Apparatus for feeding cartons from a stack.

摘要

A high speed feeder for cartons being fed into a cartoner includes both mechanical and fluid flow environments for precisely delivering cartons. A preferably inclined conveyor (12) receives cartons (14) stacked on their edges and in a generally vertically orientation. Separating means, suitably in the form of a rotating metering wheel (60) are provided at the downstream end of the conveyor to engage the top edges of the cartons and separate them one at a time from the incoming stack (13, 42). Holding means, preferably in the form of a pressure roller (45), are provided adjacent and upstream of the separating means (60) to hold back most of the upstream cartons (see 13) while permitting only a few cartons (42) to pass.