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US 6,632,067 B1Granted
Pallet dispenser with quick pallet size change over
AssigneeOullette Machinery Systems, Inc.
InventorJoseph F. Ouellette
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pallet dispenser can receive a vertical stack of skewed or misaligned pallets in an interior of a frame of the pallet dispenser and align the pallets as they are sequentially dispensed from the pallet dispenser onto a conveyor below the pallet dispenser. The pallet dispenser that can be quickly manually changed over to accommodate pallets of different sizes and vertically dispense the pallets one by one onto a conveyor below the pallet dispenser. The pallet dispenser is provided-with a quick, manual change over that enables the pallet dispenser to be quickly adjusted to accommodate a vertical stack of large or small pallets to be reoriented and dispensed by the pallet dispenser onto a separate conveyor without appreciable downtime of the pallet dispenser or the conveyor with which it is used.
Claims28
A pallet dispensing apparatus comprising:
- a frame having an interior that is dimensioned to receive a stack of pallets therein;
- first and second vertical uprights supported in the frame interior by pivot connections between the uprights and the frame, the first and second vertical uprights each having means to move the first and second uprights toward each other into the frame interior to a first relative position of the uprights where a first spacing between the uprights is sufficient to permit a pallet to be dispensed downwardly in the frame interior between the uprights and to move the first and second uprights away from each other and the frame interior to a second relative position of the uprights where a second spacing between the uprights is sufficient to permit a pallet to be dispensed downwardly in the frame interior between the uprights, the second spacing being greater than the first spacing.
A pallet dispensing apparatus comprising:
- a frame having an interior that is dimensioned to receive a stack of pallets therein;
- first and second vertical uprights supported in the frame interior by pivot connections between the uprights and the frame that enable the first and second uprights to be pivoted toward each other into the frame interior to a first relative position of the uprights and to be pivoted away from each other and the frame interior to a second relative position of the uprights;
- and
- the first and second vertical uprights each have a manual handle that is mounted to the frame for movement between first and second positions of the handle relative to the frame, and each of the first and second vertical uprights is operatively connected to its handle whereby each of the first and second vertical uprights is moved to its first and second positions in response to its handle being moved to its first and second positions.
1 more element
A pallet dispensing apparatus comprising:
- a frame having an interior that is dimensioned to receive a stack of pallets therein;
- first and second vertical uprights supported in the frame interior by pivot connections between the uprights and the frame that enable the first and second uprights to be pivoted toward each other into the frame Interior to a first relative position of the uprights and to be pivoted away from each other and the frame interior to a second relative position of the uprights;
- and
- a third vertical upright is supported in the frame interior between the first and second vertical uprights by a pivot connection between the third upright and the frame that enables the third upright to pivot into the frame interior to a first position of the third vertical upright relative to the frame and to pivot away from the frame interior to a second position of the third vertical upright relative to the frame.
1 more element
A pallet dispensing apparatus comprising:
- a frame having an interior that is dimensioned to receive a vertical stack of pallets therein, the frame supporting first and second vertical uprights on opposite sides of the frame interior for movement of the first and second vertical uprights between first and second relative positions, in the first positions the uprights are moved toward each other reducing a space between the uprights in the frame interior whereby a stack of small pallets can be placed in the frame interior between the uprights where the uprights will reorient pallets in the stack as pallets are dispensed downwardly through the frame interior and in the second positions the uprights are moved away from each other increasing a space between the uprights in the frame interior whereby a stack of large pallets can be placed in the frame interior between the uprights where the uprights will reorient pallets in the stack as pallets are dispensed downwardly through the frame interior;
- and,
- the frame has a top and the first and second vertical uprights are suspended from pivot connections of the first and second vertical uprights to the frame top.
A pallet dispensing apparatus comprising:
- a frame having an interior that is dimensioned to receive a stack of pallets therein;
- first and second dispensing arms mounted on the frame on opposite sides of the frame interior for movement of the dispensing arms between first and second positions relative to the frame interior where in the first positions the dispensing arms project into the frame interior where they will engage with a pallet of a stack of pallets placed in the frame interior and vertically support the engaged pallet and any pallets stacked on the engaged pallet and in the second positions the dispensing arms are retracted out of the frame interior where they will not engage with a pallet of a stack of pallets placed in the frame interior and will allow a stack of pallets placed in the frame interior to moved downwardly through the frame interior, the first and second dispenser arms having adjustable lengths that are adjustable between at least first and second lenths of the dispenser arms, where in the first lengths the dispenser arms are longer than when the dispenser arms are in their second lengths.
A pallet dispensing apparatus comprising:
- a frame having an interior that is dimensioned to receive a vertical stack of pallets therein, the frame supporting first and second vertical uprights on opposite sides of the frame interior for movement of the first and second vertical uprights between first and second relative positions, in the first positions the uprights are moved toward each other reducing a space between the uprights in the frame interior whereby a stack of small pallets can be placed in the frame interior between the uprights where the uprights will reorient pallets in the stack as pallets are dispensed downwardly through the frame interior and in the second positions the uprights are moved away from each other increasing a space between the uprights in the frame interior whereby a stack of large pallets can be placed in the frame interior between the uprights where the uprights will reorient pallets in the stack as pallets are dispensed downwardly through the frame interior;
- and
- first and second dispensing arms are mounted on the frame on opposite sides of the frame interior for movement between first and second positions of the dispensing arms relative to the frame where in the first positions the dispensing arms project into the frame interior where they will engage with a pallet of a stack of pallets placed in the frame interior and vertically support the engaged pallet and any pallets stacked on the engaged pallet and in the second positions the dispensing arms are retracted out of the frame interior where they will not engage with a pallet of a stack of pallets placed in the frame interior and will allow a pallet placed in the frame interior to move downwardly through the frame interior, the first and second dispenser arms having lengths that are adjustable between at least first and second lengths, where in their first lengths the dispenser arms are longer than when the dispenser arms are in their second lengths.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.