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Apparatus and method for automatically positioning and inserting plastic plugs in a container top

  • US 3,888,065 A
  • Filed: 07/03/1974
  • Issued: 06/10/1975
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/03/1974
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for receiving, transporting and delivering containers to a plug inserting station whereat a plastic plug is positioned and inserted into an aperture in the cover of an advancing container, said inserting apparatus including:

  • (a) a support means;

    (b) a lower conveyor carried by the support means and having means for receiving containers and with their bottoms resting on said conveyor advancing said containers in a single file array to and through a plug inserting station;

    (c) means for advancing said lower conveyor at a selected rate of travel;

    (d) a pair of upper transporting chains carried by the support means and having their lower extents parallel to and disposed at a distance above and in alignment with the lower conveyor which distance is slightly greater than the height of a container to be transported;

    (e) means for retaining the lower extents of the upper chains in a fixed plane parallel to the lower conveyor;

    (f) spring biasing means for elevating that intermediate portion of the lower conveyor that is in spaced alignment and parallel with the upper transporting chains, said spring biasing means locally elevating the lower conveyor so that a transported container is brought upwardly into engagement with the lower extents of the upper chains to cause the top surface of the container to be moved through the apparatus in an established plane;

    (g) chute means for feeding and delivering plastic plugs one at a time to a delivery station;

    (h) a rotatable wheel carried above the upper chains and having a plurality of plug pushers mounted thereon;

    (i) meAns for rotating said wheel in a timed relationship with the advancement of the container so that an associated plug pusher on the wheel first engages and then removes the lowermost plug in the chute means and then guides the plug into an aperture in the container cover, said rotatable wheel and plug pusher so spaced from the top of the advancing container that as the aperture and plug is brought in way of the lowpoint of the circular travel of the plug pusher, the plug carried thereby is pushed into seated engagement in the aperture, and (j) means for the continuation of the rotation of the wheel so that the plug pusher is eventually lifted from inserted engagement with the plug, and the container is free for transport from the inserting station.

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