Upstacker apparatus with biased gripping means

Abstract

An upstacker jaw clamp and palletizer apparatus in which containers are fed one at a time to an upstacker station and an elevating platform whereat these containers are lifted and at the extreme lift are retained by opposed jaw clamps. These jaw clamps are moved substantially simultaneously to and from retaining condition in response to electronic control signals. The jaw clamps carry pins that are reciprocably retained in bores with forward movement provided by a bias. When a round metal container is palletized, each jaw clamp has two substantially alike pins with blunted forward ends. When the container is plastic with a contoured bottom, the pins are threaded and retain a contoured member. No matter the container shape, the jaw, when moved forwardly, causes the lip portion to move under the elevated container with the pin ends, the contoured member, or the plate disposed immediately above the lip portion and biased forwardly to engage the side walls of the container. The jaws, when moved outwardly for upstacking the immediately-below container, utilize the forwardly-biased pins which continue to engage the side walls of the container as the lip portion is withdrawn. The ends of the biased pins and contoured member provide a centering action. Further withdrawal of the jaw clamp enables the immediately-below container to be moved into position with inertia employed to minimize the drop of the above container during upstacking.