CA1057783A - Receptacle filling system featuring arcuate-support-freeing-motion - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure An apparatus is known for loading documents enclosed in jackets having laterally projecting shoulders supported by conveyor belts into a container with a U-shaped cross-section. These jackets are moved into this container through one of the two open ends thereof in such a manner that their laterally projecting shoulders come to rest on the upper edges of the side walls of the container. Such a way of container loading cannot be applied in machines wherein the articles, such as letters, are not enclosed in such laterally supported jackets but are carried on their bottom edge by a suppor-ting plate and wherein the containers are only open at the top. Indeed, in this case the articles necessarily have to be introduced in the container through the open top. The present invention therefore provides an apparatus of the above type which enables articles to be correctly loaded in a container through the one open side thereof. This is achieved due to the fact that the present apparatus includes means to effect a relative displacement between the container and the supporting means in such a way that the articles carried by the supporting means are first introduced in the container, at least par-tially, through the open side thereof and come to rest against an inside part of the container. Afterwards the articles are discharged into the container while the supporting means are removed from the container.

Description

ioS~7783 The present invention relates to an apparatus for transferring articles from a supporting means into a container with an open side.
selgian patent 577,751 issued October 6, 1959 (E.M.S. McWHIRTER -B. DE PEUTER) discloses an apparatus for loading documents enclosed in jacket~
having laterally pro;ecting shoulders supported by conveyor belts into a con-tainer with a U-shaped cross-section and by moving these jackets into this con-tainer through one of the two open ends thereof and in such a manner that their laterally pro~ecting shoulders come to rest on the upper edges of the side walls of the container. Such a way of container loading cannot be applied in machines wherein the articles, such as letters, are not enclosed in such laterally supported ~ackets but are carried on their bottom edge by a support-ing plate and wherein the containers are only open at the top. Indeed, in this case the articles necessarily have to be introduced in the container through the open top.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an apparatus of the above type which enables articles to be correctly loaded in a container through the one open side thereof.
In summary, the essence of the inventive concept is the provision of apparatus for transferring articles stacked in an edgewise manner through the use of supporting means for carrying the articles and discharging them into a container having an open side. The articles are introduced through the open side of the container until they come to rest against an inside part of the container. The supporting means is removed from the container through the use of displacement means for gradually removing the supporting means from below the articles starting from a location close to the inside part of the container. Guide means mounted above the supporting means and displaced '~

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therewith continuously hold the articles between the inside part of the container and the guide means both when the articles are introduced into the container and when the supporting means is removed therefrom. The displace-ment means removes the supporting means from the articles by gradually pivot-ing the supporting means downwardly and displacing the container and guide means downwardly until all of the articles have been discharged into the con-tainer.
By using e.g. an end wall of the container as a lateral support for the articles after a partial insertion of a bottom supporting plate, one is able to achieve an automatic loading operation which is particularly delicate in letter handling machines where the letters, to facilitate further processing at the end of the loading operation, must be correctly positioned in the con-tainer with one of their edges resting on the container bottom. Indeed, once this first part of the insertion is accomplished, the letters may be positive-ly held in such a position that their subsequent orderly discharge on the con-tainer bottom is greatly facilitated.
A possible way of applying the invention would be to arrange the con-tainer in a reversed and inclined position and to introduce the supporting plate carrying the articles into the oblique container laterally through the open part thereof, while maintaining the supporting plate in the horizontal position. Afterwards the articles could then be discharged into the container by rotating the container and the supporting plate into a final position wherein the supporting plate covers the open part of the container. It has been found however that while the container and the plate are turned around and when the articles are constituted by letters of different heights, especially when they are relatively thin as is the case with air mail letters, ~, lOS7 78;~
some may be bent. This is due to friction while the letters are being inversed by the above motion so that what was the bottom ed8e resting on the initial support now becomes the upper edge when the opposite one finally comes to rest on the container bottom. A mechanism avoiding such an inversion would accordingly be desirable.
The apparatus of the invention does not present this drawback, due to the fact that said displacement means are able to gradually remove said supporting means which have been partially introduced into said container from below said articles, starting from the location close to said inside part, to thereby gradually discharge said articles into said container.
The articles are thus discharged into the container substantially one by one and without the above inversion so that the above danger of deform-ing the articles and of an incorrect positioning does not exist.
The disclosed apparatus include a container with an open part and means for transferring articles from a supporting means into said container, characterized in that said container has a movable bottom, whilst said trans-fer means are constituted by an elevator able to displace said bottom upwardly ~4 1(~57783 and downwardly.
An advantage of this apparatus is that it is very simple due to the transfer means being constituted by an elevator.
The disclosed article stacking device includes a fixed guide plate and a displaceable pressure plate and means to feed said articles between said guide plate and said pressure plate to gradually form a stack of articles, characterized in that it includes a third plate which is mounted in the path of said pressure plate and which has a surface complementary to that of said pressure plate so as to permit the passage of said pressure plate through said third plate~, said stack being then held between said guide plate and said third plate.

