MACHINE FOR APPLYING PARTS TO ARTICLES

摘要

In an off-line, free-standing, parts-orienting and -feeding device (16), selected parts are fed by a hopper (26) to, and oriented in, a centrifugal or vibratory parts feeder unit (22), and then discharged to a programmed transferring arrangement. The latter includes a slide shuttle unit for alternately receiving discharged parts in a plurality of passages and aligning the parts-receiving passages with one or more pressurized air passages to blow the parts through selected transfer tubes (14) to pick-and-placement devices (74) which serve to place the parts continually one-at-a-time on packaging materials being processed on one or more packaging machines (10). Limit devices (72) on each transfer tube (14) signal the slide shuttle unit to realign the parts-receiving passages with the pressurized air passage(s), to provide parts as required by the or each machine (10).