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US 4,720,227 AGranted
Methods of and apparatus for stacking battery plates and the like
OwnerWilliam J. Eberleinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The battery plate stacker includes a plurality of heads having pickup members located on the ends thereof for temporarily attaching either separators or plates to the heads as is appropriate. The heads are pivotal between stacks of plates or separators and a conveyor that is disposed between the stacks of plates and stacks of separators. The stacker includes control apparatus that prevents retraction of the heads unless a plate or separator is attached thereto and prevents swinging of the heads between the stacks and the conveyor until all of the heads are retracted.
Claims15
Apparatus for capturing topmost elements from supplies of battery elements and transferring the captured topmost elements to depository zones comprising:
- a plurality of vacuum pick-up means, each said means comprising a flexible cup-shaped member having a central opening,
- each said pick-up means having stationary sensing means remote from its said cup-shaped member for sensing variations in vacuum pressure applied to said cup-shaped member,
- means independent of time responsive to said sensing means for individually moving each said pick-up means toward and away from the topmost elements of the supplies of elements,
- switch means responsive to maximum movement of said cup-shaped members each with a captured element away from the supply of elements,
- means responsive to said switch means for moving said cupshaped members with captured elements simultaneously toward a zone for depositing the elements held by said pick-up means only when all said cup-shaped members have attained said maximum movement with captured elements.
2 more elements
An apparatus for picking up and interlayering in stacks battery elements comprising:
- conveyor means,
- means for receiving stacks of horizontally disposed first battery elements along one side of said conveyor means,
- means for receiving stacks of horizontally disposed second battery elements along an opposite side of said conveyor means,
- a first plurality of retractable and extendable heads, one for each of the stacks of first battery elements,
- a second plurality of retractable and extendable heads, one for each of the stacks of second battery elements,
- vacuum pick-up means carried by each said first plurality of heads, each said pick-up means being moveable into contact with the top element in the stack associated with that pick-up means upon extension of its associated head,
- vacuum pick-up means carried by each said second plurality of heads, each said pick-up means being moveable into contact with the top element in the stack associated with that pick-up means upon extension of its associated head,
- each pick-up means carried by said first plurality of heads including means for initially contacting a top element whereby the affect of vacuum will flex the top element to effect the withdrawal of only the top element from a stack of first battery elements,
- each pick-up means carried by said second plurality of heads including means for initially contacting a top element whereby the affect of vacuum will flex the top element to effect the withdrawal of only the top element from a stack of second battery elements,
- means for sensing the engagement of a top element of said stack of first battery elements with its said associated pick-up means,
- means for sensing the engagement of a top element of said stack of second battery elements with its said associated pick-up means,
- control means independent of time responsive to said top first battery element engagement sensing means for retracting each said first plurality of heads only when said pick-up means is loaded with a first battery element attached thereto;
- control means independent of time responsive to said top second battery element engagement sensing means for retracting each said second plurality of heads only when said pick-up means is loaded with a second battery element attached thereto;
- means for moving said first battery element pick-up means over said conveyor means only when all loaded heads have been retracted, and
- means for moving said second battery element pick-up means over said conveyor means only when all loaded heads have been retracted.
12 more elements
A method of picking up and interlayering in stacks battery plates and battery plate separators comprising the steps of:
- a. placing stacks of horizontally disposed
- battery plates along one side of a conveyor means,
- b. placing stacks of horizontally disposed separators along an opposite side of the conveyor means,
- c. engaging a portion of each top battery plate,
- d. flexing each top battery plate against said engagement to effect a separation between said top plates and adjacent plates in said stacks,
- e. effecting a temporary connection with said top plates,
- f. individually sensing that the connection has been made with top plates,
- g. upon sensing the connection with each top plates, independently of time removing each top plate from its stack,
- h. sensing that all top plates have been removed from their related stacks,
- i. transferring each top plate to said conveyor only when all top plates have been removed from their respective stacks, and
- j. repeating steps c. through i. for said separators.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.