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~0 5'~ ~ ~

~ In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the i.nvention, t.he ~resent apparatus for transferrin~ a stnck of let;;ters from a horizontal st~cker ~llte into a container is adaptea first to rotate this stacker plate until one end oY the stack comes to rest a~ainst aIl adj~cent end wall of the container whi.ch is hereby ma;ntai.ned stati.onary, and afterwards to further rotate the stacker plate unti.l it reaches its vertical position, whi.lst simultarleously moving the container and a ~r,uide 1~ plate downwardly until the stack comes to rost on the contai.ner bottom, this guide plate continuously preventin~
the other end of the stack from fallin~r, over.

~05778;~, ~he above mentioned and other objects and features of the il~vention will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by referring to the following description of embodiments taken in coniuIlction with the accompanying drawings wherein :
.E~`ig~ 1 is a t.op plan view of a first embodime~t of an apparatus according to the invention;
Fig. 2 iæ a cross-section alon~ line II-II of Fi~. 1 considered in the direction of the arrows, only part of the height of the apparatus being shown;
Fi~. ~ is a cross-section ~ong line III-III of Fig. 1 considered in the direction of the arrows;
Fi~r,. 4 is a cross-section along line IV-IV Or Fig. 1 considered in the-direction of the arrows;
Fig. 5 is a left hand side view of Fig. 4;
Figs. 6 to 13 represent an apparatus similar to that of ~`igs. 1 to 5 in consecutive operative positions;
~'ig. 14 is a top plan view of a container able to be used in a second embodiment of an apparatus according ~0 to the in~ention;
Fig. 15 is a cross-section along line XV-XV of Fig. 14 considered in the direction of the arrows;
Fig. 16 is a cross-section of Fig. 14 along line XVI-XVI considered in the direction of the arrows;
~5 I~'ig. 17 is a schematic diagram of electric c~try controllin~, the ~ppar~ltus of Figs. 1 to 5.

