Article handling apparatus

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING THIN, FLAT ARTICLES SUCH AS LATTERS, COMPRISING A FRAME, AN ARTICLE STACKING WHEEL HAVING A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL AXIS, MEANS FOR MOUNTING SAID WHEEL ON SAID FRAME FOR AXIAL MOTION OF THE WHEEL RELATIVE TO THE FRAME BETWEEN A FORWARD AND A REARWARD POSITION, SAID WHEEL COMPRISING A HELIX, THE TURNS OF SAID HELIX BEING SUBSTANTIALLY RADIAL AND CLOSELY SPACED, MEANS FOR TURNING SAID HELIX, SUBSTANTIALLY HELIX COMPRISING AN SUPPORTING ARTICLES ON EDGE IN SAIDHELIX COMPRISING AN ENDLESS EDGER BELT CONVEYOR MOUNTED BENEATH SAID HELIX AND RUNNING TRANSVERSELY OF THE HELIX AXIS, MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID EDGE CONVEYOR SO THAT ITS UPPER REACH MOVES IN THE DIRECTION OF ROTATION OF THE LOWER PORTIONS OF THE TURNS OF SAID HELIX, A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL, FIXED ARTICLE RESTRAINING AND EDGER BAR MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME ABOVE THE UPPER REACH OF SAID EDGER CONVEYOR AND BELOW THE AXIS OF SAID HELIX, SAID EDGER BAR BEING DISPOSED DOWNSTREAM OF THE HELIX AXIS FOR EDGING ARTICLES PRESENTED TO THE EDGER BAR BY SAID EDGER CONVEYOR, SAID EDGER BAR HAVING A LINEAR PORTION THAT IS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE HELIX AXIS, THE LINEAR PORTION OF SAID EDGE BAR TERMINATING IN SUBSTANTIALLY ALIGNMENT WITH THE DELIVERY END OF SAID HELIX WHEN THE HELIX IS IN ITS FORWARD POSITION, A CONVEYOR FOR REMOVING THE LEADING ARTICLE OF AN EDGED STACK OF ARTICLES MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME, SAID CONVEYOR COMPRISING AN ENDLESS VERTICALLY DISPOSED BELT, SAID BELT HAVING AN ARTICLE AND BEING DISPOSED CLOSELY ADJACENT THE THE HELIX AXIS AND BEING DISPOSED CLOSELY ADJACENT THE END OF THE LINEAR PORTION OF SAID EDGER BAR, MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID ARTICLE REMOVAL CONVEYOR, AND MEANS FOR DELIVERING ARTICLES ENDWISE ON EDGE TO SAID EDGER CONVEYOR.