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. 25, 2005
Filed:
Mar. 12, 2002
Ricardo N. Schiesser, Rockford, MI (US);
Robert L. Stone, Rockford, MI (US);
Jeffrey D. Price, Grand Rapids, MI (US);
Charles R. Devries, Grand Rapids, MI (US);
Ricardo N. Schiesser, Rockford, MI (US);
Robert L. Stone, Rockford, MI (US);
Jeffrey D. Price, Grand Rapids, MI (US);
Charles R. DeVries, Grand Rapids, MI (US);
Rapistan Systems Advertising Corp., Grand Rapids, MI (US);
Abstract
A tray destacker is operable to separate individual trays from a stack of trays and to discharge the individual trays. The tray destacker includes a tray separating device which engages an edge or handle of the individual tray and moves the tray away from the stack of trays, while a tray retaining device engages a next tray adjacent to the individual tray and retains the remaining trays of the stack. The tray separating device may be biased toward an engaging position so as to engage the individual tray when the trays and the tray separating device are in an appropriate position relative to one another. The tray retaining device may also be biased to engage the next tray and may release the next tray in response to the tray separating device returning to the stack of trays to remove the next tray from the stack.