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US 5,492,444 AGranted
Method and apparatus for storing imbricated sheets upon a pallet
AssigneeGraphic Management Associates, Inc.
InventorJames D. Terry
Life of this patent
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AssigneeGraphic Management Associates, Inc.
InventorJames D. Terry
Estimating the term…
Imbricated or overlapped copies of printed material are formed within a plurality of rows to form a single layer of a multi-layered and cubic-shaped stack. The stack allows for more efficient use of space for the storage of printed materials, and allows for easier and faster storing and retrieving of printed materials. The apparatus for forming the stack includes a plurality of in-feed conveyors which feed imbricated copy stream segments to a shuttle assembly upon a plurality of side-by-side rows. Once filled, the shuttle is positioned over a flat separator sheet and drops the plurality of rows onto the separator sheet, thereby forming a single layer. The layer is formed directly upon a stack which is formed upon a pallet. The separator sheet of the formed layer is supported by the copy streams which lie below on the preceding separator sheet. The resulting stack is cubic-shaped and includes a plurality of layers of a plurality of side-by-side rows of relatively flat and horizontal imbricated copy streams that run the full width of the pallet. A method of retrieving the copy streams from the stack to the conveyors uses the same apparatus for forming the stack, and is substantially the reverse of the method of forming the stack.
A method of forming a multi-layer stack from a substantially continuous imbricated copy stream, said stream comprising a plurality of non-self-supporting planar copies in overlapped configuration, said method comprising placing an initial separator sheet on a support, feeding a continuous row of said copies to a receiver to form an initial predetermined length in said overlapped configuration onto said initial separator sheet, thereby forming a substantially flat, imbricated, initial layer of said multi-layer stack, the initial length of said initial layer being in said overlapped configuration, placing at least one succeeding separator sheet directly on said initial layer, continuing to feed said copies to said receiver to form at least one succeeding predetermined length of said copies, and transferring at least one said succeeding length onto each said succeeding separator sheet.
An apparatus for forming a stack of rows of imbricated copies from a copy stream, which stream comprises a substantially continuous plurality of imbricated, flexible planar copies, said apparatus comprising
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.