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:
Feb. 10, 1987
Filed:
Aug. 03, 1984
George D Bucher, McCondles, PA (US);
Theodore E Raymond, Sandy Run, SC (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A nuclear fuel pellet unloading apparatus includes a boat clamping and inverting mechanism which receives a boat loaded with pellets, clamps the boat and pivots it along an arcuate path adjacent a pellet transfer shroud from an initial upright position to a generally inverted position and then back to the upright position. As the loaded boat is pivoted, it progressively inverts next to an arcuate wall portion of the shroud which coacts to contain individual pellets as they begin to empty from the boat. The emptied pellets flow down the shroud to the next station. By the time the boat reaches its inverted position all of the pellets have emptied from the boat. The unloading apparatus also includes a pair of pneumatic cylinders which are selectively actuated for respectively delivering a loaded boat from a boat conveyor to the inverting mechanism and ejecting an empty boat from the inverting mechanism back to the boat conveyor.