1(~5'7783 - 7 - E. LAMBRECHTS 1 Principally referring to Figs. 1 to 5 the a~paratus shown therein includes a supporting frame structure which comprises uprights such as 1, 2, 3, 4, horizontal cross-beams such as 5, 96 interconnecting these uprights, and a horizontal base plate 6 secured on top of the uprights.
The supporting frame structure carries four U-shaped guide rails of which only 7, 8 and 9 are visible, an inclined cylindrical guide rod 10 and an inclined T-shaped guide rod 11 which is parallel to the guide rod 10, as well as to the upper portions of the four guide rails such as 7 to 9. Near their lower ends the four guide rails such as 7 and 9 carry plunger electromagnets such as 90 and 91, whilst the lower end of guide rod 10 has a transverse portion 92 by means of which it is secured to the cross-beam 5.
A letter stacking device is mounted on thehorizontal base plate 6 which has openings 12 to 18. A
pair of horizontal bars 19, 20 provided with lateral like named U-shaped guide rails 19, 20 having their open parts directed to each other is secured to the underside of the base plate 6 in such a manner that these guide rails are parallel to the longer sides of the rectangular opening 12 in this plate 6. A displaceable horizontal stacker plate 21 is mounted below the base plate 6 and between the guide rails 19 and 20 and has pairs of lateral supporting ~(~S7~783 rollers 22, 23; 24, 25 and 26, 27 which are engaged between the flanges of the last mentioned U-shaped guide rails 19, 20 and enable the staoker plate 21 to be longitudinally displaced below the base plate 6.
S At its forward or right hand end (Fig. 2) the stacker plate 21 carries an oblique vertical pressure plate constituted by three vertical lip portions 28, 29 and 30 and at its forward edge it has a lateral oblong cut-out portion 77 which opens towards this forward end. The stacker plate 21 finally also carries motors 54 and 95 which when operated are able to displace this plate 21 in forward direc-tion.
As shown in Figures 4 and 5 the roller 27 engaged between the flanges of the guide rail 20 is associated with an electromagnet 56 having a plunger S7 which is able to engage with the roller 27 to block it when the electromagnet 56 is operated.
The stacking device also includes a letter feeding device which includes a vertical fixed guide plate 31, with a transverse portion 97, mounted on the mounting plate 6 and carrying a freely rotatable roller 32 making contact with a belt 33 which is also carried by rollers 34 and 35 of which 3S is a driving one. Another belt 36 carried by rollers such as 37 is continuously urged into contact with belt 33 by means not shown.
The apparatus also includes a carrier formed by a _ 9 _ lever mechanism which is con~tituted ~y t,wo eubstantially L-shaped levers 38, 39 extending at both sides of the stac~er plate 21 and mounted on a common axle 40 arran~ed below the base plate 6 and hinged to the spindle 93 of a spindle motor ~ he housing of the latter motor 41 i8 itself hinged to the suppoxtin~ frame structure through bracket ~2 and a U-shaped rail 43 secured to the cross-beam 5. At their one end each of the le~ers 38, 39 has a pair of protuberafices 44, 45 and 46, 47 which normally protrude throu~Jh the corre~ponding apertures 13, 14 in the mounting plate 6 respectively. ~he ex~remitie6 48, 49 of the ~-shaped le~er~, 38,39 normally protrude throu~h the corres-ponding openings 17, 18 in the mounting plate 6 and e~ch carry a freely rotatable roller 50, 51 respectively. A
weight 53 is further attached to the axle of roller 25 of the stacXer plate 21by means of a cord 52 rllnrlin~ on a freely rotatable twin guide roller 55 mounted on the u~y~t1.
The spindle motor 41 is a motor generally available on the Belgian m~et under type name SP100.6 AC, m~ufactu~d by the German firm Magnetic Electromotoren GmbI~, Maudburg, Germany.
~he apparatu~ further includes a container carrier comprisinK side w~ls 58, 59, an end wall formed by a cylindrical rod 60 and a bottom formed by three cyli~drical rod~ 61, 62, 63~ N~ its edge the inner ~urface of each _ g _ 1(~57'783 - 10 - E. LAMBRECHTS 1 of the side walls 58, 59 of the container carrier has a groove 64, 65 adapted to receive a corresponding outwardly bent lateral edge 66, 67 of a through-shaped container 68.
At their outer surface each of the side walls 58, 59 of the container carrier has a substantially L-shaped cut-out portion or slot 69, 70 clearly visible in Fig. 2 and into which the rollers 50, 51 at the extremities 48, 49 of the levers 38, 39 may be engaged via extremities 48 and 49. The side walls 58, 59 of the container carrier further carry lateral suFporting rollers 71, 72 and 73, 74 at their upper and lower portions, these rollers being engaged between flanges of the U-shaped guide rails 7 to 9. Finally, a weight 76 is attached to the rod 60 of the container carrier by means of a cord 75 also running on the twin guide roller 55.
The apparatus further also includes a so-called linear motor 78 which is mounted on the cylindrical rod 10 and is secured to one side of a U-shaped yoke 79 by means of a bracket 80. A guide plate 81 is hinged in 82 and 83 to a supporting piece 94 secured to the transverse portion of the L-shaped yoke 79 and has downwardly directed lips 84, 85, 86. Hereby it should be noted that the surfaces of the pressure plate 28-30 and of the hinged guide plate 81 are complementary. The other side of the U-shaped yoke 79 has an extension 87 carrying rollers 88, 89 which are in engagement with the T-shaped guide rod 11, , ~QS'~78~

