APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING CONTAINERS TO A MOVING CONVEYOR

摘要

A mechanism (10) is provided for transferring containers form a packaging machine to a pair of continuously moving outfeed conveyors (14a, 14b) which then route the containers to another location in the packaging facility. The packaging machine includes a vacuum cup (25) which carries a row of containers. The vacuum cup (25) is movable to position the row of containers in place in front of a pair of pusher plates (46a, 46b). The pusher plates (46a, 46b) are driven transversely across the vacuum cup (25) to transfer the containers to a pair of puller plates (70a, 70b) positioned on the opposite side of the vacuum cup (25). As the pusher plates (46a, 46b) extend, they push the containers against sidewalls (76a, 76b) on the puller plates (70a, 70b), aligning the cartons in rows running parallel to the outfeed conveyors (14a, 14b). The puller plates (70a, 70b) then move transversely to align the rows of cartons with the outfeed conveyor (14a, 14b). Once the puller plates (70a, 70b) are aligned with the conveyors, an unloader mechanism (42) pushes in the containers onto the outfeed (14a, 14b).