Rigid tray container and method of use
AssigneeUnited States Postal Service
InventorDonald R. Close
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of this disclosure include a rigid tray container and methods and equipment for using the rigid tray container in batched process operations. In one embodiment, a mass container is sized and dimensioned to receive one or several rigid tray containers. In other embodiments, equipment is configured to lid/unlid, secure, stack, load/unload, and buffer rigid tray containers. In other embodiments, equipment is configured to stack and stage mass containers. In some embodiments, methods are provided for batch processing items.
Claims17
A mass container loading machine comprising:
- a conveyor configured to receive a tray and move the tray in a first direction;
- a tray label reader disposed proximate a first end of the conveyor, wherein the tray label reader is configured to read a computer readable label on the tray to determine the orientation of the tray;
- a tray rotator disposed proximate the tray label reader and in electronic communication with the tray label reader, the tray rotator comprising a rotation member configured to contact the tray and rotate the tray to change the orientation of the tray in response to the orientation determined by the tray label reader;
- a tray alignment device disposed proximate the conveyor at a point downstream from the tray rotator along the first direction;
- a shuttle device configured to receive the tray from the tray alignment device and load the tray into a mass container;
- and
- a mass container manipulator configured to manipulate the orientation and position of the mass container.
A method of loading a mass container comprising:
- receiving a tray on a conveyor, wherein the tray has a label thereon;
- moving the tray in a first direction;
- scanning said end of the tray to determine the orientation of the tray;
- rotating the tray in response to the orientation identified by the scan;
- guiding an end of the tray with a tray alignment device as the tray moves in the first direction;
- loading the tray into a mass container with a shuttle device that receives the tray from the tray alignment device;
- and
- manipulating the orientation and position of the mass container with a mass container manipulator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.