Patent ID: 9637326
Date: 2017-05-02
CPC Classifications: B65G

Claim:
1. A separator apparatus for separating a stack of trays, each tray being comprised of a plurality of spaced apart containers arranged in rows and columns and interconnected by webs located at their upper, open ends, the containers of each tray in said stack being nested within the containers of an adjacent tray, the space between the tops of adjacent containers in a row or column and the space between adjacent webs forming linear pathways through said stack, comprising: a magazine for holding a stack of said trays, said magazine including a plurality of first support fingers located at a first end of said stack, a plurality of second support fingers located at the second end of said stack, said first and second support fingers being attached to first and second support linear actuators, respectively, and means for causing said first and second support linear actuators to extend said first and second support fingers to a stack support location and to cause said support fingers to retract to a non-stack support location; and a plurality of separator fingers positioned in alignment with opposing linear pathways formed between the lowermost tray in said stack and the tray adjacent thereto, each of said separator fingers configured to have a distal end having upper and lower surfaces forming a vertically disposed wedge portion at the tip thereof and a spreader member having forward and rearward ends extending downwardly from said lower surface of said wedge portion, said spreader member sloping downwardly from its forward end facing the tip of said separator finger to its rearward end facing the proximal end of said separator finger, each of said separator fingers having a proximal end attached to a separator linear actuator having means for causing said support fingers to retract to a location out of contact with said stack and to cause said support fingers to extend to a location where said separator fingers are substantially fully inserted into said linear pathways, said configuration of said separator fingers and said spreader member causing the distance between adjacent webs forming said linear pathways through said stack to expand as they advance into substantially full insertion to thereby cause said lowermost tray of said stack to detach from said tray adjacent thereto.