GB2442143A

GB2442143A - Stacking pallets

Info

Publication number: GB2442143A
Application number: GB0718578A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stephen Robert James Davison
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-09-22
Filing date: 2007-09-24
Publication date: 2008-03-26
Anticipated expiration: 2027-09-24
Also published as: GB2442143B; GB0718578D0; GB0618746D0

Abstract

A pallet (10) comprises a rectangular load-supporting frame with two spaced upright supports (14, 16) along two opposed lateral sides. The two supports (14) on one side converge and the two supports (16) on the other side diverge. A plurality of pallets (10) can be stacked in a column, when unloaded, nesting one on top of the other, and when loaded, are alternately rotated through 180 angular degrees with the bottoms of the superjacent supports (14, 16) mating with the tops of subjacent supports (16, 14), there being co-operating catch means between said bottoms and tops.

Description

C

HANDLING APPARATUS FOR STACKS OF LIKE ARTICLES

This invention relates to an apparatus for handling stacks of like articles primarily, but not exclusively, filled trays of, for example, eggs. The handling of eggs after they have been filled into a tray is presently a manual operation in loading into stacks filled trays at, for example a poultry farm, onto a wheeled transporter, for example a multi-tiered open framework on castors on each tier of which filled trays can be stacked six high, a plurality of which filled transporters are then loaded onto a vehicle and conveyed to a packing station whereat the transporters are manually unloaded and the trays are manually unloaded from a respective transporter. Also, such transporters usually cannot be nested when delivered to a farm empty. In this day and age when the involvement of manual labour is expensive and there is constant pressure by market forces to reduce costs of processing eggs from the time of laying to the point of sale, these manual operations are disadvantageous and require to be mechanised. Also, the transporting of empty transporters to a farm for loading with filled trays is a disadvantage since the majority of space occupied by the transporters is empty space and therefore expensive.

Recent improvements in this field of technology includes de-palletizing apparatus to automatically unload eggs in plastic trays which have been stacked on plastic pallets up to thirty trays high. A disadvantage of this apparatus is that this apparatus cannot handle paper trays due to the weakness of the material.

An object of the present invention is to obviate or mitigate these disadvantages since there is a need in the egg-packing industry for an apparatus which can allow return loading whilst avoiding egg and tray damage and which can also be easily automatically loaded and unloaded.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a handling apparatus includes a pallet comprising a rectangular load-supporting member along each of two opposed lateral sides two spaced upright supports are fast with the member, the two supports on one side being convergingly displayed and the two supports on the other side being divergently displayed.

Preferably, the load-supporting member is an open framework having a rectangular frame with thereacross a series of spaced parallel tray support elements braced underneath by cross-pieces.

Preferably also, the tray support elements are of angular form.

Preferably also, a plurality of pallets are provided to be stacked in column, when unloaded, nesting one on top of the other, and when loaded, to be alternately rotated through 180 angular degrees whereby the bottoms of the superjacent supports mate with the tops of subjacent supports, there being co-operating catch means between said bottoms and tops.

Preferably further, the catch means comprises upstanding pins on the tops of the supports and co-operating holes provided in the bottoms of the supports.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an empty pallet of a handling apparatus according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a column of nested empty pallets; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the handling apparatus showing a column of pallets stacked with filled trays, the lower pallet being fully stacked and the upper pailets being only partially stacked; Fig. 4 is an end view of a pallet stacked with filled trays; Fig. 5 is an end view of a pallet as shown in Fig. 4 with conveyor means moved to be positioned under the pallet and the trays lifted to an unload position; and s Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of the pallet as shown in Fig. 5 with the conveyor means feeding onto a conveyor of other apparatus for further processing.

Referring to the drawings, a handling apparatus includes a pallet 10 comprising a rectangular load-supporting member 12 along each of two opposed lateral sides of which two spaced upright supports are fast with the member. The two supports 14 on one side are convergingly displayed and the two supports 16 on the other side are divergently displayed. The load-supporting member 12 is an open framework. The framework has a rectangular frame 20 with thereacross a series of six spaced parallel tray support elements 22 braced underneath by two cross-pieces 24.

A plurality of pallets 10 are provided to be stacked in column, when unloaded, nesting one on top of the other as shown in Fig. 2, and when loaded, to be alternately rotated through 180 angular degrees as shown in Fig. 3 whereby the bottoms of the superjacent supports mate with the tops of subjacent supports, there being co-operating catch means between said bottoms and tops. The catch means comprises upstanding pins 18 on the tops of the supports 14, 16 and co-operating holes 28 provided in the bottoms of the supports 14, 16.

Conveyor means includes three parallel sets of three aligned slat conveyor belts 30 configured and adapted to extend up between spaces in the open framework of the lowest pallet to engage the bottom of the stacks of like articles thereon and move them thereof onto a conveyor 26 for further processing.

Power means are provided to power the belts 30 of the conveyor means as required.

In use, a column of several alternatively arranged pallets (four shown in Fig. 3) with the catch means engaged and with three rows of stacks 32 of filled egg trays thereon are positioned adjacent to the conveyor 26 and separated using a lifting apparatus as each pallet is emptied.

The conveyor belts 30 are introduced to ocate under each pallet in turn as described above, the conveyor belts 30 are raised proud of the top surface of the lowermost pallet, the movement lifting the stacks off the top surface ready to be moved off the patlet and onto the conveyor 26 for further processing. The belts 30 are activated and a first row of stacks are moved onto the conveyor 26. The process is repeated for each rows of stacks on the pallet 10 and when one pallet 10 is cleared, the conveyor means is moved to the second and then subsequent pallets. After all the pallets 10 are emptied, they are nested using lifting apparatus and a forklift truck is used to remove the nested pallets from their position for further use. The same forklift truck is used to position a new column of filled pallets.

Catch means other than that described above may be used.

The sequence of movements of the handling apparatus can be reversed so that empty pallets can be filled with stacks of filled egg trays.

Variations and other modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention described above and as claimed hereinafter

Claims

CLAIMS.

1. A handling apparatus including a pallet comprising a rectangular load-supporting member along each of two opposed lateral sides two spaced upright supports are fast with the member, the two supports on one side being convergingly displayed and the two supports on the other side being divergently displayed.

2. A handling apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the load-supporting member is an open framework having a rectangular frame with thereacross a series of spaced parallel tray support elements braced underneath by cross-pieces.

3. A handling apparatus as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the tray support elements are of angular form.

4. A handling apparatus as claimed in Claim 3, wherein a plurality of pallets are provided to be stacked in column, when unloaded, nesting one on top of the other, and when loaded, to be alternately rotated through 180 angular degrees whereby the bottoms of the superjacent supports mate with the tops of subjacent supports, there being co-operating catch means between said bottoms and tops.

5. A handling apparatus as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the catch means comprises upstanding pins on the tops of the supports and co-operating holes provided in the bottoms of the supports.

6. A hand'ing apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.