FR3074488A1 - INSTALLATION FOR UNLOADING STACKED PRODUCTS, ESPECIALLY GLASSES OF EYEWEAR - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention proposes an installation (30) for one-to-one unloading of stacked products (10, 10F, 10B) which comprises a rail (32) for intermediate storage and for translational guiding of the products inside the rail (32). ) whose front end is delimited by a front transverse plate (70) which has a recess (80) giving access to the front end product (10F), a controlled clamping member (50) which applies a force to the product rear end (10B), a controlled pusher (52) which is movably mounted between a retracted front position and at least one active rear position in which it exerts a force on the front end product (10F) to move it to a rear retracted gripping position, and a member (56) for gripping and extracting the products (10, 10F, 10B) from the rail (32) by successively and individually gripping each front end product (10F).

Description

Installation for unloading stacked products one by one, in particular spectacle lenses

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an installation for the unloading one by one of products stacked in batches, in particular of glasses for vision correction, in order to allow their storage and their automated individual handling.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention finds particular, but not only, to be applied in the field of the manufacturing industry of pairs of vision glasses.

A pair of glasses consists of a frame and two lenses, sometimes also called lenses.

Each glass is adapted to the patient's view and must be made to measure.

Indeed, in addition to the parameters which are linked to the patient's vision which characterize the correction with respect to the patient's vision defect, each lens can be of the single focal, multiple focal, tinted type and benefit from various specific anti - scratches, anti-reflection, etc.

Thus, a glass manufacturer must be able to store and manage several tens, even several hundreds of thousands of possible combinations, or as many glass references.

A glass manufacturer produces semi-finished glasses of which only the convex surface is prepared, and finished glasses of which the convex surface and the concave surface are prepared.

In order to be able to supply end users for the production and sale of pairs of glasses in the shortest possible time, distribution centers and laboratories have been created.

A distribution center stores as many references as possible, of finished glasses, and delivers them as quickly as possible in the form of orders, for example to another local distribution center, a laboratory, or even an optician.

A laboratory manufactures "custom" glasses, generally from semi-finished glasses, but also sometimes from finished glasses which it has in stock.

Thus, there is a major general problem of automated and individualized storage of the various glasses and of handling these products with a view in particular to the preparation of orders to be dispatched.

Semi-finished glasses are generally packaged in a cardboard box, of generally rectangular rectangle shape while finished glasses are generally packaged in a paper envelope or in a similar material, which are generally square in outline.

Whether it is a cardboard box or an envelope, we are thus in the presence, within the meaning of the invention, of a product of generally rectangular shape rectangle with a peripheral square or rectangular outline and which is delimited by two large opposite main transverse planar faces.

The automated storage and handling of such a product requires being able to store each glass individually in a support in the form of a tray or tray comprising means for identifying the glass which it contains.

Thus, the creation of a global automated storage and handling unit requires power, reliably at high speed, to deposit one by one each glass in an associated or paired tray.

The glasses, and in particular the finished glasses, are delivered to the storage units in batches each of which consists of at least one stack where row of glasses, or stack of products, which is packed in a carton.

Each stack or row contains several tens of products, for example between eighty and one hundred finished glasses, which are arranged adjacent to each other by their main flat faces.

In manual processing, after emptying a box, the operator must take or apprehend one by one each product in order to identify it and decide to store it in an adequate area provided for this purpose.

The present invention aims to allow the unloading one by one of such a batch of stacked products by ensuring its gripping and its handling in a reliable manner, in particular with a view to depositing each product thus extracted in an individualized container such as a tray or a tray.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention proposes an installation for the unloading one by one of products stacked in batches which comprises:

- a rail :

- intermediate storage of a batch of products;

- And axial guide in translation of the stacked products axially adjacent to each other inside the rail, rail whose front end is delimited by a transverse front plate of axial retention for a product of front end of the stack of products, front retaining plate which has a recess giving access to a portion of front transverse surface of the front end product;

- A controlled clamping member which is capable of applying an axial force, from back to front, on a product at the rear end of the stack of products;

- a controlled pusher which is mounted axially movable relative to the rail between:

--- a retracted front position;

--- and at least one active rear position in which it exerts an axial thrust force from front to rear, against the force applied by the clamping member, on the front end product of the stack of products for moving it to a rear rear gripping position in which this product is not in contact with the front retaining plate;

- a member for gripping and extracting products from the rail which is able to cooperate with the front end product.

