GB1444634A - Apparatus for unloading and/or loading pallets - Google Patents

Abstract

1444634 Loading, and unloading, pallets H SCHAEFER 20 Sept 1973 [21 Sept 1972] 44222/73 Heading B8C A conveying apparatus comprises a loading and/or an unloading station, a pallet at the loading and/or unloading station and a group of containers for loading onto and/or unloading from said pallet, the group comprising a plurality of upright containers of identical diameter and situated in parallel rows staggered with respect to one another by half the container diameter, every second row of containers having one container fewer than the other rows, and a pushing member having a length such as to engage all the containers in one of said other rows and mounted to reciprocate in the direction of container movement to, or from, the pallet by a distance at least equal to the dimensions of the pallet in said direction. A pallet 5, Fig. 4, carrying three rows of containers 2, 3, 4 is transferred, in the direction of the arrow, until the leading row 4 is transferred up to the longer arm 10 of a transfer pusher 8 which is then successively reciprocated in the directions of the arrows, Fig. 5, so that the shorter arm 9 of the pusher 8 engages the rear container of each row 4, 3, 2 in turn and transfers the rows, one after another, onto a non-driven transporting device as the pallet correspondingly advances in steps to the right. In a modification, Figs. 7-9 not shown, the pallet is transported to the unloading station on a transverselymovable carriage (21) which has a side board (22) which can pass, when empty, beneath a transverse wall (23) at the loading station, a transfer pusher (8) being employed. As shown in Figs. 10-12, a pusher 11 at the loading station 18 first pushes the two endmost containers of rows 2 and 4 onto the transporting device 19, a retractible stop 27 being raised to block the centre row 3 of two cans, the stop 27 then being lowered as the remaining cans are transferred successively, three at a time, onto the transporting device 19. In a further modification, Figs. 13-15 not shown, a first pusher (11) transfers a pallet (5) with rows of containers (2, 3, 4) up to a guide wall (31) at the loading station, a stop (30) blocking the middle row (3), and a second pusher (11a), movable in a direction transversely to the pusher (11), moves the containers successively, in rows of 2, 3, and 3 onto the transporting device. A pallet may be loaded at a loading station with a wall (35) by a reciprocable pusher (11), Figs. 17, 19 not shown. Alternatively, a pusher 14 with arcuate recesses 15, 16, Fig. 3, may transfer rows of two, three, and three containers onto the pallet, Figs. 20a, 22a, not shown. A pallet 5 may be loaded transversely of the loading device 19, transport pushers 40, 40, Fig. 23, having one, or more, pivoted catches 41, (41a), Fig. 23a not shown, which separate the respective rows of containers and transfer them onto the pallet 5 where a pushing member 11 correctly positions the rows 2, 3, 4 on the pallet. A pusher (14), Fig. 24 not shown, shaped as shown in Fig. 3, may be employed.