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A loader including a support for holding at a loading station a container having openings in the bottom, a continuous conveyor having alternating conveyor sections and window sections passing by the loading station and disposed above and in registration with the support, a platen disposed beneath th

A loader including a support for holding at a loading station a container having openings in the bottom, a continuous conveyor having alternating conveyor sections and window sections passing by the loading station and disposed above and in registration with the support, a platen disposed beneath the support and carrying a plurality of pins extending upwardly and having the upper ends disposed in a plane, means for moving the pins to a receiving position with the upper ends extending through the openings in the container bottom and disposed immediately below the loading station and a depositing position wherein the pins are withdrawn from the openings in the container on the support, and structure for feeding a package onto one of the conveyor sections and off the conveyor section at the loading station and into and through the trailing window section to deposit the package gently upon the pins, whereby upon moving the pins to the depositing position the package is deposited in the container; also disclosed is a method of loading packages into a container.

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A loader for depositing into a container having a plurality of openings in the bottom thereof a set of grouped individual items to be maintained in a predetermined relation with respect to each other, said loader comprising a support for holding a container in a loading station, a conveyor for trans

A loader for depositing into a container having a plurality of openings in the bottom thereof a set of grouped individual items to be maintained in a predetermined relation with respect to each other, said loader comprising a support for holding a container in a loading station, a conveyor for transporting a set of grouped individual items to the loading station and disposed above said support and in general registration therewith, a plurality of upwardly extending pins substantially greater in number than the individual items disposed beneath said support and in general registration therewith and having the upper ends thereof disposed essentially in a common surface, means for moving said pins between a receiving position wherein said pins extend through the openings in an associated container on said support with the upper ends of said pins adjacent to and immediately below said loading station and a depositing position wherein said pins are witHdrawn from the openings in the associated container on said support, and means for shifting the associated set of grouped individual items at said loading station from said conveyor when said pins are in said receiving position without lateral constraint of the associated set of grouped individual items while maintaining the associated set of grouped individual items in general registration with an associated container on said support gently to transfer the associated set of grouped individual items onto the upper ends of said pins, whereby subsequent shifting of said pins to said depositing position gently deposits the associated set of grouped individual items in the associated container while preserving the individual items therein and maintaining them in the predetermined relation with respect to each other. A method of loading into a container having a plurality of openings in the bottom thereof a set of grouped individual items to be maintained in a predetermined relation with respect to each other, said method comprising the steps of providing at a loading station a container having a plurality of openings in thE bottom thereof, carrying a set of grouped individual items on a powered conveyor section of interconnected free rollers into said loading station overlying and in general registry with said container, moving a plurality of upwardly extending pins substantially greater in number than the individual items upwardly through the openings in the bottom of said container so that the upper ends of said pins are disposed just beneath said conveyor section, causing relative movement between the set of grouped individual items and said conveyor section to feed the set of grouped individual items off of the trailing end of said conveyor section without lateral constraint of the associated set of grouped individual items gently to transfer the set of grouped individual items onto the upper ends of said pins, and thereafter withdrawing said pins from the openings in said container gently to deposit the set of grouped individual items in said container while preserving the individual items therein and maintaining them in the predetermined relation with respect to each other.