According to other characteristics of the installation:

- the pusher is mounted axially movable through said recess to exert said axial thrust force on said portion of front transverse surface of the front end product

J

- at its front end, the rail has a lateral extraction window for the front end product by the gripping and extracting member, and the gripping and extracting member is mounted movable relative to the rail according to a direction orthogonal to the axial direction between:

- - a gripping position of the front end product stored in the rail;

- and an extraction position in which the apprehended product is extracted from the rail;

- The gripping and extracting member is mounted axially movable between an intermediate front position and a rear gripping position of the front end product;

- The axial displacements of the gripping and extraction member and of the pusher are controlled so as to cause a forward movement of the pusher out of its active rear position, before the gripping and extraction member reaches its gripping position;

- The pusher comprises two rear thrust pads, spaced transversely from one another and which are able to cooperate with said portion of front transverse surface of the front end product, and the gripping and extraction member is mounted axially movable between the two rear push pads of the pusher;

- The gripping and extracting member comprises at least one controlled suction cup capable of cooperating with said portion of front transverse surface of the front end product;

- the front retaining plate is in the form of a U-shaped frame whose three consecutive uprights define a rear retaining surface for a product at the front end of the stack of products;

- the front retaining plate is mounted axially adjustable at the front end of the rail between:

- an extreme forward position;

- And a rear position for loading a batch of products into the rail;

- the controlled clamping member includes a retractable clamping finger:

- Which is capable of applying an axial force, from back to front, on a product at the rear end of the stack of products;

- And which is able to apply an axial displacement force, from front to rear on the front retaining plate between its extreme front position and its rear loading position;

- the clamping member, the pusher, and the gripping and extraction member are carried by an unloading module which is mounted movable transversely relative to the rail between:

- at least one working position in which the module can be used to unload products stored in the rail;

- And a position laterally offset from said working position;

- the installation comprises several parallel and adjacent transverse storage and guide rails;

- The module is mounted movable transversely with respect to the guide rails between several working positions in each of which the module can be implemented to discharge products stored in one of said several rails.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear during the reading of the detailed description which will follow for the understanding of which reference will be made to the appended drawings in which:

- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carton containing glasses to be discharged by means of an installation according to the invention;

- Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of an envelope containing a glass;

- Figure 3 is a top view of a tray containing an envelope according to Figure 2;

- Figure 4 is a perspective view of an installation according to the invention with multiple horizontal rails;

- Figure 5 is a top view of some of the components and elements of the installation of Figure 4;

- Figure 6 is a detailed perspective view on a larger scale of part of Figure 5;

- Figure 7 is a detailed perspective view of the unloading module belonging to the installation illustrated in Figure 4;

- Figure 8 is a detail view on a large scale, in perspective and in section through a vertical and longitudinal median plane of a rail associated with the pusher and the gripping and extraction member carried by the module of Figure 7;

- Figure 9 is a detail view in perspective and on a large scale which illustrates the rear end of two adjacent rails;

- Figure 10 is a detailed perspective view of the pusher;

- Figure 11 is a detailed perspective view of a front retaining plate;

- Figure 12 is a detail view on a large scale and in section through a transverse vertical plane which illustrates the front end portion of two adjacent rails in association with the pusher and the gripping and extension member;

- Figures 13-A to 13-N and 13-P to 13-S are schematic representations of the main components of the installation to illustrate a cycle of extraction of a product from a rail;

- Figure 13-0 is a schematic perspective view illustrating the gripping and extraction member and the pusher in the position they occupy in Figure 13-N;

- Figures 14-A to 14-F are schematic representations similar to those of Figures 13 to illustrate the different stages of an initialization cycle of the installation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the following description, elements having an identical structure or analogous functions will be designated by the same references.

