Material or article handling – Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into – within,... – Stack forming apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-03
2004-08-03
Hess, Douglas (Department: 3651)
Material or article handling
Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into, within,...
Stack forming apparatus
C414S788200, C414S789800, C414S789900, C414S790000, C414S790100, C414S790400, C414S790500, C414S790600, C414S790800, C414S791000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06769862
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention deals with the field of automated conveying systems for handling of large horizontally extending members which are designed to hold a plurality of individual discreet items. An example of such an item is a flat which is designed to hold a plurality of eggs such as a five by five or six by six array thereof. These flats nest within one another and need to be stacked and destacked for various stages of operation such as cleaning, sanitizing, drying and handling to facilitate reuse. The present invention provides a unique apparatus for high speed stacking of individual flats such as would be encountered immediately after washing of the individual flats. The flats can be stacked vertically to a height of 20, 30 or more and then can proceed to a drying apparatus such as a spin dryer for simultaneous drying thereof. The washing, however, needs to be done individually and for this reason the flats need to be separated and conveyed through the washing station individually in an unstacked position to facilitate effective washing. The present invention provides a unique apparatus solely for the purpose of taking these single flats oriented horizontally and traveling upon a conveyor and stacking thereof vertically and again positioning them on a conveyor for transport to a drying station.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous devices have been used for the purpose of stacking, unstacking or other handling of flats or other horizontally oriented members which are preferably nestable and can receive a plurality of discreet items therein such as eggs or the like. Examples of patents which have been granted on such apparatus include U.S. Pat. No. 2,915,308 patented Dec. 1, 1959 to J. C. Matzen on “Automatic Feeding Machines”; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,053,529 patented Sep. 11, 1962 to M. B. Dunn and assigned to Memco Machinery Corporation on a “Blank Feeding Apparatus For Box Erecting Machine”; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,130,967 patented Apr. 28, 1964 to J. Le Brell and assigned to Alton Box Board Company on a “Hopper Feed For Carton Blanks”; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,217 patented Feb. 27, 1973 to A. R. Stobb et al on an “Apparatus For Feeding Signatures”; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,640 patented Apr. 3, 1973 to H. Rapparlie and assigned to Licentia Patent-Verwaltungs-GmbH on a “Device For Forming Stacks From A Flow Of Consecutively Furnished Flat Items”; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,783 patented Nov. 27, 1973 to A. H. Miller et al and assigned to Libbey-Owens-Ford Company on an “Apparatus For Handling Sheet Material”; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,784 patented Feb. 19, 1974 to J. H. Mosterd on a “Device For Handling Egg Trays”; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,633 patented Mar. 23, 1976 to A. A. Knopp and assigned to Harris-Intertype Corporation on a “Hopper Loader”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,296 patented Aug. 14, 1979 to C. I. Trees and assigned to The Lodge & Shipley Company on an “Apparatus For Transferring And Rotating Articles”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,272 patented Oct. 6, 1981 to A. Jellema and assigned to Staalkat B. V. on a “Method And Apparatus For Denesting A Plurality of Containers Filled With Articles”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,156 patented Nov. 3, 1981 to R. F. Reifers et al and assigned to Diamond International Corporation on “Nestable And Denestable Molded Egg Cartons”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,142 patented Nov. 24, 1981 to H. Y. Kuhl et al and assigned to Kuhl Corporation on an “Apparatus For Automatically Loading Eggs Directly From Stacks Of Egg-Filled Flats”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,908 patented May 11, 1982 to L. J. Temming and assigned to Staalkat B. V. on an “Apparatus For Denesting And Delivering The Bottom One Of A Stack Of Trays For Eggs”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,731 patented Oct. 26, 1982 to J. C. Carroll et al and assigned to Phillips Petroleum Company on an “Egg