Sig Schweizerische Industrie-gesellschaft

Rene Fluck

Franz Ruegg

Gert Deutschlander

August Rebsamen

Walter Looser

Paul Graf

Feed device for a packaging machine

An apparatus for separating and sequentially conveying articles from an article stack includes an article accumulator in which the article stack is formed, a wheel, and a plurality of article pushers mounted on the wheel. Each article pusher has an article pushing face for pushing the article out of the article accumulator and is movable relative to the wheel into a first and a second position. In the first position the article pushing face is sufficiently close to the accumulator to abut and carry an article as the pusher passes by the accumulator and in the second position the article pushing face is sufficiently remote from the accumulator to move past the stack without abutting an article as the article pusher passes by the accumulator. Further, a control device moves selected article pushers into the second position prior to reaching the accumulator. A device resets the article pushers into the first position after having passed the accumulator. There is further provided an article ejecting device for moving each article away from the wheel after the article has been carried from the accumulator.

Apparatus for selectively separating articles from a stack using wheel

An apparatus for forming article groups from flat articles includes a belt conveyor for advancing thereon an article column formed of individual, flat-lying articles; a sensor supported above the conveyor surface for sensing the presence of articles on the conveyor surface; a series of article grippers situated downstream of the sensor as viewed in the direction of advance; a mechanism for shifting the grippers from above the conveyor surface to a position laterally of the conveyor surface; a group-forming device including a plurality of containers and a mechanism for positioning the containers at a location in which the articles are released by the grippers and are deposited into the containers to form stacks of superposed articles therein. The mechanism moves the containers stepwise downwardly during the stacking operation. There is further provided a control apparatus having an input connected to the sensor for receiving signals therefrom. The control apparatus has outputs connected to the shifting and positioning mechanisms.

Method and apparatus for forming article groups

An apparatus for forming groups of flat, face-to-face stacked items includes a conveyor belt for receiving the items in a flat-lying orientation; a motor for driving the conveyor belt to advance the items disposed thereon in a conveying direction; a sensor disposed above the conveyor belt for determining a position of individual items on the conveyor belt; a plurality of group-forming chambers; a plurality of serially disposed gripping units situated downstream of the sensor as viewed in the conveying direction for grasping the items advanced on the conveyor belt and for introducing the items into the group-forming chambers; and a control device having an input connected to the sensor and outputs connected to the gripping units for controlling the gripping units as a function of signals applied to the control device by the sensor.

Method and apparatus for forming groups of flat items

A method of supplying stacks of flat articles to a packing machine comprises the following steps: charging receptacles in a dosing device with articles to obtain in each receptacle an article stack shorter and lighter than a predetermined weight and length; advancing some of the charged receptacles to a standby station and some of the charged receptacles to a fine dosing device; and charging the receptacles in the fine dosing device with articles until the predetermined weight and length are substantially reached. The charging step in the fine dosing device includes the step of transferring articles from a receptacle dwelling in the standby station to a receptacle dwelling in the fine dosing device. Thereafter, the receptacles are advanced from the fine dosing device to the packing machine. The empty receptacles are advanced from the packing machine and the standby station to the dosing device.

Method and apparatus for conveying articles, particularly wafer-shaped

A stacking apparatus for forming groups of face-to-face contacting flat items comprises a supply conveyor for advancing a column of serially arranged, flat-lying items; a stack-forming unit situated in a charging station and arranged for sequentially receiving the items from the supply conveyor; a plurality of stacking containers for acommodating a stack of the items; an arrangement for positioning an empty stacking container in the charging station; a stop arranged in the charging station for arresting each item in the stack-forming unit upon delivery by the supply conveyor; an intermittent drive for causing the stack-forming unit to cyclically deposit an item in the stacking container to form an article stack therein; and a sensor which generates a signal indicating a presence of an item to be deposited by the stack-forming unit and which is situated upstream of the stack-forming unit. The signal is applied to the intermittent drive for actuating the same. There are further provide a removal conveyor for moving away filled stacking containers from the stack-forming unit; and an arrangement for transferring a filled stacking container from the charging station to the removal conveyor.

Apparatus for forming and conveying groups of flat stacked items

An apparatus for forming consecutive groups of face-to-face stacked, flat articles includes an input conveyor for advancing the articles arranged in a flat-lying orientation and in a column of indeterminate length; a downwardly curving track arranged for receiving the articles from the input conveyor; a stock-forming device arranged for performing stacking steps by consecutively taking articles from the track and moving each article onto a trough into a face-to-face engagement with an outermost article of a group being under formation on the trough. There is provided a stepping motor connected to the stack-forming device for operating it in steps; a sensor arranged upstream of the stack-forming device responds to a passage of each article on the track. The sensor is connected to the stepping motor to operate it when the sensor responds. When the group has reached a predetermined number of articles or length, a mechanism discharges the group from the trough into a receptacle.

