Material or article handling – Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into – within,... – Stack forming apparatus
Patent
1987-12-07
1990-02-06
Bucci, David A.
Material or article handling
Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into, within,...
Stack forming apparatus
4147938, 4147943, 4147945, 414903, B65G 5711
Patent
active
048985112
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to novel apparatus for stacking products that are highly susceptible to damage, particularly books, brochures or similar products. This apparatus of the present invention possesses a feed system which is designed to receive products that are to be packaged and to form them into a row. This apparatus further possesses a sliding platform which is located beside the feed system, onto which the row of products that are to be packaged is pushed by means of a push-off element, and which is movable to beneath the feed system, and at the same time the row of products that are to be packaged, or, if appropriate, rows of such products that have been assembled to form a layer on the sliding platform, is or are, as the case may be, swept off against the stationary push-off element, onto a pre-existing layer of the products that are to be packaged.
The present invention is related to the apparatus that was disclosed in published Federal Republic of Germany Application DE-OS 31 39 828.
As a result of friction between the products and the surfaces on which they are supported immediately prior to transfer onto a feed system, the friction occurring during the pushing of the products sideways off the supporting surfaces onto a sliding platform, and also the friction which occurs while pushing them off the latter, conventional palletizing installations are incapable of meeting the requirement according to which products that are highly susceptible to damage should be treated gently, stacked books or brochures being examples of such products.
Furthermore, during the loading of products onto pallets in accordance with a defined stacking order, the concurrent frictional forces make it impossible to maintain a collective arrangement that is predetermined during the row-forming operation and to effect alignment during the operation in which the products are pushed off the feed system, or off the sliding platform. In many cases, it is impossible to perform an alignment operation once the products have been stacked, due to the fact that when this is attempted, certain products, such as stacked books or brochures, are telescoped into one another, which creates problems when they are subsequently destacked.
If, however, the products will tolerate a final alignment operation, this will demand additional engineering expenditure of a not inconsiderable magnitude.
The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for stacking products, particularly books, brochures or similar articles, namely an apparatus which is of the abovementioned generic type, which guarantees that the products are treated gently while at the same time exhibiting high levels of functional reliability and economic efficiency, and which, furthermore, ensures precise preservation of the predetermined alignment and collective arrangement of the products that are assembled to form a row.
The above-stated objectives are achieved by means of a design wherein the supporting surfaces of a feed system and a sliding platform are composed of a highly porous sintered--or similar--material which is permeable to fluid media, and to which a gaseous medium can be supplied in order to produce an air cushion, the permeability of the sintered material being chosen to be such that the pressure drop in an unladen portion is at least equal to or higher than the pressure drop in a portion that is laden with the products, and wherein transport means are provided for moving the products forward, across the supporting surfaces of the feed system.
The apparatus according to the invention enables highly damage-susceptible products to be handled, during transportation, in a manner that is absolutely safe, as well as being gentle, while at the same time the loss of gaseous supporting medium is minimized. As a result of the reduction or, in some cases, the avoidance of friction between the products that are moved relative to the supporting surfaces, the predetermined alignment and collective arrangement can be maintained in a precise manner, as was only very rarely feas
REFERENCES:
patent: 2675928 (1954-04-01), Slater
patent: 3028979 (1962-04-01), Zachow
patent: 3159430 (1964-12-01), Kinney
patent: 3756427 (1973-09-01), Arnemann
patent: 4367999 (1983-01-01), Benuzzi
patent: 4614473 (1986-09-01), Kwauka et al.
patent: 4711612 (1987-12-01), Kwauka
Budde Rolf
Rossig Manfred
Bucci David A.
Kolbus GmbH & Co. KG
Krizek Janice
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