Inserting sticks into confections

摘要

A stick inserter for inserting flat sticks into partially frozen confections in the molds of a confection machine forms a packed column of sticks in face to face engagement above a row of molds, a row of spaced thin blades is lowered and each blade forces a stick out of the column and into a confection. Upon retraction of the blades, pivotally mounted lower guide rails for the column, which have been lowered to accommodate stick insertion, are raised to restore displaced sticks back to their original positions in the column. In order to insure stick singulation, a jogging mechanism partially lowers the blades ad then retracts them slightly and a blade deflection plate releases previously deflected blades so that they spring against the faces of sticks adjacent to those to be inserted. A packer is provided between a stick feeder and the stick insertion zone of the inserter for exerting a selected constant pressure on the sticks during ejection in a manner that isolates the portion column sticks in the stick insertion zone from pressure exerted on the column by the feeder.