In the following description, there will be adopted in a nonlimiting manner longitudinal, vertical and transverse orientations indicated by the trihedron L, V, T in certain figures. A horizontal plane is also defined which extends longitudinally and transversely.

We will use the terms stack, stacking or stacking without reference to Earth's gravity. Thus, a stack of products is made up of a series or row of products aligned and arranged adjacent to each other.

Such a batch of products - stacked along a longitudinal stacking axis - can be arranged vertically with the products "placed" on top of each other, or else horizontally, or more or less inclined, with the adjacent products resting by gravity on a surface by one of their small faces or edge one of their lateral edges.

A stack can be made up of a batch of all identical products, in particular by their dimensions or else by different products in particular by their individual thickness separating their two opposite transverse main faces.

There is shown schematically in Figures 2 and 3 a product 10 consisting of an envelope 12 containing a glass (not shown) which is delimited by its two main faces substantially planar opposite 14, one of which carries a coded identification marking M, and by its four lateral edges, the envelope here being of square outline.

Each main face 14 has a central surface portion 15, one of which is provided with the marking M and which constitutes the front transverse surface portion of the front transverse face of the product 10 within the meaning of the invention.

There is also shown a tray or tray 20 in which is housed a product 10 in order to allow its storage and its automated handling.

The product 10 is placed in the tray 20 with its central surface portion 15 provided with the marking M facing upwards.

The tray 20 has a bottom wall 22 and a peripheral side wall 24.

In Figure 1, there is shown an open carton C by means of which the manufacturer delivers a series of glasses each of which is in its individual envelope, the glasses packaged or produced 10 being here by way of nonlimiting example arranged in two series or parallel and adjacent piles each containing several dozen products.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of an installation 30 for the unloading one by one of products stacked in batches such as those illustrated in particular in FIGS. 1 to

3.

The installation 30 here comprises a series of sixteen storage and guide rails 32 which are carried by a lower frame 34.

The rails 32 are here arranged horizontally parallel to each other and adjacent to each other.

Each rail 32 extends in a direction or horizontal longitudinal axis from rear to front along the axis L indicated in the figures.

In line with the front ends of the rails 32, the installation 30 includes a conveyor 36 which is carried by the frame 34 and which extends horizontally at substantially the same altitude as the rails 32 and in a transverse direction T indicated in the figures.

Of known general design, the conveyor 36 makes it possible to circulate, in a controlled manner, a flow of trays 20 at the upper face of the conveyor 36, the trays 20 resting on the latter with their open upper face oriented upwards in the vertical direction. V.

The installation 30 also includes an unloading module 40 which is illustrated in particular in FIG. 7.

The module 40 is an assembly which is mounted movable horizontally and in the transverse direction T relative to the frame 34, the rails 32 and the conveyor 36.

To this end, the module 40 includes a lower motor block 42 which, as can be seen in particular in FIG. 6, is mounted along the vertical and transverse front face of the frame 34 along which it can move according to the direction T in both directions.

The module 40 comprises a rigid structure in the form of a horizontal bracket 44 which is carried by the block 42 (by means of two vertical posts 43) and which extends generally horizontally in the longitudinal direction from front to back and in particular at above the block of rails 32.

The bracket 44 carries a longitudinal slide 46 for sliding guidance in both directions and for driving a clamping member 48 within the meaning of the invention which extends generally vertically downwards in the form of a lower finger tightening 50.

In Figures 4,7 and 9, the clamping finger 50 is shown in its normal functional position in which it extends vertically. The clamping finger 50 can also, in a controlled manner thanks to an actuator 51, be retracted horizontally by pivoting around the transverse axis A1.

