Packaging system

Abstract

A system for packaging articles within containers, each container being generally egg shaped and having an open end for receiving the articles and having a generally planar closure applied to the open end thereof to confine the articles therein. The system includes a multi-station intermittently rotatable generally circular turret or carousel carrier disk having a plurality of radial slots, each fixedly mounting a canister for receiving and temporarily confining articles therein fed into the top thereof during partial rotation or indexing of said turret or carousel and for receiving an open container fed into the bottom during the remainder of the rotation thereof. These canisters are open at both ends for systematically receiving the articles and containers in timed relation. Highly polished reciprocatable fingers are selectively positioned beneath the canisters when such are located at prescribed locations to confine the articles therein. At a selected position a container is fed beneath the canister, the fingers retracted and the article falls into a container as the container is fed upwardly into the bottom of the cannister. A flat disk-shaped lid is located on the top of the canister above the now loaded container and a vertically reciprocable pusher finally inserts the lid into the opened end of the loaded container. The loaded container is deflected to a conveyor which directs the same to a boxing or cartoning mechanism.