~ E. LAMBRECHTS 1 thus preventing the yoke 79 from rotating.
The linear motor 78 is generally available on the Belgian market under type name I~IPK 19/6, manufactured by the German firm Conen (Demag), Hamburg, Germany.
Principally referring to Fig. 17 the electric circuitry shown therein includes micro-switches 109 and 110 which are make contacts and which are also shown on Fig.2, microswitch 111 which is a change-over contact and which is also represented on Fig. 3, bistable circuits 112, 113 and 114 of which 113 is a so-called scale-of-two counter, monostable circuits 115 and 116 having time constants of 4 and 5 seconds respectively, and delay circuits 117 and 118 of 1 second and 2 seconds respectively. The microswitch 109 which is operated during the forward movement of the stacker plate 21 sets the bistable circuit 112 to its l-condition wherein it operates the motors 54 and 95.
Hereby it should be noted that the microswitch 109 is so arranged that it cannot be operated during the backward movement of the stacker plate 21. The micro-switch 110 which is operated when the stacker plate 21 reaches its outermost forward position resets the bistable circuit 112 to its 0-condition and basculates the scale-of-two counter 113. When the latter is thus brought in the l-condition it controls the electromagnet 56 and activates input 1 of the spindle motor 41 via the 1 seconds delay circuit 117 ~057783 - 12 - E. LAMBRECHTS 1 and the monostable circuit 115. This input 1 when activated operates the spindle motor 41 in such a manner that the latter rotates in a direction wherein its spindle 93 is moved upwardly. It should be noted that when the micro-switch 110 is closed for a second time the scale-of-two counter 113 is again basculated. The microswitch 111 which is operated when the container carrier reaches its lowermost position activates the input 2 of the spindle motor 41 via the 2 seconds delay circuit 118, due to which this motor rotates in a direction wherein its spindle 93 is displaced downwardly. Hereby it is supposed that when the spindle 93 reaches the ends of its downward and upward strokes the motor 41 stops operating. The microswitch 111 when operated also sets the bistable circuit 114 to its l-condition wherein it operates the linear motor 78 and triggers the monostable circuit 116 to its unstable condition for 5 seconds. In this unstable condition this monostable circuit 116 energizes the electromagnets 90 and 91.
Finally, when the microswitch 111 is brought in its rest position shown the bistable circuit 114 is reset to its 0-condition wherein the linear motor 78 is de-energized.
Principally referring to Figs. 1 to 13 and 17 the operation of the above described apparatus is as follows, it being supposed that the bistable and monostable circuits of Fig. 17 all are in their 0-condition whilst the micro-105~ 3 switches are in the position shown.
In the rest position of this apparatus the horizontal stacker plate 21 is in a position wherein the oblique pressure plate 28-30 is close to the fixed guide plate 31.
The pressure plate 28-30 hereby makes an angle with the guide plate 31 which opens towards the input of the stacking device. When the apparatus is then put into operation the belts 33 and 36 are displaced in the directions indicated in Fig. l so that each time a letter to be stacked is fed to the stacking device, it is seized between these conveyor belts and displaced forwardly on its bottom edge until its front edge abuts against the transverse portion 97 of the fixed guide plate 31. This letter thereby displaceS the stacker plate 21 and its pressure plate 28-30 in the forward direction towards the yoke 79 and the hinged guide plate 81 hereby raising the weight 53. Thus a stack of letters ll9 (not shown in Figs. l and 3) is gradually formed on the stacker plate 21 and held between the fixed guide plate 31 and the pressure plate 28-30. When the latter plate 28-30 reaches the position wherein its lips 28 to 30 are co-planar with the lips 84 to 86 of the hinged guide plate 81the microswitch lO9 is closed due to which the bistable circuit 112 is brought in the l-condition. In this position it stops the feed of letters in a way not shown and operates the motors 54 and 95 which both further advance the stacker l()S'778;~

