Apparatuses and methods for filling and packing herb receptacles with herb material
Apparatuses and methods are provided for filling and packing herb receptacles with herb material. For example, a method of filling and packing herb receptacles is provided which includes supporting the herb receptacles in space on a vibrating platform with the aid of a support structure having a plurality of holding apertures; dosing herb material into the herb receptacles; repositioning the vibrating platform from a loading configuration to a packing configuration to lift the herb receptacles with the herb material relative to the support structure; and packing the herb receptacles with the herb material with the vibrating platform in the packing configuration.
1. An apparatus for filling and packing herb receptacles with herb material, the apparatus comprising:
a base assembly having a vibrating platform that is, apart from vibratory movement, further movable via a user manipulable lift arrangement between a loading configuration, in which the vibrating platform is positioned at a first height for filling of the herb receptacles, and a packing configuration, in which the vibrating platform is positioned at a second height that is greater than the first height for packing the herb receptacles via the vibratory movement of the vibrating platform, the lift arrangement being configured to retain the vibrating platform at the second height during the packing of the herb receptacles;
a holding tray positionable over the base assembly and having a plurality of holding tray apertures each sized to receive a respective herb receptacle and to encircle the herb receptacle at an intermediate location along a longitudinal length of the herb receptacle; and
a loading tray removably coupled to the holding tray and having a plurality of loading tray apertures each sized to receive a respective herb receptacle and to encircle the herb receptacle at an upper location along a longitudinal length of the herb receptacle.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a metering device removably coupled to the loading tray and having a plurality of metering cavities for receiving a respective dose of the herb material, the metering device being movable relative to the loading tray to enable the respective dose of the herb material to be selectively deposited in a respective herb receptacle when moving the metering device from a fill configuration, in which the metering cavities are isolated from internal cavities of the herb receptacles, to a deposit configuration, in which the metering cavities are open to the internal cavities of the herb receptacles.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the metering device includes a gate structure that is slidable relative to the loading tray to enable the respective dose of the herb material to be selectively deposited into the respective herb receptacle when moving from the fill configuration to the deposit configuration.
4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the metering device is removably supported on the loading tray to enable removal of the metering device from the loading tray prior to packing the herb receptacles with the herb material.
5. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising:
a supplemental metering plate positionable on the metering device to adjust a dose volume of the herb material to be deposited in the herb receptacles, the supplemental metering plate including a plurality of metering apertures alignable with the metering cavities of the metering device.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the base assembly includes a base structure and the vibrating platform is movably coupled to the base structure to enable movement of the vibrating platform via the user manipulable lift arrangement between the loading configuration and the packing configuration.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the user manipulable lift arrangement includes a plurality of cams and at least one linkage member.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein, when the vibrating platform of the base assembly is in the loading configuration, the loading tray and holding tray support the herb receptacles with terminal ends of the herb receptacles in contact with the vibrating platform and with loading ends of the herb receptacles at or below an upper surface of the loading tray.
9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein, when the vibrating platform of the base assembly is in the packing configuration, the loading tray and holding tray support the herb receptacles with terminal ends of the herb receptacles in contact with the vibrating platform and with loading ends of the herb receptacles above the upper surface of the loading tray.
10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the vibrating platform is configured to move the herb receptacles relative to the holding tray and the loading tray when moving from the loading configuration to the packing configuration.
11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the base assembly includes an electric vibrator fixed to the vibrating platform to enable selective vibration of the vibrating platform during packing of the herb receptacles.
12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein a frequency and/or an intensity of the electric vibrator is variable to adjust a packing quality of the herb receptacles.
13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the loading tray is removably supported above and spaced apart from the holding tray.
14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the loading tray apertures are aligned coaxially with the holding tray apertures via a plurality of alignment guides.
15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the loading tray is spaced apart from the holding tray such that a mid-section of the herb receptacles are visible when filling and packing the herb receptacles with the herb material.
16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each loading tray aperture is sized to closely encircle the herb receptacle at the upper location along the longitudinal length of the herb receptacle to minimize an amount of herb material bypassing the herb receptacle during filling.
17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each holding tray aperture is sized to engage a portion of the herb receptacle at a location above the intermediate location when lifting the holding tray with the herb receptacles received therein.
18. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the holding tray is configured to independently support the herb receptacles when removed from the base assembly.
19. A method of filling and packing herb receptacles with herb material, the method comprising:
supporting the herb receptacles in space on a vibrating platform with the aid of a support structure having a plurality of holding apertures each sized to receive a respective one of the herb receptacles and to encircle the herb receptacle at an intermediate location along a longitudinal length of the herb receptacle;
dosing herb material into the herb receptacles;
repositioning the vibrating platform using a user manipulable lift arrangement from a loading configuration, in which the vibrating platform is positioned at a first height for filling of the herb receptacles, to a packing configuration, in which the vibrating platform is positioned at a second height that is greater than the first height for packing the herb receptacles via vibratory movement of the vibrating platform, to lift the herb receptacles with the herb material relative to the support structure; and
packing the herb receptacles with the herb material with the vibrating platform maintained in the packing configuration.
20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
during the dosing of the herb material into the herb receptacles, supporting the herb receptacles in space on the vibrating platform with the further aid of a loading tray.
21. The method of claim 20 wherein dosing the herb material into the herb receptacles includes filling a plurality of metering cavities of a metering device with the herb material and translating the metering device relative to the loading tray to expose the metering cavities to internal cavities of the herb receptacles.
22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:
removing the metering device from the loading tray prior to repositioning the vibrating platform from the loading configuration to the packing configuration.
23. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:
after packing the herb receptacles with the herb material, removing the loading tray from support of the herb receptacles and relocating the support structure with the herb receptacles with the packed herb material supported therein for further processing.
24. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
adjusting a packing quality of the herb material in the herb receptacles by modifying a frequency and/or an intensity of vibratory motion of the vibrating platform during the packing of the herb receptacles.