The movements of the clamping member 50 along the slide 46 are for example caused by an actuating cylinder (not shown in detail) such as a pneumatic cylinder which makes it possible to vary in a controlled manner the clamping force capable to be applied by the clamping finger 50 in one or the other direction.

Near the posts 43, and substantially in line with the front ends of the rails 32, the bracket 44 also carries a member 54 for gripping and extracting products from the rails 32, as well as a controlled pusher 52.

The gripping and extracting member 54 here comprises a gripping head 56 by suction by means of suction cups 57 connected in a controlled manner to a source of vacuum.

The gripping head 56 with its suction cups 57 is able to cooperate with a portion of front transverse surface 15 of a product 10 to take it in order to move it.

The gripping and extracting member 54 comprises actuating means 55, which will not be described in detail, which allow it to carry out various movements and displacements overall in a vertical and longitudinal plane, relative to the bracket 44 .

As will be described hereinafter in more detail, these movements comprise movements carried out generally in the vertical direction V as well as other movements or displacements carried out generally in the longitudinal axial direction L.

When the module 40 is functionally aligned with a rail 32, the gripping and extracting member 54 with its gripping head 56 is located to the right of the free front end of this rail 32.

The pusher 52 is a component member which is able to move in both directions relative to the bracket 44 in the longitudinal and axial direction L.

The pusher 52 is arranged in the same zone as the gripping and extracting member 54 so that it can also act at the free end of a rail 32.

The pusher 52 is a member whose movements are caused by a controlled actuating cylinder V (not shown in detail but illustrated schematically in Figures 13 and 14) which is for example a pneumatic cylinder so as to be able to move under a actuation force determined from front to back and antagonistically to the clamping forces possibly applied by the clamping finger 50.

To this end, the clamping finger 50 and the pusher 52 are aligned substantially in the same vertical and longitudinal plane and are aligned longitudinally.

More precisely, and as can be seen in particular in detail in FIGS. 8, 10 and 12, the pusher 52 comprises two thrust pads 58 each of which extends vertically and which are spaced transversely from one another to define between them a clearance 60 for the free passage, in its various displacements and movements, of the gripping head 56 of the gripping and extraction member 54.

Each thrust shoe 58 is delimited longitudinally towards the rear by a vertical thrust face 59, the two thrust faces 59 being coplanar and extending in a vertical plane of transverse orientation.

Each rail 32 is designed to receive a more or less large batch of products such as for example a stack of products 10 coming from a carton C.

To this end, each rail 32 and delimited by two side walls 62 each of vertical and longitudinal orientation, a side wall 62 may be common to two adjacent corridors as illustrated in the figures.

Each rail 32 is also delimited by a bottom wall 64 which is here horizontal and of longitudinal orientation so as to form a storage or guiding channel or chute whose entire upper face is here open.

The transverse width separating the internal faces 63 facing the two lateral walls 62 of a rail 32 is slightly greater than the dimension separating the two vertical and opposite lateral edges of the products 10 intended to be received inside the rail 32.

The upper face 65 of the bottom wall 64 has a central slide 66 which extends over its entire length and whose function will be explained below.

At its rear longitudinal end, and as illustrated in detail in FIG. 9, each rail 32 is open longitudinally towards the rear and the rear end edge of each side wall 62 is provided with a pair of hinged doors 68 so as to constitute, for each rail 32, a pair of "saloon doors" allowing for example the introduction in the longitudinal direction from rear to front of products 10 in the rail 32 by retraction and crossing of these doors 68, but retaining the products 10 inside the rail, preventing their "exit" from front to back as illustrated in FIG. 9.

At its front end, each rail 32 is generally open axially forward.

In order to be able to retain products 10 inside the rail 32 while preventing their escape or accidental evacuation at the front end, each rail 32 is provided with a front transverse retaining plate 70 which extends inside the rail 32 in a vertical transverse plane.

