Receptacle-feeding mechanism

Application filed August 14, 1917, Serial No. 186,182. Renewed October 7, 1919. Serial No. 929,148.

at the upper outer extremities of the arms 1, as shown at 8, these fingers being in. the form 55 of weights depending from the pivots and having upwardly curved lower edges, as at 9. The disk or head 3 is in constant rotation and it receives upon its upper surface the can bodies which are, therefore, supported 60 on the rotary disk and they are propelled with the said disk by means of the fingers 9 engaging the can bodies and pushing them in the direction of the arrow a shown in Fig. 1. The can bodies may be delivered 65 onto the head or disk 3 in any suitable way but we prefer to employ an initial disk or feeding member 10, Which receives the cans direct from a suitable exhaust box or conveyer. Guides 11 and 12, associated with the 70 initial feed disk 10, serve to direct the cans, as indicated by the arrow b and as the initial disk 10 overlaps the head or disk 3 the can bodies moving in the direction of the .arrow and directed by the guides will be delivered 75 between the arms or fingers 9 to be propelled onward thereby.

The initial feeding disk 10 is rotated at a sufficiently high rate of speed in relation to the rotation of the spacing disk or head 3 80 to crowd or tend to crowd the can bodies onto said spacing disk to be taken by the propelling fingers but should a propelling finger be m such a position that a can body will strike or press upon the outer edge or end of’ 85 the finger 9, this finger, being as stated in the form of a pivoted member, will yield and pass by this particular can body and the next oncoming finger will take this particular can body, and propel it Onward, said* 90 can body in this movement being under the control of the guide 12 and resting upon the rotating spacing disk 3.

As above indicated the movement of the can body , is accelerated or gradually in- 95 creased from station A to station B in the direction of the arrow a, so that in the case of filled can bodies the movement imparted thereto by its propelling finger will be slow at first in order to avoid spilling the contents 100 which would result from a sudden impulse being imparted to the can body and this slow movement will be followed by a gradually increasing speed of movement, until the can body is discharged at the station B, a 10· guide 12' cooperating with the propelling

To dll whom it may concern:

Be it known, that we, Edgar R. Loweree, George F. Jackson, and Ralph A. Gleason, citizens of the United States, and resi5 dents of Baltimore, Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements, in Receptacle - Feeding Mechanism, of which the following is a specification. .

This application in part comprises subject 10 matter like that contained in an application filed by us January 19,1917, #143,364.

Our invention concerns the feeding of receptacles, such as can bodies or the like to machines, which are to act thereupon,, and . 15 one object of the invention is to provide a feeding means which will engage the can bodies one after the other, and will move them with an accelerating speed from the station where the engagement of the feeding 20 means therewith takes place to a point of discharge, the can bodies being properly reSpaced at the point of discharge, so that they may be acted upon by the machine in proper time.

The invention consists in the features and combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings;

Figure 1 is a plan view of the feeding mechanism and this view also includes a portion of the machine to which the can bodies are fed.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of Fig. 1. 35 Fig. 3 is a plan view of a modification, and, . . .j

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of said modification. ...

The apparatus includes a series of travel40 ing arms 1, for engaging the can bodies at a station A and delivering them at another station, for instance, at the point B and in this action the can body is accelerated in its speed of movement from station A to sta45 tion B and respaced in relation to the other can bodies of the series being fed. The arms 1 are adapted to swing about vertical pivots 2, which connect the said arms with the rotating head or disk 3, the pivots consisting 50 of rods 4, suitably journaled in the upper flange 5, and the lower bearing 6 of this head or disk and said arms carrying at their outer ends fingers 7, which are pivotally mounted

Ο 1,330,896 arms in effecting this discharge. The can bodies therefore will be taken from a condition practically at rest at the station approximately at A where they may be crowd5 ed in close order and they will be respaced or separated gradually until the proper separation or respacing has been accomplished at the station approximately at B. The increased movement of the arms 1 and their 10 propelling fingers 9 may be accomplished in different ways but in the particular and preferred construction illustrated we employ a spider C, having slotted arms 13, extending radially from the center of the spider and 15 receiving lugs 14 depending from the arms 1 and preferably these lugs extend down through slots 15 in the disk or head 3. The spider is mounted to' turn about a post 16 held in a boss 17 of a bracket 18 forming 20 part of the fixed frame. The spacing disk or head 3 is mounted to turn about a pin or post 16', extending up from the bracket arm 16 forming a lateral extension of the post 16, and from this construction it will be seen 25 that the spacing disk or head 3 and the spider are eccentrically arranged in relation to each other, their pivot or journal posts 16' and 16 being displaced in relation to each other out of axial alinement. The 30 spider 13 is rotated by a worm wheel 19 from a worm 20 on a shaft 21, which is suitably journaled in the frame-work and is driven through any suitable means, such as the bevel gearing at 22. This same shaft 21 or 35 an extension thereof drives the initial feed disk 10 by a worm gear, indicated at 23, It will be observed that the eccentric relation of the spider and the head carrying the propelling arms is such that at the re40 ceiving station approximating the position

A. the stud 14 of the propelling arm will engage the slot of the arm of the spider at a point close to the center of the rotation of the spider, as indicated on the right of Figs. 45 1 and 2, whereas at the discharge point approximating the position B the stud of the arm which has reached this discharge station will be engaged by the spider am at the outer end thereof and of course at 50 different angular positions of the rotating head between the stations A and B, the studs 14 will be in engagement with the spider arms at points progressing from the inner to the outer ends of the slots.

