Type: GrantFiled: March 1, 2010Date of Patent: July 17, 2012Assignee: Neopost TechnologiesInventor: Erik Jouke Bijl
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Patent number: 8091879Abstract: In a device for trimming the top edge, bottom edge and opening edge of a printed product, for example a newspaper, the printed product is transported through A cutting region of a connected cutting unit in a closed clamp of a synchronously driven conveying apparatus. The conveying apparatus is configured as a conveying rotor and the clamps are guided past a transfer station for loading on a circulating path and past a delivery station for delivering a printed product in an open position. The printed product is trimmed in the cutting region of the cutting unit which is arranged between the transfer station and the delivery station and in which the printed product is clamped in the closed clamp.Type: GrantFiled: February 16, 2005Date of Patent: January 10, 2012Assignee: Mueller Martini Holding AGInventor: Heinz Boss
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Publication number: 20110089003Abstract: The invention relates to a device for gripping PET bottles in bottle filling installations, in particular for transferring bottles from the spider element to the spider element/filling element/rinsing element or similar. The aim of the invention is to provide a gripper device that allows different gripping strengths to be achieved without complex equipment, as is specifically required in the case of PET bottles when said bottles are e.g. filled with hot liquids and are therefore easily deformable. To achieve this, a thrust body (3) that opens and closes grippers (12) is provided on a guide (4), which is vertical in the operational position, a force being exerted on said body in the lifting and lowering direction by at least one spring (6) and the body being moved around a control curve by means of a roller (9).Type: ApplicationFiled: April 24, 2009Publication date: April 21, 2011Applicant: KHS GmbHInventor: Andreas Fahldieck
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Patent number: 7870948Abstract: A rolling conveying device including guide rails 6, 6?, 5? in which, respectively, at least one rolling body 1, 1?, 8 with a plurality of freely rotatable rollers 2 is arranged in operational interaction with a plurality of conveying bodies 10 which are freely displaceable between the rollers of the rolling body. The rolling body or bodies form tracks closed in themselves, they are not, however, chains because they are neither pulled nor pushed. Solely the conveying bodies are displaced, respectively, driven between the rolling bodies.Type: GrantFiled: March 11, 2005Date of Patent: January 18, 2011Assignee: WRH Walter Reist Holding AGInventor: Walter Reist
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Patent number: 7857305Abstract: This is a media transport apparatus using gripper segments that are connected to conveyor belts. These segments grip the leading edges of paper media and pull the media on a path toward a paper exit. Above the conveyor belts are baffle panels that have at least two panel separations. It is through these separations that the gripper segments move as the endless conveyor belts rotate. The gripper segments are provided with shifting structures that can laterally align the paper sheets. The leading edges of the paper are held between a gripper bar and elastomeric rollers.Type: GrantFiled: September 19, 2008Date of Patent: December 28, 2010Assignee: Xerox CorporationInventor: Piotr Sokolowski
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Patent number: 7789219Abstract: A conveyor device, in particular for an automatic packaging machine for paper rolls, having a horizontal plane of advance, at least one pair of motorized flexible transmission members extending along a closed loop and bearing a plurality of transverse bars fastened to said flexible transmission members, a plurality of thruster elements borne by said bars, and a stationary adjustment station provided with at least one adjustment assembly having a grip organ movable in transverse direction and arranged in such a way as to displace in the transverse direction along the respective bar a thruster element positioned at the grip organ.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2005Date of Patent: September 7, 2010Assignee: KPL Packaging S.p.A.Inventors: Luca Baldanza, Andrea Cinotti, Giuliano Bertusi
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Patent number: 7611321Abstract: A method of providing portable storage and a portable storage system including a vehicle for carrying a container. The vehicle includes a tilting bed carried by a wheeled carriage. A lift system tilts the bed from the carriage to load and unload the container by using a conveyor on the bed.Type: GrantFiled: October 12, 2007Date of Patent: November 3, 2009Inventor: D. Jeffrey Cooper
