Pallet unloading and orienting device

Abstract

A novel device is described for unloading and orienting articles, such as cartons, stacked in tiers on a pallet. The device includes a tiltable pallet receiver which receives a loaded pallet in horizontal position and then tilts the pallet and tiered articles thereon onto their sides with the article tiers forming a series of substantially vertical, adjacent stacks. A means is provided for intermittently advancing the pallet and tiers horizontally in a direction away from the receiver when in a tilted position towards a single tier receiver which receives a single vertical stack of tiered articles from the pallet. The tier receiver is horizontally movable for moving the received stack laterally away from the next adjacent stack and support devices are provided for securely holding the stack in the tier receiver and the next adjacent stack in the pallet during this movement of the tier receiver. Preferably, a curtain means is positioned between the pallet advancing means and the single tier receiver, said curtain means being arranged to move in a plane perpendicular to the direction of travel of the tiers and to move between an open position for transfer of a stack from the pallet to the tier receiver and a closed position adjacent a stack of articles being held in a drop position in the single tier receiver. A release means is provided for dropping a stack of articles being held in the tier receiver onto a delivery chute which delivers the articles in an upright position onto a horizontal table.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.