Obviously when the studs 14 are engaging the spider arms near their center of rotation the movement of these arms with their propelling fingers 9 will be slow, whereas when the arm reaches the discharge 60 station approximating the position B and the stud 14 is engaged by the outer end of the spider arm the speed of the arm will be at its greatest and as the arm travels from station A to station B and its stud pro65 gresses outwardly along the slot of the spi der arm the speed of the arm will he progressively increased, thus effecting the respacing or gradually increasing separation of the can bodies and increasing the speed of movement of said can bodies, so that at 70 the point of discharge they will be respaced at proper distances apart to suit the movement or periods of movement of the parts of the machine which are to act thereon and if the can bodies are to be propelled by a 75 part of the main machine the speed of the can body when discharged from the respacing head and delivered to this moving part of the machine will accord with the speed of said part, so that there will be no sudden 80 acceleration of speed and no sudden impulse imparted to the can body which would tend to spill the contents.

As an instance of means which may be associated with the feeding mechanism to 85 receive the can bodies therefrom we show a continuously rotating ring 24 having dogs 25 projecting above the plate or frame 26, said, frame being slotted at 27 to receive this dog ring. The can bodies are delivered 90 onto the main frame 26 of the main machine in front of the traveling dogs 25, which engage the can bodies and propel them onward between the guides 12 and 12' to stations at which suitable mechanism acts 95 upon the can bodies.

The head 3 will be kept in rotation because of the movement imparted thereto from the spider C by way of the arms 1, this transmission of power being continu- 100 ously exercised.

We do not limit ourselves to the construction shown and as an illustration of the variations that might be employed within the scope of our invention reference is made to 105 Figs. 3 and 4. In these figures the propelling arms 1“ are arranged to yield like the ?. arms or fingers 9 when a can body is not properly engaged thereby, but presses upon the end of the arm. For this purpose the 110 arms are slotted at 28 to receive their pivot pins 4^a. The head 3^a carrying this pivot point is arranged eccentrically,in relation to the spider 13^a and instead of employing slotted arms, this spider carries suppiemen- 115 tai arms 29 pivotally mounted at 30 to the spider arms and these supplemental arms 29 are pivotally connected to the propelling arms l^a at points 31 intermediate of the length of said propelling arms. The sup- 120 piemental arms have tail portions 29' connected by springs 32 to the preceding supplemental arm 29 at the point 33 intermediate of the length thereof, and from this construction it will be seen that as the spi- 125 der rotates it will pull around with it the propelling arms l^a through the medium of the supplemental arms 29.

It will be observed that if a propelling arm strikes the can body end on or partly 130

1,380,696 separated at proper distances apart to be delivered from the rotary table, substa'ntially as described.

4. In combination With mechanism acting in conjunction with can bodies, means for 70 feeding can bodies comprising a series of rotary fingers, a rotary carrier therefor on which the fingers are pivotally mounted, said fingers as a series rotating with said carrier about a common center, and means 75 for giving the fingers individually and successively a progressively accelerated movement in the same direction with and in respect to the rotary carrier after they engage the can bodies and until they deliver the said 80 can bodies for respacing the bodies for their delivery, substantially as described.

5. In combination with mechanism acting in conjunction with can bodies, a carrier, a plurality of radially disposed fingers ro- 85 taring with said carrier as a. group? means for accelerating the movement of said arms individually in the same direction with and in respect to the carrier for spacing the can bodies, said fingers being yieldable radially 90 under pressure from the can bodies to prevent damage tq the can bodies, substantially as described.

6. In combination with mechanism acting in conjunction with can bodies, a carrier, a 95 plurality of radially disposed fingers rotating with said carrier as a group, means for accelerating the movement of said arms individually in the same direction with and in respect to the carrier for spacing the can 100 bodies, said fingers being yieldable radially under pressure from the can bodies to prevent damage to the can bodies, said carrier serving as transporting means for can bodies.

In combination with mechanism acting. 10* in conjunction with can bodies, a carrier, a plurality of radially disposed fingers rotating with said carrier as a group, means for accelerating the movement of said arms individually in the same direction with and in 110 respect to the carrier for spacing the can bbdies, said fingers being yieldable radially under the pressure from the can bodies to prevent damage to the can bodies, said carrier serving as transporting means for can 115 bodies, and guide means over the rotary carrier forming a guideway for the bodies.

8. Tn combination with mechanism acting in conjunction with can bodies, and feeding means for the can bodies comprising two 120 rotary members arranged one. above the other but with their axes eccentrically disposed in relation to each other, one of said carriers having a series of radially disposed fingers pivotally mounted thereon at their 12* inner ends, anti the other carrier having connection with the fingers at points intermediate their pivots and their outer ends, Whereby through a certain degree of angular movement the speed of the fingers will 130 end on instead of engaging the can. body with its lateral face the saicTpropelling arm can yield radially inward in respect to the head or disk 3», this being permitted by the 6 spring 32, which holds the supplemental arm 29 yieldingly and also this action is permitted by the slotted construction at 28.

The mounting of the rotary head and the spider is different in this modification from 10 that first described, involving a member 34 mounted in the bracket 18', said member having a bearing at 35 for the worm wheel 36, which carries the hub 37 of the spider and the rotary spacing head being carried 15 by a center pin 38 mounted in the member 34. The rotary spacing head is slotted at 39 to permit connection to be made between the supplemental arms 29 and the propelling arms 1“.

Features relating to the ring 24 having dogs 25, and the slotted table are made the subject of another application.