The invention concerns an apparatus of the type defined in the introductory portion of claim 1.

In the industry, systems for stacking boxes or for de- stacking boxes for further transport are known. However, these known systems require an apparatus for each of the mentioned functions.

The object of the present invention is to provide an appa¬ ratus which is capable of performing both of these func¬ tions.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that the apparatus stated in the opening paragraph is charac¬ terized by the features defined in the characterizing por¬ tion of claim 1.

The apparatus defined there can be reversed merely be re¬ versing the direction of rotation of the motor so that the apparatus is either used for destacking boxes or for stacking boxes. The apparatus may moreover be used as an elevator conveyor.

Destacking can take place automatically e.g. from a trolley or a Euro-pallet to a conveyor belt or from a roller table to a conveyor belt.

Stacking of boxes can take place automatically by revers¬ ing the direction of rotation of the apparatus. Stacking takes place in that the apparatus automatically loads boxes via a feed table and stacks the boxes on a trolley, etc.

The apparatus may be built in several heights so that it both serves as a "box buffer" in intermittent operation and as an elevator conveyor.

The invention will be described more fully below with re¬ ference to the drawing, in which

fig. 1 is a side-view of the apparatus of the invention mounted between two conveyor belts,

fig. 2 shows the same as fig. 1 in top view,

fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the apparatus of the inven¬ tion, seen from the end shown by an arrow A in fig. 2,

fig. 4 shows the right side of the apparatus in fig. 3, seen from within,

fig. 5 shows the top left corner of the side frame for the side shown in fig. 4, with guide groove and guide means engaged with the guide groove, and

fig. 6 shows part of one of the two toothed belts con¬ tained in the apparatus and having an eye for attachment of a carrier means,

fig. 7 shows a second embodiment of the apparatus of the invention, seen from the same end as the apparatus in fig. 3,

fig. 8 is a side view of the apparatus in fig. 7,

fig. 9 shows a section of a side frame of the apparatus in figs. 7 and 8,

fig. 10 shows a horizontal cross-section through the side frame of the apparatus in fig. 9,

fig. 11 shows a detail of the cross-section in fig. 10 in another position of a cam disc and with parts omitted,

fig. 12 is a perspective view of part of a profile rail with an angle member slidable thereon to retain a cam disc, etc. according to the second embodiment,

fig. 13 shows a horizontal cross-section through a verti¬ cal part of a side frame according to the second embodi¬ ment,

fig. 14 shows a vertical section through a corner of a side frame according to the second embodiment, and

fig. 15 shows the same corner as fig. 14, but, for cla¬ rity, just shows the slide blocks and eyes on the driving toothed belt.

Figs. 1 and 2 show an apparatus 1 according to the inven¬ tion mounted between the end of a conveyor belt 2, from which boxes 3 can be lifted by means of the apparatus 1 to another conveyor belt 4 optionally disposed at a higher level, which receives the boxes 3 and conveys them further on to one or the other side.

The apparatus of the invention is shown in greater detail in figs. 3 and 4. The apparatus 1 is constructed as a frame consisting of two side frames 5 and 6 which are ver¬ tical in the position of use, and which are clamped to¬ gether by rods 7 downwardly and rods 8 upwardly so that the side frames 5 and 6 are parallel.

Each side frame 5 and 6 has a guide groove 9 and 10, re¬ spectively, facing inwardly toward the apparatus, as appears from the section at the bottom of fig. 3. The guide groove 10 in the side frame 6 is also shown in fig. 4.

The corners of each side frame 5, 6 accommodate rotatably journalled cylindrical gear wheels 11, which are encircled by a closed toothed belt 12. The toothed belt 12 is pre- ferably moulded so as to be closed without joints. Eyes 13, only one of which is shown in fig. 4, are integrally moulded with the toothed belt 12 at regular intervals. In fig. 6, such an eye 13 is shown on a section of the toothed belt 12 on a larger scale, thereby making it vis- ible how the eye 13 is integrally moulded with the toothed belt 12.

A motor 14, firmly mounted in the apparatus, drives a shaft 16 via a gear wheel 15, said shaft being journalled upwardly in the apparatus 1 between its side frames 5 and 6. A cylindrical gear wheel 17 is secured within the side frame 5 or 6 in question at each end of the shaft; by means of another toothed belt 18 the gear wheel 17 drives a cylindrical gear wheel 19 which is secured on the same shaft as one of the cylindrical gear wheels 11 which are encircled by the toothed belt 12. In this manner the motor 14 drives the toothed belts 12 in both side frames 5 and 6 with the same direction of rotation and with the same peripheral speed, i.e. synchronously.

The mentioned eyes 13 on the toothed belts 12 form bear¬ ings for shafts 20 for carrier means 21 having support means 22 which are adapted to engage a projection 23 on the side of a box 3 during their movement toward the underside of the box 3. The support means 22 are urged to engage the box 3 and thus to engage the projection 23 of

the box because of the force from a compression spring 24.

