| A piece of equipment, as small as a baby's pinky | | | | These quick change timing screws provide less down |
| finger can be found in every household around the | | | | time between conversions and simple installation |
| world. It is used to hold pictures on walls, pieces of | | | | allowing for optimal savings and production. These |
| wood together, and scary enough it has even been | | | | screws can be color coded to assist the quick easy |
| known to keep bones from splitting. This tiny tool is | | | | change between product productions. |
| known as the screw. | | | | Dedicated Feed Screws: In some cases machines are |
| Dating back to the 7th Century BC, the screw was | | | | dedicated to a single product that remains the same |
| first used as part of a screw pump which was used | | | | size and shape throughout the product life cycle. For |
| for a watering system at the Hanging Gardens of | | | | this reason dedicated feed screws are large screws |
| Babylon. It then spread throughout the Mediterranean | | | | that filter products down the production line and never |
| where the device was fixed in wine and oil presses. | | | | have to be replaced with a different type of screw. |
| Metal screws as we know today did not appear until | | | | It is important that timing and accuracy in container |
| the 15th Century. | | | | handling remains consistent so the production line runs |
| The packaging industry still uses the screw for the | | | | safely and smoothly. Feed screws can be custom |
| same purpose, propulsion, as the Babylonians did | | | | made to meet many different needs such as to halt or |
| thousands of years ago. This screw design they use | | | | position containers and act as a line control device. |
| for this purpose is called a timing screw or a feed | | | | They can also accelerate, decelerate, divide or |
| screw. These screws are commonly found in | | | | combine the container flow. They can be mounted one |
| conveyor systems where they feed the products into | | | | above the other to increase stability of odd shaped |
| the different machines along the production line. | | | | bottles or containers, such as those with multiple cross |
| There are two types of timing screws in the | | | | sections. |
| packaging industry; a quick change feed screw and a | | | | It is important to understand that these timing screws |
| dedicated feed screw. | | | | are just as complicated as the rest of the machinery |
| Quick Change Feed Screw: In order to save time and | | | | involved. If not designed correctly they have the |
| money so packaging companies use the same | | | | potential to screw up the rhythm of the entire |
| machines to package different products. These | | | | assembly line. Custom feed screw designers have the |
| products may not always be the same size or shapes | | | | knowledge and expertise to manufacture such |
| therefore parts of the machine need to be changed. | | | | equipment. |