Material or article handling – Elevator or hoist and loading or unloading means therefor – Grab
Patent
1998-05-12
2000-08-29
Morse, Gregory A.
Material or article handling
Elevator or hoist and loading or unloading means therefor
Grab
294 981, 294 94, 206203, B65D 124
Patent
active
061098574
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of handling containers, for instance beverage containers, such as bottles, flasks, cans etc., that are to be distributed to retailers in shallow trays which are suitable for displaying the containers and which enable several trays to be stacked one upon the other in layers. The invention also relates to a tray and to a lifting device for use when carrying out the method.
Efforts are constantly being made in the brewery industry, among others, for more rational methods of increasing productivity. The customers, normally retailers, place demands on flexibility when ordering different items of goods and wish for the goods to be delivered in a manner which displays the goods to their customers in turn.
For instance, there is a general wish for beverage containing bottles to be delivered in shallow trays which can be stacked one upon the other and in which the bottles can be clearly seen, instead of using deep crates. In this regard, it is also desired that stacks of mutually different sorts of beverages can be loaded onto a pallet, e.g. a three-stack pallet.
Beverage containing bottles for instance are normally handled in breweries in deep boxes or crates, therewith making it necessary to transfer the bottles into trays of a kind in which the bottles are suitably displayed. This constitutes an expensive procedure at present day costs.
In order to facilitate handling stacks of present day trays, it is necessary first to place respective stacks on a small "slave pallet" and then place this slave pallet on a pallet of standard size. This is necessary because, among other things, the trays are so weak that a stack corresponding, for instance, to half the size of a standard pallet or to a third of the size of a pallet cannot be lifted solely by applying a lifting force to the bottom most tray. Consequently, it is necessary to lift the stack with the aid of a separate slave pallet adapted to the stack. Handling of such a stack in a brewery with the aid of a pallet trolley or the like is also problematic because of the instability of the stack.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The prime object of the present invention is to provide a technique whereby containers, particularly brewery-handled beverage containers, can be handled in a simple, rational and reliable manner that does not require containers to be moved from crate to tray and vice versa, and that will also enable a stack of trays and containers to be handled effectively and smoothly in a brewery and that will facilitate loading of a pallet with stacks that contain mutually different products.
Accordingly, a method of the kind defined in the first paragraph is characterized in accordance with the present invention in that a container-loaded tray is lifted by inserting a plurality of carrier-supported lifting devices into a corresponding number of upwardly open holes in the tray located in the interspaces between the containers, and bringing the lifting devices into engagement with respective hole-defining walls and thereafter lifting the tray and handling said tray with the tray suspended beneath the carrier.
Among other things, this enables the container-loaded tray to be lifted with the aid of lifting devices that require no space outside the tray perimeter, therewith enabling such a tray to be placed closely adjacent to one another on a loading pallet.
Lifting of a stack of container-loaded trays is preferably achieved by bringing the lifting devices into engagement with mutually sequential, through-penetrating holes in the tray and into engagement with respective hole-defining walls in each tray.
This technique enables a stack of any chosen height to be lifted and handled without the use of a slave pallet, even when using thin-wall trays. This is made possible as a result of the distribution of the lifting force between the trays such that each tray will support its own load. Furthermore, the stack will hang from the carrier and be guided totally by the lifting devices, therewith obviating
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