Stacking system for injection molded articles

Abstract

The stacking system provides a cage having generally parallel tie bars extending longitudinally around a perimeter for the articles to be held. The ties bars are supported in at least one bracket, and have portions thereof protruding slightly inwardly from the perimeter, so as to slightly squeeze the articles placed therein and to thereby hold them.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) [0001] This application is a formal application based on and claiming the benefit of provisional application No. 60 / 517,393, filed Nov. 6, 2003.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to stacking, of flexible articles, and especially to stacking of injection-molded articles as they are removed from their molds. [0003] Injection-molded articles such as thin wall containers are used as the preferred means of packaging in an ever-growing variety of applications, mainly in food and beverage producing industries. Typical examples of these containers are conical cups for yogurt, sour cream and other dairy products and round or rectangular tubs for margarine, cottage cheese and a list of other groceries. Typical examples of “accessories” to those containers are flat lids, circular or rectangular in shape, and closures, some with asymmetric shapes. The applicability of the invention is not limited to the aforementioned specific articles....

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005] In view of the above, it is an object of the invention to provide a stacking system for various injection-molded or other flexible articles, capable of effectively handling volumes of such articles.

[0007] The invention lends itself to the secure handling of thin wall containers and accessories of a wide variety of shapes and features, thus providing a reliable link between existing high-speed robotic parts removal systems, and packaging, i.e. loading boxes with stacks of containers or accessories, e.g. lids and closures. The invention accommodates a wide variety of shapes, and articles with molded-on attachments, e.g. strapped lids, or in more general terms, parts with features which may render them unstackable by existing methods, e.g. freestanding vertical stacks, spin bar machines, open-trough horizontal stackers, multi-orifice belt or link conveyors, etc..

Problems solved by technology

These ever-increasing production volumes cause new challenges to the post-mold handling of these containers and their accessories, in particular with stacking and packaging, where the properties of some parts add complicating factors to the tasks at hand.

Others may stack but the stacks are not sufficiently stable for further handling and transfer.

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