Food article filling head

Abstract

A filling head for loading food articles such as franks into individual packaging trays is adapted for quick connect to a power system and a loader parent machine. The filling head comprises an open frame, at least two spring loaded flapper doors hingeably attached to the frame, and a pusher bar unloading system capable of operable connection to the power system of the parent machine to intermittently discharge food articles from the filling head to the individual packaging trays positioned below the flapper doors. The pusher bar unloading system includes a drive rod which can be connected to the periphery of a flywheel by quick connect means to run in an smooth continuous reciprocating motion to deliver an up and down motion to a horizontal shaft slideably mounted on the frame and an associated set of pusher bars and elongated pusher members. The elongated pusher members at the bottom of the drive rod stroke forces food articles in the filling head to open the flapper doors and drop the food articles into the packaging trays. The filling head has quick connect features which allows the use of different filling heads constructed to deliver different food article arrangements into packaging trays.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A food article filling head for connection to a loader parent machine to intermittently receive a preset number of food articles and discharge said food articles into individual packaging trays, said filling head comprising: (a) an open frame having quick connect means for ready attachment to the loader parent machine to receive food articles moving in alignment along an input conveyor of the parent machine;   (b) at least two flapper doors hingeably attached to the open frame in a side by side arrangement to collectively form a substantially flat receiving surface to hold the food articles as they are loaded into the filling head from the input conveyor; and   (c) a pusher bar unloading system capable of being operably connected to a power system of the loader parent machine to intermittently discharge the food articles in the filling head to the individual packaging trays positioned below the flapper doors, said unloading system having (i) a set of vertical slide blocks slideably mounted on rails of the open frame, (ii) a horizontal shaft rigidly attached at each of its ends to the slide blocks, (iii) a drive rod pivotally attached at one end to the horizontal shaft for rotatably attaching to a flywheel of the power system to run in a smooth continuous fashion to deliver a generally up and down motion to the horizontal shaft, (iv) a set of vertical pusher bars rigidly attached to the horizontal shaft, and (v) a horizontal elongated pusher member rigidly attached to each of the pusher bars, each said pusher member extending substantially the length of the flapper doors so as to be in an engaging position with the food articles when said drive rod is in a lowermost position to force the food articles downwardly with sufficient force to substantially fully extend the flapper doors to an open position to cause said food articles to drop into the packaging trays and to move to a disengaging position when said drive rod is in an uppermost position.   
     
     
       2. The food article filling head of claim 1 wherein each slide block is an assembly comprising a plastic slide block which slides along the rail and a metal bearing block rigidly holding an end of the horizontal shaft, said slide block and said bearing block being fixedly secured together. 
     
     
       3. The food article filling head of claim 1 wherein the open frame comprises two horizontal lower support members, a cross-member brace rigidly attached to the lower support members, and a vertical rail support member extending from each lower support member wherein the rails for the slide blocks extend substantially along the length of each vertical rail support member. 
     
     
       4. The food article filling head of claim 3 further comprising end stops on the open frame positioned to prevent the forward movement of the food articles as they are loaded into the filling head. 
     
     
       5. The food article filling head of claim 4 wherein the open frame further has a rigid guide member secured to the cross-member brace, said guide member having a slot through which the drive rod passes. 
     
     
       6. The food article filling head of claim 5 wherein a door rod extends along each of the horizontal lower support members and is secured thereto and the flapper doors are hingeably attached on the door rods. 
     
     
       7. The food article filling head of claim 6 further wherein at least two torsional springs are mounted on each door rod to hold the flapper doors in a substantially horizontal closed position during rest. 
     
     
       8. The food article filling head of claim 7 wherein the open frame is configured to have two sets of the spring loaded flapper doors to receive two aligned rows of the food articles. 
     
     
       9. The food article filling head of claim 7 wherein each flapper door has a width adequate to provide ends of the food articles with sufficient support to maintain said food articles in a planar disposition. 
     
     
       10. The food article filling head of claim 9 wherein each flapper door has a width of from about one inch to about three inches. 
     
     
       11. The food article filling head of claim 1 wherein the quick connect means to the loader parent machine comprises a transverse horizontal mounting bar extending across the horizontal upper support members of the frame and positioned to be received in grooves of mounting blocks which are permanently attached to the loader parent machine and is capable of being locked into said groove by drop pins. 
     
     
       12. The food article filling head of claim 11 wherein the drive rod of the pusher bar unloading system is rigidly attached to a crank arm and further wherein said crank arm has a quick connect pin for attachment to the flywheel of the loader parent machine power system. 
     
