Cup feeder
A column of cups guided by their rims in elongated slots is spaced into desired cup pitch by one or more linear stars from which the cups can be transferred for packaging. The linear stars have lugs engaging and spacing the cups. In another aspect of the invention, cups are manipulated into patterns for final grouping and packaging and by a plurality of cup orienting pickers engaging, inverting and re-orienting the cups. In one final packaged cup group of two or more layers, alternating cups in each layer are inverted and a top lid of a cup in an upper layer is disposed on a top lid of a cup in a bottom layer, while a bottom of a cup in an upper layer is disposed on a bottom of a cup in a lower layer, and in an alternating pattern.
1. A method of creating a pattern of cups in a tray defining a plurality of transverse rows of pockets and including:
depositing a row of cups in a row of pockets of said tray;
inverting cups in every other of said rows, thus creating alternating rows of top up and top down cups;
engaging a cup in each of two adjacent rows and, at the same time and location in each row and exchanging the respective engaged cups into a pocket previously occupied by the other respective cup;
engaging cups in two sets of parallel cup rows, and
transferring engaged cups for loading.
2. A method as in claim 1 including transferring engaged cups from said rows onto a loading conveyor for grouping and packaging.
3. A method as in claim 1 wherein said engaging step is applied to every other cup location on at least one of said rows.
4. A method as in claim 1 including forming two layers of cups with cups of one upper layer having their tops of top down cups engaging the tops up tops of cups the other lower layer, and the bottoms of top up cups of an upper layer engaging the bottoms of top down cups of the lower layer.