plate 21 into the position shown in Figs. 1 to 3 wherein the axle 40 uniting the levers 38, 39 engages in the oblong cut-out portion 77 of the stacker plate 21. This stacker plate 21 is thus prevented from being further displaced in forward direction.
From the above it follows that due to the pressure plate 28-30 being displaceable through the guide plate 81 the right hand end of the stack of letters 119 which was first held by the plate 28-30 is now held by the plate 81.
This stack of letters 119 is now discharged into the container 68 supported by the container carrier 58-63 in the following way.
At the end of its forward displacement the stacker plate 21 closes the microswitch 110 due to which the bistable circuit 113 is brought in its l-condition wherein it resets the bistable circuit 112 and operates the electro-magnet 56. The bistable circuit 112 in its reset condition de-energizes the electromagnets 54 and 95, whilst the plunger 57 of the thus energized electromagnet 56 engages with the roller 27 of the stacker plate 21 so as to prevent this roller and therefore the stacker plate 21 from being longitudinally displaced in backward direction. From that moment on the lever mechanism 38-40 and the stacker plate 21 form one unit. The last mentioned closed microswitch 110 also operates the monostable circuit 115 after a time 105''~'7t~;~

delay of 1 second has elapsed i.e. when one is sure that the stacker plate 21 has been blocked by the electro-magnet 56. The monostable circuit 115 remains in itsunstable condition for 4 seconds and during this time i-t activates the input 1 of the spindle motor 41 which moves the spindle 93 in the upward direction. Consequently, the whole unit formed by the lever mechanism 38-40 and the stacker plate 21 is pivoted about the supporting rollers 26, 27 of this plate in anti-clockwise direction ~Fig. 6~. During this angular displacement the rollers 50, 51 at the extremities of the lever arms 38, 39 of the lever mechanism engage in the substantially L-shaped slots 69, 70 in the side walls 58, 59 of the container carrier 58-63 respectively.
However, as long as these rollers 50, 51 move in the substantially vertical portions of these slots the container carrier 58-63 remains stationary. When the rollers 50, 51 have substantially reached the bottom of these vertical portions the stacker plate 21 occupies the position shown in Fig. 6 wherein the left hand edge of the plate 21 substantially touches the bottom of the container 68. I* is clear that by the rotation of the stacker plate 21 the latter is partially introduced into the container 68 so that also the stack of letters 119 carried by this plate is partially introduced into the container the left hand end of the stack coming to rest against the adjacent end - 16 - E. LAMBRECHTS 1 wall of this container. During this angular movement of the stacker plate 21 both the motor 78 and the yoke 79 carrying the hinged guide plate 81 move downwardly under influence of their own weight. Hereby the motor 78 moves along the guide rod 10, whilst the hinged guide plate 81 constantly remains into contact with the stacker plate 21.
This hinged guide plate 81 also continuously remains into contact with the right hand end of the stack 119 which is thus held at both sides and prevented to fall over.
During the further upward displacement of the spindle 93 of the spindle motor 41 the unit formed by the lever mechanism 38-40 and the stacker plate 21 is further rotated in the anti-clockwise direction so that the rollers 50, 51 at the ends of the lever arms 38, 39 engage in the substantially horizontal portions of the slots 69, 70 of the container carrier 58-63 respectively. Consequently the latter carrier rolls downwardly along the four guide rails such as 7 to 9 and hereby the weight 76 attached to the container carrier is raised, as represented in Fig. 7 which also shows the position of the yoke 79, the guide plate 81 and the linear motor 78. During this rotation the stacker plate 21 is gradually removed from below the stack of letters 119 arranged thereon starting from the location close to the end wall of the container 68, but 105778~