As can be seen in detail in FIGS. 8, 11 and 12, each plate 70 is in the form of a peripheral frame with three uprights, two lateral verticals 72 of which are interconnected by a lower horizontal upright 74 giving the plate retainer 70 a general form of U.

The lower horizontal upright 74 is extended longitudinally rearward by an axial and horizontal tab 76 for guiding and holding which is received in longitudinal sliding in both directions in the slider 66 in such a way that, whatever its longitudinal position at inside the rail 32, the retaining plate 70 always extends in a vertical plane.

The design in the form of a U-shaped frame of the front transverse retaining plate 70 allows, by its rear transverse and vertical face or surface 71 to constitute a support and retaining surface for a product 10 adjacent to this face or surface 71.

This design provides a central recess or recess 80 through which can penetrate longitudinally and move both the pusher 52 and the gripping and extracting member 54 with its gripping head 56.

FIG. 8 shows a lower stop finger 82 in a determined axial position of the front retaining plate which is used during the initialization cycle.

Each rail 32 is equipped with such a locking finger which is normally inactive and which can be implemented by introducing it in a controlled manner into the slide 66 at the front of the front retaining plate 70.

For the remainder of the description, 10F will denote a front end product housed in a rail 32, that is to say the product 10 located furthest forward and which will be each time the next product to be discharged out of the rail 32 in order to transfer it to a tray 20.

In the same way, a rear end product housed in a rail 32 will be designated by 10B, that is to say the product 10 located furthest back and on which the finger of the tightening 50.

Thus, except when there is only one product left in a rail 32, a stack or row of products 10 contained in a rail 32 at all times includes a front end product 10F is a rear end product 10B.

The operation of the installation 30 which has just been described will now be described, in particular with reference to FIGS. 13-A to 13-S.

The main functional and operational components of the module 40 in association with a rail 32 are illustrated in figure 13-A and the following ones on which they are designated by the same references as those used in the description above.

In FIG. 13-A, the rail 32 is illustrated with four products 10 inside, of which a front end product 10F is a rear end product 10B.

There is shown under the rail 32 a longitudinal axis on which are indicated five positions PO to P4, successively from front to back.

In the initial state, the retaining plate 70 is arranged at the free front end of the rail 32 and the pusher 52 occupies a position in which it extends through the recess 80 and inside the rail 32 of such that the front end product 10F bears axially forwards against the pushing surfaces 59 of the pusher 52, while the clamping finger 50 exerts an antagonistic clamping force on the rear transverse face of the product rear end 10B to keep all of the products 10 substantially adjacent to each other and each in its vertical orientation.

The gripping and extracting member 54 is illustrated in the passive front position in which it extends generally horizontally and in which it is located entirely outside of the rail 32.

In order to come pick up or grasp the front end product 10F, and as illustrated in FIGS. 13-B and 13-C, the gripping and extracting member 54 moves longitudinally towards the rear and gradually pivots so as to reach a vertical orientation as illustrated in figure 13-D.

In this figure 13-D, in addition to its vertical orientation, the gripping head 56 with its suction cups 57 has started to penetrate axially, through the recess 80 of the front retaining plate 70, inside the rail 32 while also moving axially relative to the pusher 52 (inside the clearance 60 between the thrust pads 58).

To be able to reach the gripping position of the front end product 10F, in which it is possible to control the suction cups 57 to grip the front end product 10F, that is to say the position illustrated in FIG. 13- E, the gripping and extracting member 54 with its gripping head 56 continues its axial longitudinal travel from front to back inside the pusher 52 and through the recess 80 of the front retaining plate 70.

Simultaneously, the jack V controls a longitudinal stroke from back to front of the pusher 52 so that the latter is no longer in contact by its thrust pads 59 with the portion of front transverse surface 15 of the front end product 10F.

