Contour in-feed means for continuous motion can decorator

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A continuous motion can decorator is provided with a gravity feed chute which delivers undecorated cans directly to a pocket wheel for loading of these cans onto mandrels. Adjacent pockets of the pocket wheel are connected by a lead-in surface that is tangent to the downstream pocket at a point radially outward of the tangent between the lead-in surface and the upstream pocket. The lead-in surface is of essentially constant radius. A can when initially fully seated in a pocket is engaged by a can in the chute which is positioned so that the center thereof is essentially on a line extending through the center of the fully seated can and the center about which the lead-in surface is formed.