James A Ingram

US Patent:

54428920, Aug 22, 1995

Filed:

Jan 14, 1994

Appl. No.:

8/184431

Inventors:

Henry K. Burns - Dothan AL
Hubert E. Burns - Dothan AL
Thomas P. DiNardo - Raleigh NC
James E. Ingram - Angier NC

Assignee:

Glaxo Inc. - Research Triangle Park NC

International Classification:

B65B 5710
B65B 6900
B65B 4702

US Classification:

53 53

Abstract:

A pneumatic apparatus for withdrawing goods from defective blister packages on a blister packaging machine and comprising a pair of spaced-apart and laterally shiftable vacuum heads reciprocally mounted above the carrier strip between the detection station and the sealing station of the blister packaging machine so that when one head is in vertical registration with the carrier strip the other head is laterally offset from the carrier strip. Each vacuum head comprises a plurality of suction elements depending from the bottom thereof which are adapted to selectively engage a predetermined plurality of goods on the carrier strip. Control means are operatively associated with pneumatic means adapted for sequentially causing each of said pair of spaced-apart heads when operatively positioned over the carrier strip to descend, pneumatically engage a selected portion of the plurality of goods, return to the elevated first position, and laterally shift to the offset inoperative position to release the plurality of goods into a goods collection bin. Next, the other head which is now in position over a new intermittently advanced segment of the carrier strip repeats the same cycle as the first vacuum head and releases the goods collected thereby into a goods collection bin on the other side of the carrier strip.