A sensor means 25 in the form of a roller registers whether a second box 3 is stacked on top of the box against which a support means 22 is being pressed. In case of such a stacked box, the roller 25 keeps the support means 22 spaced from the box 3 such that the support means 22 is kept clear of the projection 23 of the box 3. The carrier means 21 in question thus passes the box 3 in a stack of boxes, and its support means 22 first engages the uppermost box in the stack. Then the subsequent carrier means lifts the next-to-the-uppermost box, which has be¬ come the uppermost box in the meantime.

It is important that during their motion by means of the toothed belts 12 the carrier means 21 are disposed oppo¬ sitely each other in the two side frames 5 and 6. This is achieved by adjusting them in this position from the be¬ ginning, since the synchronous operation of the toothed belts 12 entail that this adjustment is maintained.

It is moreover important that the carrier means 21 main¬ tain the same orientation as shown in the drawing during their movement along the guide grooves 10 in the side frames 5 and 6. To achieve this, the shaft 20 of each carrier means 21 is passed rotatably through a circular opening 26 in the eye 13 and provided, on the end opposite to the carrier means 21, with a guide means 27 which is secured to the shaft 20 and which is so engaged with the guide groove 10 that it cannot rotate with respect to said groove, but can just move purely translatorily during the movement in the guide groove 10.

In the concrete embodiment, the guide means 27 consists of a square plate 28 with a rotatable roller 29, 30, 31, 32 journalled on a stop axle in each corner. When the guide

means 27 is moved in the guide groove 10, the rollers 29, 32 engage the edges of the guide groove 10 as long as the guide means move along rectilinear sections. At the cor¬ ners, on the other hand, two diametrically opposed rollers disengage the edges of the guide groove 10.

When passing e.g. the top left corner in fig. 4, the rollers 29, 31 disengage the edges of the guide groove 10. To ensure a stable smooth movement of the guide means 27 when passing these corners, some crescent-shaped or circu¬ lar segment-shaped elevations 33 and 34, 35 are provided in the bottom of the guide groove 10, as shown in fig. 5. These elevations entail that at least three of the four rollers 27-31 constantly touch the edges of the guide groove during passage of the corner. To additionally sta¬ bilize the passage of the corners, the plate 28 has a guide pin 36 in the center, and the elevations 34 and 35 have respective tracks 37 and 38, and the elevation 33 has a lower corner 39, so that the guide pin 36 follows the path shown in fig. 5 through the track 38, past the lower corner 39 and through the track 37.

For clarity, the elevations 33, 34 and 35, etc. are just shown at one of the corners, but are provided at all cor- ners of course.

For clarity, just few of the carrier means 21 are shown on the drawing.

The apparatus 1 can now operate both as a stacker of boxes 3 or as a destacker of boxes 3, which are then carried futher on on a conveyor belt. This selection is quite simply decided by the direction of rotation of the motor 14. If, as shown in fig. 3, the carrier means 21 move up- wardly toward a stack of boxes 3, i.e. with the sensor means foremost, they bring along the uppermost box in the

stack and deliver it on the opposite side of the apparatus on a base, e.g. a conveyor belt, whereby the carrier means clear the box and continue their movement along the guide groove 10.

If, on the other hand, as shown in figs. 1 and 2, the boxes 3 are fed into the apparatus 1 at the conveyor belt 2, in suitable synchronism with the upward passage of the carrier means 21, the boxes are gripped by the carrier means 21 and moved to the other side of the apparatus 1 to be discharged there to the higher conveyor belt 4 as shown in figs. 1 and 2, or to be optionally stacked on top of each other on a not shown trolley on the floor.

The cylindrical gear wheels mentioned in the description can of course also be helical gear wheels if the toothed belts have a corresponding toothed shape. Also other equi¬ valent drive means may be used, e.g. gear wheels and chains, it being just necessary to ensure the synchronous movement of the carrier means 21.

It will also be possible that just the guide groove at one side frame is so engaged with the guide means of the carrier means for all the carrier means to maintain the same orientation. This just necessitates that there is a (not shown) physical connection, optionally a rod connec¬ tion, between the pairs of mutually oppositely positioned carrier means on the two side frames.

As mentioned, the toothed belts may be produced as a closed loop, i.e. without ends to be assembled. Further¬ more, the eyes 13 may be moulded integrally on these toothed belts. These features add considerably to the ten¬ sile strength and wear resistance of the toothed belts.

It has been stated that gear wheels 11 are provided in each of the corners of the side frames 5, 6. However, it is sufficient that just one gear wheel is provided in each side frame to pull the corresponding toothed belt. The other gear wheels may then be replaced by guide rollers for the toothed belt 12.

The second embodiment shown in figs. 7-15 will now be described in greater detail; the parts corresponding to parts in figs. 1-6 have the same reference numerals and will not be described in greater detail. Figs. 7, 8 and in particular fig. 9 show a second embodiment of two support means 40, the lower one shown in solid line in a vertical position in which it is kept by a spring 41, and the upper one shown in dotted line in a horizontal position which it is caused to assume against the force of the spring 41.