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Patent number: 7487959Abstract: An eject mechanism with a grip in a finisher is disclosed, in which papers ejected from a digital output device are temporarily stacked on a paper eject tray and exactly aligned so that the papers are gripped to move to a stacker tray without scattering. The eject mechanism with a grip in a finisher includes a paper eject tray that temporarily receives papers ejected from a digital output device, a paper moving means gripping the papers received in the paper eject tray to move them, and a stacker tray stacking the papers moved from the paper moving means, wherein the paper moving means includes a guide side plate provided with a rail groove circulating along the papers and a curved cam disposed near the rail groove, a paper grip means driven to grip the papers received in the paper eject tray when it is in contact with the curved cam while moving along the rail groove of the guide side plate, and a driving means that drives the paper grip means to circulate it along the rail groove.Type: GrantFiled: July 17, 2002Date of Patent: February 10, 2009Assignees: KRDC Co., Ltd., Gradco Ltd.Inventor: Seung Kyoon Noh
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Patent number: 7475771Abstract: A device for stacking flat, deformable, items contains a transfer device that accommodates individual items conveyed to it in receptacles and conveys them to a serializing device. At that transfer device, a row of compartments, into which the items are inserted, is conveyed transversely to the direction along which items' arrive. During insertion, items receive a velocity component in the compartments' direction of motion, while being brought to a standstill along their original direction of motion by one or the other of their flat sides coming into contact with a compartment wall, or an item that had been previously inserted into the compartment, in order that the compressive forces, and thus the deforming forces, exerted on the items will be slight.Type: GrantFiled: September 9, 2004Date of Patent: January 13, 2009Assignee: Optima Filling and Packaging Machines GmbHInventor: Dietmar Schmetzer
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Patent number: 7395916Abstract: An apparatus having several stations that receive, apply adhesive to, crowd, press and cure the wood pieces into a continuous wood panel. A singulation station engages an individual one of the wood pieces oriented in a cross-machine direction from an infeed station, presents the wood piece to an adhesive station for adhesive application and releases the wood piece for crowding at a crowding station into a batch of the wood pieces. A press station downwardly presses the batch with an upper platen and presses the batch in a downstream direction onto the continuous wood panel with a clamping device. A radio frequency device applies radio waves to cure the adhesive between the wood pieces of the batch so as to adhere the wood pieces together and so as to adhere the batch to the continuous wood panel. A cutting station cuts individual wood panels from the continuous wood panel.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 2005Date of Patent: July 8, 2008Assignee: Radio Frequency Services, Inc.Inventors: Thomas Gorich, Lee Kidd, Mike Bicio, Greg Sprole
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Patent number: 7337892Abstract: The invention provides a device for sorting products, comprising bogies which are movable in a direction of transport along a conveying path, which bogies are pivotally interconnected, and supporting platforms comprising a supporting surface for supporting products to be sorted. Each of the supporting platforms includes supporting elements which are movable with respect to an adjacent supporting element for changing the circumference of the supporting platform in question during passage of a bend in the conveying path, which supporting elements include two outer supporting elements which, seen in the direction of transport, are located at the front side and the rear side, respectively, of the supporting platform in question and at least one intermediate supporting element positioned between the outer supporting elements.Type: GrantFiled: May 6, 2005Date of Patent: March 4, 2008Assignee: Vanderlande Industries Nederland B.V.Inventors: Frits Franciscus Carolus Groot, Gregorius Maria Adrianus Van Vught, Cornelius Christiaan Goelema, Simon Stikkelorum
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Patent number: 7156263Abstract: A system and method are used to meter fibrous material into a concrete mixture. The system includes an endless conveyor belt rotatably supported on first and second rollers. Pick up members on the belt project into the direction of travel for collecting fibrous material as the belt is rotated through a container having fibrous material therein. The fibrous material is released as the belt is rotated over the second roller where the pick up members are moved away from the belt at the free end thereof due to curvature of the belt. A sweeper mechanism may be provided at the second roller to assist in releasing the fibrous material from the pickup members. The configuration of the container permits any brand or type of fibres to be readily used while still maintaining a consistent delivery or discharge of fibres which is proportional to the movement of the conveyor.Type: GrantFiled: February 4, 2004Date of Patent: January 2, 2007Inventor: Larry Hooper
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Patent number: 7128205Abstract: A turn-around device for packets, in particular packets of cigarettes, wherein the packets are fed successively, with a first surface facing forwards, to a turn-around station, from which they are extracted, with a second surface facing forwards, by a gripper conveyor, which travels through the turn-around station perpendicularly to the second surface, and has a number of grippers, each of which defines a pocket for a relative packet, and closes gradually onto the packet to control its position as it is extracted from the turn-around station with the second surface facing forwards.Type: GrantFiled: March 5, 2004Date of Patent: October 31, 2006Assignee: G.D Societa per AzioniInventors: Mario Spatafora, Fabrizio Tale'
