Apparatus for stacking pasted battery plates

Abstract

Battery plates from the high speed output conveyor of a pasted plate making machine are deposited onto a lower speed first conveyor in an overlapped fashion to create a shingled stream of plates. As plates drop off of the discharge end of the first conveyor they are accumulated in vertical stacks on a second conveyor that is located below the first conveyor. Whenever a stack is completed the second conveyor is moved approximately one plate width to remove the stack and the process continues. In order to provide time to move the stack, the flow of plates on the first conveyor is disrupted when the stack is being moved. In the preferred embodiment the disruption is caused by squeezing the plates between the jaws of a clamping mechanism that the plates pass through. A counter is used to count the number of plates in a stack and a controller causes the clamping mechanism to be engaged at the proper time, causes the second conveyor to remove the just-formed stack and then causes the second conveyor to stop and the clamping mechanism to be reopened so that a second stack can be formed. A gate extends across the second conveyor when the stack is being formed to ensure that the stack is straight. The gate is raised upon command from the controller when movement of the second conveyor commences and lowered again when movement of the second conveyor ceases.