Guide mechanism for loading wide mouth bottles in cases

Abstract

In a case packer, wide mouth bottles are conveyed to a platform where they are arranged in alignment with the cells in the case and thereafter held in position by suction cups. The platform is rotated to suspend the bottles, mouth down, over the case. The bottles are gravity fed into cells in the case formed by upstanding partitions. A guide mechanism is interposed between the platform and the case to correct misalignment of the partitions and to guide the bottles into the cells. The guide mechanism includes, for each cell, a pair of rigid guide members aligned with opposing corners of the cell. The guide members are pivotally mounted to a grid, in opposing spaced relationship, such that the members are movable between a closed, closely opposed and preferably mutually engaging position, inclined towards one another, and an opened mutually separated, generally vertical position. Each member includes first and second sections. The first section has an interior surface which engages the corresponding surface on the opposing member, when the members are in the closed position, to form a solid pyramidal shaped structure, which is received in the cell, to correct misalignment of the partitions, prior to releasing the bottles from the platform. The structure has a relativey sharp point greatly facilitating the correction of the position of grossly misaligned partitions. The second section, which has a concave inner surface corresponding to the curvature of the bottle wall, serves to guide the bottle into the cell as it is released from the platform. As the bottle travels between the opposing second sections of the member pair, the members move to the open position, causing same to further position the partitions. Each member has a pair of exterior surfaces joined to form an edge. The edge is adopted to be received in the corner of the cell when the member is received therein.