Apparatus for and method of transporting and stacking groups of flat articles and moving the group stacks to another location

Abstract

A plurality of flat substantially similar articles such as meat patties which have been formed from an elongated cylindrical meat log of sausage or hamburger are deposited onto one or more parallel conveyors and then advanced in a co-planer and end to end relationship through a series of lift stations where predetermined numbers of paddies are divided into individual groups and each group of paddies is moved onto a carrier member and advanced one at a time by a shuttle to a stacking station. There each group is deposited onto each preceding group until a predetermined number of groups has been vertically stacked after which the entire stack is moved to a conveyor for further processing. The lifting stations prevent the articles from being pressed together or shingling one on top the other thereby avoiding article damage during processing, and servo motors enhance the speed and efficiency of the operation.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . Apparatus for collecting meat paddies, assembling meat paddies into groups and moving the assembled groups to be packaged comprising: one or more individually controlled conveyors having continuous single paddy receiving receptacles to collect similarly sized meat paddies in the paddy receiving receptacles received from a paddy source; a third lift station extending across the one or more conveyors; sensor means in the one or more conveyors positioned to detect the absence of a paddy at one or more paddy receiving receptacles; third lift station control means responsive to the sensor means to detect the absence of a paddy in the paddy receiving receptacles and activate and lower the third lift station; a second lift station adjacent the sensor and extending across the one or more conveyors; a first lift station adjacent the second lift station and extending across the one or more conveyors; a paddy stop/release station adjacent the first lift station having a rotatable paddle wheel extending across the one or more conveyors, the paddle wheel becoming a paddy stop when in the down position and rotatable thereafter to permit paddy flow and become positioned as a paddy stop for the trailing paddies; second and first lift station and paddy/stop release station control means operable to raise and lower the second and first lift station to control paddy flow and form a group of paddies having a selected number of paddies, interrupt paddy flow when the moving paddy group engages the paddle wheel paddy stop and rotate the paddle wheel 360 degrees to restore paddy flow and reposition the paddle wheel in front of the trailing paddy group; an elevator assembly; and a shuttle movable from the paddy stop to the elevator assembly and back, the shuttle cooperatively receiving the paddy group from the paddy stop and depositing the paddy group at the elevator assembly.  
     
     
         2 . The apparatus as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the elevator assembly has one or more elevators receiving the paddy group from the shuttle, lowering the paddy group in incremental distances equal to the thickness of a paddy group as subsequent paddy groups are received from the shuttle until a chosen number of paddy groups form a stack, and moving the stack of groups to an outfeed conveyor for packaging.  
     
     
         3 . Apparatus for collecting meat paddies, forming meat paddies into groups and moving the formed groups to be packaged comprising: one or more individually controlled conveyors having single paddy receiving receptacles to collect similarly sized meat paddies from a paddy source; sensor means in the one or more conveyors positioned to detect the absence of paddies in the single paddy receiving receptacles; one or more lift stations extending across the one or more conveyors; a paddy stop/release station adjacent the one or more lift stations having a rotatable paddle wheel extending across the one or more conveyers, the paddle wheel becoming a paddy stop when in the down position and rotatable thereafter to permit paddy movement and become positioned as a paddy stop for subsequent paddy groups; one or more lift station and paddy stop/release station control means responsive to the sensor means to detect the absence of paddies in the paddy receiving receptacles and cause the one or more lift stations to lower, the sensor means operable to raise and lower the one or more lift stations to control paddy flow and form a group having a selected number of paddies, interrupt paddy flow when the moving paddy group engages the paddle wheel paddy stop, and rotate the paddle wheel 360 degrees to restore paddy flow and reposition the paddle wheel in front of the trailing paddy group; an elevator assembly; and a shuttle movable from the paddy stop to the elevator assembly and back, the shuttle cooperatively receiving the paddy group from the paddy stop and depositing the paddy group at the elevator assembly.  
     
     
         4 . The apparatus as claimed in  claim 3  wherein the elevator assembly has one or more elevators receiving the paddy group from the shuttle, lowering the paddy group in incremental distances equal to the thickness of the paddy group as subsequent paddy groups are received from the shuttle until a chosen number of groups form a stack, and moving the stack of groups to an outfeed conveyor for subsequent packaging.  
     
     
         5 . The apparatus as claimed in  claim 1  further comprising: a paper source; cutting means forming paper sheets and advancing the formed sheets one by one to the shuttle and under the paddy group moving onto the shuttle.  
     
     
         6 . The apparatus as claimed in  claim 2  further comprising: a paper source; cutting means forming paper sheets and advancing the formed sheets one by one to the shuttle and under the paddy group moving on to the shuttle.  
     
     
         7 . The apparatus as claimed in  claim 5  wherein the third lift is activated and lowered when an absence of a paddy is detected by the sensor means to assure rapid flow of paddies from the paddy source to fill the vacant receptacles.  
     
     
         8 . The apparatus as claimed in  claim 7  wherein a gap is created between the group released by the paddle wheel paddy stop and the group held by the first lift station before it is lowered which receives the rotated paddle wheel paddy stop in the down position.  
     
     
         9 . A method of collecting meat paddies, assembling meat paddies into groups and moving the assembled groups to be packaged comprising the steps of: advancing at least two columns of similarly sized meat paddies in an end to end relationship along a continuous path of travel from a paddy source; detecting missing paddies separately in the at least two columns and providing new paddies for those paddies detected missing; adjusting the movement, compaction and arrangement of the moving paddies to form paddy groups each having a preselected number of paddies; transporting the paddy groups group by group to a group stacking location; forming a stack of paddy groups group by group; moving the formed group stack from the group stacking location to another location for further processing.  
     
     
         10 . The process as claimed in  claim 9  wherein the paddies are advanced on at least two conveyors, the missing paddies are detected by separately operated sensors in the at least two computers, the missing paddies are replaced with the assistance of a lifting station, the groups are formed by adjusting the movement, compaction and arrangement of the moving paddies on one or more lifting stages, the formed groups are advanced group by group by the operation of a stop/release mechanism, and the stack forming means is an elevator assembly.