Patent ID: 9617082
Date: 2017-04-11
CPC Classifications: B65G

Claim:
1. A system for storing and retrieving containers, the system comprising: a first conveyor for moving stacks of containers between a loading position and a discharge position; a container storage area; a container store dispatch conveyor; a container store delivery conveyor; first transfer means for transferring containers from the container store dispatch conveyor to the first conveyor; a container transporter for moving containers from the container storage area to the container store dispatch conveyor and from the container store delivery conveyor to the container storage area; and stack destacking means positioned between an intersection of the container store dispatch conveyor and the first conveyor and an intersection of the container store delivery conveyor and the first conveyor, or at the intersection of the container store dispatch conveyor and the first conveyor, the stack destacking means operable to destack stacks of containers placed on the first conveyor, the stack destacking means comprising a vertically moving gripping means, wherein the vertically moving gripping means is adapted to destack full stacks into at least two partial stacks by lifting at least one container off of a stack of containers, the stack destacking means positioned to allow containers which have been destacked by the destacking means to be delivered to the container storage area by the container store delivery conveyor wherein the intersection of the container store dispatch conveyor and the first conveyor is closer to the loading position than the intersection of the container store delivery conveyor and the first conveyor.