GB1340044A - Stacking of sheets - Google Patents

Abstract

1340044 Delivering sheets PILKINGTON BROS Ltd J B HODGKINSON and R J MOREY 19 April 1971 [25 Feb 1970] 9188/70 Heading B8R Glass sheets 40, Figs. 1 and 2, are delivered in succession on a roller conveyer, comprising rollers 2 to overlie a transfer device 3, the rollers being stopped under control of a switch LS1 when a sheet is in position. The device 3 comprises three square frames 4 mounted on a shaft 5 carrying a disc 11, Figs. 1 and 3, having recesses 12, each frame supporting on each face rollers 8 and a stop 9. The switch LS1 causes hydraulic ram 14 to move a locking member 13 out of a recess 12 and thus actuate a switch LS2 to energize a motor 10 to rotate the shaft. As the frames 4 rotate, clockwise in Fig. 2, the rollers 8 on the upper face carry the sheet off the rollers 2, and it falls against the stop 9, the rollers 8 being prevented from counter-clockwise rotation. As the sheet reaches a vertical position, its now top end is carried by inertia and its lower end by the rotation of rollers 15 or a pair of cordless belts against a slightly rearwardly inclined substantially vertical rest 29 of a pallet 27, the sheet then resting on base portions 28 of the pallet. The movement of the frames 4 is stopped by the member 13 engaging the next recess 12, the movement also being damped by a brake 11A. The pallet is carried on a trolley 22 which is moved by a hydraulic drive 30 to the right in Fig. 2 by a distance equal to the thickness of a sheet as each sheet is stacked on the pallet, and by a greater distance after completion of a stack. The operation is repeated as each sheet actuates the switch LS1. Either the top or bottom end of the sheet may be moved first or both together against the rest 29 by adjusting the speed of the wheels 15. The frames 4 may be triangular instead of square. The rollers 8 may be omitted so that the sheet slides on the frame face, means being provided to produce an air cushion between the sheet and the frame face. The rollers 2 may extend further to the right than is shown in Fig. 2, in which case the extension is inclinable downwardly when the transfer device is rotated. In another form, Fig. 6, the shaft 5 is perpendicular to the sheet path along the rollers 2, so that the frame face forms an extension of the roller conveyer. The sheets are stacked against one of a series of uprights 46 carried on cross-members 42 on an endless chain conveyer 41 which replaces the pallet 27 and is similarly indexed. The uprights 46 are folded on the lower run by a guide 48 and reextended by springs 49. Several sheets may be delivered side by side to a plurality of transfer devices, and there may be three such devices in each sheet path, to allow continuous operation and accommodate rejected sheets.