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Patent number: 6834581Abstract: An apparatus for transporting and processing a plurality of articles includes a transport loop including a plurality of carrier bars and a plurality of pockets formed between adjacent ones of the carrier bars. The articles are laterally, longitudinally and rotationally positioned within the pockets at a predetermined position. The articles may be pharmaceutical tablets or capsules. The carrier bars may follow a curvilinear path including a non-linear path portion and a substantially linear path portion. The pockets between adjacent carrier bars are open and able to receive the articles when the adjacent carrier bars are at the non-linear path portion, and are closed and tightly grasp the articles when the adjacent carrier bars are at the substantially linear path portion. The apparatus can be used to manufacture shaped edible articles having a non-planar portion that receive serially registered component images from first and second printers.Type: GrantFiled: October 3, 2001Date of Patent: December 28, 2004Assignee: Ackley Machine CorporationInventor: E. Michael Ackley
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Patent number: 6505732Abstract: An apparatus for transporting folding packaging material forms in the tobacco-processing industry, particularly carton forms for cigarette hard packs that have been scored or pre-punched along fold lines, from a feed station to a processing station. A rotary table is mounted for rotation about an essentially vertical axis. The rotary table includes at least one receiving platform having oppositely located lateral holders defining limits for the packaging material. At least one of the lateral holders is movable from a feeding position into a holding position relative to the oppositely-located lateral holder.Type: GrantFiled: September 15, 2000Date of Patent: January 14, 2003Assignee: Topack Verpackungstechnik GmbHInventors: Karsten Meinke, Jürgen Grossmann, Frank Bley
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Patent number: 6478297Abstract: An arrangement is described for transporting cardboard blanks or the like in the flat, in particular for book cover or letter file machines. The arrangement includes at least two sequenced transport belts extending parallel to one another, which are guided over deflecting wheels. Grippers are applied to the transport belts to hold the blanks. The grippers comprise controlled, swivelling clamping elements, which can be opened at the deflecting wheels.Type: GrantFiled: April 13, 2000Date of Patent: November 12, 2002Assignee: Michael Hoerauf Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KGInventor: Uwe Messerschmid
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Patent number: 6314876Abstract: An apparatus for transporting and processing a plurality of articles includes a transport loop including a plurality of carrier bars and a plurality of pockets formed between adjacent ones of the carrier bars. The articles are laterally, longitudinally and rotationally positioned within the pockets at a predetermined position, and at least a first processing station at a first position along the transport loop performs a first operation on the articles while within the pocket in the predetermined position. The articles may be pharmaceutical tablets or capsules and the first processing station may be a drill that drills a series of holes on the pharmaceuticals to create a mechanical time-release mechanism. A second processing station coordinated with the first processing station may perform a second operation on the articles. The first and second processing stations may be first and second printers that print first and second component images in registration with another to form a composite image.Type: GrantFiled: June 7, 1999Date of Patent: November 13, 2001Assignee: Ackley Machine CorporationInventor: E. Michael Ackley
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Patent number: 6298980Abstract: There is disclosed a conveyor for arranging and feeding sheet materials such as plastic bags in a feeding direction, the sheet materials being discharged into a discharge position. The conveyor comprises first sprocket or pulley means disposed near the discharge position of sheet material. The conveyor further comprises second sprocket or pulley means disposed downstream of the first sprocket or pulley means in the feeding direction of sheet material. Endless chain or belt means is stretched between the first and second sprocket or pulley means. A plurality of receivers are spaced at a distance from each other along the endless chain or belt means and mounted on and fixed to the endless chain or belt means to extend outwardly of and vertically to the endless chain or belt means, one of the receivers being disposed at the discharge position to receive the sheet materials successively discharged.Type: GrantFiled: December 23, 1999Date of Patent: October 9, 2001Assignee: Totani Giken Kogyo Co., Ltd.Inventor: Mikio Totani