STAR WHEEL SYSTEM WITH PASSIVE STAR WHEEL AND METHOD FOR SEPARATING CONTAINERS BEING PROCESSED

摘要

A linear stream of articles is conveyed to a processing station, a first one of said articles positioned in front of and in physical contact with a second one of said articles and the second one of said articles positioned in front of and in physical contact with a third one of said articles. A motor-driven rotary star wheel moves one-by-one said articles from a conveyor to a downstream processing station and is assisted in searating adjacent articles by a passive star wheel with a plurality of contoured arms separated by concave pockets. The passive star wheel receives one-by-one said articles in adjacent pockets and the controued arms of the passive star wheel separate each article from the next following article. A guide section causes each article being separated to more along a generally tangential path relative to both star wheels as they rotate.