Method for conveying articles by air flow and apparatus for withdrawing conveyed articles

Apparatus for conveying articles between first and second locations, said apparatus comprising

• an elongated conduit extending between said two locations and having an inlet thereto at said first location and outlet therefrom at said second location,
• means for positioning a vertically superposed stack of articles at said first location,
• first air flow supply means for introducing an air flow into the inlet of said conduit, said positioning means being disposed relative to said conduit such that the lowermost article in the stack is aligned with said inlet, said introduced air being operable to draw said lowermost article into said conduit and transport it therein toward said conduit outlet,
• means for exhausting air flow from said conduit at a third location downstream of said inlet whereby back pressure within said conduit upstream of said third location and existing by presence of said article in said conduit is released with continuing introduction of air flow into said inlet being operable to draw the next stack article which is aligned with said inlet into said conduit,
• second air flow supply means for introducing a second air flow into said conduit at a fourth location downstream of said third location to therewith further transport the first article toward said conduit outlet,
• second air flow exhausting means in said conduit at a fifth location downstream of said fourth location for exhausting air flow from said conduit whereby the air flow transport force acting on the first article when situated between the second air flow exhausting means location and the conduit outlet is diminished to thereby reduce the speed at which said first article approaches said outlet, and
• flexible impact means disposed across the conduit outlet against which the first article impacts upon discharge thereof from said conduit, said flexible impact means embodying article attraction means operable to attract an article discharging from said conduit towards said impact means, said conduit being disposed in a generally vertically directed orientation with the inlet thereto at the lower end and the outlet therefrom at the upper end, said apparatus further comprising a transport unit located at the upper end of said conduit and including a transport belt traversing a generally horizontal travel course passing closely adjacent the conduit outlet and intervening said outlet and said flexible impact means, said transport belt having article holding means thereon for retentively holding thereagainst an article discharging from said conduit whereby advance of the belt away from said outlet transports held articles to a further location.