- 17 - E. LAMBRECHTS 1 this stack 119 is prevented from falling over since its left and right hand ends are continuously held by this end wall and by the hinged guide plate 81 respectively.
When the spindle 93 of the spindle motor 41 has reached the end of its upward stroke the unit formed by the lever mechanism 38-40 and the stacker plate 21 has been rotated over an angle of 90 from its horizontal position.
The various members of the apparatus then occupy the positions shown in Fig. 8, wherein the linear motor 78 has reached the end of the guide rod 10, wherein the hinged guide plate 81 is vertical and wherein the rollers 50, 51 at the extremities of the lever arms 38, 39 are disengaged from the slots 69, 70 of the container carrier 58-63. In this position the stack of letters 119 has been completely discharged in the container 68.
Due to their weight the container carrier 58-63 and the loaded container 68 supported thereon move further downwardly until the carrier 58-63 comes to rest on the plate 98 as shown in Fig. 9. In this position, the micro-switch 111 is operated so that the bistable circuit 114 is set to its l-condition wherein it operates the linear motor 78, whilst the monostable circuit 116 is triggered to its unstable condition wherein it remains for 5 seconds and hereby energizes the electromagnets 90 and 91. During this 5 seconds time interval the plungers of these energized electromagnets prevent any upward displacement of the carrier, so that the loaded container 68 may then be removed from the container carrier 58-63 and replaced by a fresh one, as shown in Fig. 10. The operated linear motor 78 moves upwardly along the guide rod 10 until it reaches its initial rest position wherein also the yoke 79 and the hinged guide plate 81 both occupy their initial position. The operated microswitch 111 also activates the input 2 of the spindle motor 41 via the delay circuit 118 providing a delay of 2 seconds. This 2 seconds delay is provided in order that the clockwise rotation of the unit formed by the lever mechanism 38-40 and the stacker plate 21 should not be hindered by the linear motor 78. This clock-wise rotation is controlled by the operated spindle motor 41 which commences the return of this unit back to its initial position. This is shown in Fig. 12. In this position the microswitch 110 is closed again due to which the scale-of-two counter 113 is reset to its 0-condition wherein it de-energizes the electromagnet 56. Gbnsequently the roller 27 of the stacker plate is unblocked so that this stacker plate 21 then starts moving backward towards itsinitial position under influence of the weight 53. On the other hand, after the above 5 seconds have elapsed the electromagnets 90 and 91 are de-energized so as to unblock the container carrier 58-63 which consequently also moves towards its initial ,:

`7'7~;~
position, as shown in Fig. 12, under influence of the weight 76. At the end of this displacement the various members of the apparatus occupy the positions shown in Fig. 13. It should be noted that when the container carrier 58-63 leaves its lowermost position the contact 111 is brought back in its rest position wherein it resets the bistable circuit 114. Consequently the linear motor 78 which at that moment has already reached its highest position is no longer energized.
The above described apparatus has the advantage of being able to load containers of a classical type. When the use of such containers is not imperative use may be made of a special container shown in Figs. 14 to 16 and having the advantage of requiring only a very simple loading apparatus.
The container 100 shown has a fixed bottom 101 with four apertures 105 to 108 and a movable bottom plate 102 which is hingedly connected to the fixed bottom by means of the arms 103 and 104. The loading apparatus adapted to load such a container 100 must simply be an elevator having means to displace the movable bottom plate 102 through the apertures 105 to 108 in the fixed bottom plate 101. With such an elevator, when a stack of letters must be loaded into the container 100, first this stack is brought on the movable bottom plate 102 10577~33 - 20 - E. LAMBRECHTS 1 after the latter has been raised to the position shown in Figs. 14 to 16, and afterwards the movable bottom plate 102 is lowered into the container 100 together with the stack of letters.
It should be noted that the above container 100 may also be unloaded in the same easy way by the same elevator apparatus. Hence, this container and this elevator apparatus are both able to be used at the inputs and out-puts of an article e.g. letter handling system.
While the principles of the invention have been described above in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of an example and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention.