Apparatus for stacking and conveying wafer-like articles

A conveying system having an input end receiving flat, generally disc-shaped articles in a flat-lying orientation and arranged in at least one column of indefinite length and an output end discharging the articles in consecutive article groups wherein each group being formed of a number of face-to-face stacked articles. The conveying system includes a plurality of separate, individual pallets for receiving and supporting the article groups; a stacking device arranged for forming the groups and charging the pallets therewith; an article removal device arranged for emptying the pallets and discharging the article groups removed from the pallets; a first conveyor for advancing charged pallets from the stacking device to the article removal device; a second conveyor for returning empty pallets from the article removal device to the stacking device; and lateral guides extending along the first conveyor for guiding and retaining the pallets thereon.

Conveyor apparatus for advancing groups of flat articles, particularly

An apparatus for separating article groups from a stream of flat articles, comprises an inclined chute on which a stream of flat articles arranged in an edgewise standing, face-to-face oriented, stacked relationship are advanced, an article group receiving arrangement situated downstream of the chute, a pickup base arranged for movement from a discharge end of the chute along the article group receiving arrangement while being in a face-to-face contact with an advancing leading article; a separating gate arranged for introduction between two adjoining articles of the article stream and a common drive for moving the pickup base parallel to the direction of article advance and for moving the separating gate, during displacement of the pickup base, away from the chute, from a point above the chute along a path of displacement that causes the separating gate to penetrate progressively between two adjoining articles of the article stream as the article stream advances.

Method and apparatus for grouping articles

An apparatus for cyclically separating articles in groups, includes a guide floor on which the articles are forwarded in a direction of advance in an edgewise standing orientation to form an article stack of undetermined length thereon; a pickup gate arranged for geing abutted by a leading article in the stack; a separating member arranged for being introduced between two articles of the stack at a predetermined distance from the pickup gate upstream thereof as viewed in the direction of advance for separating a group of articles of predetermined length from the article stack; a driving mechanism for cyclically introducing the separating member between two articles of the stack and moving the pickup gate and the separating member together in a stroke of predetermined length for shifting away the article group situated between the pickup gate and the separating member from the article stack of undetermined length; a first setting mechanism for varying the distance of the separating member from the pickup gate to vary the length of the article groups and a second setting mechanism for altering the position of the guide floor parallel to the direction of advance of the articles.

Apparatus for separating article groups of variable length from a

A vibratory conveyor for advancing stacked wafer-like articles in an edgewise upstanding orientation includes a vibratory trough having a vibratory base portion of a width which is less than the width of the entire vibratory trough. The conveyor further has a non-vibratory, elongated base component situated adjacent the vibratory base portion and having a width which, together with the width of the vibratory base portion constitutes substantially the width of the entire vibratory trough. In response to an operational parameter of the vibratory conveyor, the articles are caused to be disengaged from the vibratory base portion and engaged solely by the non-vibratory base component, whereby conveyance of the articles is interrupted.

Conveyor for advancing wafer-like articles

An apparatus for forming article groups each consisting of a plurality of edgewise upright oriented, generally flat stacked articles, includes a first conveyor for individually advancing the articles in a lying orientation; a second conveyor for receiving the articles from the first conveyor and for depositing the articles individually on a gathering channel in an edgewise upright orientation; a first article group shifting unit for periodically forming one group of articles of predetermined number from articles accumulating on the gathering channel as deposited by the second conveyor and for individually advancing that group on the gathering channel away from the second conveyor; a second article group shifting unit forming a second group of articles of predetermined number from articles accumulating on the gathering channel as deposited by the second conveyor, and simultaneously advancing the first and second groups on the gathering channel to a discharge end thereof.

Apparatus for forming groups of edgewise upright oriented articles and

An apparatus for separating article groups of predetermined length from an article stack of indefinite length, comprises a conveyor for advancing the article stack in a conveying direction; a pickup element arranged for a back-and-forth displacement parallel to the conveying direction and for being periodically abutted by a momentarily leading article of the stack; and at least two separating elements upstream of the pickup element and spaced from one another parallel to the conveying direction. The separating elements are moved towards the conveyor to introduce them into the article stack for forming a first article group between two separating elements and a second article group between the pickup element and the separating element adjacent the pickup element. The separating elements are also moved in synchronism with the pickup element, in the conveying direction away from the conveyor. The separating elements push the article groups onto a transfer tray which periodically deposits the article groups onto a further conveyor.

Apparatus for separating article groups of predetermined length from a

A vibratory conveyor composed of a plurality of parallel vibratory conveying troughs for transporting fragile articles, the troughs being driven by a conveyor drive composed of a rotatable drive shaft and at least one group of at least four drive elements each connected to undergo oscillatory movement in response to rotation of the drive shaft. Each trough is connected to a respective drive element to undergo vibratory movement in response to rotation of the drive shaft. The drive elements of the group are arranged in two equal subgroups bearing a mirror image configuration to one another relative to a plane normal to the axis of rotation of the drive shaft, and the drive elements of each subgroup are connected to the drive shaft in such a manner that their respective oscillatory movements are uniformly offset in phase from one another.

Vibratory conveyor

A method for removing at least one flat article at a time from an at least approximately vertical stack of articles supported on a support surface, by the steps of pushing at least the lowermost article in the stack sideways away from the stack by moving an ejector member transversely to the stack, and approximately simultaneously with the contact of the ejector member at the lowermost article, lowing the support surface in such a manner that the ejector member ejects the lowermost article from the stack during free fall of the lowermost article.

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Schleitheim, Switzerland

Rene Fluck