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:
Apr. 10, 2001
Filed:
Nov. 25, 1998
Darrick Taylor Smith, San Jose, CA (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A pallet accelerator transfers workpiece pallets at high speeds from a pre-stop to a work stop in a conveyorized manufacturing line. While a workpiece is being processed in the work stop position, a pallet is released from a release stop into the pallet accelerator at the pre-stop position. The pallet accelerator has two fingers which engage the pallet. The pallet accelerator is pneumatically actuated to accelerate the pre-stop pallet forward while simultaneously pushing the work stop pallet downstream out of the work stop. The pallet accelerator resets for the next pallet released from the release stop while the pallet at the work stop is processed.