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Apparatus, flight bar assemblies, and methods are disclosed for nesting objects into a substantially staggered arrangement. Such nesting may be done in a nesting zone of a machine, for example, just upstream of a shrink wrapping machine. The nested arrangement allows the grouping of nested objects t

Apparatus, flight bar assemblies, and methods are disclosed for nesting objects into a substantially staggered arrangement. Such nesting may be done in a nesting zone of a machine, for example, just upstream of a shrink wrapping machine. The nested arrangement allows the grouping of nested objects to be shrink-wrapped without use of trays or cardboard blanks if desired. The flight bar assemblies may include movable spacers for orienting rows of objects before, during, and after nesting. Lane dividers may be provided having lengths corresponding to a contour of an outer guide and cam surface, cooperating with the lane dividers to selectively urging the rows of objects inward in an organized fashion to allow efficient and reliable nesting.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An apparatus for nesting objects in a substantially staggered arrangement, the objects being received from an object feed in a plurality of groups in substantially parallel rows extending along a feed direction, the nesting apparatus comprising: a flight bar drive;a flight bar assembly including

1. An apparatus for nesting objects in a substantially staggered arrangement, the objects being received from an object feed in a plurality of groups in substantially parallel rows extending along a feed direction, the nesting apparatus comprising: a flight bar drive;a flight bar assembly including a flight bar extending laterally across the feed direction and driven by the flight bar drive through a nesting zone in the feed direction, the flight bar pushing the plurality of groups through the nesting zone, the flight bar assembly including at least one spacer extending forward of the flight bar when in the nesting zone for contacting an object in one of the groups to push the one group forward of others of the groups, the spacer being slidable laterally along the flight bar as the flight bar moves through the nesting zone, the spacer maintaining contact with the object in the one of the groups as the spacer slides laterally, the spacer having a lateral width approximately equaling a width of one of the objects, the spacer extending forward of the flight bar a length approximately equal to one-half of the width of one of the objects; andat least one guide extending along one side of the nesting zone, the guide having a contact surface for moving at least one of the groups of objects laterally within the nesting zone while the flight bar pushes all of the groups through the nesting zone, wherein the flight bar, the spacer on the flight bar, and the guide are configured with respect to the objects so as to cooperate in nesting the objects into a substantially staggered arrangement during travel through the nesting zone. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flight bar assembly includes a spring member for urging the spacer laterally outward toward the guide. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the flight bar assembly includes a cam follower, the cam follower being urged laterally inward thereby compressing the spring member as the flight bar moves through the nesting zone. 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the flight bar assembly further includes a second spacer slidably disposed on the flight bar laterally between the spacer and the guide, the spring member being disposed between a central anchor and the spacer and having a first spring constant, the flight bar assembly further including a second spring member disposed between the spacer and the second spacer and having a second spring constant, the spring constant of the spring and the spring constant of the second spring being inversely proportional to a distance moved by the respective spacer and second spacer. 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the cam follower is located on the second spacer. 6. The apparatus of claim 4, further including a second guide located opposite the guide, the guide and the second guide having respective contact surfaces that are nearer each other in a downstream portion of the nesting zone. 7. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a plurality of lane dividers extending along the feed direction into the nesting zone, each lane divider disposed between two of the rows. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the lane dividers extend to differing lengths within the nesting zone. 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the lane dividers in a central portion of the nesting zone extend further than the lane dividers in lateral portions of the nesting zone. 10. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a dead plate disposed beneath a substantial portion of the nesting zone. 11. The apparatus of claim 10, further include a plurality of single-row conveyors disposed upstream of the dead plate for feeding the objects to the nesting zone and a single nested-group conveyor disposed downstream of the dead plate for transferring nested groups of objects from the nesting zone. 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flight bar and spacer are cooperatively configured so as to substantially prevent rotation of the spacer relative to the bar while pushing the objects. 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the flight bar has a non-circular cross-section. 14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the flight bar assembly includes an orienting bar extending parallel to the flight bar and through the spacer. 15. A flight bar assembly for a nesting assembly configured for pushing objects in a feed direction while allowing lateral movement so as to achieve a staggered nesting pattern, the flight bar assembly comprising: a flight bar extending laterally across the feed direction;a plurality of spacers extending in the feed direction from the flight bar, at least one of the spacers being a slidable spacer that is laterally slidable along the flight bar, the spacers having a lateral width less than a width of the one of the objects, the spacers extending forward of the flight bar a length approximately equal to one-half of the width of one of the objects;a least one compression spring for urging the slidable spacer toward an end of the flight bar and away from a center of the flight bar; anda cam follower operatively engaged with the slidable spacer, whereby pushing the cam follower toward the center of the flight bar slides the slidable spacer toward the center of the flight bar by compressing the compression spring member. 16. The flight bar assembly of claim 15, wherein centers of the spacers are disposed a first distance apart when the compression spring is in a default position and a smaller second distance apart when the compression spring is moved inward by the cam follower. 17. The flight bar assembly of claim 16, wherein the first distance corresponds to two times the width of one the objects and the second distance corresponds to less than two times the width of the one of the objects. 18. The flight bar assembly of claim 17, wherein the second distance corresponds to the lateral distance between the centers of three rows of the objects nested hexagonally. 19. The flight bar assembly of claim 15, wherein the flight bar and spacers are cooperatively configured so as to substantially prevent rotation of the spacers relative to the bar while pushing the objects. 20. The flight bar assembly of claim 19, wherein the flight bar has a non-circular cross-section. 21. The flight bar assembly of claim 19, wherein the flight bar assembly includes an orienting bar extending parallel to the flight bar and through the spacer. 22. The flight bar assembly of claim 15, wherein a second one of the spacers is also slidable, the second spacer slidably disposed on the flight bar laterally between the spacer and the guide, the compression spring being disposed between a central anchor and the spacer and having a first spring constant, the flight bar assembly further including a second spring member disposed between the spacer and the second spacer and having a second spring constant, the spring constant of the spring member and the spring constant of the second spring member being inversely proportional to a distance moved by the respective spacer and second spacer. 23. A method of nesting objects comprising: feeding objects in a feed direction in plurality of rows into a nesting zone;selectively maintaining separation of the rows via lane dividers between the rows, the lane dividers having differing lengths extending into the nesting zone;pushing the rows of objects into the nesting zone using a flight bar assembly, the flight bar assembly having a flight bar and spacers extending forward from the flight bar in the feed direction, at least one of the spacers being a slidable spacer that is laterally slidable along the flight bar, the spacers having a lateral width less than a width of the one of the objects, the spacers extending forward of the flight bar a length approximately equal to one-half of the width of one of the objects, the spacers arranged to contact and push every other row of the objects with a row of the objects in between; andsliding at least some of the spacers laterally inward relative to the flight bar while in the nesting zone as the rows of objects exit the lane dividers while urging the outermost rows of objects inward to achieve a staggered nested arrangement of objects.