Dorner Mfg. Corp.

Todd R Eggebrecht

Jason M Knas

David A Remsing

An inductor station for a sortation conveying system is able to accommodate an assortment of substantially rectangular items which in general each have unique dimensions. A worker loads the inductor station with a charge of items each standing upright on edge and side-by-side. The charges are loaded in sequence to a feeder tray, and a programmably controlled feeding assembly feeds the charges along the feeder tray to a loading mechanism. The loading mechanism loads the endmost item from a discharge end of the feeder tray onto a takeaway conveyor. The items are loaded on the takeaway standing upright and on edge. An indexing motion stripping conveyor is used to time the loading of the items onto the takeaway conveyor so that the items are conveyed to an appropriate pocket on the core conveyor for the sortation conveying system. The feeding assembly and the loading assembly are each programmably controlled to coordinate movement of items through the inductor station with each item substantially maintaining its upright orientation.

Inductor station for sortation conveying system

A retractable arm serves as a combined pushing mechanism and dead plate for holding and moving articles that have been stacked onto an accumulation tray for a stacking station in an article sortation conveying system. The stacking station stacks articles sequentially onto the accumulation tray standing upright on edge and in series side-by-side. While the articles are being stacked, the retractable arm is positioned in the down position and positioned so that a first side of the arm holds the articles on edge without tipping, much like a bookend. A linear motion actuator, preferably a pneumatic cylinder, moves the retractable arm along the length of the elongated accumulation tray. During the stacking procedure, the pneumatic cylinder is deactivated (i.e. a dead cylinder), and the stacked articles push the retractable arm incrementally along the accumulation tray towards an unloading area. When the order is complete, the arm retracts and is returned to a home position in which a second side of the arm is ready to push the articles towards the unload end of the accumulation tray. Movement of the articles towards the unload end of the accumulation tray is controlled in response to a photoelectric sensor that senses the presence of articles at a location near the unload end of the tray. When the entire order of articles has been moved to the unload area of the accumulation tray, the retractable arm is returned to the home position ready to accept the next stack of articles.

Combined pushing mechanism and dead plate for stacker accumulation tray

A discharge stacking station for a sortation conveying system uses a reciprocating stacking member to stack orders of articles onto an accumulation tray for the station in an aligned series. Articles are provided in singular fashion from a core conveyor for the sortation conveying system onto the reciprocating stacking member via an inclined chute. The reciprocating stacking member preferably has a floor and a backstop wall which are mounted for reciprocating sliding motion along a small portion of the accumulation tray for the stacking station at a loading end of the tray. A stationary stop member is disposed above the floor of the reciprocating stacking member. When a photoelectric eye senses the passing of an article onto the reciprocating stacking member, a computer controlled actuator pulls the reciprocating stacking member towards the stationary stop member to a retracted position. The stationary stop member pushes the article from the floor of the reciprocating stacking member, thereby causing the article to drop onto the accumulation tray. The actuator then returns the reciprocating stacking member to its original position ready for accepting the next article. When returning to the article receiving position, the reciprocating stacking member pushes the dropped article incrementally along the accumulation tray. This process is repeated for each respective article, thus creating a series of articles stacked on edge and side-by-side on the accumulation tray from which attending workers are able to efficiently and conveniently remove the articles and pack orders for distribution.

Growing community of inventors

Mukwonago, WI, United States of America

Todd R Eggebrecht