A continuous motion apparatus and method are disclosed where slugs of articles are picked up by pick-up heads revolving in a vertical plane path, and are transferred to a case packing station. A vertical motion mechanism lowers the pick-up heads at the case packing station to gently place the slugs into indexed cases in a reliable manner. The slugs, pick-up heads, and indexed cases are fed in continuous, synchronous motions. The pick-up heads are carried on the transfer arms in alignment with gr...

A pick-up member for use with an apparatus for transporting a container from a pick-up station to a deposit station. The pick-up member being substantially formed of plastic and includes a bell-shaped head having a longitudinal bore for receiving containers and transverse bores intersecting the longitudinal bore and causing transverse movement engaging members for engaging with the containers. A control mechanism is provided to control the position of the engaging members.

A laner is disclosed for a case packing machine which divides scrambled articles into single files with reduced jamming, malfunctioning, and breakage. The laner includes lane dividers which are spaced to provide a plurality of lanes having parallel sections with entry openings wide enough to receive at least 3 articles in a side-by-side arrangement. The lanes terminate in single file lanes having a spacing generally equal to the width of one article. A tapered transition section extends between ...

A continuous motion apparatus for depacking and packing articles in cases which includes a carriage which carries a plurality of transfer arms; a plurality of article pick-up heads carried by the transfer arms for picking up a group of the articles at a pick-up station to transfer the articles to a release station. In a case packing configuration of the invention, a slug metering section includes a slug feeder continuously receiving articles from an infeed conveyor. A revolving pin bar mechanism...

An apparatus and method is disclosed for processing containers or other articles by using continuous rotation of processing heads in a circular path about a single vertical axis and controlling the processing heads to independently rotate about a swivel axis causing them to move in a straight-line path while the heads are lowered to engage a group of containers or articles arranged in parallel rows. In this manner, a higher production apparatus and method are provided which is simpler, more reli...

An apparatus and method for continuously transferring articles from a pickup station to a release station using a circular, continuously rotating turret is disclosed which includes a plurality of transfer arms carried in a circular motion wherein pickup heads carried by the transfer arms are converted from the circular motion to a straight-line motion during pick up of the articles to provide a case packing machine having high speed and reliable operation. In accordance with the general aspects ...

An apparatus and method for continuously transferring articles from a pickup station to a release station using a circular, continuously rotating turret is disclosed which includes a plurality of transfer arms carried in a circular motion wherein pickup heads carried by the transfer arms are converted from the circular motion to a straight-line motion during pick up of the articles to provide a case packing machine having high speed and reliable operation. In accordance with the general aspects ...

A packing apparatus which includes a feed conveyor adapted to convey articles to a pick up station and a case conveyor adapted to sequentially convey cases, having an open top and a plurality of flaps, to a feed station. Pick up and grid heads are provided and are adapted to pick up successive slugs of the articles at the pick up station and to sequentially deposit the slugs in each of the cases while they are in the release station. A removal conveyor is provided to successively receive the slu...