Claims (18)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. Apparatus for transferring articles stacked in an edgewise manner comprising a supporting means for carrying articles, a container having an open side, means to effect a relative displacement between said container and said supporting means whereby said articles carried by said supporting means are first introduced in said container, at least partially, through the open side thereof until said articles come to rest against an inside part of said container, means for discharging said articles into said container by removing said supporting means from said container such that said displacement means includes means for gradually removing said supporting means from below said articles, starting from the location close to said inside part, to gradually discharge said articles into said container, guide means mounted above said supporting means and to be displaced therewith by said displacement means to continuously hold said articles between said inside part and said guide means, both when said supporting means are introduced into said container and when they are after-wards gradually removed therefrom, said displacement means being further adapted to remove said supporting means from below said articles by gradually pivoting said supporting means downwardly and displacing said container and said guide - 22 - E. LAMBRECHTS 1 means downwardly until all said articles have been discharged into said container.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said gradual discharge occurs solely by gravity action.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said displacement means are adapted to pivot said supporting means first while maintaining said container stationary and afterwards in order to displace said container and said guide means downwardly,

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said displacement means are adapted to pivot said supporting means about a horizontal axis and to displace said container and said guide means downwardly in the direction of the vertical plane passing through said horizontal pivot axis.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said displacement means are adapted to displace said container and said guide means along inclined rectinlinear paths during the loading of said container.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said guide means include a yoke and a guide plate freely and hingedly supported by a central portion of said yoke.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said yoke and said supporting means are so mounted with respect to each other that when said supporting means are angularly displaced downwardly by said displacement means said hinged guide plate remains in contact with said - 23 - E. LAMBRECHTS 1 supporting means under influence of its own weight.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said yoke is guided at both sides by first and second guide rods which are parallel to each other.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein a linear motor is mounted on said first guide rod and is secured to one side of said yoke to move said guide means upwardly.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said displacement means include a pivoted carrier able to be angularly displaced and to be interconnected with said supporting means by interconnecting means during the angular displacement of said pivoted carrier.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10, including a container carrier able to be interconnected with said pivoted carrier during the angular displacement of said pivoted carrier in downward direction.

12. Apparatus according to claims 3 and 11, wherein said container carrier at least has a substantially L-shaped lateral cut-out portion whilst said pivoted carrier at least has one arm, an end of which is able to be engaged in said cut-out portion to displace said container carrier only when said end is engaged in one of the arms of said L-shaped cut-out portion.

13. Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized - 24 - E. LAMBRECHTS 1 in that it includes an article stacking device to stack articles between a fixed vertical guide plate and a dis-placeable vertical pressure plate secured to a horizontally displaceable stacker plate, a stack of articles being then held between said fixed guide plate and said pressure plate, said pressure plate and said displaceable stacker plate together forming said supporting means, and that said pressure plate is able to move through said hinged guide plate, said stack of articles being then held between said fixed guide plate and said hinged guide plate.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, charac-terized in that said pressure plate and said hinged guide plate have substantially complementary surfaces.

15. Apparatus according to claim 13, charac-terized in that said fixed guide plate and said pressure plate are mounted at an angle opening toward the input of said stacking device.

16. Apparatus according to claim 13, charac-terized in that said articles are constituted by letters which are fed to said stacking device in an edgewise manner.

17. Apparatus according to claim 11, charac-terized in that said displacement means include a first weight which is attached to said container carrier in such a way that said first weight is displaced upwardly when said container carrier is displaced downwardly, said first weight controlling the upward displacement of said container carrier.

E. LAMBRECHTS 1

18. Apparatus according to claim 13, charac-terized in that said stacker plate is attached to a second weight in such a way that said second weight is displaced upwardly when said pressure plate is displaced away from said fixed guide plate, said second weight controlling the reverse displacement of said stacker plate.