Supporting Tray”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,208 patented Aug. 27, 1985 to H. Y. Kuhl on a “Horizontal Flat Destacker”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,390 patented Mar. 17, 1987 to T. Kay et al and assigned to Wand Tool Company, Inc. on “Stacker-Loader For Stacking Double Sided Printed Circuit Boards”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,487 patented Aug. 23, 1988 to G. N. Bliss and assigned to Diamond Automations, Inc. on an “Automatic Article Stacking System”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,799 patented Nov. 29, 1988 to K. Platteschorre on an “Egg Carton Stacking-Loading Device And Method”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,188 patented Jul. 4, 1989 to V. Pirc et al and assigned to Pitney Bowes Inc. on an “Apparatus And Method Of Transporting Flats Across A Scale”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,559 patented Apr. 17, 1990 to J. van der Schoot and assigned to Staalkat B. V. on a “Method And Apparatus Of Loading Or Unloading A Plurality Of Stacks Of Trays From A Container”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,785 patented Feb. 26, 1991 to K. Platteschorre on an “Egg Carton Stacking-Loading Device And Method”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,785 patented Apr. 16, 1991 to J. van der Schoot and assigned to Staalkat B. V. on a “Method And Apparatus For Unloading Stacks Of Trays”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,115 patented Apr. 14, 1992 to M. Saito et al and assigned to Tokyo Electric Co., Ltd. on a “Stacker For Stacking And Issuing Sets Of Cards”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,909 patented Dec. 22, 1992 to M. Ricciardi and assigned to Bell & Howell Company on a “Secondary Pivotal Drive Stacker Roller Enabling Stacking of Small And Large Documents”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,867 patented Aug. 11, 1998 to J. B. Kuhl on an “Apparatus For Automatically Unstacking Of Trays From A Vertically Extending Interlocking Stack Thereof”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,065 patented Sep. 15, 1998 to J. B. Kuhl on an “Apparatus For Automatically Unstacking Horizontal Lid Members From A Vertically Extending Stack Thereof”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,695 patented Dec. 1, 1998 to D. J. McVeigh and assigned to Xerox Corporation on a “Large Or Flimsy Sheets Stacking System For Disk Type Inverter-Stacker”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,452 patented May 4, 1999 to M. Walsh and assigned to Coin Bill Validator, INc. on a “Stacker Mechanism For Stacking Bank Notes”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,478 patented Aug. 31, 1999 to E. Colombo et al and assigned to Techint Compagnia Tecnica Internazionale S.p.A. on an “Automatic Stacker With Rotary Heads For Stacking, In An Ordered Manner In Alternate Upright And Inverted Layers, Metal Sections Originating From A Rolling Mill”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,273 patented Oct. 5, 1999 to E. Coilombo et al and assigned to Techint compagnia Tecnica Internazionale S.p.A. on a “Stacker For The Stacking Of Metallic Section Bars In Alternating, Upright And Reverse Layers”; and U.S Pat. No. 6,241,458 patented Jun. 5, 2001 to E. H. Berndl and assigned to Skinetta Pac-Systeme Kiener GmbH & Co. on a “Stacker For Grouping And Stacking Substantially Flat Articles”.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention sets forth a uniquely defined apparatus for the purpose of placing horizontally oriented flats into vertically extending individual stacks thereof. Preferably the device includes a housing defining an inlet therein for receiving of these individual horizontally oriented stacks therethrough to facilitate positioning thereof into a vertically extending stack. The housing may preferably include an outlet for allowing exiting of the stack of flats after formed therefrom.
An inlet conveying device may also be included which is operative to transport the individual flats to the inlet of the housing for facilitating stacking therein. A stacking station is preferably defined within the housing which is adapted to receive flats from a position thereabove within the housing in registration therewith to facilitate vertical stacking of the horizontally oriented flats at this location.
An outlet conveying device is also included which extends into the stacking station within the housing through the outlet which is defined therein. This outlet conveyor will extend to the stacking station and will be operable to receive a stack of flats therefrom for exit conveying thereof through the
Hess Douglas
Sperry, Zoda & Kane
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