Patent ID: 9393739
Filing Date: 2016-07-19
CPC Classification: B29C,B29K,B65G

Claim Text:
1. For transferring sticks of heavy polyolefin pipe to a fusion machine for joining the sticks to a pipeline, a process comprising the steps of: loading multiple sticks of pipe on a rack inclined to gravitationally cause the supported sticks of pipe to roll toward a downstream end of the rack; adjusting an angular relationship of downstream and upstream arms of a pair of spaced-apart V-shaped cams for compatibility with a diameter of the loaded pipe sticks; synchronously rocking said cams to receive a stick of pipe from the rack with downstream arms of said cams preventing the stick from gravitationally rolling downstream out of the cams; synchronously rocking said cams to discharge the received stick of pipe downstream of the cams with the upstream arms of the cams preventing another stick from gravitationally rolling downstream into the cams from the rack; catching a discharged stick of pipe on a mechanical structure in approximately longitudinal alignment with a path to the fusion machine; manipulating the mechanical structure by operation of the hydraulic system to align planar Cartesian coordinates of a longitudinal axis of the caught stick of pipe for insertion into the fusion machine; and driving the aligned stick of pipe along the mechanical structure toward the fusion machine by operation of the hydraulic system.