The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 20, 1988
Filed:
Dec. 15, 1987
Yasuo Iwata, Chiba, JP;
Osamu Tokunaga, Chiba, JP;
Hisasi Kuga, Chiba, JP;
Toshihide Kohata, Tokyo, JP;
Tokyo Automatic Machinery Works, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Japan Tobacco Inc., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Articles are supplied to a conveyor by feeding primary articles from a primary supply, seriatim, to a conveyor. The conveyor is driven at a first speed consistent with the supply of primary articles so that primary articles are uniformly spaced on said conveyor. The presence of a predetermined number of supplemental articles in a supplemental supply is detected, and used to increase the speed of the conveyor to produce space on the conveyor sufficient to receive the predetermined number of supplemental articles. The predetermined number of supplemental articles are fed, seriatim, to the conveyor such that the supplemental articles are uniformly spaced on the conveyor with the same spacing that the primary articles on the conveyor.