Palletizing machine

Claim 1

A palletising machine for stacking rows of articles in layers on a pallet, the machine comprising a framework, a pallet support mounted on the framework for vertical movement, an entry station with a roller bed extending in a longitudinal direction of the entry station and serving to accumulate a row of articles to be stacked on a pallet, said roller bed being formed by a plurality of spaced rollers whose axes extend perpendicularly to said longitudinal direction of the entry station, a lifting device arranged to lift off from the rollers of the entry station a row of articles positioned thereat, an intermediate support on which a plurality of rows of articles from said entry station are accumulated above a pallet positioned on said pallet support prior to their transfer as a layer onto the pallet, said intermediate support being formed by a carriage horizontally movable along the framework from above the pallet towards the entry station, said carriage including a roller bed formed by rollers whose axes of rotation extend parallel to said longitudinal direction of the entry station, and the carriage being provided on its side facing the entry station with a receiving section having a plurality of roller rows projecting from the carriage like a comb and forming extensions of the carriage roller bed, the projecting roller rows being so arranged that advance of the carriage towards the entry station is effective to position the roller rows below and across a row of articles lifted off the entry station rollers by said lifting device whereby lowering of said lifting device results in said row of articles being placed upon the receiving section, two registering elements movable towards each other along said framework to centrally register over the pallet a said plurality of rows accumulated on the carriage, said elements also serving to restrain said centered rows from subsequent movement with the carriage whereby such movement is effective to cause the carriage to move from beneath said rows and enable them to descend onto the pallet, the said element nearest the entry station being retractable to a position in which it allows unimpeded transfer of rows onto the carriage, and a control unit arranged to coordinate the operation of the machine such that a plurality of rows of articles are successively transferred from the entry station to the intermediate support carriage from where they are transferred together onto the pallet as a layer of articles, the pallet being thereafter moved down by lowering of the pallet support in order to receive a next layer upon that just placed.