Method and equipment for the feeding of pre-formed boxes to a machine, for example to a box-filling machine.

摘要

The boxes (A) are stacked in a station from which they are collected singly by suitable means and transferred to a conveyor which carries them to the feed store (5) of the box-filling machine (Z), where they are released singly at a frequency such that the load level of the store remains within values which permit reliable operation of the means which extract the boxes from the bottom of the said store and insert them into the box-filling machine. The conveyor comprises equally spaced grippers consisting of strip springs bent longitudinally in the form of a bow and positioned with the concave part facing the belt of the conveyor to which they are fixed by their intermediate part with a clearance, both rounded ends of the said strips normally being in contact with the said belt. In the phase of collection and release of the boxes, the strips travel around small diameter pulleys, so that the bending of the said strips decreases, facilitating the insertion of the boxes between the said strips and the belt and their extraction therefrom. <IMAGE>