公开(公告)号：US3712483A

公开(公告)日：1973-01-23

申请号：US3712483D

申请日：1970-06-30

申请人： BORDEN CO

发明人： MESSERVEY C

IPC分类号： B65G57/30 ,  B65G59/06

CPC分类号： B65G59/066 ,  B65G57/307 ,  Y10S414/114

摘要： An article feeding device comprises means for rotatably supporting and driving a rotatable ring gear which is in rotatable meshing engagement with a plurality of circumferentially spaced planetary gears, preferably three equally spaced gears. The planetary gears are rotatably supported within a gear box on a shaft which is carried by a plate and it is arranged within a gear box which extends inwardly from the plate and may be swung about a pivotal axis corresponding to the axis of the planetary gear shaft. The gear box carries one or more idler gears which drives between the planetary gear and a driven gear carried on an article advancing drive shaft which also carries a parting knife and a rotatable article advancing member in the form of a cam having a screw groove for advancing the articles along the groove during rotation thereof. Articles such as flat can cover of any shape are arranged in a stack in a manner such that they are urged in a direction toward the rotational feeding member, for example, by gravity in the case of a vertical stack or by mechanical feeding in the case of a horizontal stack or when the device is to be employed for the feeding of the articles into a stack rather than out of a stack. The individual gear boxes may be swung so that all extend either further inwardly to define a small circle for engagement with the article to be fed or swung outwardly to define a larger engagement circle by a simple rotatable ring member which is connected to the gear box through a connecting rod and which may be rotated to shift all of the gear boxes simultaneously. Articles of non-circular configuration may also be fed by making an adjustment of the connecting rod length in respect to each individual gear box in order to vary the inner or outer position of one of the gear boxes and the associated feeding members. Each gear box also carries one or more idler gears which may be exchanged to provide variations in rotational feeding of the article advancing shaft and also provide for counter rotation of one of the advancing members in order to ensure for example that the articles are not rotated as they are fed.