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US 2001/0052485 A1Published application
Apparatus for sorting products
AssigneeBuhrs Holding B.V.
InventorTore Brandsaeter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeBuhrs Holding B.V.
InventorTore Brandsaeter
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for sorting products, such as magazines, newspapers and books, CDs and/or diskettes, the apparatus comprising a separation station arranged for making single items of the products supplied in stacks, a conveyor arranged for conveying one by one the products coming from the separation station, and a number of sorting stations arranged adjacent the conveyor, the sorting stations being connected to the conveyor such that a product located on the conveyor can be supplied from the conveyor to a desired sorting station for forming a sorted collection of products in the respective sorting station, the apparatus further comprising a control, the control being arranged for controlling at least the conveyor and the sorting stations, such that at least two sorting functions can be performed, a first sorting function involving sorting an unordered collection of products according to type of product, which collection comes from a customer, such as a shopkeeper or a kiosk-keeper, whereby in a respective sorting station products of the same type are collected, and a second sorting function involving assembling a number of customer orders.
An apparatus for sorting products (P), such as magazines, newspapers and books, CDs and/or diskettes, the apparatus comprising a separation station (1) arranged for making single items of products supplied in stacks, a conveyor (2) arranged for conveying one by one the products (P) coming from the separation station (1), and a number of sorting stations (3) arranged adjacent the conveyor (2), the sorting stations (3) being connected to the conveyor (2) such that a product (P) located on the conveyor (2) can be supplied from the conveyor (2) to a desired sorting station (3) for forming a sorted collection of products (P) in the respective sorting station (3), the apparatus further comprising a control (4), characterized in that the control (4) is arranged for controlling at least the conveyor (2) and the sorting stations (3), such that at least two sorting functions can be performed.
An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the separation station (1) comprises means for converting a stack of products (P) into single items, such that the products end up one by one on the conveyor (2).
An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the separation station (1) comprises a terminal (6) for the benefit of a loader (B), who loads the separation station manually with collections of products (P), the terminal (6) comprising an input facility by means of which the loader (B) can input the type of product (P) so as to make this known to the control (4).
An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each sorting station (3) comprises a display (7) on which, if the first sorting function is performed, it is indicated, for instance, what type of product (P) is collected in the respective sorting station (3), and on which, if the second sorting function is performed, it is indicated, for instance, which customer has been assigned to the respective sorting station (3).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.