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:
Apr. 24, 2001
Filed:
May. 17, 1999
William J. Searle, Glen Burnie, MD (US);
Sweetheart Cup Company, Inc., Owings Mills, MD (US);
Abstract
Container filling systems include a container filling station which fills empty containers with a product, most preferably a frozen dessert. The container filling station will necessarily include a fill valve assembly which has a housing defining a inlet and discharge openings, and a cylindrical spool having a spool port defined therethrough. Preferably, the spool is mounted asymmetrically within said housing for rotation between an open and closed conditions. A container lid supply and transfer system is most preferably employed in the system of this invention and includes a lid supply assembly to provide an available stand-by supply of container lid stacks, a lid feeding assembly for sequentially feeding individual container lids onto an awaiting product-filled container, and a lid transfer assembly for transferring a lid stack from the lid supply assembly to the lid feeding assembly. Most preferably, the lid transfer assembly pivotally moves between a loading position (wherein a lid stack from the lid supply assembly may be loaded thereon), and an unloading position (wherein the lid stack supported by the lid transfer assembly is aligned with the lid stack supported by the lid feeding assembly).