The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 17, 1978
Filed:
Jul. 06, 1976
Applicant:
Inventors:
John Hunt Christian, Tucson, AZ (US);
James Leroy Overacker, Morgan Hill, CA (US);
Assignee:
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B29C / ; B65G / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
425135 ; 425317 ; 425385 ; 4254031 ; 101 27 ; 214 / ; 214 / ;
Abstract
Utilization of production equipment with diverse throughput rates is optimized by a central random access article storage apparatus disposed centrally of peripherally positioned production equipment. Computer controls enable fully automatic sequencing of production flow. The storage apparatus provide transient storage and article queuing during intermediate successive production steps. The computer control enables automatic article tracking for quality control as well as diagnosis of automatic production equipment problems.