US 5,944,479 AGranted

Stacking apparatus

AssigneeOhkuma Corporation

InventorsKunio Kanaya, Takayoshi Kojima, Masao Kuwano

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A palletizer comprises a lifting mechanism (1) and a stacking mechanism (2) including a carriage (28), a roller conveyer (33), an upper plate (39), a lower plate (40), and an abutment plate (53). The palletizer further comprises a moving table assembly (3) including a table (64) and a control unit (4). The lifting mechanism (1) vertically transfers a plurality of loads (W) delivered by an external conveyer (6). Then, the roller conveyer (33) of the stacking mechanism (2) horizontally transfers the loads (W) received from the lifting mechanism (1) onto the lower plate (40) in front of pallet (P), where the upper plate (39) and the abutment plate (53) hold a first load (W) therebetween and slide it over to a point over the stacking position. Then, the lower plate (40) is pulled out from under load (W) to place it on the pallet (P). In the same manner, the next load (W) is placed on the pallet (P) in front of the first load (W). This stacking operation is repeated until the first tier of loads (W) are fully stacked thereon. Thereafter, the carriage (28) is raised to position the roller conveyer (33), the upper plate (39), the lower plate (40), and the abutment plate (53) at the next stacking level to stack another tier of loads (W) on top of the first tier of loads (W) already stacked. This stacking procedure is repeated until pallet (P) is fully stacked with a desired number of tiers.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A stacking apparatus for sequentially stacking loads on a platform in tiers, the apparatus comprising:

(a) a vertical transfer means for vertically transferring an externally provided load according to a stacking level;
(b) a horizontal transfer means for receiving the load from the vertical transfer means and approximately horizontally transferring the load to a point close to the platform;
(c) a stacking means for receiving the load from the horizontal transfer means and horizontally transferring the load to the point directly over a stacking position on the platform and placing the load in the stacking position, wherein said stacking means includes:
a lower plate disposed below the horizontal transfer means for being transferred horizontally to the point over the stacking position with the load carried thereon;
an upper plate disposed between the lower plate and the horizontal transfer means for pushing the load on the lower plate to the point directly over the stacking position;
and
an abutment plate for interposing the load between the abutment plate the upper plate, wherein the lower plate is pulled out from under the load at the point directly over the stacking position so as to place the load in the stacking position on the platform;
(d) a vertical positioning means for vertically positioning the horizontal transfer means and the stacking means corresponding to the stacking level;
(e) a horizontal positioning means for positioning the platform on a horizontal plane in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the stacking means transfers the load to the point directly over the stacking position;
and
(f) a control means for controlling the operation of the vertical transfer means, the horizontal transfer means, the stacking means, the vertical positioning means and the horizontal positioning means in synchronism.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.