摘要 |
An in line feed method and apparatus for forming slugs of incoming items, which are standing on edge and aligned front-to-back is disclosed. Th e process uses a conveyor belt and a vacuum chamber aligned end to end for separating the flow of items and creating slugs. The items introduced to the system are on a conveyor belt. The belt is periodically stopped and the items block ed from being sucked into the vacuum chamber. While the product is blocked from entering the vacuum chamber a moving finger which travels through the chamber is introduced at the mouth of the vacuum chamber and the items are released fro m the conveyor belt such that they are sucked into the vacuum chamber but are limited by and stack up against the finger. In this manner slugs are formed.
|