Shingling accumulator

Claim 3

The invention of claim 1 comprising the further step of releasing from said support surface an accumulated group of articles.

Claim 4

The invention of claim 2 wherein successive groups of articles are accumulated on and released from said support surface.

Claim 5

Apparatus for accumulating in overlapping juxtaposition a group of articles of uniform size of the type having a nominal article length and comprised of a flange portion generally coplanar with and extending in one direction from a surface of a body portion having a unit length less than said article length, said apparatus comprising: delivery means for discharging into descent at intervals articles of the type described having a predetermined orientation; conveyor means adapted to intercept each descending article in turn and to advance each article upon interception together with any previously intercepted article in a group to be accumulated a distance of at least one unit length but less than one article length, and; stop means for retaining said articles in their advanced position until the interception of the next succeeding article of said group, whereby successive intercepted articles are juxtaposed such that the flange portion of one of said articles and the body portion of the other article are in overlapping relationship.

Claim 6

Apparatus for accumulating in overlapping juxtaposition a group of articles of uniform size of the type having a nominal article length and comprised of a flange portion generally coplanar with and extending in one direction from a surface of a body portion having a unit length less than said article length, said apparatus comprising: delivery means for discharging into descent at intervals articles of the type described having a predetermined orientation; conveyor means adapted to intercept each descending article in turn and to advance each article upon interception together with any previously intercepted article in a group to be accumulated a distance of at least one unit length but less than one article length, and; stop means for retaining said articles in their advanced position until the interception of the next succeeding article of said group, whereby successive intercepted articles are juxtaposed such that the flange portion of one of said articles and the body portion of the other article are in overlapping relationship.

Claim 7

Apparatus for accumulating in overlapping juxtaposition a group of articles of uniform size of the type having a nominal article length and comprised of a flange portion generally coplanar with and extending in one direction from a surface of a body portion having a unit length less than said article length, said apparatus comprising: delivery means adapted to effect the spaced descent of articles of the type described having a predetermined orientation; conveyor means subjacent said delivery means and adapted to intercept and convey thereon said descending articles; a series of article stops adjacent said conveyor means and spaced one from another at intervals of at least one unit length but less than one article length, said stops being individually actuable from a normally retracted configuration into an extended configuration wherein an actuated stop is adapted to engage the leading article in an accumulation of one or more articles on said conveyor means thereby positioning a portion of the trailing article of said accumulation in register to intercept and be overlapped by a portion of any immediately succeeding descending article; sensing means activatable by the transfer of an article from said delivery means to said conveyor means; and control means operable in response to successive activations of said sensing means to actuate said article stops in a predetermined sequence progressing from the upstreammost article stop to consecutively adjacent downstream stops, said control means being arranged to cause retraction of a previously actuated article stop simultaneously with the actuation of the next stop in said sequence.

Claim 8

Apparatus for accumulating in overlapping juxtaposition a group of articles of uniform size of the type having a nominal article length and comprised of a flange portion generally coplanar with and extending in one direction from a surface of a body portion having a unit length less than said article length, said apparatus comprising: delivery means adapted to effect the spaced descent of articles of the type described having a predetermined orientation; conveyor means subjacent said delivery means and adapted to intercept and convey thereon said descending articles; a series of article stops adjacent said conveyor means and spaced one from another at intervals of at least one unit length but less than one article length, said stops being individually actuable from a normally retracted configuration into an extended configuration wherein an actuated stop is adapted to engage the leading article in an accumulation of one or more articles on said conveyor means thereby positioning a portion of the trailing article of said accumulation in register to intercept and be overlapped by a portion of any immediately succeeding descending article; sensing means activatable by the transfer of an article from said delivery means to said conveyor means; and control means operable in response to successive activations of said sensing means to actuate said article stops in a predetermined sequence progressing from the upstreammost article stop to consecutively adjacent downstream stops, said control means being arranged to cause retraction of a previously actuated article stop simultaneously with the actuation of the next stop in said sequence.

Claim 9

The invention of claim 5 wherein an actuated stop is adapted to engage the leading surface of the body portion of the leading article in an accumulation.

Claim 10

The invention of claim 5 wherein said control means is adapted to retract the downstreammost article stop in response to the next succeeding activation following the actuation of said stop, thus placing all article stops in a retracted configuration wherein they are maintained until the commencement of a succeeding sequence of actuations.

Claim 11

The invention of claim 7 wherein said control means is arranged so that activation of said sensing means when all said stops are in their retracted configuration will cause actuation of said upstreammost stop to its extended configuration.