Egg carton denester machine

Claim 2

An article denesting apparatus comprising a guide unit for positioning nested articles in stacked relation, and combined article supporting and separating units disposed in opposed relation at opposite sides of said guide unit, each of said combined units including a support bar and a separator bar disposed in adjacent parallel relation and mounted for reciprocatory movement only into and out of the path of movement of stacked articles through said guide unit, a lever interconnecting said bars for simultaneous opposite movement, and crank means for effecting reciprocation of said bars, said crank means including a pair of crank members for each of said units mounted for rotation about spaced parallel axes in unison, a crank bar extending between and connected to said crank members for movement thereby, and means drivingly connecting said crank bar to its respective unit.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the connection between said crank members and said crank bar provides for movement of said crank bar thereby between a succession of parallel positions.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said means drivingly connecting said crank bar to its respective unit is in the form of a connecting link connecting said crank bar to one of the first mentioned bars to effect reciprocation of said support bar and said separator bar.

Claim 5

An article denesting apparatus comprising a guide unit for positioning nested articles in stacked relation, and combined article supporting and separating units disposed in opposed relation at opposite sides of said guide unit, each of said combined units including a support bar and a separator bar disposed in adjacent parallel relation and mounted for reciprocatory movement only into and out of the path of movement of stacked articles through said guide unit, a lever interconnecting said bars for simultaneous opposite movement, and crank means for effecting reciprocation of said bars, said crank means including a pair of crank members mounted for rotation in unison and a crank bar extending between and connected to said crank members for movement thereby, and an article carrier carried By said crank bar for movement therewith for receiving a released article and conveying the released article away from the stack.

Claim 6

An article denesting apparatus comprising a guide unit for positioning nested articles in stacked relation, and combined article supporting and separating units disposed in opposed relation at opposite sides of said guide unit, each of said combined units including a support bar and a separator bar disposed in adjacent parallel relation and mounted for reciprocatory movement only into and out of the path of movement of stacked articles through said guide unit, a lever interconnecting said bars for simultaneous opposite movement, and crank means for effecting reciprocation of said bars, said crank means including a pair of crank members mounted for rotation in unison and a crank bar extending between and connected to said crank members for movement thereby, and an article carrier carried By said crank bar for movement therewith for receiving a released article and conveying the released article away from the stack.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein there are two of said combined units at each of two opposite sides of said guide with the crank bar being disposed between the two combined units.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein there are separate crank means for each of said combined units for operating the support bar and the separator bar of the two combined units in unison but in opposite directions, and interconnected drive means for the two crank means.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said article carrier is slidably carried by said crank bar for movement parallel to said support bar and said separator bar, means resiliently urging said article carrier towards an article supporting position, and means separate from said crank bar for limiting the resiliently urged movement of said article carrier for alignment with stacked articles.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said article carrier is particularly adapted for engagement with egg cartons and including an upper nose for engagement with an end of a carton bottom half centrally thereof.

Claim 11

An article denesting apparatus comprising a guide unit for positioning nested articles in stacked relation, and combined article supporting and separating units disposed in opposed relation at opposite sides of said guide unit, each of said combined units including a support bar and a separator bar disposed in adjacent parallel relation and mounted for reciprocatory movement only into and out of the path of movement of stacked articles through said guide unit, a lever interconnecting said bars for simultaneous opposite movement, and crank means for effecting reciprocation of said bars, said separator bar having means thereon for wedged engagement between two nested article to cause separation of the articles in addition to supporting the uppermost one of the articles.

Claim 12

An article denesting apparatus comprising a guide unit for positioning nested articles in stacked relation, and combined article supporting and separating units disposed in opposed relation at opposite sides of said guide unit, each of said combined units including a support bar and a separator bar disposed in adjacent parallel relation and mounted for reciprocatory movement only into and out of the path of movement of stacked articles through said guide unit, a lever interconnecting said bars for simultaneous opposite movement, and crank means for effecting reciprocation of said bars, said separator bar having means thereon for wedged engagement between two nested article to cause separation of the articles in addition to supporting the uppermost one of the articles.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said apparatus is particularly adapted for denesting articles having closely spaced flange portions, and said separator bar means for wedged engagement is in the form of a pointed end for insertion between and applying a separating wedging force between two adjacent flange portions.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said support bar has an article supporting surface generally facing said separator bar and in closely adjacent relation thereto.