Paving stone alignment apparatus and process
OwnerJeffery McNearinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for aligning the top surfaces of a single line of stones, such as paver stones, with each other has a conveyor for conveying a single-file line of stones and a recognition device for viewing each stone and determining its top surface orientation. An actuator includes a memory receiving an output from the recognition device and outputting rotational alignment information for each of the stones. The actuator and the memory cause needed rotation of the stones so that their top surfaces are aligned.
Claims9
An apparatus for aligning top surfaces of a plurality of stones so that the top surfaces of the stones each are uniformly oriented comprising:
- a plurality of stone receiving intervals, each interval receiving one stone;
- a recognition device for viewing each of the plurality of side-by-side stones to determine an orientation of the top surface of the stones in the stone receiving intervals;
- a rotation station receiving the stones from the recognition station and forming at least one rotation interval adapted to receive a stone;
- a rotator for rotating the at least one rotating interval to give all stones a common orientation;
- and
- an actuator, including a memory device providing an output regarding the orientation of the stones in the stone receiving intervals and an output to the rotation station including information for orienting the top surface of the stone in the at least one rotation interval so that the top surfaces of all stones are aligned, whereby the actuator causes each individual stone to be rotated as needed for aligning the top surfaces of the stones.
An apparatus for receiving a single-file line of stones and aligning the top surfaces of the stones with each other comprising:
- a conveyor for conveying a single-file line of stones;
- a recognition device for viewing each of a plurality of stones and determining a top surface orientation of the plurality of stones;
- and
- an actuator, including a memory receiving an output of the recognition device and outputting rotational alignment information for each of the plurality of stones, the actuator and the memory causing needed rotation of the plurality of stones so that the top surfaces of all stones are aligned.
A method for aligning top surfaces of a multiplicity of stones comprising:
- conveying the stones in a single file through an orientation alignment device;
- in the device segregating individual stones in receiving intervals;
- scanning the stones as they travel through the alignment device to determine an orientation of a predetermined surface of each stone;
- storing information concerning the orientation of each stone;
- and
- thereafter rotating each stone as it passes a rotating station on the basis of orientation information for each stone stored in the memory so that downstream of the rotating station the predetermined surfaces of all stones have a common orientation.
A method for aligning a single line of stones so that the stones of the line have a uniform orientation comprising:
- providing apparatus for conveying the single-file line of stones;
- providing recognition apparatus for viewing each of the stones in the line and determining the orientation of the top surface of the stones in the line;
- storing information regarding the top surface orientation of the stones in a memory;
- and
- aligning the stones in the line so that their top surfaces are uniformly oriented with stone orientation information retrieved from the memory.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.