     
       13. A food article loader machine having a filling head and a loader parent machine operably connected and powered by a common power system to intermittently discharge a present number of food articles into individual packaging trays, wherein the improvement comprises a filling head characterized in having: (a) an open frame with quick connect means attached to the loader parent machine to receive food articles moving in alignment along an input conveyor of the parent machine;   (b) at least two flapper doors hingeably attached to the open frame in a side by side arrangement to collectively form a substantially flat receiving surface to hold the food articles as they are loaded into the filling head from the input conveyor; and   (c) a pusher bar unloading system operably connected to the power system of the loader parent machine to intermittently discharge the food articles in the filling head to the individual packaging trays positioned below the flapper doors, said unloading system having (i) a set of vertical slide blocks slideably mounted on rails of the open frame, (ii) a horizontal shaft rigidly attached at each of its ends to the slide blocks, (iii) a drive rod pivotally attached at one end to the horizontal shaft and rotatably attached to a flywheel of the power system to run in a smooth continuous fashion to deliver a generally up and down motion to the horizontal shaft, (iv) a set of vertical pusher bars rigidly attached to the horizontal shaft, and (v) a horizontal elongated pusher member rigidly attached to each of the pusher bars, each said pusher member extending substantially the length of the flapper doors so as to be in an engaging position with the food articles when said drive rod is in a lowermost position to force the food articles downwardly with sufficient force to substantially fully extend the flapper doors to an open position to cause said food articles to drop into the packaging trays and to move to a disengaging position when said drive rod is in an uppermost position.   
     
     
       14. The food article loader machine of claim 13 wherein the input conveyor of the loader parent machine and the flywheel used to run the drive rod of the filling head are driven by the same power source at a synchronized speed. 
     
     
       15. The food article loader machine of claim 14 wherein a single cycle clutch is operably connected to the power system to intermittently deliver power to the flywheel. 
     
     
       16. The food article loader machine of claim 15 wherein the power system includes an interchangeable sprocket wheel operably connected to the single cycle clutch to deliver a selected number of the food article groupings to the filling head. .Iadd. 
     
     
       17.  A food article filling head for connection to a loader parent machine to intermittently receive a preset number of food articles and discharge said food articles into individual packaging trays, said filling head comprising: (a) an open frame having a quick connect for ready attachment to the loader parent machine to receive food articles moving in alignment along an input conveyor of the parent machine;   (b) at least two flapper doors pivotally attached to the open frame in a side by side arrangement to collectively form a substantially flat receiving surface to hold the food articles as they are loaded into the filling head from the input conveyor; and   (c) a pusher bar unloading system capable of being operably connected to a power system of the loader parent machine to intermittently discharge the food articles in the filling head to the individual packaging trays positioned below the flapper doors. .Iaddend..Iadd.18. The food article filling head of claim 17 wherein the pusher bar unloading system includes (i) a set of vertical slide blocks slideably mounted on rails of the open frame, (ii) a horizontal shaft rigidly attached at each of its ends to the slide blocks, (iii) a drive rod pivotally attached at one end to the horizontal shaft for rotatably attaching to a flywheel of the power system to run in a smooth continuous fashion to deliver a generally up and down motion to the horizontal shaft, (iv) a set of vertical pusher bars rigidly attached to the horizontal shaft, and (v) a horizontal elongated pusher member rigidly attached to each of the pusher bars, each said pusher member extending substantially the length of the flapper doors so as to be in an engaging position with the food articles when said drive rod is in a lowermost position to force the food articles downwardly with sufficient force to substantially fully extend the flapper doors to an open position to cause said food articles to drop into the packaging trays and to move to a disengaging position when said drive rod is in an uppermost position.   
     
     
        .Iaddend..Iadd.19.  The food article filling head of claim 18 wherein the power system of the loader parent machine includes a flywheel to which the drive rod is rotatably attached. .Iaddend..Iadd.20. The food article filling head of claim 18 wherein each slide block is an assembly comprising a plastic slide block which slides along the rail and a metal bearing block rigidly holding an end of the horizontal shaft, said slide block and said bearing block being fixedly secured together. .Iaddend..Iadd.21. The food article filling head of claim 17 wherein the open frame comprises two horizontal lower support members, a cross-member brace rigidly attached to the lower support members, and a vertical rail support member extending from each lower support member wherein the rails for the slide blocks extend substantially along the length of each vertical rail support member. .Iaddend..Iadd.22. The food article filling head of claim 21 further comprising end stops on the open frame positioned to prevent the forward movement of the food articles as they are loaded into the filling head. .Iaddend..Iadd.23. The food article filling head of claim 22 wherein the open frame further has a rigid guide member secured to the cross-member brace, said guide member having a slot through which the drive rod passes. .Iaddend..Iadd.24. The food article filling head of claim 23 wherein a door rod extends along each of the horizontal lower support members and is secured thereto and the flapper doors are pivotally attached on the door rods. .Iaddend..Iadd.25. The food article filling head of claim 24 further wherein at least two torsional springs are mounted on each door rod to hold the flapper doors in a substantially 
     
