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:
Mar. 14, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 29, 1999
Pieter S van der Griendt, Far Hills, NJ (US);
Polytype America Corporation, Mahwah, NJ (US);
Abstract
A lid infeed system includes a pair of parallel and adjacent spinning rods for holding a stack of lids thereon; a feed plate assembly including a back plate at a forward end of the spinning rods against which the lids are moved against by the spinning rods, a front plate in front of the back plate, an inlet opening defined by the front plate and the back plate, an outlet opening defined by the front plate and the back plate, a vertically elongated vacuum opening arranged at a position offset to one side of a center plane between the spinning rods so as to pull only one side of the forwardmost one of the lids against the back plate and away from a next one of the lids of the stack, a finger rotatably mounted adjacent the vacuum opening, a drive for rotating the finger to force the forwardmost one of the lids toward the inlet opening after the forwardmost one of the lids has been pulled against the back plate and away from the next one of the lids of the stack at the vacuum opening, and a vacuum release opening in the back plate between the vacuum opening and the inlet opening for releasing any vacuum trapped between the forwardmost one of the lids and the back plate.