Method and apparatus for storing stacks of articles and subsequently unstacking the articles and feeding the articles to working equipment
US4951803A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 6, 1988 |
| Grant date | Aug 28, 1990 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 6, 2008 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB65G47/5113
- WIPO fieldHandling
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus for stacking and storing articles and subsequently unstacking the articles. The apparatus includes a first conveyor to convey a plurality of articles, and a plurality of secondary conveyors are disposed normal to a side edge of the first conveyor. To store the articles, each article is stopped on the conveyor and is pushed laterally from the main conveyor into bearing engagement against a movable stop member on a secondary conveyor. Additional articles are pushed onto the secondary conveyor into engagement with the preceding article to form a composite stack. The composite stack can be lifted from the secondary conveyor by a lifting mechanism to a storage site, and subsequently, when it is desired to release the stack from storage, the stack is lowered back onto the secondary conveyor. As the composite stack approaches the downstream end of the secondary conveyor, the individual articles are separated from the stack and fed to a third conveyor, which conveys the articles in uniformly spaced relation to working equipment.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.