Movable apparatus for removal of filter plates from a filter press

In a movable apparatus for removal of filter plates from a pack of filter plates in a filter press resting on two horizontal guide girders provided with a carriage, a carriage frame and a sled movable on said girders, said apparatus having driving means, including a driver, for pulling off only the outside filter plate from the filter plate pack in an intermediate position on said girders in which the filter plate is accessible from both sides, the improvement comprising:

• a bolt for holding back the remaining filter plates in the pack;
• a latch projection for shifting a filter plate from the intermediate position to an end position on said girders;
• said driver, said bolt and said latch projection being movable up and down between a lower engagement position aligned with stops on the upper side of the filter plates and an upper non-engagement position;
• a reciprocating power driven element for said driver and said latch projection to couple said power driven element in such a way that, during propulsion movement of the reciprocation, the latch projection shifts said filter plate from the intermediate position on the girders to the end position on the girders while the driver shifts a new outside filter plate into the intermediate position;
• and
• stop means on the upper side of the filter plate arranged so that, during returning motion of the reciprocation, the latch projection is drawn back and is brought thereby into a lower engagement position behind the stop means on the upper side of the filter plate when the plate is in the intermediate position, said stop means operating to permit the driver and the bolt to come into a lower engagement position behind the stop means of the next adjacent outside filter plate of the filter plate pack.