     
        horizontal closed position during rest. .Iaddend..Iadd.26.  The food article filling head of claim 25 wherein the open frame is configured to have two sets of the spring loaded flapper doors to receive two aligned rows of the food articles. .Iaddend..Iadd.27. The food article filling head of claim 25 wherein each flapper door has a width adequate to provide ends of the food articles with sufficient support to maintain said food articles in a planar disposition. .Iaddend..Iadd.28. The food article filling head of claim 27 wherein each flapper door has a width of from about one inch to about three inches. .Iaddend..Iadd.29. The food article filling head of claim 17 wherein the quick connect to the loader parent machine comprises a transverse horizontal mounting bar extending across the horizontal upper support members of the frame and positioned to be received in grooves of mounting blocks which are permanently attached to the loader parent machine and is capable of being locked into said groove by drop pins. .Iaddend..Iadd.30. The food article filling head of claim 29 wherein the drive rod of the pusher bar unloading system is rigidly attached to a crank arm and further wherein said crank arm has a quick connect pin for attachment to the flywheel of the loader parent machine power system. .Iaddend..Iadd.31. A food article filling head of a food article loading system including a loader parent machine with a power system to intermittently receive a preset number of food articles and discharge said food articles into individual packaging trays, said filling head comprising: (a) an open frame for receiving food articles moving in alignment along an input conveyor of the parent machine;   (b) at least two flapper doors pivotally attached to the open frame in a side by side arrangement to collectively form a substantially flat receiving surface to hold the food articles as they are loaded into the filling head from the input conveyor;   (c) a flywheel operably connected to the power system of the loader parent machine; and   (d) a pusher bar unloading system capable of being operably connected to the flywheel to intermittently discharge the food articles in the filling head to the individual packaging trays positioned below the flapper doors.   
     
     
        .Iaddend..Iadd.32.  The food article filling head of claim 31 wherein the pusher bar unloading system includes (i) a set of vertical slide blocks slideably mounted on rails of the open frame, (ii) a horizontal shaft rigidly attached at each of its ends to the slide blocks, (iii) a drive rod pivotally attached at one end to the horizontal shaft and pivotally attached at the other end to the flywheel to run in a smooth continuous fashion to deliver a generally up and down motion to the horizontal shaft, (iv) a set of vertical pusher bars rigidly attached to the horizontal shaft, and (v) a horizontal elongated pusher member rigidly attached to each of the pusher bars, each said pusher member extending substantially the length of the flapper doors so as to be in an engaging position with the food articles when said drive rod is in a lowermost position to force the food articles downwardly with sufficient force to substantially fully extend the flapper doors to an open position to cause said food articles to drop into the packaging trays and to move to a disengaging position when said drive rod is in an uppermost position. .Iaddend..Iadd.33. The food article filling head of claim 32 wherein each slide block is an assembly comprising a plastic slide block which slides along the rail and a metal bearing block rigidly holding an end of the horizontal shaft, said slide block and said bearing block being fixedly secured together. .Iaddend..Iadd.34. The food article filling head of claim 32 wherein the open frame comprises two horizontal lower support members, a cross-member brace rigidly attached to the lower support members, and a vertical rail support member extending from each lower support member wherein the rails for the slide blocks extend substantially along the length of each 
     
     
        vertical rail support member. .Iaddend..Iadd.35.  The food article filling head of claim 34 further comprising end stops on the open frame positioned to prevent the forward movement of the food articles as they are loaded into the filling head. .Iaddend..Iadd.36. The food article filling head of claim 35 wherein the open frame further has a rigid guide member secured to the cross-member brace, said guide member having a slot through which the drive rod passes. .Iaddend..Iadd.37. The food article filling head of claim 36 wherein a door rod extends along each of the horizontal lower support members and is secured thereto and the flapper doors are pivotally attached on the door rods. .Iaddend..Iadd.38. The food article filling head of claim 37 further wherein at least two torsional springs are mounted on each door rod to hold the flapper doors in a substantially horizontal closed position during rest. .Iaddend..Iadd.39. The food article filling head of claim 38 wherein the open frame is configured to have two sets of the spring loaded flapper doors to receive two aligned rows of the food articles. .Iaddend..Iadd.40. The food article filling head of claim 38 wherein each flapper door has a width adequate to provide ends of the food articles with sufficient support to maintain said food articles in a planar disposition. .Iaddend..Iadd.41. The food article filling head of claim 40 wherein each flapper door has a width of from about one inch to about three inches. .Iaddend..Iadd.42. The food article filling head of claim 32 wherein the open frame includes a quick connect 
     
     
        for ready attachment to the loader parent machine. .Iaddend..Iadd.43.  The food article filling head of claim 42 wherein the quick connect to the loader parent machine comprises a transverse horizontal mounting bar extending across the horizontal upper support members of the frame and positioned to be received in grooves of mounting blocks which are permanently attached to the loader parent machine and is capable of being locked into said groove by drop pins. .Iaddend..Iadd.44. The food article filling head of claim 43 wherein the drive rod of the pusher bar unloading system is rigidly attached to a crank arm and further wherein said crank arm has a quick connect pin for attachment to the flywheel of the loader parent machine power system. .Iaddend.