The support means 40 is thus pivotably journalled about a shaft 42, which is secured between two flat bars 43 on a rod 44 secured to a shaft 45 (fig. 10) which is journalled in an eye 13 on the toothed belt 12.

The mounting of the shaft 45 itself through an opening in a side frame 5 is shown most clearly in fig. 13.

On each side of the eye 13 of the toothed belt 12 the shaft 45 has a slide block 46 which slides in a track 47 in the side frame 5 during the movement round the frame.

The two slide blocks 47 are bolted together and journalled on the shaft 45 and thereby serve to impart additional stability to the movement of the support means 40 in the frame. Thus, the slide blocks 47 absorb a deflecting mo¬ ment in the shaft 45 and carry the weight of the support means 40 in the horizontal parts of the frame.

A vertical profile rail 48 is provided at each side of the apparatus opposite each of the side frams 5 and 6, said profile rail having a motion mechanism for an activation means 49, which can be moved up or down in synchronism with the activation means 49 in the other side frame. The motion mechanism consists of a motor 50 (fig. 8) which, via a shaft 51, drives a drive wheel 52 on which a toothed belt 53 is laid, said toothed belt 53 being run around a return pulley 54 at the other, top end of the profile rail 48.

An angle profile 55 is secured on the toothed belt 53 by means of bolts 56 which are passed through a vertical slot in the profile rail. Other bolts 57 through another slot serve guide purposes.

The actual activation means 49 consists of a part 58 which is bolted on the angle profile 55 and carries an inductive sensor 59, and by a cam disc 61 thereon, said cam disc 61 being moveable against the force from a spring 60 and capable of engaging a roller 62 rotatable on a support means 40.

The movement of the cam disc 61 on the part 58 is con- trolled by a pin 63 on the part 58 in engagement with a sleeve 64 on the cam disc 61 and by a screw 65 inserted into the part 58 and extending through an oblong slot in the cam disc 61.

The angle profile 55 has a projecting boss 66 whose func¬ tion will be mentioned later.

As shown in fig. 9, two sensors 67 and 68, respectively, positioned above each other, are secured on the angle pro- file 55 of each activation means to cooperate with two correspondingly positioned reflectors on the activation

means at the other* side frame.

The mode of operation of the apparatus in figs. 7-15 is as follows:

Both of the activation means 49 are present in top posi¬ tion (and are always present at the same height since they are controlled synchronously), and the boss 66 has acti¬ vated a sensor 69 which is shown in fig. 7.

A stack of boxes is fed into the apparatus until a photo¬ cell 70 in fig. 7 signals ready and the stack is in posi¬ tion.

A start signal is applied for the downward movement of the activation means 49 at a velocity of approx. 0.5 m/s, un¬ til the sensor 68 registers the upper frame of the upper box, which stops the downward movement of the activation means. The apparatus has now recorded the heigth of the stack, i.e. the position of the upper box frame. The reason is that not all stacks have the same height, which depends upon the type of box and the number of boxes in a stack.

The activation means 49 wait in this position until a pair of support means 40 pass the activation means 49, causing the roller 62 on each support means 40 to engage a cam disc 61 which forcibly closes the support means 40, i.e. positions it in a horizontal position, over the uppermost box. This entails that the cam disc 61 of the activation means 49, loaded by the spring 60, is pressed inwardly and moves a metal tab 71 (fig. 11) into the field of the in¬ ductive sensor 59 to indicate that a pair of support means have just passed a pair of activation means 49. The signal is used as a start signal for restarting the activation means 49 in the downward direction.

The activation means 49 are stopped again when the upper¬ most box frame is registered by the sensor 67, fig. 8.

When the next pair of support means 40 pass the stationary activation means 49, the support means 40 are forcibly closed below the gripper faces of the uppermost box 3, and only then does the apparatus remove the uppermost box 3 from the stack. The weight of the box keeps the support means 40 closed, and the box is automatically centered at the same time.

During closing of the support means 40, the activation means 49 receive a start signal for movement downwards again from the sensor 59, following which the activation means 49 again get into position for the next box in the stack. This continues until there are no more boxes in the stack.

When the last box in the stack has been removed, the photocell 70 will be activated as a stop signal to activa¬ tion means and as a ready signal for feeding a new stack into the apparatus, respectively.

A sensor 72 (fig. 7) serves as an additional lower stop and is activated in an emergency by the boss 66 on the angle profile 55.

The activation means 49 remain in the bottom position un¬ til a pair of grippers pass, and the combination "empty stack" and start signal from the sensor 59 causes the ac¬ tivation means 49 to move to top position (the motor 50 reverses) at the same velocity as the support means 40 approx. 0.25 m/s. Collisions between the activation means 49 and the support means 40 are hereby avoided.

The activation means 49 stop in the top position upon ac¬ tivation of the sensor 69 in fig. 7 by means of the boss 66.