Thus, in this position, the front end product is not in contact with the thrust surfaces 59 of the thrust pads 58, nor with the rear transverse face 71 of the front retaining plate 70.

As can be seen in FIG. 13-F, the longitudinal movement towards the front of the pusher 52 continues in order to release it entirely out of the rail 32 and out of the recess 80 of the front retaining plate 70 in order to clear the corresponding area to facilitate future movements of the gripping head 56 which carries the front end product 10F.

The extreme retracted front position of the pusher 52 is illustrated in FIG. 1 3-G.

In this same figure, the beginning of the movement for extracting the front end product 10F from the rail 32 has been illustrated.

This extraction is in particular made possible by the fact that the whole of the upper face of the rail 32 is here open by constituting a window for extracting upwards each front end product 10F from the rail 32.

The first part of the visible extraction stroke by comparing Figures 13-F and 13-G consists essentially of a displacement or movement in the transverse plane and in the vertical direction, from bottom to top.

As can be seen in Figures 13-H to 13-1, the first part of the vertical stroke is continued by a pivoting stroke counterclockwise around a transverse axis.

Between these two figures, as the gripping and extraction member 54 and the front end product 10F which it carries have been released towards the front and upwards, it is possible by means of the jack V to bring back the pusher 52 longitudinally rearward and inside the front end portion of the rail 32 to its "initial" position which it occupied in the initial state illustrated in FIG. 13-A.

The succession of FIGS. 13-J to 13-Q illustrates the sequence of movements and displacements that the gripping and extracting member 54 performs first by pivoting in the clockwise direction, then by vertical displacement from top to bottom for deposit the front end product 10F in a tray 20.

During this "final" stroke of the gripping and extracting member 54, and here by way of example from the state illustrated in FIG. 13-M, the clamping finger 50 is actuated to cause its longitudinal displacement from rear to front to act on the rear end product 10B in order to push it longitudinally forward with the other products 10 housed axially in front of it until reaching the position and the state illustrated in figure 13-N in which the pile or series - here of three - products 10 contained in the rail 32 is again in the state similar to that illustrated in figure 13-A in which a new end product front 10F is axially forwardly bearing against the thrust surfaces 59 of the thrust pads 58 of the plunger 52.

Thus, at the end of a gripping and extraction cycle lasting approximately three seconds, all of the components are in the position and state illustrated in FIG. 13-S to start a next cycle of extraction of the “new” front end product 1 0F.

When a rail 32 has been emptied by unloading the products it contained, the module 40 can be moved laterally to another working position in accordance with another rail previously filled with a stack of products to be unloaded.

We will now describe an initialization cycle corresponding to the filling of a rail 32 with a stack of products 10 to be extracted, with reference to FIGS. 14-A and following.

As we can see it in the figure 14-A, the filling of a rail 32 with a batch in stack of products 10 is carried out by having previously positioned the front retaining plate 70 in a retracted rearward position which is determined by the stop finger 82 which has been previously actuated for this purpose.

Thus, a maximum axial loading or filling length is determined which is less than the total length of the rail 32.

Thus, if the operator compresses the products 10 axially too strongly, this will have no consequences on the implementation of the unloading module because, as illustrated next in FIG. 14-B, the stop finger 82 is disengaged by releasing thus the front retaining plate 70 which, as illustrated in FIG. 14-C then moves forwards to its maximum front position, with the stack of products 10 under the action of the clamping finger 50.

As shown in Figure 14-D, the pressure exerted by the control cylinder on the clamping finger 50 is then released.

The following stage illustrated in figure 14-E consists in actuating the pusher 52 from its inactive retracted front position, towards the rear to make it penetrate through the front retaining plate 70 inside the rail 32 to exert a pressure back and forth on the stack of products 10 and cause a slight determined stroke of the front end product 10-F towards the rear, the clamping member 50 moving in the same direction so as not to increase the compression axial of products 10.

