Daniel T Mcguire

49630725, Oct 16, 1990

Aug 24, 1989

7/397863

Guy M. Miley - Lake Worth FL
Daniel J. McGuire - Fort Lauderdale FL

Curt G. Joa, Inc. - Boynton Beach FL

B65G 5906

4147976

A feeder for shape unstable articles such as pads for absorbing body fluids has an upright hopper having top and bottom openings for receiving and discharging pads. First and second rotationally driven upper pulleys having a plurality of round belt receiving grooves in their peripheries are mounted adjacent the bottom opening of the hopper on opposite sides of the vertical center line of the hopper. Third and fourth idler pulleys are arranged in laterally spaced apart relationship and symmetrical to the center line of the hopper at a lower level than the first and second pulleys. Because the lower pulleys are closer to each other than the upper pulleys, the belts converge toward each other such that articles which settle out of the hopper finally become wedged between the belts proximate to the lower pulleys. A stepping motor is energized to drive the pulleys and translate the belts so that the lowermost article in the stack is dispensed from between the lower pair of pulleys by reason of being frictionally engaged at its edges by the belts on the grooved pulleys. The stepping motor is started at the moment a pad should be dispensed and is stopped in response to the pad dropping across the beam of a photosensor so the feeder is self-timing.