Fin collection and transport apparatus

A method for forming, collecting and transporting platelike fins, such as apertured fins for heat exchangers, comprising the steps of:

• supplying a sheet of thin platelike material to a fin forming apparatus;
• acting on said sheetlike material with said apparatus to simultaneously form, during each cycle, a plurality of similar platelike fins disposed closely adjacent one another in side-by-side relationship;
• holding said plurality of formed fins in a row which is elongated in a direction substantially perpendicular to the elongated dimension of the fins, the fins in said row being disposed in adjacent side-by-side relationship;
• providing an endless fin collecting and transporting means having a plurality of outwardly projecting fin supports thereon at uniform intervals therealong, which intervals correspond to the centerline-to-centerline spacing between adjacent fins in said row;
• positioning said endless device so that a substantially horizontally extending upper reach thereof is disposed below and extends in a direction substantially parallel with said row;
• intermittently moving said endless means in an intermittent steplike manner in synchronism with the cyclic operational rate of said apparatus for causing the upper reach to move stepwise through a predetermined distance along said direction for positioning selected fin supports directly below said row;
• releasing said plurality of fins as disposed within said row when said transporting means is stationarily positioned thereunder for causing said plurality of fins to move downwardly and be collected on said endless means by a plurality of said fin supports as disposed adjacent one another;
• continuing the intermittent forward advancing of said endless means in synchronization with the forming of fins by said apparatus, and with the release of said fins, so that a stack of fins progressively accumulates at each of said fin supports;
• continuing to advance said endless means containing thereon stacks of fins each containing a preselected number until reaching a selected location;
• and
• removing each fin stack from said endless means as each said fin stack is moved into said selected location.