Precision Industries, Inc.

Stephen Stanton

William G Verwey

Apparatus is provided for arranging a row of bundles, preferably tied or untied bundles of folded or unfolded corrugated boxes or blanks, into stacks which include a plurality of layers of one or more bundles. The apparatus includes a feeding conveyor for feeding a row of bundles to a loading conveyor. A worker is stationed at the loading conveyor and functions to arrange the bundles into a layer on the loading conveyor. The loading conveyor then operates to transfer the layer of bundles to a transfer station on a vertical conveyor. Alternatively, the worker can arrange the bundles directly at the transfer station. The vertical conveyor includes a plurality of carrier plates which each operate to lift a layer of bundles from the transfer station and transfer it to a delivery station on the other side of the vertical conveyor. Each carrier plate includes a plurality of pushers so that the next carrier plate operates to push the layer of bundles from the delivery station onto a stripping conveyor which pushes the layer against a striker plate located above a downstacker. A stripping conveyor surrounds the downstacker and includes at least one opening therein through which the layer of bundles is deposited onto a movable platform of the downstacker or is deposited onto a layer of bundles which was previously deposited on the movable platform. The platform is incrementally actuated downwardly each time another layer of bundles is deposited thereon to form a stack of the desired height. The movable platform is then actuated downwardly to its discharge position, and the formed stack is then discharged from the downstacker, and straps are applied thereto. Actuating means are also provided for supplying control signals to the loading conveyor and the vertical conveyor to stop their operation while the platform is being lowered toward its discharge position and being returned to its uppermost position to receive the next layer of bundles.

Palletizer

An apparatus is provided for organizing and arranging bundles, preferably bundles of folded or unfolded corrugated boxes or blanks, into stacks which include a plurality of layers. The apparatus includes a vertical conveyor for supplying bundles to a loading station, at which one or more operators or mechanical arms are located, which function to remove the bundles for the loading station and to position them in a desired pattern on a horizontally movable support to form a layer. After a complete layer is formed, the support is removed from beneath the layer so that the layer of bundles is deposited on a stack-forming device which includes a vertically movable platform which is incrementally actuated downwardly each time another layer is deposited thereon to form the stack. The formed stack is then discharged from the stack-forming device and straps are applied thereto. Actuating means are provided for removing the support from beneath each formed layer and for lowering the stack-forming device after the stack is formed. The output of the actuating means is supplied to a programmer which in turn regulates the speed of the vertical conveyor to control the rate of supply of bundles to the loading station so that it is synchronized with the rate at which bundles are arranged into layers to form stacks to thereby avoid jam-ups or slow-downs in the system.

Apparatus for organizing and arranging bundles into stacks

A box stitching machine is disclosed which includes a stitching head and a set of pull rollers for intermittently moving a box to be stitched past the stitching head. An operating motor drives a shaft which is connected to the pull rollers through a clutch brake combination. Logic circuitry is disclosed which is responsive to a pair of photocells for starting and stopping operation of the stitching head; a manual switch for adjusting the desired spacing between stitches applied by the stitching head and a plurality of photocells for finely adjusting the stitch spacing.

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Baltimore, MD, United States of America

Stephen Stanton