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. 04, 2017
Filed:
Aug. 30, 2013
Illinois Tool Works Inc., Glenview, IL (US);
Matthew A. Job, Greenville, SC (US);
Christopher A. Ray, Greer, SC (US);
Roger T. Johnston, Spartanburg, SC (US);
Gregory Bruns, Moore, SC (US);
Bernard McPheely, Greer, SC (US);
Illinois Tool Works Inc., Glenview, IL (US);
Abstract
A system creates streams of articles on a laning conveyor having differentiated lanes from groups of articles on a feed, the groups each including articles arranged in a grid including at least two rows. The system includes an end effector on a robot arm. The robot arm is configured to simultaneously lift all of the articles in all of the rows of one of the groups from the feed. The end effector has individually actuatable row portions corresponding to the locations of the articles in the groups. The end effector is configured to sequentially place the lifted articles of each of the rows on the laning conveyor in a given lane of the laning conveyor. Related end effectors and methods are disclosed.