Compact mobile roll tilter

A method of moving a roll of material from a roll-axis-vertical position to a roll-axis-horizontal position with a roll tilter system, the roll tilter system including a pivot assembly rotatably mounted to a base bracket, the pivot assembly including a slotted platform joined together with a cradle platform perpendicular to the slotted platform, the method comprising:

• loading a roll in the roll-axis-vertical position onto the slotted platform with the stoned platform substantially horizontal and the cradle platform substantially vertical;
• rotating, via a pivot actuator connected between the base bracket and the pivot assembly, the pivot assembly to move towards the roll-axis-horizontal position;
• continuing to rotate the pivot assembly to transfer, via gravitational force, the roll from the slotted platform to a cradle assembly mounted to the cradle platform;
• continuing to rotate the pivot assembly to cause the roll to move, via gravitational force, between spaced apart first and second support surfaces positioned at opposite angles across a centerline of the cradle assembly;
• engaging, via contact with the base bracket as the cradle platform approaches horizontal, cradle latches connected to the cradle platform with pins on the cradle assembly, the cradle latches extending between the cradle platform and the base bracket;
• and
• translating, via contact between cradle wedges fixed to the base bracket and the cradle assembly, the cradle assembly along the cradle platform away from the slotted platform.

A roll tilter system comprising:

• a base bracket including one or more cradle wedges fixed thereon and extending upwards from the base bracket;
• a pivot assembly connected to the base bracket by a link arm and supported by a roller interposed between the pivot assembly and the base bracket, the link arm being rotatably connected to the pivot assembly and to the base bracket so that the pivot assembly moves with respect to the base bracket at a fixed radius that corresponds to the link arm while the pivot assembly rotates about the pivot axis, the pivot assembly including a slotted platform and a cradle platform, the slotted and cradle platforms joined together and extending perpendicularly outwards from each other, the pivot assembly having a loading position in which the cradle platform is substantially vertical and the slotted platform is substantially horizontal and an unloading position in which the cradle platform is substantially horizontal and the slotted platform is substantially vertical;
• a cradle assembly mounted to the cradle platform for translation toward and away from the slotted platform;
• a pivot actuator connected between the base bracket and the pivot assembly and, in use, rotating the pivot assembly about a pivot axis between the loading position and the unloading position;
• wherein (i) the pivot actuator rotates the pivot assembly about the pivot axis from the loading position to the unloading position, (ii) the cradle assembly, as the pivot assembly approaches the unloading position, contacts the one or more cradle wedges, and (iii) the cradle assembly, after contacting the one or more cradle wedges, translates along the cradle platform away from the slotted platform as the pivot assembly reaches the unloading position.