Material or article handling – Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into – within,... – Unstacking apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-22
2004-10-05
Crawford, Gene O. (Department: 3651)
Material or article handling
Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into, within,...
Unstacking apparatus
C414S797600, C414S797900
Reexamination Certificate
active
06799938
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a commissioning device with essentially vertical product storage units, in which products of the same type are stacked, and with at least one conveying means arranged under the product storage units, especially a conveyor belt, for the removal of selected or commissioned products, wherein the product of a selected product storage unit, which product is the lowermost product of the stack, can be pushed out of the product storage unit by an upwardly directed product stop of the conveying means in the direction of conveying of the moving conveying means and can be deposited on a positioned product field of the conveying means.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A commissioning device of the above-mentioned type has been known from EP 0 960 836 A2. The lowermost product of the stack is removed by the product storage unit being lowered with a continuously driven conveyor belt, which has product stops arranged at spaced locations from one another at the top, to the extent that the product stop or stud moving by carries with it the lowermost product of the column. The drawback of this embodiment is that the weight of the entire product column must be moved to push out a product, which leads to a complicated guide mechanism.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a commissioning device of the type mentioned in the introduction, which makes possible the reliable and efficient commissioning of at least the lowermost products of stacks of a selected product storage unit by means of simple measures.
The essence of the present invention is that the product storage units are arranged lying above the plane of the conveying means, preferably at equally spaced locations from the said plane, and the product stop of the moving conveying means passes through freely under the product storage unit in case of non-commissioning of the lowermost product of the stack and is raised by a lifting means for a lateral engagement with at least one lowermost product of the stack in case of commissioning. Consequently, the entire product storage unit with its full weight is not moved in the direction of the conveyor belt or the product stop to push the product that is the lowermost product of the stack out of the product storage unit, as is done according to the state of the art, but the product stop of the moving conveying means is briefly raised. The product stop can be raised with or without the conveying means. The moving masses are always small, which makes possible a rapid cycling and consequently rapid and reliable commissioning. The moving conveying means may be a conveyor belt, a link conveyor, two toothed belts, V-belts or chains. The advantages of the system according to the present invention are the mechanical simplicity and especially the fact that due to the products being carried with the stop or stud, the products come to lie on the conveying means in an accurately positioned manner, which is favorable, e.g., for automatic labeling. It is also possible to form stacks of products on the conveying means between two adjacent product stops located at spaced locations from one another without an additional effort.
Provisions are made, in particular, for the conveying means to be raised by the lifting means together with the product stop rigidly connected to the conveying means directly in front of and after the product of a product storage unit, which is the lowermost product of the stack, and to be lowered again into the plane of the conveying means after pushing out.
The lifting means are preferably a cycled, vertical lifting drive, which is provided under the conveying means in the area of an associated product storage unit and is operated especially pneumatically or electrically.
The lifting means may also include an oblique stationary ramp with a wedge-shaped lifting body and be provided under the conveying means in the area of an associated product storage unit, the lifting body, which is displaceable or can be moved by means of rollers, being able to be adjusted in height along the ramp.
As an alternative, the conveying means may be, in principle, longitudinally movable, but not adjustable in height, and the pushing out of a product that is the lowermost product of the stack may also be pushed out of the selected product storage unit by the product stop connected to the conveying means being raised by lifting means without the conveying means directly in front of and after the product of a product storage unit, which product is the lowermost product of the stack and is to be commissioned, and being again lowered into the plane of the conveying means after pushing it out.
The product stop is preferably connected in this case to the conveying means by means of a conveying means tab, which is subjected to tensile load, and the product stop is adjustable in height by means of literal stationary ramps in the area of the lateral edge of the conveying means or by a means arranged above the conveying means at the product storage unit when commissioning is to be performed.
The lateral ramps advantageously have an adjustable, cycled switch each, which is preferably a laterally displaceable part of the ramp. If the switch is inactive, a transverse connecting rod of the product stop can be moved in the direction of conveying in a lateral longitudinal groove of the lateral ramps at the same level as the conveying means. If the switch is set, the longitudinal groove is blocked by slides, the transverse connecting rod passes through a predetermined elevated path corresponding to the preset ascent of the ramp, the saddle of the ramp and the decline of the ramp and consequently also corresponding to the product stop, which will then laterally engage a lowermost product of the stack and pushes out this product in the course of its forward movement and positions same on the product field in front of the product stop on the conveying means.
Instead of a preferably central product stop, two lateral product stops of identical design may also be provided for a single product of a product storage unit, which is the lowermost product of the stack, in order to reliably prevent jamming from occurring during the pushing out in all cases.
The product storage units may be preferably slightly sloped relative to the vertical in the direction of conveying of the conveying means. The pushing-out operation is facilitated by the slope.
The product storage units of a conveying means may be arranged in a row and spaced equally from one another.
In particular, the distance between the product storage units is smaller than the width of the product storage unit in order to ensure the compact design of the overall system. The distance between two product storage units can be bridged over by a protective plate in order to minimize the risk for injury to a user. A high product stop moving forward may possibly represent a safety hazard.
The product storage units may also be sloped, preferably slightly, relative to the vertical at right angles to the direction of conveying of the conveying means.
Provisions may be made, in particular, for the product storage unit to be a vertical, doubly sloped angle sheet iron with a positioning angle for products picked up in the product storage unit. Differently configured cubic objects can also be stacked in an aligned manner in such a storage unit and handled and especially ejected correspondingly reliably.
The product storage units may have a lateral ejection slot located in the direction of conveying for products to be given out, where the width of the slot is selected or the slot can be adjusted in width in the vertical direction such that two or more stacked products can be deposited simultaneously as a small stack of products on a single product field of the conveying means. It is obvious that the height of the product stop must be selected correspondingly in this case. A product stop may be optionally moved in height on two different lateral ramps or on a single lateral ramp, which ramp will now have two swi
Crawford Gene O.
Knapp Logistik Automation GmbH
McGlew & Tuttle P.C.
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