As illustrated in Figure 14-F, the pusher 52 and the clamping finger 50 are finally returned to their initial position forward corresponding to the state of the components at the start of the extraction cycle as illustrated in the figure 13-A.

Claims (13)

1. Installation (30) for the unloading one by one of products (10, 10F, 10B) stacked in batches which comprises: - a rail (32): - intermediate storage of a batch of products (10, 10F, 10B); - And axial guidance in translation of the stacked products axially adjacent to each other inside the rail (32), rail (32) whose front end is delimited by a front transverse plate (70) for axial retention a front end product (10F) of the product stack, front retaining plate (70) which has a recess (80) giving access to a portion of front transverse surface (15) of the front end product (10F) ; - a controlled clamping member (48, 50) which is capable of applying an axial force, from rear to front, on a rear end product (10B) of the product stack (10, 10F, 10B) ; a controlled pusher (52) which is mounted to move axially relative to the rail (32) between: --- a retracted front position; --- and at least one active rear position in which it exerts an axial thrust force from front to rear, against the force applied by the clamping member (48, 50), on the product d 'front end (10F) of the stack of products (10, 10F, 10B) to move it to a rear rear gripping position in which this product is not in contact with the front retaining plate (70); - A member (54) for gripping and extracting products from the rail which is able to cooperate with the front end product (1 0F). 2. Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that the pusher (52) is mounted axially movable through said recess (80) to exert said axial thrust force on said portion of front transverse surface (15) of the end product before (10F). 3. Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that: - At its front end, the rail (32) comprises a window for lateral extraction of the product from the front end by the member (54) for gripping and extraction; - and the gripping and extracting member (54) is mounted movable relative to the rail (32) in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction between: - - a position for gripping the front end product (10F) stored in the rail (32); - And an extraction position in which the apprehended product is extracted from the rail (32). 4. Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that the gripping and extracting member is mounted axially movable between an intermediate front position and a rear gripping position of the front end product (10F). 5. Installation according to claims 3 and 4, characterized in that the axial displacements of the member (54) for gripping and extraction and the pusher (52) are controlled so as to cause a forward movement of the pusher (52) out of its active rear position, before the gripping and extracting member (54) reaches its gripping position. 6. Installation according to claims 2 and 4, characterized in that: - The pusher (52) comprises two rear thrust pads (58), spaced transversely from one another and which are able to cooperate with said portion of front transverse surface (15) of the front end product (10F) ; and - The gripping and extracting member (54) is mounted to move axially between the two rear pads (58) for pushing the plunger (52). 7. Installation according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the member (54) for gripping and extraction comprises at least one controlled suction cup (57) capable of cooperating with said portion of front transverse surface (15) of the front end product (10F). 8. Installation according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the front retaining plate (70) is in the form of a U-shaped frame whose three consecutive uprights (72, 74, 72) define a rear surface ( 71) for retaining a product at the front end (10F) of the product stack. 9. Installation according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the front retaining plate (70) is mounted in an axially adjustable manner at the front end of the rail (32) between: - an extreme forward position; - And a rear position for loading a batch of products into the rail (32). 10. Installation according to claim 9, characterized in that the controlled clamping member comprises a retractable clamping finger (50): - Which is able to apply an axial force, from back to front, on a rear end product (10B) of the product stack; - And which is capable of applying an axial displacement force, from front to rear on the front retaining plate (70) between its extreme front position and its rear loading position. 11. Installation according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the clamping member (48, 50), the pusher (52), and the member (54) for gripping and extracting are carried by a unloading module (40) which is mounted movable transversely relative to the rail (32) between: - At least one working position in which the module (40) can be used to unload products stored in the rail (32); - And a position laterally offset from said 5 working position. 12. Installation according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises several rails (32) for storage and guide parallel and adjacent transversely. io 13. Installation according to claims 11 and 12, characterized in that the module (40) is mounted movable transversely relative to the guide rails between several working positions in each of which the module (40) can be used to discharge products stored in one of said several rails (32).