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US 4,053,066 AGranted
Article stacking and loading apparatus
AssigneeNabisco, Inc.
InventorJoseph A. Lynch
Life of this patent
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AssigneeNabisco, Inc.
InventorJoseph A. Lynch
Estimating the term…
Apparatus for stacking articles in columns and loading the columns into conveyor buckets in side-by-side relationship in which articles are fed by a conveyor to a set of dual wheels having article engaging serrations. The wheels carry the articles downwardly and set them on edge on a pair of rails extending downwardly at an angle from between the wheels. An air blast starts the articles down the rails and air jets along the rails keep the articles upright and moving along the rails. The first article in the column is supported by a finger which extends upwardly between the rails and moves from the wheels toward a turret at a rate about equal to that of the growth of the column. The rails lead to a turret having its axis parallel to the rails and having pockets for receiving columns of articles. A conveyor positioned over the turret carries projecting plates which extend downwardly for supporting the article column as it is moved into the turret recess. The finger moves the column up to the turret at which point one of the plates receives the column until the column is completed. The plate is moved slowly and it then moves rapidly to the bottom of the turret.
Article stacking and loading apparatus comprising a pair of inclined rails, a wheel device for placing flat articles on edge on said rails, said wheel device having elements spaced around the periphery thereof for carrying flat articles oriented generally perpendicular to radii of the wheel device, nozzle means for directing a jet of air generally parallel to said rails against each article as that article is transferred from the wheel to the rails, air nozzle means provided along said rails for sliding the articles along the rails and maintaining them in an upright condition, a turret rotatable about an axis parallel to said rail means having a plurality of recesses for receiving columns of articles, a finger mounted for movement along said rails to said turret for engaging the first article in a column being formed to support the column, and conveyor means adjacent said turret having projecting members equally spaced at a distance comparable to the length of the turret for supporting each column and moving the columns into the turret recesses.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.