Material or article handling – Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into – within,... – Stack forming apparatus
Patent
1998-11-12
2000-07-11
Morse, Gregory A.
Material or article handling
Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into, within,...
Stack forming apparatus
4147926, B65G 5700
Patent
active
06086320&
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stacking apparatus for successively supplying boards, for instance identical sheets of cardboard, and forming stacks of these boards and ordering these stacks in chosen patterns.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Once such prior art apparatus has: overlapping relation or in part-stacks; a supporting base and a stop extending vertically and perpendicularly of the transporting direction of the feed conveyor for bringing to a standstill the boards supplied by the feed conveyor such that a stack of boards supported by the supporting base is formed; and
Such a stacking apparatus is known in diverse embodiments. For forming of stacks and ordering of these stacks in chosen patterns stations are required which are functionally and actually separated from each other. This makes a stacking apparatus of the known type expensive, while the known apparatus also takes up a relatively large amount of space.
It is an object of the invention to embody a stacking apparatus such that it can be constructed relatively inexpensively and take up relatively little space.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This objective is realized with a stacking apparatus of the stated type which has the feature that the supporting base has an effective dimension in the transporting direction amounting to more than twice the dimension of the boards in the transporting direction; it can bring the supplied boards to a standstill until the thus formed stack has reached a desired height, is subsequently moved from the front surface of the stack to the rear surface of the stack and from this position displaces the stack by pushing over the supporting base to a position in which the rear surface of the stack lies beyond the initial position of the front surface or in which the stack lies with its front surface against the rear surface of a previously formed stack; and base.
A preferred embodiment has the special feature that means are added to the feed conveyor which temporarily interrupt the supply of boards to the stacking station during the movement of the stop.
An embodiment has the special feature that the stop comprises a flat plate.
The supporting base can be wholly flat but, with regard to particular requirements which may be made, may have a profiled pattern. It may occur in this latter case that the bottom board or boards of a stack are not stopped in correct manner by the stop. In this respect an embodiment can have the feature that the stop has a form adapted to the form of the supporting base, in particular has a form complementary thereto.
A specific embodiment has the feature that the supporting base is the active part of the conveyor which can discharge in transverse direction the stacks present thereon.
This latter variant can be embodied such that the conveyor comprises slats hingedly coupled to each other. The slats extend in the transporting direction of the feed conveyor. They are mutually connected in the manner of links of a chain or are supported by chains constructed from links.
A specific embodiment of this latter variant has the special feature that the slats each have a convex prismatic upper surface. It is noted that "prismatic" means that the cross section has the same shape at any longitudinal position.
Yet another embodiment has the special feature that the conveyor comprises a driven roller track.
This variant provides the option of the stop comprising at least two elongate elements extending between the rollers. Such a variant can have the advantage that the stop does not necessarily have to be movable over the formed stack but can also be retracted below the conveyor to be moved to the pushing position. This can be an advantage depending on the space available.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be elucidated with reference to the annexed drawings. Herein:
FIG. 1 shows a partly schematic, broken away perspective view of a stacking and forming apparatus;
FIG. 2 shows on enlarged scale a view corresponding with FIG.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2672079 (1954-03-01), Chandler
patent: 2852990 (1958-09-01), Roe
patent: 3995540 (1976-12-01), Huiskes
patent: 4367997 (1983-01-01), Schweingruber
patent: 4988264 (1991-01-01), Winski
patent: 5433582 (1995-07-01), Medina
patent: 5829951 (1998-11-01), Adami
Falch Eberhard
Wilbers Arno Antonius Bernardus
Morse Gregory A.
Universal Corrugated B.V.
LandOfFree
Stacking apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Stacking apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Stacking apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-535545