Stacked article destacking and feeding system
AssigneeNigrelli Systems, Inc.
InventorsTerry J. Nigrelli, Thomas Schumacher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A destacking/feeding system separates individual articles such as flat container blanks or trays nested in a stack. The destacking and feeding system comprises at least two pairs of opposed endless feed conveyor belts having respective vertical runs. The feed belts are spaced apart to grip opposite sides of the articles to feed them downwardly along a path to a second pair of belts or wheels which travel at a second, higher speed. The feed belts feed the stack of nested trays to the second, higher speed belts, which accelerate the lowermost articles and propel them downstream at the second speed. At the lower end of the second, higher speed conveyor, the articles are released and fall sequentially by gravity onto a waiting conveyor.
Claims29
A system for destacking and feeding a stack of articles having opposite sides comprising:
- a. opposed pairs of feed conveyor means for frictionally engaging the opposite sides of a stack of articles and conveying the articles in a downstream direction along a path at a first speed;
- and
- b. opposed pairs of second, higher speed conveyor means located downstream of the feed conveyor means for frictionally engaging opposite sides of articles at the bottom of the traveling stack thereof to thereby sequentially pull articles from the bottom of the stack and accelerate the articles in the downstream direction to a second speed greater than the first speed and propel them as a set of spaced apart articles, while frictionally engaged, at the second speed along the conveying path.
Apparatus for de-nesting and feeding trays nested in a stack thereof, the trays having opposite sides, comprising:
- a. a frame;
- b. first and second pairs of feed belts mounted to the frame for receiving and feeding the stack of nested trays in a downstream direction along a tray path at a first speed by frictionally engaging the opposite sides thereof and;
- c. first and second higher speed belts mounted to the frame in a downstream direction from the respective first and second pairs of feed belts for frictionally gripping and accelerating trays, sequentially, from the bottom of the stack to a second speed greater than the first speed to pull selected trays from the stack thereof and propel them while frictionally engaged, as a set of spaced apart trays, in the downstream direction along the tray path at the second speed.
A destacking and feeding system comprising:
- a. a frame having spaced apart upstanding legs;
- b. feed belt means mounted to the frame legs for receiving and frictionally gripping a stack of articles and for feeding the stack in a downstream direction along a conveying path at a first speed;
- c. higher speed conveyor means mounted to the frame legs for frictionally gripping articles at the bottom of the stack and conveying them while so gripped at a second speed greater than the first speed to thereby pull the articles from the bottom of the stack and propel them in the downstream direction at the second speed as a set of spaced apart articles;
- and
- d. drive means mounted to the frame for driving the feed belt means at the first speed and the higher speed conveyor means at the second speed.
A method of destacking articles from a stack of articles comprising the steps of:
- a. feeding the stack at a first speed along a path by gripping the opposite sides of the stack between a first pair of opposite endless belts;
- b. continuously feeding the stack between a second pair of opposed endless conveyor means which grip the opposite sides of said stack, said second endless conveyor means traveling at a second speed greater than the first speed to separate the articles into a set of spaced apart articles continuously traveling, while engaged by said second endless conveyor means, in a downstream direction from the stack, and, continuously feeding the bottom articles from the second endless conveyor means onto a moving conveyor to form a series of separated articles traveling on said moving conveyor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.