Appeal No. 97-1754
Application 08/462,133
Looking now at Figures 6 and 7 of Chiappe, groups of
articles to be either added to or removed from the flow of
articles are stored in trays 64. In particular, empty trays
are stored to the right of the inbound and outbound lanes in
empty tray magazine 50 and filled trays are stored to the left
of the inbound and outbound lanes in filled tray magazine 52.
Articles are loaded onto or removed from a tray 64 in deposit
and retrieval area 51 by means of a transfer head. When there
is a need to add articles to the flow and a tray 64 in area 51
becomes empty, it is moved to the right by a conveyor to
magazine 50 and replaced by a filled tray from magazine 52.
Conversely, when there is a need to remove articles from the
flow and a tray 64 in area 51 becomes filled, it is moved to
the left by the conveyor to magazine 52 and replaced by an
empty tray from magazine 50. As is readily apparent from an
inspection of Figure 6, the empty tray storage magazine 50 and
the filled tray storage magazine 52 are not spaced in vertical
relation to each other.
Murphy is directed to a parts unloading apparatus. A
pallet of trays filled with articles enters the apparatus on
6
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007