Collating apparatus
AssigneeThomas J. Lipton Co., Division of Conopco, Inc.
InventorsGeoffrey W. Vernon, James Goodwin, David Seaward, Thomas W. Bailey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Collating apparatus for stacking generally flat articles comprises a chute on opposite sides of which are two pairs of conveyor bands carrying supports for the articles. The conveyor bands are driven as two diagonally opposite pairs so that the stack builds on the supports of one pair of bands while a preceding stack built on the supports of the other pair of bands is discharged from the chute. The supports carried by the bands also comprise members which act on the completed stack to compress it before it is discharged.
Claims16
A collating apparatus for a stack of generally flat articles comprising a downwardly extending guide for containing the articles, an entry region at the upper end of the guide for receiving said articles into the guide, stack support means within said guide for supporting the articles as they are accumulated therein, said support means comprises two support arrangements each of which comprises a pair of conveyor bands extending downwardly in diagonally opposite positions at the sides of the guide downwardly from said upper entry region and engagement elements for the articles projecting from each said conveyor band across the face of that band of the other pair of bands on the same side of the guide and being downwardly displaceable with their respective conveyor bands, means for displacement of said support arrangements with the accumulation of said articles within the guide to at least partly compensate for the increasing height of the accumulating stack, take-off means for removing a completed stack from the guide, and means displaceable within the guide for engaging the top of the completed stack prior to its removal from the guide by said take-off means to compress the height of the stack in preparation for the insertion of the articles as a stack into a container.
A collating apparatus for a stack of generally flat articles comprising a downwardly extending guide for containing the articles as they are stacked together, support means within said guide extending downwardly from an upper entry region of the guide, said support means comprising two support arrangements each of which comprises a pair of conveyor bands extending downwardly in diagonally opposite positions at the sides of the guide, engagement elements for the articles projecting from each band across the face of that band of the other pair of bands on the same side of the guide to be disposed in overlapping relationship for respective stacks of articles, and respective driving means for driving said support arrangements at different rates from each other, said driving means including means for downwards displacement of the engagement elements of each said support arrangement with the accumulation of said articles within the guide upon said engagement elements of the respective said arrangement to at least partly compensate for the increasing height of said accumulating articles.
A collating apparatus for a stack of generally flat articles comprising a downwardly extending guide for containing the articles as they are stacked together, support means within said guide extending downwardly from an upper entry region of the guide said support means comprising a plurality of support arrangements in overlapping relationship for respective stacks of articles and respective driving means for driving said support arrangements at different rates from each other, said driving means including means for downwards displacement of each said support arrangement with the accumulation of said articles within the guide upon the respective said arrangement to at least partly compensate for the increasing height of said accumulating articles, a transfer device for receiving each completed stack of articles from the guide, a filling station for the location of a container for said articles, means for operating said transfer device to convey said stack of articles to the container and drive means for relative displacement between the transfer device and the container to obtain the deposition of successive stacks in different regions of the container.
A collating apparatus for a stack of flat packets comprising guide means for collecting individual packets into a stack and a feed means for supplying the packets to the guide means, detection means operable on the packets on said feed means for detecting and removing reject packets from the feed means respective independent drive means for the feed means and for the guide means whereby the guide means are operable at a different rate from the feed means to compensate for the absence of packets diverted from the main flow of packets said removal means being arranged to trigger a compensating delay in the operation of the guide means when a packet is removed by said detection means.
A collating apparatus for a stack of generally flat articles comprising a downwardly extending guide for containing the articles as they are stacked together, support means within said guide extending downwardly from an upper entry region of the guide said support means comprising a plurality of support arrangements in overlapping relationship for respective stacks of articles and respective driving means for driving said support arrangements at different rates from each other, said driving means including means for downwards displacement of each said support arrangement with the accumulation of said articles within the guide upon the respective said arrangement to at least partly compensate for the increasing height of said accumulating articles, a transfer device for receiving a stack of articles from the guide, a filling station for the location of a container for said articles, means for operating said transfer device to convey said stack of articles to the container and drive means for relative displacement between the transfer device and the container to obtain the deposition of successive stacks in different regions of the container, and means for insertion into the transfer device of partitioning element to be deposed in the container with a stack for the separation of successive stacks in the container.
A collating apparatus for a stack of generally flat articles comprising a downwardly extending guide for containing the articles as they are stacked together, support means within said guide extending downwardly from an upper entry region of the guide said support means comprising a plurality of support arrangements in overlapping relationship for respective stacks of articles and respective driving means for driving said support arrangements at different rates from each other, said driving means including means for downwards displacement of each said support arrangement with the accumulation of said articles within the guide upon the respective said arrangement to at least partly compensate for the increasing height of said accumulating articles, a transfer device for receiving a stack of articles from the guide, a filling station for the location of a container for said articles, means for operating said transfer device to convey said stack of articles to the container at said filling station, and wherein the transfer device comprises at least one pair of carriages registrable simultaneously with the guide and the filling station respectively to deposit one stack at the filling station and accept a further stack from the guide.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.