Lehr loading bar

Claim 1

In an apparatus for loading glass containers into an annealing lehr wherein a lehr loading mechanism moves a lehr loading bar in a repeating cycle to bring said lehr loading bar into contact with a single file row of said glass containers and push them toward said lehr, an improved lehr loading bar which comprises, in combination: a main member substantially equal in length to the distance defined by the length of the single file row of said glass containers to be moved toward said lehr at one time; a first angled flange attached to one edge of said main member along the length thereof and inclined toward the centerline of said main member; a second angled flange attached to the opposite edge of said main member from said first angled flange and inclined toward the centerline of said main member on the same side thereof as said first angled flange; a plurality of liner bars in engagement with said first and second angled flanges, each of said liner bars having a front face extending beyond said angled flanges toward said glass containers, said liner bars' front faces each being equal in length to slightly more than one diameter of said glass containers; a plurality of spacers in engagement with said first and second angled flanges, said spacers and said liner bars being arranged in a repeating alternating pattern, said spacers extending further toward said glass containers than said front face to thereby define pockets for said glass containers between adjacent spacers separated by liner bars, the center to center spacing of adjacent spacers being slightly more than one glass container diameter; and means for locking said liner bars and spacers into said flanges.