Planet Products Corporation

James M Phelps

James E Cones, Sr

William L Harrison

Darryl T Phillips

Mark A Manzi

Joseph F Posge

The present invention provides a product collator for unscrambling scrambled products received at an input point, such as a hopper, and for delivering the unscrambled products to an output point, such as a transfer conveyor. The collator includes an endless conveyor belt made up of a plurality of laterally extending flights. The conveyor belt includes a first, generally upwardly and forwardly extending path and a second, generally rearwardly extending path positioned below the upwardly and forwardly extending path. The first, generally upwardly and forwardly extending path of the conveyor belt includes a first trough section for allowing at least some of the products received from the input point to settle within the flights; a first upwardly inclined section, downstream from the first trough section, for causing products not securely settled within the flights to fall back to the first trough section; a second trough section, downstream from the first upwardly inclined section; and a second upwardly inclined section, downstream from the second trough section, for causing products not securely settled within the flights to fall back to the second trough section. The second trough section allows at least some of these products to settle back again within the flights. By providing the dual trough sections in this first, generally upwardly and forwardly extending path of the conveyor belt, the collator insures that a greater number of the products will settle within the flights, thereby decreasing the amount of gaps present in the transfer conveyer fed by the collator.

Product collator

The present invention provides a product collator for unscrambling scrambled products received at an input point, such as a hopper, and for delivering the unscrambled products to an output point, such as a transfer conveyor. The collator includes an endless conveyor belt made up of a plurality of laterally extending flights. The conveyor belt includes a first, generally upwardly and forwardly extending path and a second, generally rearwardly extending path positioned below the upwardly and forwardly extending path. The first, generally upwardly and forwardly extending path of the conveyor belt includes a first trough section for allowing at least some of the products received from the input point to settle within the flights; a first upwardly inclined section, downstream from the first trough section, for causing products not securely settled within the flights to fall back to the first trough section; a second trough section, downstream from the first upwardly inclined section; and a second upwardly inclined section, downstream from the second trough section, for causing products not securely settled within the flights to fall back to the second trough section. The second trough section allows at least some of these products to settle back again within the flights. By providing the dual trough sections in this first, generally upwardly and forwardly extending path of the conveyor belt, the collator insures that a greater number of the products will settle within the flights, thereby decreasing the amount of gaps present in the transfer conveyor fed by the collator.

A product aligning system specially adapted for receiving and aligning product items in bulk quantity, includes a hopper for receiving masses of product items in bulk and including a hopper conveyor extending across the bottom of the hopper, a hopper nose conveyor for receiving product items conveyed by the hopper conveyor and extending outwardly from the hopper, and a scale conveyor for receiving items from the hopper nose conveyor. The hopper nose conveyor and scale conveyor each include powered rakes positioned above the item supporting surfaces of those conveyors such that substantially only a single layer of items passes therebeneath. The hopper nose and scale conveyors each include load sensing apparatus which detects an accumulation of product items on those conveyors and signals a computer control which slows the speeds of the hopper and hopper nose conveyors sufficiently to allow the accumulation of products to reduce. The system also includes a product orienting component which includes an array of V-shaped belts positioned in alternating relation with an array of O-ring belts. The O-ring belts are driven at a slower speed than the V-shaped belts, and further, are driven at varying speeds, so that individual product items which bridge between adjacent O-ring belts, or between a V-shaped belt and an adjacent O-ring belt, are rotated as a result of the speed differential to lay substantially in alignment with the V-shaped product supporting belts. Powered rakes are positioned above the V-shaped belts so that substantially only a single layer of aligned product is conveyed from the downstream ends of the belts.

Product aligning system

A filling head for loading food articles such as franks into individual packaging trays is adapted for quick connect to a power system and a loader parent machine. The filling head comprises an open frame, at least two spring loaded flapper doors hingeably attached to the frame, and a pusher bar unloading system capable of operable connection to the power system of the parent machine to intermittently discharge food articles from the filling head to the individual packaging trays positioned below the flapper doors. The pusher bar unloading system includes a drive rod which can be connected to the periphery of a flywheel by quick connect means to run in an smooth continuous reciprocating motion to deliver an up and down motion to a horizontal shaft slideably mounted on the frame and an associated set of pusher bars and elongated pusher members. The elongated pusher members at the bottom of the drive rod stroke forces food articles in the filling head to open the flapper doors and drop the food articles into the packaging trays. The filling head has quick connect features which allows the use of different filling heads constructed to deliver different food article arrangements into packaging trays.

Food article filling head

An apparatus for the assembly of biscuit and meat sandwiches comprises a feeder station for receiving whole biscuits, a slicer station for slicing the biscuits in half, a separator station for separating the two halves of the biscuit and sending them along separate pathways, and an assembly station having a hold station where precooked meat patties are held and where the biscuit halves and the meat patties are assembled into a sandwich ready for packaging. A series of conveyors transport the food components between the stations.

Apparatus for assembling biscuit sandwiches

An article processing machine is provided and comprises a conveyor device for moving articles and a stacking device for stacking the articles in pairs during movement through the machine and wherein the stacking device comprises a pivoted ramp assembly adapted to be pivoted to scoop thereon articles from the moving device and a pivoting mechanism for pivoting the ramp assembly to engage and scoop thereon in a serial manner alternate articles from the moving device and elevate same thereabove and a structure carried by the moving device for sliding each elevated article from the ramp assembly onto an associated alternate article carried by the moving device to define a stacked pair of articles.

Growing community of inventors

Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

James M Phelps