United States Postal Service

Intelligrated Headquarters, LLC

Darin Dickey

Edward F Houston

William P McConnell

Juan A Roman

Robert E Hume

Leung Man Shiu

Matthew Gene Good

John W Brown

Riley H Mayhall

Thomas Anthony Hillerich, Jr

Jacob L Timm

William R McConnell

Robert L Schlender

Christopher D Austin

Reza Badri

Thomas A Hillerich

Long K Ha

A conversion assembly for transferring an item from a first tray to a second tray. The conversion assembly includes a paddle assembly, a first tine assembly comprising one or more tines coupled to a first rotating shaft, and a second tine assembly comprising one or more tines coupled to a second rotating shaft. The first tine assembly is configured to facilitate emptying the item from the first tray onto the paddle assembly and the second tine assembly is configured to facilitate moving the first tray to a second conveyor while the item remains on the paddle assembly. The first tine assembly alters an orientation of the second tray to a position to receive the item from the paddle assembly, and wherein the paddle assembly is configured to move the second tray and the item back onto a first conveyor.

Automatic conversion station

Embodiments of a system and method for unloading articles from a container of items for use in an automatic stack feeder are disclosed. The automatic stack feeder may comprise a belt, a moveable lower paddle, and a moveable upper paddle, wherein the lower paddle is configured to partially extend through a belt of the automatic stack feeder. The movement of the belt, the lower paddle, and the upper paddle are coordinated such that there is no need to interrupt the operation of the automatic stack feeder to unload the container.

System and method of unloading a container of items

An automatic stack feeder having a moveable stack or product guide is disclosed. The automatic stack feeder may be configured to receive a stack of articles and a container enclosing a stack of articles. To ensure the stack of articles is properly supported following unloading from the container, the stack guide is moveable between a first and a second position, wherein the stack guide is in contact with the stack of articles while in the first position, and not in contact with the stack when in the second position.

Article feeder with a retractable product guide

Growing community of inventors

Owings Mills, MD, United States of America

Darin Dickey