Richard M Wiernicki

6571532, Jun 3, 2003

Apr 28, 1999

09/301394

Richard M. Wiernicki - Roebuck SC
David Nelson Cooley - Greenville SC
Thomas Patterson Hartness - Greenville SC

Hartness International, Inc. - Greenville SC

B65B 508

53247, 53534, 53539, 53251, 53475, 41422501

A continuous motion apparatus for depacking and packing articles in cases which includes a carriage which carries a plurality of transfer arms; a plurality of article pick-up heads carried by the transfer arms for picking up a group of the articles at a pick-up station to transfer the articles to a release station. In a case packing configuration of the invention, a slug metering section includes a slug feeder continuously receiving articles from an infeed conveyor. A revolving pin bar mechanism is carried in the slug metering section having a plurality of revolving pin bar assemblies to assist in forming the articles into successive groups or slugs of articles. The pin bar assemblies include spaced upstanding pins which are received in crevices between rear articles in a first slug and front articles in a second slug of articles to separate the articles for processing. A slug metering member, which can also have upstanding posts, is carried across the slug metering section and pivots in and out of a conveyance path of the articles in synchronism with the revolving pin bar mechanism to meter the articles. In the depacking configuration, a plurality of article gripper tubes are carried by each article pick-up head arranged in a matrix corresponding to the slug of articles.

6722101, Apr 20, 2004

Aug 29, 2002

10/232550

Thomas Patterson Hartness - Greenville SC
Richard M. Wiernicki - Roebuck SC
Robert Leslie Dillard - Easley SC
David Lee Scott - Greenville SC

Hartness International, Inc. - Greenville SC

B65B 500

53247, 53251, 53539, 533763, 533764, 533774

A packing apparatus which includes a feed conveyor adapted to convey articles to a pick up station and a case conveyor adapted to sequentially convey cases, having an open top and a plurality of flaps, to a feed station. Pick up and grid heads are provided and are adapted to pick up successive slugs of the articles at the pick up station and to sequentially deposit the slugs in each of the cases while they are in the release station. A removal conveyor is provided to successively receive the slug filled cases from the release station and pass them onto a case sealing apparatus which is arranged over the removal conveyor and is operative to apply an adhesive to certain of the flaps and to then move the flaps over the open top into a secured closed position.

6729103, May 4, 2004

Oct 15, 1999

09/418619

Thomas Patterson Hartness - Greenville SC
David N. Cooley - Greenville SC
Richard M. Wiernicki - Roebuck SC
Robert Leslie Dillard - Easley SC
David Lee Scott - Greenville SC

Hartness International, Inc. - Greenville SC

B65B 508

53247, 53251, 53539

An apparatus and method for continuously transferring articles from a pickup station to a release station using a circular, continuously rotating turret is disclosed which includes a plurality of transfer arms carried in a circular motion wherein pickup heads carried by the transfer arms are converted from the circular motion to a straight-line motion during pick up of the articles to provide a case packing machine having high speed and reliable operation. In accordance with the general aspects of the invention, a first conveyor is disclosed for conveying the articles to a pickup station and a second conveyor is provided for delivering the articles away from a release station. One of the first and second conveyors includes an arcuate conveyor section disposed below a congruent path of the pickup heads. At least one of the pickup and release stations is advantageously located over the arcuate conveyor section whereby high speed operation requiring only a small amount of machine floor space is provided. When utilized as a case packing machine, both the pickup heads and grid heads, which define a plurality of guides through which the articles are released at the case packing station, are moved in a translatory motion during article pick up.

6748725, Jun 15, 2004

Feb 5, 2002

10/068601

Thomas Patterson Hartness - Greenville SC
David N. Cooley - Greenville SC
Richard M. Wiernicki - Roebuck SC
Robert Leslie Dillard - Easley SC
David Lee Scott - Greenville SC

Hartness International, Inc. - Greenville SC

B65B 508

53475, 53247, 53248, 53251, 53539

An apparatus and method for continuously transferring articles from a pickup station to a release station using a circular, continuously rotating turret is disclosed which includes a plurality of transfer arms carried in a circular motion wherein pickup heads carried by the transfer arms are converted from the circular motion to a straight-line motion during pick up of the articles to provide a case packing machine having high speed and reliable operation. In accordance with the general aspects of the invention, a first conveyor is disclosed for conveying the articles to a pickup station and a second conveyor is provided for delivering the articles away from a release station. One of the first and second conveyors includes an arcuate conveyor section disposed below a congruent path of the pickup heads. At least one of the pickup and release stations is advantageously located over the arcuate conveyor section whereby high speed operation requiring only a small amount of machine floor space is provided. When utilized as a case packing machine, both the pickup heads and grid heads, which define a plurality of guides through which the articles are released at the case packing station, are moved in a translatory motion during article pick up.

6983577, Jan 10, 2006

Oct 21, 2002

10/274656

Thomas Patterson Hartness - Greenville SC, US
Richard M. Wiernicki - Roebuck SC, US
Robert Leslie Dillard - Easley SC, US
David Lee Scott - Greenville SC, US

Hartness International, Inc. - Greenville SC

B65B 7/28
B65B 5/10

53471, 53251, 53278, 53299, 53475, 53485, 141145, 141237, 141250

An apparatus and method is disclosed for processing containers or other articles by using continuous rotation of processing heads in a circular path about a single vertical axis and controlling the processing heads to independently rotate about a swivel axis causing them to move in a straight-line path while the heads are lowered to engage a group of containers or articles arranged in parallel rows. In this manner, a higher production apparatus and method are provided which is simpler, more reliable, requires less floor space, and easy to reconfigure for different applications.

20030106288, Jun 12, 2003

Aug 19, 2002

10/223398

Thomas Hartness - Greenville SC, US
Richard Wiernicki - Roebuck SC, US
Robert Dillard - Easley SC, US
David Scott - Greenville SC, US

B65B005/06

053/473000

A packing apparatus which includes a feed conveyor adapted to convey articles to a pick up station and a case conveyor adapted to sequentially convey cases, having an open top and a plurality of flaps, to a feed station. Pick up and grid heads are provided and are adapted to pick up successive slugs of the articles at the pick up station and to sequentially deposit the slugs in each of the cases while they are in the release station. A removal conveyor is provided to successively receive the slug filled cases from the release station and pass them onto a case sealing apparatus which is arranged over the removal conveyor and is operative to apply an adhesive to certain of the flaps and to then move the flaps over the open top into a secured closed position.

49733028, Nov 27, 1990

Feb 14, 1990

7/481668

James C. Armour - Basking Ridge NJ
Kevin M. Coverdale - Hartley DE
Wayne D. Melvin - Camden DE
Michael L. Miller - Dover DE
Robert C. Norquest - Dover DE
Jamshid Rejai - Dover DE
Richard M. Wiernicki - Dover DE

Playtex Family Products Corporation - Stamford CT

A61F 544

604 15

A two piece compactly packaged application for a tampon which includes a discrete first member and a discrete second member, the first and the second members being of comparable length. The first and the second members are initially packaged in a side by side manner. The applicator also includes a plurality of spaced apart tabs on either the first member or the second member for retaining one of the first and the second members in the other of the first and the second members when the members are assembled together in their operative position. The method assembly of the applicator includes grasping one of the first and the second members, manually aligning the first and the second members and axially moving the first and the second members together so that the first and the second members slide relative to each other and are maintained telescopically in operative position.