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:
Jan. 10, 1995
Filed:
Oct. 25, 1993
Shozo Kasai, Kawasaki, JP;
Takeo Tanita, Kawasaki, JP;
Masateru Yasuhara, Kawasaki, JP;
Yusaku Azuma, Yokohama, JP;
Toshihiro Yamamoto, Yokohama, JP;
Norio Nikaido, Tsuchiura, JP;
Ryohei Inaba, Yokohama, JP;
Mitsuo Arai, Kawasaki, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An article feeding apparatus which feeds articles from a feed source to a section to be subjected to feeding includes a stocker for stocking a plurality of pallets retaining a plurality of articles in units of types of articles, with the stocker being capable of moving one pallet to a predetermined position, and a take-out unit for taking the pallet moved to the predetermined position outside the stocker in order to transfer articles to the section to be subjected to feeding. In addition, a buffer receives replacement of the pallets retaining the articles from external equipment and temporarily stores the plurality of pallets, and a replacing unit replaces the pallets in the stocker with the pallets in the buffer in accordance with a decrease in number of articles in the pallet in the stocker to a predetermined value as the articles are fed to the feeding section.