Singler for advancing and dividing stacked articles
AssigneeAlcatel
InventorAdolfo Passero
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A suction-free singler and a method for advancing and separating stacked articles includes a feeding conveyor in which the stacked articles are positioned in tandem and side-by-side adjacent to each other in a conveying direction of the feeding conveyor; at least one barrier for intercepting the articles; an extractor for sideways extracting each article in the stack sequentially intercepted by the barrier; and a receive and move apparatus designed to sequentially receive each article extracted from the feeding conveyor and to place the extracted article horizontally on another conveyor so that a largest face of the articles lies on the another conveyor, and the another conveyor moves the extracted articles away from the feeding conveyor.
Claims20
A singler for advancing and separating articles from at least one stack of articles, comprising:
- a feeding conveyor for conveying said at least one stack of articles in a conveying direction, said at least one stack of articles being positioned on said feeding conveyor side by side in said conveying direction such that each article is positioned adjacent another article on a different portion of said feeding conveyor;
- at least one barrier for sequentially intercepting said articles in said at least one stack of articles, said at least one barrier extending in a transverse direction relative to said conveying direction of said feeding conveyor;
- extracting means for sequentially extracting each article in said at least one stack in said transverse direction in which said at least one barrier extends;
- and
- receive and move means for sequentially receiving each extracted article in said at least one stack and for moving said articles extracted by said extracting means in a direction away from said extracting means;
- said feeding conveyor comprising subdividing means for subdividing said articles into at least one stack, each respective stack containing articles having at least one substantially common dimension;
- and wherein:
- said extracting means is adjustable to provide a passage-port opening that conforms with the at least one common dimension of said articles in each stack;
- said at least one barrier means comprises an endless flexible transmission element arranged on said at least one barrier, said flexible transmission element being actuatable when a sensor senses a presence of one of said articles so as to move said one article toward said receive and move means;
- said extracting means includes at least one movable element for defining said passage-port opening;
- said passage-port opening is disposed near said flexible transmission element;
- and
- said passage-port opening is adjustable in size to conform with said at least one common dimension of said articles in said at least one stack by a movement of said at least one movable element.
A method for advancing and separating articles, comprising the steps of:
- conveying said articles on a feeding conveyor in a conveying direction;
- arranging said articles in at least one stack on said feeding conveyor such that said articles in said at least one stack are positioned in tandem in said conveying direction on said feeding conveyor such that each article is positioned adjacent another article on a different portion of said feeding conveyor;
- positioning at least one barrier in a direction transverse to said conveying direction of said feeding conveyor for sequentially intercepting said articles in said at least one stack of articles;
- sequentially extracting each article in said at least one stack in said direction transverse to said conveying direction of said feeding conveyor;
- and
- sequentially receiving and moving each of said articles in said at least one stack extracted in said extracting step, in a direction away from said feeding conveyor;
- and wherein:
- said arranging step comprises subdividing said articles into a at least one stack, each respective stack containing articles having at least one substantially common dimension;
- said extracting step comprises adjusting a size of a passage-port opening to conform with said at least one substantially common dimension of said articles in each stack;
- said positioning step further comprises providing an endless flexible transmission element on said at least one barrier, said flexible transmission element being actuatable in the presence of one of said articles so as to move said one article toward a position where said one article is received and then moved away from said position during said sequentially receiving and moving step;
- said extracting step further comprises providing at least one movable element for adjusting said size of said passage-port opening;
- and
- further comprising placing said at least one movable element near said flexible transmission element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.