Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – Condition responsive control means to prevent collision on...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-25
2003-10-21
Krizek, Janice L. (Department: 3652)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
Condition responsive control means to prevent collision on...
C198S577000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06634483
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a food handling apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved device for indexing stacks of tortillas on conveying apparatus.
BACKGROUND ART
A significant problem in tortilla manufacturing is the transporting of finished stacks of tortillas from a counter-stacker to a further handling machine, such as a cutter or bagger. The general operation of a Tortilla Counter-Stacker can be understood from my U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,695, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. Stacks of tortillas exit a counter-stacker at unsynchronized, and somewhat irregular, time intervals, and in as many as six or more parallel rows on an exit conveyor. The parallel rows of stacks on the exit conveyor are converted to a single row by transition onto a laterally positioned conveyor. A problem is that occasionally the timing of the stacks will be such that two stacks collide. Thus there is a need for occasionally indexing the stacks to avoid collision.
Numerous innovations applicable to a tortilla stack indexer have been provided in the prior art that are described as follows. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they differ from the present invention as hereinafter contrasted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,777, Entitled, “Tortilla Stacker,” invented by Richard S. Welsh, discloses an apparatus for stacking tortillas includes a loading unit in the form of a trough-like loading conveyor for transporting a series of dough members while forming a small depression in each of the dough members. A container in the form of an upright hollow cylinder having a retractable loading surface is positioned at the discharge end of the loading conveyor. The tortillas are stacked one-on-top-of-the-other on the retractable loading surface by the loading conveyor. A conveyor located beneath the container receives the stack of tortillas upon retraction of the loading surface. A counter on an inclined chute leading to the conveyor accurately counts the number of tortillas entering the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,831, Entitled, “Automatic Tortilla Counter and Stacker,” invented by James A. Jimenez, discloses a method of stacking articles and an automatically controlled apparatus for successively receiving articles formed of rigid or semirigid sheet material such as cooked or partially cooked tortillas or similar food products. The device automatically forms orderly stacks of a predetermined number of articles, and then automatically carries them away for packaging each stack when completed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,632, Entitled, “Stacking Apparatus for Flexible, Generally Planar Food Products, invented by Richard Sela, discloses an apparatus for counting and stacking food products such as tortillas. The tortillas are initially placed on an entry chute containing a large number of air outlets for creating a cushion of air to allow the tortilla to slide down the entry chute onto an incline conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is of an open mesh design, and it is supported on a belt support having a large number of air inlets which create a vacuum that maintains the tortilla in contact with the belt. The tortillas are carried by the belt down one end of the belt support and along the underside of the belt support with contact between the tortilla and belt being maintained by vacuum creating air inlets formed in the belt support. The air inlets terminate at a location on the underside of the belt support thereby allowing the tortillas to drop from the conveyor belt. The tortillas drop onto a stationary rack formed by rods which are interleaved with conveyor belts moving together as a unit. The conveyor belts are normally positioned beneath the upper surface of the rack. However, when a predetermined number of tortillas have been stacked, the belt is lifted thereby carrying the tortillas from the rack. The mechanism for lifting the belts is actuated by a counter which counts a predetermined number of tortillas passing past a counting station and delays actuating the belt lifting mechanism until the final tortilla has dropped onto the rack. The belts discharging the stacks of tortillas move in the direction opposite the direction that the tortillas are delivered to the rack in order to minimize the time required to remove the tortillas from the rack before an additional tortilla may be placed thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,593, Entitled, “Apparatus and Method of Counting, Inspecting and Stacking Planar Food Products,” invented by Todd B. Pleake, discloses an apparatus for counting, inspecting, and stacking flexible, generally planar food products such as tortillas, or the like. The apparatus has an inclined infeed conveyor with adjustable alignment guides thereon to adjust the lateral position of each tortilla as it moves to a transit conveyor. Sensors mounted on the transit conveyor count the tortillas and inspect the size and shape of the tortillas to detect any defective tortillas moving along the transit conveyor. At the end of the transit conveyor, an arcuate-shaped trajectory guide bends the tortilla into an arcuate shape as the tortilla leaves the trajectory guide and flies through a known flight trajectory to a stacking mechanism. The arcuate shape allows the leading edge of the tortilla to resist bending or folding. A rejection mechanism positioned between the end of the transit conveyor and the trajectory guide redirects any rejected tortillas detected by the sensors downward away from the trajectory guide. A stacking mechanism receives the tortillas at the end of the flight trajectory. A shaker shakes the stacking mechanism and jostles the stack of tortillas to form a tight, aligned stack. A movable stack plate supports the stack of tortillas in the stacking mechanism and moves downward incrementally as tortillas are stacked into the stacking mechanism so the flight trajectory of each tortilla is approximately the same. The stacking plate has a lowered position that deposits a stack of tortillas on a baseplate, and a stack removal device moves the stack of tortillas away from the stacking assembly to a discharge conveyor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,762, Entitled, “Stacking, Counting and Sorting Device for Flexible, Planar Food Products,” invented by Daryl G. Duncan, discloses a device for counting, inspecting, sorting, and stacking planar food products such as tortillas. The tortillas are sandwiched between a pair of conveyor belts moving at the same speed to a discharge location between a pair of rollers around which the respective conveyor belts extend. The speed of the tortillas causes them to be flung from between the rollers onto a discharge tray. A counter determines when a predetermined number of tortillas have been discharged onto the discharge tray. The counter then triggers an actuator to remove the tray from beneath the stack of tortillas, thereby allowing them to fall onto a discharge conveyor belt. The discharge conveyor belt is then moved an incremental distance. The tortillas passing through the device are scanned in order to detect defective tortillas. When a defective tortilla is found, one of the rollers at the discharge location is shifted, thereby altering the path of the tortillas flung from the conveyor belts at the discharge location onto a reject discharge conveyor belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,397, Entitled, “Apparatus for Counting and Stacking Tortillas,” invented by Manuel Lopez and Rafael Lopez, discloses an apparatus having a series of conveyor belts for flattening and stacking a plurality of flexible, generally planar articles, such as tortillas. The apparatus includes a first conveyor belt extending along first end, upper, second end and lower surfaces of a belt support. The conveyor belt is adapted to move the planar articles placed on the upper surface of the belt support from the first end to the second end. A second conveyor belt is biased against the first belt at the second end of the belt support for applying compressive and lateral forces to the planar ar
ITE, Inc.
Krizek Janice L.
Thompson Daniel V.
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