Importance

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Abstract

The invention relates to an automatic tray packer system including a station at which a serial stream of incoming articles are stacked, separated into groups and discharged to a transversely moving tray-type package. The tray packer includes a conveyor belt for transporting the articles, one by one, while they lie substantially in a first plane, and a nose roller for decelerating the articles transported by the conveyor belt. The articles pass over the nose roller and partially rotate and drop along a slide. A flipper mechanism further rotates the articles and propels them one by one against a stack of previously propelled articles. A separator member first defines a downstream end of the stack, and then moves via cams, along an endless closed path, to define the upstream end of the stack and a downstream end of a next stack. A backup member replaces the separator member at the upstream end of the stack. The separator and backup members then move, with the stack therebetween, to dispose the stack on a trapdoor mechanism, through which the stack is dropped onto a tray.

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First Claim